There were reports that the transition team was trying to bribe bookers with ambassadorships to secure good talent for the inauguration. The mind boggles.

It's been remarked upon that Trump really doesn't seem to have any friends, though. The only person who spoke at his convention who had anything remotely personal to say, besides his children (whose personal vignettes were somewhat lacking), was Tom Barrack.

Late to this party, but as I understand it, the "virgin birth" was originally prophesied in the Gospel of Isaiah with the Hebrew word meaning either virgin or young woman. The author of the Gospel of Matthew went with the actual virgin definition.

I will defer to your even more extreme pedantry, and appreciate a fellow pedantry appreciator.

Extreme pedantry alert: While Lloyd Webber does indeed have a knighthood, he has also has a life peerage, which I believe would supersede the "sir" title. Thus he should be referred to as The Lord Lloyd-Webber (hyphen not a typo), if you really want to fully capture the highest of the honors the queen has given him…

As we've seen in such cases, when it rains, it pours, but it's incredibly difficult to successfully do the Gretchen Carlson maneuver and be the first drop of rain. But from what I've read, Kelly encouraged women at Fox to speak out about the abuse and was very forthcoming during the bullshit Paul Weiss internal…

How is Hunchback? I've been told it's 90% elaborate descriptions of the cathedral, which frankly is more of a plus to me than a minus.

You sound very knowledgeable about the Troubles—do you have any book recommendations? It's such a dauntingly big, complicated, controversial topic, and one I know virtually nothing about (e.g. had to google UVF).

Could be making this up, but I vaguely remember reading that they looked for stable families when they were casting. Whatever they did, it worked. To my knowledge the only scandalous Harry Potter child was Crabbe or Goyle, who was growing marijuana and then set some sort of bomb during the London riots.

I will be arguing that Gambon is superior to Harris on my deathbed. The goblet of fire yelling was just bad directing!

While I get that they were crunched for time, the cuts broke my heart. Lupin visiting Grimmauld in Deathly Hallows is great, deep, dark stuff, and then by Potterwatch he's totally redeemed himself.

While the weakest of the bunch, Chamber gets a boost for me because of Branagh, which might be the best casting in a series full of outstanding casting.

I have a Canadian friend who will complain incessantly about the queen's governor general proroguing Canadian parliament in 2008, thereby (as I understand it) saving Harper's neck from a vote of no confidence. I think something similar happened in Australia in the 70s. The monarchy is not simply a benign, apolitical,…

You're right, of course, but I think the specter of the abdication weighed heavily on Elizabeth. George VI was unwell for much of his reign and the institution was on shaky footing. The queen of the Netherlands, king of Belgium, and king of Spain have all abdicated in the past five or so years due to old age. That…

I get that they had fingered Naz as a suspect almost instantly, but wouldn't checking the victim's cell phone records and seeing that she had five missed calls late at night just before she died be, like, basic policing 101? Same with Naz's conveniently ignored pristine, blood-free clothes—those massive, basic…

Late to this party, but I just found out I'm auditioning for Jeopardy and any advice you experts have would be much appreciated. What categories should I study up on? How should I practice my buzzer reflexes? What's the game theory behind DD and FJ wagers? Thanks!

BOOK SPOILERS KIND OF

I've never read any of her works, and I've only heard of her for one reason: Her husband is a Mutiny on the Bounty descendant, and on the sex abuse epidemic at Pitcairn Island, she remarked, “It’s Polynesian to break your girls in at 12.”

I was surprised at the number of people who seem to be confused about which of Mary's dark-haired aristocratic suitors is which. I prefer #2 (Blake) by a long shot. Gillingham is such a wet blanket, while Blake has personality and seems to get Mary rather than just the idea of her or Downton.

Yeah, you're wrong. He'd be Sir if he were a knight or a baronet. He's neither. He's a life peer and his correct title is Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber.