Saturday, November 30, 2024

It is NO TIME TO DIE

I believe Elaine called it in "It all feels like a really bad James Bond movie." Ernst Stavro Blofeld is Donald Trump and Lyutsifer Safin is Elon Musk while we are all trapped in NO TIME TO DIE.  


If you missed it, Satan Trump has selected his nominee for Ambassador to France.  Charles Kushner?  Who?  His daughter's father-in-law -- a crook that got a pardon from Satan in 2020.


WIKIPEDIA notes:


Charles Kushner (born May 16, 1954) is an American real estate developer and disbarred former attorney.[1][2][3][4] He founded Kushner Companies in 1985.

In 2005, he was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering, and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, which he served in the Federal Prison Camp, Montgomery. As a convicted felon, he was also disbarred in three states. He later received a pardon issued by his son's father-in-law President Donald Trump on December 23, 2020.[5][6] Kushner has donated significant amounts to Trump's campaigns. Previously, he was a major Democratic party donor.[7][8]

His son Jared Kushner is the husband of Ivanka Trump and son-in-law of former President Donald Trump, during whose presidential administration he served as senior advisor from 2017 to 2021. He has three other children, including Joshua Kushner, and is the father-in-law of Karlie Kloss.


At RAW STORY, David McAfee notes some of the reaction to the news:


  MSNBC executive producer Kyle Griffin reminded readers that Charles Kushner was pardoned by Trump in 2020.

"Kushner hatched a scheme involving a prostitute to entrap his brother-in-law and eventually pleaded guilty to tax evasion and making illegal campaign contributions," Griffin wrote in response.

Foreign policy researcher Olga Lautman also posted a "reminder" that "Kushner is a felon who Trump pardoned." 

  Popular satirist Mrs. Betty Bowers wrote, "Donald Trump has nominated Charles Kushner to be ambassador to France."

"A convicted felon, Kushner hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, arranged to record the sexual encounter between the two, and had the tape sent to his sister," Bowers wrote. "Just absolute garbage."

Artist Art Candee also added, "You know, the guy he pardoned that was convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering." 


Satan was re-elected by fools, idiots, and MAGA.  He may destroy the country and our only consolation is that history will record him as a crook and those who supported and enabled him as killers of democracy.

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


Friday, November 29, 2024.  COMMON DREAMS platforms old man know nothing and pretends he has insight (insight? LOL -- maybe when he apologies for the dead Iraqi people), Mexico's president gets the better of Satan Trump, COMMON DREAMS struggles with journalism (if you want a hateful candidate not to get elected, try mentioning his declared rivals in the race), Miss Sassy JD Vance, and so much more.


Greg Sergant (THE NEW REPUBLIC) reports:

 

Donald Trump’s angry threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports from Mexico—delivered Monday via the cautious diplomatic language of a Truth Social rant—is widely being depicted as a bluff. Trump declared that once in the White House, he will impose the tariffs unless Mexico stops migrants and fentanyl from “pouring” into the United States. Seen as a feint, the tactic could theoretically get Mexico to halt the migrant flow, allowing Trump to pull back on tariffs later while boasting that on the border, he has already bent Mexico to his will.

But amid all this parsing of Trump’s intentions, a crucial fact about his new move is getting lost: At the center of it is a lie. This lie is hiding in plain sight: It’s the underlying suggestion that Mexico is not doing anything to stop migrants from coming and that Trump’s threat of tariffs is needed to change that. Here we’re getting an early glimpse of how he will deceive voters about some of his most potentially destructive designs, on tariffs and immigration alike.

All this is laid bare by the sharp response to Trump’s threat that new Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued Tuesday. Her statement is getting attention for its barbed claim that American guns trafficked to Mexico are fueling crime and violence there among gangs supplying U.S. markets with drugs. “Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours,” Sheinbaum noted acidly, suggesting that the two countries’ interrelated national challenges underscore the need for cross-border cooperation rather than Trumpian confrontation.

That’s a harsh indictment of Trump’s whole worldview. But this dry bureaucratic bit also deserves note:

You may not be aware that Mexico has developed a comprehensive policy to assist migrants from different parts of the world who cross our territory en route to the southern border of the United States. As a result, and according to data from your country’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP), encounters at the Mexico-United States border have decreased by 75% between December 2023 and November 2024.

What this polite (and euphemistic) language says is that Mexico is already acting extensively to thwart migrants who travel through that country—originating south of Mexico—so they don’t reach our own southern border. As Sheinbaum notes, this is partly why border apprehensions in the United States have dropped sharply of late.


But that must not be a real issue.   If it were a real issue, COMMON DREAMS would be addressing it, right?


Instead of offering more garbage by Ralph Nader.  


Who is the stupid idiot who thinks Ralph Nader is needed today.  He's 90 years old and he's an idiot and he was always an idiot.  


He's not political -- though he thinks he is.  He also thought he was cute in the 70s and he was wrong there too.  People laughed at him when he was on THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JOHNNY CARSON because he was a joke.  That's why he was invited on.  He wasn't respected.  He was flop sweat.  He was the weirdo everyone laughed at.  He was a little circus monkey that Johnny could laugh at.


And you got the idea, even as late as 1996, that Ralph grasped that.  That's when he was the Green Party's presidential nominee for the first time and he didn't actually campaign.


2000 is when he did his part to destroy Iraq.  A reality that both he and COMMON DREAMS pretend didn't happen.


Over a million Iraqis did not die, they try to pretend, as a result of Ralph Nader.


This is not a minor issue.


The same people who want to scream "genocide" at Joe Biden don't expect accountability from others?


Ralph Nader didn't deserve to be a candidate in 2000.  One of the reasons that Bully Boy Bush got into the White House was Ralph Nader.


For those too young to remember, 2000's candidates were Ralph for the Green Party (this time actually campaigning), Bully Boy "Saddam tried to kill my daddy" Bush for the GOP and Al Gore for the Democratic Party.  


Gore was not the perfect candidate -- few ever are.  But he ran a good campaign.  He should have chosen a better running mate (Joe Lieberman was a disaster).  But a media that didn't care about realities or outcomes trashed Al over and over while giving a pass to Bully Boy Bush.  

So there's the media with their constant attacks on Gore.

There's the Supreme Court that  stopped the recount -- after Sandra Day O'Connor's infamous election night hissy that led other party goers to ask her husband what happened?  At the time, the networks were calling it for Al.  Sandra's husband explained she wanted to step down from the Court but now could not because it would mean Al could appoint her replacement.  No surprise, the Court rushed in to a process that they didn't need to be involved in because the Constitution made clear how this would be resolved.  The Court ignored the Constitution and rushed into to stop the recount when it became clear that Gore was gaining votes (he was the winner).

So there's the media and there's the Court.       


And then there was Ralph.


Bully Boy Bush declared war on Iraq.  


Iraq is in ruins to this day.  Over a million and a half Iraqis are dead as a result.  Women have lost nearly all rights.  US troops remain on the ground all these years later.  


Ralph is responsible.


He's not the only one who is.  But, yes, he is responsible.


And all these years later, he continues to try to pimp himself as an expert.  He continues to pimp himself.  Let's be clear on that.  It's all about Ralph.  

And I'm saying NO.


Iraqis have suffered.  Ralph could go slink off into the shadows.  Wouldn't be courageous.  But Ralph's not known for courage.


Instead he wants to write another column about the Democratic Party and how awful it is.


The only thing the world needs to hear from 90 year old Ralph is the acknowledgement that he is partly responsible for the Iraq War.


He's had plenty of years to address that.  He refuses to.  So sit his tired ass down and stop platforming him.  


I'm not joking here.


Ralph should not have run.


This is not in doubt.  Nor is this new.  I said in 2000 when various people -- including Phil Donahue -- tried to persuade me to support Ralph.


He had no skills for the presidency.


He shouldn't have run.


Let's review.


He had no charisma.  


We expect some level of charisma.  Bernie Sanders has charisma.


Ralph never did.


He was always a joke.


In the seventies, he could get on THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JOHNNY CARSON.  Because he was so gifted?  No.  Because he was flop sweat.  He was the monkey that Johnny made fun of and that people laughed at.  He didn't just lack charisma -- flop sweat.  He turned off viewers, they laughed at him.


And he went on TV, please register this, as a consumer advocate.


Nothing wrong with being a consumer advocate.  But nothing there says "President."  

He knew nothing about politics or about issues.  He didn't see citizens, he saw consumers.  And that's why he didn't grasp issues.


He got THE ROLLING STONE INTERVIEW in 2000.  That's a prestige feature.  It's an in depth interview.  And it was noted that Ralph really didn't connect with women.  Yes, he was unmarried and that's another reason he shouldn't have run.  Until 1980, no divorced candidate had won the presidency -- Ronald Reagan was the one who broke that. Jerry Brown ran in 1992 in the Democratic Party primary (I supported him) but one of his liabilities for some voters was that he wasn't married.  For whatever reason, they couldn't relate to the bachelor.  Now here was creepy Ralph, single, and running.


But that's not the issue I'm talking about.  Women knew he was fake.  And in that interview he proved he was.  He dismissed reproductive rights.  Worse, he slammed Gloria Steinem and others for not taking up his issue.  He wanted to do away with high heels due to the effect on consumers.

I think, as women, we can make our own choices.  I think we can decide for ourselves whether or not to have an abortion.  I think we can also decide for ourselves whether or not to wear high heels.  


But for Ralph, in 2000, reproductive rights did not matter.  Those dumb women didn't get it, Ralph was sure, and he was going to save us all by taking on Big Cobbler which has been gaslighting women for centuries. 


That alone said he wasn't up to the presidency.  Just that alone.


However, there was so much more, so very, very much more.


His supporters ignored it -- Christopher Hitchens (Islamophobe), Ani DiFranco (better known today for her racism), Michelle Shocked (who outed herself as a vile homophobe in San Francisco in 2013), etc. 


He had nothing to offer.  


I said that in 2000 and I say it now.


And he has nothing to offer now.  The only thing of value that he could speak to or write about was that he grasped he helped destroy Iraq.  


And yet COMMON DREAMS platforms him.


He has nothing to offer.


He's attacking the Democratic Party -- again. 


He has nothing to offer.


The Democratic Party is not above criticism.  


That's not the issue.


The issue is he has nothing to say.  His last new 'idea' was back in the '00s when he was saying that the left needed a billionaire to save it via funding.  


No, it didn't.  It's amazing he wants big money donations out of politics but would ever advocate publicly for the left to have a Daddy Warbucks. 


Does no one see the conflict in those positions?


ONLY THE SUPER RICH CAN SAVE US -- he published that book in 2009.


Why is COMMON DREAMS platforming his garbage.


The reason the right wing requires so many billionaires is because their actual plans are a disaster to people.  Without the money and the messaging, they will be defeated.  They are Mr. Burns on THE SIMPSONS.  And to suggest that the left needs to be saved -- excuse me, can only be saved -- by the super rich goes against every leftist belief and ideology.  


We don't platform Michael Moore because he's as stupid as Ralph Nader. Both lack political convictions and drop support for various issues and both are always whining to be rescued.  Rescue your own damn self.  And the only way that happens is when we work together.


Ralph has nothing to offer.  His political comments are insipid and shallow and make the faux insight from the Sunday chat & chews seem deep and ponderous. He doesn't understand revolution.  He doesn't understand anything but consumer advocacy.  


I'm sorry, Ralph, but civic duty and daily life?  Those are things which go far beyond after Christmas returns to a store.  


He has no background and he has no education on the issues he struggles to write about.


He also can't turn a phrase, can't invent (or even really popularize) a term, and he can't make you laugh or even smile.


So why the hell is this man who is responbile for the destruction of Iraq being platformed?


Howard Zinn was not a Democrat and he frequently criticized the Democratic Party.  If he were alive today and COMMON DREAMS was platforming him?  No problem.  Howard Zinn was a historian.  Howard wrote about what he knew and what he had expertise in.


Like Michael Moore, Ralph has no area of expertise.  Moore, for those who don't know his 'activism' that well?  We'll do one example. Mumia needs to be out of prison and out of prison now.  At one point that was Moore's position.  Then he writes -- and is shocked by the backlash -- that we all know Mumia did it.


He wrote that.  And then was surprised that people were outraged by it.

Because he has no core beliefs.


He and Ralph are like MAGA.


It's phony populism with no real core beliefs.


And COMMON DREAMS is platforming him?


Texas is a border state.  Though many are unaware of it -- it got some news coverage in August -- Governor Greg Asshole has implemented something new.  I believe it went into effect at the end of October.


If you go the hospital?  You're going to be asked whether or not you're a citizen.  And, on your medical record, your answer will be noted.  That's bad enough.  That's outrageous in fact.


But now that it's been implemented, certain Texas hospitals are adding to it.


That includes -- most shockingly -- the Christus Health System which has multiple hospitals in Texas.


So you ask and the person says "no" and that's the end of it.


Wrong.


As it's been explained to the ones who will have to ask (the workers), they (the supervisors) better not see any photo ID in there with a "yes" to the citizenship question if the photo ID is a passport from another country or any kind of photo ID that's from another country.  If they get that, regardless of what the person stated -- yes or no -- they are to mark the person -- and their medical record -- as a non-citizen.  (You are supposed to scan in a photo ID when checking someone into the hospital unless they already have an account with it scanned in.)


Shocking from Christus?  Until Ava and I did a piece on this for a community newsletter, I was not aware that Christus -- which will be part of the move attacking immigrants -- was based in Chile.


So a hospital system -- with hospitals throughout the US -- that is based in Chile is going to be helping Greg Asshole and Satan Trump track Latinos. 


They go where the money is, I guess.  


But this is a serious issue and it is a real issue.  


Ralph Nader doesn't know about real issues.  He regurgitates stuff that's been said over and over and he does a superficial sentence or two about a headline he read.  And that passes for insight?

COMMON DREAMS is part of the problem on the left.


That's obvious in Julie Conley's most recent article -- I won't rate it trash so we will link to it.

CAIR did nothing but attack and demonize Kamala Harris.  They are among the reasons Donald Trump will be sworn in next month.  One of his supporters is running for Matt Gaetz's Congressional seat.  Satan has endorsed the man.  


This week, he Tweeted that he was coming to Congress and Rashida Talib and Ihan Omar "might consider leaving before I get there."  See Marcia's "Rashida, you in danger, girl, and, Rashida, you're on your own."


I'm not getting the threat that CAIR's caterwauling about.  He hashtagged it "BombsAway."  Does CAIR believe he's planning on bombing the two women?  Does COMMON DREAMS?


That's beyond stupid but CAIR and COMMON DREAMS have often been beyond stupid of late.


It wasn't a nice Tweet but who expects nice Tweets from MAGA.


If CAIR wanted to help, they shouldn't have been attacking Kamala during a general election.


But they did as did the Tlaibs.  


As Marica notes, Rashida's on her own.  


I don't give a sweet f**k what happens to her.  She and her sister refused to stand with Black women.   So now, we'll staycation when it comes to Rashida.  Your issues are your issues.  


There was this belief that we were all in it together and so we spent forever on your issues and on protecting you.


But you didn't care to reciprocate. 


You made that very clear with your non-stop attacks on a Black woman.  It wasn't about Palestine.  If you really gave a damn about Palestine, you would have supported Kamala.  Instead, you attacked and tore her down.  You attacked her supporters online.  You attacked people being enthusiastic and happy that she was running.


What you did was s**t the bed.


And things are probably going to be tough for you with Trump going back in the White House.

We're not going to try to make things worse for you.  We're not going to be monitoring what you say and calling some tip line.


But we're also not going to expend our energies trying to help.


You s**t the bed.  Now you have to sleep in it.  We're not cleaning it for you.


And this notion that COMMON DREAMS has that we owe any thing to those of you who destroyed Kamala's chances?  We don't owe you s**t.


Kamala against Trump?  This was the time for us to all pull together.


And you refused.  Racism and sexism were more important to you.


Don't pretend the Palestinians in Gaza were important to you. Your racism and sexism was so great that you sold us out.  And, yes, we are learning that some of you truly sold us out -- that you actually got money for it -- and we'll be spreading that throughout the community via beauty shops and barber shops and Black churches and so much more.


You made yourself the enemy. 

Some e-mails ask can't we just forgive and forget?


No, no, no.


As bad as things feel right now?  Trump's not even been sworn in.  You ask those of us effected by your betrayal for forgiveness four years from now after the country's suffered.  That's four years you can try making amends for your actions.


You're the enemy because you put Trump in the White House.  Don't come crying to us over the next four years about how we have to all pull together.  The time to do that was during the 2024 election.

I will help immigrants -- especially undocumented ones.  Why?  Undocumented didn't vote for Satan Trump.  They can't vote, they're undocumented.  Nor can immigrants in this country that went through the entire paperwork process to get into this country.  But the groups that went for Trump are on their own.  That's where I stand.  I do not speak for everyone.  But, no, I don't feel the need to defend Rashida ever again.  Those days are long gone.


You made the choice to put Trump back into the White House.


Don't come to me whining that we all need to pull together.


As for COMMON DREAMS?  


Why are you wasting our time?  


Gay Valimont and Stanley Gray.  Where are those names in your report?


If you believe the Republican running for Matt Gaetz's seat is a serious threat -- I do believe he is -- then every report you write about him should include the names of the Democrats planning to run against him.  Gay Valimont has announced she will run.  Stanley Gray has filed his paperwork.  There will be a Democratic Party primary before the special election.


Every time you cover that awful man -- whose name we're not even going to note -- you should be mentioning the Democrats who want to run against him -- and when it comes down to just one Democratic Party candidate, you should be mentioning them non-stop.


Do you not know a damn thing?  Seriously.  How do you expect people to get elected when you don't mention them or note their existence?  COMMON DREAMS really needs to get their act together.



In other news, David McAfee (RAW STORY) noted yesterday:

 A few hours later, Vance posted a meme without any additional caption. The image shows Vance and Trump in the famous Thanksgiving scene painted by Norman Rockwell, with Vance playing the part of wife.

PatriotTakes, which says it is dedicated to "researching and monitoring" right-wing extremism "and other threats to democracy," responded, "This is a real tweet from vice president-elect JD Vance depicting himself as Trump's wife." 


We covered it last night and I'm copying and pasting in order to note Isaiah's two comics this week:


Elizabeth e-mailed to ask about JD Vance's Tweet.  


Haven't been on Twitter.  But, earlier tonight, I did post Keith Edwards' video below. 



In the video, he notes JD Vance Tweeted an image.  Norman Rockwell's FREEDOM FROM WANT is a famous painting -- Alex has the family recreate it for a school project in the third season of MODERN FAMILY -- episode 23 "Tableau Vivant."


That's what Elizabeth's talking about.  JD Tweeted it with his face and Donald's face imposed upon the married couple and an electoral map of the US imposed over the turkey.  


JD's the wife in the image.


Elizabeth, am I supposed to be shocked by it?


Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "They Don't Seem To Realize That They Host A TV Show" went up this week.



cameltoe


As did Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "They Don't Seem To Realize That They Host A TV Show

morningjoe



Miss Sassy?  


Long before Miss Sassy (a cat) popped up in JD's Ohio cat stories, Mike and Isaiah had dubbed JD Miss Sassy -- his drag name.  Photos from law school leaked out of JD in drag -- only JD.  The other men in the photos are not dressed in drag.  He had already served in Iraq.  And he chose to hang out with other men and dressed as a woman.


And his contemporaries from that time note that was not his only drag moment in law school.  


So we have our first cross dressing Vice President come January.  He gets to make history.


Knowing what I know, I'm not at all surprised that he would post that image and put himself in the woman's dress.  

  ------------------------


E-mails asked about Miss Sassy the cat.  Some crazy woman in Ohio was convinced her cat had been eaten by immigrants.  Turned out, it had just run away -- wouldn't you if you lived with that woman?  See Mike's "Miss Sassy meets Miss Sassy" for more on that.  

And here are some more of the Miss Sasssy comics Isaiah has done (that's not all of them) -- and when people repost the snapshot, the Flickr images do not repost -- but there are links you can click on that do show up in the repost -- and I'm stealing this from THIRD's "Isaiah covers the 2024 presidential election:"



"He Wants To Be Your Queen."



queen drag


Miss Sassy has proven to be very popular with community members and Isaiah admits he has a blast drawing Miss Sassy. It's JD's id exposed. So when Robert Kennedy Jr. was flirting with endorsing Donald, we got "Miss Sassy Puts Junior On Blast."



misssassy

  

Having endorsed Convicted Felon Donald Trump, Junior raced to campaign for him as did Trashy Garbage (Tulsi Gabbard). Don't worry, Donald's running mate set them straight in ""Miss Sassy Will Not Be Denied Or Upstaged." "



misssassytulsijunior



And then tonight came "The Convicted Felon and Miss Sassy Variety Hour" allowing Miss Sassy to celebrate the grifter that is Donald.




The following sites updated:


Wednesday, November 27, 2024

The corruption never ends

From earlier tonight, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "They Don't Seem To Realize That They Host A TV Show"


morningjoe


The hosts of MORNING JOE continue to insist that their bowing to Satan Trump was nothing and, besides, they keep getting all these telephone calls telling them they did the right thing.  As our cross dressing incoming vice president J.D. Vance explains, they are hosting a TV show, not a chat line.


On Satan,  Jim Newell (SLATE) reports:


But then there are other independent fiefdoms. Oligarch Elon Musk, as you have likely read, is officially part of the furniture in the building.

And then there’s Boris Epshteyn.

Epshteyn, a lawyer, fixer, consultant, and whatever-you-will to Trump since his 2016 campaign, briefly served in the White House in 2017, but otherwise has done odd jobs for the campaign and the MAGA movement ever since. He played a significant role in Trump’s 2020 efforts to overturn the election results, one for which he has been indicted in Arizona. He also coordinated much of Trump’s legal strategy over the past several years in Trump’s four separate criminal cases. He is not known to be a very friendly person, and in 2021 he was arrested in Scottsdale, Arizona, after being accused of repeatedly groping two women at a nightclub. That was not the first time he had been charged for his conduct in a Scottsdale bar.

Epshteyn got some attention in recent weeks for his role in urging Trump to nominate Matt Gaetz for attorney general, a case Trump found too compelling to pass up while Wiles was in a separate room. It’s also been reported that Epshteyn and Musk have clashed, having a “big blowup” on the patio of Mar-a-Lago one night, during which Musk accused Epshteyn of leaking personnel information. Epshteyn denied it.

What we’ve learned in the past couple of days, though, is that Epshteyn’s recommendations with the transition team may have—gasp!—involved a bit of financial self-interest. As CNN and other outlets have reported, Trump’s legal team conducted an internal investigation into whether Epshteyn had offered to recommend people for administration positions in exchange for money. Among those Epshteyn was alleged to have shaken down was Scott Bessent, whom Trump recently nominated to be treasury secretary after a ferocious selection process.


Hs is the King of Corruption.  A crook who belongs in prison.


Danielle Moodie makes some excellent points in the video below.


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


Tuesday, November 27, 2024.  The horrible grifter Jill Stein did achiever her goal, THE NATION's Katrina vanden Heuvel is a Twitter buddy to a homophobic, anti-abortion, Trump supporter (that she reTweets), BLUESKY is on the rise and (to those e-mailing after Stan's post), I revisit my visit with Earl Holliman from two years ago.


Let's start with this.



I'm going to try to be as kind as I can to Zac and Gavin of THE VANGUARD.

First, thanks for tackling the topic.  It's a good topic, it's a worthy topic.

Second, you make some strong points in the video -- especially with regards to grifter Jill Stein's hypocrisy.  More could be said on that hypocrisy -- you could do a 24-7 feed for a week and still not have enough time to cover it all. 

But?

Jill Stein did win.  

Her goal was not to become president.  Even as crazy as she is -- and her supporters were -- she knew she was not going to win.

Her goal was the same reason that Trump's allies donated to her and gave her legal representation: To ensure the Democratic Party did not win.

Jill accomplished her goal.

She took away votes.

She didn't just do that with the people who voted for her.

That's not the point of Jill Stein.

Her point is to mount her high horse and for her supporters like Amy Goodman to pitch her as what we need.  "Oh, she's brilliant!  She's great!  Look, over there, it's the Black woman.  It's Kamala.  She's not as great Jill.  She's nothing.  How can anyone vote for the Black woman."

Trump didn't think Jill would become president.  He didn't think she'd get a ton of votes from people who would vote for Kamala.  What he knew she could do was be POSTER GIRL FOR THE LEFT and attack Kamala and degrade Kamala and destroy enthusiasm for Kamala thereby depressing turnout.

That's what Jill did.

That's what Amy Goodman and others backed.

And now we have Trump back in the White House. 

You need to understand that.  

Pay attention next time as the Greens front another presidential candidate and they spend all their press time attacking the Democratic nominee.  That's not a third party -- that's a GOP auxiliary.


Let's move over to Danielle Moodie as a needed palette cleanser.








When I wrote that Johnny Depp was making a big mistake, was in a mid-life crisis, that the woman didn't really love him and it would all end in horror -- words I had all said to his face -- and it came to be, our e-mails were non-stop on where is it one after another.  We're starting to get that again as a result of Stan's "Earl Holliman:"

Earl Holliman died.  

Not sure what to say.


Over a year ago -- maybe two -- C.I. noted at THE COMMON ILLS a man over ninety whose health was faltering was hiding in the closet.  She noted it was an actor.  A mutual friend asked C.I. to meet with the actor because they thought he would feel better if he came out.  So C.I. talked to him about that and told him that people would embrace him.

As C.I. noted at THE COMMON ILLS, she didn't think the man would ever come out, that he would go to his grave in the closet.

That man was Earl Holliman.

He's dead now and Craig Curtis had to announce the death.  Who?  His husband.


I don't know if people are sincere in their e-mails or not.  If it wasn't a holiday weekend -- I'm starting now -- I would ignore it.  But if I do that right now, it's going to pile up in the e-mails and I'm not looking forward to the way that goes.

September 5, 2022, "My Labor Day Weekend:"


Hope your Labor Day Weekend was better than mine.

A friend asked for a favor.  Could I speak to one of their former clients?  

By phone?  No problem.  

No, in person.  

He lives in the valley.  I did not want to go.

But he thinks he's dying -- he's thought that before.  And the man he's spent his life with wants him to come out and called my friend.  

"I'll send a car."

Yeah, you better because I'm not driving in the valley, let alone to it.

So he's an actor.  Unlike some closeted actors and actresses, he can't insist his mother would be shocked -- his mother died long, long ago.  How old is he?  He's so old that ____ _____ once bearded for him back when she was a starlet -- a decade before she became a respectable actress and a winner of numerous awards.

He won an award too.  Many, many decades ago.  

He made a lot of movies.

He was like Orlando Bloom.  He didn't really sell tickets but no one who went to the movies he was in felt like they'd been short changed.  So he was more like Orlando Bloom than, for example, Josh Harnett.  

He's been part of five classics -- one is a camp classic but it's a classic none the less.  He was popular on the big screen but never a star.  In TV, he'd finally become a star.  

He's well over seventy and he won't step out of the closet.  He's worried what people will think.

What people will think? Few thing of him today and even fewer know he's alive.  

By the time the sixties ended, so did his pretense of dating actresses.  By the 80s, the never married status should have registered.  

No one's going to be appalled.  Coming out would be seen as brave.  And if he truly is on the end cycle (again, he's thought this before but he's edging ever closer to 100 so this could be it), coming out would mean he would make the In Memoriam reel at the Academy Awards broadcast.  It would also mean renewed interest in his work.  He hasn't played a role in a film or TV show in over two decades.  

It would also mean that it would come out (his being gay) on his terms.  He could give a few interviews as his life wound down (if he is indeed dying) and talk about what is was like coming up in Hollywood in the fifties. There would be tremendous interest for historical, sociological and media reasons.  


The more we talked, the more obvious it was that nothing was going to happen re: his coming out.  I offered to hook him up with Lily Tomlin because in our only conversation before this one -- a conversation that took place over 30 years ago -- he'd expressed that he was a fan of Lily Tomlin's and then, he leaned in, and sotto voice added, "I've heard she's gay."  To which I replied, "You mean like you."


Is that why, all these years later, his former publicist had arranged this meeting?  No.  It was because, I was told by the actor, I was known for not sugar coating.  That reputation's been there for years but it was when the Iraq War was about to start and I told off a roomful of big names as they tried to figure out how best to 'message' what was coming -- as opposed to standing up against it -- that the reputation really took hold.  I didn't realize what a bitch I was considered -- and I'm fine with that.  I did rip people apart -- fake ass, faux lefties who are held up as heroes by a public that doesn't know better.  I don't regret a word I said (and I'm very grateful to the friend, a film director, who stood up and walked out of the room with me) and it was past time that someone said it to those fake asses. 


Apparently, the actor feels the country has gone astray (it has) with one war after another and, as a veteran himself, he has loved hearing about that moment when I told off a bunch of fake asses.  (It's rather notorious within the industry.)  


I told him the truth.  He can act on it or not.


Not only would it be good for his image -- coming out -- it would be good for others who need role models.  The man's not had any scandals in his life -- no arrests for drug use or what have you.  When people do think of him, they think of him fondly because he didn't wear out his welcome.


It would also be good because someone's going to talk after he's dead.  Better he be the one to talk about it now.  



"He's so old that ____ _____ once bearded for him back when she was a starlet -- a decade before she became a respectable actress and a winner of numerous awards."  That was Jane Fonda.  
 

"He's been part of five classics -- one is a camp classic but it's a classic none the less.  He was popular on the big screen but never a star.  In TV, he'd finally become a star."  


The camp classic is FORBIDDEN PLANET.  The other four classic movies were GIANT, THE RAINMAKER (he won a Golden Globe for his performance),  THE BRIDGES AT TOKO-RI and GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL. 

"He hasn't played a role in a film or TV show in over two decades" -- 2000 was when he did his last acting roles.

He passed away Monday and he's survived by his husband Craig Curtis. He was twice enlisted in the Navy -- the first time for only a year -- he was kicked out when they found out he was underage.  After finishing high school, he rejoined.

On TV, he became a big star supporting Angie Dickinson on POLICE WOMAN.





And we realize how awful its been for all women and how recent the change has been.



Those two promotional photos above ran in the October, 1974 issue of Ms. magazine. Sue Cameron's "Police Drama:  Women Are On The Case" opened with, "Not since Barbara Stanwyck starred in The Big Valley has a woman had the lead in a weekly dramatic series. This year Angie Dickinson and Teresa Graves have hit prime time as the leads of two police stories, Police Woman (NBC) and Get Christie Love (ABC)."  The last new episode of The Big Valley aired in May of 1969.  From then until September 11, 1974, when Get Christy Love debuted, there had been no female star of a TV drama.  (Police Woman debuted September 13th.)

39 years later, NBC thought it was acceptable to unveil a fall season without one show -- sitcom or drama, 30 minutes or hour long -- that starred a woman?



I wasn't friends with Earl.  We met once at a party -- I believe we nodded at one another from time to time at other gatherings.  And then, in 2022, I visited him at his request and we spoke at length. 

Stan notes he died in the closet.  It would have been better for him if that wasn't the case. But at least he wasn't closeted completely.  But it did wear on him.  He did struggle with the idea of coming out, he did see that as something that would be freeing.

What held him back?

A century of lies and attacks from society.  He was a sexy man with a strong sex drive.  Warren Beatty, a contemporary of his, was the same.  But Earl was attracted to men.  Warren got a star build up long before BONNIE & CLYDE due to who he dated and slept with as much as for his performances.

That didn't happen to an out gay actor.

When we spoke, and note that he hadn't acted in film or TV in over 20 years at this point, he just knew any offers would dry up if he came out.  That's not the case.  If he had come out, it would have given him a cachet he no longer had.  There would have been an interest -- renewed interest -- the same as what Richard Chamberlain experienced after coming out in 2003.

Earl didn't understand that times had changed.  He was confused about a lot of things.

Like?

The whole industry knew he was gay back when he working.  He posed as straight when we met -- the Lily Tomlin line -- until he got that I already knew and that it wasn't a problem to me.  When we met, there were still some men and women who would feel the need to pose as offended.  And I say pose because a number of them were gay men and lesbians in the closet.  In fact, there's a closet case just a little younger than Earl -- and still alive -- who always made it show of being upset when meeting someone gay.  He's even written laughable books -- as a 'straight' man -- about things like Noel Coward coming on to him but we'll save that for another obituary -- I mean, I don't want to be thrown off the ship into the ocean.

It never matters, for employment in the industry, if you're gay.

It did matter if the public knew you were gay.  Then the studio would be nervous.  

And that went on forever.  To a degree, it still does.  Anne Heche and Ellen were a couple.  That was known before Anne was hired for that film with Harrison Ford -- SIX DAYS AND SEVEN NIGHTS.  The pre-filming panic only ensued when they went public as a couple.  Then the studio panicked.  That was 1997.

So there was the employment issue.

He was also confused -- pretty much his entire career -- about what he was.

He was not a romantic lead actor.  He really was a supporting actor who sometimes was elevated higher.

THE RAINMAKER typifies who he was on stage -- a supporting actor and someone a little slower on the draw than the audience.  This was not leading man roles and that's because of certain characteristics he had -- none of which was from being gay, to be clear.  

But he -- and his team -- for decades thought he was just the one role away from being a leading man and that required more closeting.

That role was never going to come.  He didn't have the weight.  He was good at getting laughs and, if he could have been cast in comedies, he might have risen to leading man there.  Jim Carey is tremendously talented and can do drama but he loses his spark when he does drama.  When he does comedy, he is more at ease and we, as an audience, are more comfortable.  In POLICE WOMAN, he got to do comedy -- it was a drama, not a sitcom but his character got to banted with Angie and that was the highlight of any episode. 
 

He and his team -- his people -- spent way too many years -- wasted them -- on roles that never came because they were all wrong for him.  In the end, it's his moments of relatability that stand out in your mind.  Not some heavy drama scene, but that moment of just breathing and being.  That's a gift and people sometimes don't get that they have it or they don't appreciate what they have.

When you're not getting the roles you want, it's easy to pretend you're the victim of a whisper campaign and need to go deeper into the closet.  But he didn't get the roles that he wanted because that's not what he projected.  He spoke of Burt Reynolds -- who he was friends with -- and how he never got those roles.  No, he didn't.  Burt was a lech onscreen.  He was not kind, he was not good.  Earl projected a caring and decency.  He could play the Warren Beatty role in ISHTAR, for example.  Burt was the 'bad boy' to some -- to his fans -- but he never managed to go much beyond that because what he projected was someone who was going to use you for all the good times he could and then move on.

It can be hard for any of us to see who we actually are.  It can be even harder to see what others see in us.  He had an element that lifted the projects he was in.  But the element wasn't going to work in a dramatic role without any comedy.  Again, barring a comedy find of a role, he was a supporting actor.  

Acceptance of that would have made his life easier.

Anyway, I didn't mean to dictate that much on that into the snapshot but he was a nice man and he did achieve in his career and he will be missed by many including his husband.  Maybe to young Americans today, there's something in his life story that they can find.  


An angry e-mail to the public account (common_ills@yahoo.com) claims I haven't given Naomi Klein her due.  She has left Twitter for BLUESKY!!!!!  "Just like you're asking people too but you don't give her a single credit to that, do you!"

What do you say?

Learn to read.

 
The pinned Tweet on her Twitter -- no link to Twitter -- is:


I’ve stopped posting here for the time being.  Find me on Bluesky (http://naomiaklein.bsky.social) and Instagram/ Threads (naomiaklein). And my free newsletter, which is about to become more fun! Subscribe at http://news.naomiklein.org/newsletter



That's what she posted to Twitter.  


Coward couldn't leave Twitter.  


She's just left "for the time being."


What is that?

Is that like, in 1965, while concerned Americans are marching on Selma, you do a brisk walk through Duluth as part of your daily constitutional and want credit for being a member of the Civil Rights Movement?


Seriously, one is a Civil Rights action, the other is just a stroll.

So Namoi's smart enough -- after THE GUARDIAN, NPR, Jamie Lee Curtis, Gabrielle Union and so many more -- millions more -- to see that being on Twitter -- on a racist platform that preaches hate -- might be bad for her 'brand' or 'logo' so she scoots over to BLUESKY but our 'brave' 'activist' doesn't have the spine to just walk away from Twitter completely.

Naomi's not going to help us with the lunch counter sit-in but she will wave to us as the police escort us out and then will spend hours talking about her 'bravery' during the difficult situation.

Are you a racist, Naomi?  Then why aren't you off that platform?  You've got one toe in the freedom pool and the other in the Whites Only pool.  Why should we give you credit for a damn thing?


Grasp that there is vile and disgusting hate speech and photos all over Twitter -- little ha-has about Black people being enslaved again.  I'm not even going to do it.  I'm not going to list all the things wrong with Twitter for the left.

Naomi's too concerned about building up her follower count to do the right thing.

DO THE RIGHT THING!!! It's not just a great film by Spike Lee, it's something we should try to live up to.


The only good that came from the e-mailer was it made me wonder if racist Katrina vanden Heuvel was still on Twitter?



She is and it's oh so worse than I could have imagined.


Katrina vandenHeuvel reposted
memer
@memer_mem
·
Nov 25
Sally Field shares details of her illegal abortion.
‘We can’t go back,’ the actor said.
She was just 17yrs i forgive her
#sallyfield 
Rest of video THREAD 👇


You forgive her?  

Oh, well, thank heaven.  I normally wouldn't presume to speak for Sally but I do know her and I think her reply to you would be NSFW and that's because (a) she didn't ask for forgiveness (nor has she done anything to be forgiven for) and (b) she doesn't give a damn what some hateful homophobe thinks of her.


Homophobe?


"I forgive her" -- Katrina reposted that garbage.  

WTF?


She's unhinged over that fact that I've noted her racism for weeks here.  She's a part owner of THE NATION and she's a good liberal and she's . . . 

She's a racist.  And what upsets about that charge I've made is that her own actions back it up.  That's why she's suffering fall out.  All I did was point out the reality no one wanted to grapple with or address.

Now mutual friends and people I know at THE NATION report back over and over how she's enraged that people are calling her a racist.  Here's a quote from her friend that called me on Saturday, "She's losing her s**t over this."

She's clearly lost her mind.

What 'left' woman would publish a Tweet from a man saying he forgives a woman for having an abortion?

What woman would indulge an insufferable man?

Not a feminist.  But as Ava and I pointed out long ago, Katrina's no feminist ["The Nation featured 491 male bylines in 2007 -- how many female ones?"].


memer is trash.  And 'left' Katrina is reposting him and endorsing what he Tweeted and endorsing him.


Has she gone completely nuts?  Is it time to put her in a home?


Here are some of memer's other Tweets:



memer
@memer_mem
·
Nov 22
#Khalid comes out as gay after being outed by ex-lover
Khalid's parents tried their best but the devil won


Homophobe.  Raging homophobe.  And that's who Katrina vanden Heuvel reTweets?


memer
@memer_mem
·
Nov 20
Indian billionaire Gautam Adani has been indicted in New York over a multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme, the Justice Department says.
We thank God Donald Trump will be in the driving seat. Justice will be serve because he did not make a deal with a demon Must Go.



That's Katrina's man.  She's reTweeting a homophobic Trump supporter. 

She should hang her head in shame.  She's a racist who is reposting anti-abortion Tweets from a Trump supporting homophobe.  

Get off the world stage, Katrina.  Or, in fact, don't.  Stay on that stage and prove to the world just how right I am about you.


BLUESKY is not a hate speech site.  It does not want to bring back slavery, it does not want to destroy the rights of women or LGBTQ+ people.  And that's why it's growing.
 



There's much to find on BLUESKY.




Let's wind down with this from "Media: You apparently can't teach common sense to journalists (Ava and C.I.)" where Ava and I point out what a liar and idiot Glenn Greenwald actually is:


Common sense?

 

They have none which is how the meet-up happened.

 

But let's stay with the lack of common sense.


Alleged pedophile and sex trafficker Matt Gaetz had to abandon his nomination for Attorney General of the United States; however, please note this came only after the disgusting foursome of Matt Stoller, Lee Fang, Ryan Grim and Glenneth Greenwald championed and defended his nomination.

 

Glenneth, a transphobe who hates lesbians as a class, went so far as to insist Matt Gaetz had earned the right to be confirmed it on the issue of gay rights alone. He Tweeted, "He was also the key figure in having Florida repeal its ban on same-sex couples adopting (sorry, just facts)."

Glory Hole Glenn is always a liar.  That wasn't a fact that he served up, it was a lie.


Glenneth knows his aged fan base swallows any lie he tells and he's no longer important enough for most to bother fact checking.  He figured he'd get away with yet another lie.

"He was also the key figure in having Florida repeal its ban on same-sex couples adopting (sorry, just facts)."


What does that say to you?  That statement implies that Matt Gaetz ending the ban on gay and lesbian couples adopting.  


Lie. Lie.  Lie.


Where to begin?


How about the fact that the ban -- pushed by Anita Bryant -- was not on same-sex couples.  It was on any gay person.


What a stupid idiot.  

 

He's always hated lesbians and that's why he missed March of 2002 when Rosie O'Donnell came out as a lesbian.  Steve Rothaus (KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS) reported that month:

 

Rosie O'Donnell learned last year that Florida is the only state that flat-out won't allow gay people to adopt. That gays can become foster parents in the Sunshine State, but not permanent adoptive parents. 

The TV star and magazine editor -- who lives in Miami Beach with her partner and three children who were adopted in New York -- suddenly realized she would not be allowed to keep the 4-year-old foster daughter entrusted to her by the state of Florida.

"She will soon be adopted by friends of mine. I am not legally able to adopt this child, because I am gay," an outraged O'Donnell writes in the introduction to a book, Too High A Price: The Case Against Restricting Gay Parenting, to be published this week by the American Civil Liberties Union.

O'Donnell decided to out herself and join forces with the ACLU after reading about Steven Lofton and Roger Croteau, a Miami Beach couple fighting in court to adopt their three foster sons. On Aug. 30, 2001, a federal judge in Miami upheld a 1977 Florida law that prohibits gays and lesbians from adopting.

 


At that same time, only one other state prohibited gay adoptions -- and that was Mississippi -- but, pay attention Glory Glenn -- it prohibited couples adopting -- gay couples -- it did not, like Florida did -- prohibit gay couples and an individual gay man or lesbian from adoption.


"He was also the key figure in having Florida repeal its ban on same-sex couples adopting (sorry, just facts)."


So Glenn the lousy lawyer was wrong -- he was wrong when he said the ban was on same-sex couples.  No, you damn fool, you damn liar, the ban was on gay couples and on a single gay man adopting and on a single lesbian adopting.  If you're too lazy to read the original law, you could refer to 2004's LOFTON V SECRETARY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN & FAMILY SERVICES which argued that there was a difference between a single straight person adopting a child and a single gay person.  

Glenn's a liar and a loser.


"B-b-b-but, Ava and C.I., he was right about Matt Gatez being key to the ban being repealed!!!!"


No.  He was lying there as well.  There are two more lies to cover.  One is that Matt was key to the ban being repealed.  He's referring to Matt adding an amendment to a bill in 2015.  Now, more reality, though Matt has a 'son' who he 'adopted' that many in Florida have thought was his lover, Matt's no friends of LGBTQs and never was.  The legislators who served with Matt that we spoke to noted that Matt didn't want the bill to pass -- the one he added the amendment to.  He added it, we were told, at the last minute hoping to kill the bill and it almost did kill the bill in Florida's senate (Matt was in the lower chamber).  It wasn't seen as a bill that was going to pass -- especially not as the senate received it three weeks before the end of their session..  


So there's that lie.


But here's the big lie, Rosie and the ACLU brought the issue to attention in 2002.  Matt acted in 2015.  Guess what happened between those two events?


In 2010, the courts found the 1977 law to be unconstitutional and it was no longer enforceable (IN RE: GILL).


Oops!


Bitch slapped across his lying face.


You need to stop believing that Glenn tells the truth and you especially need to grasp that he never knows the law. 


Common sense should have told you decades ago that Glenneth doesn't know the law but he sure knows how to lie.


Common sense is your friend.  Learn to trust it.


There will be a post by me tomorrow.  It'll depend on when I can break away from cooking.  But we do post on Thanksgiving.  It may be late in the morning or early in the afternoon.  Friday?  I'll do something but it might not be up at the usual time on Friday.  Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "It's A Choice!" went up yesterday.   The following sites updated: