It's a world too often ruled by fear. And not even rational fears.
Take MORNING JOE for instance. Last Monday, MSNBC prevented the program from broadcasting, removed it from the schedule. Punitive measures for something the on airs said? No, preventative measures -- apparently worried that something like this might take place:
JOE SCARBOROUGH: So a lot to cover this morning from the weekend. For example, there was a shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: Right. It was a rally for Donald Trump that was cut short when --
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Stop.
MIKA BRZEZINSKI: What? I was just going to say who the shooter was.
JOE SCARBOROUGH: No, no, no. We don't do that. We're not naming him. We don't celebrate failures in this country.
Joe and Mika have been on the air for how long? But MSNBC doesn't think they can be trusted with a live show after a Trump rally goes wrong?
THE WASHINGTON TIMES, substituting their fevered imagination for journalism as usual, proclaimed this was proof of the show's leftist radicalism. The paper of Sam Francis (that's Saint Sam to Donald Trump) accusing MORNING JOE of something other than centrism is in keeping with the other lunatic claims from the Moonie owned tabloid.
The hosts were mad and they had every right to be. MSNBC decided to drag the country into the land of Philip K. Dick -- specifically, into Dick's short story MINORITY REPORT where the police unit precrime arrests people before they commit crimes, not after.
This being censorship, we thought for sure that CJR -- COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW -- would have weighed in during the week decrying this action; however, as usual CJR had everything on their mind . . . but journalism.
Or maybe, like so many others, they were just ruled by fear as well.
Fear, after all, explains how Harry Connick Jr. ended up like that onscreen in NETFLIX's new film FIND ME FALLING.
'You talking about his wooden acting?'
There's always been that. James Burrows spent a lot of time with him on WILL & GRACE early on trying to teach him to act. Harry, a singer, thought acting just meant saying lines. Harry at least followed James suggested line readings and was able to vary his voice. But he never was able to carry off body movement. Think about WILL & GRACE and how the main cast and the regular guest stars don't just say lines, they move, their bodies sing. Blocking was difficult for Harry and around the time of "Last Ex To Brooklyn," when Harry kept flubbing the simplest of blocking, they changed it to him just entering and exiting. And he was told to storm off. If you watch the episode now -- and should, it's a classic -- you'll notice he just lumbers around lazily on stage. Jodie Foster had been frustrated by his inability to live in his body when she directed him in LITTLE MAN TATE back in 1991.
So if we're not talking about his wooden acting as he plays a rock star, what are we talking about?
Earlier this year, did you see that awful ROAD HOUSE with Jake Gyllenhaal? It was supposed to be Jake Gyllenhaal anyway. Didn't look like him. Scene after scene with his shirt open or off and some baby smoothed middle aged man playing the lead. Where was Jake? Where was hairy chested Jake?
You could ask the same about the ridiculous looking Harry Jr. Hair has not been Harry's friend for some time. He used to have a hairy chest and you can check out the photos Bruce Weber shot of him to verify that. By the end of the 90s, Harry's chest hair had started to gray and he wanted to look younger so he's removed it ever since. He looks ridiculous with the bald chest -- especially when you combine that look with the fake hair on his head.
Fear of looking old, left Harry looking ridiculous.
It's a look many sported last week as they attempted to shut down truth and democracy in Wisconsin.
As large as the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee is, it couldn't fit every lunatic, racist, misogynist and homophobe. That might be one reason hate merchant Lawrence Taylor didn't show despite endorsing Donald Trump last May. Then again, the availability of the former football player was limited due to the fact that he was arrested and charged with failure to update his address in the sex registry following his 2011 rape of a 16-year-old girl. Also not in attendance? Trump supporting Nevada judge Michele Fiore who, as Trina noted, got charged last week with stealing $70,000 from a fund for the orphans and widows of police officers. MAGE values on full display.
With a seating limit of approximately 18,000, the number who could attend the hate rally was severely limited -- especially when you factored in that US House Rep Marjorie Taylor Green's cottage cheese upper arms counted as one person each.
The convention hosted the coming out debut of drag queen Miss Scarlet Natchez -- US House Rep Matt Gaetz sporting the worst plastic surgery on display since DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES left the airwaves. Alex Bollinger (LGBTQ NATION) notes that the only out gay man to speak at the convention was Ric Grenell who lied, "Donald Trump doesn’t care if you’re gay or straight, Black, brown or white, or what gender you are." Ric is apparently missing both the letter "k" and a spine. Not to mention a brain. Daniel Villarreal (LGBTQ NATION) reports of Donald's pick for vice president JD Vance:
Vance has expressed opposition to codifying same-sex marriage rights. He said he would vote against the Respect for Marriage Act, which aimed to protect same-sex and interracial marriages.
Vance once co-authored a letter to the U.S. Census Bureau objecting to the addition of gender identity questions in the American Community Survey. He referred to gender identity as a “harmful ideology” and “unscientific and untrue”.
He also introduced the “Protect Children’s Innocence Act,” which would ban gender-affirming care for individuals under 18 and make providing such care a federal felony. He proposed the “Passport Sanity Act,” which would prohibit the use of “X” gender markers on passports and limit gender options to only male or female.
Vance has criticized the use of LGBTQ+-inclusive language, questioning terms like “two-spirit” used by some Native American communities.
When not attacking the LGBTQAI+ community, the speakers attacked women (and constantly used the phrase "working men" -- apparently women either don't work or aren't supposed to), attacked immigrants, attacked reproductive rights, attacked equal opportunities for all regardless of race, attacked --
You know what? Not since the 1992 GOP convention -- which included but was not limited to Patrick Buchanan's infamous speech -- has a political party put so much hate onstage.
Underlining it all was the hurt feelings and fear of a group of bitter people scared of not just the future but also the present.
While many on the right live in a fear-based world, last week offered up reminders that there were some on the left who couldn't deal with reality either.
US President Joe Biden announced today that he would not seek re-election and was stepping aside from the race:
My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and to focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term. My very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee of our party this year. Democrats -- it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this.
Democrats. That would include us. It does not include a lot of liars online who are already attacking presumed nominee Kamala Harris. Brie-Brie has already she would vote for Jill Stein. Ajamu Baracka and Margaret Kimberly are not Dems and were planning to vote for Jill as well because, well, whores gotta whore, right? Jill stands zero chance of getting elected so why not use your symbolic vote to reward an African-American who stands for something like Cornel West? Because Margaret and the rest are still working on the plantation for Miss Jill while hurling the c-word (rhymes with "boone") at other Black people who won't fall in line and attack Kamala.
Expect more of that from the fake-ass whores who, should Kamala not become the nominee, will pivot to immediately attacking whomever the nominee is because they hate and loathe the Democratic Party. A detail they like to hide when they're trying to influence an election.
Those weren't the only ones being ruled by fear and/or hate. Roland S. Martin and Joy Reid were among the people who refused to read the writing on the wall. 2024 is an election that will require the Democratic Party to turn out as many votes as possible. Joe was a drag on the ticket. He was such a drag that not only were swing-stages in play -- and talk of even New York being in play -- but the lack of enthusiasm for Joe and the concerns over his fitness for the job were effecting the chances of Democrats running for other offices.
Instead of taking a brave step into the future, these fearful fraidy cats -- and include OCCUPY DEMOCRATS on that list -- insisted that Joe must be the nominee.
Presented with the shot at a do-over, these idiots couldn't see beyond their own fear.
But as bad as they were, there was AOC.
We often wonder why she smears so much makeup on her face. Watching her idiotic video last week, taped from a low angle, we realized why: She looks like James DeBarge. Take away the makeup and she's a dead ringer for the rhythm and blues and pop singer who shot to fame in the eighties.
Fraud Squad leader AOC made a video of herself lying last week. She apparently wanted to expose herself. She lied that Joe could not step down. Today, he did just that. She lied that it couldn't happen because of various deadlines. Again, it could happen and it did happen.
She put whatever was left of her tattered and disappointing image on the line as she insisted it couldn't happen, as she declared "But I do think people are talking about this without having two eyes wide open" and as she launched into crazy talk about it being a "conspiracy" and she had to figured it out. Not content to let AOC burn in the flames of crazy all by herself, OCCUPY DEMOCRATS ("AOC Exposes Hidden Motivation Of Dems Who Want To Replace Biden") and MEIDAS TOUCH MEDIA ("AOC drops MUST-SEE TRUTH BOMB every DEMOCRAT needs to see") rushed to join her.
Fortunately, not everyone was whoring or riddled with fear. Strong work was done by THE MAJORITY REPORT, THE HUMANIST REPORT and SECULAR TALK. In addition, we often trash talk THE VANGUARD so let's take a second to note that they were among the few on YOUTUBE seeing through AOC's garbage in "AOC Gaslights the Left and Does PROPAGANDA For Joe Biden in Paranoid Livestream."
Yes, Gavin and Zac got it right when others who should have known better went along with lies.
You can't let fear rule your life. Let it be a lesson for all.