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untitledtallgeesepodcast · 3 years

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[TRANSCRIPT] EPISODE 10: DESTABILIZING THE MECHA-WIFE DICHOTOMY

Cathy 00:00

[midi version of Just Wild Beat Communication plays, fading as Cathy speaks over it]

Cathy 00:03

Hello and welcome to another episode of Untitled Tallgeese Podcast. I am this episode's host Cathy and I am joined by my lovely co-panelists Kat, Mallory, and Caitlin. Today we will be going over Episode 19, "Attack on Barge" and Episode 20, "Infiltration of the Moonbase." We pick up where we ended with Zechs, who has been found by Howard, whom you may remember as Duo's scrap metal salvager. It turns out that Howard used to be one of the engineers who helped design Tallgeese. Howard offers Zechs a way back into outer space, which Zechs eventually accepts, but not without first posturing in classic 19 year old fashion that the man formerly known as Zechs Merquis is now dead.

Cathy 00:44

Meanwhile, Duo stages an attack on OZ, but his Gundam is beaten by the Taurus mobile dolls, and he himself is captured when his self destruct mechanism doesn't work. His arrest is broadcasted everywhere on the Colony News Network, capturing the attention of Heero, who menacingly implies that all weaknesses must be eliminated. After infiltrating the OZ base where Duo is captured, however, and faced with actually needing to pull the trigger, Heero thinks better of it and breaks them both out by tricking the mobile dolls into believing the OZ's own Leos and spacesuits are the enemies. However, Heero and Duo are sadly forced to leave the damage Deathscythe behind.

Cathy 01:20

Elsewhere, Wufei stages the episodes titular attack on the Barge. He just so happens to intersect with Lady Une, who, in her peaceful ambassador persona, has an elaborate telepathic conversation with Wufei and her second command Nichols about how Outer Space should be reserved for peace. Nichols, frustrated and confused about Une's dueling personas, orders the Barge's beam cannon to shoot at Wufei. It manages the damage Shenlong Gundam marginally, but sacrifices a number of OZ's own soldiers in the process. Wufei, disgusted, uses his triton to light a literal fire under his own ass and flies off.

Cathy 01:55

In the next episode, Heero explains that he must kill the Gundam scientists, who under the thumb of OZ have been ordered to make all new and better mobile suits, the Mercurius and Vayeate. Duo wants to go with him, but injured is forced to remain behind. Speaking of injured Gundams and their pilots, on Earth, Sally Po tries to destroy Sandrock but encounters the Maganac forces who are trying to rescue it for Quatre. After realizing they should form a support group, and that the Maganacs actually have names, Sally Po helps them escape.

Cathy 02:22

OZ has been very busy. For one thing Lady Une submits a proposal for the colonies to form their own nation with one catch: they have to help OZ produce mobile suits and military equipment. Understandably, the colony representatives are wary of this proposition. But Lady Une goes full Treize on them, talking about how fighting is part of the spirit and beauty of mankind. At the same time, OZ has been trying to recruit random amateurs to act as test pilots, only one of those amateurs turns out to be none other than Trowa. As his final test. he's ordered to destroy a damaged site while Duo helplessly watches a broadcast. Because Trowa makes it to the final rounds, he wins a meeting with Lady Une. His barbed accusations that OZ is pretending to be friends with the colonies in order to win them over causes Une to have a mental breakdown. After she recovers, Une escorts Trowa and four other lucky pilots to the Gundam scientists where they meet the new mobile suits, the Veyeate is not actually functional. It reacts seemingly to the presence of Trowa, only to reveal that it's Heero clear snuck aboard. Unfortunately for Heero, Trowa manages flip through the air and get to his own gun faster, arresting Heero on behalf of OZ. And scene.

Caitlin 03:33

Can I just say, that, remember being 19 and thinking, [dramatically] "my former self is dead!" [laughter] and then totally, totally reinventing your look and your life for college. I think that's Zechs in these episodes. [laughter]

Mallory 03:53

Zacks is going away to college

Kat 03:54

To space college!

Caitlin 03:55

You've broken the mask of your like, high school nerdiness and now you're [laughter]

Mallory 04:02

now you're free faced and hot.

Caitlin 04:04

To be you sexy self, yes.

Cathy 04:07

I didn't think of it that way but that is totally true. And Zechs, he plays a surprisingly marginal role in these first, in these two episodes, which is kind of surprising because he'd been really important in the episodes leading up until now. And I didn't really process that until now, where you point out that literally the only thing he does in these two episodes is act like an emo fool and then flies off. [laughter]

Caitlin 04:31

Well he's dead. So he's,

Mallory 04:32

Yeah.

Caitlin 04:33

He's like, in exile because he's dead right now. [laughs] He's, he's like resting.

Mallory 04:38

Yeah, he's like symbolically killed himself.

Kat 04:40

Yeah, and complaining about getting help from Howard. Like, "Ugh, this is so much trouble to just get me to space."

Caitlin 04:46

This is like Genji in the Tale of Genji when he sent off to like, it, be punished in exile for a couple of months, [laughter] whatever. And all he does is like hang out by the seaside and like make a new girlfriend. [laguhter] This is Zechs right now. How, Howard is the girlfriend? [garbled] Serious, Genji in Exile.

Kat 05:07

I'm glad you're bringing this serious analysis here.

Caitlin 05:10

Yeah, this is, this is literature.

Cathy 05:11

I love it. And I'm glad we somehow managed to shovel in Tale of Genji into this because [laughter]

Caitlin 05:16

Uh, this will not be the last time we talked about Tale of Genji, all right?

Cathy 05:20

So, you know, I have to apologize, I know that I am supposed to be host and I've admitted that I don't really have any deep thoughts about episodes 19 and 20 other than I love them, and they're really entertaining. So I guess I'm gonna throw Kat under the bus, one of the things you wanted to talk about is the OZ use of propaganda and kind of information control in these two episodes.

Kat 05:44

Yeah, so we've spent a lot of time as a podcast talking about Lady Une, and the different roles that she takes on. And it's really interesting to see her utilizing the broadcast television that they have going on in the colonies. I'm not sure if it's clear if that's getting broadcast to Earth or not, but she's definitely using it to control the flow of information to the colonists, including when they captured Duo -- deciding whether or not maybe jokingly, to execute him publicly, whether or not he's, he's pretty enough or ugly enough that the colonists would sympathize with him if he was ugly.

Caitlin 06:20

And unfortunately, he's extremely good looking.

Kat 06:23

He's too beautiful, so he must die. And I think it's kind of the culmination of all the control that she's had over their media streams leading up to this episode.

Mallory 06:34

And you also see, like you hear the spin in the broadcasters and what they're saying, which is really interesting, like, they're always like, "these young troopers are vying for a spot with OZ!" You know, like there's a, there's a celebratory kind of tone to all of the newscasts that we are seeing and hearing

Kat 06:55

And we get a lot of plot exposition in those news broadcasts of these episodes, I think a little more, like we've gotten clips and stuff, or they just want to explain something. But I think it kind of leads the plot in these episodes in a way that it doesn't quite do elsewhere.

Caitlin 07:11

One of the things that I think is really interesting about the use of propaganda here is that it comes along with the realization of the split in Lady Une's personality and I think that there is a way in which you can view her split personality as mirroring, or like metaphorically performing the split between OZ's reality and OZ's performance, right? OZ's propaganda image. To a certain extent, it's like she's become like the physical and mental manifestation of the doublethink required to be both the front-facing OZ image of a peaceful colony helper, trying to bring everybody together. And the cutthroat OZ that we know is the reality.

Mallory 07:54

Exactly. She's a hamfisted metaphor for like the cognitive dissonance at the heart of Oz. You know, like this focus and emphasis on niceties and gentility and grace and saving face versus the cutthroat merciless militaristic takeover that OZ and the Romefeller Foundation are actually carrying out. It's like sort of her mental break at this point -- is it signaling a split between these two factions? Like Treize seems like he's at odds with the Romefeller Foundation in some way.

Cathy 08:28

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, at one point in Episode 20, right, when she goes back into her room after she talks to Trowa, she says, something like, "Am I doing this for OZ? Or am I doing this for Treize?" [crosstalk]

Mallory 08:37

Yeah, "Or is my master Treize?"

Caitlin 08:39

I thought, I thought that was very interesting. It also reflects the parts of her that are... So like, her considering, "Do I work for OZ? Or do I work for Treize?" is also, "Aam I doing this work as the harsh and cutthroat colonel?" versus "Am I doing this work as the kind and gentle Lady?" Where like, one of them is the person who works for OZ, and one of them is the person who loves Treize and is just doing this out of duty and affection for him.

Kat 09:09

The episodes are so blatant, and kind of the colony-facing version of her is weaker, like she's stronger in uniform, and it's sort of like this weaker facade that they are putting on to the colonies? But also it's working, so I guess it's a testament to how intensely she's making herself believe in this persona slash, she has to put her entire belief into it for it to work.

Mallory 09:34

For her.

Kat 09:35

For her.

Mallory 09:35

Right, because it's been established that like, part of her character is that she can't, she's a bad liar. So it's almost like she has to make herself believe that what she's doing is good?

Kat 09:46

Yeah.

09:46

In order to promote this soft face OZ

Caitlin 09:50

It's what politicians do, we see it all the time.

Cathy 09:53

To me a really interesting part of this, and I don't think it's explicit. I think this is just me projecting on it, but there seems to be to me like a hollowness or an emptiness about what OZ actually stands for other than wanting power. We just have Treize, right? Like Treize is the entire idealistic "heart" of OZ. And when you remove that from the equation, it's kind of like, what are we even all doing? Like how does, how do any of the powers differ from each other? They really don't. [laughs] They just want power. And so I really find this interesting, trying to grapple with like, what power means or what, what anything stands for, what do ideals mean? and seeing Lady Une like, break down, actually, physically and mentally in a way that was really obvious, felt really like relieving to me, just to be like, that is the thing we all struggle with. And I think, surprisingly, Gundam Wing made a really potent and relevant comment about it. Like, it is just hard to understand what any of us are fighting for, when it comes to big power structures. It doesn't mean anything. We're all meaningless in it.

Mallory 10:57

Yeah especially when, like, the lines that you are being fed by those powers are like vague things about the heart of OZ. And what does that even mean? Like you can't base a belief system on like this vague concept.

Kat 11:12

It's hard to base like a whole governmental structure around the nobility of man's fighting spirit?

Caitlin 11:17

But also that is, this is fascism,

Mallory & Kat & Cathy 11:20

[crosstalk of agreement]

Caitlin 11:20

that you have. It's purely a lust for power. There's, there's a creation of a set of ideals, that -- those ideals only exist to keep people in the existing power structure, and replacing any sort of actual belief with a fixation on one central leader, as Treize has done. It's fascism. It's what we're seeing today, basically. [muttered] Sorry, not not to get political at our Gundam Wing,

Cathy 11:46

Not to get political in our, in our podcast about an anime that is about politics.

Kat 11:50

Well, I was gonna say, I think as a kid, when I watched this, I think I was a little more sympathetic, but in a more simplistic way about Lady Une? And to me, it felt very much like, she suddenly saw that peace could be achieved and realized that her true self was fighting against it and couldn't handle that dichotomy. But now that I know that every politician can just live with 1000 pounds of cognitive dissonance in their head at all times, I don't know if that's really a thing that's going on, like if that was a naive reading of it.

Caitlin 12:23

Yeah, if you, if you recall, from our argument last time, about like, is she, has she already sort of lost herself at that point? Or is she in the process of losing herself, we were sort of, we were sort of split on whether this was an active choice that she'd made, if it was like a deliberate choice to sort of split this part of herself off, or if it just sort of ruptured by mental break. And I think now we sort of see the transition. Whereas like, last, the last few episodes that are lead up to this, I was like, okay, she's deliberately creating this persona, because she knows that she's not really good at this stuff.

Kat 13:00

Right.

Caitlin 13:01

So she's created this other other person. Now she's now she's broken,

Mallory 13:06

It was sort of the ease with which she could do that was a foreshadowing of the cognitive dissonance that would then come back to haunt her, and that we're seeing her sort of pay for now.

Kat 13:18

She seems so assured of herself and like the Lady Une militaristic persona, even though she doubts herself when Treize chastises her, but that's the only time she's not like, do these fucking plans, like I'm telling you to do it, now. And for her to be so unsure of herself in the other persona is really interesting.

Caitlin 13:38

I'm actually kind of sick of her. I feel like this is kind of a hackneyed plot move

Mallory 13:42

Mhmm

Caitlin 13:42

on their part. I don't really buy like split personality as a trope.

Cathy 13:47

Let's move on, let's move on then. Caitlin is sick of her crap. Let us move on to our second point: mobile dolls. So I think there's a lot of really interesting themes in these two episodes about what it means to be a pilot and kind of human intelligence versus robot intelligence. You know, we see this both in the way Heero escapes from the base with Duo. And then also in Episode 20, when we reunite with the Gundam scientists, and their whole point is essentially like, it doesn't matter who's who in the mobile suits. It just matters who the pilot is.

Caitlin 14:21

Yeah, there's a really great moment where the mobile dolls very stupidly kill their own people because they're in the same suit that Heero was wearing. Yeah, they've had their targets switched around, which demonstrates that the mobile dolls are not a great solution to the problems [laughs] of war? I like that, though it's sad that they killed their own guys.

Mallory 14:44

Yeah, I mean, it's like a real surprise that an unmanned machine could be manipulated, you know, hacked.

Kat 14:50

Weird.

Mallory 14:51

Strange.

Cathy 14:52

Totally weird.

Mallory 14:53

Who could have predicted that?

Caitlin 14:55

AI did not solve all of our problems.

Kat 14:57

I like how pissed Nichols -- or possibly not Nichols -- is though when Trowa goes, "it doesn't matter which one is better because the better pilot will win" or whatever. And the OZ soldier flips out because I guess he's bought totally into this too. And they did take down at least one Gundam pilot with the mobile dolls. So like, how dare he even question the idea behind the mobile dolls, even though they brought him in literally to be a good pilot.

Caitlin 15:28

And then you have the whole thing where Heero's in the suit that's supposed to be non functional so it seems like it functions and then Heero -- it's actually Heero, that whole thing. I was sort of thinking of our other big contemporary mobile suit in the room, Evangelion.

Cathy 15:44

Oh god [laughs]

Caitlin 15:45

The, the machine is actually a part of them and it's not really about like pilot skill. It's about sort of a connection that is like, primal and animal. Whereas in Gundam Wing you have a connection with between the pilots and their suits? We sort of see this when Duo flips out about that's like being publicly executed.

Caitlin 15:45

Which came out the same year. The whole, the whole like, thing is that this terrible idea of children piloting a mobile suit only really works if the mobile suit is some sort of like biological and psychological projection of themselves slash their mother.

Cathy 16:04

Yes.

Caitlin 16:07

And with Quatre and the Maganacs, who are like we have to rescue Quatre's Gundam.

Mallory 16:29

Yeah.

Caitlin 16:29

Yeah. But that isn't like, the same thing as a mobile suit can function without the pilot or a mobile suit is something that needs, is an animal that needs control, like an Evangelion.

Cathy 16:39

Although it's interesting because I think in the last four episodes, we have seen examples of this. So for instance, Sandrock, of course, just kind of walks off right without Quatre.

Caitlin 16:51

And he's like, get out of me.

Kat 16:52

Yeah [laughs]

Cathy 16:53

It was kind of like a weird open question as to whether or not Deathscythe, like didn't want to blow up with Duo in it? or if there was actually a failed self destruct mechanism. And they leave that kind of open. Similarily, and I know I called this out in my background when I was summarizing this, I love the way the end of Episode 20 is set up because there is this moment where I was almost wondering if my memories of this episode were incorrect, and that Mercurius and Veyeate really just sort of light up because Trowa is there, right? Like I was just like, oh, are they responding to Trowa? But then it turns out, it's because Heero is there. So there are all these little moments where they're kind of like building in this doubt, like, what are the Gundams? What are mobile suits? How tied, like what is that symbiosis. And I think it is really interesting that it comes out at the same time where Eva kind of like definitively falls one way or another on it, that they kind of just leave that open.

Kat 17:48

Bringing in Tallgeese, this episode too, like Zechs shows up just so we can hear again about Tallgeese and I think his relationship with that mobile suit is very much about his synchronisation with it. Like, it's harder to pilot than all the other ones so they continually talk about how like, you'd have to be a human or like, it gave him a frickin heart attack, because it's so difficult to pilot kind of thing.

Caitlin 18:12

So it does sort of reflect our relationship with machines in real life. I think a lot where you're like, Yes, I am, I am the driver of this car. I don't think this car is able to make its own decisions. I think most of us can agree that AI cars are kind of stupid, the self driving cars.

Kat 18:29

Yeah, thus far.

Mallory 18:31

I mean, I really want one but

Caitlin 18:33

When you think about people's relationship to their cars,

Cathy 18:36

Mmhmm.

Caitlin 18:36

It's an extension of self. And you get people who are who are obsessed with cars, who name their cars who refer to them by female pronouns. You have these really intense relationships with technology that the show plays with a lot even while saying, verbally, It's the pilot that matters, not the machine.

Cathy 18:55

So before we leave Mercurius and Veyeate, I want to say I actually found that really interesting and much more interesting when I saw them this time as I'm older. You know, they're red and blue. So I just want to like put that plug in, you know, there's a very kind of symbiotic relationship between red and blue.

Caitlin 19:12

[gasp]

Cathy 19:13

Just generally

Caitlin 19:13

I ship red/blue. All of my ships are reds and blues. Oh my god!

Cathy 19:18

Like they're, you know, there's a, there's a general kind of fandom-y trope and work trope, literary trope about red and blue. Heero ends up popping out of, I think it's Veyeate, who is the blue one, and the blue one is the one with the really great beam cannon. And then the red one, Mercurius has the shield. So I mean, the one interesting thought I had, like literally the only one thought [laughs] that I in these two episodes is that there's a great Chinese idiom called zìxīang máodùn" (自相矛盾). And máodùn is the Chinese term for sort of being self-contradictory and kind of like unable to go anywhere because you're kind of tying yourself up in knots. And that word in that phrase [Baldwin] actually comes from two separate words [mall], which is a spear or a lance and [twin] which is a shield. And it comes from a really classic story [Ed.'s note: from the Han Feizi] where this merchant is saying he has, you know, the world's best lance and then the world's best shield. And then somebody asked him, "Well, what happens if your lance attacks your shield" and he's unable to answer? [laughter] And so when we say "máodùn" like "oh my god, I'm so máodùn" like, "Oh my god, I'm so you know, I'm tied up in myself in knots, and I can't figure my way out," you know, I'm really confused, I'm really troubled, what we're really saying is, we have an unbreakable shield that goes up against an unstoppable lance.

Cathy 19:37

So I thought, you know, here, there's this moment where it's like, very much implied, they don't make a big deal out of it, but you have Heero and Trowa who I've always in my head kind of put in the same axis, you know, like they are kind of like the same people but on two different ends. And they are representing, they're both undercover in different ways, Heero has actually snuck into the beast, Trowa has gone undercover [laughs] as an amateur pilot for us. They end up kind of repeating this cycle sort of over and over again, throughout the series, and then it comes out in this really obvious reference to having a spear and having a shield. So I thought that was really fun.

Caitlin 21:20

Cathy you're not gonna believe this. It's the same word in Japanese. Oh, is it really? For conflict contradiction? It's mujun (矛盾). So I had to look at the characters of máodùn. But yeah, it's it's mujun in Japanese, which just means contradiction, but it's the same spear and shield, yeah.

Cathy 21:35

There is kind of a wonderfully elemental and like contradictory sense with Veyeate and Mercurius is that I didn't catch on the first time I watched it and just wanted to share with the group.

Kat 21:48

I think that's fascinating to me, because I love the interplay between Heero and Trowa there when Heero drops his gun and he's in the beam cannon. So in that case, shield wins. [laughter] Because I mean, Trowa's on the defensive

Caitlin 22:05

Shield wins!

Caitlin 22:06

You know what else is a dichotomy? [laughing] That is operative in many of these [laughing]

Cathy 22:15

Uh oh.

Mallory 22:18

Seme and uke.

Kat 22:21

Dammit

Cathy 22:21

Dammit. Alright, where's this going? [laughter]

Caitlin 22:24

It's not going anywhere, it ends right there, that's [laughing]

Cathy 22:30

Well, I am going to selfishly move this conversation then to I think I really love which is the whole Heero/Trowa/Duo like trio dynamic that is happening. There's a lot of stuff that is going on between these three people on every leg of this triangle that is happening in Episode 19/20 and I just would love to talk about it.

Mallory 22:53

There's a lot of emotional entanglement going on.

Kat 22:56

So I liked when Trowa sees that Duo is captured and then -- on his Gundam TV -- and is like, "I bet Heero will handle that, it's cool." Like just, just assumes that he's going to take care of that guy.

Mallory 23:10

Well he knows right you know knows that Duo is like Heero's first boyfriend.

Caitlin 23:16

I liked when Duo said, "I don't want anyone else besides you to kill, kill me Heero." And then when Heero's like, "Yeah, I'm actually going to kill you," Duo's like WHAT?

Mallory 23:24

"Why would you do that?" Sad puppy eyes.

Caitlin 23:27

"WHAT? You're really, you're really gonna do it?"

Cathy 23:31

And I love how that is also then followed up by a scene where Trowa is actually forced to shoot Deathscythe and doesn't hesitate.

Caitlin 23:42

That depressed me.

Cathy 23:43

There's like this beautiful like, to me. you know this like, I don't even know what to explain about it. Where like Heero goes with the express intent to kill Duo and then does-- isn't able to do it for one reason or another which is not really, you know, even lingered upon but it is amazing, see, I love that.

Kat 24:00

It's they're, they're in love.

Mallory 24:01

Could, he just couldn't he doesn't know why

Cathy 24:03

He just couldn't and

Caitlin 24:04

He's not good at killing people, actually,

Kat 24:07

He's not good at killing hotties he likes.

Cathy 24:09

What I love specifically is both of these scenes involve a thing where the assault ,the assailant throws away his gun. But in this case, Heero throws a gun at Duo and says "your right hand is okay, right?" being like, you can use this gun.

Caitlin 24:22

Aww

Cathy 24:23

And then in Trowa's thing, he throws away his puny little gun so that he can ask for beam cannon so they can actually destroy Deathscythe. So I, again, I have no idea who wrote this. But like if you read that in a fic, you'd be like hell yeah, this person knows what they're doing.

Mallory 24:39

Oh, yeah.

Cathy 24:40

I just wanted to point that out. I loved it. I ate that up with spoon

Mallory 24:43

The shipping the one true pairing OTP./OT3 energy is real strong in these episodes.

Cathy 24:49

Oh so good

Mallory 24:49

And Kat and I have been watching the dubs and then watching the subs after for each of the two episodes and the delivery of the dub actors versus the sub actors is so different between Duo and Heero that it like really informs the pairing dynamics that you might see in fic.

Kat 25:11

Yeah, watching the dub is like, "Oh, I see." Like, this is exactly fic duo where he's like, you're gonna kill ME? Versus like, "oh, you're really gonna kill me?" Like it's it's so different.

Mallory 25:25

It's it's really different. And like, for me the difference in the delivery of the the exchanges, especially as they're escaping after Heero has rescued Duo is so different. In the dub, Duo and Heero's relationship is more one-sided, like Duo likes Heero and has affection for him, but Heero is still kind of like closed off. But in the sub, I hear more, sort of, we're already in love with each other, but we don't know it yet. Whereas in the dub, this is like, pre we even have feelings for each other. Does that makes sense?

Caitlin 26:00

It's interesting that you do so much deep reading of these inflections when I was just like, the dub acting is not very good. [laughter]

Kat 26:10

Well, I mean, it could definitely be that.

Mallory 26:12

right?

Kat 26:12

But it just, it feels so different. But I guess more in terms of how it might inform fandom reading of the characters.

Mallory 26:21

Yeah,

Kat 26:21

Like watching one or the other. Like I if I watched only one I would have a different view of how those two characters interacted.

Mallory 26:30

Right, the first time I ever watched Gundam Wing and then went and read fanfic, I was I was really confused by the presentation of Duo because in fanfic he's just kind of this like hapless... I don't know sort of like [laughing] not the not smart character [laughs]

Caitlin 26:49

He's a baka!

Kat 26:50

He's a dumb baka.

Caitlin 26:52

That's the term.

Mallory 26:52

Okay, well, I just didn't, didn't want to say it. [laughs]

Caitlin 26:55

Do we, do we need to pull out the vows of not making Duo a baka again?

Cathy 27:02

Nooo we don't

Kat 27:03

Oh my god. Yeah.

Cathy 27:04

We don't we don't need to go to the Society for the Defense of Duo's Intelligence.

Caitlin 27:08

Yes, we need to review our laws of not making Duo a baka.

Kat 27:14

He has read one book. But I mean, he's, he's just not, like he gets overwhelmed by mobile dogs. It's not like he's a moron getting captured and stuff.

Cathy 27:23

I do also want to say that, like he does, he is following this particular like, hurt/comfort trope.

Mallory & Kat 27:31

Yeah/Mmhmm

Cathy 27:32

That I don't know why was so pop-- I don't know if it's still popular now but it was incredibly popular then. And in order for that trope to work, somebody has to constantly like be beat up or like in

Caitlin 27:45

Yes

Cathy 27:45

a state of pain or in a state of peril

Caitlin 27:48

Umm

Cathy 27:48

And unfortunately,

Caitlin 27:50

I think this is definitely still a thing but it's a little bit different now. Whump has evolved I think,

Kat 27:56

Yeah.

Caitlin 27:57

it still exists though.

Kat 27:58

It's not quite the same

Cathy 27:59

And, but it definitely doesn't exist the same way as it used to, which was very explicit and very blunt. And in order to get there you kind of had to put one of the characters kind of in like stupid situations I feel like? and

Kat 28:11

Yeah,

Cathy 28:12

Yeaaaah

Caitlin 28:12

And that was Duo so I,

Cathy 28:14

These days you're not allowed to beat characters up as much. You kind of have to justify it.

Kat 28:19

Yeah, I think also you find fewer authors that are like I'm gonna write 40 fuckin fic and Duo is gonna get his ass kicked in every single one of them.

Cathy 28:28

Yeah (?)

Caitlin 28:29

I don't know though, because if you, when you dive in, in the tags, you can see some really wild things with contemporary fandoms. It's just not the fic that's, that's dominating the like, rec lists or like the circles that

Kat 28:41

Definitely the whump is a lot less dark.

Mallory 28:44

Yeah.

Kat 28:45

Well, good thing Gundam Wing canon provides. Duo gets his ass beat multiple times n canon so... by other pilots, it is great. That's why he's a fave.

Caitlin 28:53

He looks beautiful in these episodes

Kat 28:56

He really does

Caitlin 28:57

When he's like beating up in the cell. When Heero's like, "No, you can't come with me because you're useless." [laughter]

Caitlin 29:03

And he's like, be a little kinder next time.

Cathy 29:06

I love that Heero was just like, well go to school for me. I'm like, are you?

Mallory 29:10

Yeah.

Cathy 29:10

[laughter] What is wrong with you, Duo doesn't look anything like you?

Kat 29:14

Didn't Heero already go to that school? [laughter]

Caitlin 29:16

He made a whole speech

Mallory 29:17

You made a whole speech in front of everybody.

Kat 29:19

"Oh, you're gonna be real popular buddy."

Cathy 29:23

And I kept being like, is that like, I remember this. I really do remember this scene where he's just like, go to school. And like now I'm watching and I'm like, it is just as weird as I remember it. [laughs]

Caitlin 29:33

Wait, wait, wait, you know what the real point of him saying that is so now we know that Duo knows that Heero used his name,

Kat 29:41

Right, yes.

Caitlin 29:41

to enroll in school. So now Duo in our fanfics can think, "oh my god, he used my name, he's obsessed with me."

Kat 29:47

"What a fucking weirdo." [laughter]

Caitlin 29:49

"Maybe he really is in love with me. Blah, blah, blah blah." So that is like, him saying that I think is some sort of like pure fan service where it doesn't really make any sense and it's just to let us know that this character now knows this other character thinks about him.

Cathy 30:04

I completely lost my shit at this episode, I just want to tell you. I was like watching it and losing my shit.

Caitlin 30:10

These are really good episodes. I like fell asleep during them 'cause there's something wrong with me obviously. But they're really good episodes, a lot of stuff happens to the point where I think it's hard for us to think of things to like, really substantive things to say. They're just good action episodes.

Cathy 30:25

So before we move on, one last thing, you know, we had this amazing moment with Sally Po and the Maganacs when they met each other and they're kind of like, "you know, a Gundam pilot? I know Gundam pilot." It was great. I'm glad that we haven't forgotten Sally Po.

Kat 30:43

I'd like that you shouted out the Maganac names because in one of my one of my notes is like, "it's so nice that they have names now."

Caitlin 30:49

They all have names

Cathy 30:51

I love them.

Mallory 30:51

And they have personality. And I like that they're ribbing with each other like, "Oh, Abdul's plans never work the way they're supposed to, ugh."

Caitlin 31:00

Yeah, there's a token fuck up. It's great.

Kat 31:02

Yeah. [laughter]

Cathy 31:05

I really, I mean, I, those are like the little things that I think. I don't know, it just overall, there is a really rich universe in Gundam Wing that I'd forgotten about the first time I watched it. And it was nice to see that there are these moments in the show that there's no reason for anybody to shout out. But the fact that each of the Maganacs had a name. Each of them had a personality.

Kat 31:25

And some style.

Cathy 31:26

Yeah. So we kind of had like a weird hybrid cultural artifact that we wanted to talk about today. Kat you had brought up this video, which is of Super Robot Wars.

Kat 31:39

Yeah.

Cathy 31:40

Which is a part of the Gundam franchise more generally. And then I also just wanted to talk about my experience with Gundam fighting games, but you first.

Kat 31:48

So Super Robot Wars isn't just the Gundam series, but it's most, most of them are produced by Sunrise, but it's like a Bandai Namco Entertainment game. So even Evangelion mecha have shown up in it. But there's a ton of different Gundam characters and robots, like a turn based RPG with different characters mecha and storylines they pull from all different anime series, mostly Gundam.

Caitlin 32:19

Does it give you more information about the Gundam Wing world? Do you get like more details with the characters?

Kat 32:27

Not a ton, sadly. I mean, not for gonna wing. Maybe for other ones. There's like one specific Super Robot Wars, Super Robot Wars W which was for the DS that had Quatre and Duo, and Duo is disguised as Heero Yuy and you have to play a mission to sneak them to Earth. I've watched like YouTubes but Super Robot Wars always felt like one of those canons like side canons that I could never really access as a kid? And now that I could do it, it's sort of like eh. Treize is in it actually, Treize is in Super Robot Wars W also, he's the Federated Earth Nation President.

Cathy 33:08

So I okay, so there there is a running joke I have with my friends and this is kind of rude and I'm really sorry. I do think there is a certain element of like, what I usually associate with kinda Reddit anime fandom, or a certain element of like, and I'm sorry to say this but like "cis male anime fandom on Twitter?" And I call them Dragon Ball versus Naruto fans and those are people [laughter] are always talking about who is stronger, or like who would win in the battle, Naruto vs Goku? And like, to me that is like the least interesting thing about watching either series.

Caitlin 33:43

It's the dumbest shit.

Cathy 33:44

Right? Like I don't give a shit. Like

Kat 33:46

Right, who would smooch who?

Mallory 33:48

Yes,

Cathy 33:48

The reason why I bring this up is like, is I wondering if, if that is what Super Robot Wars is supposed to appeal to? Like? Is there an element where you want to see all of the Gundams from, and all of the like, mecha from the different series come together and fight. Like who? Like what is the appeal of this game?

Kat 34:10

I think it is. It's like getting to interact like with all these different things from franchises you like. But it's not like a mecha-to-mecha thing all the time. I don't know it's maybe it is, it's not a fighting game though. You're, it's an RPG.

Cathy 34:26

Okay,

Caitlin 34:27

Interesting

Kat 34:27

The White Fang from Gundam Wing in the future is like a villain. Like they ally with a rebellion from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam so like, so it's that kind of thing. But I

Mallory 34:41

I mean, I can see why people would why it would appeal to a certain segment of population that games manufacturers would assume are watching the shows. [laughter] You know, it's it's just like the novelty of seeing. I don't know, isn't that why movies like Civil War? And

Cathy 35:01

Yes, absolutely.

Mallory 35:01

all of those are so popular because it's like, I just want to see them bashing against each other like Superman versus Batman versus Iron Man, you know,

Kat 35:10

There's got to be a mecha versus mecha game though like that feels like it has to exist. This one is interesting, because I think it's interesting that Gundam Wing is sort of outside the greater shared Gundam universe. So for them to pull it in for this was always interesting to me, because I was like, I always liked Gundam Wing as a kid because it's like, "oh, I can watch this. But I don't need to watch this other stuff that's going to be like 20 bucks for a VHS tape with two episodes on it."

Caitlin 35:39

Right. But then you could you could get into Gundam Wing, and then you could be like, oh, Gundam Wing is in Super Robot Wars. So I play that and then suddenly you get into these other things,

Kat 35:48

Right. exactly.

Cathy 35:50

So I actually played Gundam Wing: Endless Duel on an emulator and Gundam Wing: Endless Duel is actually a robot versus robot fighting.

Kat 35:59

Hell yeah!

Cathy 36:00

And, um, I really don't remember how I got this. I think somebody handed me like a CD-R? of all these have like an SNES emulator.

Caitlin 36:10

C! D! R!

Cathy 36:11

And there was Gundam Wing Endless Duel and I think like a Sailor Moon flaming game, maybe?

Caitlin 36:16

There is a Sailor Moon fighting game.

Caitlin 36:17

Yeah, that definitely exists, yes.

Cathy 36:19

So I played, so I remember, you know, and my mom was never gonna listen to this, she'll never know that I did this. I used to, like sneak down into our basement, like get on the computer in our basement and like play, like, you know, from the hours of like, 2am to like 4am, play like Gundam Wing Endless Duel, which was all in Japanese at the time, I had no idea was going on. So I was just like, mashing buttons. I was not particularly good. But it is great. And there is a lot of like, you know, obviously everybody forms opinions about like, who is the best Gundam and who is the worst Gundam? Like I think Heavyarms sucks. [laughter] So it's always like, beat up on Heavyarms while you're playing? Because you're like, "Yeah, he suuuucks." And like, there is this really fun moment where you get to try on all these weird ideals that come up in Gundam Wing. And I'm sure that's true of every Gundam game, but I like there is a moment where it's like, "oh, yeah, this is what it feels like to be a cishet anime male being like Naruto vs. Goku." That was my Naruto versus Goku moment.

Kat 37:18

I feel like the suits definitely made it further then the characters and Gundam Wing

Caitlin 37:23

was very much their own characters in a lot of ways. And like a lot of fans are just really into the cha-- and into the suits. It's like, it's like, instead of your waifu who you have your mecha. Maybe or maybe you can have both.

Kat 37:36

Uhhh, my mecha could be my waifu. [laughter]

Cathy 37:40

On that note, thank you guys for joining us to discuss Episodes 19-20 and also marrying a robot.

Caitlin 37:48

Nothing wrong with that.

Cathy 37:49

Nothing wrong with that. We appreciate all robot fuckers on this podcast. [laughter] Thank you guys, see you next time.

Kat 37:59

Keep in touch! Hear about our new episodes on Twitter at TallgeesePod. Find our full transcriptions on Tumblr at UntitledTallgeesePodcast dot Tumblr dot com and follow us on Instagram at UntitledTallgeesePodcast for behind the scenes deets, fandom artifacts, and memes.

#gundam #gundam wing #mobile suit gundam #anime nostalgia #90s anime #anime podcasts #untitled tallgeese podcast #episode 10 #transcripts

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zaritarazi · 5 years

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mister right: a mixen au in the style of unreal (but so much less mean-spirited) welcome to the world of mister right: a longtime television franchise in which one woman tries to find her perfect man on national television while millions watch weekly. the perfect fairytale is entering it’s 16th year, and the network (only referred to as, the network) needs something new to revitalize the franchise. enter the perfect new candidate: model and conservationist amaya jiwe, who will PROVE this is a smart show for smart people. she’s even got a chaotic twin sister, in case they need a drama boost, or maybe a twin switch episode?? the possibilities are endless, is what we’re saying.

enter writer rebecca silver to sweeten the deal- for the first time EVER, the best-selling romance author and known recluse, will be lending her talent as a producer for this season of mister right. it’s the perfect match of single woman and dynamic producer, and this season HAS to be a sure hit.

except... there’s just a couple of catches. rebecca silver is mick rory, a widower in his late 40s who stopped believing in happy endings years ago, despite his body of work. amaya is the perfect, charming protagonist that the series needs- but feels herself growing increasingly detached from reality... and her own identity. and worst of all, the more mick works with amaya, trying to create the perfect fairytale, the more he realizes he’s falling deeply in love with her. and that makes it impossible for him not to be increasingly jealous of the contestants on the show vying for amaya’s affections. only complicating matters is amaya choosing to spend more and more time with him, frustrating showrunners to no end and spelling disaster for the mister right franchise. but how can there be a happily ever after if she ends up with the wrong guy?

#mixen #mixenedit #lotedit #legends of tomorrow #lot au #dykerorys #my edit #im obsessed with this world of my own creation

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idolizerp · 6 years

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LOADING INFORMATION ON IMPERIAL’S LEAD DANCE, LEAD VOCAL NOAH HAN ...

IDOL DETAILS

STAGENAME: n/a CURRENT AGE: 26 DEBUT AGE: 21 TRAINEE SINCE: 17 COMPANY: 99 SECONDARY SKILL: Cinematography

IDOL PROFILE

NICKNAME(S): noee, noah-roo, noah’s ark. INSPIRATION: having grown up outside of korea, most of noah’s inspiration stems from international artists. michael jackson and bruno mars, with their charismatic performances, serves as some of his biggest influences. SPECIAL TALENTS:

capable of doing bland impressions of famous gagmen, actors, and notable characters from television dramas and/or movies, but the outcome is so stale, it does generate laughter.

he does, however, provide a shockingly good michael jackson vocal impersonation.

NOTABLE FACTS:

an only child.

cannot tolerate spicy food well, frequently turning red in the face and sweating profusely.

graduated from korea national university of arts with a major in cinematography.

has a extensive list of celebrity friends from most companies and is often uploading images of his network on instagram.

IDOL GOALS

SHORT-TERM GOALS:

noah doesn’t aim high, but he does eventually want to direct a music video for imperial. with small opportunities already granted, he’s positive (yet anxious) the comeback will arrive, and his skill is beckoned. yet, that doesn’t quell the constant fear of rejection and inadequacy since he’s been vying for this select chance since before debut. and it has yet to come to fruition.

LONG-TERM GOALS:

he doesn’t want to stop himself at imperial; noah also wants to help create music videos for other idol groups. and it doesn’t end there, irrespective if he’s blindly shooting for the stars. limitations are solidified to be pushed, so he hopes to one day branch out and film other forms of media: commercials, primetime dramas, movies. in all honesty, it’s a little gutsy and unbelievable and far-fetched, but he desires a little segregation from imperial’s noah and film graduate, noah han since an idol life is not forever. he doesn’t think (potentially want) to last as a singer.

IDOL IMAGE

at first glance, noah has a little too much POIZN in him than 99 appreciates. perhaps, it’s the careless tattoo (more to come) on his inner forearm he got when he was sixteen and reckless that has directors and managers scratching their heads on what to possibly do with him. he, himself, is very little help to the cause. for most his life, noah has lived under the direct, communist law of someone else. he was never his own person, always skirting on the edge of uncertainty. so, they have a lot to work with, but they can also mould him to whatever stereotype they want.

the bad boy.

the romantic.

the ice prince.

they go with that—ice prince. play up his own personality to draw in fans. he has the face, the aura, the rare smile that catches cameras and goes viral. noah is an enigma, really. but that’s probably the polite way of saying he doesn’t have much of anything to begin with. he’s raw but viciously trained by a family that cared too much of image and structure than well-being and nurture. his natural rigidness is construed as mysterious, cold to the touch but alluring. he doesn’t reek of danger, but he draws people in. apparently.

they want to know more.

except he doesn’t have much to offer. he’s quiet, cool and keeps to himself most of the time. so, the image placed on him works. he’s no prince charming, but a deity close to it.

the charade is easy to maintain. just don’t talk and look and smile after keeping fans on the edge of their seat. not speaking much was added because his korean was crummy. standing around was amplified because he looked good in dazzling hair colours. and smiling, well, fan-service has to be thrown in to pacify and quell thirst. and honestly, noah does a pretty stellar job at preserving the mask.

no one sees the broken boy nursing invisible wounds with alcoholic vices. he slips under the radar.

maybe it has something to do with no one truly noticing him, anyway. so he assumes.

maybe that has everything to do with it.

IDOL HISTORY

(triggers: death, physical abuse, alcoholism)

life starts with the death of his mother.

the doctors say it was complications with giving birth. that she received an infection they couldn’t catch in time. and it wasn’t his fault at all.

except that’s not what his father says.

his father is a cold, ruthless man. one heartbroken and angry his wife was traded in for a son he didn’t quite want. noah learns early on in childhood, parents and family don’t have to love you. it’s not a perquisite.

gold coast, australia is a battle to see which family in the korean community bests the rest. although, his father may not like him or see much worth in a toddling four year old sucking his thumb, noah is displaced in various academies to be a trophy his father can show off. that’s all he ever is, really, a possession only of value if he was gold.

he never is gold, though.

try as he might, noah doesn’t win piano competitions, is dropped early from spelling bees, fails to make it onto academic teams. he’s always an almost. he’s always not good enough. and his father preys on his frequent inadequacy, thinking a leather belt to the skin of an eight year old can teach something.

it doesn’t.

the last shot he has at making an impression, at receiving some kind of paternal love, is through choir. his father is a religious man, one that attends mass every sunday in his best attire. when a position opens up, noah is tossed in yet another gamble with his life on the line. family friends of equal snooty façades glower at the boy incapable of anything. but what comes out of his mouth aren’t keys off note or flat but angelic hymns of someone who has finally found their niche.

thirteen, and noah is all about singing and music and even dancing. he sings at choir both at church and at school and even convinced his father to sign him up for modern dance (anything to get them away from one another). because as noah gets older, the more he and his father father butt heads. he’s becoming a threatening omega to his father’s alpha. but collision is momentarily stalled when they get a phone call. his grandfather is ill, and they need to go back home.

but seoul, south korea isn’t home to noah. it’s a foreign, concrete jungle of people he can’t understand and barely communicate with. at school, he’s an outcast, unable to fit in anywhere. but what’s new, really?

the one thing that remains the same is the music. and he finally meets people through this mutual appreciation. comrades who teach him of the idol industry and being completely saturated in song. well, they were fifteen and foolish then, thinking entertainment worked in such a manner. thinking it was that easy.

it wasn’t.

auditions were brutal. and the only way his father agreed to him parading on stage if he didn’t let his education become affected. so, noah balances tryouts and eventual training at 99 with school, hoping he’d graduate on the honour roll because his father can and will pull him out if he failed to do so. sleep slowly turns to privilege with so little time in the day to practice and study. he can’t do both; it’s impossible.

but he does so, anyway.

perhaps why 99 chose him and kept him. he is more work than play. they like his work ethic, like that he tortures himself for a good result because in his life, that’s all that really mattered to anyone. being a trophy. being gold. being somebody to showoff.

he’s a thing, an object others can they do as they please. long story short, he’s perfect for the industry he has morphed into a slave for.

early on, however, noah realizes being boasted as some medal comes with very little incentives. when one member leaves imperial, it confirms the lingering doubt into something factual.

like all idols, he is only human, who easily falls into the lures and temptations of the vices that come with fame. or that’s his excuse for relying on alcohol and a warm-body to be late night companions. because as friendly as noah can be under the influence, he is very distrusting, aloof and can probably count a total of three close friends on one hand (not including his members). and that’s okay, right? he’s used to being in the slum of loneliness.

besides, less people to hurt him.

he confuses friendship with lust and submerges himself in a false sense of love because he’s never felt it. not once. and it scares him. so, he builds walls and hides behind a constructed façade all idols must have. he runs from problems and frankly, pretends they don’t exist because it’s easier to say he’s okay whilst pouring another glass of whiskey then explaining to others he wasn’t. because he’s an apparently talented, well-rounded idol, and no one will ever believe he’s unhappy.

he has no reason to be, right?

yet he’s overworked and on the brink of exhaustion. juggling the ideals of his father, the ideals of the contract he signed his soul to (fifteen year old noah couldn’t have seen this coming) and the ideals of his fans takes a toll on him. noah is an empty shell of himself, but he always was living his life for someone else. even now, working as idol is less about himself but more about the company, the group, the supporters. never about the actual person within the idol.

in a desirable life, in a different reality, noah has this vision of fruity sunsets and royal midnights. if music was once his escape but now what binds him, he tumbles into the beauty of film, where anyone can be anything they so please. another distraction, another distorted reality he’s transfixed on. it can only end wrongly, but noah is desperate to find himself, to grow and be just noah han.

a part of him is thankful his father forced his nose into books because he wouldn’t have made it into korea national university of the arts without it. wouldn’t have graduated, albeit slower than most (because he is imperial’s noah first), in cinematography without it. but now what? his father still belittles him and his choices.

supposedly, noah is doing all he loves and has a passion for yet he doesn’t feel adequate. yet he’s still struggling, lost, finding himself in the whirlwind of life.

born to a dying mother, a heartless father, noah’s actual endgame goal is to live a life that will give justice to his mother and make his father proud.

so far, he’s failing and falling.

and here is to another shot of whiskey to soothe the pain away.

he can’t please anyone. not even himself.

#id.bio #id.99 #id.imperial #id.wild&free #tw.death #tw.physical abuse #tw.alcoholism #id.oh sehun

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postguiltypleasures · 6 years

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Farewell Ugly Betty

The second of my LiveJournal Archive, and the second and last dedicated to Ugly Betty. (I had to delate a link to a YouTube Playlist that no longer exists. From a cursory look through the archives, this is going to be a regular problem in reposting.) I had forgotten some plot lines I wrote about here, and I haven’t revisited the show, so I can’t revisit my opnions.

Originally Posted: Apr. 18th, 2010 at 4:35 PM

No point in denying it, I'm going to miss Ugly Betty. I don't feel at all sarcastic when I say it changed my life. Besides inspiring me to re-immerse myself in the Spanish language after retreating from all foreign language study for years (and thereby really influencing my taste in music) I really felt the show was there for me.

The quality of the show varied a lot. After the cancellation was announced many people tried to pin point where it went wrong, as if it could be revised and we are making a blueprint for future incarnation. But the truth is there was never a perfect point in the series from which the show eventually veered off track. Within the original there were several episodes that were to reliant on the formula set up in the pilot. The produces were aware of this, hence reshuffling the filler episode "SWAG" so it appears as a flashback in episode 11 instead of before episode 5 as it was obviously intended (Henry shows up for the first time in "SWAG", and becomes a love interest in "The Lyin', the Watch, and the Wardrobe".)

Ugly Betty belonged to a brand before it had an identity. In addition to being one version in what seems/ed like an endless copying or appropriating of a Colombian telenovela. It probably is the one that makes the most radical changes from the story plot (Betty is not instantly smitten by her boss, no less socially adept ugly male friend, etc.) In the USA it also inspired a lot of comparisons to The Devil Wears Prada, Sex and the City and (in my head at least) The Gilmore Girls. People commented on how it pre-empted the TV version of Prada and came off as a sweet/wholesome version of Sex (I was just looking for something to replace Gilmore in its decline. When "Miss Patty" showed up as Wilhemina's housekeeper I flipped). It also got heralded as cross over of telenovela's to North American Mainstream. With all of those quickly made comparisons how does anything find it's own identity?

It's a struggle. If the first few episodes suffered from repetitive plotting, the inevitable move towards more ongoing plots instantly created new plot difficulties. The first questionable decision that the writers made was to have the mysterious woman communicating with Wilhemina turn out to be Daniel's supposedly deceased brother (who had really transitioned and came out a woman). We were led to believe she was the former editor in chief Fey Summers, and the change in direction was jarring. In some ways this felt like behind the scenes everyone thought, "the viewers expect us to zig, so we should zag". I wanted to believe that they could pull this twist off and seem like they were in some Pedro Almodovár film. It did not work that way. (There is probably a reason Almodovár never dabbled in television or set anything in the Sates with a mostly American cast). They did not. Rebecca Romijn was wasted for the better part of two years in an under-developed role.

Alex-reborn-as-Alexis was not the worst of the offensively misdirected plots. In season one there was Betty's father Ignacio's psycho case worker "helping" him become a US citizen while breaking with reality, not to mention the whole Ignacio killing his late wife's first husband backstory which really had no where to go. Season two brought about TWO pregnancy plots purely for purpose of manipulation, and a love triangle that dominated the season and dragged. There are more awful plot points I could delve into, but I would rather focus on the things I love about the show.

While there were some terrible plotting moments, here the show was able to keep some wonderful scenes. It was always colorful, often witty, and most of the time you felt for the characters. Plot points involving paintball wars, Wilhemina and Bradford's non wedding, Claire's escape from prison with an inmate named Yoga, were all groan worthy, but had funny moments and seemed to move on quickly enough.

Season three seems to be where a lot of the audience left. Opinions on it are pretty divisive. They writers toned back a lot of the more farfetched plots from the second season. They cut the two male characters who were vying for Betty's affection, which some viewers saw as a betrayal of the plots on which they invested so much time. Some of the attempts at more real world stories were uncomfortably current. Meade Publications was hit by the same financial crisis as most of the print media with no end in sight. The new CFO robbed all of Meade publications assists reducing Daniel and Wilhemina to beg for a government bail out. When that failed they had to find a Warren Buffet like billionaire to invest in them. Betty got accepted into a prestigious school training people to be magazine editors. It was supposed to be a sure fire way to launch her career, except the story never forgot that print publications are failing all around us. During this period Betty's father had a heart attack and Daniel met, fell in love and married a woman with terminal cancer. (I loved the Daniel and Molly romance- the fact that they made her terminally ill seemed like a cop out). It was not escapism, and might be more than some wanted to engage with.

The show was really toeing the line with what it was: soap opera? soap opera parody? real world based drama through soap opera lenses? The last seems most accurate but hardest to describe. It is even harder to play out. In some ways it only really got it's footing in this quasi genre late season three through season four. But by that point the show lost enough of its audience that it was more of a cult favorite than a national phenomenon the network hoped for (and seemed to get) early in the series. The show got the opportunity to wrap up the plots for the most part. (My favorite of Betty's boyfriends, Matt, was the only one of her serious boyfriends not to return to wrap up the storyline. It was disappointing, but understandable. He would have to become involved with Tyler, his and Daniel's recently appeared half brother, and they really did not have the time to bring in the drama of the other side of Tyler's biological family.) Everyone was given a happy ending, though some were rushed. (Marc falling in love with Troy was ultimately sweet, but did not feel earned). Betty was no longer defined as being "Ugly" and Daniel was free to pursue and discover what work would be a real passion in him (and possibly pursue Betty in a way that really might have satisfied everyone who wanted to see them together and those who did not).

Ultimately the show was about finding out how you make your identity. It was as much of a struggle behind the scenes as it was for the character. In some ways I have never seen a show that was so honest about it. I will always be glad to have seen it.

#livejournal #Livejournal repost #Livejournal archive #Ugly Betty

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jodiwalker · 6 years

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A 'Bachelorette' recap: You Crushed the Rose, Bro!

Audiences often prefer The Bachelor franchise over The Bachelorette franchise because large groups of women tend to bring more complex social dynamics to the table; more external displays of emotion; and most importantly — more dramzzz.

Enter Becca's expectation-subverting boyfriends who, at any given time, are one stolen-hoodie away from a full emotional meltdown. And I love them for it. I hope Becca moves to Utah, gets an oil drum full of Klonopin, and marries every single one of them, so that I never have to live in a world where five men are not solemnly nodding their heads along to the sacred proverb: You never touch another man's property.

The 20 remaining men vying for Becca K's affections had no less than three tearful fits of the heart, two Right-Reasons-related conflicts, and one dramatic confession in season 14’s second episode on Monday night. They are — in a phrase — the most extra. Regarding the tears, Alex's were for a typical Bachelorette reason: he was released by Becca into the fresh Calabasas air after spending six days in a cloud of Old Spice deodorant working way beyond its pay grade, subsisting on deli meats and protein-shake-mimosas, and sleeping in a bunk bed as a full-grown 30 year old man. Indeed, the psychological torture that takes place in that mustard-colored stucco mansion will be studied in text books one day…

**Subscribe to the These Are the Best Things newsletter now and never miss a recap!**

But the other first-date breakdowns were a little more unique to the, uh, passion-driven ethos of Becca's season thus far: (a very sleepy-seeming) Wills was overcome with emotion thinking about how much he loves his mom and dad, and Lincoln…well, Lincoln's group-date-party-favor got broken by a meanie, Connor, who seems to have taken all the buttons off his shirt, melted them down into a pomade, and then swiped that button juice through his hair in order to achieve Marge-Simpson-like heights.

Again, I reiterate that there is nothing wrong with these soft, tender-spirited men; their wild internalized mood swings, fits of emotion, flare for the dramatic, and memorabilia-triggered histrionics only serve to attract me to them more. After years of withheld emotions, over-confidence, and worshiping at the altar of Mark Cuban, these tentative, fragile little nuggets are a welcome and unexpected reprieve. Even this season's transcribed villain, Jordan, is perhaps the least threatening male to ever be on this show. You could run him off with a drug-store-brand conditioner, you could tie him up with a four-syllable word, and you could permanently confound him with nothing more than "what's black and white and red all over?" He is — and I do not say this lightly — harmless. (Except, of course, to himself. I suspect the man is at risk of drowning every time he takes a shower.)

Even the most aesthetically macho brotestant among them, Leo — who looks like a combination of Fabio and a Victorian-era Strong Man — is, in fact, cattier than a Real Housewife of Beverly Hills, snootier than a Real Housewife of New York, and possesses a lace-front even more snatched than a Real Housewife of Atlanta. When the fellas disrobed at the first group date, I was shocked to see all the six-packs. Not because sensitive men cannot be smoke shows, but because this particular group of delicate bros seem like they spend so much time using their rhyming dictionaries to write Becca terrible poems, and gluing macaroni to picture frames to replace the ones they broke during temper tantrums, that I don't understand where they find the time to make their obliques look like packs of grass-fed sausage links.

Much more important than the simple thrill of watching these dudes work themselves into a emotional group-think tizzy though, is the fact that their flights of fancy make Becca seem all the more level-headed and self-assured by comparison. The woman is attacking the process of finding a husband on reality television with the focus and efficiency of someone trying to replace a subordinate before their own boss realizes that they don't actually have any responsibilities. Or as Bachelor Nation faves, Trista, Kaitlyn, Desiree, and Ashley I. will tell you: like Debby Ocean putting together a heist team to steal the Heart of the Ocean or whatever from the Met Ball #ad

[Ed. note: Wills is Rihanna and Leo is Helena Bonham Carter! And I'M SANDY BULLOCK!]

When Lincoln tells Becca that she brings out the best in him, she asks him to elaborate on what he means by that — the woman is not interested in your platitudes. Lincoln helpfully explains: "I can be myself, and I think when I'm myself, which most people are, they are their best, and I genuinely believe that as long as you are who you are, which you always are, you would always get nothing but from the best from me." Oh, well then! Rest assured Becca, this man is definitely invested in you as a person, and not at all tied up in the fact that you're the Bachelorette and a human woman.

Funnily enough, despite Becca being surprisingly adept at navigating this minefield of dumb-dumbs, she cannot stop unnecessarily reiterating to us that we can trust her; that she would never mislead us; that she's not going to lie to us. She's! Not! Gonna! Lie! She's not gonna lie about these guys having good style. She's not gonna lie about being frustrated that there's so much drama. She's not gonna lie about being upset that Colton dated one of her former sister-girlfriends…

BECCA! It's okay! We trust you!

And listen, I’ve obviously said “I’m not gonna lie” a time or two in my life — am I not human? Do I not bleed? Do I not occasionally preface a statement with a gratuitous "honestly, or "literally," or "at the end of the day"? (Just kidding, I don’t say the last one, I'm not a Kardashian eating a $13 salad out of plastic bowl — I'm just me eating a $13 salad out of a plastic bowl!) But I fear that this newly found catchphrase of Becca’s represents something deeper than a mere filler phrase. I'm worried for our dear Becca, and not just because her underarms must be sequin-chafed to ribbons. But also because her constant vigilance for sniffing out dishonesty and insincerity in her potential husbands seems indicative of an internalized pressure to do this job so well, to not make any mistakes, to not completely biff this whole thing at someone else’s emotional expense, like Arie did to her…

Okay, that's enough armchair psychology for one dating game show — let's talk about trampoline dodgeball and what that mouf do!

**Read the rest of the Episode 2 recap at These Are the Best Things, and subscribe to the TATBT newsletter to get all of The Best Things straight to your inbox weekly!**

#the bachelorette #the bachelorette recap #The Bachelor #The Bachelor Recap #bachelor nation #becca kufrin #becca k #colton underwood #chris harrison #rachel lindsay #tatbt

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niikocomic · 7 years

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Legend of Niiko Information Masterpost

Considering there's currently two Legend of Niiko sideblogs on Tumblr, I'll be closing down the inactive one shortly. This is just a compiled list of information regarding the fancomic brought over from the old blog along with new information brought up since. This is as much for my benefit as it is your enjoyment and anything I've written now is subject to change depending how the story grows. Still very much so a W.I.P.

GENERAL INFORMATION

- Book 1: Substance - Book 2: Power - Book 3: Freedom

- The events of The Legend of Niiko happen exactly a century after the events of Book 2 of The Legend of Korra. So about 97 years after Korra's story. (The extended time gives me more breathing room to do what I want while still staying within the confines of the Avatar world...And I also think Korra deserves to have a long and happy life.) - The Legend of Niiko takes place in what would aesthetically be the mid-2020s. - Book 1 will be a standalone story, but the events that take place act as the catalyst for what happens in Books 2 and 3, which will have an overarching story. - While Niiko is the Avatar and will always be the central character, he always shares the limelight with another character similar to Aang and Zuko in Atla. (Book 1 being Elke, Book 2 being Qu Lin and Book 3 being Rao for the first half and Anmu for the second.) - The last thing Varrick invented before his death was the cell phone, they’re called Varriphones. (This literally has no weight on the story as a whole I just wanted to be the first to claim the idea because I’m petty like that). - The only characters still alive from Korra's days are: Jinora, Mako, Rohan, and Ikki. - Niiko is very close to Jinora. Who taught him airbending alongside Master Heliun, who is Anmu's mother. - Niiko suffers severe performance anxiety, which is probably due to an undiagnosed anxiety disorder. He's uncomfortable in being in the spotlight, hyper-aware of people's opinions of him, and overthinks into complete inaction. - Loved the idea of being the Avatar when he found out he was at the age of 8. While he still holds some childlike wonder to his position, as he's grown older and more wise to what the job entails so has his fear towards it. - Niiko’s animal guide is a Hyena-Hog affectionately named Miu. - His bending opposite was firebending. - He tends to blame Avatars Aang and Korra for his own failings. As they achieved so much at such young ages and (in Niiko's opinion, at least) have set the bar of what makes a great Avatar too damn high. *- While mecha technology still exists, the demand for it died after Kuvira’s siege of Republic City. However in recent years there’s been a rise in robotics technology, mostly from the influence of Ba Sing Se Robotics. It’s founder and CEO a Mr. Changming Huang.

*- Team Avatar 2.0. I made a post of what Korra’s Team Avatar did between the events of Lok and Legend of Niiko. Which you can read here.

- Team Avatar 3.0. - Niiko. The Avatar. Age 25 years. Born 245 AG. Height 6'4. - Elke. Waterbender. Age 23 years. Born 247 AG. Height 6'0. - Rao. Firebender. Age 24 years. Born 247 AG. Height 5'9. - Qu Lin. Non-Bender. Age 24 years. Born 247 AG. Height 5'6. - Anmu. Airbender. Age 21 years. Born 249 AG. Height 5'4.

BOOK 1: SUBSTANCE. SYNOPSIS: "Returning to Republic City to announce his presence as the world's new Avatar, Twenty-five year old Niiko finds himself caught up in the disjointed political climate of a failing Police Force and a new task force vying to take their place as tensions rise from a radical group wanting answers for the so called 'De'pea Incident'."

- Takes place mostly in Republic City. - Book 1 is based on cyberpunk narratives, and will have roughly 10 chapters. - Focuses on the relationship between spirits and humans over the past hundred years along with how Korra's choice to leave them open is seen now that it's become the norm. - Technology has advanced to the point that they have things like television, computers and the internet. However the advancement has made some of the things from Korra’s time redundant. - The Avatar world has become more bureaucratic within the past 97 years, with benders needing to be legally registered. - The Spirit World and the portals are protected by a glorified task force known as The Spirit Protection Forces. Led by Captain Arrluk. All that is known about their beginnings is that they cropped up after the events of the De'pea Incident, a spirit world related tragedy that left hundreds dead and many more displaced. - Those thousands affected by the De'pea Incident were left homeless and without answers or any compensation. They now live illegally around the Republic City spirit portal, which has since become closed off to the general public. *- Here’s the character design for Captain Arrluk. Along with a non-spoilery summery of the founding of The Spirit Protection Forces. - With the elderly Mako still Chief of Police, the police have begun falling behind due to it's inability to adapt to the changing times. Because of this the rise in crime has skyrocketed, and most of the government funding going towards the Spirit Protection Forces who seen as more capable of maintaining peace. - While the Republic City Police Force has seen claims of police corruption in the past 30 years, the Spirit Protection forces has had it's fair share of cries of money laundering. - In Book 1 we see the beginning of Niiko's spiritual training. - We see how Niiko deals with the celebrity of being the Avatar while trying to do his duty.

BOOK 2: POWER SYNOPSIS: "To be determined."

- Takes place four months after the events of Book 1. - Is more similar to Avatar: The Last Airbender in that it has Team Avatar travelling the world rather than being in the one location. - We meet Niiko's family and learn more about his past. - There's an actual horse at some point. - Probably the lightest of the three, as we see Niiko's spirital training in Book 1 come to fruition along with him being more comfortable in his role as the Avatar. - With the events of Book 1 still looming over Niiko, we do see him questioning his own morals while trying to uphold Avatar Korra's legacy.

BOOK 3: FREEDOM SYNOPSIS: "To be determined."

- Takes place four years after the events of Book 2. - While the characters move around a lot less than what they did in Book 2, they are only in Republic City for a chapter. With a huge chunk taking place in the Fire Nation. - We meet Fire Lord Yezun and his daugher Princess Yebun. - Rao's younger sister Omi becomes a focal character. *- We also meet Qu Lin’s second brother and his husband. - Book 3 is darker than the prevous books, with Niiko facing an enemy in which he can't physically fight or talk his way into a solution. - It also focuses on Niiko struggling with his connection to Raava and Vaatu.

#legend of niiko #legend of korra #korrasami #makorra #earth avatar #information #avatar niiko #korra #asami sato #mako #bolin #fancomic #webcomic #avatar

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theuseofashes · 7 years

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A Ludicrous Spectacle - A National Humiliation

Trump’s spectacle is outrageous, but not entirely new: He’s the ultimate fulfillment of consumer capitalism - Salon

A Good recap

As Donald Trump’s inability to govern has become increasingly evident over the past six months, the White House has essentially transitioned into a full-blown reality TV show, with enough melodrama and petty infighting to fill several seasons worth of primetime network television.

The president, it seems, has given up all pretense of sanity as his administration has spiraled out of control. He now appears to approach his current job of running the United States government in the same way that he approached his career as a reality TV star. Top officials in the Trump administration have become virtual contestants, vying for the affection of their capricious boss and hoping he won’t mention their names in his next unhinged Twitter rant.

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margdarsanme · 4 years

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NCERT Class 12 Sociology Chapter 6 Globalisation and Social Change

NCERT Class 12 Sociology: Social Change and Development in India

Chapter 6 Globalisation and Social Change

NCERT TEXTBOOK QUESTIONS SOLVED :

Q. 1.Choose any topic that is of interest to you and discuss how you think globalisation has affected it. You could choose cinema, work, marriage or any other topic. Ans. :

1. The effect of globalization on cinema is far reaching. It affects us, on culture, our modes of behaviour, mode of thinking, etc. but affects us differently while for , some it may mean new pattern and opportunities of culture, music, dance, etc. but for others the challenge for their own style of music for identity of culture, for own dance, etc.

2. Advancement in IT (Information Technology), photography, musical instrument, cameras etc. had definitely positive effects on cinema due to globalization. It has opened more wider and larger markets for film producers and even for people to enjoy more films of their own choices and likings.

3. Sociology studies the social or cultural consequences of globalization. With the opening up of the market and removal of restrictions to the import of many products we have many more products from different comers of the world in our neighbourhood shops. The dramatic changes in the media (including cinema) are perhaps the most visible effect of globalization. Some of the Indian film producers, directors, actors and so on are being welcome in other countries and regions or film industries of the world. Similarly several foreign film-makers, directors, heroes and heroines are being called and welcomed by different countries and film industries.

4. Children films, cartoon films, comedies, social and love films are produced in several languages side by side. Film festivals and film promotion shows are being screened in different countries. 5.Music, dance forms, styles of presentations, natural and other scenes, filmy sets are mutually exchanged and are impressing minds of the concerned people of the film industry on universal level. Q. 2. What are the distinctive features of a globalised economy ? Discuss. Ans.: The distinctive features of a Global Economy are: 1. Globalisation refers to the growing interdependence between different peoples, regions and countries in the world as social and economic relationships come to stretch world-wide.

2. Although economic forces are an integral part of globalization, it would be wrong to suggest that they alone produce it. Globalisation involves a stretching of social and economic relationship throughout the world. This stretching is pushed by certain economic policies very broadly. This process in India is termed liberalization. The term liberalization refers to a range of policy decisions that the Indian state took since 1991 to open up the Indian economy to the world market. This marked a break with an earlier stated policy of the government to have a greater control over the economy.

3. Among the many economic factors during globalization, the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) is particularly important.

4. Since July 1991, the Indian economy has witnessed a series of reforms in all major sectors of the economy (agriculture, industry, trade, foreign investment and technology, public sector, financial institutions, etc). The basic assumption was that greater integration into the global market would be beneficial to Indian economy.

5. Hie process of liberalization also involved the taking of loans from international institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These loans are given on certain conditions. The government makes commitments to pursue certain kind of economic measures that involve a policy of structural adjustments. These adjustments usually mean cuts in state expenditure on the social sector such as health, education and social security. There is also a greater say by international institutions such as the World Trade Organisaiton (WTO). Q. 3.Briefly discuss the impact of globalisation on culture. Ans. : The Impact of Globalisation on Culture. 1. Globalisation in the last decade (1999-2000) has seen major cultural changes leading to fears that our local cultures would be overtaken. 2. From time to time we listen about heated debates (or discussion) in our society (or on mass media) not just about political and economic issues but also about changes in clothes, styles, music, dance, films, languages, body-languages. 3. The 19th century socio-religious reformers and early nationalists (moderates also debated on culture and tradition. The issues today are in some ways the same ways different. What is perhaps different is the scale and intensity of change. 4. Some of the scholars declares that India’s cultural traditional has been wary of the Kupamanduka, the frog that lives its whole life within a well, knows nothing else,and is suspicious of everything outside it. It talks to no one, and argues with no one on anything. It merely harbours the deepest suspicion of the outside world. Fortunately for us we retain our ‘traditional’ open-minded attitude to this day. 5. All cultures are homogeneous. There is an increasing tendency towards globalization of culture. Globalization refers to the mixing of the global with the local. It is not entirely delinked from the commercial interests of globalization. 6. It is a strategy often adopted by foreign firms while dealing with local traditions in order to enhance their marketability. In India, we find that all the foreign television channels like Star, MTV, Channel V and Cartoon Network use Indian languages, even McDonald sells only vegetarian and chicken products in India and not its beef products, which are popular abroad. McDonald’s goes vegetarian during the Navaratri Festival. 7. The strength of Indian culture has been its open-minded approach. Culture cannot be seen as an unchanging fixed entity that can either collapse or remain the same when faced with social change. Q. 4. What is globalisation? Is it simply a market strategy adopted by multinational companies or is genuine cultural synthesis taking place ? Discuss. Ans. :

I. Meaning of globalisation:

There is no one meaning or definition of the term (or of the word) ‘globalisation’. Indeed we find different that different subjects focus on different aspects of globalization for instance, economics may be dealing more with the economic dimensions such as capital flows, Political Science may focus on the changing role of governments.

The very process of globalisation is so far-reaching that disciplines have to increasingly borrow from each other to understand both are causes and consequences of globalization.

The scope of sociological study is extremely wide. It can focus its analysis of interactions between individuals such as that of a shopkeeper with a customer, between teachers and students, between two friends or family members.

It can likewise focus on national issue such as unemployment or caste conflict or the effect of state policies on forest rights of the tribal population or rural indebtedness.

Global social processes such as the impact of new flexible labour regulations on the working class, or that of the electronic media on the young, or the entry of foreign universities on the education system of the country.

What defines the discipline of sociology is, therefore, not just what it studies (i.e., family or trade unions or villages) but how it studies a chosen field.

Sociology is not defined by what it studies but how it studies. It would be not quite right to state that sociology only studies the social or cultural consequences of globalization. What it does is the use of sociological imagination to make sense of the connections between the individual and society, the micro and the macro, the local and the global.

II. International companies, their adopted strategy and cultural synthesis in India

Since April 1, 2001, all types of quantitative restrictions (QR) on imports were withdrawn. It is no surprise now to find a Chinese pear, an Australian apple vying for attention in the local fruit stall. The neighbourhood store also has Australian orange juice and ready to fry chips in frozen packets.

What we eat and drink at home with our family and friends slowly changes.

The same set of policy changes affects consumers and producers differently.

They are obviously also linked to public policies adopted by the government and its agreement with the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Likewise macro policy changes have meant that instead of one television channel we have literally scores today.

Sociological imagination enables to make this connects between the micro and the macro, between the personal and public.

Among the many economic factors driving globalization, the role of transnational corporations (TNCs) is particularly important.

from Blogger http://www.margdarsan.com/2020/08/ncert-class-12-sociology-chapter-6.html

#NCERT Class 12 Sociology

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itsfinancethings · 5 years

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November 25, 2019 at 05:00AM

For grassroots candidates running for the U.S. Senate, one big, national endorsement can make or break an entire campaign. That’s why the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee—a powerful, Washington-based organization that spends tens of millions of dollars each cycle supporting Democratic candidates—wields such outsized clout. An endorsement from it is in effect the Establishment’s stamp-of-approval for the party’s biggest donors to cut checks.

But that’s also why the DSCC’s pattern of endorsing candidates early in their primaries has sewn resentment among some grassroots campaigns and progressive activists in a handful of crucial states, including Iowa, Colorado and North Carolina.

“I think there’s a general feeling that we would put forward better nominees as a party to defeat Republicans if we let voters decide candidates, as opposed to trying to divine from within the confines of the Beltway who we think is most likely to win over, say, Kentucky or Colorado,” Karthik Ganapathy, a progressive strategist, told TIME. The DSCC should embrace a “role as sort of intermediaries and arbiters as opposed to kingmakers,” he adds.

At a time when the Democratic party is increasingly split between its moderate, Clintonian wing and a more revolutionary, progressive left—represented by the rise of presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren—DSCC endorsements also carry weighty implications for the future of the party. Some progressive critics argue that the DSCC mostly endorses moderate candidates.

“Their style seems to be [to choose] candidates who can stay on the phone all day to call big donors, do very few press events, and then put all of their money on television,” said Rebecca Katz, a progressive strategist, of the DSCC. “It’s their playbook.” (Republicans can be criticized on similar grounds, she says.)

A DSCC spokesperson says the organization endorses the most viable candidates as part of a broader, national strategic effort. “If we’re going to stop Mitch McConnell from gutting access to affordable health care, confirming partisan judges to lifetime appointments on the federal bench and Supreme Court, and attacking reproductive rights, then we need to win Senate seats,” Stewart Boss, a DSCC spokesperson, told TIME in an email. “We’re working with candidates who will do exactly that and help Democrats take back the Senate.” In recent years, some DSCC recruits have pulled out unexpected wins, including Sen. Kyrsten Sinema in Arizona in 2018.

The Democratic primary in Iowa, where at least four candidates are vying for the nomination to run against Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, is one example of where this tension is playing out. That race won’t heat up until after the Iowa presidential caucuses in February, and the field is still wide open. One October Emerson poll showed no clear front runner. Yet the DSCC has already endorsed a candidate: Theresa Greenfield, the president of a Des Moines real estate business.

Greenfield’s opponents accused the DSCC of anointing a winner from afar. “We shouldn’t rig elections,” retired Admiral Michael Franken, who is also running against Greenfield, told TIME. “And that’s a tough word—rig—but generally speaking the operatives in Washington, DC, do not have a track history in this state of choosing the most viable candidate.”

Kimberly Graham, who is also running against Greenfield, said the DSCC’s endorsement came too early. “Why not let the candidates who are going to get in the race get in, give them six months or whatever amount of time, and see what happens, see what they do?” she said in an interview with TIME. “If we really want a democracy then maybe we should back off a little bit and let the Iowa voters decide who is the best person to represent them.”

Early DSCC endorsements rankled outsiders in other states’ U.S. Senate races this cycle, too. In North Carolina, the DSCC backed army veteran and former state senator Cal Cunningham to take on Republican Sen. Thom Tillis, despite the fact that another Democrat, state Senator Erica Smith, is leading in polls. Smith has been running since January.

In a statement after the endorsement, Smith dismissed Cunningham an an “heir apparent” and accused the DSCC leadership, who she said she met with directly, of interfering in the democratic process. “Ultimately, the voters of North Carolina will decide who their next United States Senator will be — NOT a handful of DC politicians making back room deals in windowless basements,” Smith wrote.

A similar dynamic has played out in Colorado. In August, the DSCC endorsed former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper just two days after he joined the race after his failed presidential bid. Some of the Democratic candidates who were already running to challenge Republican Sen. Cory Gardner attacked the DSCC’s decision. “Democrats: This is a moment of decision. Do we want DC to dictate our choice and buy this election before any ballots are even cast—or do we believe voters still matter?” tweeted Andrew Romanoff, one of the candidates running to the left of Hickenlooper, a moderate. Meanwhile, former Obama-era Ambassador Dan Baer, who had raised almost $1.4 million for his campaign for that seat ended his bid when the DSCC weighed in.

In his first fundraising quarter in the race, Hickenlooper raised $2.1 million. Both Hickenlooper and Cunningham have a slew of endorsements in addition to the DSCC’s.

In Iowa in particular, many DSCC critics say the issue is not whether Theresa Greenfield is the right candidate; it’s that they believe voters should have been given time to consider each candidate’s merits before the DSCC weighed in. Greenfield received the DSCC’s backing just three days after entering the race, alongside an endorsement from EMILY’s List. She has since banked more endorsements from both national organizations, including NARAL Pro-Choice America, and local ones, including AFSCME Council 61 and several other unions. A number of current and former Iowa elected officials, including U.S. Representatives Abby Finkenauer and Dave Loebsack, have also endorsed Greenfield.

Jordanna Zeigler, Greenfield’s campaign manager, did not respond immediately to questions about the DSCC’s early endorsement, but described broad backing for her candidate. “We’re proud that Theresa’s earned support from across the state, including endorsements just this week from labor unions representing nearly 12,000 hardworking Iowans,” she said in a statement. “Her hard work and the growing momentum for her campaign are how Theresa outraised Joni Ernst last month and why she’ll flip this Senate seat in November.”

In the last fundraising quarter, Greenfield pulled in more than $1.1 million —slightly out-raising Ernst. The DSCC sees that as a success: its endorsement can help make candidates competitive in fundraising against powerful incumbents. But Graham, Greenfield’s more progressive opponent, says it has given some of the voters she’s spoken with the impression that “Chuck Schumer and the DSCC put their thumbs on the scale.”

DSCC endorsements have broader implications at a time when the Democratic party, pushed left by the rise of popular liberal candidates, is in a period of self-reflection and reinvention. Many progressives complain that the DSCC’s tendency to select more moderate candidates fails to reflect an increasingly liberal Democratic base—which, they argue, might translate to electoral wins with the support of the party.

According to one recent Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom poll, a combined 40% of likely Democratic caucus-goers in Iowa are planning to caucus in the presidential primary for one of the two top moderates, Joe Biden or Pete Buttigieg. But nearly a third—a combined 31%—planned to caucus for Sanders or Warren. (The poll had a margin of error of 4.4 percentage points.)

Linn County Supervisor Stacey Walker, who endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders for the 2020 primary, noted that a DSCC endorsement—or the lack thereof—affects who enters the race in the first place. He considered running in the Senate race himself, but decided against it on the grounds that the primary was “orchestrated by Washington elites, instead of being left up to the voters.”

“I don’t have the privilege of challenging institutional forces on this scale without incurring significant damage to my political career,” Walker wrote in a post announcing he wouldn’t run for the Senate, “and at the end of the day, this fear won out over my courage and I’m not proud about that.” Walker has since endorsed Graham.

Penny Rosfjord, a former Iowa Woodbury County chair, dismissed concerns about DSCC’s effect on state elections. “I think that people are reading too much into it. I think that anybody can run for the Senate,” she told TIME. “I think this is a nonstory for me.”

But Ganapathy, the progressive strategist, argued that a DSCC endorsement can distort who gets into a race, who rises, and who receives fundraising dollars. “The whole idea behind a primary is just [that] we’re going to get better nominees if we actually let voters decide,” he said. In an ideal world, the DSCC would play a broader role: “Don’t direct resources to any single candidate, and if you’re going to help a candidate, help all candidates equally,” he said.

In 2016, Katz, another progressive strategist, worked for progressive Senate candidate John Fetterman in the Pennsylvania primary. Fetterman lost to DSCC-backed Katie McGinty—but McGinty went on to lose the general election. Two years later, Fetterman ran for lieutenant governor and won the state race. (Katz later added she sees what she characterized as a strategy to keep candidates out of trouble as the Republican playbook too.)

Iowa state Sen. Rob Hogg argues that because the DSCC is a national organization, it often fails to identify the candidate most appealing to in-state voters. In 2016, he emerged as a formidable primary opponent against DSCC-backed Patty Judge, who was ultimately defeated soundly. “I believe to this day that that was a mistake by the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee to intervene in that race,” Hogg said. In 2014, the DSCC endorsed Bruce Braley, who ran what most Democrats agree was a bad campaign. He too lost to Ernst.

“I don’t think Iowans have much confidence in the ability of the DSCC to pick candidates,” Hogg told TIME, describing DSCC endorsements as “meddling” in state primaries. “Unquestionably people want the DSCC to stay out of our primary,” he added. Hogg has not endorsed in the current primary.

Bryce Smith, the chair of the Iowa Dallas County Democrats, defended DSCC support as important to statewide candidates. But added that Iowa voters, who are used to using a very personal caucus system, are particularly sensitive to the notion of Washington selecting a nominee. “I definitely feel as though it kind of rubs against the grain,” he told TIME.

“In my personal view and what I hear from people is that that help comes once the nominee has been picked by Democratic voters,” he added. “I think that’s kind of the hurdle that’s being skipped by the DSCC.”

Eddie Mauro, who, like Greenfield, unsuccessfully ran for Iowa’s third district nomination in 2018 and also entered the Senate race this year, said that in conversations with Schumer and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, the chair of the DSCC, in the spring, he was also told that they did not want a primary. “We talked about the prospects of me running for the US Senate,” he told TIME. “They were concerned about having a primary, they preferred not to have a primary at all.”

In June, TIME reported that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer also attempted to dissuade J.D. Scholten, the candidate who nearly beat Rep. Steve King in Iowa’s fourth district in 2018 who was at the time considering jumping into the 2020 Senate race, from running for Senate in an attempt to clear the way for Greenfield. “We don’t need a primary,” Schumer told Scholten, according to a source familiar with the situation. Scholten eventually chose to run in the fourth district again.

Greenfield ran in the Iowa third district primary in the 2018 cycle, a seat now held by Democratic US Rep. Cindy Axne, but dropped out after a campaign staffer faked signatures for her petition paperwork. The staffer later publicly apologized in an ad in the Des Moines Register.

What’s clear is that Democrats have their work cut out for them in 2020. Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina and Maine are among the most competitive races, although some Democrats argue that Iowa is within reach. The state voted for Trump by about 10 points and the nonpartisan Cook Political Report rates the 2020 race as “Likely Republican,” but President Barack Obama won the state twice and it wasn’t so long ago that Democratic Sen. Tom Harkin represented the state. And as the saying goes, Democrats have to fall in love.

#IFTTT #Blogger

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cinephiled-com · 5 years

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New Post has been published on Cinephiled

New Post has been published on http://www.cinephiled.com/think-can-dance-inspiring-show-need-now/

‘So You Think You Can Dance’ Is the Inspiring Show We Need Now

I had the opportunity to attend the taping of last night’s So You Think You Can Dance and talk to all of the Top 10 dancers including the two that were eliminated at the end of the episode. The popular Fox TV dance competition, now in its 16th season, is hosted by Cat Deeley and features hundreds of dancers from around the country (and world) vying for 10 spots on the show. Coming from many different dance backgrounds and genres, the contestants perform solo, paired, and group dances for the four judges in a variety of dance styles, including ones with which that they have little or no experience.

(l-r: Mary Murphy, Dominic Sandoval, Cat Deeley, Laurieann Gibson, and Nigel Lythgoe)

The four judges this year include the show’s co-creator Nigel Lythgoe and choreographer Mary Murphy, an enthusiastic fixture of the series, along with newcomers Laurieann Gibson who has choreographed dance numbers for Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, and Alicia Keys, and B-boy dancer/choreographer Dominic “D-Trix” Sandoval, who was a contestant on the third season of the show. To be honest, what I know about the world of dance could fit on an index card, and yet this show has not only made me appreciate many dance forms I didn’t even know existed, it has moved me to tears on many occasions. Being in the studio during a taping only upped the ante on my floodgates, I’m surprised I got through the night in one piece. If you watch the whole show, you can see me in the crowd applauding so furiously that I think I damaged the nerves in my hand!

The show opened with a very powerful group number that featured all 10 of the incredibly talented young dancers. The modern dance piece, choreographed by Emmy-winning choreographer Travis Wall, took on America’s epidemic of gun violence in a way that only dance could do. The 10 dancers shot this number right before the live show began and because of some technical problems, they had to do the entire taxing routine three times in a row. It was so moving that I cried all three times. Take a look:

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At such a divisive time in this country filled with so much bullying and needless cruelty, this show consistently gives me hope for a better tomorrow. Seeing these impossibly talented young people perform difficult dance numbers that they learn in a very short period of time with such skill and grace moves me on so many levels. Even though it’s a competition that’s now at the point in the season where two dancers will be eliminated each week, the camaraderie that was clearly evident among all of the dancers in the studio and backstage is very moving and says so much about the positive role of the arts in our lives.

Unlike the opening group number, once the live show begins, there’s no going back for the couples (the dancers are paired but judged individually), they only get one chance to perform their routine, mistakes and all. Sometimes the most interesting part is to see how the dancers recover from a mistake — this can even gain them points with the judges. After each of the live shows, “America” can vote for the different dancers (online or through the Fox Now app) which puts the four dancers with the lowest scores “in danger” the following week. At that point, the judges can “save” the two of the bottom four who they think are the most worthy based on their performances that week, and the other two are eliminated. This is the part I can’t bear because they’re all so freaking talented. Last night was the first time that two dancers from the Top 10 were eliminated and I can’t say I agreed with “America’s” choice. Not the first time that I’ve felt THAT emotion!

After the show ended, I went backstage and waited for the physically and emotionally spent dancers to appear. It’s an unusually young crowd of dancers this year, ranging in age from 18 to 21. First out were Madison Jordan, a 21-year-old contemporary dancer from Minnesota, and Ezra Sosa, an 18-year-old Latin ballroom dancer from Utah whose sister is also among the Top 10. Their dance routine last night, choreographed by Ray Leeper, was excellent as always.

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Danny Miller: Madison, I have yet to see you perform where I didn’t burst into tears, you are mesmerizing on that stage. I can’t even imagine how you handle all that pressure each week and perform so flawlessly.

Madison Jordan: Oh, thank you so much! There are definitely a lot of nerves, especially backstage, but as soon as we’re about to go on, we shake it off. We have to, because those kind of nerves will definitely show on stage which is not going to work in a live performance.

Much is made on the show of the diminutive size of Mariah Russell, a 19-year-old contemporary dancer from Nashville, and Bailey Munoz, an 18-year-old B-boy from Las Vegas, but there is nothing small about their insane dancing abilities. I thought that couple gave one of the strongest performances in last week’s show and they were equally skilled this week in their number choreographed by Luther Brown. Bailey’s Filipino family, sitting directly behind me, was going nuts and holding up single cards that spelled out BAILEY.

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Mariah, how different is it dancing to this large an audience? Do you find that to be a little overwhelming?

Mariah Russell: It’s incredible, but I’ve been doing dance competitions pretty much my whole life. This is obviously the biggest competition I’ve ever been in but I feel like I have a lot to bring and this level of dance is something I’ve always wanted to do. I’m definitely just putting in all of the work that I can to make sure that I have the best time of my life out there because I don’t know when I’ll have an experience like this again!

Do you guys follow all the social media that’s out there about you and the show?

Bailey Munoz: Social media can be tough, it can be pretty toxic, but we just have to remain positive. I’m trying to stay away from it right now because I don’t want it to affect how I’m dancing, but I also know that social media can be a great tool for dancers.

How do the dancers with the situation when one of you is “in danger” and the other one isn’t?

Mariah Russell: Ugh, that’s definitely the toughest part of all. But you just have to keep that connection going between you and just think of that. We’re all just hoping to go as far in the competition as we can.

Next up were Anna Linstruth, a 19-year-old hip hop dancer from Las Vegas, and Benjamin Castro, an 18-year-old dancer from Miami. For me, Benjamin is the top male dancer of the season, I can’t even believe what he’s been able to do in some of his dances. Last night the pair performed a routine choreographed by Randi & Hef.

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You were both so great in that amazing Travis Wall group number. What was it like having to do it so many times? I was worried for you all having to repeat it again and again!

Benjamin Castro: I mean, for me, I was a little worried, too, because I was really able to tap into the heavy emotional part of it the first few times and then you start to worry that you’re losing the meaning a little bit. But in the end, when you get on that stage you just remember the message you’re trying to send and you get it together.

How much time do you even get to rehearse something that intense?

Anna Linstruth: We probably had like a day, a day in a half. (Laughs.) Yeah, we put that together real quick.

Whoa, how the hell do you do that?

Benjamin Castro: You just put your trust in the choreographer and in the people around you. Travis Wall is a genius, man. And he never had to say anything twice, he’s so smart and he knows how to work with people.

Anna, you were “in danger” this week until the end, that’s got to be an uncomfortable place to be.

Anna Linstruth: Yeah, it was incredibly nerve-wracking. I want to make sure I never get there again, that was tough!

During the show, I was sitting behind the family of Sophie Pittman, an 18-year-old contemporary dancer from Tennessee, and it was moving to watch them watch Sophie’s performance with Eddie Hoyt, a 19-year-old tap dancer from New Hampshire. Their dance was choreographed by Travis Wall.

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I was also entranced by the performance of Gino Cosculluela, an 18-year-old contemporary dancer from Miami, and Stephanie Sosa, a 19-year-old Latin ballroom dancer from Utah (and Ezra Sosa’s sister), choreographed by Emma & Sasha.

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You’ve been dancing for many years, obviously, but the stakes have to be a thousand times higher in this setting, no? Or do you just put your brain in a different place?

Gino Cosculluela: I think it’s a bit of both. The nerves are definitely higher because the expectations are so much higher, but we’re both strong dancers who have trained all of our lives so I think we know how to deal with that added pressure.

Sophie Pittman: But it is crazy to think that it’s not just the judges and our parents watching now, it’s all of America watching, that can be a little overwhelming to think about. This whole experience is a little surreal. But I love dancing so much. When we had to do that opening number three times, I was just thinking how much I love getting this message out to people. If we have to do it three or more times, I will keep doing it because I think it was a really important message.

Finally, this week’s two eliminated dancers came out. I thought Stephanie Sosa gave a killer performance on the show and gasped when her name was announced.

Stephanie, this is the one part of the show that I can’t stand! You were so great, I hate to see you go. Did you get to go backstage afterwards and lose it a little bit?

Stephanie Sosa: Oh, thank you so much, it’s hard. I did lose it a little bit but I just have to remember this is just part of a bigger picture. I got to dance on national television which was amazing. And I get to go on tour with the cast this fall. I’m just so proud of my brother, I want him to go all the way!

Eddie Hoyt was such a favorite in my house that I had to take a picture with him to show my family members. He was on the show last year, too, where he very movingly (and somewhat accidentally) came out on national television. My favorite part of this season was his emotional final audition, light years away from his performances on last year’s show. “This was quite a different experience this year,” judge Mary Murphy told him through tears following his audition. “Last year we fell in love with you because you were this cute little pumpkin up there tapping his heart out, and this year, you came back and put so much into it and so much emotion. I don’t think I’ve ever cried over a tap routine before!” Nigel Lythgoe concurred. “It was remarkable and such great choices.” The other two judges agreed. Dominic Sandoval said Hoyt’s number was the greatest tap routine he’d ever seen in his life, and Lauriann Gibson added, “I have one thing to say: Greatness needs no explanation.”

Eddie, I was flabbergasted when you were eliminated, you so killed it in tonight’s routine. How do you cope with that?

Eddie Hoyt: It’s really hard when you reach your dream and then have to leave, especially when I feel so incredibly connected to my partner and to the rest of the dancers in the Top 10. But this whole experience has been so incredible I can’t help but see it in a positive light. I’m just so honored to be here.

What’s next for you?

I’ve got some projects in the works and I would love to do more musical theater and my own choreography. I love performing live so that’s definitely what I hope to stick with.

Here’s Eddie’s emotional tap audition that he performed freestyle that had the judges in tears.

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#Anna Linstruth #Bailey Munoz #Benjamin Castro #Cat Deeley #Dominic Sandoval #Eddie Hoyt #Ezra Sosa #Gino Cosculluela #Laurieann Gibson #Madison Jordan #Mariah Russell #Mary Murphy #Nigel Lythgoe #So You Think You Can Dance #Sophie Huber #Sophie Pittman #Features #What's Hot

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kansascityhappenings · 5 years

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Trump economic adviser dismisses fears of looming recession

BERKELEY HEIGHTS, N.J. — President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser is playing down fears of a looming recession after last week’s sharp drop in the financial markets and predicting the economy will perform well in the second half of 2019.

Larry Kudlow said in Sunday television interviews that consumers are seeing higher wages and are able to spend and save more.

“No, I don’t see a recession,” Kudlow said. “We’re doing pretty darn well in my judgment. Let’s not be afraid of optimism.”

A strong economy is key to Trump’s reelection prospects. Consumer confidence has dropped 6.4% since July. The president has spent most of the week at his golf club in New Jersey with much of his tweeting focused on talking up the economy.

Kudlow acknowledged a slowing energy sector, but said low interest rates will help housing, construction and auto sales.

Kudlow also defended the president’s use of tariffs on goods coming from China. Before he joined the administration, Kudlow was known for opposing tariffs and promoting free trade during his career as an economic analyst. Kudlow said Trump has taught him and others that the “China story has to be changed and reformed.”

“We cannot let China pursue these unfair and unreciprocal trading practices,” Kudlow said.

Democratic presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke said the U.S. needed to work with allies to hold China accountable on trade. He said he fears Trump is driving the global economy into a recession.

“This current trade war that the president has entered our country into is not working,” O’Rourke said. “It is hammering the hell out of farmers across this country.”

Last month, the Federal Reserve reduced its benchmark rate — which affects many loans for households and businesses — by a quarter-point to a range of 2% to 2.25%. It’s the first rate cut since December 2008 during the depths of the Great Recession. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stressed that the Fed was worried about the consequences of Trump’s trade war and sluggish economies overseas.

“Weak global growth and trade tensions are having an effect on the U.S. economy,” he said.

Breaking with historical norms, Trump has been highly critical of Powell as he places blame for any economic weakness on the nation’s central bank for raising interest rates too much over the past two years.

Peter Navarro, who advises Trump on trade policy, shared that sentiment.

“The Federal Reserve chairman should look in the mirror and say, ‘I raised rates too far, too fast, and I cost this economy a full percentage point of growth,’” Navarro said.

Navarro also said that U.S. consumers are not affected by the administration’s trade war with China, though tariffs are taxes paid by U.S. importers, not by China, and are often passed along to U.S. businesses and consumers through higher prices.

Kudlow himself told Fox in May that U.S. consumers and businesses ultimately end up paying the tariffs that the administration imposes on billions of dollars of Chinese goods.

Trump acknowledge at least a potential impact when he paused a planned 10 percent tariff hike for many items coming from China, such as cellphones, laptops, video game consoles, some toys, computer monitors, shoes and clothing.

“We’re doing (it) just for Christmas season, just in case some of the tariffs could have an impact,” the president told reporters in New Jersey.

Navarro would not go even that far, saying Sunday “there’s no evidence whatsoever that Americans consumers are bearing any of this.”

Kudlow was interviewed on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and “Fox News Sunday.” O’Rourke spoke on NBC, and Navarro appeared on CNN’s “State of the Union” and CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

Trump’s trade war with China has been a target of criticism by Democrats vying to challenge him in 2020.

“There is clearly no strategy for dealing with the trade war in a way that will actually lead to results for American farmers or American consumers,” said Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Indiana, a Democratic presidential candidate. He said on CNN that it was “a fool’s errand” to think tariff increases will compel China to change its economic approach.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/08/18/trump-economic-adviser-dismisses-fears-of-looming-recession/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/08/18/trump-economic-adviser-dismisses-fears-of-looming-recession/

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premimtimes · 5 years

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In this interview, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, shares his thoughts with state house correspondents on a number of issues affecting the party, national and crisis-ridden state assemblies and the president’s recently released ministerial list.

Excerpts:

Q: Why did you meet with President Muhammadu Buhari?

Oshiomhole: I am the chairman of the party. The president is not only the president of Nigeria but also the leader of the APC. So, I have a duty to brief him on what the party is doing and also share with him on what the government is doing.

You know, a few things have happened over the past two weeks. Last week, we had two days of intensive conversation with the president and a select group from the private sector, including foreign experts to look at going to the Next Level, to deal with the specifics of how to accelerate the pace of development.

You know normally, even for governors, they do open ceremonies, then go away and come for closing ceremonies and say, we look forward to the communique. But here, we had a president who sat for 10 hours each day to listen to presentations and debates.

He even contributed, and that for me was something l was happy about. It shows that our party has moved from being a rally where people go home from, to one that after everyone had been sworn in, we now sit down to say going to the next level, what are the policy issues and how we deliver to the electorates? I came to thank him for providing leadership for that exercise.

Q: What he is doing to address the turmoil in the party?

Oshiomhole: You talk about rumours, what about what you see? I am very proud to say that under my chairmanship, our party has made tremendous progress. I am not at the mercy of fake or even disgruntled analysts. I write my testimonials by myself, in terms of what l do, how I do it, and what the unbiased people say.

For example, it was noted that 17 governors were going to remove Oshiomhole, what happened? In the end, we provided leadership and had more votes. In the 2015 election, the difference between our candidate and President (Goodluck) Jonathan then was slightly less than three million, but this time around, we had somewhat less than four million.

I am a national chairman, not a zonal or state chairman. So, my responsibilities include getting the APC at the national level going, including relating with the president: the ways we expect the state chapter chairmen to associate with their governors and the local council chapter chairmen with their local government council chairmen. That is the way it works.

I believe that Nigeria under my leadership appreciated APC better as evidenced by the fact that we had more senators, house of representatives members this year than before. For the first time since 1999, the letter of APC under my signature was read on the floors of both chambers of the National Assembly, announcing the principal officers of the party, as determined through consensus by the leadership of the party. This is why unlike 2015 where APC as a party had no say whatsoever as to who emerged as the Senate President, Speaker of the House of Representatives and principal officers. This time around, we got six out of six. Can I do better than that, can I score more than 100%? You talk about turmoil, and if this is how to be in chaos, I want to live there.

Q: What about the crises in Bauchi and Edo state assemblies?

Oshiomhole: Then you should be specific. As the media, you are the most articulate media on the continent. The political environment in other countries is not as free as our own. This is the only country where you can abuse the President, and you go home and sleep. In other countries, if you do so, that will be the last time, you will be seen.

We must defend that right- the right to please him, the right to abuse him, the right to ask me the questions you are sking now and you go home and sleep. Go to some countries, if you talk like this to the chairmen of the parties, you will have to negotiate your camera, but we must defend this freedom. Here, l spoke to you that what happened in Edo and Bauchi are unacceptable. It is not about me. But as a Nigerian who believes in democracy, for nine persons in Bauchi to inaugurate a house of 31 members is wrong. Go and read relevant sections of the constitution; it states clearly that a house cannot be less than 24 and not more than 40 members.

Eleven people in Bauchi, where you have 31 members. It is not about me, not about you. I ask, can you form a quorum of something that does not exist. All my life, l have run associations, I could say, for instance, when I was a leader of the NLC, we had a quorum of National Executive Council of the NLC, now when that quorum had not been formed, I could not say we had created a quorum.

So, you cannot form a quorum of the House of Assembly, when it has not been inaugurated. It is about the system. If I condemned Bauchi and I do so in the strongest terms, I cannot denounce less, what happened in Edo State. It just shows that truth has no political affiliation.

God must give us the courage to condemn what happened in Edo. In the security meeting we have had with some of the senators, governors and lawmakers, it was agreed that when comes to proclamations, you do not only write a proclamation letter, but you ensure that it is communicated to all those concerned and you give them ample time so that wherever they are, they can come in.

We were all here in Abuja, don’t forget we went around the country, talked to everyone that we want Senator Ahmed Lawan as our candidate. We didn’t want to have two candidates vying for the same position from our party, but you saw on that day how Senator Ali Ndume insisted that he must contest against the party’s position. He didn’t hide but he said he has a right, we didn’t deny him that right.

But you know must Nigerians like to describe our President as Commander-in-Chief, we already know that, but for effect, people always amplify yours. So as the commander-in-chief, he could have commanded the security service, the police chief to ensure that Ndume did not appear or is facing some enquiries somewhere while the election was going on, but he adhered to the letter and spirit of the constitution. Senator Ndume was allowed to go to the National Assembly, not out of favour but out of his own rights and against our consensus to say he was contesting.

What I did that day, as you must have seen (because it was televised) was to lobby our senators even as they were doing the voting to say, please don’t disgrace the party. There is a moment for hard talk, there is a moment for soft talk, there is a moment for open talk, there is a moment for a quiet talk. A leader must have the capacity to weave all of that together to get the kind of result you desire.

As you can see at the end of the day, Senator Ndume had his way to contest, but we humbled him by the reduced numbers he got, but he exercised his rights. At the end he said, I wanted to prove a point. Well, he proved a point which is he is not capable of defeating the collective will of the APC family. Today, I am privileged to be the chairman. So these are landmarks you should acknowledge.

For once we didn’t fight on National Assembly. Who is now fighting? Look at the PDP, and you refused to ask this question – PDP insisted on the secret ballot while APC wanted opened ballot. PDP doesn’t want their people to stand up and be counted they wanted their people to vote secretly because they thought that our people would betray us the way they did in 2015, but we had worked hard on our people psyche and changed the mindset to recognise that to belong to a party is to be loyal to that party, and that loyalty goes beyond Election Day.

I believe our people bought into those arguments we gave them support. Besides the platform, we gave them other organisational supports, and by the time they finished voting, they lost. Now, who was trying to find out? For the first time in the history of democracy anywhere in the world other than Banana republic, it is now PDP that set up a panel investigate how people voted in a secret ballot.

Why won’t you ask them why they are investigating secret ballot? God forbid that if you go and do secret ballot and they lost the election, they will go to your village and say they want to investigate. They are the ones in turmoil, they are the ones in confusion. We are waxing, strong and strong.

Senate President, Bukola Saraki

Remember I was saying that Saraki must be removed, people would say how would I do it? I said okay if he resists removal, then we would uproot. We went to Kwara, we did ‘Otoge’, we uprooted Saraki, and you cannot commend me for this? Do you know who Saraki is? If you are talking of the smartest political player, seasoned, smart guy, he is. But for every smartness he has, I have a superior smartness. Who won?

As a Senate President, we uprooted him as a senator, we uprooted has a nominee for governor, and senators, we put our own. Today, he doesn’t have one senator in Kwara, and he doesn’t have one House of Representatives member in Kwara. Everything in Kwara is APC, and you can’t commend me for that? If you don’t then I will be like a lizard – I will praise myself if you state house correspondents don’t appreciate me.

Q: What is your reaction to criticism trailing the president’s ministerial list? Especially that it is not a credible one.

Oshiomhole: Whose credibility? How credible are some of those who are talking? The point is that I don’t know if there is a Nigerian who knows every Nigerian. Even as I can say that I have worked for Nigerian people at all levels, as a worker in a factory, as President of the NLC, as governor of a state and now as a national chairman of a party, there are too many Nigerians I will never be able to know.

Senator Ali Ndume

The screening process is meant to enable those watching, and it is not for nothing that it is televised, it is to allow Nigerians to see who these people are. But you will find that people started dismissing the list even before the saw it, just like some other things that Nigerians dismiss without knowing the meaning.

So, what you and I should insist on is that in the president’s second term, in this next level, our party, our government at the centre, state and local government level must deliver. That is the entry point for every Nigerian.

And when you talk of patronage, who should we appoint…have you heard of Americans pointing Russians because they are experts to go and preside over their MDAs? Even in your newspapers do you invite me as APC chairman to come and write your editorial?

Patronage can be positive or negative, but if there is one man who has shown the capacity to patronise all including where he did not win the election, it is President Muhammadu Buhari. Otherwise, where we got less than five per cent, I saw two ministers coming from that state, even though he got less than five per cent there. That speaks volumes about a large heart, to accommodate, appreciate and to have an all-inclusive government.

I am very optimistic that these ministers, the party, the executive, the National Assembly, where we have an overwhelming majority, we have what it takes to take Nigeria to the next level.

INTERVIEW: APC under me has made ‘tremendous progress’ – Oshiomhole In this interview, the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Adams Oshiomhole, shares his thoughts with state house correspondents on a number of issues affecting the party, national and crisis-ridden state assemblies and the president's recently released ministerial list.

#Headline News #Headline Stories #Latest News #News #Nigeria news #Nigerian news #PREMIUM TIMES #premium times news #PT News #Today Stories #Top News #Trending News

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democratsunited-blog · 6 years

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Gas tax repeal lures California Democrats in key House races

https://uniteddemocrats.net/?p=8630

Gas tax repeal lures California Democrats in key House races

Democratic congressional candidate Katie Porter surprised political watchers last week when she launched a cable television ad declaring she opposed higher gas taxes.

The controversial $52 billion tax and fee increase was the result of a signature effort by Gov. Jerry Brown, also a Democrat, to pay for the largest road funding plan in California in more than a quarter century. Most Democratic state lawmakers supported the effort.

But Porter is not the only Democrat in a hotly contested House race taking a public stand against the measure as it faces an expensive repeal campaign.

“The gas tax is not the way to fix (California’s infrastructure) problems,” Josh Harder wrote in an Aug. 17 Turlock Journal op-ed, arguing that funding for infrastructure improvements, which the tax raises money for, ought to come from the federal government. The 31-year-old Democrat is challenging Republican Rep. Jeff Denham in a Central Valley district that includes Modesto, Turlock and Tracy.

In a statement provided to McClatchy, Harder was even more explicit: “I support Proposition 6,” he said, referring to the ballot initiative that would reverse California’s 12 cent gas tax increase.

“We all agree that we need to fix our roads and bridges, especially here in the Valley, but it should be through a thoughtful, cost-effective national plan,” he said, “not through another tax we can’t afford.” Harder has also been sending out campaign fundraising e-mails emphasizing the issue.

Democratic candidates’ efforts to distance themselves from the tax increase are a sign of the measure’s unpopularity with voters, particularly in regions with lots of commuters. But it also shows how Democrats running in swing districts can potentially neutralize the issue, while demonstrating their independence from the party bigwigs in Sacramento.

Harder has been the most explicit in his support of the gas tax repeal initiative, which puts Denham in a difficult position. The fourth-term congressman has deep ties with the construction and transportation industries, who support the gas tax increase and the road projects it is funding. Denham has received more funds than any other congressman from the air transport, airlines, trucking and railroad sectors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. And he is vying to be chairman of the influential House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, where infrastructure funding is a major issue.

Denham is also one of a few House Republicans from California who has not spoken out nor donated money to support the gas tax repeal, a fact that is likely tied to his relationships. But in a statement provided to McClatchy, Denham said that he did, in fact, support Proposition 6. “ I am committed to lowering taxes on hard working American families,” Denham said. “My opponent sides with Nancy Pelosi in support of raising taxes on middle class families and small businesses.”

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