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."
Her presence at the convention predictably elicited some racist responses, and I expected a robust defense from her husband, who instead was tepid at best:
“Obviously, she’s not a white person, and we’ve been accused, attacked
by some white supremacists over that … but I just, I love Usha.” It
harked back to the simpering, kiss-the-ring spinelessness of Texas Sen.
Ted Cruz after Donald Trump called his wife ugly.
I
can’t help but wonder about Usha Vance’s reaction each time her
husband’s campaign churns out a fresh wave of racism. How did she react
after Trump’s grotesque comment about Kamala Harris only recently deciding she was Black?
Did she think of her own three biracial children? Did it give her pause
at all about who she was standing with and what she was standing by? I
alternate between thinking of her as a victim and as an accomplice.
Sen.
JD Vance of Ohio joined Trump at a memorial event this month, and one
of the former president’s invited guests was the loathsome 9/11
conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer, who recently stated that
if Harris wins, “The White House will smell like curry.” This was so
blatant that even Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene called it “extremely racist.” How did the senator respond when asked about it on
the Sunday morning talk circuit? He hedged and meandered with a “I make
a mean chicken curry” until when pressed, he finally said, “I don’t
like those comments.”
As an Indian American woman, I can only imagine that Usha Vance doesn’t like those comments either.
Mike and the gang pulled that together and we thank them for it.
And we are late this week. Mike and Elaine went to Texas to campaign for Colin Allred (running for the US Senate and Texas needs him), while Dona and me (Jim) went to Ohio with Jess to campaign for Kamala Harris, Ty and Kat and Wally went to Washington state, Betty and Ava and C.I. went to Georgia to campaign and it was a very busy weekend so we had nothing on Sunday. Maybe it'll be different this weekend.
If not, that's fine. Our focus is on saving democracy and the only way that's happening is electing Kamala Harris.
Fall TV is like a Jill Stein campaign, it always promises so much but in the end delivers so little.
This fall broadcast networks will start rolling out their new episodes from now through third week of October. Once upon a time, this all happened in September. And they wonder where the audience goes?
Since 2010, broadcast networks have bled viewers and done nothing except flap their gums. For example, what broadcast TV scripted show did you watch new episodes of over the summer? Remember the announcements that streaming meant the networks would now be offering year-round programming to address the loss of viewers? And what summer programming, scripted, did you watch on the network TV this year?
None.
Because they offered none.
You may remember when they briefly rallied and offered new shows during the summer like Halle Berry's EXTANT. They were going to combat losses to streaming, they insisted, by programming year round. That now translates as "We'll take a low rated game show we do in the daytime, toss some celebrities on it and air it in prime time." And as late as 2011, they still programmed occasionally for Saturday night. 2011 being an important year -- that's the last year before NETFLIX offered its first streaming show (LILYHAMMER). They've long since given up on new scripted programming and, worse, they've dropped Friday as well -- unless you're CBS or one hour of programming on NBC (LOPEZ V LOPEZ and Reba McEntire and Melissa Peterman's HAPPY PLACE).
There are also less broadcast choices then there were in 2011. For example, THE CW is not a network. You're not a network when this fall you will only offer one scripted show: SUPERMAN & LOIS. That's it. Everything else in prime time? Repeats of ABC's THE CONNERS, repeats from Canadian and British television, repeats of their own PENN & TELLER FOOL US, repeats of shows you can stream on YOUTUBE . . . On Fridays, they're offering WHOSE LINE IS IT ANYWAY? That's the show that they never wanted and every few years threaten to cancel but delivers ratings and is cheap to make since it's an improv show.
Let's make sure everyone grasps that: The network that was the home to SUPERNATURAL, THE ORIGINALS, THE VAMPIRE DIARIES, ARROW, SUPERGIRL, THE FLASH, BATWOMAN, GOSSIP GIRL, ONE TREE HILL, NIKITA, BEAUTY & THE BEAST, HART OF DIXIE, JANE THE VIRGIN, THE 100, LEGENDS OF TOMORROW and many more is this fall offering one scripted program with new episodes: SUPERMAN & LOIS.
Last June, NBC announced that LATE NIGHT WITH SETH MEYERS was losing its house band in a cost cutting measure and then this month, another cost-cutting measure, NBC was reducing THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JIMMY FALLON to just four nights a week.
They claim that they are losing viewers to streaming and the reality is that they are pushing viewers away. They claim that people only want to watch a la carte -- streaming a show when you want to which they insist is costing them viewers. That really doesn't explain the TIVO and other Cloud programs that let you record a TV program and watch it when you want (and, if you do so within seven days after it aired, you're added to the show's ratings). Nor does it explain the growth in live TV streamers who make PLUTO and FREEVEE TV and others outlets streaming TV programs such a big hit.
And you can't talk things that don't make sense without talking Stein.
The perennial presidential candidate is at it again.
What is a War Criminal? Stein says Benjamin Netanyahu is which Medhi agreed with. But did Stein believe that Bashar al-Assad of Syria is a War Criminal? Does she think Russia's Vladimir Putin is a War Criminal?
Jill Stein hemmed and hawwed while Mehdi asked her to answer the yes-or-no question. And she flubbed it over and over. At one point she tried to turn it on him and he pointed out that he could answer and did answer but that he wasn't the one running for president.
She offered that she had said Putin was a War Criminal "in so many words."
In so many words?
What does that mean?
It means she couldn't let go of her hypocrisy.
Instead, she tried another tactic and began insisting that if she became President of the United States in this election, she would have difficulty conducting talks with Putin if she'd called him a War Criminal. Mehdi immediately asked her how she planned then to have talks with Netanyahu if she were president since she repeatedly calls him a War Criminal. Then she tried to say that there was no arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for Putin. But, as Mehdi pointed out, yes, the ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Putin.
And it didn't just happen. The ICC issued that arrest warrant in March of 2023.
She's running to be the President of the United States -- for the third time! -- and she doesn't know this? It's not like Mehdi brought up the issue of arrest warrants. She's the one who brought that topic up in an attempt to defend herself and she didn't even know what she was talking about.
Mehdi's interview and Angela's the week before really just underscored what a lazy and incompetent media we have in the US. Third time. This is Jill Stein's third time running for president and it's the first time she's ever been challenged in an interview. For her two previous campaigns, the media has treated her like a child with a terminal disease in a Make A Wish program whose dream was to run for president. She has gotten one pass after another.
Her cult couldn't handle her being challenged. They trashed Angela and Mehdi for not just sitting across from Stein and fawning over her.
The howls and hisses coming from her cult was something to witness. Or seemed that way until things got even worse. As she slowly grasped just how idiotic she had come out, she took to TWITTER with a Tweet insisting she hadn't been allowed to respond in a "nuanced and serious" manner but now, on TWITTER where nuance and seriousness are all the rage, she wanted to say that, yes, Putin was a War Criminal and here's a list of others.
And then the breast beating, garment rending and howling truly began.
The crazies really came out as Kyle noted in a SECULAR TALK segment.
He missed noting some important crazies. Maybe he was trying to be kind? Maybe the amount of crazies was just so high that many had to be excluded.
You can't exclude one person.
It is unfortunate that elements in the Stein campaign have confused Jill's consistent anti-imperialism by attempting to play to the middle with the condemnation of the empire's favorite enemies. International criminality is coming from one source - the "collective West."
And that Tweet was coming from one source -- the 'collective Idiot.'
Ajamu Baraka Tweeted that. He took time out of his never-ending research on what 'really' brought down The Twin Towers to Tweet:
It is unfortunate that elements in the Stein campaign have confused
Jill's consistent anti-imperialism by attempting to play to the middle
with the condemnation of the empire's favorite enemies. International
criminality is coming from one source - the "collective West."
Ajamu Baraka, for any who don't know, was Jill's running mate the last time she ran for president.
Apparently what we and so many others saw as a Tweet put out by Jill Stein was actually a 'controlled demolition' carried out by others meant to bring down the campaign of Jill Stein.
We don't need a government created commission to look into the matter of whether or not Ajamu is certifiable. No, we think the evidence on that is scattered all around and not across some open field but right there on his TWITTER feed for all to see. And to see his fellow Truthers like PACIFICA's Ann Garrion wanting to know "who wrote statement?"
Apparently, neither Ann nor Ajamu feel that Jill could have written the statement -- either because they think she's too stupid to write or because they believe she's such a push over that you can get her to put her name to anything.
It's bad when people see you that way -- but it's really, really bad when one of the people seeing you like that is your former running mate.
Like we said at the top, a Jill Stein campaign always starts promising so much and always ends delivering very little. While you grasp that, also grasp that for two previous runs our so-called media refused to challenge her and offered fluff that they pretended was journalism.
Try
the Log Cabin Republicans who are working so hard to be in MAGA's good
graces. One candidate after another attacks them as filth -- Mark
Robinson is only one example -- and they just whimper and take it. You
may remember that they tried to portray a visiting 'dignitary' as proof
of their acceptance within MAGA. Squint-eyed Melania Trump showed up
in April to speak to them and it was though they were touched by her
porcelana smeared hand.
But it turns out that the arrangement was a bit like her marriage, they fork over the cash and she will show up.
Daniel Hampton (RAW STORY) reveals the amount of money the Log Cabin Republicans had to pay to get her to show: $237,000.
Good thing it was an election year and Trump needs their votes; otherwise, Melanie might have really soaked them.
As
we did in 2021 and 2023, we're attempting to again increase book coverage in the
community. This go round, we're talking to Marcia about her review "California Dreamin': The True Story of the Mamas and the Papas." That's Mama Michelle Phillips' memoir about her time in the classic and legendary rock group. You liked the book.
Marcia:
Correct. I loved it. So there was a band in the sixties called
the Mamas and the Papas and they were huge. It was Michelle Phillips,
Cass Elliot, Denny Doherty and John Phillips. Michelle and John were
married. In the 80s, they both published books. PAPA JOHN is
insufferable and boring. That's his book -- you can ask my wife about
it. Michelle's book was a joy to read full of funny moments and serious
moments. She also had recall of specific events whereas -- maybe it
was all the drugs he did and then ended up selling in the 70s and early
80s -- John honestly didn't seem to remember much of anything. At all.
What were the best parts for you?
Marcia:
Cass. Cass really comes alive in Michelle's book. I greatly enjoyed
Owen Vanessa Elliot's MY MAMA, CASS: A MEMOIR. It was a very moving
book. [See Kat's "MY MAMA, CASS" for a review of Owen's book.] But Cass died when Owen was so young. There are a lot of great
stories in Michelle's book that reminds you how great Cass was -- as a
singer, as a strong woman, as an artist and a mom to young Owen.
Michelle got to know Cass as a friend and a peer. Michelle does a great
job with portraits. My wife said, of the two books, that she didn't get
the impression from John's book that he ever spent much time thinking
about anyone but himself.
A part that made you laugh?
Marcia:
They would turn the plane upside down. They traveled to concerts in a
plane. Private. The pilot would flip it upside down and they'd float
and be weightless. I loved on the island where the four begin to sing
together. I just loved so much of it. My wife said Michelle's book was
more cinematic and really should have been turned into a film. And
let's talk what I did not know. The book notes that "Monday Monday" was
a number one hit and the band's only number one hit. But that's not
really true?
No, it's not.
Marcia:
You, C.I., told me that they had another number one hit and, in fact,
you could argue that number one was more important. "California
Dreamin'," written by John and Michelle Phillips, only made it to number
four on the weekly top 40 -- anyone remember Kasey Kasum? "The weekly
top 40." But it's a bigger hit than "Monday Monday." And I should have
gotten that because "Monday Monday" is a gold record -- which is good
-- but "California Dreamin'" is a triple platinum seller. How did that
happen? Because it was the bigger hit. Though "California Dreamin'"
never made it above number four during the weeks of 1966, it ended up
being, at the end of the year, the number one song on the Billboard charts. Number one for the year. Biggest hit of the year. So, yeah, I
agree with you, "California Dreamin'" needs to be called a number one
hit.
What's your favorite Mamas and Papas song?
Marcia:
I love them all but I especially love "Dedicated To The One I Love." I
bought my first album of the Mamas and the Papas because of that song.
Michelle Phillips had just come on KNOTS LANDING as Ann -- Paige's
mother and Mac's old girlfriend -- and they'd play that song for her
scenes. I loved that song and my parents told me -- this was
pre-internet days, you had to have someone tell you, that it was a Mamas
and Papas hit song. So went out and got the cassette called something
like 16 OF THEIR GREATEST HITS. So "Dedicated" is one of my favorites.
I love everything on that album. After "Dedicated," my favorite song
would be "Safe In My Garden." Third would be "Got A Feelin'." I love
everything on THE PAPAS AND THE MAMAS and I love "Dancing Bear" and
"Snow Queen of Texas" and "I Wanna Be A Star" and "Creeque Alley" and
all of it. I just love them. They were such a great group. And I
recommend Michelle's book CALIFORNIA DREAMIN'.
It turns out that the relationship between journalist Olivia Nuzzi and former presidential candidate, whale decapitator, and her one-time subject and source, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., wasn't exactly kept as quiet as the pair — or at least Nuzzi — likely hoped.
Since news of the affair and Nuzzi's suspension from
New York Magazine came out on Thursday night, it's spawned dozens of
reports and countless tweets. But apparently, it had already been a
topic of conversation among certain circles.
Following the initial news, The Daily Beast reported
that the relationship between the star reporter, 31, and the Kennedy
scion, 70, had been somewhat of an open secret. On Sunday night,
Semafor's Ben Smith wrote that the outlet had also gotten a tip about
the scandal, one which the outlet chose to ignore, given it came from an
anonymous sender who did not provide any other detail.
Kennedy's
bragging to friends about having a romantic affair with and receiving
NSFW — but "demure" — photos from the journalist nearly 40 years his
younger is what tipped off her boss, New York Magazine's editor in chief
David Haskell, to the relationship, the Daily Beast reported. Nuzzi
initially denied the affair, the Daily Beast added, though that clearly
didn't hold up with whatever evidence Haskell had.
26) "shannen doherty" -- Rebecca notes the passing of the TV actress.
27) "Bob Newhart" -- Marcia notes the passing of the TV sitcom star.
28) "Richard Simmons" -- Ruth notes the passing of the fitness guru.
29) "Obituaries -- thoughts on Sheila Jackson Lee and others"
-- Elaine notes the passing of Sheila Jackson Lee -- exposed as a crook
in Greg Palast's THE BEST DEMOCRACY MONEY CAN BUY -- and why we cover
the deaths we cover.
30) ''Gena Rowlands" -- Stan notes the passing of a legendary actress.
And I'd be writing about that but it's my turn at doing the book review.
I
picked my book because of my wife. I like and read a lot of fiction.
She likes books about music -- music criticism, books about certain
musical eras, biographies of musical artists, etc.
In
the years we've been together, I've never known her to not finish a
book. Then came Papa John. This was a book by John Phillips and Jim
Jerome. And Jim Jerome. I add that because my wife kept going to
Wikipedia to figure out when the hell the book was going to get
interesting and she discovered that Crapapedia (as Ava and C.I. dubbed
it long, long ago) credited the book solely to John Phillips.
He wrote it like the drug addict he was -- according to my wife -- meandering and dull.
She
couldn't believe that someone who had been part of the musical scene in
the sixties would write such a dull book and spend over 100 pages on
his very dull life before The Mamas and the Papas.
At
one point,, she finally gave up. And then she read Michelle Phillips'
California Dreamin': The True Story of the Mamas and the Papas which she
loved and begged me to read as well.
The things we do for love . . . the things we do for love.
But seriously, Michelle's book was a joy to read.
She
does write about life before the Mamas and the Papas but her life --
unlike John's -- actually was interesting. Moving to Mexico as a child,
being part of the San Francisco scene during the age of Lenny Bruce.
These stories are so much more interesting that John and whatever crush
he pretends not to have at the military academy.
And
then she meets John and together with future screenwriter Marshall
Brickman they become a musical group and then Denny Doherty comes into
orbit and, the first time she ever took LSD, Cass Elliot.
John,
Michelle, Denny and Cass -- the Mamas and the Papas. They become a
folk rock group -- they are pioneering folk rock artists. They are a
huge success -- 16 of their 17 singles make Billboard's top 100 on the
pop chart -- the one that didn't? "Go Where You Wanna Go" -- their
first single which was only out briefly because "California Dreanin'"
was quickly released and "Go Where You Wanna Go" was pulled. Of the 16
songs that did chart, ten went top forty, six of the ten went top ten.
They
had 'one' number one. "Monday, Monday" -- that's what Crapapedia tells
you. I was talking about the book with C.I. and she explained the
group has two number ones. I'm going to save that for when I discuss
the book with Ava and C.I.
Don't e-mail before then to say that's wrong. It's not.
And don't say "Monday Monday" is their biggest hit because it's not -- although it is recognized as a number one hit.
Michelle
writes about John waking her up in the middle of the night when writing
songs -- like when he 'wrote' "Autumn Leaves." That's a Nat King Cole
song. He was impressed with what he'd written and it was left to
Michelle to explain to him that the song already existed. One night, he
was writing what became "California Dreamin'" and he was stuck. So he
woke her up and they wrote it together. Not a big surprise, it was her
story. He was from the east. She was the California kid.
They
are the hippies. They are rock. And they're one of the biggest groups
in music. Michelle's married to John. Cass has had a crush on Denny
for years -- predates them being in the band together. Michelle and
Denny end up having an affair while the four of them live together in
the same house. John forgives Denny but never really Michelle.
At
one point, while John's sleeping with Mia Farrow and a singer in a
Motown group (I don't advance hateful dogs who lie and try to tear apart
others -- this piece of trash spread lies about Diana Ross for years
and was the main source for and egged on of Call Her Miss Ross -- a book
the author taken in by the liar now disowns) among many others when
Michelle has an affair with Gene Clark of The Byrds. John and Denny are
living in a bachelor pad during this time period. But Michelle gets
fired for it.
Cass is pissed at Michelle still
for having slept with Denny and tells her she wouldn't piss on her if
she was on fire. Michelle confronts them and tells them she'll bury
them all.
And, indeed, she will end up the last living Mama and Papa.
But
John's convinced that he's the group and that they can survive without
Michelle. They don't. They bring in the witch who left Jan of Jan
& Dean after the accident that nearly killed him. Audiences boo her
and John's forced to invite Michelle back.
The hits keep coming.
That's
one of their biggest hits. In fact, it's a bigger hit than "Monday
Monday." It went to number two one week, yes. "Monday, Monday" went to
number one for a week. But "Dedicated To The One I Love" was the
bigger hit. Again, we'll discuss it at Third in the book discussion.
"Creeque Alley" -- another song written by Michelle & John -- was another top ten hit.
Michelle
co-wrote six songs the band recorded and she wrote a seventh song by
herself that the band recorded. She notes that she couldn't understand
why Cass -- who had the talent to -- never wrote a song with John. It
was due to the tensions. Read John's book and that's clear as is his
jealousy of Cass.
Cass ends up pregnant and
Michelle ends up pregnant and that's part of the rebirth of their
friendship. Also the fact that Cass is encouraging Michelle not to ever
be John's doormat. Michelle notes how Cass was liberated at a time
when few were.
Michelle writes a lively and
joyful book. She doesn't call out her brief replacement (I will) and
she finds so many wonderful and fun memories to share. It's a great
book and one I strongly recommend if you're interested in the time
period or interested in music in general or a fan of the group.
You'll
learn about the first rock music festival -- Monterey Pop -- which Lou
Adler and Michelle and John put together. You'll learn about the fun
they had on the road and in their own plane.
Friday, September 20, 2024. Oprah hosts a powerful townhall for Kamala
Harris, Donald Trump's best buds Mark Robinson and Robert Kennedy Junior
are both caught in scandals of their own making.
Yesterday
in Michigan, Democratic Party presidential nominee Kamala Harris sat
down with Oprah Winfrey and hundreds of others. Betty's dubbed it "Oprah's townhall for Kamala" and it was strong and powerful.
There
was joy and hope throughout the conversation. Meryl Streep,
participating via ZOOM, brought up a key issue: We do our work, we vote,
we get out the vote and then what? What happens when Donald Trump
refuses to abide by the vote? What happens on January 6th? 7th? 8th?
Kamala
explained that not only were there legal preparations in place, there
were also Americans. A natural revulsion had set in to January 6th and
the country wouldn't stand for a repeat of 2020.
And
the revulsion is felt not just by Democrats. Independents and
Republicans feel it as well -- as do non-political people. That's why
Republicans are endorsing her for president.
It's
not about signing off on every one of her policy proposals or even on
one policy proposal in some cases. It's about saving our country and
protecting our democracy. And it's about coming together as a people
and working together for a greater good. "Unite For America" was the
name of the event for that reason.
A
powerful moment was when they addressed Donald Trump's appointment of
three liars to the Supreme Court and the overturning of ROE V WADE. "I
want you to know," Shanette Williams declared speaking about her
daughter Amber Nicole Thurman, "that Amber was not a statistic." Ebony Davis and Fredreka Schouten (CNN) report:
A discussion of reproductive rights included Hadley Duvall,
an abortion rights advocate who was raped and impregnated by her
stepfather when she was 12 – as well as members of the family of Amber
Nicole Thurman, a Georgia mother who ProPublica reported
died in 2022 from a treatable infection due to delays to her medical
care stemming from the state’s restrictive abortion law.
Shanette, Thurman’s mother, spoke publicly about the case
for the first time during Thursday’s livestream, saying, “Initially, I
did not want the public to know my pain.”
“I wanted to go through in silence, but I realized that it
was selfish. I want you to know, Amber was not a statistic, she was
loved by a family, a strong family,” she added.
Harris, who is set to travel to Georgia on Friday to deliver
remarks on women’s reproductive rights, apologized to Thurman’s family.
“I’m just so sorry,” the vice president said. “And the
courage that you all have shown is extraordinary, because also you just
learned about how it is that she died. … And Amber’s mom shared with me
that the word over and over again in her mind, is preventable.
Preventable. That word keeps coming to her.”
Also in attendance were the mother and sisters of
Amber Nicole Thurman, a woman who died after failing to receive prompt
medical care in 2022 when she experienced complications from taking
abortion pills, just weeks after Georgia’s abortion ban went into
effect. A recent report deemed her the first “preventable” death to be confirmed as a result of Georgia’s ban.
Her
family blamed Donald Trump and his supreme court picks for her death.
“They just let her die because of some stupid abortion ban. They treated
her like she was just another number,” Thurman’s older sister said of
the medical professionals she had turned to for help.
“You’re
looking at a mother who is broken,” Thurman’s mother said, through
tears. “It’s the worst pain that a parent could ever feel. I want you
all to know that Amber was not a statistic. She was loved by a strong
family and we would have done whatever to get our baby the help that she
needed. Women around the world need to know that this was preventable.”
Another
powerful moment took place when the issue of school shootings took
place. Kamala spoke about how she'd been addressing college students
and tech school students this year and would ask, at the start, for a
show of hands to determine how many had participated in an active
shooting drill? She noted that this wasn't normal and shouldn't be
treated as though it was. She spoke of growing up with fire drills and,
because she grew up in California, earthquake drills. But shooting
drills?
Harris and the livestream audience also heard from 15-year-old Natalie Griffith, a student from Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, who was shot twice during a campus attack earlier this month.
Natalie, who had a cast on her left arm, was joined by her
parents, Marilda and Doug, who demanded more action. “We have a job,
that job is to protect our children,” an impassioned Marilda Griffith
said. “We have to stop it.”
Harris, who discussed owning a gun during her recent debate
with Trump, reiterated Thursday that she believes it is a “false choice”
to suggest someone is either in favor of the Second Amendment or wants
to take everyone’s guns away.
Aaron Navarro (CBS NEWS) types:
The parents of Natalie Griffith, a 15-year-old injured in the deadly Apalachee High School shooting earlier
this month in Winder, Georgia, spoke. Griffith's mother, Marilda, made
an emotional plea for a "change to be made" to address gun violence. Her
father, Doug — who noted that he was not a registered Democrat — called
for metal detectors to be placed inside schools.
Harris did not explicitly say if she agreed with the call for metal
detectors, but said "we just need to apply common sense." She repeated her calls for an assault weapons ban and universal background checks. When Winfrey made note of Harris being a gun owner,
as she revealed in prior campaigns and repeated in her debate with
Trump, Harris said that "if somebody breaks into my house, they're
getting shot."
Doug? Doug's response -- messed
up by Aaron Navarro -- was that this was a common sense issue. Kamala,
when she spoke of that, noted her agreement with Doug that this was
basic and common sense. I don't know whether she thinks metal detectors
are part of that approach or not but it does Doug a disservice for CBS
to report it that way. And Doug's argument there was that metal
detectors weren't always in courthouses but we have them there now, they
weren't always in airports but we have them now.
Marilda
Griffith spoke about getting a call at work asking if she'd heard about
the shooting at her daughter's school. She hadn't. She spoke of how
her heart dropped, how she had to rush out of work, how she was praying
the whole time and then she can't get near the school and has to walk a
few miles to get there because it's blocked off. And the whole time
she's living in fear that her daughter's dead.
Natalie, still wearing bandages, was accompanied
on either side by her parents, Doug and Marilda. She was visibly
fighting back emotions as she described being injured in the school
shooting.
"Oprah, before that thing, that
video, I was very happy, I still am very happy to be here and to tell my
story to tell what happened because it was a terrible thing," she said.
"And it should have not... um..." The teen trailed off in emotion and
reflection.
Natalie was in an algebra class when the shooting started. She was shot twice.
She pointed to the spots on her arm and wrist where she was shot. She was also grazed across the chest.
"I've
had intruder drills and fire drills and stuff," the teen said, but
added that they had not yet had one at Apalachee that year. She said she
wasn't even sure where to go when it happened.
Marilda
noted that her daughter was wounded but she was alive; however, some
students and teachers were killed in the shooting. In terms of national
outlets, Erica L. Green (NEW YORK TIMES) does a strong job covering this exchange:
Also in the crowd at the forum, held
outside Detroit, was Natalie Griffith, a 15-year-old student who was
shot twice in algebra class by a classmate during a campus attack on
Sept. 4 at Apalachee High School, also in Georgia. Her mother, Marilda Griffith, sobbed telling the story of how that day unfolded.
“The
whole world needs to hear that we women, that have our children — we
have a job,” Ms. Griffith said. “That job is to protect our children.
That job is to protect our nation.”
Ms.
Harris agreed, citing the “bone-chilling” sight of a sea of students
raising their hands when, on tours across the country, she asks if they
have participated in active-shooter drills.
There were many other strong moments. Stream it if you haven't already. This morning, WIRED has posted a Kamala video.
Let's
move across the aisle now to find out what's going on in the world of
MAGA. Here's Ronny Chieng on THE DAILY SHOW last night.
Rumors have been spreading today that Republican North Carolina
gubernatorial candidate and Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson – known for his bombastically extreme anti-LGBTQ+ statements
– is dropping out of the 2024 gubernatorial election less than 50 days
before Election Day because a CNN story with numerous new accusations is
about to be published.
Those accusations include him allegedly peeping in women’s locker rooms
when he was a student at North Carolina A&T State University, saying
he wanted to own slaves, and saying in online forums that he enjoyed
pornography featuring transgender models, according to North Carolina journalist Bryan Anderson.
[. . .]
The Carolina Journal reported
earlier today that unnamed sources told them that Robinson is being
pressured by campaign staff and the Trump-Vance campaign to drop out of
the election due to a scandal “that involves activity on adult websites
in the 2000s.” The paper notes that today is the last day candidates are
allowed to withdraw from the election under North Carolina law but that
it’s too late for his name to not appear on ballots.
Instead
of doing the right thing and stepping aside so that another bigot could
be found to run in his place, Robinson elected to pull his long
standing ploy: Deny, deny, deny.
Robinson's past antisemitic comments have drawn scrutiny and condemnation.[16][47] Prior to running for lieutenant governor, he frequently made Facebook posts that invoked antisemitic stereotypes and downplayed the harms of Nazism.[48][49] He claimed that the Marvel movie Black Panther was "created by an agnostic Jew and put to film by satanicMarxists" that was "only created to pull the shekels out of your Schvartze pockets" (using a Yiddish word for "black people").[14][13] Robinson also appeared at an interview with fringe pastor Sean Moon, who claimed that he planned to become "king of the United States"; in the interview, Moon claimed that the Rothschild family was one of the "four horsemen of the apocalypse" and promoted the antisemitic conspiracy theory of a cabal of Jewish "international bankers" that rule every country's central bank. Robinson endorsed Moon's claim as "exactly right".[47]
Robinson's statements, as well as his refusal to apologize for or
retract them, drew much concern from the leaders of North Carolina's
Jewish community,[16] as well as criticism from the Jewish Democratic Council of America and the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC).[48]
Robinson declined to publicly apologize for any of his remarks,
although he said he privately apologized to local Jewish leaders in a
meeting in 2021.[48] In 2022, Robinson said that his Facebook post about Black Panther
was "the only time I've ever apologized for anything I put on Facebook"
and said "I knew the truth of what I was trying to say, but I should
have chosen different words."[35]
In October 2023, after Hamas attacked Israel,
Robinson said he supported Israel and, when asked about his past
antisemitic comments, said "I've never been antisemitic...There have
been some Facebook posts that were poorly worded on my part, did not
convey my real sentiments, and I have addressed those issues and moved
on from those issues."[50]
When asked if he apologized, Robinson said, "I apologize for the word —
not necessarily for the content, but we apologize for the wording."[50] Robinson's opponents in the gubernatorial election questioned the sincerity of the apology and called his prior statements hate speech and antisemitism.[8][50]
In September 2024, CNN reported that Robinson had allegedly used antisemitic slurs on various porn forums from 2008-2012.[17]
Holocaust denial
In March 2023, more of Robinson's past social-media statements
emerged, including Facebook posts appearing to call the figure of 6
million Jews perishing in the Holocaust into question;[49] for example, Robinson wrote: "this foolishness about Hitler disarming MILLIONS of Jews and then marching them off to concentration camps is a bunch of hogwash,"[7]
and "There is a REASON the liberal media fills the airwaves with
programs about the NAZI and the '6 million Jews' they murdered."[49] Both Democrats and Republicans criticized Robinson's statements.[48][7]
He's trashed the LGBTQ+ community repeatedly and especially transgender people but he gets off watching transgender porn.
Everything
he's publicly railed against? He's a fake ass. Not unlike JD Vance
who rails against LGBTQ+ people and drag queens while wearing more
eyeliner than anyone since the Cleopatra look took off in the early
sixties. JD Vance also pretends to be deeply religious but how could
someone deeply religious convert to a faith without his wife and
children -- a religion that leaves them behind. Like the founder of
Moms For Bigotry Bridget Ziegler who was actually getting in bed with
women (sometimes bringing her husband along although the woman's texts
we've seen make it clear that she and Bridget had a stronger bond with
Bridget's husband), Mark Robinson preached hate and attacked while
secretly living the life he railed against.
He's
a fake, he's a liar and he's misled supporters. Instead of taking one
for the team, he's decided he can lie his way out of this. Megan Lebowitz (NBC NEWS) reports:
Less than 24 hours after CNN published a bombshell report on comments that it said Mark Robinson,
the Republican candidate for governor of North Carolina, made on a
pornographic website, the Democratic National Committee unveiled new
advertisements linking him to former President Donald Trump.
The
DNC plans to launch a new digital advertisement and nearly a dozen
billboards highlighting how Trump has praised Robinson, who is North
Carolina's lieutenant governor, according to a source familiar with the
matter and a news release by DNC regional press secretary Kenny Palmer.
NBC News was the first to report the new ad push.
By
linking Trump to Robinson, Democrats hope to cut into Trump's support
in the state, which a Democratic presidential candidate has not won
since 2008.
Robinson is linked not to just to Donald Trump but to MAGA itself. As Elaine noted last night:
I don't think anyone considers Marjorie Taylor Greene a good judge of
anything. However, let me note this video. The man involved is,
according to MTG, "a man of high character."
Republican gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson is
reportedly facing calls to drop out of his race due to an impending
bombshell story that could torpedo his candidacy. Some of Robinson's
biggest supporters have been prominent right-wing media figures,
including people Donald Trump Jr., Dan Bongingo, and Charlie Kirk.
Media Matters previously uncovered
that Robinson claimed in 2018 that Harvey Weinstein and Bill Cosby were
victims of a left-wing “plot” to destroy them for their “so-called
sexual crimes.” Robinson also called on his followers to “stand up
against” the supposed “plot to build up a climate of fear, to shut
people's mouths.” Media Matters also reported that he said mass shootings are “karma” for allowing abortion.
Despite his well-known history of extremist remarks,
Robinson has gotten support from numerous Republicans. That list
includes former President Donald Trump, who endorsed him by claiming he’s “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
Since Robinson began running for governor last year,
numerous right-wing media figures have endorsed him with strong praise.
Here is a look at those remarks prior to today's reporting about
Republicans urging him to leave the race.
Donald
Trump Jr. said “we need more” people like Robinson who are “not afraid
to say” what they’re thinking. During his Rumble show, Trump Jr. said that he likes Robinson and he’s a “good guy, funny guy, not afraid to say what he is thinking, which I think we need more of.”
Eric Trump:
“Amazing, amazing, amazing guy. Amazing guy. … Mark is a wonderful
person, a wonderful guy. A person I’ve gotten to know very, very well.
And I think not only are we going to win the state, I think he’s going
to win the state.”
MAGA is shorthand for? Liar.
They
lie. They attack others because it helps them lie. And when it all
comes out and they could help their bigoted team, they instead refuse to
step aside and instead make it all about themselves.
Donald and his boys can't work together because they hate each other and, most of all, they hate themselves.
The star political reporter at the center of the love triangle involving one-time presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy and his Curb Your Enthusiasm star wife Cheryl Hines copped to an inappropriate relationship — but has insisted it was all an online fling.
In declaring the relationship was never physical, New York magazine reporter Olivia Nuzzi, 31, admitted that "the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal" in a statement issued late Thursday night.
Nuzzi said in a statement to
The New York Times on Thursday, without elaborating on the exact nature
of their relationship, that "some communication between myself and a
former reporting subject turned personal" earlier this year.
She said that despite having covered the subject previously she did not report on him directly during this time.
"The
relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to
prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so
immediately and apologize to those I’ve disappointed, especially my
colleagues at New York," she said.
NBC News reached out to Nuzzi overnight for comment.
While
neither Nuzzi or New York Magazine named the reporting subject, both
CNN and the New York Times have reported that it was Kennedy.
The
truth always tends to come out and Donald hangs with a lot of creeps
and liars because they remind him of himself. You gotta wonder though,
is it really worth it for Junior? He had a level of respect until
recently.
When he declared Sirhan Sirhan was
not the killer of his father, even people who thought the assertion was
insanity made a point to listen to Junior because they regarded him with
some level of respect. No longer. In Junior's mind right now, he's
probably got a new conspiracy theory going -- this one where the CIA
took him out as an authentic voice, that it was all The Agency's doing.
Of course, that would mean the first person he'd have to rethink was
his own daughter-in-law and he'd have to wonder did she really leave the
CIA?
While he goes crazy ass trying to
harness some nut job theory onto this latest disgrace, let's keep it
simple. A lot of stuff he did, a lot of us looked the other way. We
felt sorry for him in some cases. But then nut job proved he was not
deserving of sympathy and that he'd destroy our country.
A mutual friend of Junior's had told us earlier in the week about the
call that was put in. Was he making a mistake if he endorsed Donald
Trump? Yes, the friend told him.
"It was so
different from the call a decade ago," he explained. "That time it was
him asking if he should marry Cheryl [Hines] and my yes answer got a lot
more push back."
Indeed.
Junior
raised the issue of Cheryl's name value (not as high as he wanted) and
her "horse face" and the dangling boob that was smaller than the other
and -- Well, let's leave it there. We don't want to be unnecessarily
cruel. Besides we had to jog his memory on the fourth complaint Junior
had about Cheryl, he'd forgotten.
We hadn't because Junior
made four calls that time, to four trusted friends, who'd repeated the
story over the years. Three of them didn't think the marriage would
last five years and that Junior would leave her. Fortunately for
Cheryl, with her, he just cheats and, but "she gives him time, [he]
makes it back home." That was from another man he called about whether
or not he should marry Cheryl. When we found out he'd called at least
one about both (whether to marry Cheryl, whether to endorse Donald), we
decided to check and see if he'd called all four.
Junior's
used the campaign to cat around -- there have been multiple women he's
had entanglements with over the last 18 months. And don't feel sorry
for Cheryl. She could have left him when he endorsed Donald and
announced he'd be taking a job in a Trump administration. If she'd have
walked then, the story would have been that politics busted up their
happy marriage. Instead, the world's finding out differently. She
chose to be a doormat. She was aware he was cheating . And she kept
taking him back and looking the other way.
She
had no love for her country -- that would have led her to rebuke his
choice of embracing Donald Trump. But she also had no self-respect.
Now
the world sees what a charade the marriage was and how a desperate and
pathetic Cheryl was willing to do anything -- and endure anything -- to
stay married to him.
And, for the record, Junior, we're not done with you yet. There are more leaks to come.
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).
