BSR

If you're going to be nasty, at least be honest about it and take responsibility.

Like I said, either you're a car guy, or you're not. It's quite obvious you're not. I'm a big believer in letting people enjoy their hard-earned money. If you can't enjoy your money, why bother working? Just because a guy spends his money in a way I wouldn't, I'm not going make nasty assumptions about the guy. Live and let live.

As a wise old investment advisor once told me, "the reason old money has money is that they don't spend it." Or at least they refuse to spend it on something like a $400K Rolls Royce, yet they don't bat an eyelash about sending their kids to $50K/year private schools. I just googled the profile of the typical Rolls Royce owner: median net worth $30 million, salary $1-2 million/year, median age 43 (I would have guessed much older). Wow, if that's "aspirational" rich, how much $$ do the "real" rich have??

Honestly, I don't know how many people moved to Florida for political reasons. I'm guessing finances were a much more significant factor. High state & local taxes used to be fully deductible but are now capped at a $10K max. Residents of high-tax states got crushed, including a fair number of forum members.

Insurance costs have skyrocketed in Florida. If you live in a single-family home, not only are you dealing with staggering increases in premiums but also (for many) mandatory costs like roof replacement. For condo owners, their individual homeowners premiums have increased as well as the building's policy, which means much higher HOAs. Homeowners also face increases in property tax due to inflating home values. Huge increases in insurance and property taxes on top of too-high median home prices mean that many homeowners will be forced to sell, which leads to ... uh oh

Forget the gambling, alcohol, and escorts, come to Las Vegas for the foie gras! Plenty of posh restaurants offer it (usually seared, as an appetizer), and a couple of gourmet food stores sell whole foie gras. Even in California, where foie gras is banned from restaurants and retail stores, you can order it online and have it shipped to your CA address. Just ask the online seller if they send it in discreet packaging, LOL.

Even though @unicorn and I disagreed constantly, he was one of the forum members from the opposite end of the political spectrum I rather enjoyed debating. He was supersmart and knew how to make an argument. Granted, he was aggressive at times (lots of us got pretty heated in the old Politics subforum) but if you called him on it, he would calm down. At least that was my experience. Even now that the old Politics subforum is defunct, I will miss his participation around here.

The NYT has knowingly and intentionally published so many whopper lies yet somehow maintains a pristine reputation because the so-called newspaper pushes the narratives that certain people want to hear. If you like reading the NYT for other reasons -- the arts, fashion, NYC social scene -- it covers those areas like no other publication. But if you're looking for a legitimate news source, best look elsewhere.

Either you're a car guy, or you're not. If you're a car guy, you either buy the supercar of your dreams, or you dream about the supercar of your dreams. If you're not a car guy, you think such purchases are troubling signs of mental illness.

Thanks for the news about Pete's wife. I didn't know she was battling cancer. In that long 2 years before the 2002 US Open, tough times when his ranking dropped and he didn't win a single tournament, his wife's support never wavered. I remember him saying that was the one silver lining in all his struggles, at least he knew he married the right one. Now it's his turn to support her. I pray she beats the cancer and gets back to 100%.

I'm the opposite -- I watched every single episode of Friends, some episodes several times via reruns. I can't say that I was personally that affected by his death, just sad that such a talented person died far too young. He was so committed to helping others with addiction. Hopefully Perry's foundation continues his good work. I'm weird about comedies. As much as I love to laugh, I almost never like American comedy series. Friends was 1 of only 2 sitcoms I've ever liked (Mary Tyler Moore was the other one). So thank you Chandler Bing/Matthew Perry for all the belly-laughs. R.I.P.

The first place that comes to mind is Puerto Vallarta. I just googled it to verify that prostitution is legal in PV (it varies by state in Mexico). Not sure if they have any full-on Club Med-style gay resorts, but PV certainly has many gay-friendly accommodations. A few recent PV threads: Puerto Vallarta & Anything new in PV? & Costa Rica vs. Puerto Vallarta Happy hunting!

It's on my bucket list as well, although I do wonder if the idea (poshness, glamour) is better than the reality (7 days, no ports). The best tip I found about transatlantic crossings was to fly east and sail west so that you get an extra hour on 5 days of the journey. If you sail NYC->Southampton, you lose an hour on 5 days and will likely sleep through all those terrific English breakfasts.

Has anyone watched Season 7 of Élite yet? Half of me wants to cue it up because I was such a fan for the first 5 seasons; the other half of me is a-scared because Season 6 was so awful.

If Smollett has a substance-abuse problem and is genuinely trying to straighten his life out, then I support and applaud him. But this smacks of a PR stunt. Smollett destroyed his career by staging a pathetic hoax. What better way to redemption than a stint in rehab, after which he can very publicly claim that he's changed, grown, blah blah blah. Cue up the "I'm a totally different person now" interviews. Yeah, uh huh, sure you are.

Of course private companies can choose to demonetize whoever they want. I'm arguing that it is unethical to do so based on a mere accusation. So after the mob has destroyed your means of earning a living, your career, your reputation, basically your whole life, you're saying no big whoop because hey, you can always sue later. But that might be too late given that the public's attention span is so very short. Everyone will remember you as a serial rapist since according to the mob, an accusation is as good as a conviction in a court of law. Almost no one will hear or care about your successful civil suit after the fact. For all those cheering on mob rule, I sincerely hope that the mob never comes after you.

Hmm, I've never been much of a fan of commercial apple butter, but I bet the homemade stuff is yummy.

According to Wiki, Nassib is 30yo. A friend's husband played football from Pop Warner through college. As sad as he was when his playing days ended, he said that even at 22, his body couldn't take it any more. Imagine how much worse the pounding is in the NFL.

All the allegations span from 2006-13. Yes, Brand was a star, but he became something of a pariah starting in 2013 when he noted at the GQ Awards that one of the event's sponsors previously made uniforms for the Nazis. According to his IMDB page, his only production credit for a film was "Arthur" back in 2011. His producer credits since then are all his own projects. Big-time producers like Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein did wield real power in Hollywood. When they threatened to destroy a career, women knew those two could do so. Brand was nowhere near in the same league as Cosby & Weinstein, and whatever little power Brand once had faded significantly starting in 2013 . Why didn't the accusers come forward a decade ago?

Some of us in this thread are simply defending presumption of innocence. Why should being gay change one's opinion of presumption of innocence?

YouTube just demonetized Russell Brand. Forget about innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, YT didn’t even wait until charges were filed. If you have 1 million subscribers, you're making a very good living on YouTube. With 6.62 million subscribers, Brand must have been making bank, but with his channel now demonetized, his YT revenue is currently $0.00. Besides the YT demonetization, Brand has been dropped by his agent, his book deal was canceled, and several stops of his tour were canceled. And all it took was an accusation.

In some cases, like Bill Cosby & Harvey Weinstein, it's understandable that accusers took so long to come forward. Both are cases of powerful men who threatened to destroy their victims' careers & lives unless they kept their mouths shut. Russell Brand never had that kind of power. His alleged victims could have reported him a decade+ ago. But if you dare so much as raise an eyebrow about these very delayed accusations, a good portion of our society will vilify you for doubting. To destroy a man's career and reputation, all that's needed nowadays is an accusation, no evidence necessary, forget a conviction. The Me Too movement has destroyed the once cherished presumption of innocence.

I'm being too harsh, at least about the paintings. The Botero paintings on the restaurant's walls were OK, not my thing but not ugly either. It was the big sculpture in the front that I thought was f*ckin' hideous, enough to kill anyone's appetite. I only ate at Botero once, but hooooo-weeeee! it was one of the best meals I've ever had. You're right about the Wynn & Encore restaurants. They used to be so different, special, and original. Now they're the same stamped-from-a-mold operations as all the other restaurants on the Strip. Steve Wynn had his faults (oh boy, in spades), but the man was also a genius.

I doubt executive pay increases sparked this strike. The Big 3 automakers' profit forecasts have dimmed because they have had to invest heavily and are budgeting to invest even more in the development of battery electric vehicles. While consumers are buying more EVs, supply is outpacing demand. Combine the automakers' less than rosey financial outlook with the political environment -- a staunchly pro-union President facing reelection in 14 months (not trying to make this a political discussion, just stating facts) -- and union bosses saw the automakers at their most vulnerable.

Cable Girls is a series (42 45-minute episodes) about 5 phone operators who start out as friends and end up closer than family. I actually finished it a month or so ago but had my doubts about recommending it. It's a bit too "messagey," and like all messagey projects, it too often gets so wrapped up in pounding the message (feminism, in this case) that it ignores what should be its primary objective: telling a great story. That said, the series does have its strengths: a really strong cast, a villain you love to hate, a great feel for the era (Spain 1928-40), and when it's not being too messagey, some very engaging plot lines. Another con: I hated the ending. But then I had to remind myself of the brutality of the Spanish civil war -- no "happily ever afters" in post-war Spain. Hope that's not too much of a spoiler. All things considered, however, I do recommend Cable Girls.