Friday, December 20, 2024

Luigi Mangione: The New Left Anti-Hero

Source:Don Lemon talking about Luigi Mangione.

"Luigi Mangione has returned to New York after waiving extradition. Still, many Americans view Mangione as a sort of folk hero rather than a cold blooded killer. What is fueling this public support? Are authorities making him a martyr? Tune in for Don's take!" 

From Don Lemon

"More than forty years ago, Richard E. Meyer, a scholar of American folklore, noted the essential difference between the outlaw—which Meyer defined as “a distinctively, though not exclusively, American folktype”—and the mere criminal. He wrote that “the American outlaw-hero is a ‘man of the people’; he is closely identified with the common people, and, as such, is generally seen to stand in opposition to certain established oppressive economic, civil and legal systems peculiar to the American historical experience.” (The italics are Meyer’s.) The outlaw-hero’s persona is that of a “good man gone bad,” not unlike the oncology patient Walter White, of “Breaking Bad,” who started cooking meth because his insurance didn’t cover his cancer treatments. To remain in good standing as an outlaw-hero, a man’s crimes must “be directed only toward those visible symbols which stand outside of and are thought of as oppressive toward the folk group,” Meyer writes. In exchange for both his audacity and his discretion, “the outlaw-hero is helped, supported and admired by his people... 

By contrast, Mangione lasted all of five days on the lam, and appears not to have redistributed any of UnitedHealthcare’s revenues. In other ways, though, he comfortably fits into Meyer’s taxonomy of the antihero. The U.S. health-insurance system is both “oppressive” and quintessentially “peculiar” to America, as the only developed nation in the world that does not provide universal health care. It has been widely speculated that Mangione’s alleged descent into violence may have been spurred by a debilitating back injury and subsequent spinal-fusion surgery. A health-care C.E.O. who receives ten million dollars in annual compensation is likely disqualified from membership in a “folk group,” and another note that Mangione reportedly wrote indicated that he did not want to endanger that group. (“What do you do? You wack the CEO at the annual parasitic bean-counter convention. It’s targeted, precise, and doesn’t risk innocents.”)

Like Floyd, Mangione may also have a knack for the myth-building flourish. Bullet casings left behind at the murder scene read “deny,” “defend,” and “depose,” borrowing from the obstructionist nomenclature of the health-insurance industry—as if its bureaucratic weapons were being turned against one of its own. And, although the manhunt for Mangione came to an ignominious end, early on, he hinted at being a more artful dodger, as when he allegedly left the perfect gag gift for the N.Y.P.D. in Central Park: a backpack stuffed with Monopoly money...

Afascinating artifact of the Mangione affair is the emergence, on TikTok and elsewhere, of the health-insurance murder ballad. (One of the most popular uses “deny, depose, defend” as a refrain.) This nascent subgenre flows directly from Woody Guthrie’s suite of murder ballads, which gave the workingman’s lament an infusion of antihero glamour. The subjects of Guthrie’s songs included Billy the Kid, Jesse James, and Charley Floyd, and it was in a song about Floyd that the bard of the Dust Bowl drew the brightest line between outlaw and oppressor: “Some will rob you with a six-gun / And some with a fountain pen / And as through your life you travel / Yes, as through your life you roam / You won’t never see an outlaw / Drive a family from their home.”


If I had to guess, I would imagine that the American, private health insurance, industry, is about as popular as peanut butter on hot dogs. Or giving your kid broccoli for desert. So I'm not saying that it's just the far-left in America, (who've been trying to outlaw health insurance and perhaps private health care, since he 1960s, if not longer) are the only people that currently disapprove of the American health care system. 

But there's only 1 political faction in America that could possibly believe that killing a CEO of a health insurance company, simply because they are a health insurance CEO, and the killer thinks that person is part of the problem... if not a good idea, is perhaps justifiable homicide, or something. 

And there's only 1 political faction in America that would make a murderer of a CEO a pop culture, rockstar, or something, and celebrating this man online and on social media and trying to profit off him with all the videos and the merchandise. And that would be far-left in America, which are made of of some Democratic Socialists, but militant Socialists, the WOKE Left, who believe that progress is never enough. Because it's the system that's the problem itself, who believe that we'll never achieve a "just and fair society", until we take down the system. Or as they would put it: "The Man". 

To the WOKE Left in America, Luigi Mangione is a "totally awesome rockstar", who took a brig strike at "The Man". So they've been celebrating him, at least since he's been the news and they read his manifesto. But for the rest of the country, including people who also don't approve of our health care system, but who believe in the rule of law and who are pro-life in the real sense, (meaning people who believe in protecting innocent lives) Luigi Mangione is just another famous murderer in America. And unfortunately we've had too many famous murderers in America. 

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George Carlin On Political Correctness

Source:Frustrated Idealist- The Great George Carlin in 1990.

"George Carlin talks about how groups and institutions are inclined to restrict the vocabulary you use with emphasis on the feminist movement." 


"One of my favorite George Carlin bits in which he describes the sterilization of the American language. From the 1990 special Doin' it Again." 

Source:Rob Logan- The Great George Carlin in 1990.

From Rob Logan

"Now I've probably got the feminists all pissed off at me because I'm joking about rape. Feminists want to control your language. Feminists want to tell you how to talk.

And they're not alone, they're not alone. I'm not picking on the feminists. They got a lot of company in this country. There's a lot of groups, a lot of institutions in this country want to control your language. Tell you what you can say and what you can't say. Government wants to tell you some things you can't say because they're against the law. "Well, you can't say this because it's against the regulation." "Well, here's something you can't say because it's a secret." "You can't tell him that, because he's not cleared to know that."

From Genius

“Political correctness is fascism pretending to be manners.”


George Carlin: "There is 1 group that takes itself a little too seriously. And it doesn't take a lot of imagination to piss off a feminist. All you got to do is run into NOW headquarters or Ms. Magazine and say: "Hey, which 1 of you cute cupcakes want to come home with me, cook me a meal, and give me a blowjob?" 

From what I wrote about George Carlin and feminists from back in 2019: 

"Yeah, if you're trying to piss off a feminist or any woman who is to the left of I don't know Phyllis Schlafly ( just to throw out a name ) that would probably do the trick. But how big a population could American women who are to the left of Phyllis Schlafly be anyway, 70-80%: oh wait, we're only talking about out of a 100, so I could see where George might be onto something here."


I think a major point, if not the whole point of George Carlin's comedy, was about the truth, personal freedom, and individuality, which both include freedom of speech. 

And George Carlin's idea of freedom of speech is not the freedom to be liked and popular. He wasn't interested in being part of some clique in high school, that had most of the cool people in it, who were really just clones of their cult hero. He thought people should know the truth and be free to think and act for themselves, even and especially when the truth was hard to hear, especially from the most oversensitive among us. Even if that offended the hell out of overprivileged people in America who thought they know what's best for everyone because they have more money and education than most people. 

On the outside, whether you are talking about radical, militant feminists, or radical, new-left hippies from the 1960s and 70s on the far-left, (who are called WOKE today) or people who were called the Christian-Right in the 1970s and 80s, even 90s, who became the Tea Party during the 2010s, who are MAGA today (and I'm talking about MAGA militants) you would think they would be in a cultural war and it would like Israeli Zionists, versus the Arab Nationalists in Palestine. You would think that the only thing that they have in common, is that they want to destroy each other. Preferably before the other side destroys them. (Unless they're suicidal) 

But WOKE and MAGA actually have a lot in common. They both think that they know what's best for every American and what it means to be decent, moral person. And anyone who disagrees with them is some type of bigot (according to WOKE) or Un-American. (According to MAGA)  

George Carlin died in 2008. But it's safe to say he wasn't a fan of the Christian-Right. It's about as safe to say that is it's about as safe to say that if you jump in a lake, there's a real shot of you getting wet. I mean the mean the man was a freakin Atheist, for crying out loud. He wasn't a fan of Islamism either. But you just look at his material against militant feminism and left-wing political correctness, it's also safe to say that he wasn't a fan of what's called WOKE today. Not that he saw America as some type of utopia or something, but that wasn't trying to take down the system and try to replace America with something that's a hell of a lot less individualistic a lot more authoritarian. 

To go back to my original point about Carlin, he believed in the truth. Which is sort of like saying that someone believes in clean water and fresh air. You would think that would go without saying. But welcome to America, the land of the over protected, even from ourselves. (If the far-left or far-right ever got complete control of this country) And George Carlin was completely against that type of political and social collectivism. 

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Thursday, December 19, 2024

Hunter: The Beautiful & The Dead (1986)

Source:Apple TV- actress Persis Khambatta as Dhari Ziad.

"Hunter and McCall are called to investigate the car bombing of a Middle-Eastern consulate member for which a student terrorist group claims responsibility." 

From IMDB

"Hunter and McCall are called to investigate the car bombing of a Middle-Eastern consulate member for which a student terrorist group claims responsibility." 

Source:YouTube- actress Persis Khambatta as Dhari Ziad.

From YouTube

"When a dead girl disappears from Hunter's living room, Hunter and McCall follow a trail of intrigue, adultery and murder." 

Source:IMDB- actress Katherine Justice plays Shirley Humphreys in this episode.

From IMDB

In early 2021, perhaps earlier than that, Charge started putting the old Hunter episodes on their network. And they did that for about a year or so. And then GetTV picked up the TV series as well about 1-2 years later and are stilling showing Hunter on the weekends.

I'm a Gen-Xer and growing up in the 1980s, this was 1 of my favorite TV shows, especially before my family got cable in the late 80s. And it's 1 of the my favorite cop shows as well. So I'm watching all these Hunter reruns mostly on the weekends. And a few episodes really stand out with me to the point I personally recoded a lot of them on my DVR. 2 episodes in particular are 62 Hours of Terror and The Beautiful and The Dead, both from season 2 and both from 1986. 

If you are familiar with Fred Dryer (who played LAPD Detective Sergeant Rick Hunter) on the Hunter TV series, you know that before he got into acting in the 1980s, he was an All Pro defensive end for the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL in the 1970s. 

So we're talking about a 6'6 240-245 pound man, all muscle, who plays an LAPD detective sergeant and lead investigator on all his cases. But that's just from the outside. He's also a very funny man, who always has a great wisecrack ready to go, or some sarcastic, physical comedy, ready to show as well. And they added his comedic humor, with Stephanie Kramer's who played Sergeant Hunter's partner on this show. (Detective Sergeant DeDee McCall) And she's an excellent comedic actress herself. 

If you are familiar with this TV series, it's basically an action/comedy, that's advertised as police detective show. The detectives are very funny, a lot of the guest actors are also very funny. The storylines and writing and funny as well. But it's also a serious cop show about how two senior, LAPD detectives, solve cases together, but who have a lot of fun with each other while they're doing that. 

The two Hunter episodes that this is about, is what I'm talking about. But there's more to it than that. The fact that LAPD would be investigating Middle Eastern terrorists, as well as officials who were involved in these terrorist acts, but then the fact that a woman (played by Persis Khambatta) from the Baraqi embassy (a made up country) American boyfriend (played by Rod Arrantis) who is really the terrorist here, because this woman really wants to kill her husband whose is cheating on her, (even though she's doing the exact same thing to him) makes this episode even more fascinating to me. 

But then this woman is so cute and beautiful, (reminds me of actress Anne-Marie Johnson) you would think she would be the last person who is behind this terrorist plot, but she's plays the innocent woman so beautifully (in more ways than 1) that you would have to be a great detective like Rick Hunter to figure this out. But it's her boyfriend Harry Malone (played by Rod Arrantis) who gives Sergeant's Hunter and McCall the giveaway to this plot by volunteering that Dhari Ziad (played by Persis Khambatta) is 1 of his clients that he was protecting. Puts Hunter and McCall on to him and that's how they figure this case out. 

As far as The Beautiful and The Dead, it's a great Cold War, intelligence/detective story. You have a Russian citizen Leo Zukoff (played by Kabir Bedi) who is really a Russian intelligence officer, pretending to be a small businessman in Los Angeles. But what he's really doing is knocking off people who get in his way and threaten to exposed himself for what he is, which is a Russian intelligence officer and mobster. Hunter and McCall figure that out pretty quickly. But it takes them most of this 2-part episode to figure this out. 

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David Pakman: You Can See The Moment His Brain Breaks

Source:David Pakman Show with a look at U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (MAGA, Alabama)

"Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville parrots anti-vaccine propaganda in the context of RFK Jr's nomination by Donald Trump to be Secretary of Health and Human Services" 


Just to give you an idea of how "impressive" Senator Tommy Tuberville (MAGA, Alabama) thinks of Robert F. Kennedy JR... this is what RFK's wife Cheryl Hines said about her husband today: 

"RFK Jr. faced a tricky dilemma as he sat with Donald Trump on the jubilant president-elect’s plane shortly after the election. Trump has made no secret of his liking for McDonald’s fast food and the table—where Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr., and House Speaker Mike Johnson were also seated—was set with trays full of Big Macs, fries, and soda. By the same token, Kennedy is disdainful of junk food, calling it “poison.” But according to his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, Kennedy decided he had no choice but to take his “poison.” She told TMZ: “I don’t think he had a choice … it’s all they had.” But Hines isn’t worried that he’ll be swayed by Trump’s bad eating habits in Washington, D.C. if he is confirmed as the nation’s next health chief...


The Daily Beast: Cheryl Hines said husband Robert F. Kennedy Jr. decided he had no choice but to take his “poison.”

Derik Schneider: Was RFKJR kidnapped? Perhaps forced to eat McDonald's with a gun pointed at him?


So apparently Senator Tuberville is impressed by people who get forced to eat food that they don't like and think that it's bad for them. Or perhaps get kidnapped and are forced to eat what they don't like, what they know is bad for them, by gunpoint. 

Apparently Senator Tuberville is not familiar with Article 1 of the U.S. Constitution, that covers Congress and it's role in the U.S. Government, including the Senate's advise and consent policy: 

"Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville said Thursday that it's "not our job" to vet President-elect Donald Trump's nominees.

"Who are we to say that we're a better picker of people than Donald Trump?" Tuberville told CNN's Manu Raju.

Raju reminded Tuberville that advising and consenting on presidential nominees is a core responsibility of the Senate.

Tuberville acknowledged that in part, saying, "We're advise and consent. But that's more the Democrats."

"But don't you think both sides should do the vetting?" Raju asked.

"Well, you know, to some degree," the Alabama lawmaker said. "I mean, but we have to be convinced. I mean, they should do all the background work. They should go after our nominees."

He added: "Donald Trump did all the vetting they needed to do on [Secretary of Defense nominee] Pete Hegseth. And I just can't believe we have people on our side, they're saying, 'Well, I've got to look at this.'"

From Newsweek

Conservative Republican Bill Kristol who's never been accused of holding back when talking about how he feels about the MAGA Party (that used to be the Republican Party) made a great comment about Senator Tuberville last year: 

"Gotta say that @SenTuberville is rapidly rising in the heated competition for the medal as the most smug, self-satisfied, and stupid member of Congress." 


Perhaps David Pakman believes that Tommy Tuberville's brain just broke today over vaccinations. But this guy is the Marjorie Taylor Greene of the U.S. Senate. Perhaps less violent and not as loud. But that might only be because he's 20 years older than Representative Greene. 

As Ronald Reagan said: people vote with their feet. Which means we're free to live anywhere we want in America, in any state or town, or city, etc. But the thinking, or  lack of thinking (to be more accurate) that still goes on in Alabama today, is why they're still an underdeveloped state, that perhaps only looks well off compared to their next door neighbor Mississippi. Because most Americans don't want to live there. 

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Wednesday, December 18, 2024

Bernard Goldberg: Is Woke On The Ropes, Thanks to Mr. Trump?

Source:Bernard Goldberg with a look at WOKE in America.

"The cultural pendulum may be swinging back...
Now, onto today’s column…

Is “woke” on its way out now that Donald Trump is on his way back in? Is a seismic shift in American culture just over the horizon?

Ever since hyper-politically-correct culture took hold in America about 15 years ago, if you told a certain kind of joke, or God forbid, wore a red hat that didn’t say “Save the Whales”— you were practically asking to be dragged in front of the woke inquisition — if not get physically attacked.

Rahm Emanuel — the longtime Democratic insider — was on to something when he said, “The woke police don’t even have to read you your Miranda rights.” They don’t need evidence that what you said really was bigoted and mean-spirited. They just need to be offended — or claim they are — and you’re guilty.

But now it looks like we’re at an inflection point. The cultural pendulum seems to be swinging back. And Donald Trump may be why it’s happening." 


To answer Bernard Goldberg's question: we don't know yet. I think as long as there are left-wing political movements, that are primarily made up of people who are very young and just in college or just out of college, who are probably rare voters, instead of part-time voters, there's going to be some movement that's either WOKE, or is called something like that. 

And unfortunately there will always be not just a Political Correctness Police, but there will be at least two PC departments in America: one for the far-left that attacks anyone who even criticizes any member, of any minority group in America. And one on the far-right that goes after people who even criticize Donald Trump, or whoever their current cult leader is, or one of their most influential MAGA members. 

As my colleague Erik Schneider said last week: 

"The negative WOKE solution here would be something like to blame the American system and argue that: "It's our racist and materialistic system that are holding people of color and others down. And you won't fix this problem, until you tear down the American system and replace it with something that's just."

I'm with Michael Shermer on this in the sense I don't define myself as WOKE. I much rather find ways to solve problems, than to look at the political calculations of them and try to blame the other side for the problem itself. Which is basically what WOKE has become. The WOKE militants seem to be more interested in exploiting the problems of America and finding ways to blame people they disagree with, including Democrats, then to actually solve the problems that they claim to care about. " 


And as far as the fact that Donald Trump got elected President again and that somehow suggests that WOKE was defeated and we're now moving back to a MAGA era... Mr. Trump only won 49% of the popular vote. Which means that more Americans voted against him, then for him. And the first MAGA person who sees this will say: 

"We don't elect our President's based on the popular vote". 

And I would probably say something like in response: 

"Thanks for the tip, Captain Obvious". That's not the point. 

Mr. Trump wasn't elected President of the United States to end WOKE or American democracy. He was elected President to bring down the cost of living. That's what most of national polling suggests, at least outside of MAGA. And he was elected to a certain extent to get illegal immigration under control. But not to end American democracy, or throw out the U.S. Constitution and our Bill of Rights. 

But not only that, but House Republicans had a very tight majority already and will have a bare majority in the next Congress. Senate Republicans won back the Senate, but will also have a very small majority in the next Congress, with a solid bloc of Republicans who aren't MAGA members.

I don't think Bernard Goldberg is suggesting that Donald Trump's 2024 election as President suggests some revolutionary change in American politics for the Right. But you would have to ask him that yourself. But Republicans right now would be looking at attempted political suicide, if they even consider going past their mandate and thinking that Americans now want a MAGA republic. What American voters want is for government to work and to do the basic functions of government. Not elect Donald J. Trump as King and all his supporters in and out of government as members of his MAGA royal family. 

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Chris Cillizza: Today is a VERY Bad Day For Matt Gaetz

Source:Chris Cillizza talking about Matt Gaetz's political hurricane storm.

"CNN is reporting that the House Ethics Committee report on Gaetz WILL be released before Christmas. Run Roh." 


"The House Ethics Committee secretly voted earlier this month to release its report into the conduct of former Rep. Matt Gaetz before the end of this Congress, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the matter.

The report is now expected to be made public after the House’s final day of votes this year as lawmakers leave Washington for the holidays, those sources said.

The vote, which has not previously been reported, amounts to a stark reversal for the panel after it had voted along party lines in late November not to release the results of the investigation. The decision to release the report suggests that some Republicans ultimately decided to side with Democrats on the matter, and it is unclear if the committee will once again change course now that it has voted.

When the committee voted last month to shelve the report, Gaetz was President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to be attorney general. Since then, Gaetz withdrew himself from consideration for the Senate-confirmed post, though he maintains frosty relations with many in his party and is still active in GOP politics.

It is exceedingly rare for an ethics report to be released after a member has left Congress, though it has happened on a couple of occasions in the past. The committee revisited the issue behind closed doors earlier this month after a feud over the report spilled into public view before Thanksgiving.

The Ethics Committee’s report concludes a years-long probe into numerous allegations against Gaetz, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct, used illicit drugs, “shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gifts,” according to an announcement by the panel last summer.

Gaetz has vigorously denied all the allegations and has characterized the investigation as a witch hunt. 

In a post on X in response to CNN’s reporting on Wednesday, Gaetz emphasized that he was “FULLY EXONERATED” by a separate Department of Justice probe. And he said he “NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18” — a claim that is addressed in the House Ethics report, CNN has previously reported.

“My 30’s were an era of working very hard - and playing hard too. It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”

Speaker Mike Johnson has said that he does not believe the report should be released, since Gaetz is no longer a member of Congress after he abruptly resigned once Trump announced him as his initial attorney general choice. Johnson has acknowledged he has no role on the operations of the panel, which has traditionally operated separately from leadership. Many lawmakers believed that Gaetz resigned to try to bury the investigation.

Gaetz, who was reelected to the seat last month prior to his resignation, has said he has no plans of returning to Congress next year.

“I’m still going to be in the fight, but it’s going to be from a new perch. I do not intend to join the 119th Congress,” he told Charlie Kirk in an interview last month.

“I’m going to be fighting for President Trump. I’m going to be doing whatever he asks of me, as I always have. But I think that eight years is probably enough time in the United States Congress,” he said.

He also recently announced that he will be joining One America News Network in January.

A spokesman for the committee did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

This story has been updated with additional reaction." 

From CNN

How much do you want to bet that if Matt Gaetz was never elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (which would've been his real public service to America... staying out of public office) that he would be some MAGA Bro in Florida, with his own podcast, going online and on air, probably drunk, smoking weed, slapping the asses and grabbing the breasts of the women who worked for him when they walked by to give him news updates, or whatever they gave him or wanted to tell him, and perhaps would go on Greg Gutfeld's show on FOX News, as an analyst, or something. I would take that bet. 

Matt Gaetz is a MAGO Bro, perhaps even a MAGA militant, who got elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. Which is a serious job for serious people. (Despite all the nasty but credible rumors to the contrary) But he's no more serious as a person, then your average professional "reality TV star", who earns their living by getting into trouble and dumping drinks on people and getting into fights at nightclubs. 

So this is what happens when professional political celebrities like a Matt Gaetz, or perhaps in the future a Marjorie Taylor Greene, or Lauren Boebert, (whose already had her own legal issues and had to move out of her House district, just to barely get reelected again) get serious positions in government. These jobs blow up in the faces because they're simply not professional, mature, and responsible enough for them. They're the political version of late night or overnight talk show hosts, trying to make it in prime time, with their first opportunity. 

This part of the CNN report I believe is key here and why former Representative Gaetz resigned last month: 

"The Ethics Committee’s report concludes a years-long probe into numerous allegations against Gaetz, including whether he engaged in sexual misconduct, used illicit drugs, “shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gifts,” according to an announcement by the panel last summer.

Gaetz has vigorously denied all the allegations and has characterized the investigation as a witch hunt. 

In a post on X in response to CNN’s reporting on Wednesday, Gaetz emphasized that he was “FULLY EXONERATED” by a separate Department of Justice probe. And he said he “NEVER had sexual contact with someone under 18” — a claim that is addressed in the House Ethics report, CNN has previously reported.

“My 30’s were an era of working very hard - and playing hard too. It’s embarrassing, though not criminal, that I probably partied, womanized, drank and smoked more than I should have earlier in life. I live a different life now.”

This part right here sounds very George Santos of Matt Gaetz: "Converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe, improper gratuity, or impermissible gifts,” according to an announcement by the panel last summer". 

As I said on my Threads page about an hour ago: "Just the fact that Matt Gaetz is admitting to "embarrassing behavior", says a lot. He's really worried about the House report going public." 

From my Threads page. 

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Tuesday, December 17, 2024

Ron Brownstein: Donald Trump is About to Betray His Rural Supporters

Source:CNN with a look at part of Donald J. Trump's 2nd presidential agenda.

"CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins CNN's Jessica Dean to discuss how Trump's policy agenda, including tariffs, mass deportation, and cuts to Medicaid could conflict with the interests of his rural supporters." 

From CNN

"Small-town America voted heavily in his favor—but the policies he’s pledged won’t reward that faith.

Donald trump’s support in rural America appears to have virtually no ceiling. In last month’s election, Trump won country communities by even larger margins than he did in his 2020 and 2016 presidential runs. But several core second-term policies that Trump and the Republican Congress have championed could disproportionately harm those places.

Agricultural producers could face worse losses than any other economic sector from Trump’s plans to impose sweeping tariffs on imports and to undertake what he frequently has called “the largest domestic deportation operation” of undocumented immigrants “in American history.” Hospitals and other health providers in rural areas could face the greatest strain from proposals Trump has embraced to slash spending on Medicaid, which provides coverage to a greater share of adults in smaller communities than in large metropolitan areas. And small-town public schools would likely be destabilized even more than urban school districts if Trump succeeds in his pledge to expand “school choice” by providing parents with vouchers to send their kids to private...


This takes me back to Donald Trump's last Meet The Press interview with Kristen Welker, where he admitted that he might not be able to bring down the cost of living, because it's too high. 

Now imagine if you were on some month long meth high, (and somehow managed to survive that) or were drunk for a month straight, (and somehow managed to to survive that) perhaps you were vacationing on Planet Zoron (or some other made up Star Trek planet) and you saw Donald Trump there and he was completely honest about everything. Perhaps not intentional, but he simply couldn't lie about anything, perhaps by force. Perhaps someone spiked his Diet Coke with truth serum.

So now this made up character (lets call him Honest Don) is being interviewed by Kristen Welker, or some other NBC News anchor, or some other news journalist was asking him questions about what his 2nd presidential agenda will be, what he would do as President again, etc, and she asked him the same questions. And remember, Donald Trump can't lie anymore in this hypothetical. His answers to these questions might sound something like this: 

"Well, running for President of the United States and being President are two different things. You have to say and do things just to get the job. But once you have it, saying what you are going to do and actually doing what you are going to do, are two different things. 

My MAGA base, as well as a solid majority of Independent voters, believe everything that I tell them. So I can just make up things and say I'm going to do things, promise to do things that are simply impossible to accomplish. And they eat everything that I feed them. 

Which gives me a great advantage over every Democratic, as well as Republican opponent that I've ever faced, because my opponents are always expected to be honest and truthful about everything. Or the media and voters slam them anytime they're wrong or dishonest about anything, anywhere, at anytime. 

Just because I ran on tariffs, and mass deportations doesn't mean I'm actually going to do them as President of the United States. I can't afford to have a weak economy and low job approval going into 2026, because then I won't be able to get anything done. And that could risk Democrats winning back Congress, which would make my life very difficult."

Ron Brownstein's colleague over at The Atlantic Magazine wrote the Wednesday after Election Night this year: 

"Americans who care about democracy have every right to feel appalled and frightened. But then they have work to do. 

An aspiring fascist is the president-elect, again, of the United States. This is our political reality: Donald Trump is going to bring a claque of opportunists and kooks (led by the vice president–elect, a person who once compared Trump to Hitler) into government this winter, and even if senescence overtakes the president-elect, Trump’s minions will continue his assault on democracy, the rule of law, and the Constitution.

The urge to cast blame will be overwhelming, because there is so much of it to go around. When the history of this dark moment is written, those responsible will include not only Trump voters but also easily gulled Americans who didn’t vote or who voted for independent or third-party candidates because of their own selfish peeves." 


And Mr. Nichols would later go onto say that the only reason why Donald Trump ran for President of the United States again, was to stay out of prison. Not to become an American dictator, or do anything that could jeopardize the American economy. Simply because he wanted to try to look tough on China and Europe. I think he's right about that, but we'll have to see how his presidency goes to see whether he's right or not about that. 

But to go back to my original point about what Donald Trump would be like, if he's literally forced to be honest about everything, every time he spoke about anything... my advice for him (if he we ever spoke) would be to go back on every MAGA promise that he made. Especially the tariffs and mass deportations. 

What would a President Trump have to lose at this point? He's never going to prison. He's going to die as a very wealthy man. He can just concentrate on the basics as President and just do the job. That might be boring for him. But he's never worked very hard anyway in life, especially as President of the United States. And none of his base would leave him because he's their cult leader.

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George Carlin: A Modern Man

Source:Official George Carlin showing George's 2005 modern man monologue.

"Legendary stand-up comedian George Carlin performs a piece on the contradictions of being a modern man for the millennium.

George Carlin returns to the stage in Life is Worth Losing, his 13th live comedy stand-up special, performed at the Beacon Theatre in New York City for HBO. Life is Worth Losing includes: A Modern Man, Three Little Words, The Suicide Guy, Extreme Human Behavior, The All-Suicide Channel, Dumb Americans, Pyramid of the Hopeless, Autoerotic Asphyxia, Posthumous Female Transplants, Yeast Infection, Excess: Fires and Floods, Coast-to-Coast Emergency." 


“I’m a modern man, a man for the millennium. Digital and smoke free. A diversified multi-cultural, post-modern deconstruction that is anatomically and ecologically incorrect. I’ve been up linked and downloaded, I’ve been inputted and outsourced, I know the upside of downsizing, I know the downside of upgrading. I’m a high-tech low-life. A cutting edge, state-of-the-art bi-coastal multi-tasker and I can give you a gigabyte in a nanosecond!
I’m new wave, but I’m old school and my inner child is outward bound. I’m a hot-wired, heat seeking, warm-hearted cool customer, voice activated and bio-degradable. I interface with my database, my database is in cyberspace, so I’m interactive, I’m hyperactive and from time to time I’m radioactive.

Behind the eight ball, ahead of the curve, ridin the wave, dodgin the bullet and pushin the envelope. I’m on-point, on-task, on-message and off drugs. I’ve got no need for coke and speed. I've got no urge to binge and purge. I’m in-the-moment, on-the-edge, over-the-top and under-the-radar. A high-concept, low-profile, medium-range ballistic missionary. A street-wise smart bomb. A top-gun bottom feeder. I wear power ties, I tell power lies, I take power naps and run victory laps. I’m a totally ongoing big-foot, slam-dunk, rainmaker with a pro-active outreach. A raging workaholic. A working rageaholic. Out of rehab and in denial!

I’ve got a personal trainer, a personal shopper, a personal assistant and a personal agenda. You can’t shut me up. You can’t dumb me down because I’m tireless and I’m wireless, I’m an alpha male on beta-blockers.

I’m a non-believer and an over-achiever, laid-back but fashion-forward. Up-front, down-home, low-rent, high-maintenance. Super-sized, long-lasting, high-definition, fast-acting, oven-ready and built-to-last! I’m a hands-on, foot-loose, knee-jerk head case pretty maturely post-traumatic and I’ve got a love-child that sends me hate mail.

But, I’m feeling, I’m caring, I’m healing, I’m sharing-- a supportive, bonding, nurturing primary care-giver. My output is down, but my income is up. I took a short position on the long bond and my revenue stream has its own cash-flow. I read junk mail, I eat junk food, I buy junk bonds and I watch trash sports! I’m gender specific, capital intensive, user-friendly and lactose intolerant.

I like rough sex. I like tough love. I use the “F” word in my emails and the software on my hard-drive is hardcore--no soft porn.

I bought a microwave at a mini-mall; I bought a mini-van at a mega-store. I eat fast-food in the slow lane. I’m toll-free, bite-sized, ready-to-wear and I come in all sizes. A fully-equipped, factory-authorized, hospital-tested, clinically-proven, scientifically- formulated medical miracle. I’ve been pre-wash, pre-cooked, pre-heated, pre-screened, pre-approved, pre-packaged, post-dated, freeze-dried, double-wrapped, vacuum-packed and, I have an unlimited broadband capacity.

I’m a rude dude, but I’m the real deal. Lean and mean! Cocked, locked and ready-to-rock. Rough, tough and hard to bluff. I take it slow, I go with the flow, I ride with the tide. I’ve got glide in my stride. Drivin and movin, sailin and spinin, jiving and groovin, wailin and winnin. I don’t snooze, so I don’t lose. I keep the pedal to the metal and the rubber on the road. I party hearty and lunch time is crunch time. I’m hangin in, there ain’t no doubt and I’m hangin tough, over and out!”


What George Carlin was talking about in 2005, are people who are called male hipsters today. People who I like to call modern left-wing hippies, or hipster leftists. People who politically claim to be champions of the underclasses, the underdogs, minorities, who claim to oppose the American establishment, while tending to be very overprivileged. And would be last people to ever give up their new technology, their coffee houses, imported wine and other alcoholic drinks, their 2nd homes, (which were probably 2nd lofts) etc, so the underprivileged can have more in life. 

If there was a male voter bloc that Vice President Kamala Harris and her 2024 presidential campaign targeted, it would've been the male urban hipsters. Not Blue Collar Joe and Tom who work as construction workers, or auto mechanics, who shoot pool, or go bowling, after work, while drinking beer and eating chicken wings. Instead, they would've targeted guys who live in and work out of urban and suburban lofts, who drink coffee all day from their favorite coffee houses, who eat veggie wraps for lunch and drink French or Italian wine after work, with French cheese. 

But the guys that George Carlin was talking about, were probably large part of his audience as a comedian. Along with left-wing, urban, hipster, feminists, who probably made up a lot of his female audience. People like this: 

"The term “hipster” is elusive and frequently wielded as an insult, yet it has a rich history. The first hipsters were young Black jazz aficionados in 1940s Harlem. Their hipster culture was appropriated in the 1950s by young middle-class whites of the Beat Generation. By the late 1990s, “hipster” had acquired almost wholly negative connotations, describing affluent, coffee-drinking middle-class whites living in gentrified urban neighborhoods.

The contemporary hipster refers to a late-1990s subcultural figure that first rose to public attention in select gentrified enclaves of major global cities. Brooklyn and the lower East Side of New York, Seattle’s Capitol Hill, San Francisco, Sidney, Cape Town, and East London. Today the hipster lives in all these places and more. The hipster trend is global.

The defining marker of contemporary hipster culture is fashion. The archetypal hipster male sports a beard or ironic mustache, flannel shirts, skinny jeans, and rides a fixed-gear bike. His female counterpart has retro tattoos and a top-knot hairstyle and wears vintage clothes with Converse shoes. These figures appreciate vinyl records, vegan food, slick digital design, artisanal coffee, and mid-century Scandinavian modernism.

Hipster culture is about taste, fashion, and being in the know. But like any cultural form, it has a material base. In coffee shops, record stores, bicycle repair shops, bars, etc. within gentrified enclaves of major cities and beyond.

Most importantly, hipster culture is intertwined with the material structures that define the global economy. In line with the “neoliberal” turn of the 1980s and the newfound primacy of the individual consumer, contemporary hipster culture is connected above all to an ethos of consumption. Within a global economy that “specializes in the niched mass production of consumer goods that cater to the needs of small, subcultural groups” (Maly & Varis, 2015) hipsterdom becomes primarily about rejection of mainstream “taste.”

The contemporary hipster has morphed into what Thomas Frank (1997) calls the “rebel consumer” — the target subject of the synthesis of business culture and counterculture, where the imagery of youthful rebellion is mobilized to market corporate products.


I imagine George Carlin was into hipster culture himself. He's considered a counter-culture hero. But I guess what separates him from let's say WOKE today (who are the modern political hipsters) is that he was an individualist. Who thought people should be free to speak and act for themselves And wasn't trying to take down "The Man", or dye his hair green or purple, to look more antiestablishment. But instead he was someone who wanted to teach people and tell people to think and act for themselves. And not get part of political cultural movements, simply to try to fit in and seem cool. 

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Monday, December 16, 2024

Jack Cassidy: The Perfect Villain For Lieutenant Columbo

Source:Columbo Phile- Jack Cassidy as Ken Franklin in Murder By The Book (1971)

Source:The New Democrat

“The first episode made available on the channel was the seminal Murder by the Book, which opened Columbo‘s first season in September 1971. Starring the irrepressible Jack Cassidy as Ken Franklin, and directed by Steven Spielberg, it remains one of the best pieces of episodic television ever made and you can view in HD glory below.”

From the Columbo Phile

“The Columbo calendar year of 1974 got off to the most arresting start imaginable in the shape of Publish or Perish.
Not only were the opening credits an extraordinary combination of explosions and freeze frames, but consummate villain Jack Cassidy was back in his second appearance as a killer – this time sporting an evil moustache to accentuate his inherent wickedness.

A publishing backdrop, reassuringly familiar to fans of Murder by the Book, promised to make Publish or Perish a series highlight. But is it a the equivalent of an Allen Mallory best-selling novel, or an amateurish effort set to languish in the bargain bucket? Let’s set our clocks back to 18 January 1974 and find out…

Source:Columbo Phile- left to right Peter Falk & Jack Cassidy.

From the Columbo Phile

“ALAKAZAM! As if by magic, master villain Jack Cassidy returned to give Columbo‘s fifth season a much-needed boost in the illusion-packed Now You See Him on 29 February 1976.
The presence of Cassidy as The Great Santini, the return of Sergeant Wilson and the unique and mysterious backdrop of the Cabaret of Magic help Now You See Him stand tall in the memory. But is the end result as good as the ingredients itself? Or to put it another way, is this a water tank illusion of an episode, or merely a simple card trick?

Let’s don our most luxurious capes, twirl our moustaches and bust out of some unbreakable handcuffs as we investigate…

Source:Columbo Phile- left to right; Jack Cassidy & Peter Falk.

From the Columbo Phile

“A star of stage and television for over two decades, actor Jack Cassidy embodied the vainglorious, self-absorbed side of his profession in a series of Tony-winning and Emmy-nominated turns that made him a much-loved performer until his tragic death. Cassidy’s rich, mellifluous voice and fair-haired good looks made him a popular leading man on Broadway in the late 1940s and early ’50s, where he met his first wife, dancer Evelyn Ward, who would give birth to their son, future pop star David Cassidy…


Just to give you my personal observation about Jack Cassidy, someone who’ve I had a platonic man crush on for about 10 years now, since MeTV, The Hallmark Channel, Sundance, CoziTV, and other have been doing their Columbo marathons:

I think the Columbo TV series is at its best, when the murderer is almost as sharp and as witty as Lieutenant Columbo himself. Someone who can go toe-to-toe with the Lieutenant up to the point where he not only figures it out, but now can prove it. That’s where you get all the great wisecracks back and forth, the suspect now playing defense attorney for himself, or herself, because he or she now knows that the Lieutenant has figured out, but only has to prove it.

I think all of these factors are what made Jack Cassidy so great in all 3 of his appearances which were his charm, his self-confidence, his humor, his comedic timing, and his intelligence, as well as the intelligence of his characters. And of course the overconfidence of all 3 of his characters, thinking that he’s just pulled off the perfect murders, even though he’s an amateur murderer.

I’ll give you a little bit but what I think of Jack Cassidy’s 2nd and 3rd episodes on Columbo, but I’m mostly going to concentrate on Murder By The Book (1971) because it’s not only his best episode, his best performance on Columbo, but I believe the best Columbo episode in the entire series.

If you are familiar with the original USA Network TV series In Plain Sight (from 2008-2012) starring Mary McCormack (as Deputy Marshal Mary Shannon) then you have probably seen the pilot episode as well. There’s a scene where she’s about to question her lead suspect of this murder (or killing) and she’s walking up this kid’s father’s place and about to meet his father. And I haven’t been able to find the exact quote anywhere, but she’s referencing Lieutenant Columbo. (Played by Peter Falk) And she says something to the effect:

“You know when you are watching a Columbo episode and the Lieutenant figures out who the ,murderer is as soon as he meets that person…

Columbo hasn’t figured out who the murderer is as soon as he meets Ken Franklin. (Played by Jack Cassidy) But thanks to the victim’s wife, (played by Rosemary Forsyth) Franklin is already the lead suspect. She tells the Lieutenant about his partnership with her husband Jim Ferris (played by Martin Milner) and how much Franklin is about to lose financially, because now they’re breaking up and their both authors, but Ferris does most of the writing. And Ferris is about to go out on his own and that could cost Franklin a lot of money and so-forth.

So now Ken Franklin is the only suspect to this crime, even though Columbo hasn’t even met him yet. And they are at the Ferris home when Franklin shows up and Columbo still hasn’t figured out who the actual murderer is. But it gets really interesting after the Lieutenant starts talking to Franklin.

If you have ever played the game Follow The Trail, where you have to keep finding clues that lead you to where you are going and finally end up, that’s what Murder By The Book is:

Franklin and Columbo are at Franklin’s office that he shared with his partner Jim Ferris, the night of the murder. What Franklin really wants to do is detour Columbo and get him looking at other people like West Coast organized figures as suspects that his Jim Ferris was doing research on to write a book about. What Franklin does instead is make himself look even guiltier. He explains to Columbo that instead of flying back to Los Angeles from San Diego, he drives back instead. Now, San Diego is only a 2 hour drive from Los Angeles. But it suggested to Columbo that Franklin wasn’t in a hurry to get back and find out what happened to his missing partner and friend. And he showed no emotion whatsoever about the fact that his friend and partner was missing.

And now they’re at Ken Franklin’s place and Franklin of course knows what happened to his friend and partner, since he murdered him and has been keeping the dead body in the trunk of his car and now decides to dump the body on his lawn and report it to the police. So Franklin and Columbo are now in his home and Columbo asks Franklin to retrace his steps and movements once he found the dead body and what he was doing and after he founded the body. And he tells Lieutenant Columbo that he was looking at his mail and going through his mail, even though he just discovered a dead body on his lawn, who just happened to be his partner, as well as best friend. Franklin is still trying to put this murder on a list of West Coast organized crime figures. But he doing that while dropping all sorts of clues on the floor about his own guilt.

And you get into the facts that Ken Franklin and Jim Ferris both has insurance polices on each other. That Franklin who was doing very well financially, but was a playboy bachelor with very expensive women and taste. But Franklin who is the co-author of the very book where the murder that he just committed was literally laid out, thinks he just committed the perfect murder.

Publish Or Perish (1974) and Now You See Him (1976) are both excellent Columbo episodes. The 2nd and 3rd Jack Cassidy episodes are both in my Columbo top 5-10. But Murder By The Book is my personal favorite, because the murderer thinks he just committed the perfect murder. But his so overconfident that he literally proves himself guilty of the crime, because of his arrogance and he kept leaving little clues that only Lieutenant Columbo could put together to solve the crime.

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Lewis Black: Daylight Savings

Source:Lewis Black on daylight savings in America.

"Lewis gets a lot of people ranting about Daylight Savings Time. Here's one from a fan and one from Lewis about it both beginning an it ending." 


I guess my first point here would be, I would tell Lewis Black and his fan Ted Williams: "Watch your fucking language, God dammit! Why the fuck do fucking swear so much? What's your fucking problem God dammit? You are always fucking swearing". 

And if Lewis Black ever saw this, his response would probably be something as intelligent and mature as: "Fuck you", or: "Go fuck yourself", while he's walking away, while giving me the middle finger, or "kiss my ass sign". You figure it out.

As far as Lewis Black's fan Ted Williams sharing that story with him, it takes me back 20 plus years, in the early 2000s, when I was working at movie theater in Bethesda, Maryland. This is about 10 years before I got into blogging full-time. 

I swear, maybe as many 1-2, 3-5 of the customers that I could come across at this movie theater, forgot their brains. They would remember their cell phones, but would forget their brains. They could tell you what the latest drug rehab that Lindsay Lohan was staying at, or the latest jail that Paris Hilton was being held at, the latest nightclub that Khloe Kardashian got kicked out of. Or whoever the latest "hot celebrities" were at the time and what their current troubles were. 

Even though the customers were such keen experts on anything that's trivial, (at least as it relates to celebrity culture) they couldn't find the ticket office at the theater to save their lives. Even though they just walked past the ticket office, to ask an usher "where do you buy tickets?"

Or whether or not the damn theater sold popcorn or not. Even though they could smell popcorn all over the place. And it was a freakin movie theater, for crying out loud. (Unless they forgot their noses as well as their brains) But at least they have their cell phones) Movie theaters that don't sell popcorn, would be like a ballpark that doesn't sell hot dogs. Or a bar that doesn't sell beer. And unfortunately you could go on. 

If these customers didn't forget to bring their brains to the movie theater, then they were falling asleep before they bought their 10 dollar movie tickets, to a movie that was probably so bad, they would've fallen asleep trying to watch it anyway. Or, spent most of the show texting to their friend next to them about how much the movie sucks. And then would try to get a refund for the film that they just bought tickets too, after they just saw the entire film, because they thought the movie sucked. If you are dizzy from reading that last point, I don't blame you. I got dizzy just trying to write it. 

So yes I have experience waiting on people who were either half asleep, or lost their brain somewhere on the way to the movie theater. But not to the point where I can't get through a sentence without swearing my ass off. Sounds like this person has been working at that Holiday Inn for too long. And should try to get a better job. Unless they're still stuck at the Holiday Inn, because that's the best job that they can get. Perhaps they have anger management issues. Just throwing a thought out there. 

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Friday, December 13, 2024

The Bulwark: Sarah Longwell CALLS OUT Donald Trump’s Biggest Enablers TO THEIR FACE

Source:The Bulwark giving you a few of Sarah Longwell's highlights.

"Sarah Longwell spoke on a mega-panel at the DealBook Summit and used the opportunity to call out Trump’s biggest enablers—Kevin McCarthy, Kellyanne Conway, and Jason Miller—for their gaslighting and election lies." 


"A panel of political figures, advisers and journalists discuss the 2024 election and its aftermath. The discussion is moderated by Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent at The Times.

Participants:

Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager for the 2016 Trump-Pence campaign, former senior counselor to President Donald J. Trump and author
Anita Dunn, former senior adviser to President Biden
Major Garrett, chief Washington correspondent at CBS News
Margaret Hoover, host of “Firing Line With Margaret Hoover” on PBS
Alexis McGill Johnson, president of Planned Parenthood
Van Jones, founder of Dream Machine, CNN host and author
Jonathan Karl, chief Washington correspondent at ABC News
Sarah Longwell, publisher of The Bulwark and host of “The Focus Group” podcast
Kevin McCarthy, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
Jason Miller, senior adviser to Mr. Trump
The conversation was recorded at the annual DealBook Summit and recorded live in front of an audience at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Read more about highlights from the day at https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/12/04/business/dealbook-summit-news

Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify." 

From Apple

Just from the outset, if you are wondering why you didn't see any give and take here in this discussion from this video and it was just really just about Sarah Longwell's highlights, with one quick wisecrack from former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy: The Bulwark title of this video is literally: "Sarah Longwell CALLS OUT Donald Trump’s Biggest Enablers TO THEIR FACE" So don't act like you just saw Martians landing in middle of Nevada, or somewhere else in the middle of nowhere. Don't have a meth freakout over this. 

Another observation here, is some of the human, political, wreckage here. Both KellyAnn Conway (who is famous for coining the political term "alternative facts") and former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy were also on this panel. 

Just 4 years ago, KellyAnne Conway was married with a couple kids and was working as one of President Donald Trump's chief political advisors. Now she's divorced and somewhat in the political abyss, who appears from time to time as a political talking head on Fox News. Donald Trump probably never becomes President of the United States, had KellyAnne not gone to work for his campaign in the summer of 2016. Which would've been a great, patriotic service on her part to the country, had she not have saved his presidential campaign. 

And of course former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy. Just 15 months ago, he was still Speaker of the House of Representatives. But he was too MAGA for the House Democrats and not MAGA enough, or at least too politically unilateral for House MAGA, to save his speakership. Now he's basically just another political talking head in Washington. 

But to go back to my political point about Donald Trump's political wreckage; 1 of the chief Never-Trumper's of the Never-Trump movement, Rick Wilson, wrote a book about Donald Trump back in 2018 simply called: "Everything That Donald Trump Touches Dies" and this is what he was talking about: 

"Respected conservative strategist and notorious provocateur Rick Wilson today released his from-the-right attack on our 45th President: Everything Trump Touches Dies: A Republican Strategist Gets Real About the Worst President Ever.

Wilson, a Daily Beast contributor, has spent his career as a GOP party insider and he isn’t afraid to call out top players like Mike Pence and Ted Cruz by name. But his new book isn’t a mere clap back. After skewering the hypocrisy of the evangelical right’s embrace of the current administration, he describes a way for the GOP to escape the trap of Trumpism and return to limited government conservatism.

With his characteristic scathing wit, he offers a party that has lost its way a light at the end of the tunnel. No matter what side of the aisle you live on, any politics junkie should pick up a copy of this pivotal take on Trump’s presidency.

Scouted is here to surface products that you might like. Follow us on Flipboard. Please note that if you buy something featured in one of our posts, The Daily Beast may collect a share of sales."


My final thought here is to pick up on something that Sarah Longwell was talking about in this video. She's simply arguing that Donald Trump is simply held to a much lower standard than everyone else in American politics. 

Imagine Joe Biden doing the same political rallies that Mr. Trump was doing back in October, where it was almost impossible to figure out what the man was saying. He was either rambling or speaking in gibberish, or rambling in gibberish. (You decide) If President Biden were giving speeches like that at the same time that Mr. Trump was giving the same speeches, both the mainstream media and House Republicans would be calling for his impeachment. 

This is just one example of why Donald Trump is both the Manhattan Don and the Teflon Don of American politics. He can do almost no wrong with half of the country, including with people who actually don't like that man. Almost nothing can end his political career. Except the Constitution, time, and age. 

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John F. Kennedy Liberal Democrat

John F. Kennedy Liberal Democrat
Source: U.S. Senator John F. Kennedy in 1960