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Southern Charm

Exes and Uh-Ohs

Season 8 Episode 5

Editors Rating 1 stars *

Photo: Bravo

It looks like a case of the clickbait To Be Continued strikes again. Thats how the last episode ended, with all the women on the cast sitting around at a tea party. It was about to kick off between Kathryn and Venita, Venita and Olivia, Kathryn and Patricia, Venita and Madison, Madison and the ghost of A-Rod and J-Los relationship, and just about everyone else who was drinking champagne and trying not to eat more than one finger sandwich. I was so excited. I thought it was going to be like a snake going through a field full of land mines or at leasta fireworks display set off by a car crash. But no. All we got was one damp sparkler that wouldnt even light, just like the one on Venitas cupcake.

It didnt have to be that way or did it? What we get is Kathryn going to an immature and defensive place almost immediately, as per ush. When Venita tries to talk to her and ask what she needs to get them on a path to being friends, Kathryn responds, I dont need shit. Okay. Thats it. Kathryn is checked out from this conversation. All thats left is for her to make fun of Patricia for asking that no one say the F word, and this scene will be complete. Oh! There it is. Cut to black. Roll the credits.

Venita took Olivia to the side at the party to discuss the confrontation they had at Naomies birthday party. (Why does that episode feel like four COVID variants ago when it was just like three weeks?) There are so many problems with what goes down here, and I think all of them can be blamed on the one flowing arm of Olivas top that looked like a wilted banana leaf was trying to take over her body like an invasive parasite. Once theyre aside, Olivia says she didnt like how Venita ganged up on her with Naomie, Patricia, and The Other Madison. Venita says she didnt like when Olivia told her to calm down and put her hand in her face.

Then Venita says that what really upset her is when Olivia walked away from the conversation. Olivia says she heard the word racist and Im not about to stick around for that. Venita then asks her the hardest, sharpest, most baller question I have ever heard: Are you not here for it because you are racist or because youre not racist? This is a sort of Do you beat your wife? question because there is no right answer. If Olivia says shes racist, then, well, she just admitted to being racist on reality television. If she says shes not racist, Venita can ask, Well, then why are you not going to have a difficult conversation? Olivia, who seems dimmer than an exhausted lightning bug, walks right into a trap of her own making.

Olivia responds, When I just hear that wordthrown out, I dont even know what the reason was you said it. Im checking out because its not okay to throw that out. Okay, lets go through this sentence like were in freshman English and this is the text ofRomeo and Juliet. Olivia puts a lot of extra ranch dressing on thrown out, so it sounds like an insult, like Venita was using the word to describe something completely benign when what she was referring to was Kathryn using the monkey emoji in an online fight with a Black woman, which brings us to the second point. Before she should get worried about the word racist or why its being thrown out, maybe she should, I dont know, inquire as to what it was referring to. How can she just shut down whenever the word comes up? If you are checking out when a difficult discussion about race comes up, you may not be a racist, but you are definitely not anti-racist.

When Venita tries to respond, Olivia says, Youre not going to cancel culture me out on this. Oh, the Tucker Carlson fan cam is strong with this one. Venita points out the kryptonite to use on every right winger who rages on about cancel culture. How can there be a cancel culture when someone like Kathryn, whose racist behavior was exposed several times last season, still has a job on the show? No one has been canceled, and no one will cancel Olivia for talking about race. Wewillcancel her for her reaction to someone trying to have a conversation with her. BREAKING NEWS: The Supreme Court just overturned Olivias cancellation 6-3. In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor writes, I love Bravo, but this right here is some bullshit.

The bullshitiest part is what comes next. Olivia says, Im all for having these conversations Um,what? She literally just said when the word racist comes up that she checks out. So, are you here to talk, or are you here to bolt like Austen the second he hears someone hes talking to at the bar is over 25? Both cant be true. She adds that she will have these conversations, but not when theyre heated. This is calledtone policing, a way to stifle debate and keep people from showing emotion when the topics under discussion are very emotional.

Other than this exchange, the rest of the episode is a total snooze. I like this Marcie character, but I only met her like three seconds ago. I dont care that she cant figure out how to put a crib together. I like St. Venita, who was canonized for the miracle of the patience she has dealing with these white women, but I dont care how organized her spice rack is. I love Paige, but I dont need to see her teach Craig the very obvious lesson that having a lunch date alone with his most recent ex is a very very very very very (How many verys are we at? Add 20 more) bad idea. I dont like Olivia (or Austen), and I really do not care about the date the producers set up for them, where he just talks about Madison the whole time. Also, if youre sitting at a picnic table and it is not out in the wilderness, you are not paying enough for this date.

Im also having difficulty caring about this road trip that Shep, Austen, and Craig are on. While were at it, Im having a hard time with this season. It all seems so disparate and diffuse. Its like no one wants to hang out, no one is really together, and the cast isnt hanging out in big groups. It seems like its the boys on one show and the girls on the other, and never the twain shall meet.Southern Charmis now the changing rooms at a Korean spa.

Back to the road trip, Austen has dragged these two beer-soaked trucker caps along with him to Charlotte so that he can meet with a supermarket chain about selling his beer and to clean out his old room before his parents sell their house. Austen is about to go to his meeting and stops by Craigs room for his seal of approval on his outfit. Austen is wearing a French blue shirt, khakis, and a belt with so many beads on it that it has been to theSmoking Groovesfestival. He asks Craig if the shirt should be tucked in. Yes, Craig says. Youre going to do business. He does not look like hes going to do business, he looks like hes going to a fraternity semi-formal, but in either case, he should tuck that shirt in.

Craig also has some good advice for Shep. Im sorry, but if a pillow salesman who also lends his name to a chain ofSaul Goodman-esque law officesis the sanest person in the squad, then you are all busted with a capital USTED. Shep calls his GF Taylor, and shes not thrilled that hes going out with the boys. Shep tells her to stop being crazy and that everything will be fine. What he leaves out is that Shep has made out with other girls when hes been out of town drinking. She isnt crazy for thinking this might happen. Shes the sanest person on this whole damn show. (Oh, look, shes so saneshe broke up with Shep yesterday.)

Craig says, That will be the consequence of the scars of infidelity in the relationship. How did Craig go from not knowing he cant go out to dinner with Naomie to totally having Sheps number in the course of 20 minutes? The boys all go bowling and order too much food and Shep is already talking to some girl at the bar about waking up in jail, and you know where this ends, in Jaegermeister, infidelity, and Fukashima levels of destruction. Craig says that Shep isnt made for relationships, that no one can tie him down. Thats cool. Thats fine. The problem is, why is he wasting a fine young girl like Taylors time if hes not going to marry her and have children like she wants? It cant always be on the woman to move on. At some point, Shep needs to stop wanting to have his Buffalo wings and eat them too.

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'Southern Charm' Season 8, Episode 5 Recap: Exes and Uh-Ohs - Vulture

Candidates facing tough reelection fights this year are banking on their crossover appeal to keep their jobs.

This week, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., announced Republicans for Kelly, a group of nearly 50 Republicans and independents who have endorsed his reelection. The list includes business owners, a former adviser to the late Sen. John McCain, a former U.S. attorney under former President George W. Bush and the mayors of the Arizona cities of Casa Grande, Mesa, Peoria and Show Low.

Arizonans are facing real challenges right now, and we need to put our state ahead of party politics, Kelly said in a statement. Im proud of the diverse, growing coalition of folks supporting this campaign and propelling us forward towards November.

Kellys play for independents and Republicans is perhaps unsurprising in Arizona, which has a history of political mavericks and centrist Democrats, but the same trend is playing out in other races across the country as incumbents face challengers backed by former President Donald Trump, many who falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen.

In Wyoming, Republican Rep. Liz Cheneys campaign sent mailers and posted a Q&A on its website explaining how Democrats can change their party affiliation ahead of the states Aug. 16 primary. And earlier this month, Nevadas Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto proudly touted the endorsements of a pair of rural Republican elected officials.

Our Senator Catherine Cortez Masto has shown repeatedly that she has our back, and thats why Im supporting her, even as a registered Republican, Churchill County commissioner Carl Erquiaga wrote in a Reno Gazette Journal op-ed, pointing to her pushing back against a Democratic proposal he said would have hurt farmers and ranchers.

While Utah independent Evan McMullen isnt an incumbent, he convinced Democrats to not run a candidate of their own this year, hoping the states liberals would prefer him to Republican Sen. Mike Lee. A Wednesday Deseret News/Hinckley Institute of Politics poll found 36% support for McMullen, behind Lees 41% but within striking distance.

As Sen. Lisa Murkowsi, R-Alaska, faces Trump-backed Republican Kelly Tshibaka, shes is getting support from Democratic colleagues, including Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, even donated $5,000 to Murkowskis campaign through his Make It Work political action committee. Murkowsi is no stranger to fending off challengers on her right. In 2010, she became the first U.S. senator in more than half a century to win as a write-in candidate after losing her primary to a tea party candidate.

In a two-party system, parties have to pitch big tents for survival and candidates have to build coalitions unique to their state or district. Its why you see vulnerable Democrats distancing themselves from an unpopular President Joe Biden ahead of the midterms and post-Trump Republicans attempting to chart a new path forward for their party.

A 2021 Pew Research Center survey found the Democratic and Republican coalitions both include sizable shares of voters open to jumping ship. Among Democrats, 13% are classified as stressed sidelines whose political beliefs include both liberal and conservative views, while in the GOP, 15% are identified as stressed sidelines, and an additional 18% are ambivalent right, a group thats younger, less religious and more moderate on social issues and less supportive of Trump.

Not all crossover support is sincere. In some states, Democrats are purposefully boosting far-right candidates in hopes theyll be easier to beat. Its a strategy that Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, believes could backfire.

Its not illegal but it sure is stupid, Romney told HuffPost this week. Be careful what you wish for. You may select somebody who actually wins and then you hurt the country as well as your own party.

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Some candidates count on crossover support from the other party - Deseret News

The Queens Platinum Jubilee has inspired everyone from artists, schoolchildren, bakers and musicians to come up with new creations to mark the landmark moment. And one particularly incredible work has now made its way inside Buckingham Palace to be seen by the thousands of tourists expected to visit for this years summer opening.

The Queens Platinum Jubilee Lunch is a six-meter-long art installation of a tea party made entirely out of felt. Created by artist Lucy Sparrow, it was first on display at a Platinum Jubilee street party attended by Prince Charles and Camilla during the central weekend of celebrations in June. Featuring a huge array of food and drink including sandwiches, biscuits, sausage rolls, crisps, and cups of tea, it is now in the Palaces Grand Entrance Portico and is one of the first things that visitors to the Palace will see.

Prince Charles and Camilla admire a felt art piece by Lucy Sparrow during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.

Describing her creation as very relatable and very celebratory, Lucy explained to T&C that she wanted to make something that represented tea parties ordinary families would enjoy. It was very important to me that it was almost like a working class tea party, she said. Yes youve got prawn vol au vents but youve also got hula hoops and chocolate fingers. It was meant to be like a tea party that you used to get a kids parties and what would traditionally be put on at a jubilee.

Artist Lucy Sparrow with her Platinum Jubilee banquet made out of felt, which will be on display this summer at Buckingham Palace.

The installation is a joyous introduction to a carefully thought out exhibition which this year showcases jewels from the Queens personal collection alongside iconic photographs that they feature in. Platinum Jubilee: The Queens Accession centers around 24 portraits taken by photographer Dorothy Wilding at the start of the Queens reign presented next to priceless tiaras and other jewels. Famous pieces on display include the Diamond Diadem, which the Queen wore en route to her 1953 Coronation and again as recently as the State Opening of Parliament in 2019. Favorites like the Vladimir Tiara and the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara are also shown. As is the Nizam of Hyderabad necklace, which was a wedding gift to the Queen and she has previously loaned to the Duchess of Cambridge.

The Diamond Diadem, Bridge and Rundell, on display this summer at Buckingham Palace.

These are the Queens personal jewels, she wears them regularly but theyre very rarely displayed in public. So it is a pretty unique opportunity to see them in this setting and to see them alongside the portraits, thats very special, said Caroline de Guitaut, Deputy Surveyor of The Queens Works of Art and curator of the special display.

Dorothy Wilding was a leading society and portrait photographer both in London and in New York and first photographed the royal family in the 1920s. In May 1937 she became the first female photographer to take official coronation photographs when she was invited to photograph King George VIs coronation. The image opens the exhibition, along with the dress and coronet that the 11-year-old Princess Elizabeth wore.

The dress, robe and coronet worn by Princess Elizabeth to her parents coronation in May 1937, on display at Buckingham Palace this summer.

Platinum Jubilee: The Queens Accession is included in a visit to the Summer Opening of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace starting Friday, July 22 until Sunday, October 2, 2022.

For Visitor information and tickets visit http://www.rct.uk. Buckingham Palace is open five days a week, Thursday to Monday, remaining closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

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Visitors to Buckingham Palace This Summer Will See Queen Elizabeth's Jewels and a Jubilee Art Display - Town & Country

The Boston Tea Party was a totally based political protest that took place on December 16, 1773 as a way of speaking out against taxation without representation but let's face it the tea got the raw end of that deal. We enjoy a good tea every now and then!

Here's what we should have dumped in Boston Harbor instead:

And that's it, patriots. If all these things were cast into the sea the world would be a much brighter and less British place. USA! USA! USA!

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In a collaboration with The Babylon Bee, Professor Gorb McStevens lists all the countries where communism hasn't turned into a totalitarian hellscape where you have to eat your dog.

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8 British Things That Should Have Been Dumped Into Boston Harbor Instead Of Tea - The Babylon Bee

As expected, all seven incumbent Maryland congressional representatives and a U.S. senator on the states July 19 primary ballots easily won their parties nods and will defend their seats in November.

Not expected were anticipated close races in both party primaries for governor, the Republican preliminary in Congressional District 6 (CD 6), and the Democratic primary in CD 4 to never materialize.

Clear frontrunners mounted huge leads in key races projected to be competitive with winners in several declared within hours after polls closed despite hundreds of thousands of mail-in votes uncounted.

A unique-to-Maryland law prohibits elections officials from beginning to count mail-in ballots until no sooner than 10 a.m. the Thursday after an election.

With more than 505,000 of the states 4.1 million registered voters requesting 2022 primary mail-in ballots for the primary, those uncounted votes were expected to leave some races too close to call by election night.

Not expected in CD 6 was Del. Neil Parrott (R-Hagerstown) cruising to an easy victory, being declared the winner about two hours after the polls closed.

Parrott had65.1 percent of the tally in blowing past 25-year-old investigative journalist Matthew Foldi in what was projected to be a close race.

Parrott, 51, a Maryland State Highway Administration traffic engineer and former Frederick Deputy Director of Engineering, is a Tea Party activist elected to the General Assembly in 2010.

He will face two-term Rep. David Trone (D-Md.), who brushed off nominal primary opposition but will face a stiff challenge in the general election against Parrott in a post-2020 Census reconfigured district.

CD 6 had previously been solid Democratic before deep blue areas in Montgomery County were shifted out of the district in post-Census remapping.

The district spans much of the states western panhandle framed by Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, where there is a higher density of Republican voters.

The Cook Political Report and Larry J. Sabatos Crystal Ball rate it as lean Democratic, while Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales classifies it as likely Democratic.

In the nine-candidate CD 4, Democratic primary, twice-elected States Attorney for Prince Georges County Glenn Ivey was nearly 16 percentage points ahead of former Rep. Donna Edwards four hours after polls closed on July 19.

Ivey, former Maryland Public Service Commission chair, and Edwards, who served four House terms after being the first black woman elected by Marylanders to Congress in 2008, were among nine hopefuls seeking to succeed three-term Rep. Anthony Brown (D-Md), who is running for state Attorney General.

The winner will likely face Jeff Warner, who was cruising past George McDermott, making his sixth congressional bid, in their CD 6 Republican primary.

Otherwise, even without mail-in ballots counted in tallies, many of the primary races appear set if not formally called.

In the Democratic U.S. Senate primary, Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) garnered three-quarters of the vote in defeating Michelle Smith.

He will likely face Chris Chaffee, who was leading the 10-candidate Republican primary with 22.1 percent of the tally, more than 12,000 votes ahead of second-place Lorie Friend three hours after polls closed July 19.

Van Hollen will be a heavy favorite in the general election against Chaffee, who is running for the U.S. Senate for the fourth time. A building contractor, Chaffee also ran for the U.S. House in CD 5 in 2010 and 2014.

In CD 1, six-term Rep. Andrew Harris (R-Md.), Marylands lone congressional Republican, was the only sitting rep not being tested in a primary. He will be the favorite in November to defeat Heather Mizeur, who garnered nearly 70 percent of the vote in her Democratic primary against Dave Harden.

The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales, and Larry J. Sabatos Crystal Ball all rate CD 1 as solid Republican.

All of the states other congressional districtsexcept CD 6are rated as solid and safe Democratic.

In CD 2, 10-term Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger (D-Md.) easily breezed by two party rivals and will be the heavy favorite to defeat Nicolee Ambrose, who was comfortably leading in the districts three-candidate GOP primary.

CD 3s eight-term Rep. John Sarbanes (D-Md) was having little problem brushing off two challengers in his Democratic primary and will likely face Republican Yuripzy Morgan in the general election if her large lead is sustained when mail-in ballots are tallied.

House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who has served 42 years in Congress, had little problem dispatching two party rivals in the CD 5 Democratic primary. He also isnt expected to be challenged in November by the winner of the GOP primary, former U.S. Capitol Police officer Chris Palombi.

CD 7s first-term Rep. Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.) had a comfortable lead over three party rivals and is near certain to advance to November against Scott Collier, the winner of the four-candidate Republican primary.

In CD 8, three-term Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) scored more than 90 percent of the vote in advancing to the November ballot.

The lead impeachment manager for former President Donald Trumps second impeachment, who sits on the House Select Committee on the Jan. 6 breach of the Capital, will face Gregory Coll, who cruised to the GOP nod in his primary.

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John Haughey has been a working journalist since 1978 with an extensive background in local government, state legislatures, and growth and development. A graduate of the University of Wyoming, he is a Navy veteran who fought fires at sea during three deployments aboard USS Constellation. Hes been a reporter for daily newspapers in California, Washington, Wyoming, New York, and Florida; a staff writer for Manhattan-based business trade publications.

Continued here:
Maryland Congressional Primaries: Parrott to Take on Trone in Fall - The Epoch Times