https://blackgirlnerds.com/outlander-3×11/

In this episode of Outlander, badass Claire returns and gives the audience a glimpse of the heroine we remember her to be. She forges through jungles, sleeps with snakes, and walks on legs that should have been crippled with infection. This Claire is no shrinking, whining mess of a woman that she seems to turn […]

The post ‘Outlander’ 3×11 Proves Jamie is Claire’s Kryptonite appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.

December 2, 2017

‘Outlander’ 3×11 Proves Jamie is Claire’s Kryptonite

https://blackgirlnerds.com/outlander-3x11/

In this episode of Outlander, badass Claire returns and gives the audience a glimpse of the heroine we remember her to be. She forges through jungles, sleeps with snakes, and walks on legs that should have been crippled with infection. This Claire is no shrinking, whining mess of a woman that she seems to turn [...]

The post ‘Outlander’ 3×11 Proves Jamie is Claire’s Kryptonite appeared first on Black Girl Nerds.


December 2, 2017

The Republican Tax Bill Is An Unconscionable Windfall for the Wealthy, Paid for With Everyone Else’s Health, Education, and Security

https://www.themarysue.com/republican-tax-bill-horror/

The U.S. Senate just passed a shockingly irresponsible overhaul of the tax code, called the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.” Only one Republican – Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) – did not vote for the bill.

This is a donor-serving Frankenstein of a bill, and journalists will be picking through its economic wreckage for weeks to come; the final bill will also change as the House and the Senate go into conference to reconcile their two versions. However, below are some of the most salient measures included in the Senate bill:

  • Permanently cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent
  • Repealing the individual mandate that makes Obamacare markets possible, likely leaving 13 million fewer people insured and crashing the insurance markets in a number of red states
  • Lowering the tax rates for individuals, but only until 2026. Yes, the individual tax cuts are temporary while the corporate ones are permanent
  • Repealing the Johnson Amendment, which prohibits  501(c)(3) nonprofits (including, most importantly, churches) from openly opposing or endorsing political candidates
  • Adding $1.4 trillion to the deficit

Given that last bullet point, it’s clear that the real damage is yet to come. Congress will have to borrow $1 trillion to compensate for all these tax cuts, and we know how Republicans will plan to make up for that: cuts to the social safety net. “Someone is going to have to pay for those deficits,” said Alan Auerbach, a tax expert at the University of California Berkeley. “To the extent the deficits are addressed by cutbacks to entitlement programs, it could further exacerbate inequality.”

Republicans have explicitly said that they want to dedicate 2018 to “reducing spending” on welfare, Social Security, and Medicare, and Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) basically gave the game away by admitting that this tax bill is their first step on the way to those cuts.

Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) admitted the same on the Senate floor.

The Senate also rejected multiple attempts to make the bill less of a giveaway and spread some of the tax cuts to average Americans. Rubio (R-FL) and Mike Lee (R-UT) proposed changing the bill to cut the corporate tax rate to 21 percent, rather than 20 percent, in order to make room for a larger tax credit for Americans making $20,000-50,000. The Senate rejected this proposal. Rubio was frustrated afterwards, saying, “We could have helped so much more,” but he still voted for this bill. They all still voted for this atrocity, knowing that it will skyrocket income inequality, increase the deficit, destabilize massive swaths of the U.S. economy, and make the government’s budget far more precarious.

And for what? For whom were they willing to do so much damage? For donors and corporations.

As the New York Times editorial board summarized, this bill is a “looting of the public purse by corporations and the wealthy,” and its passage “confirm[s] that the Republican leaders’ primary goal is to enrich the country’s elite at the expense of everybody else, including future generations who will end up bearing the cost.”

Keep calling. Keep emailing. They still have to vote on the compromise bill. Stay angry. Vote them out.

(Via Chicago Tribune, Vox, PBSThe Washington Post, and The Los Angeles Times; image via Shutterstock)

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The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—


December 2, 2017

Netflix Snatches The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Away From The CW With a Two-Season Order

https://www.themarysue.com/netflix-snatches-the-chilling-adventures-of-sabrina-away-from-the-cw-with-a-two-season-order/

We know we were excited about the possibilities when it was announced that Archie Comics’ most magical character, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, would be getting her own live-action TV show on The CW as a sort of companion show to Riverdale. Apparently, Netflix was excited for the possibilities, too! So excited, that they swooped in to claim the show for themselves with an offer the producers couldn’t refuse.

As reported by Deadline Hollywood, Netflix has committed to a two-season, straight-to-series order for the now-untitled Sabrina show. That was an offer Warner Bros. TV couldn’t pass up. Not only does it show a huge amount of faith on Netflix’s part in the show’s potential for success, but partnering with Netflix means that Warner Bros. TV gets to keep exclusive ownership of the show, whereas The CW model means that Riverdale is a co-production with CBS TV Studios, which gives them part ownership.

Now that Netflix is throwing all their weight behind this Sabrina show, I’m even more excited, as the basic concept for the show was already more interesting to me than Riverdale ever was (don’t get me wrong. I love me some Riverdale, but…)

Will you be watching Sabrina when she comes to Netflix?

(image: Archie Comics)

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The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—


December 1, 2017

LISTEN: Xscape Just Released Their First New Music In Over A Decade

https://www.essence.com/entertainment/xscape-new-music-dream-killer-wifed-up

Xscape is closing out their whirlwind year with the surprise release of not one, but two new singles. Although the group initially said there were no immediate plans to put out any new music following the news of their reunion in early 2017, it looks like they've had a change of heart. The two new tracks mark the first time the group has put out fresh material since 2005, with 1998 being the last time all 4 original group members were heard on a song together. Taking to her Instagram page earlier in the week, group member Tameka "Tiny"  Cottle gave the world a first official preview of the first new single just after Thanksgiving, titled "Dream Killer." Take a listen below. Group member Tamika Scott then revealed the name of the second single, titled "Wifed Up" with a post on her Instagram page on December 1. Both singles are currently available for purchase on iTunes, as well as on all digital streaming platforms. Prior to the release of the songs, Kandi Burruss confirmed during an appearance on Watch What Happens Live that while there would be new Xscape music on the way, she would not be included on the songs. Despite Kandi's absence from the new music, the group in its' entirety just premiered the finale of their Bravo docueries, are currently on tour together through January and are also preparing for the release of an authorized biopic in 2018.