On this week’s Naked Lunch podcast, hosts Phil Rosenthal and David Wild sit down for lunch and, as they put it, have “a very, very fine conversation with the legendary singer-songwriter Graham Nash about his strong new solo album called simply, ‘Now,’ his long history with The Hollies, his illustrious yet emotionally complex relationship life making music with Crosby, Stills & Nash -- and sometimes Young. Along the way, Nash answers fan questions from Adam Levine, Mark Oliver Everett of Eels and The Milk Carton Kids. Hear great stories involving Joni Mitchell, Tom Petty, The Everly Brothers, the "No Nukes" Concerts and so much more.”
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Yesterday, I mentioned that one of my most-favorite things in the series Ally McBeal was the deep, profound, ethereal – almost unearthly – love that Peter MacNicol’s character had for Barry White, and the song, “My First, My Last, My Everything.” Every once in a while, the show would find clever ways to work that mystical love into an episode. when there was something special, very important going on his character's life. As I wrote, the music would begin thumping in MacNicol’s head, and in his head alone, but the rest of the characters would know he's gone off into Barry White Land. Sometimes it would last for just a few seconds, but often the show would go into Full Barry White. The clip I posted yesterday – with MacNicol, Taye Diggs, Robert Downey Jr. and, at the end, Callista Flockhart dancing to the song in the bathroom – was one of the very best. As wonderful as the scene is, I said it was just “one of” the best. That’s because today's scene is the topper. It may not seem that way out of context, but it may (the entire law firm has gathered after work for what is a big McNicol birthday), but just know that the series had been using the Barry White song and MacNicol’s enthralled love for it repeatedly for years. MacNicol would psych himself up with the music that only he could actually hear, though others metaphysically glommed on to it, as well, understanding what was going on just in his head. So, this is pretty much the granddaddy culmination of them all. And is how the episode ended. Because, in baseball terms, this is a "walk-off homerun." The game is over, there's nothing else to add to it. Okay, a day has passed, Trump has been arraigned, and I can finally take a brief overview of the Republican debate. To be clear, I didn’t watch it – it wasn’t so much that I didn’t think I could handle having to bang my head against the wall all night, but more that none of those people on the stage were going to get the GOP nomination. So, what’s the point? (And if for some imaginable reason a miracle takes place, and someone on the stage does get nomination, Trump will burn down the party and trash the winner.)
But I watched hours of post-debate analysis, saw a lot of highlights repeated relentlessly, and spoke who people who did watch. So, I got as much of sense of the evening as was necessary for something totally meaningless. And a few overriding thoughts come to mind. There was a clear willingness by pretty much everyone on the stage to willfully ignore the political landscape reality. Every candidate supported strict abortion restrictions. The stricter the better. When “15 weeks at a minimum” is the most open-minded option on stage, you know that none of these people are concerned what voters even in red states have been showing they want. Not one candidate was willing to acknowledge the reality of Climate Change, as if devastating, record-setting 100-degree temperatures across the country, a mass of wildfires, floods and hurricanes didn’t exist and didn’t impact hundreds of millions of people who actually vote. With the exception of Chris Christie and Asa Hutchinson, every candidate on stage happily said they’d support Trump as the nominee even if he was in prison. That might get cheers at a GOP pep rally like the debate, but it’s going to have a hard time flying in the rest of the country you have to win over. (That said, the question was an easy one in comparison to an even harsher version of that question that I wish had been asked– would you support Trump if he was in prison convicted of four different crime s in four separate venues. For that matter, what wasn’t asked was – “If Trump is the nominee, how do you explain supporting him after having his day in court, defended by his own attorney, being convicted unanimously by a jury beyond a reasonable doubt of having committed what the judge wrote was the equivalence of rape?" Ron DeSantis showed why he was plummeting in the polls, presenting a warmth, charisma and connection to the public comparable to a cardboard cutout of himself. Nikki Haley had a couple strong moments, notably slamming Vivek Ramaswamy for his ignorance. But seeming “normal” on that stage is a low bar. And conflicts with her bouncing all over the place for the past six months. Chris Christie is noted these days for his open, honest attacks on Trump. A very Christie-like tactic given that he helped Trump try to win reelection by “playing” Joe Biden in Trump’s 2020 debate prep. What stood out, though, was that Christie’s most outspoken, attention-getting response came in his defense of New Jersey being associated with UFOs and Martians. Tim Scott didn’t seem to hurt himself in the debate, but then that’s largely because Tim Scott was pretty much surrounded by others more interested in getting the nomination. Though, in fairness, none of them will be getting the nomination. And yes, that brings us to Vivek Ramaswamy. There was a lot of post-debate discussion of Ramaswamy and how much airtime he got and energy he had. And “just the fact that we’re talking about him means he did well.” (Note: most news shows yesterday were talking about Trump all day, and it was because he was being arrested and getting a mug shot.) And so we will join in here. The point being that more than anyone on the debate stage, Vivek Ramiswamy represents all that has become empty and bad about the Republican Party today. A 37-year-old, tech multimillionaire who has zero experience and shows zero knowledge of government and society but is great at saying obnoxious, stupid things is in second place among all the “not-Trump” candidates. This is how the GOP got Trump, and Trump is how he and his team are getting indicted all over the place, Analysts for the past day have been saying how much energy Ramiswamy showed, and appeals to younger voters. Left out is them adding – “younger voters” are not a large part of the Republican base. And however few young voters the GOP has, this is a political demographic best known for not voting. The Republican Party is not nominating Vivek Ramiswamy for president. And if a miracle happens, and they do – Trump will…well, you know. See above.) The best line of the night did not come from a debater, but from Joy Reid on MSNBC’s post-debate coverage. She said that Vivek Ramiswamy came across to her “like your annoying freshman roommate.” The more clips I saw of Ramiswamy, the more I thought Reid’s description was remarkably spot on. And standing in for them all was saying things like, “Climate Change is a hoax. More people have died of Climate Change laws than have died of Climate Change” might play great in front of a Republican crowd that thinks science is a belief system and so will cheer infantile gobbledygook like that, but try it in front of an actual adult, and the emptiness will be so easy to eviscerate that you could do it with a plastic butter knife. Consider: being asked to point to one person whose life has been lost due to Climate Change laws. Consider: pointing out the clueless heartlessness in the immediate face of 1,000 people dying in Lahaina, a town burned to the ground. And all the lives lost in increased flooding, increased Stage 5 hurricanes, increased wildfires and record-setting 100-degree heat for weeks across the country. Wildfires so massive in Canada, that the resulting billowing smoke has traveled down to the United States and literally obscured vision as far away as Chicago and New York City. Consider, too, that the environment may be the top issue for young people, which is supposedly Ramaswamy’s base. Calling it a “hoax” just show his cluelessness more than most anything. Unless you include the childish and clueless timing of his defense of Russia over Ukraine on the very day that Vladimir Putin was reported to have killed 10 people, just to assassinate a former top ally. And in the end, none of them are getting the Republican Party nomination for president. This guy, the one who skipped the debate and instead pre-recorded an interview a week ago for Twitter with Tucker Carlson who had earlier said in emails how much he hated him, is getting the nomination. I wasn’t a regular watcher of the series Ally McBeal, that starred Callista Flockhart, though I did watch it a lot, especially during its first few years. And one of my very favorite things in the show was Peter MacNicol’s deep, profound, ethereal love for the singer Barry White, most especially the song, “My First, My Last, My Everything,” which he would periodically use to gear him up for something important, often a big court case. The music would begin to thump in, generally in MacNicol’s head, and off he’d go. And even if others couldn’t hear, when they saw MacNicol go into his zone, the others in the law office would know. Sometimes it would last for just a few seconds, but often they’d go into full Barry White. This may be one of the best uses of McNicol and the song – joined in the office’s unisex bathroom by Taye Diggs and Robert Downey Jr. Yes, I know last night was the first Republican Debate. I didn't watch for many reasons, high among them is because none of those participating will be getting the party's presidential nomination. I'm sure in post-debate analysis, it will be discussed who won, and how it will impact their polling, and if it will move them up in the polls (or who will move down.) I should add two things. One, the Republican Party is not going to nominate 37-year old tech millionaire with zero political experience Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the party, whatever analysis say. And two, if if by some otherworldly miracle one of the people on the debate stage does get the nomination other than Trump, including Mr. Ramaswamy, Trump will trash that person and burn down the party. Perhaps I'll write about the debate later, though who knows?, that might cover it in brief. We'll see how the spirit moves me... Instead, another matter came to mind back on August 14, which I've been meaning to write about. When the Georgia racketeering indictments were released 10 days ago, four of the nineteen people indicted were tied to the election office breach in Coffee County. That was where technicians hired by now-indicted Trump attorney Sidney Powell were allowed entry into the elections building, given free reign to wander around secure areas, and copied data which got disseminated around the country. For all the reactions people had to the indictments, mine was -- "Wait, Coffee County got included?? It's about time!!" That's because observant readers of these pages will recall the article I wrote about the event almost a year ago, on September 21, 2022, when video of the breach was discovered, which I embedded. So, as an appropriate Golden Oldie, and to remind people of the event with the details and video, I thought it was a good time to bring it back. I should add that the article refers throughout to GOP chairwoman Cathy Latham. What I didn't know at the time is that she also was one of the Georgia fake electors. And yes, she's one of the 19 people who were indicted. Entering the Projection Booth If a Biden campaign lawyer spent EIGHT HOURS in a restricted Georgia county elections office with the local Democratic Party chairman and forensic experts copying sensitive data from voting machines and opening boxes with digital data pads -- and lie about it – Republican heads would EXPLODE. And the thing is, they should have. That this breach was Trump experts working for Trump lawyer Sydney Powell, along with the Georgia Republican Party chairwoman is no less a major issue. Actually, it’s a far bigger issue given that it’s the Trump campaign which has been crying “election fraud” and data breaches and that the election was “stolen” and – and is the party that built an insurrection to overthrow the election. Man, talk about projection. This is projecting your own actions, indeed your own election fraud crimes on steroids. Oh, and now, to make this an even bigger issue, throw in that the Georgia GOP chairwoman Cathy Latham breaching the restricted elections office is already under investigation by D.A. Fanny Willis as one of the state’s fake electors. Furthermore, Ms. Latham claims that her lie is not a "lie" because she shouldn’t be expected to remember details from two years ago – which confirms the lie, since the “claim” is ludicrous. While I forget small matters like everyone, I also (like everyone) remember details from decades ago. Most especially those occasions are important and extensive. And trying to help the president of the United States prove faux-voter fraud for EIGHT HOURS during an election that was so deeply contested that there was an insurrection to overthrow democracy qualifies as important and extensive. And even that that, it’s one thing to forget minor specifics like, “I’m sorry, I forgot that I said down by the computer, when it was by phone bank.” It’s another thing entirely to say you were only at the county elections office for just a few minutes and stayed in the lobby the entire time – when, in fact, there is video evidence showing that it was EIGHT HOURS and she spent it in the restricted office with the computer system where people around you are opening boxes with data and handling it all. And she can't recall that from only two years ago??!! Two years?!! As lies go, this is a whopper. If this was a scene in Pinocchio, her nose would grow so long the tip would end up in Alabama. And again, to be clear, there is video of it all. This is not a “he said/she said” thing. This is a “She lied until the video evidence proving the lie” thing. As they say in sports – let’s go to the video. Here is a news report with a very edited-version of the EIGHT HOURS of video. It’s only two minutes with jump cuts in, but makes it all clear that this is not something you, oops, just forget some minor details, that it wasn’t only a few minutes in the lobby and nothing more. That’s Ms. Latham wearing a blue cardigan on the far left at the beginning of the video. You can see her sitting in the restricted office surrounded by data, which is being accessed by others. Later, you’ll see her wandering around with her co-conspirators. Here's the latest song parody from Randy Rainbow. I think the lyrics are fun, ranging from okay to terrific, but it's the title of the song that's a gem. It's a very good production, too. The song also takes a pretty good right turn later on... |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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