Truest statement of the week

Not only was this an act of economic warfare, it has broken the cardinal rule in American politics: Never destabilize the economy. With it, the Trump Administration is causing enormous damage to itself — and there can be no more distraction from this naked truth.

 

-- James Carville, "How To Turn Trump's Economic Chaos Against Him" (NEW YORK TIMES).

A note to our readers

 Hey --

Monday.

Let's thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen, 

Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

 

And what did we come up with?

 

• Truest statement of the week

We gave it to Carville.

• MEDIA: YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS and your non-frien...

Ava and C.I take on the lies about Jesus from the Christian Nationalist Movement.

• The Rashida goes to . . .

A regular feature -- or that's how we plan it right now.

• Books (Trina, Stan, Ava and C.I.)

Book discussion.

• The WILL & GRACE game (Ty)

Ty takes the Marcia challenge and plays the game.

• 10 Best TV shows 
•  
• What you could be watching.
  

• Book List

Books reviewed in the community so far this year.

• 2025 passings

Notable deaths this year.

• Hegseth's feeling stuff

Repost of a group post.

• This edition's playlist

What we listened to while working on this edition.

• Highlights

 Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them for it.

 

 

Peace.

 

-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

 

MEDIA: YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS and your non-friends too!

Last week, we noted SUITS LA and how awful it is.  And it's awful.  We were reminded of that as we watched YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS.

 

 

No, not Neil LaBute's 1998 film classic starring Amy Brenneman, Catherine Keener, Jason Patric, Aaron Eckhart, Nastassia Kinski and Ben Stiller.  The same title is also the name of the new APPLE TV+ series starring Jon Hamm, Amanda Peet, Mark Tallman and Olivia Munn.

 

Jon's becoming the Nicole Kidman of male actors.  He wrapped up an amazing performance on FARGO in 2024, GOOD OMENS in 2023 and he's currently in this APPLE TV+ series as well as as LANDMAN  for PARAMOUNT+.  He's also done ten episodes of APPLE's THE MORNING SHOW in 2023 and he's also done five live action films since 2022 which is not counting his voice work on TV and in film. When you're doing that volume of work, you have to choose wisely.  

Otherwise, expect the yawn that's greeted Michelle Williams' latest TV wreck -- a pioneering study of the effects of chemo -- is Robert Kennedy Junior a co-producer --which finds the cancer treatment actually increases your sex drive but neither bloats you nor makes your hair fall out. 

Who knew?

 In the first ten minutes of episode one of YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS, you know you're watching something special.  Coop (Hamm) and Mel (Peet) have broken up and she's got custody of their two kids and the house which is often visited by Nick (Tallman) who is Nick's former friend and the man Coop caught Mel in bed with as their marriage ended.  Coop loses his job on trumped up charges and will be lucky to last six months without steady income -- a big problem since his former boss has blackballed him and Coop also signed a contract with a two-year non-compete clause. 

Coop could have come off an overgrown manchild and Mel a bitch ex-wife.  But the writing is much more layered than that as are the performances.  So you care about them and get involved in, caught up in, the dynamics -- so much so that you may forget the first scene in the series -- a scene in the future -- is Coop waking up on the floor next to a dead body

 

If a show wants to pull you in, they have to make you care about the characters.  

 

Empathy.

  

We've caught two important discussions on empathy in the last weeks.  One was on THE KAREN HUNTER SHOW.

 

 We'd love to tell you that we're prone to empathy for all.  But we're not.  

People in need, absolutely. 

But cheap whore hustlers who preach hate -- who attack empathy to justify their racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, et al?  We have nothing but contempt for them.

 

Elizabeth Grace Matthews reminded us of that last week.  She's a fat, balding, ugly woman incapable of any real thought or even a fleeting idea.  She demonstrated that at THE HILL last week when she decided to write another series of lies and to attack Jane Fonda.  Attack Jane Fonda?  Yes, it's how Liz Grace Matt gets her revenge -- remember, she's fat, balding, ugly and incapable of thought so Jane Fonda frightens her like no one else can.  Jane's the body and the brain, Jane's the can do and the reach.  

 

Just the thought of Jane terrifies a hate monger like Liz Grace as she wallows in her own filth waiting for some volunteer to show up and hose her off.

She's offended by Jane's recent speech.  Seeing Jane get the Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, sent Liz Grace into a rage because her own life has been devoid of applause, absents of pats on the back and lacking even someone calling out "have a good day."  

 

Realizing that, at this late date, her joyless life is unlikely to change, Liz Grace decided to write her own speech full of what she'd say if anyone was ever stupid enough to hand her a Lifetime Achievement Award

She entitled her hogwash "Yes, masculinity can be toxic, but so can femininity" and no link to trash but do GOOGLE it if you're in a need of a good laugh.  

Picture her heaving her tiny bosom and nodding to Jon Voight as she insists, "Fonda is right: Empathy is not weak -- or woke. At least, not per se. It is best understood as the impulse and ability to feel and identify with the feelings of others. Correlated with agreeability, empathy is a characteristic disproportionately evinced by women."  For more fun, picture her pronouncing "per se" as "Percy" because she truly is that stupid.

Just what we quoted should be enough to let you know she's a hatemonger, she's dishonest, and she's a right-wing Christian Nationalist. 

Empathy, she wants to lie, is killing the country.  Empathy is bad and, to make sure she sells that point in a sexist society, she identifies it with the feminine.  

There are books we've noted repeatedly here over the years.  Four that we mention the most often?  Susan Faludi's BACKLASH: THE UNDECLARED WAR ON AMERICAN WOMEN is one -- and it's famous enough that we doubt it needs any summary but we'll note Pulitzer Prize winner Faludi looks how culture shapes work, entertainment and perceptions.  We also have repeatedly noted here Lucy Hughes-Hallett's CLEOPATRA: HISTORIES, DREAMS AND DISTORTIONS which is another amazing book.  That one focuses on how society imposes their values and standards upon the historical figure Cleopatra and how she changes for various generations.  Stephanie Coontz's THE WAY WE NEVER WERE: AMERICAN FAMILIES AND THE NOSTALGIA TRAP which documents how false narratives distort the reality of our lives -- past, present and future.   Carol Tavris' THE MISMEASURE OF WOMAN: WHY WOMEN ARE NOT THE BETTER SEX, THE INFERIOUR SEX OR THE OPPOSITE SEX -- a book that debunks a lot of 'science' that is not true science.  

We recommend all four of those books often and if you've read even one of them you probably raised an eyebrow when we quoted Liz Grace, "Fonda is right: Empathy is not weak -- or woke. At least, not per se. It is best understood as the impulse and ability to feel and identify with the feelings of others. Correlated with agreeability, empathy is a characteristic disproportionately evinced by women."

 

Informed feminists grasp immediately the problem there.  Who's defining empathy and how are they defining it?  

 

Feminists are common sense people.  We're also informed people.   Unlike Liz Grace who thinks she's cribbing the second part of that sentence from a 2014 'study' but its roots are pure Leon Trotsky. 

 

 

Empathy, despite the many useless words Liz Grace offers, is not a feminine trait.  It's a trait that all humans share.  Some are conditioned to exhibit in one way, some in another.  Historically, the most empathetic figure spoken of would be Jesus Christ.  

 

Maybe Liz Grace doesn't believe in Jesus?  Even if she doesn't, she should be aware that the concept of Jesus has been used throughout history to teach empathy. In fact, THE BIBLE is filled with empathy -- even if she's a non-believer, we would encourage Liz Grace to read it -- such as Romans 12:15 which has the Lord declaring, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."

 

Here's Liz Grace: "What Fonda is really implying, though -- and what today’s most vocal leftists uniformly believe — is that empathy is a virtue unto itself when indiscriminately deployed on behalf of the systemically marginalized. Or, as Fonda put it: 'Woke just means you give a damn about other people'. "

 

Again, here's what the Lord states, "Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep."  

 

Sorry, Liz Grace, hope you're not thinking you're headed to heaven because the Lord may need to have a word with you first.  It's Jane Fonda's remarks that line up with the teachings of Jesus, not your own.

 

Enemies of empathy make up the Christian Nationalist front in this country just as they made up the Nazi Party in the Germany.  

 

You can't kill innocents and embrace empathy.  You have to scorn empathy and you have to 'other' (as a verb) human beings in order to send them into gas chambers.  

 

 

 

The second video we saw in the last weeks that was really good on the topic of empathy was this one by Dan McClellan . 

People rightly express concern over the 'bro' podcasts.  But is anyone paying attention to the vile the fright-wing hate mongers are putting out there?  There is an attack on empathy and they have to launch that attack because without it, they're not going to be able to do all the evil things they hope to do.  They can't destroy Social Security without destroying empathy, the can't destroy Civil Rights without destroying empathy, they can't deports thousands without destroying empathy.

 

So they work overtime to attack empathy and to insist that this basic virtue, preached by Jesus, is a bad thing.

 

They have to tell that lie and they have to convince others of that lie in order to destroy, main and kill and, yes, that is their end-game.

 

Empathy is not an emotion Liz Grace possesses.  She makes this clear:

This is the false belief that makes today’s elite left and its predominantly educated, female adherents so out of touch with everyday Americans — and, as I have written, so apt to hurt the very people they purport to help. For example, in the name of fighting institutionalized racism, they agitate to eliminate the tools of law and order that majorities of people of every demographic are depending upon to keep them safe. 

Or, for another example, they welcome male athletes claiming a transgender identity onto female teams, and thereby endanger and disenfranchise the women for whom those teams exist.

Leave it to the deeply stupid Liz Grace to rally against the "predominantly educated."  Give them the chance and they'll always confess to more than they ever realize. Their compulsion to confess might be interesting but nothing about the Liz Graces themselves is fascinating, wanted or needed -- which would make them perfect for cast members on SUITS LA.

 

The Rashida goes to . . .

We need an 'honor' to hand out to Democrats (real and fake) who do things that actually defeat the party.  Due to her behavior in 2024 -- pushing to elect Convicted Felon Donald Chump, we've decided to call the award The Rashida after rat f**ker Rashida Tlaib. 

The first Rashida goes to . . . 

Gretchen Whitmir.

 

The Michigan governor spent last week not calling Chump and his hideous tariff schemes out but instead, while visiting the Oval Office, talking up tariffs.  And participating in a photo op.

 

Whose side is Gretch The Wretch on?

 

A question worth asking. 

 

Books (Trina, Stan, Ava and C.I.)

 

 

As we did in 2021 and 2023 and 2024, we're attempting to again increase book coverage in the community. This go round, we're talking with Trina and Stan.  Trina's "Rachel Ray's Garbage in the Kitchen" is a review of Rachel Ray's cookbook RACHEL RAY'S 365: NO REPEATS. and her    "Matteo Lane's Your Pasta Sucks: A 'Cookbook'"is a review of Matteo Lane's new cookboo.  Stan's "BLACK BAG (great film) and Spielberg book"is a review of Richard Schickel's  STEVEN SPIELBERG: A RETROSPECTIVE.  Three books, only one recommended.  Stan?

  

Stan: I don't recommend the book I read.  Schickel just focuses on the work, no real dig into director Steven Spielberg's personal life.  Fine.  Then address the work.  Don't do a breezy walk through. Actually take a look at the work.  And, sorry, but so little of Spielberg's work stands up.  

Trina?

 

Trina: I had the book worth reading -- and that wasn't Rachel Ray's book.  That was a piece of garbage that was put together as if by an assembling machine.  It had no warmth and no personality.  Matteo wrote a cookbook you want to read.  It talks about why he likes the food or when he first had it or which family member made it or makes it today.  It's a pleasure to read.  Rachel Ray's book is just drudgery.

 

Stan, you aren't happy with what Spielberg's success did to the movies.

 

Stan: Right.  He killed the great American films.  We had real films like THE CONVERSATION, KLUTE, SHAMPOO, HAROLD & MAUDE, THE LANDLORD, CHINATOWN, CARNAL KNOWLEDGE, LADY SINGS THE BLUES  and go on and on.  Films that meant something -- actually meant something.  And then Spielberg does his popcorn film JAWS and it's nothing but nonsense.  And that's all Spielberg's career has been -- nonsense. 

We hope you'll take a moment this week to read "I'll take Klute over Jaws."

Stan: I will!  I love KLUTE. Who wrote the piece?

 

You did.  Back in December of 2015.  

 

Stan: Really?  Does it line up with what I said in my review of the Spielberg book?

 

It really does.   Trina, you weren't impressed with Rachel's book but you also weren't impressed with the recipes she offered.

 

Trina: Not one bit. And it's a lie that's she's offering 365 different recipes -- telling someone to substitute beef in a chicken recipe does not give you two recipes.  It's one recipe that you can make with either chicken or beef or shrimp.  And all the book is?  It's recipes.  She doesn't share any stories -- not even talking about making the dish.  It's a series of recipe cards spread out over pages.  It's lazy and it's not worth it even if you get on clearance like I did.

 

But you do recommend Mateo's book?

 

Trina: I absolutely, 100% do.  It's a joy to read.  He makes the food come alive.  Even if you're not planning on cooking for whatever reason, you can read the book just for the stories of food, family and friends.  It's a wonderful book.

 

Alright, thank you both.

 

 

------------------------------

Previous book discussions:

"Books (Isaiah, Ava and C.I.)"

 

"Books (Jess, Ava and C.I.)"

"Books (Stan, Ava and C.I.)"

"Books (Trina, Ava and C.I.)"

"Books (Rebecca, Marcia, Ava and C.I.)"

 

 

The WILL & GRACE game (Ty)

 

Back in 2024, Marcia came up with the WILL & GRACE game.  How you play is you list, off the top of your head, all of the guest stars on that 11 season sitcom -- 8 seasons in its original run and 3 more seasons in its reboot.  See Marcia's  "Sitcom with the most name guest stars: Will & Grace (and I can name 133) ."  After Marcia played it others followed -- see Stan's ''HORIZON: AN AMERICAN SAGA - CHAPTER 1 ," Rebecca's  "have you tried to list all the guest stars on 'will & grace'?" and Kat's "Prayers for Ann Wilson and my try at the WILL & GRACE game."  No one's tried it at THIRD yet so let me be the first.

1) Parker Posey

2) Joan Collins

3) Gregory Hines

4) Wanda Sykes

5) Blythe Danner

6) Suzanne Pleshette

7) Debbie Reynolds

8) Veronica Cartwright

9) Sidney Pollack

10) Beau Bridges

11) Geena Davis

12) Mary McCormack

13) Sara Rue

14) John Slattery 

15) Steven Weber

16) Bernadette Peters

17) Lee Majors

18) Michele Lee

19) Chita Rivera

20) Ben Platt

21) Eileen Brennan

22) Minnie Driver

23) John Cleese

24) Alec Baldwin

25) Natasha Lyonne

26) Ed Burns

27) Woody Harrilson

28) David Schwimmer

29) Harry Connick Jr.

30) Ellen DeGeneres

31) Orson Beane

32) Gene Wilder

33) Lanie Kazan

34) Madonna

35) Jennifer Lopez

36) Janet Jackson

37) Jeff Goldblum

38) Will Arnett

39) Roseanna Arquette

40) Lesley Ann Warren

41) Jack Black

42) James Earl Jones

43) Jason Biggs

44) Seth Green

45) Cher

46) Demi Moore

47) Michael Douglas

48) Glenn Close

49) Sharon Stone

50) David Schwimmer

51) Elton John

52) Kevin Bacon

53) Britney Spears

54) David Folely

55) Eric Stoltz

56) Clark Gregg

57) Katie Couric

58) Al Roker

59) Matt Lauer

60) Matt Damon

61) Macaulay Culkin

62) Patrick Dempsey

63) Taye Diggs

64) Stone Phillips

65) Molly Shannon

66) Piper Laurie

67) Patton Oswalt

68) Tim Curry

69) Neil Patrick Harris 

70) Leslie Jordan

71) Jeremy Piven

72) Penn Badgley

73) Corey Parker

74) Joel McHale

75) Megyn Price

76) Ken Marino 

77) Dan Bucatinsky

78) Wendy Jo Sperber 

79) Nicolette Sheridan

80) Candice Bergen

81) Hal Linden

82) Bebe Neuwirth 

83) Tracey Ullman

84 and 85) Hall & Oates

86) Andy Richter

87) Patti LuPone

88) Lily Tomlin

89) Buck Henry

90) Kristin Davis

91) Mira Sorvino

92) Stuart Townsend

93) Sharon Osborne

94) Tom Everett Scott

95) John Edwards (psychic, not politician)

96) Alan Arkin

97) Rip Torn

98) Julian McMahon 

99) Adam Goldberg

100) Camryn Manheim 

101) Demi Lovato

102) Anne Meara

103) Sandra Bernhard

104) Jon Tenney

105) Emily Rutherford

106) Dan Futterman

107) Barry Bostwick 

108) Nick Offerman

109) Robert Klein

110) Cheyenne Jackson

111) Ryan Phillipe 

112) Jon Cryer

113) Chris Parnell

114) TR Knight

115) Chelsea Handler 

116) Lucie Arnaz

117) George Takei

118) Matt Bomer

119) Barry Manilow

120) Chris Penn

121) Aileen Quinn

122) Lea DeLaria

123) Andrea Martin

124) Bruno Campos

And that's all I got.

I can't remember the figure skater at Will's first b-day on the show when they go to Champions On Ice and all Will wants is some pop corn but he can't even get that. I could cheat and look it up but I don't want to.  I'm going to try it again in a few weeks and see if I can come up with some more.

 

 

 

10 Best TV shows

Looking for something to stream?  It's April, here's our top ten of the best programs so far this year.

 

1) REACHER

2) MID-CENTURY MODERN 

3) THE RESIDENCE

4) PRIME TARGET

5)  PARADISE

6) LONG BRIGHT RIVER

7) MATLOCK

8) ELSBETH

9) THE NEIGHBORHOOD

10) YOUR FRIENDS & NEIGHBORS

 

 

Book List

 

 Book coverage continues in this community.  For earlier lists of books covered see 2021's  "Books," 2023's "Books" and 2024 "Book List"

Books reviewed in the community this year.

1) "bob hope should be a lesson" -- Rebecca reviews Richard Zoglin.  

2) "Shattered Love: A Memoir" -- Marcia reviews Richard Chamberlain's insipid autobiography. 

3) "Help! My Apartment Has A Dining Room Cookbook: How to Have People Over Without Stressing Out" -- Trina reviews a cookbook.

4)  "Media: OWNED finds Eoin Higgins owned by bad journalism" -- Ava and C.I. take on Eoin Higgins bad book.

5) "Sly's awful books proves Questlove a liar" -- Stan reviews Sly Stone's memoir. 

6) "THE LIFE AND HARD TIMES OF HEIDI ABROMOWITZ (Jess)" -- Jess reviews a humor book by Joan Rivers.

7) "STAN LEE LIED: YOUR HANDY GUIDE TO EVERY LIE IN THE ORIGINS OF MARVEL COMICS" -- Isaiah reviews a book documenting truths. 

 

8) "Rachel Ray's Garbage in the Kitchen" -- Trina reviews Rachel Ray's RACHEL RAY'S 365: NO REPEATS.

 

9) "BLACK BAG (great film) and Spielberg book" -- Stan reviews Richard Schickel's  STEVEN SPIELBERG: A RETROSPECTIVE

 

10)   "Matteo Lane's Your Pasta Sucks: A 'Cookbook'" -- Trina reviews Matteo Lane's new book.