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.
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).
