LibertarianSlut

Where has Joe Giudice's mom been? Think we'll get to see her? Also, Joe not wearing his seatbelt on the drive down to the Jersey shore. Way to follow the law, Joe! Gia's red, white & blue outfit that she wore 'down the shore' was really kinda trashy. It is too bad there's no one around to correct her. I mean, there's Melissa. But Melissa probably helped her pick it out...

Kroy actually isn't a step-dad. He adopted those girls, so he's their real dad. But aside from that minor quibble, I agree with your whole post.

How tight are we to believe the "Stanbury Sisters" actually are vs. how shrewd is Caroline S? Caroline doesn't seem attached to ANYbody, let alone the girl who was supposed to be a fling for her brother, but wound up becoming the wife. I bet the producers came along and told Caro her sister-in-law was becoming a part of the show, and she made a calculated decision to play nice, rather than pitch a fit a la Teresa Guidice. I guarantee if Caroline had any negative reaction to her SIL, Sophie would have been a full-time player on this show, and the "Stanbury Sisters'" feud would have been the front-and-center storyline for us to devour. By choosing to ally with Sophie, I think Caroline made a keen decision to avoid exposure to herself and her family. But are they the besties they play on TV? Methinks not.

OMG, this picture is worth a thousand words. It, and your description of the hump heard round the world were spot-on, especially insofar as they illustrated something-is-not-quite-right. It wasn't just Caroline Stanbury's conduct that was unnerving and surreal--it was the onesie, the setting, the husband lying prostrate--that made it so eerie and so wrong.

Nyle's "actual words" come off as "extremely intelligent" to you? Not just intelligent, but "extremely" so? Example(s) please. I must have turned away and missed the moment when he said he wanted to come up with a theory that explains everything. Lol. What one calls "broad expressions" may be another person's "slack jawed." This is a modeling competition. It is focused on looks. If someone is walking around with slack in their jaw, I think it's fair game to call them "slack jawed." Regardless of the negativity you may read into it, if an aesthetic criticism is true, it is fair game. So... Nyle chose to be on a modeling reality show, but he's in a habit of making facial expressions that make him unsuitable to be a successful model...on the show that's about modeling? Isn't this enough to make a judgment about his intelligence? Presumably he has the natural looks to be a working model, but if he's sabotaging himself with goofy and childlike expressions, he's not a very smart, or might I say "intelligent," when it comes to his approach to modeling. It's not fair to say that "all we...know" about Nyle's intelligence can be derived from what he writes or signs through his interpreter. That is neutralizing everything he does and focusing exclusively on what he says. I think many of us would prefer to be judged on what we say as opposed to how it aligns with what we do, but that's not really how life works. By the logic of the above post, Nyle doesn't seem to be making smart modeling decisions. Thus, he may be unintelligent. See, I don't get this. Why is it ok to say that Dustin was a boring-looking douche, and that Mikey was being a douche who seems to deserve being punched, but it's not ok to say or even imply that Nyle might be less than fully mature or intelligent? Why, because it's perceived that people are "just pounding away at [Nyle] from all sides?" I would beg to differ. I think the comments and feedback toward Nyle have been overwhelmingly positive. I like him. And I don't particularly like Dustin or Mikey. By volunteering to go on a reality show, Nyle is opening himself up for criticism that he is slack-jawed and childlike and looks like he is about to have a line of drool coming from his mouth. Just because someone doesn't agree with it doesn't make it invalid or beyond the pale. I could argue that Dustin was not a boring-looking douche, and I could make a million excuses for him--he's still in high school, so you can't expect him to be as mature as everyone else; maybe he was acting "douchey" because he just re-entered the competition and he was feeling hostility from the others that we haven't seen on camera, and maybe he only seems douchey because he hasn't been in the house as long as the others, so perhaps we don't know him enough...and are you sure he's boring-looking and you're not just lumping him in with blonde, generic-looking white male models? But I'm not going to nit-pick the snark, because I think that defeats the purpose.

Maybe I'm alone here, but I think Briana's weight should be fair game for discussion. I don't think we should fat-shame her, like "shame on Briana for being fat," but the fact is she's become a substantially larger woman over the past few years. I don't think that's shameful, so I don't feel shame about discussing it. When she sat down with Tamra, I thought it would have been so refreshing if they would have had an all-encompassing discussion about Briana's life, including how she feels about her body. It's got to be on her mind in one respect or another. Very few people gain what appears to be 80+ lbs, and have no thoughts on it. Even if her thought is, "screw anyone who judges me," I think it would be more thought-provoking than what they actually talked about: "Brooks, Brooks, Brooks." Yawn. When women get together, they discuss their weight. I don't think it gets much more "real" than that. And a lot of women get depressed when their jeans don't fit right. I know I've felt this way in the past. So it makes Briana relatable. I am actually really interested to see how a fat woman would navigate in the looks-obsessed OC. It would harken back to themes of status and insider vs outsider that we've seen in early seasons with Jo and Lauri. We keep seeing the same boring, manufactured story lines, and this would be something new and authentic. It's a storyline I've never seen on any of these Housewives shows. Jeana used to touch on it, and I always wanted to hear more about her and her body shame that was rooted in her husband's disapproval of her weight. Briana's getting camera time already; rather than gossip about her mom for the umpteenth time, wouldn't it have been interesting to hear Briana discuss whether she is self-conscious being "home," or if she acknowledges her weight gain, but doesn't really care what people think? I think it's especially interesting that Briana used to be fit when the show started, and she's gained a significant amount of weight. Are there people that she avoids? Is she worried about running into Colby ever? Or have her values shifted since giving birth? Or maybe she was never weight-conscious, and she just used to be fit cause of other factors. I mean, after tonight, I really feel like we've seen EVERYthing with these women. It's too much. I'd rather scale back and watch something real.

One major exception to the concept of the jury determining guilt or non-guilt, and the judge determining the sentence, is the death penalty. With the death penalty, the jury usually makes factual findings in the trial's penalty phase. Like all things in law, it varies between jurisdictions.The double jeopardy is extremely interesting. I wasn't going to get into the minutiae, but If Darius entered the plea and then Avery died, the DA would only be able to go after Darius for the murder under an exception to NY law, which would normally bar prosecution for the murder because of double jeopardy. It's only allowed because of the "delayed death" exception, which basically states that there's no double jeopardy where the original offense is assault, and the victim later dies as a result of the same transaction or cause. The exception is created in order to encourage DAs to move forward with adjudication, and not to wait around to see if the victim will die. I never practiced criminal law in NY, so I don't know whether the judge would have a say in trying the child as an adult there, but I recently took a continuing criminal course on Florida law, and there is something called a "direct file" here, where the government could charge Darius as an adult with no input by the judge. It is enacted by statute. They could do this because Darius was 15 and he was charged with manslaughter. The lawyer who taught us about this said that a lot of minors actually appreciate the direct file, because it is so much easier to complete adult probation, as opposed to juvenile probation. Just an anecdote, but it shows adult court can be fair, even favorable, to minors. I don't think it was inherently unfair to try Darius as an adult. Good point on the father testifying vs "making an example of." It was my opinion that Avery's father would not have been permitted to testify, as he didn't testify to anything probative in the case. The DA even objected at the time that the father's testimony was only appropriate for a post-trial victim impact statement. What did the father testify to--that Darius was sorry, and that he forgave him? None of that bears on proving or disproving manslaughter. Although I don't think they'd be able to testify at trial, Avery's parents could have always gone to the media and voiced their doubts, which would be a public relations nightmare for the DA's office and their "example," as you said. It would have been cool if the show touched on that portion.

Has Whitney mentioned whether she receives government-subsidized insurance, or some form of Medicaid or Medicare? Do we even know if she has insurance? There are plenty of people her age who just pay out of pocket. That doesn't cost "us" anything. If her parents purchased private health insurance for her, well, her healthcare remains a family, and not a public, expense.Look, I am all about freedom and personal responsibility. It's Whitney's body, and if she wants to mainline venti iced frappuccinos until she's in a diabetic coma, she's an adult, and that's her right. By the same token, it's no one's moral responsibility to save her. I don't believe it's on Whitney, or other fat people, if the government steps in to save them. That's (to my libertarian sensibilities) the result of flawed government policies, the fault for which lies with politicians and the citizens who continue to vote them into office, not the fat people who accept what's freely being given to them (is it still ok to say "fat people"? Is it less offensive if I say "morbidly obese"? I don't wish to offend anyone). I wish Whitney all the best with what appears to be an attempt at a low-refined sugar, low-starch diet (like other posters, I hate the term 'low carb,' as fruits and vegetables are made up of carbohydrates). It's the responsible thing to do when someone has to lose 250 some-odd pounds and is pre-diabetic. And since she's on a TV show, it's legitimate for people to comment on how this will affect her health and social life. But until Whitney says from her own mouth that I should kick in some dough for her choices (or her personal random unfortunate health situations, such as PCOS), I'm not going to assert that Whitney has a moral or social responsibility to be healthy or thin. Conversely, if she articulates that she believes that society should pay for her medical costs, I believe she'd also have to accept dietetic accountability to society, which, if you think about it, is a really demoralizing and demeaning way to live. (Oh, and since I directly quoted you, gimmepizauoldtroll, please don't think I'm trying to attribute a point of view to you. I just selected a few lines from your post that I wanted to expound upon).

No, you're right, the DA wouldn't be obligated to keep the offer open once the charges were changed. Even if Darius entered into the plea deal before Avery died, the prosecution could still go after him for the murder charge. There's no double jeopardy, because there's a new offense. But I wasn't thinking hard enough about the exact sequence of events when I made my post. I stand by the idea that Darius should have taken the three month offer when he was facing the charges for assault or agg assault or whatever. I mean, if you had initiated viscous contact with a stranger that resulted in you coming out unscathed, but with the stranger lying prostrate under a bridge, only for them to have to undergo serious treatment in the hospital, wouldn't you jump at three months in jail rather than face trial for it? I know I would. As would my 15-year-old self. It's 90 days. You'd spend the same amount of time in jail for a second DUI. It's a season. It's nothing. And the kid is guilty, there's no doubt about that. The fact that Darius and his mom turned it down in the face of the initial charges makes them idiots with regard to their own precarious situation. The fact that they bristled so against the idea of Darius serving three months for gravely injuring someone shows me that they have no appreciation for the sanctity of human life, nor do they respect law and order (hey, that's the name of this show!) Thus, it greatly reduces any sympathy I might have had for them over the course of the ensuing events.You're right--in the end, Darius wouldn't have had the option to only serve the three months, but maybe if he'd accepted the plea like a contrite citizen, it would have established good rapport with the DA's office, and they would have been willing to extend a fair plea to Darius on the murder charge. Perhaps they would have offered Darius three years, which would let him start a new life at 18. Do Darius and his mom even speak to the prosecution once Avery dies? Or are we to infer that there was no plea to be made, as the government wanted "to make an example" of him? It's like the DA's office did a 180 once Avery died. They went from offering three months to (likely) offering nothing. This doesn't make any sense, as they could have made an example of Darius either way, if that was their agenda. It's not like you need to commit murder to commit a "hate crime" (I hate this designation; can't one argue that all violent crimes originate with some form of "hate"? Why is the criminal act considered inherently worse if it is committed against one person, but not another?) A "hate crime" can be committed with assault. I guess the government thought a dead body would give this case the gusto it needed to go all the way to drive their point home.

The dreaded back story of doom--lol, this is a perfect description. One reason we might want to be cautiously optimistic is that right after Justin gave his DBSoD of having a strict Asian upbringing, Hadassah was up telling us that she was rich until her father went away, and then she had to buy her brothers and sisters presents and say they were from him. With that, I thought Hadassah was headed straight to the Bottom 2, but she had a great picture and received lots of judges' praise. So maybe, just maybe, J Smooth can stick it out and get to top 3, which he deserves.I was disappointed more attention wasn't paid to Delanie. In a sea of "models" that are only meh, I think she is drop-dead gorgeous. It's a shame that whatever she's got going on doesn't seem to translate to film. Still wish she would have gotten more screen time tonight though. I hope Justin or Lacey takes this. Mame, while gorgeous, has a horrible personality to me. It's not just that she picks fights with everyone, it's that she goes from a 0 to a 10 in the blink of an eye. And she immediately goes in for the profanity, which is kind of, well, strange, to be doing on national TV when she's a state pageant title holder and heading into Miss USA. I definitely prefer Hadassah out of the two pageant girls in the house. And Nyle, something always bothered me about his appearance, and tonight I realized what it was: he's cross-eyed. I know almost everyone loves him and wants to get down with him, but I don't, and that is good, cause it cuts down on the competition--y'all can have him as your boyfriend lol. I literally totally and completely forgot about Mikey. Is he still in this competition? This is how I rank them at this point: 1. Justin 2. Lacey 3. Hadassah 4. Mame 5. Nyle 6. Dustin 7. Mikey 8. Devin

Yes, this 100%. The only thing that would have been as edgier and more envelope-pushing than a transgender episode would be...not to have a transgender episode. It is so very expected.I don't feel bad for Darius because he got an offer of three months, and turned it down. Does three months in juvie suck? Yes, but maybe think about that before you push someone off a bridge. He took a gamble and he lost. It was a stupid gamble to take. Doesn't this show usually have more twists or something? I was so waiting for it to be revealed that Darius was actually in a relationship with Avery, and he was angry with him, hence the assault...and maybe there'd be a priest involved at some point or something. Those are the episodes I love. As a lawyer, I can never watch this show with any regularity because they just butcher trial procedure time and time again. Repeat after me, show--you can't ask leading questions on direct. How hard is that? And last night Robert Sean Leonard (who I will always know as Dr. Wilson) kept making statements during his questioning of witnesses. That is not allowed, and would be objected to! Lawyers make statements during opening and closing arguments. Direct and cross-examination are relegated to just that--examination. I know it's easier for the writers to allow the characters to make big, sweeping statements whenever they feel it would have the greatest impact, but...respect the institution that is the legal process. Good writers can write a compelling courtroom story while keeping within the rules. After 17 seasons, it seems someone would clue them in. I am delighted to see from the previews that Whoopi Goldberg, America's most twisted foster mother, will return next week. Guess that means I'm tuning in too. Oh, L&O, I can't quit you!

Wasn't it weird when Cem appeared to pop out of some closet at the NYE brunch, calling for his BIL Alex, calling for Gregor...and then just disappearing? I thought he was summoning the men for some scene where they take a blood oath to avoid the "women business" or something, but, alas, nothing came out of it. Shouldn't Cem's random mini-scene have been edited out then? Re Caroline S simulating sex or whatever she did with Gregor, it's my opinion that it was completely inappropriate. And, short of hitting Caroline, Juliet was entitled to any reaction she was feeling at the time. I don't even like Juliet, but I have very strong beliefs that there should be separation of church and state when it comes to flirtation between my friends and my man. They can be friendly, but there is no point at which it's ok to simulate humping. It's better that she didn't actually hump him, but Caroline was pretending to get her freak on with someone else's husband. There is that undercurrent of sexuality that is improper. The fact that she was drunk matters not. Aren't a drunken man's words a sober man's thoughts? If I were Juliet, I would feel that all trust was lost with Caroline. She owes Juliet a major, sincere apology, and she needs to articulate her wrongs. If Caroline just had a bee in her bonnet and needed to do something crazy, make out with one of your girl friends, strip down to your skivvies, or simu-hump a single guy if Cem is cool with it. Do anything, but don't get involved in any way in someone else's marriage uninvited. I agree with ScoobieDoobs who said above that Caroline targeted Gregor for a calculated reason, which adds even further insult to injury. And I agree with Annabelle (never thought I'd see the day) when she said on WWHL that she'd kill her friend AND her husband if that happened. Gregor absolutely needed to slide up out of there the second he saw shenanigans were going on. It made me kind of sick that Juliet was sucking up to him for the rest of the episode. Um, Gregor would be sleeping on the couch if he was my husband, not relishing in the attention of an insecure wife. It's not about the act, and the fact that there was "x" amount of space between their naughty bits, it's about the fact that it made his wife uncomfortable, and he kept making passive-aggressive digs about how she overreacted, rather than supporting her. Ugh. The whole thing disgusts me. Worst was Sophie's response that Caroline pseudo-humping Gregor was the best time he's had in a long time. How unsolicited and disrespectful from someone she doesn't even know. Be gone Sophie! I hope your husband cheats on you and someone treats you to the same spiteful words you bestowed on Juliet.

Could it be possible he's pulling a Walter White on us? Meghan, I know you're bogged down "dealing with [LeAnn's] cancer," but we need you on this, stat.

ALL that attention paid to hawking the skin care line was boring. One segment would have been more than enough. IMO, it was a big gaffe on Heather's part to deny Tamra's (extraordinarily gauche) reference to Terry's spray tan. So he's tan, but it's not a spray tan. Ergo, it's a real tan. Ergo, the good doctor is inviting dangerous rays and free radicals into his body. And it's on this doctor's authority that we're supposed to believe in a product that combats age and wrinkles? What's next, David Beador as the spokesperson for a product that ensures conflict-free marriage? Finger-lickin-chickin Jim Edmonds extolling the virtues of a vegan diet?

Lol to this post!I'm not sure if she said it in the summer but don't be surprised that you don't remember it. It was just a couple of throwaway lines from like five years ago. I was just reading all this stuff about kids being refused food around Tamra, and I only recalled this one instance because the recapper on trashtalktv (f/k/a TVgasm) snarked on Tamra big time for it at the time. The recapper recapped the situation I described, and then did a screen grab of Tamra's arm from an unflattering light, and recapper asked rhetorically if Tamra was sure if she'd skipped dinner, or that maybe she should skip dinner more often or something. Super-snark! So basically I agree with everything you say. And, because, it's never said enough, Tamra may be a horrible person, but she has an awesome body, y'all! I have to give props to someone who manages to lose and keep off about ten pounds of solid body fat in their 40s, when they're not even overweight to begin with. So Slade can suck it for calling her the Michelin man.

Not only that, but I remember Tamra specifically being negligent toward her kids when it came to food. In the season where Tamra and Simon began fighting, which was season 5 IIRC, Spencer (Tamra's other male child), who was all of like eight years old, complained that he was hungry, as he hadn't had dinner the night before. Tamra, in her infinite wisdom, just replied wistfully that she hadn't eaten either. She didn't even feed the kid. SMH.

Yeah, I noticed that too. The 5th thumbtack is probably in the same place as that second mouthful of smoke that he didn't produce last week.Now I'm going to be hard on some of the favorites, but it's the finals, so if there ever were a time to be hard on them, this is it: Paul Zerdin--er, how did he get his rightful voice back? He was at the point in the act where he had dropped his voice onto the floor of the stage, and he's in this funny conundrum, sharing the same voice as the puppet. Then the camera pans away, and when it comes back, Paul has resumed speaking as himself. How did he resolve that? Oz--I know the act ended really strongly, which is great, but there was an internal inconsistency that ruined the trick for me. So Oz gets all the judges on the stage making sure we know they're placed *in no particular order.* it is so important for their placement to be random that he even lets them switch at the last second. Ok, Oz, you've convinced me--they're in random order. What will come from this? Well, as it turns out, nothing. See, when Oz visited the judges, he handed them each an envelope, but this is where he loses me--the envelopes weren't numbered or otherwise marked. So, just because Mel B was sitting in the first seat, she got the first envelope. But there was nothing to distinguish the first envelope from any of the others. If Oz had written the number "1" on the envelope he gave Mel, and two, three, etc., on the others, I would have been suitably impressed. But the envelopes weren't marked with numbers, so all of the previous attention to how RANDOMLY everyone was seated rang irrelevant to me. And one can't say he handed out the envelopes in a special order, because that could have just been a product of a false shuffle. There is no excuse to not plainly writing numbers on his envelopes if he wanted to showcase that, although the judges were seated randomly, Oz foresaw where they were going to sit. Unless I'm missing a major piece of this? Again, not taking away from the end of the act; just not impressed with this aspect of it. I don't think The Craig Lewis "Band" is good. Their voices aren't good, they don't really dance, what's their appeal? I said about all there is to say about Drew Lynch two weeks ago, so I'm just going to add: I thought his shtick was supposed to be the funny situations a stutterer finds himself in as he navigates the modern world. So his premise of a real world scenario has got to be solid. The problem is, it's not. Last time he was on the phone with a creditor at the grocery store, which is kind of odd, and this week, he can't convey his telephone number. As someone said up thread, why not just write the number down for the girl? Or if you're on the phone, but she still doesn't know your number somehow, text it to her. His foundation has got to be better. Tell us about something that happened at the DMV, Drew, or any other scenario where normal people get frustrated. Then build on the frustration of navigating the DMV, or the college registrar or whatever, and make us laugh as to how a stutter makes it all the more frustrating. But it doesn't work to invent frustrating scenarios that no longer exist in 2015. Also, I think the judges cancelled out the idea of this being a family show when Heidi said she wanted the jokes to hit her like "bang, bang, bang," and the other judges sexualized that (not that I care, but it is what it is). But it didn't sit right with me that this is the second time in a row that Drew brought us adult material in his act, this week vis a vis his girlfriend's breast size. Oh how wholesome and all-American of you Drew! On to the judges... It is really reviling that this is the second week in a row that Howard essentially tried to remove Uzeyer from the competition through his comments. It is SO patronizing. Rather than judging the act, he consoles Uzeyer. Um, it's not over yet Howard! Don't act like he's out of the running just cause you want him to be. He should have learned his lesson last week when he lamented Uzeyer's act, only to have him make it to the finals. And was I the only one who was just the least bit creeped out when Heidi literally lit up and started clapping when Gary V made his Jewish/cheap joke? Especially in light of the fact that she is on record as not liking him? And how, last year, a comedian made an innocuous joke about not wanting to learn German and her comment to him was "I think you just offended everyone in here"? Just some food for thought.

So it's official, and I did not hear this wrong while watching the show: Meghan faked cancer in an attempt to snag Brooks faking cancer. Does she sorta see how she's forfeited the high ground, regardless of whatever "knowledge" may come to light?Also, Lizzie was right, and Tamra is "crap;" this time for blatantly repeating and twisting something Vicki told her in confidence. As someone posted up thread, Brooks probably shouldn't have said "consider the source," because it gave Tamra exactly what she wanted, which was a reason to go after Brooks. It was a good move on Brooks's part to shut Tamra down, although not soon enough. We got to see Teefs stuffing his face in wonderment, right next to Rat-faced Ryan, who was texting. Just par for the course for the men lucky enough to grace her life.

The dumbest thing I ever heard--and believe--about this Javier chair controversy is that Heather wanted to sit between Vicki and Shannon for aesthetic reasons. On one side of the table sat Lizzie, Tamra, Danielle aka brunette, blonde, brunette. On her side of the table, Heather wanted it to be Vicki, Heather, Shannon aka blonde, brunette, blonde. Shannon trading chairs with Heather ruined the symmetry damnit! I believe this theory because it's Heather.

You may be right and it might be fake, but I think it's real. It's a model called Ana Carolina Reston. She died of anorexia. I didn't know this when I posted the link to her picture; I just thought she was a swimsuit model. When you google her name, this picture appears, along with her bio. There are other pictures of her where her ribs are prominent.Like you said, the Internet shows many photos of models walking the runway with ribs showing. More googling, however, has informed me that there is some ambivalence toward ribs in the fashion world, as there was a whole controversy surrounding photos of model Karlie Kloss--Número magazine airbrushed out the ribs, while Vogue Italia left them alone, which led to some of Kloss's pics appearing on anorexia websites (my iPad won't let me post the link, but you can google it). Ty-ra? Are you listening?!? This could have been such a perfect issue for you to capitalize on! Just as she's now telling us short is acceptable in modeling, why not do a campaign encouraging ribs (as in pork or beef), but discouraging ribs that protrude from the body? Surely if a model can make it under 5'8", they can also make it without fitting into sample sizes? And if your ribs do show? Tyra could have done a teach where she shows the models how to pose in the rafc position (you know, ribs away from camera). They can combine the rafc with a smize, while tooching, and giving "horse" neck.

Not rude; I appreciate your point of view. On the more editorial side, it appears designers are more tolerant of blatant displays of ribs. An example:https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/89/0f/bb/890fbb9630711bd263d8667763442946.jpg But I get what you're saying: even if this were a real modeling competition, like it had been in the earliest cycles perhaps, they are looking for diverse models who can do commercial, catalogue, and editorial/runway (this is just how I break down the categories after watching all cycles of ANTM & very lazily following the fashion industry. If I'm unfairly conflating editorial with runway, please let me know). So I appreciate the fact that ribs don't work in, say, the JC Penney catalogue. I just think there's something fundamentally dishonest about simply airbrushing out the ribs, as opposed to something minor, like airbrushing out a piercing or a tattoo. If a photog doesn't like the proportions, use a different model! If no model is as thin as they want her to be without showing ribs and they have to airbrush out an entire section of her body, it becomes eerie, like eugenics after the fact. If the fashion team is going to abjectly reject a major facet of women's bodies, why even use a human model in the first place? Why not just create someone out of whole cloth? The Japanese are really good at creating very lifelike images; why not just cut out the middleman and use that? America's Next Top Drawing.

In our skinny-obsessed culture, I was surprised that they airbrushed a rib cage out. Things that make you go hmm.

I doubt it as well. If this is a response to my post, please let me be clear: I said I think Meghan in general is tacky, but I never implied that tackiness was the driving force behind the thank you note. It would be inappropriate for me to speculate on her motives in this way.But hey, since I'm going to do it anyway, I'll hazard a guess that Meghan sent the thank-you note for the same reason she opened her home to the charity earlier this season: so that people will think to themselves, "and isn't she a sweetheart?" (Meghan's words). How selfless. How charming. How Meghan.

Bravo Ira. A gallant effort indeed. The fact that Drew Lynch got in over, say, Siro A, a group that was generally considered talented by all, is sad to me. Sob story over substance.

I totally agree. I think everything about Meghan is tacky and in bad taste. I find her loathsome. I think what I meant to say--but didn't convey properly--was that a handwritten thank you note displays good etiquette in the abstract. But you are right that there are things people can do to mutilate thank you notes--lacking a salutation, referring to Jim's kids as their step kids, reminding everyone of the cause of death and then insinuating the flowers are meant to replace the deceased--that make it worse than not sending a handwritten thank you note at all. If you're going to take the time to write a note, take the time to get it correct. Damn, I won't even post on these boards without checking the definitions of the words I'm using on dictionary.com, if I'm using a big word. Had Meghan done that, there's no way "in leiu (sic) of" would have ever gotten onto that paper.I'm not really on social media, but I'm not surprised that the Edmonds are acting trashy. In leiu of their past behavior and all.