h/t JeffreyW
https://twitter.com/joanofdarkness/status/761953756879654913
Looks like we could use an open thread….I’m off to clean up after three hours of gardening – which for now is mostly deconstruction, but I’m am beginning to see how beautiful it has the potential to be. What are you up to this afternoon?
rikyrah
That cat scares me.
aimai
That is the most beautiful cat I’ve ever seen. I was raised with Siamese cats, and have always loved them the most, but alas–too many allergic people in my life. I haven’t had a cat since I was a teenager. But a cat like that? I could lose my head over a cat like that!
redshirt
@rikyrah: Right? Totally. Much Lion!
Major Major Major Major
Wow, that cat’s awesome.
OT: We were noting yesterday that nothing Hillary ever does will allow her to be considered a legitimate winner of the election by Republicans. The L.A. Times has an op-ed today about how if she wins she can’t claim a mandate because Trump. So, that’s all starting already.
Amir Khalid
That must be The Most Interesting Cat In The World.
ThresherK
@Major Major Major Major: I’m not clicking on it (thanks for taking one for the team). Who is it by? I’ve got a few guesses.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
you know that “first seven jobs” thing that is going around on twitter? I thought this was funny
NorthLeft12
Just headed up to the hospital to visit my daughter and her one day old son [my second grandchild]. He was born three weeks early and still weighed eleven pounds and fourteen and a half ounces.
Mom and Dad and little one are all doing great.
Also emptying out the kitchen as the reno starts tomorrow. Yeah, busy, thank dog I am on vacation for the next two weeks.
Amir Khalid
@Major Major Major Major:
Just the usual pundit second-guessing. No big deal.
Major Major Major Major
@ThresherK: “Doyle McManus”, whose name rings a bell but I can’t place it. I think my favorite part might be the backflip of “She isn’t advancing a positive policy agenda, and oh my god her speeches are such booooring wonky laundry-lists of policy agendas.”
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: My friend had a good one.
Tom Q
Since no one else has so far noted it: kudos for referencing perhaps the greatest of all hard-boiled movies.
My favorite exchange from the movie:
Neff: Same time; same anklet?
Diedrichson: I wonder if I know what you mean.
Neff: I wonder if you wonder.
rikyrah
Michael Hargrove @MichaelHargrov1
Fact the Pres. Obama lost college educated Whites and still won Presidency should tell Dems who the base of their party is.
redshirt
@NorthLeft12: Congrats! May they both be spoiled by the Grandparents!
Major Major Major Major
@Amir Khalid: I’m not worried or surprised, I’m annoyed. It’s allowed, dangit.
ThresherK
@Major Major Major Major: A quick search (after donning the safety vinyl gloves) returns that he is often on Washington Week Inbred Review for PBS. What a surprise!
amygdala
Wow. I’m sneezing just looking at the pic, since I’m pretty allergic to cats, but that’s one majestic critter.
Does anyone know anything about mosquito nets? I’m going to Haiti for a week next month, to do some volunteer work and have my malaria prophylaxis and mosquito repellent, found my long-sleeved linen shirts, and am taking my typhoid vax. But I need to get a mosquito net and mostly I’m confused by what’s available at REI and online.
If anyone has advice, I would be much obliged.
SiubhanDuinne
@Major Major Major Major:
Doyle McManus was a regular guest every week on Bob Edwards Weekend, if you ever listened to that on NPR/Sirius (it was cancelled a couple of years ago). And I have vague memories of seeing him (McManus) years ago on one of those PBS Washington Week in Review-type programs. He was never going to set the world on fire, but I didn’t realize he had become quite such a Villager hack.
cain
That cat is beautiful, but is it really a cat? It looks like a lion, or even panther. Like the sith version of Aslan. :)
Major Major Major Major
@ThresherK: With folks like this, I always think of them in my head as ‘alleged human Doyle McManus’… since their thoughts could basically be automated.
AnotherBruce
@Amir Khalid: I read it, nobody else should waste their time. It’s just the usual pundit stroking devoid of any insight or, god forbid, a sense of humor. Here’s the deal. Whoever wins the election will have a mandate. All of the rest of it looks like it could have been written by a robo-writer. They’re getting cheap and desperate at the L.A. Times.
SiubhanDuinne
@NorthLeft12:
Great news! Congratulations!
AnotherBruce
@Major Major Major Major: Beat me to it on the robo-writer thing.
Brachiator
@Major Major Major Major: Goddam. What a stupid op Ed piece.
Clinton won’t have a mandate because the Republicans fucked up in picking Trump?
She can’t claim a mandate because she didn’t send the voters a certified copy of her proposals and receive their notarized approval?
Clinton will have a mandate if she wins the election. Period. End of issue.
The rest will be obfuscation and obstruction.
Bex
@Major Major Major Major: Don’t know what publication McManus works for, but I remember he used to be a panel member on the SnoozeHour, which kinda says it all.
Edit: Washington Week panelist.
Pogonip
@amygdala: I don’t have advice, sorry, but I have a question. What is wrong in Haiti? Those poor souls have been mired in misery for at least a century. Whereas the other side of the island seems much better off. I don’t understand it.
TaMara (HFG)
@Tom Q: I almost went with a quote from that exchange, but thought this one more fitting for that magnificent beast.
gogol's wife
@Tom Q:
There’s a speed limit in this state.
Brachiator
Beautiful cat!
Real or Photoshop?
Ruckus
@AnotherBruce:
Don’t you mean still?
Pogonip
That’s a beautiful Maine Coon. I wonder how much daily brushing it needs?
amygdala
@Pogonip: I’ll tell you when I get back? Poverty, colonialism… that’s the stuff I read, anyway, but I imagine it will look different once there. I’ll be working on a tiny sliver of things, doing some teaching at a hospital. There’s a doctor strike going on across the country, so it could be interesting. I was originally scheduled to start after the first of the year, but they had some openings next month and I figured there was no reason not to get going sooner. If all goes well, the plan is to go annually, for longer blocks of time.
hovercraft
@Major Major Major Major:
It’s not a valid victory because the candidates that the establishment wanted to win did not win, so this is not a defeat of republicans since Donald was not ‘our’ candidate. Presidential elections where democrats win are not representative of ‘real America.’ The mid-terms with a smaller whiter electorate are the only truly representative. To win a mandate a democrat must first demonstrate they are willing to accept the GOP platform and then win the midterms, anything less is a rebuke of the will of the people.
Librarian
“There’s a speed limit in this state, Mr Neff.”
Gindy51
@amygdala: I am highly sensitive to skeeter and use a net over my hat and around my head when I walk my property every day. I got mine online but I am sure any hunting store would have them. They’d also have bed nets or you could try Amazon.
Ultraviolet Thunder
Spent an hour turning invasive mulberry and buckthorn into a heap of biomass. The city will chip it up tomorrow and it will contribute to next spring’s municipal free compost bin.
I itch all over.
germy shoemangler
That cat is the lion king.
Anoniminous
@rikyrah:
That’s one of those racist statistics bigots like to trot out. Romney barely won the college educated in 2012 and that only due to a 50 year backlog of Whites Only college education. For instance, in my university in the late sixties there were, maybe, a couple of hundred Asians, Africans, and Hispanics out of a total student body of ~8,000. Hillary should flip that number this year and Dems should control that statistic going forward.
nutella
@Pogonip:
They were required to pay obscene amounts of money to France to compensate French planters whose slaves they had been. (No compensation to the slaves for their years of stolen labor of course.) IIRC, the US was on the side of France in forcing Haiti to pay up.
And the Duvalier dictators stripped every penny for 30 years of the 20th century. None of that has been found and given back.
Van Buren
@Brachiator: The frustrating thing is that should Democrats take the WH, Senate, and House, they will still proceed as if they don’t have a mandate.
Major Major Major Major
@hovercraft: America’s a center-right nation, after all.
Brachiator
Movie Rant One
“Jason Bourne” might be an enjoyable summer guilty pleasure for some, but is a largely unsuccessful mixed bag.
The film is built on two old action thriller tropes: that the CIA is hyper proficient (except when it comes to our hero), and also that the CIA is hyper corrupt. Unfortunately, this was worked to death in all the previous Bourne movies and this instalment does nothing to advance these elements or do anything new with them. Worse, the movie actually does an Aliens 3 maneuver and negates some stuff that had been established before.
What does it have in its favor? Some good acting, some great, gritty fight scenes, and some of the best car chase scenes I’ve seen in a while. But the story is dumb, with too many false leads and loose threads.
Pogonip
@nutella: i knew the Duvaliers were horrible.
AnotherBruce
@Ruckus: Probably, but I lived in Southern California a couple of decades ago. And the Times was my go to paper. It used to be great. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.
Emma
@amygdala: Get a good muslin (or muslin-fake) one, nothing plasticky. If you’re provided with a bed, make sure it’s one long enough to be tucked under the mattress. Depending on the setup, you may need one with a single center hook or one with 4 corners. Something that can do both might be helpful.
satby
@NorthLeft12: congratulations! 11 lbs and he was early?
Steeplejack (tablet)
@Major Major Major Major:
If America votes for Italian food over tire rims and anthrax, can we really say that America likes Italian food? Opinions differ!
amygdala
@Gindy51: Thanks. I feel your pain. I have “food truck” written across my forehead, in ink that’s visible to mosquitoes. I’m looking for a bed net and can’t find exactly what I want–it looks like the WHO-recommended ones are pretty hard to purchase in the US. Will probably get an untreated one and douse it in permethrin myself.
Pogonip
Is anyone else eagerly awaiting the Daily Dog Poop Report?
Thank God for the Internet. Without the Internet we’d have to wait for a Monthly Dog Poop Report when Cole’s newsletter ;likely title: “I Hate You All”) arrived in the mail.
Major Major Major Major
@Steeplejack (tablet): Well, in the midterm they’ll probably vote for a pile of flaming tires. It’s really a hard electorate to augur.
Brachiator
@Bex:
He was also the Washington bureau chief for the LA Times.
amygdala
@Emma: Thanks so much–this helps me know I’m on the right track. I’m waiting to hear whether my sleeping quarters have a bed or cot. And have been reading that the way to turn a 4-corners one into a center hook set up is to tie a rubber ball into the top.
Pogonip
@amygdala: i will be interested to hear about it. I have only known one Haitian, who said every citizen’s fondest dream is to move somewhere else. Anywhere else. Haiti as she described it bore unpleasant echoes of post-NAFTA America. If things continue on their present course I can see the U.S. looking like Haiti in 50 years.
Emma
@amygdala: this might work?
Major Major Major Major
@Brachiator: Of course he was.
D58826
@Major Major Major Major: When Hillary gave her acceptance speech she started by placing her hand over her hearty several times. It is a since of sincerity and thank you . Well the NYT consulted with several language ‘experts’ to determine if the gesture was an honestly felt one or just another attempt by Hillary to fake sincerity. They really are scraping the bottom of the barrel.
N. Kristof of the NYT has an article comparing Hillary’s truthfulness with Trumps. According to Kristof Trump is an Olympic gold metal liar while Hillary would not be voted captain of her Church bowling league. The fact checker at WAPO added that Trumps lies are off the charts whereas as Hillary is just your garden variety politician when it comes to fibbing and stretching the truth.
Mary G
@AnotherBruce: Ever since the Tribune Co. took it over it’s gone to shit. McManus used to be OK, but now he worships at the the altar of Broder to please the new boss. It was a great paper in the Chandler days, but it’s fallen far.
Emma
@Pogonip: That is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard. The US has an economy. Might not be great at the moment, might need a lot of infrastructure fixing, but it has one. Haiti has been on life support for over 100 years and every time they get hit by an earthquake or a hurricane, they fall further behind.
amygdala
@Emma: That’s one of the half-dozen I have bookmarked. Awaiting more info about my accommodations, which I hope will help finalize the decision. Thanks.
satby
@amygdala: The one I used in Haiti is unavailable now, but this is similar though more expensive. But trust me, people who had regular nets sometimes got bit if their hand or foot ended up against the netting, unless the nets were insecticide soaked first. Which I also did, with this. And a tarp on the bottom of the net, which I didn’t have, would have prevented some creepy crawlers.
Redshift
@Brachiator: We all knew it was coming, from the GOP, the Village, and the Bernie-or-bust crowd – “she only won because Trump was so bad.”
Keith P.
I had a cat with a mane. Not quite like that, but I swear he knew that mane made him special among the other cats. He walk like a king and lorded over the other cats (he was the biggest).
I would love to have a miniaturized version of that one
EDIT: That is a big cat, right? it’s paws look huge, and its face looks like a big cat. If it’s a domestic, I want a kitten NOW.
Pogonip
@Emma: Are you sure about that?
raven
Ultraviolet Thunder
@Redshift:
I’ll take a win any way the losers want to spin it.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@Brachiator: To play Devil’s Advocate briefly.
McManus apparently wrote:
He says they “will be able to claim” that, not that he himself believes it.
Cokie Roberts uses similar constructions in her commenting on NPR’s “Morning Edition”.
Of course, it’s misleading framing, and of course they know exactly what they’re doing in phrasing things this way. But they’re not explicity saying where they stand on the issue (and they no-doubt would get quite upset if actually challenged on their phrasing).
In the McManus quote above, the GOP doesn’t need anyone’s permission to make any “claim” they want, his subordinate clauses don’t take away from the greater point he’s making (that Hillary won’t have a mandate no matter how she decimates (heh) the GOP, and history shows that their “claims” don’t need to have any basis in reality.
They’ve been reporting this way for decades – they know what they’re doing.
FWIW.
Cheers,
Scott.
Mnemosyne
@amygdala:
Mosquito repellents came up a few weeks ago and people really seemed to like the Sawyer brand. Also, take a look at the Ex Officio website and see if any of their BugsAway clothes are on sale in your size — people say they really work and they sometimes have really good sale prices on their site.
Steeplejack (tablet)
A friend who went to Cuba for a week just called and is going to drop off a bottle of rum for me. Score!
redshirt
@Brachiator: Haven’t seen Bourne, and won’t unless it’s convenient on Netflix or Amazon.
Did you see the new Star Trek? If so, thoughts?
Emma
@Pogonip: Yes.
Pogonip
@D58826: I agree. I have a conservative relative who sends me the Hillary outage du jour, and she couldn’t be that evil even if she tried. I think this stuff may backfire on them with normal people.
I am going to take a sinus pill, lie down, and await the DDPR.
satby
@Pogonip: a long history of being screwed by the colonial powers and saddled with enormous debt.
Nutella got there first.
Pogonip
@Emma: why?
amygdala
@satby: Wow! I love the fact that it pops open and sort of assembles itself. About to head out to pick up some permethrin at the outdoor store so that whichever one I get, I can treat it. There’s pretty good data showing that’s an extra useful measure.
When were you in Haiti?
And, if it’s not too intrusive, have you heard from your exchange daughters? Have they been getting settled back in at home ok?
Brachiator
@Van Buren:
Sad, but true in a lot of ways. The Democrats act like sad sack underdogs even when they win.
satby
@Emma: the trouble is that there’s sometimes nothing overhead to hang a tent from, but that’s pretty good, at least you don’t have to get the insecticide separately and do it yourself. Though I would anyway, almost all of these nets made in China.
amygdala
@Mnemosyne: Thanks for the Ex Officio rec. I have some Sawyer stuff left over from my trip to Argentina awhile back, so will be able to treat some of the clothes I’ll be packing.
Patricia Kayden
@rikyrah: It’s gorgeous and so plush. And so lion-like.
Mnemosyne
@Pogonip:
Because the US has been fucking with Haiti’s internal affairs since Thomas Jefferson was president. There is no equivalent giant outside power that has been fucking with us for over 200 years.
debbie
T@Brachiator:
Googling around, he’s real. Here’s an interview with the photographer.
AnotherBruce
@Mary G: Thanks, I had forgotten that it was taken over by the Tribune Company. I’m tired of Republicans running newpapers in large Democratic Cities. Chicago has the Trib, Seattle had The Seattle Times. And now Los Angeles. Plus the NYT seems to go in the tank every presidential election. Fuck it, can’t some Democratic supporting billionaires buy some media companies? Get off your ass Soros and Buffet.
Corner Stone
@Emma:
The only good muslin, is a dead muslin.
Brachiator
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
“They” who? This is not typical of good reporting, or good punditry.
I agree with some of your breakdown of the rhetoric used, but it’s just lazy, stupid writing. And it doesn’t seemed connected to what punditry is supposed to be about, a seasoned journalist drawing on his experience to give us insight into politics. It’s just gaseous projecting of the writer’s idle fantasies. And a lame attempt to ramble on about what Clinton ought to do to make him happy.
inventor
@Pogonip: I am. It’s ridiculous to think that the U.S. is on a trajectory to becoming like Haiti; not in 50 years nor 100 years. History, geography, economy, population, natural resources, the fact that the U.S. is not 1/2 of a freakin’ island, and many many other factors make me sure that your statement of U.S.+50yrs=Haiti is one of the silliest I’ve ever seen.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
Wipe out on the women’s road race. Dutch cyclist wasn’t moving when the cameras moved away with the leaders.
Emma
@Pogonip: Start here. Continue here.
Also, what inventor said.
satby
@amygdala: I went to Haiti as a disaster response volunteer a few months after the earthquake in 2010. I went later by design because immediately after a disaster so many people deploy that you’re tripping over each other, but a few months later the news attention is elsewhere, the volunteer stream has slowed to a trickle, and the long term recovery work is just really getting started. It was the hardest disaster I’ve been on (I was at Katrina and hurricane Rita too) because there just wasn’t infrastructure even to repair.
The thing about treating the nets is that it kills the mosquitoes that land on it, so the population of mosquitoes drops and helps protect people who don’t have nets. The charity Nothing But Nets has the data on that.
Yes, I have heard from both girls. Valentina is already back at school and Qunoot is visiting her mom’s side of the family in Iran for the next couple of weeks until her school starts. They’re both doing great.
inventor
@Corner Stone:
That’s not fair! MOST muslins are not tearorists!
J R in WV
@redshirt:
This guy is a pro, here is Robert Sijka’s site.
There are dozens of great cat photos, I’ve just started to click through the library. All for sale at reasonable prices.
A real pro, doing a great job. Unlike Trump!
Emma
@Corner Stone: Cute. Very cute.
Steeplejack (phone)
@debbie:
Linky no work. I fix: interview with photographer Robert Sijka.
Doug R
@amygdala: Mountain Equipment Co-op sells mosquito shirts made in Canada that get good reviews.
Brachiator
@redshirt:
I liked it better than any of the Abrams efforts. I think the cast settled well into their roles. Fun story, but the end action was a little weak. They dumped the original director and scrapped the original script, but tried to keep the original release date, and the the weaknesses and compromises show in some bad effects work and muddled story elements.
I thought it would do better at the box office, but these things are impossible to predict.
I think the story might have been better served had they not buried the main antagonist under so much rubber mask makeup.
SgrAstar
@AnotherBruce: Long time LAT reader here.The Times has not fallen as far down the rathole as some Juicers think. Any paper that gives free rein to Steve Lopez and Michael Hiltzik just isn’t that bad. The Times covers LA pretty well, in addition to casting a bright, critical light on the ongoing, deplorable antics of California’s ag barons.
Emma
@J R in WV: Look at this cutie. Not a spectacular cat. But he/she loves meeeeee!
Just One More Canuck
@Pogonip: the discussion of the LA Times in this thread qualifies for that title
Brachiator
@AnotherBruce:
The Chandler family, who previously owned the LA Times, were Republicans. Otis Chandler was just more moderate, and let editorial run with a great deal of Independence.
In earlier years, the Times was the voice of the WASP Establishment of Southern California.
Also, the Times was never a union shop.
DougJ
Great title. Double Indemnity ftw
amygdala
@Doug R: Thanks! Reminds me of REI.
amygdala
@satby: I hear you about going (or donating) later, after the media spotlight has dimmed.
Glad the girls are doing well. Sure seems like exchange programs are more important than ever.
redshirt
@Brachiator: Agree with every word of your review. I’ve lowered my standards for Trek these days so this was a pleasant surprise.
Low expectations can be a wonderful thing.
Brachiator
@SgrAstar:
Yeah, it has. And like many newspapers, it is simply becoming irrelevant. It still has good journalism, but no one cares.
I work in an office with many staff under age 35. Only 1 person subscribed to the Times. If he brings the paper to work and leave it in the break room, folks might keep the sports section, but throw the rest away.
News stories are shorter and far less comprehensive than they used to be. A recent story on the newly expanded Expo Line light rail system was perfunctory and filled with errors.
And the exodus of editors, reporters and columnists continues.
J R in WV
@Emma:
There are dozens of great cats on that art site. We don’t pay for our animals, but were gifted with a pair of Maine Coons many years ago… they are a cut above most cats, really. And we love all our cats, 19 so far… counting the Maine Coons. All rescued but the Coons.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Amir Khalid:
I don’t always eat tuna, but when I do….
satby
@amygdala:
I agree. But the fact that Trump might get elected has stamped down some demand from overseas, or so I heard anecdotally. I know I wouldn’t let my kid come here if I was a Muslim parent. Or Sikh, because the turbans confuse the rednecks. And that’s a self inflicted wound on our country.
debbie
@Steeplejack (phone):
Thanks. Probably didn’t get rid of the full duplicate http bit.
Eric U.
@satby: In my experience, Younger Sikhs almost all wear baseball caps. Probably ok in most instances
NorthLeft12
@redshirt:Thank you. Grandma is trying hard. My wife is in a bit of a tizzy because she has not finished one of her knitting projects for GC#2. The premature birth has thrown her schedule off.
NorthLeft12
@satby: Eleven pounds and FOURTEEN and a HALF ounces, as my wife and daughter continue to remind me. Yeah, he is big.
Gretchen
@D58826: Connie Schultz (Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist and wife of Sherrod Brown) posted on Facebook about this this morning. She says she first saw Clinton do this when they first met years ago, when Hillary and Connie were telling each other about their daughters, and Connie realized she had done the exact same thing. She’s been doing it for decades, but now the NYT is saying she’s copying Angelina Jolie to mimic a sincerity that couldn’t possibly be real.
Miss Bianca
@Emma: “Innocent”. My ass. That little cutie is looking at you going, “Innocent means not guilty…YET.”
debbie
@Gretchen:
If the NYT were paying better attention, they’d see that many, many people make that gesture. I always assumed it was based on ASL.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
The last time I tried to get a subscription to the LA Times, I signed up on their website and somehow was signed up for the Baltimore Sun instead. Which, of course, never arrived, since I had chosen home delivery and we are in LOS ANGELES.
We couldn’t figure out WTF had happened because no one answering the phone at the LA Times subscription department could figure out what was going on, but eventually a bill came in the mail from the Baltimore Sun and we were able to call and get it canceled. They never did refund our $20 for the phantom papers we never received. Assholes.
redshirt
@NorthLeft12: That’s YUUUUGE!
amygdala
@satby: Yeah, unfortunately. I saw it for a number of years after 9/11, with health care workers who used to come to my hospital to learn advanced HIV care. Programs would get canceled last minute because of visa issues. Just coincidence, I’m sure, that those always and only seemed to occur with folks named Mohammed or Ahmed. And that it was never an issue before 9/11.
Mnemosyne
@NorthLeft12:
Hopefully Grandma was knitting in the 3-6 month size, because that’s a BIG BABY. It’s going to be hard to cram him/her into newborn sizes.
Ruckus
@Brachiator:
At work one guy, 32, buys a LAT some days. I agree it isn’t as good as it used to be. And we used to subscribe to it. Being born and raised in LA, it’s what you did. Is it horrible? No. It has some bright spots but it has definitely gone downhill. And I think you hit on the reason, more than any other, relevance.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
This is not just about assholes. This is a portent of doom. The LAT circulation department used to be organized around the idea that you absolutely had to be responsive to subscribers. This meant that you had to get the paper to them. Or stop it when they went on vacation.
I have no idea how they fvcked the website to confuse CA and MD subscriptions. And it sounds like they scrapped their old call center operations.
It’s weird to watch the decline of companies that used to set the standard for excellence in many areas.
Mnemosyne
The circulation department just kept saying that we weren’t in the system and were completely uninterested in figuring out how to solve the problem. If you’re a subscription-based publication, you’d think it would be important to serve your subscribers and potential subscribers, but nope, not any more.
NorthLeft12
@Mnemosyne: Yes, my wife was warned a few weeks ago that new born sizes were not going to cut it. Returned some clothing and added a few rows to the blanket and toque.
Jess
@redshirt: Just saw ST yesterday. It was a fun ride, but the story had YUUUGE holes in it, IMHO. There were too many moments where I was thinking “wait, what?” Good action scenes too loosely connected, to the point where I stopped being invested emotionally and just enjoyed it as a carnival ride. I thought the previous one was way better as a movie. Nice moments with the main characters doing their thing, though.
Goatwoman
@nutella: They also were ignored (best case scenario), shunned, treated with contempt and hostility, and royally screwed over on every level by virtually every nation in the world since their inception. Why? They were a nation founded on a successful slave revolt, something no other 18th or 19th century country could stomach. Of course, come the enlightened 20th, things got better–the U.S. stopped (directly) meddling with Haiti as long ago as 1990!
It hasn’t been all bad. It was an American president who welcomed Haiti’s first leader to come and meet with him when no other nation would acknowledge the island’s right to exist as its own country. That president was our second, John Adams, who had a real respect for what it meant to put one’s freedom and life on the line (and who couldn’t stand slavery). They dined together in the shell of what would eventually be the White House (built by slaves, of course).
Goatwoman
@Corner Stone: I assumed you’re talking about Indian muslin….