Rapunzel

The RNC is holding their Holiday Party at Trump's new DC Hotel. Guess who gets to line his pockets even though this property is one that, given the way the lease is written, he should (and will) most definitely have to give up. I guess he can profit until January 20th, and it seems he is trying to rake it in off of this hotel until then.

To be clear, I was referring mainly to those who didn't bother to vote at all or who voted for a Green Party/Independent candidate out of protest. Those who are staunch Trump supporters are what they are. Maybe it would have swayed some of them who voted for him out of protest and didn't really like him either, but, generally speaking, the footage from The Apprentice (not just the edits from the program itself - there is, apparently, also footage of him treating the crew poorly), should have been released in the interests of full disclosure. Maybe it would have persuaded some who didn't vote at all or who cast a "protest vote" to vote differently. Maybe it wouldn't have made any difference. We'll never know now and that's the problem.

It doesn't hurt to dream, but if Burnett wanted to help, he would have released the unedited footage from "The Apprentice" prior to the election. Some of the footage is said to be quite misogynist, racist, shows his volatile and irrational personality, etc. In any case, had additional, controversial footage of Tubby being a misogynistic, racist, biased, bigoted, piece of shit been released (as is supposedly on The Apprentice tapes), it would have made things more interesting and, combined with Pussygate and other offenses from Tubby, would have put what Hillary was really accused of, which essentially boils down to some e-mails and using a private server, which others (even republicans, including Condi Rice) have done before, into perspective. This is particularly true given that Hillary was investigated more than once and found to have done nothing wrong. Who knows who might have been swayed if Burnett had the balls to release the unedited footage from The Apprentice? At the very least, it would have been out there and it would have given people the opportunity to make more of an informed decision. In any case, as I mentioned in a previous post, I will never watch another Burnett show. He helped Tubby get to where he is. His shows need to lose ratings and he needs to feel some pain from all of this.

Is Burnett trying to lose ratings for his other shows? Given this, and the fact that he wouldn't release certain footage pre-election from "The Apprentice," which would have helped to prove that Trump is a misogynist, racist, bigoted POS, I have already deleted "Survivor," and any other show he is associated with, from my DVR and will never watch another one of his shows again.

I'm watching LOD, and he is talking about how KAC is actually “bragging” about Trump’s ability to help or hurt businesses with his Tweets. LOD states that KAC is “especially proud” about Tubby’s attempts to help a Japanese Company and hurt an important American Company. LOD sarcastically points out that that is what the POTUS is supposed to do – “help Japan and hurt America.” LOD then shows a clip of KAC on “Squawk Box” on CNBC where she states that Tubby has this platform, meaning Twitter, that he can use to affect the stock market, industry, etc. She brags about him telling Boeing to cancel the project/put it on hold due to expenses and this caused their stocks to drop a little (she makes it sound like a ton). She fails to mention, however, that the stock had recovered before the end of the day (this goes back to Wall Street and others knowing not to take Trump seriously at this point). In addition, as I mentioned in a previous post, planes have to be ordered as the current Air Force One planes are over 25 years old. The lead time to build these highly specialized and customized planes is 8-10 years. Obama commissioned the designs for the new planes, but no order for actual planes has been placed yet. If Trump does not place the order with Boeing, a US Company, the only other company in the world who can make large commercial aircraft is Airbus, a French company. If Trump wants to keep jobs in the US, he will quit bashing Boeing (his motives for doing so are suspect - they sell about 25% of their planes, 737s in particular, to China, which is likely what may be agitating Tubby at the moment) and place the order. If he wants to keep jobs in the US, he has to issue the order with Boeing. Try to negotiate pricing, fine - but don't just cancel an order due to some odd vendetta against China (whom Trump and family themselves employ to manufacture their own goods and also purchase steel from and who Trump himself has borrowed tons of money from) and give an order to a French company when you have pledged to keep jobs in the US. KAC also talks about the $50 billion (“and that’s with a ‘b’” she makes sure to state – I have another word for KAC that begins with a “B”…) investment by Softbank from Japan, which caused their stock to go up. However, the details of that deal as Trump and KAC describe them, are, of course, not entirely accurate. This money is not coming from Softbank because Trump was elected. This fund, which is jointly funded by Saudi Arabia (which Trump never mentions), was negotiated prior to the election. LOD said it best when the clip was over: “And there you have another major entry into the file of stupidest things KellyAnn Conway has ever said.” I mentioned this in a post a while back now, but KellyAnn looks just like a Hexenbeast (a type of witch that is horrid looking) from Grimm. Someone, at the time I originally posted it (I apologize that I can’t remember who it was), had a great graphic of one of the Grimm Hexenbeasts (Adalind – for those who are familiar with the show) and they posted it. The resemblance of Adalind in her Hexenbeast form to KAC is really astounding.

So, in other words, let's prove efficacy after we've seen how many people have been killed, brain damaged or otherwise irreparably harmed by these untested medications. Even drugs that have gone through the full testing regiment in place today end up being found to have issues later on and cause harm to people. Trump seriously wants to put a guy in place willing to put even more lives at risk by not following proper channels? I hope one of the first drugs released without full testing is for erectile dysfunction and that Tubby is the first to take it and it makes his dick shrivel up and fall off altogether.

Of course he did. I wonder if knows what "Mad Dog's" other nickname was. Mad Dog is a bachelor, so they also called him the "Warrior Monk." Think Tubby would have picked him if "Warrior Monk" was the nickname he was better known for, or preferred to go by?

Of course the option to adopt Louie was going to come up and of course it was going to be the catalyst to finally get Casey and Dawson hitched. I still cannot believe we have never seen Louie smile once. At least he said 3 words this episode: "okay Matt" and "Daddy." This whole thing about calling Casey Dad and his little conversation with Louie at bedtime about it was interesting since I've never heard him call Gabby "Mommy" or anything, for that matter. The kid never talks, never smiles, hardly ever looks at anyone or anything... It's just getting tiresome and it almost seems like he's on valium or something all the time. Yes, he was traumatized, but honestly, at this point he should be starting to adjust and Cindy claims that he has a good time playing with her and Hermann's kids, so it seems he is capable of smiling, though off-screen. Of course Louie's bio dad pops back into the picture. I can see Gabby throwing a shit fit already and begging Casey to use his political influence and connections to make sure that they can adopt the boy and having Antonio investigate the guy and maybe going so far as to actually have Voight and company plant something to use against the guy, or maybe arrest him for something, to ensure that he is deemed unfit. We all know Gabby will get what she wants in the end because she always does, even though she doesn't really seem like supermom here. That little mention about Louie eating Cheerios 20 days in a row was a little odd - I know kids are picky eaters, but as a parent sometimes you have to vary things and make sure he has a balanced diet. Make the kid some scrambled eggs once in a while or something. I thought it was kind of an odd line to throw into the show. I've said it before and I'll keep saying it - they should have killed off Gabby and kept Shay. I would rather have seen them follow through with the storyline where Shay and Severide were going to have a kid together than to have this Gabby/Louie/Casey shitshow. Casey didn't even want a kid and wasn't interested in fostering Louie with Gabby. Gabby left Casey to do it, was living on her own and caring for Louie "by herself," meaning she still had a lot of help from Casey, Hermann, Cindy and others. However, now Casey is willing to marry her and adopt Louie with her? It's like they left out an episode or two where Casey decides he does want to be a parent after all - and to the saddest boy in the whole world. He keeps enabling Gabby and doing everything she says so she can continue to get whatever she wants - it's getting old and they need to change the dynamic here. So after the winter break we have a cross-over with Chicago PD to look forward to. So far this season they haven't been quite as heavy with the cross overs as they were last season, but they still have time to make up for that. At least this one doesn't appear to feature Gabby too heavily, though with the "shock" of bio-dad appearing at the end of this episode I'm sure she'll get her share of screen time.

He also might not be eligible anyway. He has to have been out of the military for at least 7 years and he hasn't been retired that long. Trump and Co. are trying to change this, of course, but it might not happen. I think he probably should have waited to announce him before he knew if he could bypass that rule, but that's so typical of Trump. I so wish it gets shot down just because it would make Tubby look like an even bigger idiot - especially given that horrible, overly dramatic way he announced his pick at one of his "victory" rallies and simultaneously bashed the press.

I can't remember where I read it or if it was on one of the MSNBC shows, but someone mentioned that his Presidential Library would be nothing more than one big wall full of his Tweets. What a horribly embarrassing legacy. I wonder if they'll have an SNL Section, a Rosie O'Donnell Section, a Crooked Hillary Section, a Rigged Election Section, a Whiny Ass Orange Man Baby Oompa Loompa Section, etc. That man does not deserve a library - he doesn't read and admits it. From the way he speaks, he sounds practically illiterate. One of my friends in China that I've known for a long time mentioned that they have a hard time understanding him and that translating his speaking into Chinese can be difficult because of it. They can't believe that English is his first language.

Thanks TOOMUCHSOAP. I'm glad it was useful information. :-)

Some in China are certainly likely to be reserved in speaking about him and in sharing their opinions and/or criticisms, but I'm specifically mentioning speaking with my good friends that I have long term relationships with. I lived there for 2 years and have been doing business there for over 10, typically making about 6 trips a year or so. Those I'm closest with will be honest and some already have been - it's been interesting so far, but I'm curious to hear from them about these latest developments. I haven't read one of Trump's NDAs, however, I understand that it prohibits anyone employed by him from saying anything negative about him or his family. If they do so, he has the right to sue them. I believe this extends beyond just while they are employed by him and he basically expects the protection period to last forever. Most typical NDAs or CDAs have a defined "Disclosure Period" (the time period during which confidential information will be disclosed - this could be for as long as you're employed by a particular company, for example) which is followed by a "Protection Period" (the period of time after the Disclosure Period ends in which you are still prevented from disclosing any information learned during the Disclosure Period). They also typically specify what it is considered confidential/sensitive information and any how that information can be used. In addition, any information that is made publically available or is publically known, cannot, of course, be considered confidential. So the fact that he is Orange, Tubby and resembles and Oompa Loompa is publically known, so even under his ridiculous version of an NDA, may not be protected. Of course, I'm kidding a bit here, but you all get the idea. As we all know, Federal Employees already have to protect classified and sensitive info (and certain other types of info), however, given the First Amendment, nothing can prevent them from saying anything negative about their employer or his family or for speaking their minds. He has the right, as President, to fire them for doing so (since they all "serve at the pleasure," he can technically fire someone on the spot) which I could see him definitely doing and this really turning into "The Apprentice" where he calls people into the Oval Office regularly and shouts "You're Fired!" and then also Tweets it for extra emphasis. Trump can try to change this, however most seem to believe that it is unlikely he will be able to do so. My understanding is he could try to do it with an Executive Order, but he would still have to prove in court that signing an NDA that would give him the right to sue employees for criticizing he or his family would best serve the public interest. As mentioned, it really does not given that it could impact how history is recorded, journalism, etc. In addition, there is the issue of free speech, and as long as we still have the First Amendment, he'd have a hard time making case. Also, there would be a cost to enforce it, the system could get bogged down with these types of lawsuits, especially as there could be some ambiguity around what could be considered negative or disparaging remarks and judges would have to make the determination, damages would have to be proven, etc. With the way things are and the things he's been able to get away with, I won't say anything isn't possible in his administration, however I think (I hope) that he would have a difficult time getting something like this passed. I guess he'll just have to resort to firing everyone as a deterrent.

I'm watching LOD, and he brought up the point that, building a new Air Force One plane takes several years (8 to 10 years due to all the extra features, including a full operating room, all the latest technology, etc.). No order for the actual planes has been placed yet (so Tubby, no order to "cancel" quite yet), but Obama did commission the design for the new planes. Even if Boeing gets the order, Trump will never fly in those planes due to the amount of time it takes to build them - this is even if he is in office for 8 years (which, heaven forbid, had better never happen - I'm still hoping he doesn't even make it close to 4 months let alone years). Another good point made was that, the only other manufacturer of large, commercial aircraft in the world is Airbus, a French Company. So if Trump doesn't order from Boeing, a US Company, then he will have to order from Airbus. The Air Force One Planes are due for replacement - they are over 25 years old and outdated in terms of technology so they do need to order new ones and soon, given the lead time. What was that about keeping jobs in the US again? Oompa Loompa apparently likely decided to go off on Boeing not due to cost, but because about 25% of the planes they make, 737s in particular, are purchased by China. In his warped, ignorant mind, this is another way that he is "standing up to" China. At the end of the day, however, it hurts the US economy and jobs in the US more. He is just so myopic and short term in his thinking that he can't even comprehend this. All he cares about is some weird vendetta against China, who makes the Trump family's shitty lines of clothing and whatnot and is also a country that he personally owes a ton of money to (I negotiate contracts with China often - I am sure there is most likely a way for them to call in Tubby's debt early if they want to). Why does he want to piss them off so badly? I have to go to China on business right after New Year's. I go there often and have never been afraid to go there, and I won't be now (my company has offices there and we also have Customers there that I am going to see), but I know they will be curious about Trump and his antics and I'm sure I'll get some interesting opinions from some of my good friends over there that I've known for over a decade.

They did mention that the challenges throughout the competition are supposed to get harder and harder. Clearly, the challenges get harder within each week. Even though they don't pick the type of cake, cookie, bread, pastry, etc., they do get told in advance what type of cake they will be making and get to pick the recipe they will use in the "Signature Bake" challenges, so it should be something they've made before and are comfortable with, as you hear many of them mention they use traditional family recipes, or that when they make it for their family, they love it, etc. It's also how they know how to bring certain types of ingredients from home. In the second challenge, that is always one of Mary or Johnny's signature recipes that has steps, techniques, times, temperatures, and/or quantities/measurements omitted, though they are given all the ingredients. In the Showstopper, they are told the general type of cake, cookie, etc. they must make (meaning layer cake, or cookie-scape, not that they have to make gingerbread cookies for it or that they have to use a certain type of cake for their layers, etc.) and what the judges expect to see (i.e. Holiday theme, lots of colors, etc.), but this is their chance to really be creative and, since the judges expect to see many techniques here (different types of cookies, homemade jams, compotes, different types of icings, sugar work, artwork, etc.), they get 5 hours to do it. This format has been the same in all the various versions of the shows, I believe. I think they also try to choose different types of items in each category to bake each season so that we're not always seeing a Bundt cake, a Victoria sponge, bar cookies, croissants, macarons, éclairs, etc. season after season. I do believe they did have baklava done on one season of one of the shows. As for why they cook in a tent, I wondered that as well, but I think Athena explains it pretty well:

What was the very first American version called that had Jeff Foxworthy and Paul Hollywood as the hosts? That was before Nia and Ian hosted last year. I guess, regardless of title, given that the format has been the same, this is kind of season 3. Either way, I don't think it matters much. I just know the first season in the US had different hosts than this season and the one last year.

I believe you're right. I think she came in second on the biscotti challenge (Jerimiah won that one), and she mentioned she had never eaten biscotti before much less made any, and she was close to the top in the signature bake as well, but I can't remember what kind of cookie bars she made. It was nice to see her doing so well in cookie week because she had some troubles in cake week as her first two cakes, her Bundt cake and Mary's apple almond cake, were both a bit undercooked on the bottom. She was still somewhere in the middle on those though and I think her showstopper was decent, but again, can't remember what she made.

I also thought that the Cookie "Week" episode might have been a non-elimination since they lost Antoinette (anyone hear what the family emergency was? I hope things turned out okay), however, as someone else mentioned, as there was a pretty clear loser they may save the non-elimination for another week when everyone is more equal and it's harder to pick a loser. I think they did that in another season, but I can't remember. In any case, Courtney had to go. He was awful in both "weeks." That chocolate layer cake that he made in which he used gram masala and crème de cassis in it looked awful. It was just a brown, crooked, mess. The fact that, when Mary tasted it, she actually said something like "it was not a good chocolate cake," is pretty bad. That's pretty harsh criticism from Mary as she usually tries to always mention something positive as well, but she hated the look of it and the taste of it. Why couldn't have least used some color when decorated it? I honestly thought he was might have gone home over Nancy, but Nancy was a hot mess and definitely deserved to be at the bottom as well. Next week is bread week, so we'll have to see how they do. I remember in season one they had to make croissants, and making those things from scratch is no joke. It is startling when you see how much butter is used to make those things - but that's why they taste so good! I wonder what they'll have this season.

I'm watching Rachel Maddow and, apparently, Trump is claiming on Twitter that the President of Taiwan called him (he put this in all caps) to congratulate him. He then ended the Tweet with "Thank You!" RM was quick to point out that, even if that was the case, it doesn't matter who made the call. We've had an agreement with China since 1979 that we would not acknowledge Taiwan as a separate government - that it was part of China and we would deal with Beijing and recognize the Chinese Government there. Trump also Tweeted after that, since the US sells military equipment and weapons to Taiwan, what's the big deal about him accepting a congratulations call? This man is clueless. Most are speculating that he is generally too stupid to realize the damage he just did. If this, the incident with Pakistan and the one with the Phil. where he invited their leader to the White House (all three in just 48 hours), does not prove that this man is unfit to be President, I don't know what will. The Repubs have to be afraid here as well. If we can't fix things with China (and I lived there for a while, speak the language, spend a lot of time there for work and deal with them on pretty much a daily basis), we could have some real issues. It is quite possible that they may ask for some kind of apology or statement from Trump as, in this case, China didn't do anything wrong. They may ask for Tubby to fix/clarify this if they are offended and feel we have broken the deal that had been in place for nearly 40 years. Tubby is not going to like admitting he made an error. The Tweets he has already put out indicate that. ETA: This man is not even in office yet and he is doing a fair amount of damage to our diplomatic relations. This is another reason Obama should step in now, while he is still sitting President, and try to fix these fairy significant errors or there is no telling what could happen. Who is next on Trump's call list? How much more damage is he going to do? Someone stop him already - he is unfit - this hurts the whole country and no longer matters if you're a republican or a dem or whatever. It is in no one's best interests for him to continue this way.

I was just going to post about this - I got an alert just now from the BBC on my mobile about this and couldn't fucking believe it (the BBC is doing a better job covering all this bullshit with Trump than our own media is). Apparently, his contacting Taiwan also violates a US Policy that was put in place back in 1979. I haven't had time to read all the details yet, but what is this asshat doing???

This is a good point. Has he even given one Tweet regarding what those people in TN are going through? From what I saw of his victory speech (and I only watched snippets because I couldn't tolerate any more than that) did he even mention them or was it all just him bragging, telling ridiculous lies and trying to sooth his poor, damaged ego - because we all know that the popular vote thing is killing him. When I first moved to Southern CA in 2007, that was when we had massive wild fires all around San Diego and also in parts of LA. I had only been here a few months, my husband was out of the country still taking care of some things back in London, and I got the automated, emergency services call at 3am telling me that I had to evacuate my home immediately. I threw what I could in a suitcase, grabbed some of the photo albums, the computer and whatnot, and the second I opened the front door I couldn't see my hand in front of my face. There was smoke so thick everywhere and ash falling all around that made it look like there was a snowstorm. I went to a friend's house who lived not far from me but hadn't been evacuated yet. We soon saw the fire start to burn down the hillside in her backyard and we piled our stuff into the car and went further north to our boss' house, then they were evacuated, and finally we went to LA (Northridge) to my friend's parents', and we were there for four days until they would allow us to return to our neighborhood and our homes. For those four days we had no idea if our homes were still standing or not. Thankfully, all that happened to my home was that a lot of ash had blown in though the cracks around the front door and some of the windows, but no major damage. The fire, however, had burned right up to the cement wall that surrounds my community and everything on the other side of it, the trees, bushes, everything - was completely burnt out. A lot of my colleagues lost their homes and everything they had, save for the clothes on their backs and maybe their car. It was hard to find places to stay - hotels were full, you couldn't find apartments to rent, etc. My company helped out quite a bit and raised money, we donated clothes, toys, household items, etc., we had an internal message board set up so that people could find other people to stay with, etc. My husband and I had a couple stay with us for 6 months while they were sorting things out with their insurance and until they could find a place to rent while work began on their house. Thankfully, eventually everyone got back on their feet and my company did a lot to help - more than what the government did and a lot faster. It was truly a frightening experience though, and for Trump to care more about making some stupid victory tour because he his ego is too damn fragile than to show some support for these people and use his influence and his own resources to help them then he's an even bigger ass that I thought. He'll probably lie at some point and say he donated money to them or that he helped make arrangements for those that were displaced using his own money or some crap, but we know it won't be true - that's his track record. Maybe he'll donate a thousand dollars or something and claim it was some absolutely yuuge, massive, donation - so yuuge, he rebuilt a whole town. Right now though, he's too focused on this stupid waste of time and money Tour of Lies and Hate. I did notice, as others mentioned, that those sitting behind him or that were on camera in the audience, were pretty much all white - no more even trying to place any POC where they would be seen so he can paint another illusion and brag about how much minorities love him. I know Obama is in a tough spot, but he needs to try to do something to help us with his last bit of time left in office and not just wait until he's out. He may be trying to reason with Trump and persuade him to do certain things, but this victory tour and the way Trump behaved and the things he went right back to saying about Hillary and the Dems prove that nothing Obama is saying to him in these phone calls or whatever is sinking in. There's also these ridiculous calls to foreign leaders and this mess he may have now likely landed us in with Pakistan and India, the fact that he won't meet with the advisors and experts on those countries before he makes these calls, the fact that he won't take the daily briefings etc. All of these things are just some of the examples that show he isn't taking whatever advice Obama may be trying to offer. We need our sitting President to try to help us - he can start by helping with the issue that Russia almost certainly did fuck with our election, therefore destroying our democratic process and that very likely the wrong person is PE. That alone should motivate some action. He has to be diplomatic about it, yes, but things keep getting worse and something needs to help stop it before it goes any further.

I posted about this here a couple of days ago after Rachel Maddow covered it on her show. There was a decent amount of discussion about it - most people, understandably, just cannot believe it. It seems so crazy, but that's what this guy Price wants to do. I also mentioned that since condoms are a form of birth control, then that technically should mean men would be fired as well.

Wow - I had no idea Susan Sarandon did all of that... I tend not to pay much attention to celbs in general even though I live in Southern CA, but this is pretty bad. I definitely don't think I can look at her or watch one of her movies - at least not for a good long while and not one where she has the lead role.

Thanks for the clarification, callmebetty. It makes me able to tolerate a tiny bit more, mainly since at least Jill Stein raised the money for the recount in WI, MI and PA, but still...

I hadn't heard that she voted for Trump. Damn it, I liked her as an actress. Now I don't know that I can look at her again.

Good point about Obama and the Justice Department. This makes it even more frightening. As I said, I know they've had the ability to do this all along, of course, but legitimizing it, especially without it going through all the proper channels, is even more scary, especially as Tubby will hold the keys to this new "toy" and heaven only knows how he'll use (abuse) it, as you mentioned. I can see Putin getting tons of info that could definitely be very detrimental to this country and to the rest of the world, especially if Tubby is in debt for helping him fix the election (not to mention that Tubby has likely borrowed tons from Russian banks).