Media: The glorification of Tina Fey remains unwarranted

Tina Fey cannot portray characters and she struggles with basic narrative required for anything other than stand up.  That's why her only real success post SNL has been on awards show with Amy Poehler.  As a TV producer, she's not just a failure, she's an abject failure.  She doesn't know funny.  That may stem from the monologue-stand up issue.  It may stem from the fact that as a writer for SNL, she was working in front of a studio audience.  Before SNL goes live on Saturday nights, it does a run through. 

This allows the writers to do some fine tuning on sketches and jokes that are not working. 

 

 

 

30 ROCK was her first post-SNL project and it was a show that never found an audience. Despite being a part of Must-See-TV most viewers didn't feel it belonged on that night and avoided the show.  Only two of the 138 episodes were viewed by at least 8 million people.  Most episodes were viewed by four million or less.  Each season, the ratings got lower as the season went along.  By seasons six and seven, it wasn't uncommon for only two million people to watch a first-run episode on NBC.  Had it aired on HBO, where an episode of GIRLS was sometimes lucky to get a half a million viewers, that might have been okay but to air on the NBC broadcast channel, no, that wasn't good.   

We were told the show would be huge in syndication.  Apparently, viewers who'd avoided it for years were going to take to it in syndication.  That was the premise and promise.  It did not, however, actually take place.  Around the country, those who could afford to immediately dumped the show while those local channels that couldn't afford to dump it instead buried the episodes late, late at night.  It bombed bigger in syndication than it ever did on NBC.

Tina doesn't know funny when it's supposed to spring from characters.  She doesn't know funny when it's a scene where characters communicate with one another.

She's made that clear in one failed project after another.  NBC no longer wants to even take meetings with her. 

As a producer, she's failed with one series after another.  The closet thing to a hit she's had was NETFLIX's UNBREAKABLE KIMMY SCHMIDT.  

That was not a funny show and it was actually offensive.  That's not surprising when you grasp that Tina Fey was raised a right winger.  So building a laugh-less 'comedy' around a woman being kidnapped?  It's right up her alley.

But, again, NBC won't even take a meeting with her these days.  Too many failures -- which includes KIMMY, yes, but also includes THE KICKER, GREAT NEWS, THE SAKKET SISTERS, MR. MAYOR, GIRLS 5EVA and MULLIGAN.

Her film career didn't go too well either.  BABY MAMA grossed $60 million domestically which doubled its shooting budget.  It wrongly led people to believe Tina might become a movie star.  DATE NIGHT paired her with Steve Carell and it couldn't cross the hundred million mark domestically.  Sadly, that was her 'big' hit when it came to films. ADMISSIONS bombed -- not even $20 million domestically, as did THIS IS WHERE I LEAVE YOU ($34 million domestically), as did SISTERS ($87 million domestically however, the budget was over $30 million), as did WHISKEY TANGO FOXTROT (domestic ticket sales dropped to $21.4 million while the shooting budget climbed to $33 million), WINE COUNTRY was so bad it was a NETFLIX 'original,' MAGGIE MOORE(S) died in theaters as did HAUNTING IN VENICE.

Grasp that these films teamed her up with Amy Poehler, Mark Wahlberg, Paul Rudd, Lily Tomlin, Jon Hamm, Jamie Dornan, Margot Robbie, Jason Bateman, Jane Fonda, Steve Carell and Taraji P. Henson -- among others -- and not once in these films that she starred in were ticket buyers tempted.

So the leading lady film career was a flop.  And sadly so was her producer role she cast herself in.

THE FOUR SEASONS is the latest project she's inflicted upon the American public.  They're calling it a mini-series and not a comedy.  Let's applaud their honesty on that at least.

On 30 ROCK, Tina worked with Alan Alda (he played Jack's father on the show -- despite looking nothing like Alec Baldwin).  Alan Alda has a bit part in THE FOUR SEASONS but that's not why we're bringing him up.

Alda came to fame as a result of the TV show M*A*S*H.  He wasn't that funny (nor was the show, it's sad that Robert Altman's hilarious and subversive film was churned out as generic GOMER PYLE garbage).  Cast opposite Jane Fonda in a film that also included Maggie Smith (who won an Academy Award for the film), Richard Pryor, Bill Cosby, Walter Matthau, Michael Caine and Elaine May, Alan got one hit for his filmography.  After years of one flop film after another, this hit convinced Alda that he could be a movie star.  Maybe he could've, we doubt it, but if he could have been, he destroyed his chances by mistaking himself for a writer and later a director. 

He starred in (with Meryl Streep and Barbara Harris) and also wrote THE SEDUCTION OF JOE TYNAN.  It flopped.

Next came THE FOUR SEASONS and Alda added directing here.  It wasn't a blockbuster, it barely squeaked past 50 million and came in fifth for the year while the number one film of the year, SUPERMAN, made $108 million.  But it deluded Alda into thinking he was a great talent.  SWEET LIBERTY should have steered him away from that notion.  One bad performance after another (including his) with only the exceptions of supporting players Bob Hoskins and Michelle Pfeiffer, this film that brought in $14 million in ticket sales didn't even make back its shooting budget.  He starred in, directed and wrote the next film A NEW LIFE.  The studio cut back on the budget ($12 million) but that didn't help the film turn a profit since it only made $7 million in domestic ticket sales. He just acted in his next film -- Woody Allen's classic CRIMES & MISDEMEANORS and, playing a snobby drip, he was quite effective. 

This was the time to delve into being a character actor.  But Alda was still wrongly convinced that he could direct and write and star.  He couldn't do anything of the sort.  He burned bridges with PARAMOUNT and UNIVERSAL but DISNEY was stupid enough to hire him provided he cast per their wishes.  So he ended up with co-stars Madeline Kahn, Catherine O'Hara, Ally Sheedy, Molly Ringwald and Joe Pesci.  They couldn't save the lousy film, nothing could.  It was so bad that Joe Pesci has repeatedly refused to ever speak of this movie.

BETSY'S WEDDING was so bad, it ended his writing and directing careers as well as his chance of ever again being given the opportunity, as an actor, to carry a film.

Alda was a one note actor.  Neil Simon's CALIFORNIA SUITE used him well.  Woody Allen's films used him well (especially MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY).  But Alda could not write like Allen or even Simon.  He lacked the humor.  He could be funny when projecting bitter but that was really it.  As Alda tanked in one film after another, Steve Martin made it look so easy in one film after another -- THE JERK, DEAD MEN DON'T WEAR PLAID, THE MAN WITH TWO BRAINS, ALL OF ME, THE THREE AMIGOS, ROXANNE, PLANES, TRAINS AND AUTOMOBILES, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, PARENTHOOD, FATHER OF THE BRIDE, HOUSESITTER, etc.  They all turned a profit.  Some of the early ones turned a profit due to very low budgets.  But Steve was making films people wanted to see.  LA STORY is weak to us.

To us, it's where Steve wants to become the West Coast Woody Allen.  That's what Alan tried at and failed in all four films he directed. 

Bad rip-offs.

THE FOUR SEASONS was the worst of the worst.

And you have to be -- and Tina Fey is -- a person lacking any sense of culture or humor to think that yawn-fest was worth remaking.

The Bechdel Test.  We don't believe in that nonsense and have repeatedly called it out here.  Supposedly, a film or TV show is retrograde and sexist if it doesn't have a scene where two women have a conversation and the conversation is not about men.

We've called that nonsense out because some films are about nothing but relationships.

Why do we bring it up now?

Tina's FOUR SEASONS doesn't pass that test.  

And we find it so interesting that The Water Cooler Set wants to look the other way on that.  No one's written about it.  No one's called Tina out.  They just look the other way.

Which is how it hit us, Tina Fey is the Donald Chump of comedy.  Like the MAGA faithful that refuses to call out Chump for his hypocrisy, you've got a lot of so-called critics who, to this day, refuse to note the reality that Tina Fey has no clothes on.  

THE FOUR SEASONS film features three actress in lead roles.  Rita Moreno plays an ethnic cliche, Carol Burnett struggles (in Altman's THE WEDDING and H*E*A*L*T*H she proved she could film comedy so we'll assume she was sunk by Alda's bad and cheesy script) and Sandy Dennis the Method actress who could make anything seem real.  These three women, in Tina's adaptation, become two women and a man.  Rita's character has become a White Italian gay man.  Nothing's been done with the character.  He's not a lively character.  He's not an interesting character.  We'll be kind and not name the actor because we suspect his performance is harmed by Tina Fey.  She created the adaptation, produced it, co-wrote one episode and had the nerve to write another.  

Tina's the reason that  two time Academy Award nominee Colman Domingo is wasted in the role of Danny who's married to Claude (the Italian) -- in the Alda version Danny was married to Rita's Claudia.  

Will Forte's wasted playing the husband to Tina's character.  Pretty much everyone is wasted.

Pretty much everyone?

Tina's somehow becomes the main character.  In the film, Carol portrayed her character.  And she wasn't the main character.  It was an ensemble.  Not with the mini-series.  Though no time is spent developing a real storyline for Coleman Domingo, a huge storyline is created for Tina's character.  In fact, the character Tina plays is from another movie, a flop film from 2011 starring Sarah Jessica Parker: I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT.

We're supposed to be amazed by Tina's annoying character.  

Sarah Jessica Parker can actually act and she couldn't bring that cliche alive.

Tina Fey has become a triple threat -- she's the nonperformer that can't act, can't write and can't produce.

The last two are the most appalling when it comes to THE FOUR SEASONS mini-series.  She can't handle transitions and she can't handle narrative.  So she and the editors use music repeatedly to try to make it appear that the scenes flow.  They don't flow.  THE FOUR SEASONS could have left out the music and instead recorded the yawns the scenes create and used that as 'transition' and it still wouldn't have worked. 

It's tempting to just blame the source material because THE FOUR SEASONS made for a very bad film.  But grasp that even that hideous film was better than what Tina's churned out.  

Need an example?

What's supposed to pass for an exciting and presumably satisfying ending in the mini-series takes place on the ice.  Kate and Jack have wandered on the ice in winter.  No one can save them from the ice possibly cracking.  Will Forte, as her husband Jack, gets Tina's Kate to drop down to the ice and for them to roll themselves towards the shore.  They make it and celebrate.  And we're supposed to celebrate with them.  But we don't because the scene's poorly lit (not as poorly lit as the ones that make Tina Fey's neck and chin repulsive in side view) and because it's a cheat.  Since Lillian Gish starred in 1920's WAY DOWN EAST, film audiences have been conditioned for the ice to crack.  Not only is that the case in WAY DOWN EAST all the way through the latest James Bond NO TIME TO DIE, but, grasp this, it was also true in Alda's FOUR SEASONS.  

That's right the one dramatic and cinematic moment from Alda's film is stripped from the mini-series.  Wait, it gets worse.  

The scene also makes no sense.  That's because in Alda's film it didn't have to do with the Tina character (played by Carol Burnett) or with her husband. In Alda's film, the young character Ginny (who steals Sandy Dennis husband away from her) is the one on the ice.  Danny (Coleman Domingo's character in the mini-series) is the one who finds her but he's also the one who the ice breaks under.  Ginny goes to alert the others, they grab Danny's car and go off to rescue him.  The car falls through the ice but they rescue Danny.

Time and again, Tina throws scenes to herself.  Scenes that didn't mean much in the original but at least made sense in terms of character and plot.

Need another example?  Ginny.

Ginny was a full character in the film.  She even ended up married to Nick and pregnant with their child.

Though Ginny in the mini-series is 32, Erika Henningsen is playing a character Tina has conceived as an airhead between the ages of 18 and 21.

Tina's attacking younger people with the rewrite on Ginny.  Ginny's made into a fool.  She has no sense of humor.  She can only eat and drink certain things (mushroom coffee being only one example).  She does not get married to Nick or get pregnant because Tina couldn't go to town on her the way she does if the character warranted any sympathy.  Even when picking out photos for Nick's memorial (Nick doesn't die in the film, he and Ginny are both integrated into gatherings with the others by film's end), Tina's Ginny is just an airhead who doesn't realize what's good taste and what's not and whether or not a photo of now dead Nick sporting a boner in his pants might offend.

It's a hatefully written character and that falls on Tina Fey.  

Again, THE FOUR SEASONS, the 1981 film, was not seen by many people. But it clearly was not seen by the critics rushing to glorify the damage Tina Fey has inflicted upon her source material.

Vanity is not just Barbra Streisand or Kevin Costner needing butt scenes in their films (THE MAIN EVENT, REVENGE, DANCES WITH WOLVES, etc).  Vanity is also Tina Fey turning a 107 minute film into a mini-series twice as long and stealing every strong scene for her own character.  

Vanity is also Tina Fey not grasping that she doesn't have the skill or talent to pull it off.

Truest statement of the week

So I was as surprised as others when I heard David announce he is going to use his PAC, ‘Leaders We Deserve,’ which he began in 2023, to run primaries against incumbent Democrats in 2026 who he thinks aren’t doing what he wants. What was shocking about this was he was doing it as an officer, a vice president, of the Democratic National Committee. This was the office he just won. There are two reasons this is so wrong. First is the DNC should not be involved in primaries. Second is the officers of the DNC should be raising money for the DNC, not for themselves, and their own interests. 

-- Pete Rosenstein, "David Hogg’s arrogant, self-indulgent stunt" (WASHINGTON BLADE).

A note to our readers

 Hey --

Monday. Barely.

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

Pete Rosenstein gets a truest.

• Chump's report card

Repost from THE COMMON ILLS.

• Media: Baby Hogg is no leader

Ava and C.I. do two media pieces this week.

• Media: Dangerous rip offs

The first is on David Hogg and this one is on immigration.

• Thank you, Rachel Maddow (Jess)

We all agree with Jess and don't know if we could have made it through the 100 days without Maddow.

• The WILL & GRACE game (Dona)

I (Jim) need to take my turn playing the game.

• Correction of the month

Interesting, no?

• Tara Reade update

We loved Marcia's post and had to repost it here.

• BLUESKY of the week

Many have caught on to grifter David Hogg.

• Mike on David Hogg

Mike did.

• C.I. on David Hogg

C.I. did.

• This edition's playlist

 That's what we listened to while working on this edition.

Peace.

 

-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I. 

Chump's report card

Reposting from THE COMMON ILLS:

Who's going to be the adult to sign Donald Chump's report card?

Dan Balz, Scott Clement, and Emily Guskin (WASHINGTON POST) note, "As he nears the end of his first 100 days in office, President Donald Trump is facing growing opposition to his ambitious and controversial agenda, with his approval rating in decline, majority opposition to major initiatives, and perceptions that his administration is seeking to avoid complying with federal court orders, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll."  Yes, we're almost at the end of the 100 days.  America's pulse is still beating but let's not pretend we aren't all bruised and bloodied as a result of the Convicted Felon's return to the White House. 

Filip Timotija (THE HILL) notes:

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Ga.) said that President Trump’s recent executive actions “should chill us to the bone” and claimed that his “authoritarian impulses” are a danger to American democracy. 

“I think it’s clear. We have never seen a president try to wield the federal government to crush his critics and political adversaries. That’s something new in American history, and it is, in my view, un-American. And it’s something that should chill us to the bone, no matter our politics, no matter our policy preferences,” Ossoff said in an interview with The Associated Press (AP) that was published Saturday. 

Ossoff is dead on correct.  Take comfort in the fact that  Tuesday will be the end of the 100 days and then we'll 'only' have to suffer through 1360 more days. 

Fortunately, there are only 556 more days until the 2026 mid-terms.  After that election, Chump will be in the lame duck position.

With a little luck, a lot of hope, prayer and activism, America might yet survive him.

Should we be so fortunate, we need to remember that many weren't.    As he attacks this program and that program for medical funding, for medical research, a lot of people will die that shouldn't have.  As he tries to deregulate safety standards, people will die from that as well.  And don't forget all the people -- including many Americans -- that he's deporting.  

 For example, Charisma Madarang (ROLLING STONE) reports:

As part of Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, three U.S. citizen children were deported with their mothers by the New Orleans Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Friday morning. One of the children was undergoing cancer treatment and one of the mothers is pregnant.

Both families had lived in the country for years and had ties to their communities, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Louisiana, which warns that the circumstances of their sudden deportations raises grave due process concerns. The civil rights organization says that the first family was detained on Tuesday and the second family on Thursday, and that one of the mothers was given less than one minute on the phone before the call was abruptly dropped, after her spouse attempted to provide a phone number to legal counsel.

He's destroying our country.

And disgracing us on the world stage.  Today was Pope Francis' funeral.  The dress code for men?  Black suits.  Leave it to the trashy rich-for-TV Donald Chump to violate the dress code by wearing a blue suit.  Leave it to trashy Chump to not only wear the wrong color but to wear one of his Sears Roebuck suits that looked like it was wadded up at the bottom of back pack before he put it on.  Apparently, the only thing Musk and DOGE cut in the White House was access to irons.

There he was in the wrong color suit, the suit all wrinkled and not fitted, in need of a bra and foundation garments to try to pull all that jiggly fat in, face smeared with orange foundation and that awful, awful hair that either needs to a real cut or else a pink barrette to hold that long lock back off his forehead.  

He's a joke. 

 Katie-Ann Gupwell (IRISH STAR) reports:

World leaders have gathered in Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis, but some people have spotted an issue with President Donald Trump, but it's not his terribly bruised hands this time. Mourners said he made a "disrespectful blunder" during the service.

Many prominent figures attended the Vatican's St Peter's Square on Saturday morning alongside Trump, who was branded "disgusting" for his behavior at the service, including Prince William, Joe Biden, Britain's Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.

[. . .]

As he approached the coffin, with his wife Melania by his side, people spotted what they thought looked like a major blunder. Attendees were able to approach the late Pope's coffin for a moment of prayer and reflection.

One person wrote on X: "Trump and Melania - the only two stepping over the rug where Pope Francis coffin sits when paying respect, jeeeezzz!"

Another added: "OK, so I'm not the only person who noticed Trump and Melania stepping on the rug. I'm sure they were given instructions to stay off the rug. But, nooooo!"

Other attendees, such as Prince William and Prime Minister Keir Starmer were seen remaining a distance away from the rug. According to The Art Newspaper, attendees should not step on the carpet beneath the coffin.

This is because the carpet symbolizes holy ground, and marks a sanctified space. It is used to separate the pontiff from other people, and the tradition is said to also be shown in paintings of the period where carpets are used to symbolize a sacred space. 

Althea Legaspi, Asawin Suebsaeng and Ryan Bort (ROLLING STONE) note:

President Donald Trump's approval rating has dipped below 40 percent, according to a new survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

The survey also found that about four in 10 Americans say Trump has been a "terrible" president during his second term, with about one in 10 describing his performance as "poor," and two in 10 saying he has been "average." Only three in 10 Americans rated Trump's performance as "great" or "good."

Connor McCrory (IRISH STAR) reports, "The U.S. economy is showing signs of major strain as a result of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, according to Fox Business senior correspondent Charlie Gasparino." FAFO. Tony Owusu (THE STREET) notes,  "Despite Trump making it no secret that tariffs are a key part of his administration's economic policy, many in the business community endorsed him over his opponent, Kamala Harris, in last November's presidential election. "  And he's destroyed the economy.  His tariff notions were never based in sound economic theory; however, what was worse was the constant stop-start and lack of message discipline. In "Dirty Day," U2 sang, "Throw a rock in the air, you'll hit someone guilty."  These days, throw a rock in the air and you're bound to hit an American business struggling to stay afloat due to Chump's actions.  Adam Lynch informs, "The New York Times reports American businesses like Ramper Innovations, a manufacturer of airplane equipment, are paralyzed under President Donald Trump’s self-inflicted economic disruptions."  His erratic nature has impacted the markets.  Americans stand a very real chance of encountering empty shelves in stores shortly after his 100 first day period ends.  After tearing everything up, he's negotiated nothing.  And trade treaties don't appear on the window panes overnight like frost.  Instead of delivering on trade treaties, Chump elected to lie repeatedly this week that he was in negotiations with the leader of China.  Pablo R. Suanzes (EL MUNDO) reports:

The president claims Xi called him, and Beijing demands that he "stop creating confusion" with "baseless rumors".

Donald Trump likes to boast and exaggerate. Every day he claims to have broken all kinds of historical records, surpassed unprecedented marks, achieved feats more than successes. This not only involves inflating macroeconomic figures or saying things that are obviously false, such as having already reached 200 trade agreements in recent days, but also putting leaders of other countries in a more than uncomfortable position, torn between correcting inaccuracies or blatant lies, unleashing the wrath of the White House, or avoiding problems by ignoring or dodging questions. 

I wonder if even MAGA can get all their required nutrients in a breakfast, lunch and dinner diet of lies?

 

Adam Gabbatt (GUARDIAN) explains:

Americans, including some Republicans, are losing faith in Donald Trump across a range of key issues, according to polling released this week. One survey found a majority describing the president’s second stint in the White House so far as “scary”.

Along with poor ratings on the economy and Trump’s immigration policy, a survey released on Saturday found that only 24% of Americans believe Trump has focussed on the right priorities as president.

That poll comes as Trump’s popularity is historically low for a leader this early in a term. More than half of voters disapprove of Trump’s performance as president, and majorities oppose his tariff policies and slashing of the federal workforce.

He's wrecked the economy, he's attacking citizens and non-citizens and then there's 'works well others' section of the report card.  He doesn't work well with others and, when he selects playmates, he chooses so poorly.  

If I were Tulsi Gabbard or Robert Kennedy Junior or, honestly, any of the inept members of his Cabinet, I would wake up each day thrilled that Chump hadn't yet fired Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth because he takes the heat off the rest of them with his never ending screw ups.  Simon Druker (UPI) reminds, "Last month, Hegseth made headlines after accidentally leaking confidential military plans related to a then-pending military strike by accidentally including The Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a Signal group chat." And then we all learned of another nonsecure group chat -- this one also on Signal but on his personal phone -- not his government issued phone -- where he shared details of impending strikes with his wife, his brother, his attorney and, who knows,  possibly his butcher.  Tom Bowman and Quil Lawrence (NPR) reported Friday:

Normally the names of senior staff at the Pentagon don't make the news, but the precarious position of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth means that every move is drawing scrutiny. NPR reported this week that the White House is looking for possible replacements with Hegseth under fire for putting sensitive military attack plans into at least two insecure group chats.

In-fighting over alleged leaks from the secretary's office have now resulted in five senior advisers resigning or being fired. On Friday the Pentagon announced four new senior advisers had been promoted; they include Col. Ricky Buria, a former junior military assistant; Justin Fulcher, a member of the DOGE team embedded at the Pentagon, and Patrick Weaver, formerly a Department of Defense "special assistant."

He has betrayed the country and he risked national security.  Not once.  And Chump deserves to be impeached for not removing Hegseth from office.  John Stoehr notes:

Last weekend, in an opinion piece for Politico, a former Pentagon spokesman warned that “there are very likely more shoes to drop in short order, with even bigger bombshell stories coming this week.”

And lo, a voice came:

・Wall Street Journal: “Polygraph Threats, Leaks and Infighting: The Chaos Inside Hegseth’s Pentagon”;

・Associated Press: “Hegseth had an unsecured internet line set up in his office to connect to Signal”;

・Times: “Hegseth’s Personal Phone Use Created Vulnerabilities”;

・National Public Radio: “Former Pentagon official on Hegseth turmoil: ‘It looks like they actually broke the law’”;

・CBS: “Hegseth orders makeup studio installed at Pentagon.”

Unfortunately, we are where we were at the beginning of the week. Hegseth isn’t going anywhere. Yes, he is “embattled,” as we say in the news, but every story about him says that Donald Trump has his back.

Tom Vanden Brook and Michael Loria (USA TODAY) remind, "Hegseth has denied releasing sensitive information. But several current and former military officials have told USA TODAY that the information Hegseth disclosed, the timing of attacks, is among the most closely guarded national security information."  And former National Secuirty Advisor (2013 to 2017) Susan Rice explained to Brian Tyler Cohen, "Military operation details are by definition classified.  Deliberations about whether to conduct a military strike on an adversary are inherently classified.  So here they are engaging recklessly in classified discussions over unsecure commercial applications."  

Instead of owning his mistake, Hegseth blames others which is par for the course in the Chump administration.  Héctor Ríos Morales' report for THE LATIN TIMES captures this attitude in its headline, "DHS Says It's Not To Be Legally Accountable For Court-Barred Deportations Because They Were Carried Out By DoD."  When he was president, Harry S. Truman said, "The buck stops here."  Chump not only chooses bitcoin over dollars, he also chooses dishonesty over accountability which is why his report card for his first 100 days is a solid F.

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Media: Baby Hogg is no leader

 Pot of Gold won't stop calling.  And leaving messages that really don't make sense.  But it really doesn't make a lot of sense, in AMAZON's THE BONDSMAN, why Hub Halloran's dealing with a landline and an answering machine in this day and age.  Is that the best a dead bondsman can do?

Because Kevin Bacon's Hub is dead.  Dead and he went to hell.  He's back on earth now.  Pot of Gold's Midge explains this to him, "So you get the gist.  Demons can possess people and pass as human in our world.  Since you came back from hell, you'll be able to see demons and they'll know you're a threat.   Watch yourself."

 

The demons are all around, in the bodies of high schoolers, police officers, everyone, even Pastor Ron.

 

And it can be hard, in real life, knowing who you can trust.

 

25-year-old David Hogg wants you to follow him.  In February, he was elected as one of five DNC vice presidents.  DNC?  Democratic National Committee. That's the leadership board of the Democratic Party.  You can check out this DNC webpage but what they do is work to elect Democrats. 

David, and his Leaders We Deserve grift/pac, doesn't want to elect Democrats, it wants to primary them. He plans to spend $20 million primarying Dems.  No, those two goals are not compatible. 

Who is Hogg? 

 

David's fame, such as it is, stems from being the victim of a school shooting.  In 2018, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, he was a high school senior who was among the many students caught on campus as the school was terrorized by an active shooter.   Seventeen people were killed and another eighteen were left physically injured.  Whether David's actions are motivated by or influenced by survivor's guilt, we have no idea.

What the world does know is that the 18 year old hid in a closet and texted and made videos while the carnage took place. While he was hiding, others were being shot at.  Peter Wang, for example, was a student who was shot dead while helping others flee the school.  Peter Wang's a hero.  

But we've got David Hogg today who wants us to listen to and follow him.

 

He's never done anything that demonstrates maturity or leadership, but he wants us to fall in line behind him.

 

Because he's suffered, apparently.  He's suffered and he wants more than our sympathy, he wants us to pretend he's a leader.

 

Wang gave his own life to help others and David hid in a closet, texted and made videos on his phone.

 

In the seven years since the shooting, David's gone where ever the cameras are.  Possibly haunted by hiding in the closet, he now needs to be seen.  Constantly.

 

He doesn't do anything with his media time.  

 

Originally, he was a gun control advocate.

 

He made no real impact there.

 

He did get on Dr. Phil's TV show.  Maybe that's all he wanted?

 

February 10, 2021, March For Our Lives eased him out the door with a statement about him being put on a leave of absence so that he could, in the words of the announcement, "reflect and recommit to the mission."

 So he could cash in on his fame? Not a good look

  

The announcement did not garner a great deal of sympathy.  Sample responses:

 So he could cash in on his fame? Not a good look

lmao he threw you away for pillow money, damn how does that even feel 

So sad to see y'all not support David as a leader... The pillow thing seems silly to some... But it is not. It is yet another issue he has taken on as a LEADER of our youth... What is WRONG with y'all?

What were they talking about?

David was asked to leave that month because he was now attempting to turn himself into Mike Linell with his own pillow -- Good Pillow was the name of the company.  

In real time, Richard Luscombe (GUARDIAN) reported:

Cameron Kasky, 20, a fellow Parkland survivor, gun reform activist and MFOL founder, used Twitter to appear to attack Hogg’s actions, without mentioning him by name. “To those of you who marched, donated, lobbied, and called for change... I’m so sorry this is what it turned into. This is embarrassing,” he wrote in the first of a lengthy series of critical messages.

"But welcome to America, everything ends up a grift.”

In another thread, he wrote: “Hm, I see a lot of support for my pillow grift tweets from people in the Parkland community and people in the gun violence prevention community nationwide.”

David Hogg ended up lasting only two months at Good Pillow.  He declared he couldn't give enough to this company he co-founded -- this company he co-founded only two months prior.  That was four years ago.

He also made time to be part of his sister's 'action' -- 2018's #armbandsforchange.  Miss that one?  Well the photos are still there but the project died the minute the publicity started. That's due to the fact that most who saw David's modeling photos sporting the armband rightly compared it to a Gestapo look.  It was offensive and called out as it appeared to glorify Nazis.

Didn't speak well for David then and it doesn't now. 

He went on to finish college (2019 to 2023).   So he's got some education.  If not any lived experience as an adult. 

David doesn't punch a time clock, you understand.  He rakes in his money on the grift.  That's how he ended up sitting pretty.  First clue to the uninformed, real activists don't end up sitting on two million dollars four or so years after they started their activism.

Oh, are we not supposed to mention money?

We've certainly noted that the glowing coverage of David Hogg in the last weeks has not included any financials. 

It's interesting how he can talk financials.  After he announced his plan to primary elected Democrats and he got push back on it, he whined that $2 billion was spent trying to elect Kamala Harris president.

How much of that came from David's pac?

The 20 million that he plans to spend?  It's going to need to be raised.  Most of it.  Media reports say David's still got $6 million left over from 2024 fundraising.  

Six million.  

Why wasn't that spent trying to elect Kamala or Dems to the House and Senate in 2024?  

Can David answer that?  Or do his handlers plan on continuing to shield him from serious questions?

In the fall of 2024, he was all over the media stating his pac had 8.5 million dollars that it would be spending in the 2024 election to elect "young progressives."  Apparently, they only spent 2.5 million of that money.  

While left wing media ignores financials, the right wing's all over them.

Such as this:

As Breitbart reports, it appears the quest to elect “young, fearless progressives” is second to underwriting Hogg’s travel itinerary and fattening Elias’ wallet. The PAC spent just $263,000 on Generation Z campaigns “combined with donations to other Democrat Party committees and groups — and instead spent more than $1.4 million on disbursements to themselves for payroll and to political consulting firms and legal fees, in addition to travel and entertainment expenses like hotels, flights, and meals,” according to its filings with the Federal Election Commission.  

There are other reports of his DOORDASH bills and him paying himself $90,000 a year other media reports say he paid himself a six-figure yearly sum from his pac.  This isn't an activist.  This is a grifter.

And he's a grifter who won't even get honest about what he's planning for 2024.  

Other liars and grifters like noted racist Keith Edwards have had him on their YOUTUBE shows and have not only ignored financials but have also refused to ask him to explain who would face a primary.  He has made generic statements (and specifically stated he wouldn't primary Nancy Pelosi).  

He refuses to present his plan.

So how about we look at the type of Dem he hates?

WIKIPEDIA notes:

On November 17, 2024, Hogg lambasted outgoing Congresswoman Mary Peltola (D-AK) on X, describing her as "awful on gun control" and bidding her "good riddance" following her electoral defeat.^[56][57]

So that's the kind of Democrat he would primary?  From WIKIPEDIA:

Mary Sattler Peltola^[1][b] (born August 31, 1973) is an American politician and former tribal judge who served as the U.S. representative from Alaska's at-large congressional district from 2022 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as a judge on the Orutsararmiut Native Council's tribal court, executive director of the Kuskokwim River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, Bethel city councilor, and member of the Alaska House of Representatives. 

Scroll down that page.  She was for reproductive rights, she was for LGBTQ+ rights, she called out transphobia, etc, etc.

David didn't like her position on gun rights -- a position in keeping with many in Alaska.  

He celebrated her loss.  Nick Begich III replaced her.  The Republican is anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ+, he's anti . . . 

But David's thrilled that Mary's out of Congress?

His judgment is questionable, to put it nicely, questionable.

PEW Research Center from July of last year is something he might need to study before he thinks he speaks for Democrats -- or even the majority of Democrats -- on gun issues. 

The 2026 mid-terms are very important.

We -- Democrats -- need to win at least one house of Congress.  We want to see both houses won.

Forcing incumbent Democrats to face a primary is beyond stupid.  

It can lead to so many problems.  Such as?  The incumbent can survive the primary but be wounded enough that they lose the primary at which point a Republican gets elected.  An incumbent can be ticked off and decide, after the election, to switch parties.  We're not joking.  Ralph Hall was a Democrat in Congress for years out of Texas.  Why did he suddenly flip?  Because he found out the local Democratic Party campaign office didn't support him and was tearing down his yard signs to take the stakes out to use them for campaign signs for other Democratic Party candidates.

The DNC is not supposed to choose sides.  David's ethics are questionable, everything about him is questionable.  

We are fighting each day to stop Chump and David wants to hit pause that to target Dems he doesn't like.  Dems like Mary.  A progressive by any measure.  A person of color.  

People of color?  They're under threat right now.  Serious threat.  LGBTQ+ people?  The same.  Immigrants? 100% under threat.

The least threatened group?  The White group David Hogg belongs to.

He wants to gamble at this historic time when so much is at stake.

He has no lived experience, he has no real work experience.  But we're supposed to follow him?  

Where?

Into a closet while others die?

That is where this could lead.

If he were in THE BOUNDSMAN, he'd surely be one of the demons.  Kevin's show has an interesting look and an interesting cast.  David Hogg's 'vision' only sees one person: Himself. 

Media: Dangerous rip offs

Last week, Demian Bio (LATIN TIMES) reported:

President Donald Trump's support among Latinos has plummeted as he nears his first 100 days in office, with many saying they feel betrayed by the scope of his policies, particularly immigration enforcement.

Concretely, almost three in four Latinos (72%) now disapprove of the way Trump is handling his job as president, with 54% who do so strongly, according to a new poll by the Pew Research Center. Only Black people surveyed have a higher disapproval rate of Trump, with 82%.

The scenario contrasts with the gains made by Trump with the demographic in the last election, swinging 19 points to favor Trump nationally compared with 2020, according to preliminary exit polls. Harris still won a slight majority of the electorate, 52% to 46%, but it was a dramatic decrease over Joe Biden's 33-point margin in 2020.

Overall, 59% of respondents disapprove of Trump, compared to 40% who agree. Only Whites are close to having a net approval of the Republican, with 49% approving of him, including 39% who strongly do so. Asians, the other Demographic surveyed, shows a 69% disapproval rate, compared to a 29% approval one.

Supports cratering because people are seeing the effects of Chump's hatred.  American kids being kicked out of the country.  They're not being deported.  They're American citizens.  Chump may not like birth-right citizenship but it has always been the law of the land and it remains the law of the land.  

So when American kids are tossed out of the country, it tends to underscore what a hateful asshole Chump truly is.  Even more so when one of the kids has cancer.  Madeline Halpert (BBC NEWS) reports, "Three young children who are US citizens -- including on e with cancer -- were deported to Honduras alongside their mothers last week, according to advocacy groups and the families' lawyers. One of the children is a four-year-old with Stage 4 cancer who was sent without medication, a lawyer for the child's family said."

This is not what Chump voters were expecting.  This degree of evil was not at all what they were expecting. 

Viewers of APPLE TV+'s new show THE STUDIO were expecting something different as well.  A strong cast can only do so much.  Each episode plays like the best pitch scenes in Robert Altman's THE PLAYER where screenwriters pitch films to studio exec Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins) like where two writers pitch a story about a TV star (played by a film actress) goes to another country.

Griffin: You know what, I like Goldie [Hawn].

Writer 1: Goldie's great because we have a relationship and that would be great. 

Writer 2:  GOLDIE GOES TO AFRICA.

Writer 1: GOLDIE GOES TO AFRICA.

 

Griffin: GOLDIE GOES TO AFRICA.

Writer 1: And she becomes worshipped.

Griffin: Worshipped?

Writer 1: Well she's found by this tribe. 

 

Write 2: Of small -- of small people.

Writer 1: She’s found and they worship her.

Griffin: Oh, I see.  It's a kind of like The Gods Must Be Crazy except the coke bottle is now a television actress.

Writer 1: Yeah, that's exactly right. It’s OUT OF AFRICA meets PRETTY WOMAN.

 

Though not as fresh or humorous, we get scenes like that in THE STUDIO.  

Michael Tolkin's screenplay for THE PLAYER (based on his book of the same name) was not just a series of amusing scenes.  It had an actual storyline.  Griffin's receiving threats, he confronts the person he thinks is threatening him and kills the man.  Now he's trying to get away with the murder.  

There's a narrative.  There's much more than amusing scenes.

THE STUDIO carries little weight because there are no real stakes.  It's illusion built upon illusion and it adds up to nothing but a diversion. 

Chump could use a diversion on his immigration policy.  Douglas MacMillan (WASHINGTON POST) reports:

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Miami plans to move up to 400 immigrant detainees into a large tent that was erected in recent weeks to accommodate a surging population of migrants, said Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Florida), who toured the facility Thursday.

The soft-sided structure at Miami’s Krome North Service Processing Center contained cots, televisions, ventilation pipes and tile flooring, Wilson and her communications director said in interviews with The Washington Post. An ICE representative told her the facility could house 200 people on an upstairs level and 200 people on a downstairs level, and that the agency planned to begin moving people into the structure on Friday, she said.

A spokesman for ICE did not immediately respond to questions from The Post, including how long people may be held in the tent and whether the facility has increased its staff to meet their needs.

There is little precedent for ICE housing detainees in temporary structures in the United States, said Eunice Cho, an attorney who advocates for immigrant detainees at the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project. U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Office for Refugee Resettlement have used soft-sided facilities, but those have typically been used for very short-term detention, she said.

The tent at Krome is the latest evidence of the government’s struggle to accommodate the nearly 50,000 immigrants currently detained by ICE. A nationwide uptick in arrests amid President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration has led to many detention facilities reaching or exceeding capacity, with reports of people sleeping on floors and going days without proper medical attention, The Post’s reporting has shown.

To meet border czar Tom Homan’s goal of 100,000 detention beds, ICE is contracting with county jails and paying millions of dollars to reopen shuttered private prisons. This month, it requested permission to bypass contracting rules to fast-track new agreements for private facilities in California, Michigan and other states, citing the southern border “emergency” and the urgent need to detain “aliens at-large that pose threats to national security and public safety.”

They're being held like animals in cages with the exception that we'd demand much better conditions for animals.  This is repelling people, this reality of what Chump is actually doing. 

Again, nothing really happens in THE STUDIO but, in THE PLAYER, someone gets murdered.

Is that what's going to finally bury Chump's immigration plans?

We ask because Jasmine Venet (DAILY BEAST) reports:

The Trump administration has secretly allowed immigration agents to invade homes without a warrant for over a month, according to a leaked internal memo.

The memo, obtained by USA Today and issued by Attorney General Pam Bondi March 14, orders Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to break into the homes of suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua without a warrant.

It stated that ICE can curb the “proactive procedures” put in place to obtain a warrant, since they “will not always be realistic or effective in swiftly identifying and removing alien enemies.”

Is someone going to have to die to stop this policy?  If so, is it an ICE official that's going to get popped?

Grasp that this is the United States and guns are nearly as common as cell phones.  Also remember that 46 of the country's fifty states have open carry laws.  How many more warrantless kidnappings are going to take place?  And at what point is some concerned citizen seeing some woman like Rumeysa Ozturk being accosted on the street by people with no badges, no uniforms but maybe wearing masks -- at what point is some concerned citizen going to think these are mobsters trying to kidnap a woman off the street?

And if they shoot and kill an ICE agent, exactly what defense does the government think they can mount then?

Or maybe the ICE agent doesn't get killed.  Maybe they unload on the concerned citizen and kill that person on the street?

There are reasons that apprehension policies are in place.  There are reasons that require the police to identify themselves. 

Chump has tossed aside all legal requirements and those requirements exist not only to protect citizens, they also exist to protect law enforcement.  He's endangering everyone with his recklessness.  All Seth Rogen's doing is boring us to tears with his attempt to rip-off THE PLAYER. 

  

Thank you, Rachel Maddow (Jess)

Rachel Maddow hosts THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW on MSNBC.  Awhile back, the show went from five nights a week to just Mondays.

Then Chump returned to the White House.

For his first 100 days -- ending Wednesday -- Rachel returned to the Monday through Friday schedule.  That ends this week.

I don't watch a lot of TV.  I'll catch sports and I'll watch programs with my daughter that she's interested in.  That's really about it. 

Prior to Rachel's return to five days a week, I hadn't watched MSNBC.  Ever.  

But I have caught all of her 100 days coverage.  Caught it and enjoyed it. 

She did some great interviews, some strong commentary and she highlighted so many topics -- including the protests -- that other public affairs programs ignore.  

At the end of her program, I've never felt robbed of time.  Instead, I've felt informed and, maybe most importantly, inspired. 

She provided a real service and I'm sure I'm only one of many Americans who appreciates what she did.

Here at THIRD, there are weeks when we can't get it together enough to post a full edition and just rely on a media piece by Ava and C.I. (In fact, two this edition.)  So I'm the last person to say, "Rachel, don't go back to Mondays only!"  But I will miss the five days a week.

Repeating, she provided a real service and she provided information and inspiration at this very difficult time for our country.