Go USA!
Archives for June 2016
Open Thread: For the Hamilmaniacs
1)So far @USATODAY is the only one not burying the lede:
We're filming the original cast before I go.
WE GOT YOU. https://t.co/O7Vo9LhF7O— Lin-Manuel Miranda (@Lin_Manuel) June 16, 2016
… Most of whom have no doubt been sharing the news in previous threads, but now the rest of us can enjoy the novelty of going Open-Thread-Off-Topic in “their” post. From the USAToday article:
… The Tony winner confirmed his departure date to reporters at a breakfast event Thursday at Coogan’s in New York’s Washington Heights. Javier Muñoz, Manuel’s alternate who already regularly plays the part one day a week, will take over starting July 11. (He’s used to following Miranda — he also replaced him when he left In the Heights.)
Muñoz, who underwent cancer treatment during the show’s first year (during which Miranda was his understudy) says he finished his medical regimen in January and says he’s “fit and ready” to do seven shows per week.
But don’t fret — Miranda will be back. “I think this is a role I’m going to be going back to again and again. I plan to revisit this role a lot,” he said. (In other words, keep entering the lottery!)…
As for himself, Miranda is “working on his accent” for Mary Poppins Returns, due Christmas 2018, in which he’ll star opposite Emily Blunt. He’s also putting the finishing touches on the music for Disney’s animated film Moana, which arrives in theaters Nov. 23. And he’s got a revelation for you: “Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson can sing! He was really incredible.”
But before he packs up his Hamilton dressing room, the production will film two performances with the current cast this month before they start exiting, as well as shooting offstage cameos…
Any ideas how the final film will be released? Pay-per-view? I think it would be an excellent candidate for the movie-house “event cinema,” with the one-off showings of opera, ballet, and MMA bouts…
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Apart from entertainment, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Britain First! Political Assassination and an Attack on the British Grey Zone
Earlier today Jo Cox, the Labour Party Member of Parliament for Batley and Spen was attacked in the street by a man yelling “Britain First!” Ms. Cox was stabbed and then shot in the street and ultimately succumbed to her wounds. The leaders of the movement behind the British Exit (Brexit) from the EU campaign, the motto of which is “Britain First!”, quickly moved to distance themselves from this act of terrorism. While they are not immediately/personally responsible for the attack on Ms. Cox, it will remain to be seen how much fallout they will face because their professional rhetoric and activities helped to set the conditions for an attack like this to take place.
The investigation into the man who assassinated Ms. Cox is underway and the information is currently fluid, so the usual 48-96 hour caveats on information need to be kept in mind. Dr. David Brockington – an expatriate American who is a professor in England – posted an excellent analytical piece this morning at Lawyers, Guns, and Money about the likelihood of the Brexit one week out from the referendum. The effect of today’s political assassination on the Brexit vote are likely to be significant and they may not be possible to measure them adequately or accurately before the actual vote next week. It will depend on how healthy Britain’s civil space actually is right now and the resilience of the British grey zone to withstand this type of pressure.
Ms. Cox was 41; she is survived by her husband and their children.
Britain First! Political Assassination and an Attack on the British Grey ZonePost + Comments (213)
Further To John McCain’s Rusty Pitchfork Encounter
Senator McCain, doing his best imitation of [Combover] Caligula’s chosen consul, reminds us that his picture shows up in the dictionary next to “shitty loser.”
Or, as John said below: Fornicate him. (I paraphrase.)
With an oxidized agricultural implement.
There’s a chance to make that wish come true. Ann Kirkpatrick is the Democrat aiming for McCain’s senate seat. She’s seems to be running strong, but the silver medalist in the 2008 POTUS stakes race is tough out, so she’ll need all the help she can get.
To that end: I just dropped five bucks on her campaign. If you want to do something similar, here’s her Act Blue page.
Image: Propaganda poster Cette fois – on les aura! (English: This time — we’ve got ’em!”), before 1946.*
*And yes. I was looking for an excuse to use this picture.
Further To John McCain’s Rusty Pitchfork EncounterPost + Comments (71)
Open Thread: Return of the Cruz-ifiction Candidate
.@TedCruz calls the gun filibuster a "sideshow" and says "it was offensive to see Democrat after Democrat rattling on about the NRA."
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) June 16, 2016
With the Democrats openly rebelling against the NRA (and the GOP candidate flailing on all fronts), a call went out in search of a New Hope. And guess who happened to be waiting by the phone…
You don't defeat terrorism by taking away our guns. You defeat terrorism by using our guns. https://t.co/JppvzOuH5U
— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) June 16, 2016
From the Hill, yesterday:
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) attended a confidential dinner with more than 20 top conservatives on Tuesday night to plan his comeback as a movement leader in the mold of Ronald Reagan.
The dinner was at the Virginia home of conservative activist Brent Bozell, and the agenda was to plot Cruz’s future and the future of the conservative movement.
The undertone of the dinner was about how to position Cruz for a future tilt at the presidency and to spearhead the conservative movement from his seat in the Senate, those in attendance said.
Dining with Cruz and his chief of staff, Paul Teller, were some of the most powerful figures in the conservative movement.
The spectrum of economic, national security and social conservatives seated at the table included Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint, Club for Growth President David McIntosh, direct-mail guru Richard Viguerie, National Rifle Association board member and former Cincinnati Mayor Ken Blackwell, and Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser, sources confirmed…
Many of the leaders at the dinner want Cruz to run for president again, and they are viewing Cruz’s unsuccessful 2016 run as similar to Reagan’s failed attempt in 1976 to unseat the incumbent Republican president, Gerald Ford…
Reagan gave the grifting bigots of the “Moral Majority” a comfy seat at the top table, back in the day when AIDS was still a mysterious new “gay plague”. And as far as these good Christianists are concerned, it’s not as though the Orlando massacre involved, you know, actual American people — just “pawns of the devil“…
Open Thread: Return of the Cruz-ifiction CandidatePost + Comments (72)
Fuck You, John McCain
I suppose a better, more sophisticated person would write up all the reasons John McCain would state that President Obama is directly responsible for the Orlando shootings because Iraq and then immediately walk back his remarks is stupid, offensive, obnoxious, and just flat our wrong, but this is Balloon Juice and you know I’m not that person. So instead, here is this:
Fuck you. Go eat some tapioca and play some bingo. Also too, Palin.
Euro 2016 Germany v Poland Open Thread
Certainly one of the most eagerly awaited matches of the first round and longtime adversaries, both on and off the pitch.