Chefs with Las Vegas ties prepare decadent after-Oscars feast | Las Vegas Review-Journal

For celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck and his team, serving seafood, caviar, sushi and Champagne for 1,500 is not too tall an order. It will be Puck’s 23rd year of preparing the feast for the official Governors Ball after-Oscars party.

Source: Chefs with Las Vegas ties prepare decadent after-Oscars feast | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Boulder City native purposely goes unnoticed on ‘La La Land’ set | Las Vegas Review-Journal

“I like to joke that I am the highest-paid waiter in Los Angeles. … In the basic sense, I support the actors on set and, yeah, just sort of hand them things,” Kim Richey says modestly about her career as an assistant prop master.

Source: Boulder City native purposely goes unnoticed on ‘La La Land’ set | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Democrats – You Need to Have a National Plan, and Transparency

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Image source: http://imgarcade.com/1/democratic-party-symbol-2013/

I’ve become discouraged and disappointed in my party, the Democratic Party of the United States.

In this time, which we’ve seen before (see: 1960s, Vietnam War, Nixon, Reagan), the Democratic National Committee (DNC) seem disorganized, have no significant national leader of note, no visible national plan for restoring the party to national control in the Senate, the House, and the Presidency, and no transparency for the party at the national level.

Yes, there’s some efforts underway to get a leader, and organize.  But, to me, given the nature of the assaults on our Nation’s Democracy, we are too slow, too unable to gather together as a single force for and .

More on those points below, but on transparency, my large complaint is the continual, ongoing begging for donations and funds to fight without a single clue or report or publication or social media sharing of their use of resources and donations given to them.

For me, I wouldn’t give to a charity or organization that doesn’t have a annual report, a disclosure of how its funds are spent, and frequent regular reports to its contributors or membership about how the donated funds are used.  See also, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_finance_in_the_United_States#Political_parties

Yes, there are state level and local level Democratic Party organizations, but the biggest role is the national organization.  You lead from the top, or you don’t lead at all.  Where’s my report on how you used my money to try and elect Hillary Clinton?  Where’s the staff listing, salaries, operational organization chart, annual report, disclosures?  What are we Democrats getting from our national “team” and their leadership thus far into 2017.  I don’t see much.

Today’s page (2/22/17) reminds me at the first view to call the Republicans in Congress?  See screenshot below…

democrats-org-change-that-matters

Really??  That’s the best you got.  No wonder we got beat in the Electoral College…

POPULAR VOTE

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Source: MSNBC

They (we) won the popular vote by millions, but the Party seems unable to capitalize on any support from that, IMHO.  Given these numbers, there should be a huge number of citizens who voted for her that would be interested in a Democratic Plan to regain national power in politics, and resist and fight back against the current administration.  So far, all I get are emails from state and national Democratic Party organizations only when something seems huge or big or crazy or outrageous –and always ends with a pleas for funds, i.e., donations (money).  Never have those messages offered feedback on how any money would be spent, how they are spending it now, and where’s the National Plan?

Buried in their DNC Web site, is the 2016 campaign’s platform, which I guess is still some kind of substitute plan.  A national political party should have a consistent, published, ongoing, updated National Plan of Action.  Whether they are in control of states, Congress, or the White House.  Remember those “This I Believe” messages, see more at http://thisibelieve.org/

At this point, the Democrats need something, anything to establish their values, what they believe, how they are moving forward, what are their plans, what’s next, events, actions, ways to help, ways to fight back.  Their national silence is deafening…

 

Movie Theaters Plot Trump Protest With ‘1984’ Screenings – Rolling Stone


Movie theaters across the United States will screen Michael Radford’s adaptation of George Orwell’s dystopian classic, 1984, April 4th in protest of Donald Trump, The Guardian reports.

Source: Movie Theaters Plot Trump Protest With ‘1984’ Screenings – Rolling Stone

Educational Resources – The John Muir Exhibit – Sierra Club

educational-resources-the-john-muir-exhibit-screenshot

Online educational resources related to John Muir. Part of the John Muir Exhibit. Thanks to The Scout Report for the link.

Source: Educational Resources – The John Muir Exhibit – Sierra Club

This solar system of seven Earth-sized planets may be the best place to look for alien life – The Verge

“Many of the planets have the right temperatures needed for hosting liquid water…”

Source: This solar system of seven Earth-sized planets may be the best place to look for alien life – The Verge