Going through the motions. That appears to be the theme of late. Whether it's Donald Chump's war on Iran, Mark Robinson's purity tour or VANISHED.
Something isn't right
I don't know how I knowBut baby, it's despite
Your dog-and-pony show
I can hear it coming
You're only going through the motions, baby
With your engines humming
You're just going through the motions, baby
-- "Going Through The Motions," written by Aimee Mann, first appears on her THE FORGOTTEN ARM.
Let's start with the purity tour. A cheap and sleazy politician running for higher office gets outed by the press and denies it and threatens to sue only to quietly drop the lawsuit after the election and now, nearly two years later, shows up playing the God card.
Em Steck and Andrew Kaczynski (CNN) report:
Former North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson admitted he lied about a bombshell CNN KFile investigation during the final months of his 2024 gubernatorial campaign, uncovering his extensive history of posting inflammatory and racist comments on a pornography website.
Robinson initially denied the report and sued CNN for $50 million that fall as he marched on with his gubernatorial campaign. Robinson eventually lost to current Democratic Gov. Josh Stein by more than 14 points.
Now, in a recent podcast interview, Robinson has acknowledged his deception and that he had an “obsession” with pornography and sex. He says he lied about the CNN report to protect those around him, including President Donald Trump, because it was “the most expedient thing to do.”
“I won’t say that I completely lied, some of the things about the whole story. Some of it — there’s some truth to it,” Robinson said on Thursday.
But “if I had to ignore the truth at that moment for their expediency, I felt like it was the right thing to do,” said Robinson.
Christopher Wiggins (THE ADVOCATE) notes:
The reported posts also included explicit sexual commentary, including statements about watching pornography involving transgender women. That detail drew intense scrutiny because Robinson had repeatedly attacked transgender people in public speeches and policy positions.
As lieutenant governor and a gubernatorial candidate, Robinson made opposition to LGBTQ+ rights central to his political brand. He described LGBTQ+ identities as immoral, opposed protections for transgender people, and backed policies restricting their rights, framing those positions as part of a broader moral crusade.
And he wants to play this as a redemption tour. by talking about his porn obsession now, he can help others he believes. Edward Helmore (GUARDIAN) notes:
He added that he believes people like him, who struggled and came back from a porn “obsession”, are the best messengers to help others in the same situation.
“The only shame in it is staying in it,” he said on the podcast.
Asked if he would make the same decision again to deny authorship of the comments in furtherance of the larger political cause, he confirmed he would.
“It wasn’t about me,” Robinson said. “They knew that they could use me to destroy, the people around me, up to and including the president, they would do it. And so I’d make the exact same decision.”
People like him? Raging hypocrites trying to take away the rights of transgender people while getting off on transgender porn?
Or people like him who admit that they'd do the whole thing over? William Vallencourt (DAILY BEAST) notes:
The story, he claimed, “wasn’t about me.”
“For the people who were doing it to me, it wasn’t about me. It was about a cause much bigger than that,” he said. “And they knew that they could use me to destroy the people around me, up to and including the president. They would do it. And so I’d make the exact same decision.”
[. . .]
Robinson, when asked if he would deny the initial report again if he could go back in time, said he would do “the exact same thing.”
And this is the redemption tour? He'd do the exact same thing He'd lie again. Then he hasn't learned anything except possibly that everyone already saw him as a liar before that interview and he thought he might get some sympathy if he copped to the fact that he lied. Any sympathy he might have garnered for that admission instantly vanishes when he maintains he'd do it all again.
Vanishes?
VANISHED is a four-episode series on MGM+. A woman goes on a vacation with her boyfriend of four years only for him to disappear on a train. She then looks for him and teams up with others. The others include Sam Claflin as the boyfriend. He's perfect in the role and in THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO which starts airing tonight on PBS. In fact, everyone's perfect . . . except for the lead.
Kaley Cuoco.
She's playing Kaley again. That's the only thing she knows to do. She's 40 and she's called a "girl." She's 40 and she still hasn't learned how to act. She can't create a character. At 40, after playing in many shows and a few movies, she still can't create a character. It's Kaley reacting to this or that and with no connection to what came before. There's no sense of growing horror or tension in her performance, there's just her indicating what she's feeling at that moment. And it's never connected to what she was feeling seconds before.
In 2020, as she was 'acting' on THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT, we noted:
At 35, Kaley's another stupid personality who never learned to act. On the sitcom, she said her lines correctly and was surrounded by funny people so little thought was given to how little she was actually doing in each episode. There's a reason that Mayim Bialik was nominated for an Emmy and Kaley never was. Mayim and Melissa Rauch created actual characters. Kaley traded on her looks. It's why she got the boob job in 2004.
The only change we would make to that paragraph? "At 40, . . ." Five years later and she still hasn't bothered to learn how to act.
This is a problem when you're playing the main character that people are supposed to be drawn to and worry what happens to them.
We're going to do spoilers now.
Her boyfriend who disappears? She's told he's sex trafficking. When they are finally together and there are sex trafficked people in the scene as well, he still tries to save her. Then we learn he was working for Interpol. And she kisses him and they go to bed and have sex -- lost of sex -- and then he wakes up to find a letter where she says at least she left a goodbye note -- as opposed to cutting out on the train.
Does it make any sense?
None at all. And a real actress -- especially one who's got a production credit on the show -- would've objected, would've pointed out that if she wasn't in love with him ad couldn't forgive him, she's not going to get passionate with him in bed. Why? If she doesn't forgive him, she blames him and no woman wants to go to bed with some man they're blaming before waking out on him.
Kaley's a celebrity, not an actress. And too many more projects like VANISHED and she's not going to be cast in the lead of anything worth watching.
Also eyeing the exits is Donald Chump.
Why did he start his war with Iran? He never sold it before going to war.
After he and Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu started the war, Chump gave various reasons, shifting constantly. None stuck.
He's completely unbelievable.
He says, for example, that no one could have guessed that the Iran would stop travel through the Strait of Hormuz. Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard appeared before the Senate Inetlligence Committee.
He was briefed, he chose not to listen. Tonight, Aaron Boxermanm, Julian Barnes and Isabel Kershner (NEW YORK TIMES) report:
Fresh Iranian and U.S. threats to attack critical civilian infrastructure risked imperiling millions of people across the Middle East, as President Trump warned that he could target Iranian power plants and Tehran vowed that such attacks would lead to retaliation against vital energy and water facilities.
Iran dismissed Mr. Trump’s ultimatum that if the Strait of Hormuz — the vital oil shipping route choked off by Iran — were not fully reopened by Monday night, the United States would strike Iranian power plants. Tehran said the strait would be “completely closed” if its energy infrastructure were attacked. It also said that energy facilities in countries that host American troops could be targeted, along with desalination plants that are a lifeline for much of the Middle East.
The war across the region, now in its fourth week, showed no signs of winding down.
And Chump shows no signs of ending the war -- which he and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth now insist isn't a war -- or, even now. of understanding it.
All three are just going through the motions and trying to put something over on us. Kaley wants to pretend she's an actress, Mark wants to pretend he's rehabilitated while telling the world that he would lie about it all over again, and Chump wants you to call the Iranian War whatever terms he's using at the moment and justify it based on whatever lie he's telling the media. They're all just going through the motions and their fake assery harms us all in small ways and big ways.