I've been meaning to write about Discovery+ which launched its streaming app in January. If you are an HGTV fan, it's got everything you want --almost. And for $5 more a month, it's commericial free.

My favorite show is House Hunters International. I watch every episode that has to do with Asia and South or Central America, i.e., Colombia, Mexico, Ecuador, Costa Rica, Vietnam and Malaysia. I'm not too interested in Australia, Europe or Honduras, but if you are, there are episodes galore.

There are so many episodes, Discovery + gave the show its own channel. But therein lies the problem. So far, there's no index of episodes. It just streams 24/7 and you can't pick the episodes you want to watch. Maybe I'm just not tuning in right, but I've used my Roku, Apple TV and FireTV and none of them have a season/episode guide for you to choose from. Every other HGTV show does, so they need to fix this problem quick. (Or tell us how to find the episode guide). [More...]

Happy New Year, everyone!

May the vaccines work, and may 2021 see the end of the rampage of COVID-19. Let us not let the lives of those we lost be in vain. Please heed science and not the word of elected politicians.

Take a moment to be proud that we, the voters, cast off the most undeserving, unprincipled, soul-less man to ever be given a desk in the oval office. Let him stew in Palm Beach, which will become like a prison to him, even if he's never arrested or charged with a crime.

Indeed, the pump don't work when the vandals steal the handles, but America just grabbed them back.

Here's to a Healthy, Safer, Trump-free world in 2021.

With much gratitude to our readers,

TalkLeft

The last few days of the year are always busy ones, trying to fit everyone in for one last zoom/talk, get one more motion filed, and all the home stuff.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

Merry Christmas, Everyone.

It really doesn't feel like Christmas to me, but for those of you who have found something to celebrate today (including your religion), enjoy! - and please tell us about any great meals or adventures you had. For those of you staying home (like me) and watching a lot of TV, I hope you'll share any great series or movies you've seen.

It's been interesting following the varied approaches states are taking to who gets the vaccine second. Everyone is doing first responders and nursing homes first, but after that, there seems to be a split. Some states are going with the elderly being second because that will save the most lives (since their lives are most at risk). Other states are going with workers who deal with the public in non-medical fields next, saying they are most likely to catch the virus. Where do you weigh in?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

As of Friday, 2,900 people had died of COVID-19 in Colorado. 210,000 Coloradans were diagnosed with the disease. 81% of Colorado's ICU beds were in use as were 50% of the state's adult critical care ventilators. As of Saturday, 1 in every 49 Coloradans was contagious or infected.

Even Governor Jared Polis and the First Partner now have it.

Dr. Fauci was on TV today and he said we should prepare for a third wave. As for today's numbers:

More than 91,500 people were hospitalized with the virus on Saturday, with 18,000 in intensive care units. That's according to data compiled by the COVID Tracking Project, which collects and analyzes data from across the United States. Over 6,000 patients were on ventilators.

I hope everyone here found something to be thankful about. I was happy for the "alone" time. I made a lasagna instead of a turkey, and invited a single friend over. We ate outside on the balcony, seated 6 feet apart. [More...]

• Trump has dropped his Arizona lawsuit.
• 130 Secret Service agents who protected Trump at his rallies have contracted coronavirus
• Illinois, Maryland and Washington may get lockdowns
• Trump's PA law firm Porter Wright moved to withdraw from representing him today.
• Another day, another record shattered:

More than 153,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday as some 66,000 people were hospitalized nationwide.

We can now begin the process of putting science ahead of incompetence and working together, get control over this virus instead of continuing to allow it to control us. It's time for us to get to work. [More...]

My current prediction: Trump will lose in a landslide. But that will only matter to him if the popular vote difference is huge. So no matter where you live, even if it's in a blue state, please VOTE against Donald Trump. Any popularily shown to Trump will be taken as a sign by his undeserving children that they are heirs to his current position.

I am busy all afternoon -- time for a new open thread, all topics welcome.

This was on the playlist of the Peloton class I took this morning. It's hard to find a clear video of all of the Byrds performing it live (as opposed to a lip synced version from an old 60's TV show or an out of focus 1970's reunion show), but it's still a great song and it made me think of Trump as I pedaled today:

"And I'll probably feel a whole lot better when you're gone"

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Some things not worth their own post:

Stephen Miller is the latest to follow a string of White House staff getting COVID-19. (His wife had been with Mike Pence, prepping him for the debate but she left when she got the news about her husband. She had the virus in May).

Kellyanne Conway, aka Ms. Most Unimportant Person in the World, is still fighting with daughter Claudia over Claudia's airing of the family's dirty laundry on TikTok. Claudia says her mom gave the virus to her. And in one TikTok, now deleted, you can hear Kellyanne screaming at Claudia and using the F word. I guess this is what goes for "more mama less drama" in the Conway household. At the Rose Garden ceremony, there were serveral photos of Kellyanne and Bill Barr, standing shoulder to shoulder, laughing and talking spiritedly, with their mouths just inches away from each other and neither wore a mask.

There's a debate tonight between Kamala Harris and Mike Pence. I haven't decided whether to watch yet. I might choose to re-watch some episodes of Money Heist (casa de papel) or the 4th season of Reign, or the 4th episode of Tehran. I hate when streaming services release one episode a week. Don't they know we're all binge-watchers? Also good: Trackers (South African) and Departures. So many movies with bad CIA characters these days. [More...]

49 years ago today, I moved to Colorado.

I couldn't have made a better choice. On days when I see sunsets like the one above, the old tagline from the Denver Post always comes to mind: "'Tis a privilege to live in Colorado".

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

Writing about Donald Trump is like listening to a broken record. Over and over the media exposes his lies and incompetence, his narcisism and delusions of grandeur, the danger he poses to the global stature of he United States and even to our democracy. At least since the start of COVID-19 (which is when I began watching cable news again after an absence of many years), every night on CNN, in broadcasts distributed around the world, not one, but three prime time hosts brand Donald Trump all these things and worse.

Everyone except his marginalized, fanatical base knows he's a charlatan. Everyone knows he lost the popular vote in 2016. Everyone knows he appoints unqualified people to key staff positions and his administration has the higest turnover rate of any recent occupant of the oval office. Everyone belittles his aides, his nepotism, his adult children, and his apathy to anything that doesn't line his own coffers or ego. Everyone knows he doesn't care about America.

Yet, every morning we wake up and he's still here. He's still dominating the news. He's still lying about COVID-19. Why isn't he gone?

It will take a generation or more to recover from the damage Donald Trump has inflicted on America at every level -- from our physical and economic health to our educational system, our personal and professional lives, the social fabric of our nation and our standing in the world. If we recover at all.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

We've now passed 150,000 deaths in the U.S. from Coronavirus. The virus is going to be with us for a long time. It's still unclear how much it will change our professional and personal lives in the future.

The virus mutates -- a new form is already spreading in Vietnam, and causing great concern. I'd like to know which of the virus vaccines the U.S. is financially backing, if any, will work on mutations of COVID-19.

Is it possible we will spend billions for a vaccine that works on the disease as it existed when the vaccine testing began, but not on the mutated disease that exists months or a year later when it's approved?

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.