Thursday, October 24, 2024

Ron Ely

In a way I feel bad for not covering the Convicted Felon tonight but I do need a break and I really feel that I am the best in the community to write about Ron Ely.  Not because I am the best writer (I am not) but because it is from my time period.  AP reports, " Ron Ely, the tall, musclebound actor who played the title character in the 1960s NBC series TARZAN, has died at age 86. Ely’s daughter, Kirsten Casale Ely, told The Associated Press on Wednesday that her father died Sept. 29 at his home in Los Alamos, California, an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County."  WIKIPEDIA notes:

Ely won the role of Tarzan in 1966 after playing supporting roles in films such as South Pacific (1958), as an airplane navigator, The Fiend Who Walked the West (1958) and The Remarkable Mr. Pennypacker (1959).

During the filming of Tarzan, Ely did virtually all of his stunts for the series,[2] and suffered two dozen major injuries in the process, including two broken shoulders and various lion bites.[3]

Ely's height (6'4") and athletic build also won him the title role in the film Doc Savage: The Man of Bronze (1975), as well as various guest shots. He was in five episodes of the series Fantasy Island; in one, in 1978, Ely portrayed Mark Antony in a Roman military short tunic and breastplate. Also in 1978, Ely starred in the Wonder Woman television series two-part episode "The Deadly Sting."

Ely starred on the series The Aquanauts in 1960–1961, in the western adventure film The Night of the Grizzly (1966) opposite Clint Walker, and later appeared in Jürgen Goslar's slavery movie Slavers (1978). In the 1980s, he hosted the musical game show Face the Music, as well as the 1980 and 1981 Miss America Pageants, replacing longtime host Bert Parks.[4] Later in the decade, Ely starred in a 1987–1988 revival of the 1960s adventure series Sea Hunt as Mike Nelson, the role played by Lloyd Bridges in the original series.

In the 1990s, Ely's roles included a retired alternate universe variant of Superman in the Superboy episode "The Road to Hell", and hunter Gordon Shaw in the Tarzán episode "Tarzan the Hunted". Until about 2001, Ely made appearances on such television shows as Sheena and Renegade.

Ely retired from acting in 2001, but he returned to acting with an appearance in the television film Expecting Amish (2014).[1]



So two seasons of TARZAN?  Tarzan was a literary character who transferred well into films but, by the fifties, interest was dwindling.  So they tried TV with Mr. Ely.  In those days, you had three network channels and you had an independent channel if you were lucky (they aired local news, reruns of TV shows and movies, possibly their own daytime talk show) and, if you were really lucky, an educational channel that was a forerunner of the type of programming PBS would later offer.

So a show on the big three had a large audience.  If it was low rated in its first season -- I doubt that -- it would have still had an audience of at least 10 million.  That is more than most shows today have.  It was axed in season two but it was so popular that, after cancelling in in the spring of 1968, NBC aired it throughout the summer of 1969.  It immediately went into syndication and was hugely popular with kids.  

The most famous episode of the program remains "The Convert."  This 1968 episode was Diana Ross' first dramatic role.  She and Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson had done a lot of TV appearances as the Supremes.  They would sing and, on some variety shows, they would take part in humorous sketches.  By 1968, the group was following the lead of others like The Miracles (which became Smokey Robinson and the Miracles) and was billed as Diana Ross and the Supremes (this is also when Cindy Birdsong takes over as a Supreme after repeatedly showing up onstage drunk or missing performances because she was drunk resulted in the firing of Ms. Ballard). So Diana, Mary and Cindy made their dramatic acting debut in January of 1968 with this show.  They played nuns and what most people remember to this day about that episode is Diana and Mary and Cindy singing "Michael Row The Boat Ashore."





Ron Ely was considered a heart throb and there was talk that he and Diana Ross were a couple.  They may not have been but such was the star power of Ms. Ross and Mr. Ely that this was buzz and not in a condescending way that the press had sometimes (often times?) done in the past over an interracial coupling.  Ms. Ross had blazed enough trails even by that time that she had changed the press' conceptions of what a woman -- especially a woman of color  -- could be.  

Mr. Ely was always being linked to one woman or another throughout the sixties and seventies.  From WIKIPEDIA, "He later dated actresses Ursula Andress, Barbara Bouchet, Dyan Cannon, and Britt Ekland. In 1984 he married Valerie Lundeen, who won the Miss Florida USA title in 1981,[7] and they had three children."  

And then there was Dinah Shore.

Dinah Shore was a popular singer (for many decades) and a popular TV personality.  By the 70s, she was doing a daytime talk show.  And she would cook in a segment and talk to celebrities in a segment.  One day, she talked to  her crush: Burt Reynolds. The two became a couple.  Before Cher, there was Dinah Shore.  It was a big to do that Mr. Reynolds was over a decade younger than her.  And their love affair was big news.  As was Mr. Reynold's repeatedly cheating on Ms Shore with Lorna Luft, Adrieanne Barbeau, and so many others.  At one point, the two broke up but got back together a couple of years later.  Then they broke up for good.  And it was big news with various people weighing in.  (Farrah Fawcett for example -- she noted that Mr. Reynolds had broken Ms. Shore's heart.)  As he began dating his younger women, Ms. Shore stepped out in public with Ron Ely.  

That is what he was seen as, a trophy, a great catch.  





There were attractive men before Mr. Ely.  There was beefcake before Mr. Ely (Steve Reeves comes to mind).  And we had seen teeny bopper as well.  However, Ron Ely was someone whose looks were so impressive that his career was actually built around it.  It had happened for one woman after another -- their beauty gave them careers and they posed for cheesecake photos and they became stars.  That is not a slam at those women -- many of whom were gifted actresses.  But that really did not happen with the men.  Ron Ely represented the changing times.


 This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:


Thursday, October 24, 2024.  Donald Trump's fetish becomes public.


Convicted Felon Donald Trump worships Donald Trump.  As Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out last night on MSNBC, reporters have got to press on this issue. 





This election is important and will have real consequences.  And the reality that Convicted Felon Donald Trump is unfit to serve only grows clearer with each passing day. His worship of Adolf Hitler is only the most recent example.  Angel Saunders (PEOPLE) reports:


Former president Donald Trump reportedly stated his interest in having generals similar to ones who once reported to Adolf Hitler.

The Atlantic published an article on Tuesday, Oct. 22 reporting that Trump, 78, brought up the Nazi dictator during a private conversation in the White House during his presidency.

“I need the kind of generals that Hitler had,” the Republican presidential nominee reportedly said. “People who were totally loyal to him, that follow orders.”

[. . .]

In Tuesday’s article, The Atlantic said they recently spoke with Trump's ex-chief of staff John Kelly, who corroborated alleged Hitler comments. 

The 2022 book, The Divider: Trump in the White House by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser, claims Trump once asked Kelly, “Why can’t you be like the German generals?”


Staying with John Kelly's revelations, Kipp Jones (MEDIAITE) notes:


Retired Gen. John Kelly, who served as White House chief of staff under former President Donald Trump, told The New York Times his old boss believes he could run the country best as a fascist.

In audio released on Tuesday, Kelly said Trump fits the profile of a far-right authoritarian and that he believed the former president would govern as such if elected to a second term.

On CNN’s AC360, host Anderson Cooper recited part of a report from The Atlantic published Tuesday in which Trump was alleged to have previously asked why his generals were not loyal to him in the manner Hitler’s were.

Cooper then played an audio recording in which Kelly explained fascism from his perspective and how he thought Trump viewed the ideology. Kelly said:

Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy. So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America.

Kelly also told the Times, “Certainly, the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators — he has said that. So, he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”


 The world looks at the Holocaust and sees horror and War Crimes.  Donald looks at it and sees "very fine people on both sides."  



On X, the largely unmoderated social media platform that replaced Twitter, owner Elon Musk shared a misleading post in which the Atlantic article’s headline and copy were altered to suggest that Trump was the literal reincarnation of Hitler. Even that “joke” reinforces the point: A report from a former top aide that Trump had praised Hitler is portrayed as a hyperventilating attempt to draw equivalence between the former president and the German dictator. It’s Godwin’s Law, used in defense of a guy with authoritarian aspirations.

On Fox News, a host of the channel’s morning show “Fox & Friends” attempted to defend Trump by suggesting that the former president perhaps was not “cognizant of the third rail of German generals who were Nazis and whatever.”


The bottom line, host Brian Kilmeade said, was that “Mattis and Kelly didn’t like the president and they didn’t think he deserved the job or they didn’t think he was worthy of the job.”

Kelly doesn’t think he deserves the job because Trump is a dictionary-definition fascist. But since he is critical of Trump (for being a dictionary-definition fascist), he is viewed by Trump supporters as anti-Trump and therefore his criticisms (of Trump being a dictionary-definition fascist) are necessarily invalid.

And here we are.



Here we are indeed.  And yet so many don't seem to grasp the reality before their eyes.  

 
Kamala Harris grasps what's going on.  Yesterday afternoon, she spoke about it.


 
 

So, yesterday, we learned that Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, a retired four-star general, confirmed that while Donald Trump was president, he said he wanted generals like Adolf Hitler had.

Donald Trump said that because he does not want a military that is loyal to the United States Constitution.  He wants a military that is loyal to him.  He wants a military who will be loyal to him personally, one that will obey his orders even when he tells them to break the law or abandon their oath to the Constitution of the United States.

In just the past week, Donald Trump has repeatedly called his fellow Americans the “enemy from within” and even said that he would use the United States military to go after American citizens.

And let’s be clear about who he considers to be the enemy from within.  Anyone who refuses to bend a knee or dares to criticize him would qualify, in his mind, as the enemy within, like judges, like journalists, like nonpartisan election officials.

It is deeply troubling and incredibly dangerous that Donald Trump would invoke Adolf Hitler, the man who is responsible for the deaths of 6 million Jews and hundreds of thousands of Americans. 

All of this is further evidence for the American people of who Donald Trump really is.  This is a window into who Donald Trump really is from the people who know him best, from the people who worked with him side by side in the Oval Office and in the Situation Room.

 And it is clear from John Kelly’s words that Donald Trump is someone who, I quote, “certainly falls into the general definition of “fascist,” who, in fact, vowed to be a dictator on day one and vowed to use the military as his personal militia to carry out his personal and political vendettas.

Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable.  And in a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions.  Those who once tried to stop him from pursuing his worst impulses would no longer be there and no longer be there to rein him in.

So, the bottom line is this.  We know what Donald Trump wants.  He wants unchecked power.  The question in 13 days will be: What do the American people want?

     Thank you.





Vice President Kamala Harris has responded to new statements from former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly detailing Donald Trump's fascist ambitions. 

In a televised address delivered from the vice president's residence, Harris told reporters that it's clear her Republican opponent "wants a military that is loyal to him," one that "will be loyal to him personally, one that will obey his orders, even when he tells them to break the law." 

"Donald Trump is increasingly unhinged and unstable," Harris said. "In a second term, people like John Kelly would not be there to be the guardrails against his propensities and his actions." 

"We know what Donald Trump wants. He wants unchecked power. The question in 13 days will be what do the American people want?" the vice president added. 



At a rally in Wisconsin after Goldberg's article was published, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, said Trump's comments about Hitler and his generals made him "sick as hell, and it should make you sick, too."

If Trump wins the presidential election, he said, "folks, the guardrails are gone. Trump is descending into this madness. A former president of the United States and the candidate for president of the United States says he wants generals like Adolf Hitler had."


At THE NEW REPUBLIC, Greg Sargent covers Donald's crush on Hitler in a podcast.   Donald Trump is a disgrace.  He is a nut job and a con artist and wanna be dictator.  His remarks should be disqualifying for every American.  There is no rational defense of Hitler, there is no both sides to Hitler.  Only a nut job would think otherwise.  Fortunately for Donald, FOX "NEWS" employs a lot of nut jobs. 






While he hid and cowered yet again yesterday, Kamala Harris was on CNN.




Though some may forget, this was not supposed to be a town hall.  This was supposed to be a debate between Kamala and Donald.  But after getting his ass handed to him in their only debate, scared little kitten Donald refused to debate her again.  





Erik De La Garza (RAW STORY) points out:


A town hall analysis breaking down the policies Kamala Harris was asked about Wednesday night abruptly flipped into a discussion about the inconsistencies in how the vice president and Donald Trump are being treated, with one CNN panelist declaring: “They’re not taking the same exam.”

“He gets to be lawless, she has to be flawless. That’s what's unfair. That's what's unfair tonight,” said former Obama White House official Van Jones. “They're not taking the same exam. Look, she has policies, she may not articulate them perfectly every time…but she’s fighting for actual ideas that will help real people and he’s talking about people’s penises, and so they are not taking the same exam and that’s pissing people off – it’s pissing me off.”

The moment came just after Harris wrapped up a town hall with CNN’s Anderson Cooper that was originally scheduled as a presidential debate before Trump dropped out and later refused to commit to holding his own town hall with the network. 




And we see this daily, over and over.  The different standards for Kamala and for Donald.  Do you know that THE PROGRESSIVE put Kamala on its cover?  And just posted two articles praising Tim Walz.  Which is two more articles than they've bothered to write praising Kamala.  You're not supposed to notice that. 

Yesterday, Amy Goodman continued her attempt to re-elect Donald Trump with segments that really didn't matter.  There are eleven days left to vote in the presidential election.  But Amy's everywhere else as always.  Eminem and Susan Ford Bales (daughter of the late President Gerald Ford) and Cher are among the latest of many endorsements for Kamala in recent days.  It's a huge list.  So it is so very strange that in August, September and October, Amy Goodman has been unable to find a single guest who supports Kamala.  Not one.

Do we need to drop back to 2008?  When the same program was 'cooking the results'?   I should take a moment to note that one of the big liars she brought on and covered for in 2008 -- the one Ava and I got fired from her university job?  Remember her?  "Sitting here in all my Blackness"?  Remember her.  She still Tweets.  Notice that "in all my Blackness" has not Tweeted once about Kamala running for president.  Once a fake ass, always a fake ass.  We dubbed that woman Lie Face for a good reason and Amy's the one who unleashed her on the country and lied for her.  Lie Face Tweets.  Constantly.  She just doesn't mention Kamala.  

Ann noted her favorite moments from the town hall in last night's "Kamala's a real leader:"

 

 

Right on.  Exactly.  I'm glad I'm voting for Kamala Harris.  I'm glad I'm campaigning for her.  I've never voted for a Democrat in a presidential election before.  I was raised a Green.  


I've voted for Jill Stein twice before.  I am not voting for her this time.  She's a liar -- whose own adult children refuse to vote for her.  She is working to elect Donald Trump and our country cannot afford that. 


I'm glad that there are people working hard and working with enthusiasm for Kamala.  She's not just better than Trump, she's a great nominee period.


As a Black woman watching this election cycle, I have been very disappointed in 'left' voices who have worked overtime to tear Kamala apart.  



This is a moment where we should be able to take some pride but the Naomi Kleins won't let us, they think we need their Whiteness wisdoms.  





If we all do our job over the next two weeks, Kamala Harris will be our next president. But our job isn’t easy. We can’t just vote on our own. We need to help others send in their ballots and get to the polls, too. We can’t just talk with people who agree with us about our hopes for a Harris presidency and the danger of Trump. We need to talk to people who are thinking about not voting or even voting for someone else.

That’s our job right now. I’m not saying it’s always easy. And it may not always be fun. So I’m writing this piece to offer some pointers -- and things you can say -- that will make that job a little bit easier. 

We all know that nothing will feel better than waking up after November 5th and seeing how well we did our job -- seeing how much it paid off in swinging this election and seeing that Black people came out ahead. Because that’s what this is about making sure Black people come out ahead in this election. 
We need to make that clear to everyone in our lives before they vote. That means talking to all of our family, even the people it’s hard to talk to; and the people we work with, even when it’s not always comfortable to talk about it; and our friends and neighbors we see at the salon or barber shop, or at school pick-up, or church, or at the last picnics of the season, or anywhere else. Everyone we can talk to, we need to talk to.
 

Rashad goes on to offer concrete suggestions for what we can do.  And she concludes:


Our job is not easy in the weeks ahead. But we have to talk to people. And we can’t leave anyone behind. Just as you have seen in the Paint the Polls Black series, which is being helmed by the Global Black Economic Forum and supported by Essence, we have to make sure we share information, dispel the myths and mobilize to vote.  If you haven’t seen the series, you can watch all of the content on YouTube.  

No matter what someone cares about—climate change, jobs and employment discrimination, quality education and health care, reproductive health care, affordable housing, criminal justice reform, LGBTQ+ rights, reining in corporations that cheat us with fines and fees at every stop—we must show them that the thing they care about most is on the ballot in November: they’ll either get it (or have a chance of getting it with Harris), or they definitely won’t get it with Trump—and in fact, it’ll all get a lot worse. It’s our job to make sure people know.



There is so much at stake and ESSENCE is there, as always, stepping up to the plate.  It's a shame so many others can't do the same.  Good time to note Betty's "Open letter to Naomi Klein:"


Hey, White girl.

I'm the Democratic Party base.  I'm a Black woman.  Watching your garbage 'analysis' on DEMOCRACY NOW! (which has become a garbage show) and hearing you talk about how Muslims are the Democratic Party's base?  Honey, you don't get to be the base based upon a few elections.

Black women turn out every election for the Democratic Party and that's why we are so pissed to see the way left media is treating Kamala Harris. From DEMOCRACY NOW on down, they all want to destroy Kamala or knock her.  


And we get that, right?  Black women, we get that?  

We get that from society every day, don't we?

So it shouldn't be that surprising to us that Naomi Klein, Amy Goodman and so many others are trashing Kamala and insulting her.  That's how they really treat us, let's be honest.


Want to make a story about police brutality the least covered?  Kill a Black girl or a Black woman.  

George Floyd?  Society will take to the streets.  And should.  But find the same outcry when it's a Black woman.

White girl, Naomi, I see you.

I remember your garbage when Barack Obama was running for president and you went around talking about how important this was because he was a Black man.  Then you wrote that insulting column where you tried to speak for Black voters. You didn't try to speak to Black voters, mind you.  That would have required you recognizing us as people.  So instead, being a White Jew who apparently knew no Black people, you just watched some Black people the night of the election, from across a busy street and then, in all your Whiteness, you wrote a column telling your peers what these Black people felt and thought.

Again, you never spoke to them.  But why would you need to?  You, Queen White woman, know everything.

Here's what I know, a Black woman's running for president and you have no praise and only offer attacks.

A Black woman's running for president and you're blaming her and using your racism and your sexism to attack her.

You're not a feminist, Naomi.  You're a political woman.  That's not the same as feminism.

You need to check your Whiteness and you need to stop insulting Black women.  We're not playing with you, Snow Princess.  I noticed when you listed your Canadian notion of the US's Democratic Party base, you didn't include Black women.  Rather telling, dontcha think? 






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