The Third Estate Sunday Review focuses on politics and culture. We're an online magazine. We don't play nice and we don't kiss butt. In the words of Tuesday Weld: "I do not ever want to be a huge star. Do you think I want a success? I refused "Bonnie and Clyde" because I was nursing at the time but also because deep down I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of "Bob and Carol and Fred and Sue" or whatever it was called. It reeked of success."
There is a tendancy on the left that's been exploited by the
intelligence community where they exploit people's emotions and they
exploit this need to feel good about being on the right and moral side
-- which is a good thing: to want to be a good person. But what happens
is, it's not coming from a place of actually wanting to get to the
bottom of the situation, to get to the truth. It's coming from a place
of wanting to feel self-righteous about this. And so what happens is
the intelligence community has been exploiting that.
From Hunter Biden’s laptop to influence peddling to financial dealings, the media has presented a fairly unified front dismissing allegations and blacking out coverage. As I previously wrote, the Biden family made an elephant disappear
on stage and the media was invested in the trick. The media has largely
allowed President Joe Biden to repeat without challenge that that his
son did “nothing wrong”
. . . despite many of us writing for years that what he did was very
wrong indeed. Yet, it is becoming increasingly hard to spin out of this
scandal as David Weiss, the U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware,
continues to call people before a federal grand jury to testify on
Hunter Biden.
For over two years, Weiss has been investigating tax and financial
issues connected to Hunter Biden’s foreign dealings. Biden has engaged
in some of the most open and raw influence peddling schemes in history. That itself is “wrong,” to use his father’s standard, but not necessarily criminal. The Biden family has long been accused of such influence peddling generating millions in windfall payments. Even diplomats complained that his actions during the Obama/Biden Administration were setting back anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine.
The problem is not that Hunter Biden allegedly shook down foreign
countries and companies for millions. The problem is that he may not
have reported or paid taxes on all of that largess.
Weiss is calling witnesses to testify on Hunter’s lavish lifestyle
and spending habits, including a former stripper who Hunter impregnated.
Lunden Roberts spent years fighting to get child support, even as Joe
Biden was running for president. A court finally forced Hunter to support his child.
Also called was ex-girlfriend, lingerie entrepreneur Zoe Kestan. She testified for five hours on Tuesday, the New York Post reported. Kestan reportedly detailed how Hunter would withdraw thousands of dollars and spend wildly during their relationship.
What is striking about these witnesses is that they are the type of
witnesses that poison both grand juries and trial juries against a
defendant. Such lavish spending details were used by the Justice Department against figures like Paul Manafort.
More importantly, the testimony appears directed at showing that Hunter
had far greater income than reported. That is a curious effort if Biden
has “come clean” on simple reporting errors for taxes.
US President Joe Biden is now a threat to the world as his actions risk all out world war. He wants to bring Russians ''to their knees." What did Russians do?
We'll come back to it.
But look how quickly they all rush to fold and do his bidden. Less than 24 hours after observers noted that Canada was still allowing Russian flights to land, there is a quick push to end those flights.
Failed drug addict and cheating husband John Mulaney 'hosted' SNL last night because not many other outlets will have him -- his whole act was built around what a great guy and loving husband he was -- you know, back before he cheated his now ex-wife repeatedly? He wasn't up to an opening monologue so they ended up doing government propaganda in support of war.
That passes for 'activism' and 'informed.'
The reality is that the so-called left in terms of little media and CODESTINK and the others really haven't done s**t since 2008. Now they don't even know how to stand up if they wanted to and, judging by last Friday's DEMOCRACY NOW broadcast, they don't want to stand up.
They're all eager to pimp war on Russia.
Why?
It's what the US government wants and has wanted since Barack Obama was in the White House. This is a long plan coming to fruition and yet the corporate media -- and much of the 'independent' media -- wants to pretend like it started last week.
They're a bunch of liars and they have blood on their hands.
Was Springer this bad? That's what we had to wonder last week as Sabby Sabs showed up to produce cringe-worthy TV. If you're hoping for the piece where we eviscerate Sabby, this isn't it.
What do you cover?
If you're covering anything, you have to make determinations. You have to stage your area. You have to decide what's worth it to you.
For us?
We take a pass on many things.
On critiquing our friends?
No. In fact, we've lost a friend -- and angered many more -- over what we've written here. If we're covering it, we're covering it. And there have been mistakes. Like when we were covering an ABC drama and our friend, the show runner, called to tell us that we'd just outed an actor. Huh? We thought X number of actors on the show were out. It was X-1 -- and some 'fans' think we can't do math! We knew four were gay and we thought four were out but only three were out. On that, we did go back in and change it by removing reference to 1 being gay. Normally, we don't change what goes up here but having already been accused of outing Neil Patrick Harris (really?) and Wentworth Miller (maybe), we weren't in the mood to rack up more charges.
If we're covering you -- and you're a friend -- we're covering you. And some friends who have asked us to cover their shows have lived to regret it.
But we draw our lines and pick our fights and determine what we will cover and what we won't cover.
And PAM & TOMMY?
We took a hard pass.
And we did so for a number of reasons. First, why is anyone interested in a series about a sex tape? We have no idea but one reason people would be encouraged to put time and effort into making this series and then airing it would be to discredit Pamela Anderson. She has been a strong and vocal supporter of Julian Assange.
As the US government brings more pressure to bear on Julian (and The First Amendment), forgive us if we don't see altruism or mere profit as the primary motives for HULU's series.
Another reason we took a pass? Pamela doesn't want the series made.
We knew Aretha Franklin. Some of her family were very public that they were behind (supported) Jennifer Hudson's film but were opposed to the mini-series Cynthia Erivo made. We planned to pass on both in terms of reviewing. Then we ended up seeing RESPECT and needed to review it. How to make us review your product? Lie. Lie and fool people and we'll be outraged and cover it. Jennifer gave a strong performance in a hideous movie. It had no real point -- drama and three act structures apparently escaped everyone working on the film. But what angered us was the stupidity in pimping the lie that AMAZING GRACE was Aretha's best selling album. It was not. "Double platinum!!!!!" That doesn't mean two million copies of AMAZING GRACE were sold. Two million were not sold. Up until the 1990s, the 1972 album was only at gold status. That means half-a-million copies . . . if . . . it's a single disc album. AMAZING GRACE is a double-disc album and so the 'double platinum' on a double disc album just means it sold a million copies. Every now and then a multi-disc set will come out and the industry will use it to educate on this fact but few seem to pay attention even then. WHO'S ZOOMIN' WHO and THE VERY BEST OF ARETHA FRANKLIN VOL. 1 have both sold as much (and probably more) than AMAZING GRACE. The lie tells the story the filmmakers want -- Aretha back in church!!! Men do love that, don't they, look at the abomination Stephen Spielberg made of THE COLOR PURPLE by doing just that to Shug. But it's not reality.
And it's not reality that the album was a gospel music album either. The film RESPECT doesn't clue the audience in on that. Another lie. Aretha was a great singer. People paid for her singing. Her singing. Not for tracks she didn't sing on and AMAZING GRACE features many tracks without Aretha. Another thing, a music experience usually can't recover from spoken word interludes, another problem for AMAZING GRACE. She's goes on to do the same thing in 1987 with ONE LORD, ONE FAITH, ONE BAPTISM. Had adult Aretha ever wanted to record an actual gospel music album, it might have sold very well. But we don't know how it would have sold because she never recorded an album which was nothing but gospel music.
RESPECT piled one lie on after another and still managed to be boring as hell.
Not long ago, we bumped into one of Aretha's relatives -- not any of the children who objected to season three of GENIUS where Cynthia Ervio played Aretha -- and her positive praise for GENIUS led us to check it out. It offered actual drama and it presented Aretha as a real person. We enjoyed it.
But just as we tried to respect the children of Aretha's feelings, we try to respect Pamela's feelings. Why was the mini-series made?
We talked before about how it could be used to ha-ha Pamela and to dismiss her statements of support for Julian. But why on another level?
Meaning, why does this need to be made? Was there some great outcry for a behind-the-scenes on the sex tape?
Nope. It wasn't needed and it wasn't really wanted. And it is a part of Pamela's personal life. We're not saying it shouldn't be made. We're the last to ever say that. But we are saying that it hurts someone's feeling, it's no work of art (as the ads make clear, as the giggles of the penile prosthetic make clear) and there was no historical point to it.
So we ignored it and focused on other things that we felt were worthy of praise, or important, or worth noting (to praise or to call out).
This past week, Sabby focused on Nick Brana.
And it was cringe worthy viewing.
At the end of the long interview, Nick went off screen (replacing himself for a moment with an avatar) and (we assume) cried.
Our hearts went out to him.
Sabby had been asking if rumors meant that the Movement for a People's Party would be better off without him as national chair?
Nick started the political party. And he tried to answer Sabby's question -- after a great many tough ones had already come before -- but was clearly struggling not to cry.
It was hard to watch. We had to put it on pause for a moment.
Sabby -- unlike the five women noted at the end of last week's piece -- actually believes in something beyond the corporate duopoly. So this topic matters to her immensely. But as she spoke about state level and members being represented, honestly, we did recall that it was the week before where she had a Green Party member on and was saying that Jesse Ventura should have been the party's presidential nominee. What is it about YOUTUBE personalities that they keep insisting that someone who would not run for the nomination of a political party should be gifted with it? How is that democracy? And having argued that position on a previous show, how did that jibe with some of the questions she was now asking of Nick.
It came off, honestly, like badgering.
Guess what? Interviews don't have to be soft balls. Sabby may be playing devil's advocate in either of the two instances we've cited or in only one or in none.
She's allowed to define her style just as much as she's allowed to define her scope.
Equally true, she took the issues at play seriously. What Mikea was wrongly praised for pretending to do with Joe Biden regarding Tara Reade's charges, Sabby actually did.
Nick was accused of inappropriate behavior.
Charges like that need to be taken seriously and praise to Sabby for doing that.
However, with Tara, she came forward.
In fact, Tara's still coming forward and was on HARD LENS MEDIA last week speaking with Kit Cabello and Daniel Luepker.
She has a funny idea of what constitutes a truth-teller. In her HLM media appearance, she finally talked about what we've been talking about since April of 2020 -- how Time's Out put a media hit out on her. And she wants you to know Ryan Grim's a truth teller. Funny, though, we never heard this from Ryan, now did we?
We noted what was going on. Ryan knew what we were noting. A friend spoke to him about it and multiple people contacted him via e-mail and Twitter but he wasn't interested, now was he?
Tara seems like a good person but she doesn't have a clue.
Every time we watch an interview with her, all we hear is Michelle Pfeiffer as Catwoman in BATMAN RETURNS saying, "You make it so easy, don't you? Always waiting for some Batman to save you."
Because that's her and that's, sadly, far too many women who've survived victimization.
She needs Ryan to be a hero so she can feel okay. It's some crap about playing a damsel in distress. She should have long ago berated him for so many things -- including failing to follow up on the claims that her position as a legal expert in trials was being challenged.
We do like Tara, we just wish she wasn't so damn stupid. That also involves her hero worship of Rose McGowan. We like Rose. We do not mistake her for a functioning human being nor do we play into that game. To not know Rose is hurting is to be willfully blind.
To not know that Tara is damaged is to buy into her lie that she's smart and she knows what's going on and always has.
Tara, just stop pretending.
Life will a lot easier for you if you stop pretending.
Your notions of politics are still in the same limited range that they were before you came out about Joe Biden assaulting you. The 'solutions' you offer in interviews are nonsense and the sort of b.s. conventional wisdom that serves no one. We'd rather you admit you have no answer about something than repeatedly mouthing tired cliches that you attempt to pass off as insight.
You're in pain. Talk about the pain. Don't try to pretty it up or to put a band aid on it. What was done to you has been done to others (women and men) and it will be done to others. If you really want to be of service, help people by talking about this. People who speak out get attacked Acknowledge that and speak to it. That's so much more important than how you think we can change the world, one vote at a time.
Back to Nick.
Sabby compared what's going on there with Tara Reade. And we understand there are many reasons to make that comparison. Chief among them? She's trying to do a job. Mika wasn't. Mika acted tough but had no follow ups.
Nick was being accused of some bad things. Sabby felt the need to make clear that she was there to ask questions, real ones. Hard ones.
But the accuser isn't Tara.
Tara came forward. She stepped out in public. She was attacked and smeared for it. And she needs to talk about that -- seriously and in depth so that others know what to expect and what to be prepared to combat. We're still the only ones who noted that unlike NPR, PBS, THE NEW YORK TIMES, MSNBC, et al, CSPAN actually put the issues regarding Tara charges to a survivor's advocate.
Nick's accuser hasn't come forward.
Unless, the accuser is Jordan Chariton in drag, the accuser remains hidden.
Bob Dylan's been accused of assaulting a young girl back in the sixties. The story makes no sense and we're less inclined to believe it because the woman hides behind a lawyer. Supposedly, she wants some form of justice. But apparently wants it without gaining it in public. We don't believe her.
We're not Tara Reade, we don't mouth slogans like 'believe all women.' Anyone can lie, gender has nothing to do with it.
The woman in question, the one accusing Nick, has elected not to come forward. She wants to make charges from the darkness, in hiding. At some point, the charge was rape. At some point, it was something else.
Sabby wanted receipts and we thought that honestly derailed her interview.
She knew he didn't have them. He couldn't have them. Sabby's asking the accused to provide proof of innocence and that's now how our system works. She was also asking for him to back up this or that statement and he referred to others that she should be speaking to. He hadn't brought along witnesses. It was all very frustrating to watch.
As for her question about whether he should resign?
No.
He shouldn't resign. If he feels he's innocent -- and he currently is -- then why should he step down?
We encourage every woman and every man who has been assaulted to step forward. But we do know some who step forward are not telling the truth.
We also know that every one accused has a right to defend themselves. And should. Also true, Sabby (again) has the right to do any interview she wants and to do it any way she wants.
So did David Letterman. When people hear of the moment Cher was on his show for the first time and revealed that she had avoided him because she thought he was an ass, they think ha-ha and don't get what Cher's talking about because so much time has gone by. He was an ass to Cher and others because of rudeness to guests -- mainly women. There was the time Nastaja Kinski was reduced to tears, for example. She was not fluent in English and she did not know what Dave was talking about or why he was making fun of her but, by the end of the interview, she certainly was aware that he was mocking her in front of an audience. Valerie Perrine shows up and is an amusing guest that the studio audience loves. She leaves the studio and is shocked when later on she watches the broadcast and discovers that after she left, she was dubbed "The Divine Perrine" in a mocking manner as Dave and another guest trashed her. It was this sort of thing -- mocking people who weren't fluent in English and mocking someone after they were out of the studio -- that led to the image of Dave being an "ass."
Sabby can be whatever she wants but she should be prepared that right now people could consider her a bit of an ass.
After her questions and the way she presented them have made her guest cry, she then goes after his father. In what world? If you want to be an ass, that's the way you do it. And don't pretend that you're doing journalism because you waited until the very end of the interview to bring up his father.
We're often called bitches for what we write here. We're fine with that. We can live with it. This is how we want to do what we do here. We're just wondering if "ass" is how Sabby wants to be seen.
But mainly, we're troubled by the segment that caused tears. Specifically, we're bothered by the question of Nick stepping down. If Nick's innocent -- and Sabby goes to great pains to insist that she knows nothing of guilt or innocence -- why should he step down? What message does that send -- both in this case and in subsequent ones? As it stands now, Nick appears to be the victim so what is served by his stepping down due to a false smear that was told in order to . . . force him out?
That just don't make sense and may be the most cringe-worthy moment of the entire interview.
As I spent the weekend looking at NETFLIX's self-reported top ten and noting that Tyler Perry's A MADEA HOMECOMING has been number one since Friday, I was reminded that the apparently hugely popular DON'T LOOK UP barely stayed in the top ten.
Anecdotally, the studio has said that Marry Me, which cost an
inexpensive $23M, was the No. 1 title on Peacock on both Friday and
Saturday, though it provided no figures to support that claim. We hear
that there were “ingestion” problems when it came to Samba TV monitoring
smart TV viewership for the movie over the weekend. That usually means
that the studio doesn’t want the streaming numbers out there.
Where was that same skepticism -- needed skepticism -- when DEADLINE was just parroting the claims NETFLIX made regarding DON'T LOOK UP?
OZARK has been in the top ten for weeks now on NETFLIX. If that top ten is accurate -- if -- then a lot more people in North America have watched OZARK than ever watched the crap-ass DON'T LOOK UP.
It's time for people to be rightly skeptical of the claims NETFLIX makes when campaigning for Oscar nominations.
Ukraine has support in congress, the corporate media and with academics like Ms. St. Julian-Varnon. I have never seen so much propaganda created on behalf of one country in my life.
They lit up the empire state building in blue and yellow FFS. What is she talking about?
Francis A. Boyle is a professor of international law at the University of Illionis.
This
war must be immediately terminated before it expands and sucks in the
European NATO States and the United States. Towards that end President
Biden must publicly announce that NATO Expansion is over for good and
that Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova will not be joining NATO as member
States. President Biden must also call for an international peace
conference for the conclusion of a treaty that will establish the
permanent neutrality of Ukraine which will be guaranteed by the United
Nations Security Council under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter. Then
negotiations can take place between the United States and Russia over
the de-nuclearization of Europe including the removal of U.S. tactical
nuclear weapons from NATO States that are there in violation of the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and a restoration of the Intermediate
Nuclear Forces Treaty that was so foolishly and recklessly terminated
by the Trump administration. Then a new round of the Conventional
Forces in Europe Treaty Negotiations should be conducted in order to
substantially lessen the tensions on land, sea and air between Russia
and the U.S./NATO States including over the emplacement of alleged U.S.
ABM sites in Europe that threaten Russia.
Make no mistake about it: The Origins of both the First World War and
the Second World War hover like twin Swords of Damocles over the heads
of all humanity!
Naomi is a new show on The CW and a new episode aired tonight. Episode five, by the way.
She's from another planet and has super powers. A lot for anyone to deal with but especially for a high schooler like Naomi.
So this episode was mainly Naomi and her Scooby gang going to a camp in the woods.
Meanwhile,
Dee formed an alliance with bad guy (or 'bad guy') Zumbado. He wanted
them to work together to find the bounty hunter who was trying to grab
Naomi. In the end, Dee faced him alone.
Meanwhile,
the US military has found the glowing rock where Greg and Jennifer
found baby Naomi so many years ago. This upsets Greg and Jennifer and
has Jennifer wondering if they should grab Naomi and move -- like
they've done before. Point: If they've moved off before for safety, why
did they return?
Anyway. They decide to go to the base and find out what the military knows.
The scene is largely Jennifer distracting a military flunkie while Greg snoops.
Watching the scene, I was thinking, "Oh, like they don't have recording equipment."
They do. They did.
And
Greg's military superior tells them at the end of the episode that they
know nothing of value. And? They walk off (trying not to come off
overjoyed) and he looks at his laptop where he's watching a recording of
them from earlier.
Greg's supposed to be a major in
the military but he can't even anticipate that, finding a rock as they
search for alien life, the military might be recording everyone who
comes to look at it?
Meanwhile, Naomi's been torn between Jacob (who helps and likes her) and her ex-boyfriend Nathan.
This
episode, she chose Nathan at the end. He asked, "So we're doing this?
The real version?" Yep and I think it's a mistake. I don't trust him
and he's got family in the military and I see him selling her out in an
instant if he finds out she's an alien.
DIdn't
cathc it because, like most Americans, I stopped watching SATURDAY
NIGHT LIVE years ago. Who made Donald Trump a hero? That's right NSL.
Who made Rudy G a hero? Again, SNL.
The bubble heads
from the bubble of we-think-we're-left NYC wanted to share but no one
cared to hear their political thoughts. I still hven't gotten over SNL
lettting Seth Meyers blame the banking crisis on African-Americnas --
but he did do that, remember? Back before Black Lives Matter, he got
away with it. And he's still not held accoutnable all this time later.
Now
where did John go? John Mulaney? When the drug addiction got so bad?
Well, rehab, yes. But before that last sting, he went to Seth's show
to be a writer.
Why would a stand up reduce himself to being a staff writer?
Because he realized what Americans will the minute he starts his stand up back up at full speed: He's a fake and a fraud.
Look
at me, I'm John Mulaney, I love my wife, shes so great and she said
just dont call her a bitch and I can say whatever on stage, I just love
her, I just love her . . .
Oh, look, I'm
sticking my dick in acelebrity. Oh, I guess I'm not sweet John
anymore. I guess my entire stand up was built arond a lie.
I'm
just a whorish man who got back on the drugs, betrayed my wfie
(repeatedly on my drug bender with many, many women) but still want you
to see me as something other than scum.
Hey, mayb I can hide behind Ukraine and people won't realize what a piece of s**t I am or how I destroyed my now ex-wife's life!
John
skips the jokes because no one finds liars funny. No one finds drug
addicts funny. No one finds cheaters funny. His image is trash and he
needs the NYC bubble to build him back up because it's not going to
happen on the road. It's over, his persona is over. And by skipping
comedy for the monologue, he's able to pretend for a little while longer
that nothing's change.
SNL did state propaganda. It's only surprising if this is new to you from SNL.
It's not a comedy show, it doesn't know how t do comedy. It's too Woke to be funny -- too Woke to joke..
I gave the NBC series
a try -- or tried to. I was a fan of ABC's V and the woman who played
the evil alien Anna, Morena Baccarin, is on this new show. I figured
she'd be worth catching and hoped the show itself would be worth
watching.
Watching, I saw Noah Bean as well and I loved him as Fletcher on The CW's Nikita.
But the show?
Did it move. I got 24 minutes into it before I said enough and bailed.
It
was not a pleasure to watch. It was an endurance test. It's the worst
written opening episode I've ever seen. Because of Noah and Morena, I
will give it another look when episode two rolls around but that first
episode, or at least the part I made it through of the first episode,
was just awful.
Tonight,
SUPERMAN AND LOIS returned with a new episode. We do get what C.I.
said in Friday's gina & krista round-robin, right? No one watched
the Olympics. And this was with CBS, NBC, ABC and THE CW sitting it
out. Only FOX offered new episodes of scripted shows.
Even with nothing else to watch, people avoided watching the Olympics.
So
Lois found out that her partner in journalism, Chrissy, was meeting
with cult leader Ally Allston (the one whose cult Lois' sister Lucy was a
part of). Before much can happen, Superman shows up but is quickly
attacked by Doomsday. Clark takes him to his half-brother's Fortress of
Solitude (where the hologam of his mother lives).
Meanwhile,
Kyle has stepped out on Lana and the woman comes to him to tell him
that their affair is known (remember, Lana's running for mayor).
So
it's Sara's big day, she's a woman and it's her party. And when Kyle
dances with her, she has to rush from the floor after making it clear
that she heard what was discussed. She knows he had an affair. She
runs outside. Lana joins them and Sara demans that he tell Lana. Lana
quickly realizes that it's the woman from the bar that Kyle said he was
just blowing off steam with. She tells Sara that this is her day and
she needs to focus on that.
Back in the hall, she gives a speech about what an amazing woman Sara has become.
Jordan thinks Jonathan has powers but it's the steroids that his girlfriend is giving him (or I think that).
Chrissy
tells Lois that while she was checking Ally Allston out, Ally drugged
her tea. She saw another world. In that world people feared Ally and
she was destroying the world.
Lois goes to Sara's party. She and Clark kiss before he darts off because Doomsday is awake.
With
his mother's help, Clark speaks to Doomsday (Lara makes it so Clark can
understand Doomsday's language) and finds out that he is on this earth
to destroy Ally, that she destroyed his world and will destroy Clarks.
This weekend marks Joe Biden’s first
year in office since his inauguration on January 20,
2021, as 46th president of the United States. In
that time, it’s quite staggering how rapidly
relations have deteriorated between the U.S. and
Russia on the one hand and China on the other.
Right now, Europe is on the cusp of a war
breaking out between a U.S.-backed regime in Ukraine
and Russia. The volatile situation has the potential
to drag the U.S. and other NATO powers into a proxy
war with Russia, if not a full-blown international
military conflict that could escalate into a nuclear
conflagration.
Washington’s baleful relations with Beijing have
been eclipsed by the recent stand-off with Russia.
But make no mistake, U.S.-China tensions have also
been heightened with the attendant risk of war. Much
of the tension has been increased by the Biden
administration’s provocations towards China over the
breakaway island province of Taiwan. Under Biden,
U.S. arms sales to Taiwan have burgeoned as have the
large-scale maneuvers of American military forces
near Chinese territory – in the name of “freedom of
navigation”.
Let’s rewind to Biden’s inauguration on that
cold, sunny day of January 20 last year. There was
the usual jamboree that often accompanies a new
Democrat president. We saw it when Bill Clinton and
Barack Obama were installed in the White House.
Likewise, with Biden’s tenure, there were
expectations of a more professional president, a
more multilateral president, a more proficient
president on foreign policy, and, dare we say, a
more refined and law-abiding president. As usual,
there was rosy rhetoric about how Biden would
recover America’s international image that had been
tarnished under his boorish predecessor, Donald
Trump.
Biden declared over and over again that “America
was back” as he took office. European leaders
swooned at the prospect of again having an American
ally who respected them. The expectation was that
the “adults were back in control” of U.S. policy
(whatever that’s supposed to mean) and that the
feathers ruffled by Trump would be smoothed.
Strategic Culture Foundation can take pride in
not having bought into any of the wishful thinking
regarding a Biden administration. We predicted in
several articles at an early stage of his presidency
that international relations would take a serious
turn for the worse under Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.
I covered Peacmaker (HBO Max) because Stan
couldn't that week and because my grandkids really like the show. It
wrapped up season one this week and Stan suggested I go ahead and grab
it.
So the gang had to defeat the cow -- which turned
out to be a massive catepiller. The butterflies that came to this
people -- and took over people -- chose this planet because it had air
and water they could consume but it did not have food. So they
transported the cow from their own world. Without it, they may not be
able to live. (I say may not be because of the final scene.)
Note, there will be spoilers.
John
Cena stars as Chris who is the Peacemaker (from The Suicide Squad
film). Danielle Brooks plays Adebayo who is secretaly the mother of
Amanda Waller (government official over Suicide Squad and played by
Viola Davis in the films and cameo in the first episode of this series
and a cameo in the final episode I'm covering right now). Freddie
Stroma plays Adrian who has a secret identity (well, he thinks it's a
secret) as Vigilante. Jennifer Holland plays Harcourt (she's the most
experienced government operative now that Clemson is dead). Rounding
out the team is Steve Agree as John Economics. Chris teases John
constantly about his beard and how John must dye it. That's been a
constant between the two since they met on this show. (I'm bringing
that up for a reason.)
So they descend upon the farm
where the cow's out and it is, of course, surrounded by butterflies
possessing human bodies. John's the only one who can go through it
without raising suspcisions. So he carries a Peacemaker helmet (which
has several bombs in it) in a backpack. At one point, he gets stopped
but he bluffs his way through much to the relief of the others.
He
gets in and he sees the cow and nearly freaks out but gets out. He's
stopped by the same guy again. This time the guy wants to know why the
human whose body John is in dyed his beard.
He hits the
roof when Chris brings that up so the whole gang is tense wondering if
he's about to explode in anger and blow his cover. Instead, he explains
that the human (himself) spent too much time at work and didn't have
anyone in his life so he thought dying the beard would make him look
younger and might let him find someone. But it didn't work.
This is enough for the butterfly asking and John starts to walk off but they find the bomb and go running for him.
Adebayo
is supposed to set off the first bomb but can't because her hands are
sweaty from nerves and the detonator slips through her hands and falls
somewhere on the ground. As she looks for it. the butterflies knock
John to the ground and begin pouncing on him. She finds the detonator
and off goes the first bomb causing the butterflies to run towards the
barn.
John gets up and makes it back to the gang as
Adebayo detonates another bomb and another. I believe that there were
four in total.
But, though it's done damage, the cow is not destroyed.
Chris
is going to go into the barn (what's left of it) and Vigilante
and Harcourt will take on the butterflies in the yard. Adebayo says
she's a trained agent but Harcourt says they need her to stay behind
because if they fail she is all they have left. "What about me?" asks
John.
Harcourt and Vigilante do a good job battling the
butterflies while Chris heads to the barn. But they are outnumbered.
Vigilante is shot in the back but we know he's just down, not dead,
because of his protective bodysuit. Harcourt doesn't have a bodysuit.
She gets shot and manages, as she staggers, to shoot and kill the
butterfly who shot her. But then there's another and she's shot and
she's down and blood is pouring out of her mouth.
In
the barn, Chris encounters the detective that's been pursuing him since
the start of the series. But remember, she's not her anymore. A
butterfly possesses her. She tells him he will be on their side when he
knows the truth.
Adebayo grabs two guns and hits the barnyard,
killing butterflies as she makes her way to Harcourt. Harcourt is
bleeding badly. She tells Adebayo to go into the barn and help Chris.
Otherwise? The mission was for nothing.
Vigilante is alive. He comes to and stands up.
In
the barn, the butterfly explains why they came to the earth and tells
Chris that he has to side with them because what the butterflies did to
their own planet, humans are now doing to the Earth. By sideing with
the butteflies, Chris will be saving the world.
Adebayo
finds the torpedo helmet of Chris' (not the one with the bombs, this
one she didn't know how to work) and puts it on. When she shows up with
it, Chris activates it with his voice and she goes torpedoing into the
bottom of the cow. When she coems back out, covered in slime, the cow
is dead. Chris also tells the butterfly he's sorry but he's got to kill
the detective body she's in.
So Chris comes out and
finds Harcourt out of it. They take her to the ER. Adebayo holds a
press conference where she explains that Chris is not a crook, that they
planted a diary on him to make it look like he was a killer and more,
she explains that he's part of a program that uses convicts and makes
them do things to shave time off their sentences. She explains that
Waller is over it and that she knows this because she is Waller's
daughter. That's when Viola Davis pops up for another cameo, she's
watching it on TV and is furious.
Harcourt comes to
several days later. She knows Chris has been at her side this whole
time and they hold hands. John returns to his regular job and puts up a
frame of hmself with the gang.
We see Chris at his
home. A butterfly is knocking against the glass. It's the one that was
in the detective who was earlier in a glass gar that Chris kept in his
home after the senator was killed. Chris gets some honey and pours it
out on the porch and the buttefly consumes it.
End of season one. HBO has already announced that there will be a season two (it's their biggest hit of the last three years).
BIG SKY returns with new episodes tonight. (Actually, if you are in
the Central or Easter time zone, it's already aired.) I will be
watching tonight.
There was an issue tonight in the
gina & krista round-robin where we were asked about the show and did
we have something against it? Stan thinks (and I believe he's right) that he wrote about the show and noted he enjoys it but just doesn't want to write about it.
I
feel the same way. Season two would be easier to write about but I was
not going to write about season one. I did watch. BUt it was too dark
for me and too scary.
Yes, children are being targeted
by the mob this season. But I did not like the kidnapping of the young
girls and the sex slavery of last season. It was too dark. Yes, I
watched. Cassie and Jenny are great characters. But the main story
line just wasn't something I wanted to write about.
This season, it's drugs and the mafia.
I
can't stand John Carroll Lynch. He made be a wonderful actor but the
two characters he has played on this show are so disgusting and vile.
Jenny
and Cassie are the reason to watch. They're a good team, you believe
that they are friends. They both loved the same guy (Ryan Phillipe) and
when he died in episode one they were forced together but they became
friends and their journey is as important as any twist or turn.
After
them, I would praise Jesse James Keitel who plays Jerrie Kennedy.
Jerrie was one of the young women kidnapped by Ronald in the first
season and we learned she was a transgendered woman. She's a great
character and I'm kind of concerned that she's still visiting her dying
mother. I worry that she's not coming back.
Season two
has some additions worth noting: Logan Marwshall Green as Travis and
Janina Gavankar as Ren. Ren is insane and a mafia queen-pin. She makes
a good villain. Travis? He's a good character and he's attractive and
we want him to be with Jenny .
I also like the kids who got involved this season.
It
was not a bad show before but season one was too dark for me and way
too dark to write about. I'll be watching tonight and may write about
it next time.
1 of my favorite bands, florence + the machine, has a new video released a few hours ago.
so that's 'king.'
now let's talk 'the cleaning lady.' it airs monday nights on 'fox.'
i
have told you repeatedly while writing about the show that olvier stone
needs to take a shower. and he was told that this episode by his boss
at the f.b.i. (after which, he raised 1 arm and sniffed his pit, then
raised the other arm and sniffed the other pit.)
i don't know why you'd hired some 1 as attractive as oliver hudwon and put him in such a cuck role.
he's committed to it and delivering a performance. but it's not a role i want to see him in.
so what else?
thony's husband is hideous.
he
had a hissy fit - even after his sister told him that thony was not
sleeping with arman - because arman was going to pay for luka's surgery
- the surgery luka needs to live.
arman, thony and fiona are all stressing the importance of saving luka but luka's own father is too busy being jealous.
on
top of that, the $20,000 thony did have to pay for the transplant (to
pay the woman donating)? lukea's father stole it and went to gamble
it. (remember, he has a gambling addiction.)
he looks like a creep and like aa asshole, unwilling to save his own child.
The latest episode of AMERICAN DAD aired Monday night on TBS. How
bad was "Epic Power Dump"? So bad that a Klaus subplot was better than
the Roger story and the mains tory when it came to providing laughs.
In
fact, setting aside the shows' Chrismas episodes (only the one with
Lisa Kudrow worked -- of their Christmas episodes), this was the worst
episode of the show ever.
Stan took the family on a
snow vacation. It had the ability to be somehting and there were some
good drama notes but nothing funny. Roger was part of that storyline
but also on a party mission in a solo storyline. There was nothing in
the solo to make it worth watching. He really needs to play off Hayley
or Frqncine or someone else.
Meanwhile, Klaus spoke to a
woman over the phone and fell in love with her. Yes, like on FAMILY
GUY when Brian fell in love with the woman on the phone in India. Only
it was less inspired and Klaus was teamed up with Snot.
He didn't have a new one, so I'm just going to note that one from last week again.
Now for THE GOLDBERGS.
First
up, Janice e-mailed asking what I thought of Erica's hairdo this
season? Hadn't though much of it. I guess I don't care for it but it
may be 80s perfection (that's the deacde THE GOLDBERGS is set in). I
don't know. I just liked her hair before the bangs.
I don't hate her hair but if I were chossing between the hair do before and the current one, I'd go with the one before.
So
this was a bit of pre-wedding partying. Except for Beverly who was at
war with Geoff's father over who would sit where, who would be in the
video, who would have their photo in the paper, etc.
Adam
was saddled with a minor story involving the video and a bad 70s folk
rock song. They had him with a new character for his story. It wasn't
interesting, it wasn't funny. I'm referring to the storyline; however,
it also describes Adam.
Erica and Geoff were taken by
Barry and Joanne at a beach house and Barry invites his and Geoff's
other friends as well as the three women he dated before Joanne.
That
included Lacie (for longterm viewers). It was funny as Barry was
convicned that it was all too much for the three women -- seeing him
happy with Joanne. He couldn't accept that they had long ago moved on.
:D
Jim, Dona, Jess, Ty, "Ava" started out this site as five students enrolled in journalism in NY. Now? We're still students. We're in CA. Journalism? The majority scoffs at the notion.
From the start, at the very start, C.I. of The Common Ills has helped with the writing here. C.I.'s part of our core six/gang. (C.I. and Ava write the TV commentaries by themselves.) So that's the six of us. We also credit Dallas as our link locator, soundboard and much more. We try to remember to thank him each week (don't always remember to note it here) but we'll note him in this. So this is a site by the gang/core six: Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I. (of The Common Ills).
