Bastet

Yes. Here, in the general election, to begin with you can only do a write-in vote for party-nominated and local offices, not for the voter-nominated offices (so, you can write in for President, County Board of Supervisors, judges, etc. but not for U.S. or CA senator/representative). Then, there is a list of "qualified write-in candidates" that becomes available online something like 10 days before the election.

There's a scene in the documentary 13th (a very well-done film, incidentally; highly recommended) in which footage from Trump rallies, of Trump and his supporters mocking and threatening protestors, is juxtaposed with historical footage of the mistreatment of civil rights protestors in the '60s.

Until 1993, there were still states saying you can't rape your spouse (North Carolina was the last state to get on board, just behind Oklahoma). It wasn't until 1976 that the first U.S. state changed its law to make spousal rape a crime; prior to that, every state's penal code included language like "of a person other than a spouse" when defining rape. And there are still states that treat marital rape and non-marital rape differently (and I mean by statute, not just in the differing attitudes towards victims and the reluctance to prosecute spousal rape cases).

NY, San Francisco once they got rid of Puck, and London.

They don't, they just know the music and lyrics are cheaper to license than adding in the original vocals as well and thus for many songs there isn't adequate return on investment. But, yeah, as a listener you find yourself wishing they'd just stick to things they could license properly and skip the rest entirely.

It gave us "Time the fuck out!" from Melissa, and Kelly wisely counseling her that stooping to David's level merely provided a distraction, when remaining professional would out him as the malcontent he was to the team. But I'd have still preferred to see them in their natural habitat, rather than forced to share that job. There was good stuff from that cast, but not much from their assigned job. Ugh, they had a hideously unlikable cast,who only look less awful in hindsight after having watched a few more seasons before walking away from the shitshow RW had become. Colin and Amaya were immature idiots on their own, but actively repulsive together (especially him). Kaia and Justin both had buried redeeming qualities, I suppose, but went beyond the "wow, people can be insufferable at this age" demeanor to join them as twits to be dismissed from my screen. The remaining options being Matt, Ruthie, and Teck? Again, had I but known, I'd have appreciated them more. But on their own? No thanks.

Well, I'll be damned -- I finally got my sample ballot, and we do have early voting here. How embarrassing; I am not normally so uninformed. I believe I vaguely knew it was available at Department headquarters, far further than I'm willing to go, for about a month up to Election Day, but I had no idea that for the two weekends prior to Election Day, there are early voting stations set up, although in only five locations around the (huge) county. I'm still going to vote on Election Day, because I can just walk half a mile rather than driving to the nearest early voting station about ten miles away (and because I can take time to go in the middle of the day and avoid crowds), but good to know. There is no requirement here to show ID. And anyone can vote by mail so long as they apply to do so in time (deadline is a week before Election Day); you don't have to be out of town or anything like that. I don't know if postage is required, but one must put postage on the application (although there is an online application available), so probably. There are drop-off boxes available, about 75 locations. If I was going to vote any way other than in person on Election Day, that's how I'd do it; I wouldn't risk putting it in the mail.

I'd have been just as much of a pill about the business thing if I'd been a Miami roommate -- "I don't want to open a business. Someone buy my share; I'm going to Everglades." And, oh my god, if I'd showed up in Boston and found out I was supposed to work with children? I'd have pulled a Montana and got myself fired so I could go do something else. I understand why it was much easier from a production standpoint to force them to work together as well as live together, but I found the show much more enjoyable when they were left to their own devices. If some of them sat on the couch all day, so be it.

Heh; even Michael Gleason knew Tony sucked. A friend just sent me this, from Gleason's Facebook page a few years ago. A fan asked, "Why did you decide to include the character of Tony in the last season of Remington Steele, who, in my opinion, made Laura seem too "UnLaura" (much different than the one we knew)?" Gleason's response:

I don't use social media, so I don't know if something was posted to Facebook, Twitter, etc. by any of his colleagues. All I've read are the obituaries in the trades, and the only person I saw quoted there was Susan Sullivan.

With Coughlin gone, Carroll is the oldest head coach in the NFL.

I'm not sure I've ever heard anything good about Danny Kaye other than from fans; any time I've seen reference to him by someone who actually worked with him in some capacity, it's a negative story. I've probably mentioned here before that once I heard how awful he was to Madeline Kahn, I was permanently turned off (not that I was ever much interested in his performances to begin with).

That conversation with her equally vapid friend was jaw dropping to me. A woman is freshly murdered! Like you said, they were just short-term roommates, so I don't expect her to feel any connection beyond that, but someone she knew was killed in their shared home. Someone broke in, raped and murdered her. What if Amanda had been home at the time? Even if she can't muster up some basic human sympathy for Meredith, the "Wow, freaky!" nature of events isn't a little sobering that nattering on with her friend about her little European fling doesn't feel inappropriate? The investigation into what had happened to that poor woman was, at this point, just some big inconvenience to Amanda, going by that phone call --she just wanted to get back to getting stoned and having sex. Which, hey, nice way to pass a day. But it's like the murder was just something that was harshing her buzz. None of this makes it right that she went through hell for a crime she didn't commit, of course. Just, holy cow, she was an unlikable person back then. Depending on the circumstances, the door being left open may not have given me pause, either. I live alone, so if I came home to my door open, I'd freak out. But when I was young and had a roommate, if we hadn't had indoor-only cats, if I'd come home and found the door open, I'd have thought she left it open to get some air or had brought in groceries and forgot to come back and shut it long before I'd think someone had broken in. But when I didn't see her, I'd have probably called out, "Are you home?" (if for no other reason than to see if I needed to be annoyed that she'd gone off and left with the door open). The blood in the sink, if it was just a few tiny drops, probably wouldn't alarm me on its own; I'd figure she cut herself, went into the bathroom to clean up. But maybe now I'd start having second thoughts about the open door. And at any rate, I'd probably be knocking on my roommate's door to check that she was okay. So, while I can certainly think of ways I might have reacted differently, it's not outside the realm of possibility I wouldn't have really grown suspicious until the blood on the rug, either. Especially if I was stoned. (I once cut my hand horribly, and had to call my mom to come take me to get stitched up. I thought I'd cleaned the kitchen fairly well while I waited, but when my roommate got home she discovered me gone, my car in its spot, a little bit of blood I'd missed, the knife, my interrupted meal preparation, and the bloody handprint I'd left on the phone that hung on the wall just outside the kitchen. She didn't assume I was dead or abducted, she assumed I'd cut myself making dinner and had called my parents to take me for stitches. She waited a bit, and when I hadn't yet returned, she called my parents' house, where my dad confirmed what had happened.)

Steele Eligible, when someone is killing bachelors ("In that case, Laura, will you marry me?"). He needs to get to the arena to help Laura, but he's in a wheelchair with a broken leg. To get out of the apartment, he must do battle with a ficus.

I just read in the In Memoriam thread that Michael Gleason died Friday. From the Facebook post announcing his death: I shall indeed be popping in that DVD tonight. (And it's touching for that to be his favorite, as he's acknowledged that all credit for how delightful that scene is goes to Pierce -- so Gleason's favorite scene is not some intricate, dramatic moment he slaved over a typewriter about, but a small notation in his script that one of his actors turned into comedy gold.)

Remington Steele remains one of my all-time favorite shows, and Laura Holt one of my all-time favorite TV characters, and I've always respected Michael Gleason for understanding the radical concept that a female character being written only by men is a problem. Unfortunately, this led to the addition of only one woman - the fantastic Susan Baskin - to the writing staff, but it also led to him repeatedly seeking, and heeding, the input of Stephanie Zimbalist about how Laura should be portrayed.

I have watched that Notorious HRC segment so many times, and the only thing that makes me smile more is imagining Hillary watching it and laughing that laugh.

That look says it all, because there is just no other reaction to that miss than sheer disbelief that what you saw really happened.

What. the. actual. fuck? I'm stingy with "I could do that" declarations, but, yeah, I would have had a good chance at making that FG. Give her enough catnip, and my cat would have had a good shot at it. I could not understand why Arizona kept pushing forward rather than just kicking it, and then they kicked it. Okay, sucks to be you. Then my Seahawks miss an even easier three. It's been a long time since I watched two talented teams work so hard to lose a game. So I suppose it's only fitting it end in a tie.

I never make eggs (egg whites in my case, as I hate yolk) that aren't accompanied by either bacon or sausage, so I always fry or scramble them in the grease; I pour most of it off, and leave just enough to keep the eggs from sticking. When I get egg whites that have been cooked in butter, they taste so strange to me (even though I like butter). My house is a margarine-free zone.

From the files of what the hell is wrong with people: My parents, who are on their way home, called to say they're at a dead stop on the interstate and asked me to look up what's happening (the live traffic info on the motorhome's GPS navigation system doesn't give info in the relevant area for some reason). It turns out the westbound side has been completely shut down for hours due to a horrible crash between a tour bus and a big rig. The tour bus rear-ended the truck (possibly because the truck tried to merge into the bus' lane; it's unclear at this stage), resulting in the front of the bus being basically inside and under the trailer. At least 11 dead, 30 to the hospital, including five critical ... tragic. I'm reading an article on the website of the paper local to the area of the crash and get to this: Really? Rubbernecking in your car is bad enough, but these ghouls pulled over and got out - you know with their damn camera phones in hand - to get a closer look? Sickening.

I've given away so many cat-themed tchotchkes, because people do, indeed, focus on something you like and go overboard in giving you thematic gifts. (And then come over and remark, "You have a lot of cat stuff." Well, yeah, you're one of the reasons for that!) I pared down long ago; I keep a few favorites out, and several more in the garage to rotate every year or so. I like cute things, but too many at once just becomes "cutesy" and that I hate.

We're not terribly inundated with presidential campaign ads in Los Angeles, as it's pretty much a done deal here (we are, however, bombarded with ads about our gazillion propositions), but during football I am subjected to the NRA's odious anti-Hillary ads. NPR recently did a bit on how political candidates are decreasing and will continue to decrease the amount they spend on TV ads, given the growing number of people who consume broadcast media in other ways. Since I still watch everything on TV, via satellite, I'll be thrilled to see them go elsewhere.

Seriously. I came away from this documentary thinking poorly of just about everyone involved -- investigators, the prosecutor, Amanda (I don't think she killed Meredith, but I think she was a disturbingly uncaring person back then), Amanda's hideously immature friend who called her three days after the murder, and that awful Daily Mail reporter. He disgusted me pretty much every time he opened his mouth, and especially with that declaration. He should be struck by lightning whenever he calls himself a journalist.

It's extremely well done, and something that should be shown in schools. It's a brilliant exploration of the results of the "except as a punishment for crime" clause of the Thirteenth Amendment. Slavery was abolished, but black Americans were immediately arrested and incarcerated en mass. So slavery was replaced by convict leasing, which was replaced by Jim Crow, which was replaced by modern mass incarceration (involving mandatory minimums, "three strikes," privatization of the prison system, etc.) -- the "new Jim Crow" in which blacks are disproportionately made felons, stripping them of the right to vote, secure public assistance, get jobs, etc. I particularly like the section on how ALEC is behind so much of our legislation (and on what corporations are behind ALEC), because that's something that is nowhere near as widely known as it should be. And the juxtaposition of Trump rallies with historical footage is chilling. It covers a lot of ground in under two hours, and does it well; I highly recommend it. Yes, what's most interesting to me about the film is how both things are simultaneously true: she was repeatedly dismissed by law enforcement officials ignorant and then in denial of human trafficking, AND she's a touch delusional. Those pictures she insists are of her son, yet clearly are not? The 90-minute visit she didn't tell anyone about, and just let him walk away? Oh dear, indeed. But whatever she needs to do to put one foot in front of the other all these decades, and she helped so many other parents by agitating for change. A word to the wise: do not watch that and The Hunting Ground (about the campus rape epidemic) back to back, unless you have an ample supply of blood pressure meds, anti-anxiety pills, and liquor. But do watch them both.