KerleyQ

Well, that explains why Liz's rapist is still a thing. I guess GH is one of the few soaps who hadn't already done the "someone gets held in a cage" thing, so they had to tic that box eventually. I'm almost morbidly fascinated as to how they'll write Liz being OK with this. Or, St. Jasus willing, this will be what leads to her dumping him and hooking up with Griffin?

Well, to be fair, if they're enjoying it, and you're not, then the obvious solution seems to be to stop watching and let them keep enjoying it. I'm not saying that any of us should continue to watch crap because someone else is enjoying what we think is crap, but, rather, that we are all free to stop watching the crap and leave it to the people who are enjoying it. (Or, alternately, we can hate watch it and enjoy trashing it to others who are hate watching it.) Those who are enjoying the show would likely return that sentiment and say that they don't think that your lack of enjoyment of the show is more important than their enjoyment of the show. In general, I've just never really understood the idea of hoping (and, in some cases, campaigning) for a show to be canceled. Why should someone who enjoys watching a show lose it just because you (general "you" not speaking to you directly, ULKIS) don't like it? It's not like any of us are obligated to continue watching, and our only hope to be free of that obligation is cancellation.

GH is a big part of so many people's TV viewing history. Hell, it's a part of TV history, period. And as the last ABC soap standing, even when the show isn't actively entertaining for me, it's comforting to know that it still exists out there. And, with so many other viewing options these days, both on TV/cable and on streaming services, it's not like that hour of ABC's afternoon programming being taken by GH is somehow limiting our viewing options. To me, personally, I don't want to see it end for a variety of reasons. And I say this as someone whose viewing habit has definitely decreased in recent years. (I watch the first half hour live if I happen to be home when it airs, then I miss the second half hour doing the school pick up run. If there was something in the first half hour that I was particularly interested in and want to see what else happened with it later, or if I check in here and it sounds like something good happened in the second half hour, I'll go back and watch the second half later. ) For one, I know that, despite the fact that the bulk of us here seem to range from being disappointed in to disgusted with the show, there are still viewers out there who are enjoying it. Why should they have to lose a show they're enjoying just because other viewers aren't enjoying it? Then, of course, there are the actors and crew. I can't root for people to be out of work. And, at this point in the show's run, I also feel like whatever the wrap up would be, it would be disappointing. I don't think the existing PTB would do it right. I've lost AMC (which was always "my" soap) and OLTL. I don't want to permanently lose GH, too. And I know that, for others, GH is to them what AMC was for me. For them alone, I can't bring myself to hope for cancellation.

I laughed when Jason and Sam seemed so taken by surprise at the chance to find out if they're having a boy or girl. Sam, this isn't even your first pregnancy. How is this something you seem to have not even considered (let alone had a conversation with Jason about) before you had an ultrasound probe pressed up against your belly? And, Lord Jasus, enough with the matching black leather jackets. I remain unable to take these "could Charlotte be my embryo" scenes seriously given the age issue. I see they're all in on being gratuitous with the nearly naked Nathan to ignore the whole "dude can't act" elephant in the room. I'm surprised his conversation with Dante wasn't in some previously unseen PCPD sauna. Or maybe they could have had them go get massages together to talk about Lulu's baby rabies and Maxie's Maxie-ness. Why is Liz's rapist still wandering around town (and, apparently, tomorrow we'll get to play "will he rape Kiki")? Ugh.

I'd love to see some lawyer agree to take it on without charging anything unless they win, and, even then, their fee would only be whatever they recover by filing for attorney's fees for Trump filing something his lawyers had to know was not a legit case. Someone has to step in and shut this shit down. Exactly. People think "oh, if it really happened, you'd come forward." Because, sure, it's super easy to accuse someone who is wealthy, powerful, and armed with a team of high priced attorneys. If they even make noise about accusing him, his attorneys likely step in and intimidate the hell out of the victim until she retreats. KAC is smart enough to understand that a lot of the language in his NDAs (especially the "you can't say anything negative about me or my family for the rest of your life" portion) is unenforceable, especially as it relates to non-proprietary information. Plus, she also knows that, if she separates from his employ before he takes office, she's not bound by any NDA for anything that she observes once she no longer works for him. Add in that she has the money and influence herself to stand toe to toe with him in court, and she's not going to be nearly as afraid of that NDA as some entry level staffer or volunteer would be. I'm one hundred percent certain she's had her own lawyers look that thing over (before she signed it), and she knows what is and is not enforceable in it.

My feeling is that, as a citizen, she can express her concerns to him on any issue that doesn't affect their businesses, since that topic is supposed to be off the table with their pseudo "blind trust." If she wants to express to him her concerns about the environment, that's fine, as long as she expresses them from the standpoint of "look at the science, and look at your kids and grandkids and think about what you want them to live with." The other caveat is that she cannot make any business moves based on those conversations. So, if he tells her he is considering signing an agreement or implementing some policy, she can't go make a business decision that would benefit from whatever that agreement or policy is. (I'd say that even if the topic was one I didn't agree with her on, as long as, as I said, it isn't related to their business). At some point during the campaign, he said that, when he wins, he will look to make the WH staff sign more thorough NDA's so that they cannot later spill information or write a book about his tenure. It seemed like his main issue was people making money off of him after he gives them a job. I don't know if he legally can make them sign them, or if there's some executive order he can draft to make it a thing. I'm sure some of his appointees will happily sign them (and that may have even been an issue discussed when he was deciding who to appoint, and anyone who wasn't up for signing the NDA didn't get the job). This makes me wonder if KAC's trying to decide whether to accept a staff position or work for that proposed Ministry of Propaganda is at least partially hinging on the NDA's. Obviously, she likely signed a very restrictive one for her job as campaign manager, since even his volunteers had to sign ridiculous ones. But, if that covered her time as his campaign manager, she may be looking down the road and thinking that, if she is employed outside the WH during his presidency, she might have the ability to freely share and comment on whatever goes down from 1/20 forward. I could see her having an eye towards writing a book about his presidency down the road. As long as she doesn't include any information about the campaign (beyond already publicly available information) then any attempt by him to stop her would likely have to prove damages and, even then, would hinge on a judge not just throwing out the "can't say anything bad about him for the rest of your life" bullshit portion of his NDA's. For the record, I think it's that part that is almost definitely unenforceable in his NDA's. I don't think you can take someone who works or volunteers for you for a year or less and say "OK, for the rest of your life now, you're never allowed to utter a single negative thing about me." Sure, he puts that in there. Technically, he can put anything he wants in there. The issue comes to whatever he can actually enforce when it comes to dragging someone into court over a perceived violation. Oh, how I wish Time had gone with that double chin picture Trump complained about as their cover photo. It would have been perfect. There he is, dying to boast about this great honor, and the picture on the cover is one he despises.

Eichenwald. I swear, he's the only one left who insists on fact-checking every word Drumpf's stubby little orange fingers tweet out.

Putin and Assange are still playing games in other countries How do we, as a country, just close our eyes and ears and just pretend there isn't something sinister going on here? How do our electors look at the information available - the popular vote, the shenanigans that are alleged to have taken place in multiple swing states, and the combined forces of Putin/Assange interfering in our process - and just shrug and cast their vote for Putin's stooge? We're about to set a very dangerous precedent here, both in terms of our democratic process and in terms of the stability and safety of the world. Putin is making a great effort to install leaders in various countries (to wit, mostly our usual allies) who are willing to look the other way when he advances into other countries to claim them for his own empire. At what point do Trump and the rest of Putin's chosen leaders think he will have had enough? Do they think their countries will be safe from his reach? Do they think he won't eventually look at his recreated USSR (because, let's face it, that's what his ultimate goal is) and decide that he needs to ensure that countries like the US, Britain, France, Germany, and Italy can't eventually decide to push for a break up of that bloc? And bonus question for Trump and the rest: Do you really think he'll allow you to be seen as his equal in his new world order? You will be his friend until you're no longer useful, then you're his problem.

Thanks for helping me fill in the blanks on my memory of the time line. So, basically, we're going to have to go with the Valentin is a time lord explanation. No wonder Helena was said to have feared him. He's the only member of the Cassadines with a power comparable to her "because Helena" powers.

And Farage, too? Jesus, Time. No.

So, essentially, KAC is going to build up a SuperPAC, but one that actively and continuously coordinates with Trump? And one that will have the backing of and access to the POTUS? Paul Ryan is out there shilling his ass off for Trump and himself (of course, it's all really for himself, but he'll lie for Trump when it benefits him). I'm the least violent person you can imagine, but boy do I get a punching urge when he puts on his condescending "sincere" face during these interviews. I'm just appalled that, as a country, we don't see through his shit. And, because the country didn't see through his shit, it built up the ability for Trump to come along and lie his ass off, pretending he's here for the "little guy," and voters bought it. I just can't understand how, when the GOP members of Congress were completely open and honest about how their most important job was to stop anything Obama proposed, and then we all experienced the ensuing gridlock, including actual government shutdown, there wasn't a collective outrage that booted their asses all out of Congress. Instead, President Obama got the blame, this orange asshole rode that narrative to the White House, and Paul and Mitch were gifted with complete control of the country.

He is probably just working an angle to get to use his own plane as POTUS, so he can charge us for the use of his plane instead of flying on Air Force One.

OK, so, from the spoilers, clearly we're going full steam ahead with the "Charlotte is the StavLu baby" thing, but, well, how the hell do they expect us to buy that, given the timing of all of it? If it was just that Charlotte is clearly too old, that would be one thing. SORAS and all that. But... Someone correct me if I'm wrong here - wasn't Nathan already in town when the StavLu embryo was allegedly created? I remember Lulu flirting with Nathan a little bit when she had amnesia, which was when she was rescued from being kidnapped by Stavros. And, when Stavros returned the following year, he was looking to do something with that embryo, right? So, how could a child whose age made it possible that Nathan was her father (and she would have had to be conceived before he came to town) be the result of that embryo? Is Valentin a time lord? He wandered into 2013/14 and snagged the embryo, then he wandered back in time to when Claudette was sleeping with both Nathan and Griffin, started up his own affair with her, and implanted her with the embryo? Then he wandered back and forth in time to spend some time with Charlotte, so she knows him as her father, but also headed to 2016 to chill and wait for Claudette to show up in Port Charles?

Trump: "Don, Jr, Ivanka, do we have any investment in Boeing?" The Washington Post is doing a running graph of the 662 administration positions Trump has to fill, and how far he's progressed towards that mark. He's not even 10 percent done with that. Hell, he's not even 5 percent done with that. So, he's not taking intelligence briefings, and he's not taking the job of filling all the "not sexy" administration positions very seriously. Basically, all he likes about the job are the "victory lap" things. Things like calling receiving congratulations from world leaders (and working them for some concessions for his or his kids' business interests), appointing the high profile positions that people will kiss his ass to get, so he can show how powerful and liked he is, and, of course, his new added "perk" of the job - the victory rallies. He has zero interest in filling the jobs that won't have people publicly kissing his ass to get them. He's going to just hand all of that off to Reince, Pence, and KAC.

OK, so I was out today, and didn't watch live. Since Monday is my son's scouts night, he and my husband are out, so I was thinking "I'll get my dinner ready and watch the soaps I missed today." Then, I realized that, given what's been going on with this show, I should check here before firing up the DVR over dinner. And, yeah, I'm not watching that while I eat.

Silly, everyone knows that the kind of bone spurs that keep you from serving only afflict the very wealthy. I agree they should, but the problem is that, no matter how many times you repeat the question, they just don't answer it. At this point, they need to do a little of what Trevor Noah did with Tomi Lahren last week - point out a few times that "you still haven't answered the question I asked, which is..." But, add to it. When that still fails to elicit a direct response, shut it down with "Clearly you do not want to answer that question, so we'll all have to draw our own conclusions as to why you refuse to answer it." Then move on, don't let them dig into another prepared talking point. What in the ever-loving fuck? They don't care even a tiny bit if it will save money. They'll lie and tell us it's going to save money, and then count on the bulk of their voters not sitting down and doing the math for themselves. But the real reason is because their corporate donors are dying to get their hands on more tax money. Privatizing government functions allows them to do so. Take Trump's scheme for privatizing road construction. The investors who buy in will get huge tax breaks, from us. Then, they can charge tolls if they want. So we'll be paying them for the rest of our lives. But, this is somehow going to be a savings to us, just because it doesn't actually show up as an expenditure of tax money on the budget. They have zero shame in this. Like Ryan's hard on for privatizing Medicare. He has repeated the "Obamacare has left Medicare broke" lie so many times, he probably believes it at this point. But, he needs that lie to be believed as fact in order to do what he wants to do, which is to hand Medicare over to his donors (Oh, hi, Blue Cross Blue Shield, exactly how much have you donated to Ryan's campaign over the years?), so they can suck up our tax money and provide us lower quality for more money.

The thing is, though, the media should say "screw that," and report the real news. We can't function with a press that is afraid they'll be criticized for reporting the news. Fewer than 20 percent of the citizens of this country voted for Orange-Glo. Yes, they're loud and obnoxious, but they're the minority. (Oh, the irony of their "silent majority" self assigned label.) The media cannot allow them to shout them down and shame them into silence. As that old quote goes - "news is printing something someone doesn't want you to print. Anything else is PR."

What happened to Ben Carson saying he wouldn't take a cabinet position because he doesn't have the experience? Now he's going to be in charged of HUD, when he's been vocally against basically everything they do? The Emperor really is using "do you want to destroy this department?" as his main criteria for appointing people to his administration, isn't he? Again, media, how are you not on this? How is there not someone screaming "have you all noticed that he only appoints people who want to destroy the departments he's appointing them to?" But, you know, the media needs to focus on his immature rants against SNL, so they can't be bothered to cover this stuff. And, at some point yesterday, he decided to start a Twitter war with China. I've seen WAY less about that from the media than the meaningless "look what wacky thing he said today" stuff they cover. It's all one big reality show.

I've noticed that too. I feel like we're seeing the ugliness inside of her, the ugliness that is all too happy to carry Trump's rancid water, seeping out through her pores. Maybe that's why Melania needs to keep getting plastic surgery? To counter the effects of aligning herself with her disgusting husband?

I've been saying for a few years now that the Tea Party rightfully should have formed their own new party, but, because it's difficult to form and sustain a new party on a national level, they decided to usurp the GOP. And the GOP has essentially rolled over and let them. I mean, some have put up a fight, but they just get shouted down with cries of "RINO!!!" and threats of being primaried. As you mention, it's driven away voters, both staunch Republicans and moderates (like me, I used to be a moderate, but now I vote a straight Dem ticket). It's also driven away some elected Republicans, the most high profile case probably being Boehner. I have no great love for the man, but every time he tried to work with President Obama, or tried to compromise across the aisle, he was heckled and harassed by the Tea Party until he eventually just walked away. Trump winning the nomination was the official end of the old GOP, and the completion of the Tea Party takeover of that party. Now? Now they're working on taking over the country. That's what the voter suppression is, that's what the gerrymandering is. That's what the hot mess McCrory is trying to inflict on NC is. The will of the people is no longer important. They will tell us what we want, by manipulating the process to get the results that they want. And they won't leave us a democracy. They'll essentially make us something akin to an oligarchy, where everything is run by whoever is selected by the Koch Brothers and a handful of their fellow billionaires.

You know, my first thought was "oh, don't let this stop you from starting the family you want," but, then, I also fully understand your fear. It's depressing that I've actually had the thought fairly recently (oh, approximately some time after 11/8) that it's a good thing that my teenage son is an insulin dependent diabetic who also has an autoimmune disorder that causes an arthritic like swelling and pain in his joints, because it makes it likely that he will have a valid medical reason to not be drafted. I really hate that orange asshole for giving me a reason to ever think like that. I support and respect our military, and, if a career in the military was something my son chose for himself, I'd be genuinely supportive of him and disappointed for him when his medical issues likely made it impossible for him to pursue a career in the military. But, it would kill me to see him (and any of his friends, classmates, or cousins) ending up drafted to fight a war that started because Emperor Cheeto didn't like that a the leader of another country shook someone else's hand first, or because he stirred up a global shit storm by kissing the ass of the wrong foreign leader for his company's gain.

That's my hope. We need to spend the next two years making sure that everyone knows what they need to do to vote under whatever onerous voting laws the GOP manages to implement and keep in place, and helping those whose financial or employment issues make it difficult for them to meet those laws. We need to make sure that we get a huge turnout for the midterms. If we do that, we take back control of Congress, which will limit the damage Emperor Cheeto can do, along with neutering Paul and Mitch. (In my two and a half decades of voting, I would consider the removal of those two assholes from their positions as Speaker and Majority Leader to be my proudest moment as an American voter.)

As a couple other posters have already said, I urge you to rethink that position. This is what the GOP wants - for the liberal voters to become so disgusted and disenfranchised that we just stop turning out to vote, and then they keep on winning. It may not be easy, but we have to fight for truth, and we have to fight against the way the GOP is rigging the system. To give you some hope, there is already some change happening there. In NC, their gerrymandering and other maneuvers to game the system were so egregious that they're now being forced to make changes and hold new elections next year. In Wisconsin, Walker's over the top gerrymandering has been recognized, and the court is ordering them to re-do the district map. And that is exactly how we fight - from the local/state level up. When the GOP gerrymandering is undone, they will end up losing control of the state in a matter of time. When they no longer have control of a state, then they cannot engage in their voter suppression shenanigans to affect the Presidential elections. And, when they no longer have control of the state, they no longer have the same kind of access to control over the election process. And, in the meantime, we fight the narrative. We make every effort, every time, to correct misinformation. We call the media out when they're not being honest, or when they're painting false equivalencies. We make ourselves heard. Agreed. It's the highest form of privilege to look at those who are struggling and say things like "get a job." Similarly, I had a guy say to me, when talking about how corporations will be the ones who benefit from Trump's presidency, "well then invest in those corporations, and you can profit, too." Like it's simply that easy. Like the single mother who is working two part time jobs for minimum wage just to keep food on the table for her kids can simply invest in one of these corporations and prosper. We need to look at why people in this country are struggling, and fix the system to make that better, not blame them for their struggles as we keep making the system easier and easier for corporations to exploit and keep all the money for themselves. Of course, I think that, along with privilege, the problem is also a lack of empathy, combined with it being ingrained in our culture to respect someone who is financially successful. So, while some people can't empathize with someone like the single mother in my above paragraph, they do look up to a company that has become a financial success. Then, because they respect that successful company, they're not going to begrudge them the tax breaks they get. And they're not going to blame them for the stingy wages they pay. Instead, it's up to those who are struggling to survive to "simply" follow the example of the person who runs that successful business and make something of themselves. It's really twisted.

This video happened in Chicago, and, a couple days after this first video hit the internet, someone made the connection to an earlier "entitled chick bitching out service people" video. Turns out that this was not her first rodeo. There's one out there of her screaming and ranting at a worker in a coffee shop, repeatedly insinuating that he's gay, and boasting about how she makes $90,000 as means of asserting her superiority over a lowly barista. She's basically the same unhinged hateful bitch in that one that she is in the above video. Watching both of the videos, it's like "oh, honey, you don't need to tell us you voted for Trump, it's pretty obvious." Best part of it, at some point after her "I make $90,000" rant, she lost her job (in HR). Someone talked to some of her former coworkers, and it seems she was pretty universally loathed and a known racist. Well, if you recall, he's holding a press conference to announce that on the 15th. So he has 12 days left now to exploit the shit out of his position to enrich his business before he "steps back." And you'll notice that it seems like the only countries he's making an effort to reach out to during his transition are the ones where his company needs some consideration for a current or potential project. Apparently he doesn't have any new projects on the immediate horizon in Australia, so, instead of him reaching out, the Australian PM had to go to Greg Norman to track down Drumpf's phone number. But countries where he needs something? He's all over calling to "introduce himself" as the Pres-Elect and, oh, while I've got you on the phone, I need a permit pushed through, or I need you to focus on getting that nasty wind farm away from my beautiful golf course. He's not going to go out of his way to buddy up to China. He owes them a boatload of money, and most deadbeats don't willingly pay social calls to the creditors they'd like to get out of paying. So, yeah, he's going to spend the next 12 days continuing to work that Presidential Rolodex to finagle as many special considerations from foreign governments as he can for his business. Then, on the 15th, he can hand the keys over to his kids, with the various "upgrades" he's managed to add on from his position as Pres-Elect. And if anyone says anything, he'll be like "well, I said I was making the announcement to separate myself from my business interests on the 15th, I made all of those calls prior to the 15th." I will be genuinely shocked if Scott Walker's minions didn't interfere with the election results somehow. That's exactly the kind of thing that asshole would do. And, you know, just the fact that, as soon as the intentions for a recount were clear, suddenly various counties in those states pop up with "Oops! Will you look at that, we just now discovered these ballots that weren't entered properly," makes me think that there was definitely something intentional going on, and even if it did originate from Putin's people, the officials in those states were complicit on some level, and now some of them are trying to cover their own asses by finding and fixing those "mistakes" before the recount even starts. Something is absolutely fishy in those states. And I'd be shocked if they were the only ones (yes, I'm looking at you, Florida). This is pretty much where I've finally landed. I loathe Pence. He's the worst kind of political figure in that he wraps himself up in Christianity and pretends that everything he does is his own personal mission from Jesus, when, really, it's his own special mission from the corporations who line his pockets and finance his campaigns. But, even with all of that, and knowing that so many groups will take some hard hits during his presidency, the bottom line is, Trump really and truly could lead us into WWIII as he blunders his way through making all of his foreign relations decisions based on which countries his company is trying to do business in at any given moment. Pence, at least, will not do that. We will undoubtedly take some hits from a Pence presidency, but society will still exist after it's over. As for Trump wanting out (I thought I had a post or two on that subject included in the posts I was hitting to quote, but they didn't appear), that would not surprise me. My husband and I were talking today, and I think that it's certainly possible that we've seen the groundwork subtly laid for his way out. There's all the talk about how even if he steps away from the business, it's still not a blind trust to let his kids run it, and it would still create countless situations that amount to a conflict of interest. At some point shortly after the election, one of his various insiders (I want to say it was Rudy the Ghoul) said that it would be unfair to put his holdings in a true blind trust, where his kids aren't running things, because what will his kids do for jobs? So, if he does want out, he could say that he is stepping away because he's between a rock and a hard place. Everyone in DC is telling him that he can't leave it at his children running the business, because they are all telling him that his children running the business creates the same conflicts of interest that would exist if he was running the business. He can shrug that off as "not true, blah blah blah," but, it's what he's being told. But, if he hands the reins of the business over to a true blind trust, it is taking away his children's jobs and their legacy, the business that they've been instrumental in growing for their entire careers. So, regretfully, he's going to have to step aside, not because he wants to, because he wants so badly to make America great again, and he knows he can do it, but because all those career politicians are telling him that he cannot remain President while his kids run his hugely successful business. And he just loves his children so much that he cannot force them to walk away from their careers. So he leaves essentially a "victim of the political machine," and he can go on and start his network which, of course, all of his adoring fans will watch faithfully, lamenting that they were robbed of his ability to make this nation great by the swamp. And, hey, if that's what it takes, I'll gladly allow him to play the martyr. Go right ahead, Drumpf. You go start your network. I'll never watch that complete shit show, but you go ahead and start it.

His supporters are all "see! He's tough! He's not going to roll over and let China dictate who he can speak to!!" macho BS. Hand to God, one of them even tweeted a photoshopped picture of Drumpf's head on The Hulk to express how much of those there foreign asses he's going to kick. There is a segment of his supporters who could witness Trump actually taking a shit on their beloved Nana, and they'd talk about how Trump's superior feces are delivering life extending super vitamins to Nana's system. Raise your hand if you can picture Emperor Drumpf saying something very similar to this. And that Michigan AG delivered this gem as justification for stopping the recount - "We need to protect the voice of our voters to ensure that their votes count." (I paraphrased, because I have a headache, and digging through his bullshit to find the exact quote will explode my brain, but that is the gist of it). Yes, protect the integrity of your voters' voices by not allowing a recount to ensure that all of their voices are properly heard. Ugh, this evil bitch. Yes actually, it is your fault, Medusa. You spent over a year stumping for the man to a large audience, breathlessly reporting his every lie as gospel truth, even when a bare minimum of fact-checking would have told you he was just saying whatever he thought his audience wanted to hear in any given moment. You didn't even get a clue when, around the time of is visit to Mexico, he started publicly waffling on your soul mate - The Wall. So, yeah, you being stupid and using your platform (which still boggles my mind) to encourage your fans to be equally stupid? That's your fault. Own it, bitch.