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Battle of the racial alternate reality fiction concepts:

Amazon's Making Its Own Post-Civil War Series Called 'Black America'

A couple weeks ago, HBO announced that the guys behind Game of Thrones—no, not George R. R. Martin, but showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss—are working on a new series about an alternate history where the Confederate South won the Civil War and seceded from the union. The show, titled Confederate, caused a big stir online from people who thought that, well, maybe a pair of white dudes best known for making a fantasy show about dragons and zombies and incest aren't the best people to tactfully address modern-day slavery.

In the wake of the controversy, Amazon took the opportunity to announce that it had also been working on a similar alternate history show over the past year—but with a few key differences, Deadline reports.

First, Amazon's show, called Black America, will be the brainchild of Boondocks genius Aaron McGruder and producer Will Packer, who did Straight Outta Compton and, more recently, Girls Trip. Also, instead of Confederate's faux-history about a split United States where slavery still lives on, Black America is set in a world where freed African Americans were given a trio of Southern states after the Civil War as reparations. Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama are fused to form a new nation, called New Colonia, and the series tackles its tenuous relationship with the original US of A.

Confederate reminds me of the fun but low-budget mockumentary C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America. Black America reminds me of Ta-Nehisi Coates' article The Case for Reparations. He is also involved in entertainment; he wrote the new Black Panther comics for Marvel last year, which have been cited as an influence for the upcoming movie.

Amid HBO’s “Confederate” fallout, Amazon introduces alt-history show “Black America”

The African-American community has long made the case for reparations from the United States government. Ta-Nehisi Coates convincingly argued in 2014 that the freedom given to slaves after the Civil War was not enough — that black people in America had suffered through institutionalized racism long after slavery had been abolished.

Packer told Deadline that the controversy surrounding “Confederate” pressured him to divulge the upcoming project. The show itself is not a reaction to “Confederate,” as reports say it has been in development for over a year.

POLITICS:
Has CNN finally got it (almost) right about why Trump won: and better yet, why Sanders would have won?

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/opinions/why-trump-won-zakaria/index.html

Reasons:
1. The first is capitalism. There was a time when the American economy moved in tandem with its middle class. As the economy grew, so did middle class employment and wages. But over the last few decades that link has been broken. The economy has been humming along, but it now enriches mostly those with education, training, and capital. The other Americans have been left behind.

2. The second divide is about culture. In recent decades, we've seen large scale immigration; African-Americans and Hispanics rising to a more central place in society; and gays being accorded equal rights. All of this has meant new cultures and narratives have received national attention. And it's worried a segment of the older, white population, which fears that the national culture they grew up with is fading.

3. The third divide in America today is about class. The Trump vote is in large part an act of class rebellion, a working class revolt against know-it-all elites who run the country.

4. The final C in this story is communication. We have gone from an America where people watched three networks that provided a uniform view of the world to one where everyone can pick their own channel, message, and now even their own facts.

The first one is spot on: the divide is greater and there is a feeling (a Truth!) about the rich enriching themselves at the poors' expense: the Trickle down effect that is a failure (except if you are rich: it is a success).

The second: yes, people are scared if they are intolerant and susceptible to prejudice. (But i think this is much more about job loss than anything else).

The third is why HILLARY lost: the entrenched elite looking out for themselves and their friends is why the first one (Capitalism) came about. People are tired of elites looking out for elites, rich enriching rich. THIS IS WHY THEY SHOULD HAVE RUN SANDERS. Hillary was elite looking out for elite: Trump portrayed himself as the outsider who would shake things up and look out for the 'little guy' (true or not STILL has to be seen).
If they had run Sanders, i believe the Dems would have won.

Four: this is just a truism. Will CNN look at this and start reinvigorating itself and re-imaging itself as a bastion of real news?
.......ummmmm..... well i won't hold my breath.

CNN has it at least half right, but they are still skirting around the issue: Trump won because people distrusted Hillary to do anything but look after herself and her friends. In other words,

Hillary represented status quo: same old, same old.
Trump represented change (not Obama change, but change).

In my view/belief, Sanders represented the change people looked to Trump for: i believe Sanders would have done MUCH better than Hillary and would have won.

Rant on, Snidely. Rant on.

U.S. military detects WMD HIGHLY unusual submarine activity from North Korea:

What is the U.S. up to? Will there be a 'final solution to the North Korean problem'? Is there going to be some 'unusual military activity' from the US military in the N.K area?

Popcorn at 11, bring butter for your news: you may need it for easier insertion.

http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/31/politics/north-korea-ejection-test-submarine-activity/index.html

Can we believe ANYTHING we are told by the U.S. military/Government after sooooooo many lies?
Will America finally start realizing that EVENTUALLY lies stop being believed after so many cries about wolf?

Will Roger stop fooling around on Mary with Paul? Will Hammond Industries keep itself from bankruptcy by killing George the CEO? Will Mary's psychiatrist tell his priest about Mary really being Paul?
STAY TUNED..... SAME. BAT. TIME....... SAME. BAT. CHANNEL!

Coca-Cola Revamps Coke Zero

Coca-Cola to replace Coke Zero in U.S.

Coca-Cola is killing Coke Zero as we know it — and people are freaking out

What, no stevia?

I would submit this, but like, nah.

blanket pardoning.
Gives criminals the power to pardon cminals.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40692709

No, it's not Ethanol-Fueled. But it is relevant to Ethanol-Fueled.

Prosthetic penis sex attacker Gayle Newland jailed

I understand Gayle Newland’s impulse to catfish – I posed as a man online for sex

Continuation of Doctor Who freakout:

Two former Doctors clash over Jodie Whittaker casting

Bad Western cultural influence excised from China:

Justin Bieber banned from China for 'bad behaviour'

Japan's First Lady trolls God Emperor Trumpu-jiichan?

BBC, LA Times, Newsweek, and The Guardian.

How OJ Simpson paved the way for Donald Trump

Parole board votes to release O.J. Simpson from prison in October

Also at BBC, Bloomberg, Reuters, Vice, and CNN. Wikipedia.

The OJ Simpson trials: Where are they now?

One thing to note is that despite a $33.5 million civil judgment against O.J., retirement income is protected under federal law.

Don't forget O.J.'s greatest gift to mankind. One national treasure begets another.

Woman In Saudi Arabia Arrested For Wearing Skirt, Crop Top In Video

5 Injured In Series Of Acid Attacks In London

The Evening Standard newspaper reports that nearly 1,500 acid attacks were reported in London in the past six years.

Hong Kong's High Court Expels Pro-Democracy Lawmakers

Man-Repelling Flamethrowers Are Being Marketed to Women in China

Although it's unclear if women in China are actually using these mini flamethrowers, they're not the most bizarre product aimed at keeping aggressive men away. That honor goes to the "anti-pervert" leggings that apparently give women's legs a hairier look and made the rounds on Chinese blogs in 2013.

That could attract a worse variety of pervert.

1: a feigning to be what one is not or to believe what one does not : behavior that contradicts what one claims to believe or feel

Panhandlers. I just watched a show on Public Broadcasting that was extremely enlightening. The premise is on the homeless and how there can be laws that punish people that have no option but to try to survive. No sleeping on a street when there are no other places to live, things like this.

I was thinking, how can it be that it is illegal for a person on the street to ask for money when they are starving and yet you can walk into grocery stores like Wal-Mart, for example, and they ask you while you check out if you would like to donate to some starving people/cancer fund?

It's illegal to beg on the street for money, but it's legal for a store to beg for money in a parking lot?

This confuses and sickens me. Any thoughts?

Trump Jr.’s Russia meeting sure sounds like a Russian intelligence operation (archive.is)

Donald Trump Jr. is seeking to write off as a nonevent his meeting last year with a Russian lawyer who was said to have damaging information about Hillary Clinton. “It was such a nothing,” he told Fox News’s Sean Hannity on Tuesday. “There was nothing to tell.”

But everything we know about the meeting — from whom it involved to how it was set up to how it unfolded — is in line with what intelligence analysts would expect an overture in a Russian influence operation to look like. It bears all the hallmarks of a professionally planned, carefully orchestrated intelligence soft pitch designed to gauge receptivity, while leaving room for plausible deniability in case the approach is rejected. And the Trump campaign’s willingness to take the meeting — and, more important, its failure to report the episode to U.S. authorities — may have been exactly the green light Russia was looking for to launch a more aggressive phase of intervention in the U.S. election campaign.

Emphasis mine.