If you didn't see Last Week Tonight with John Oliver last night, his Main Story was on Inflation. It looks at the causes, how it's impacting things, and what can be done. And what I most liked about the piece is that it repeatedly makes clear what it is obvious but so often ignored -- that there is no one reason for inflation. Of course, what I liked, as well, was how funny the show was still able to make it.
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This past weekend, there was a stream of quotes from Republican officials that started with forcing one to shake your head in wonderment and got such progressively worse that it’s near-impossible to think it’s all not discarded jokes from The Onion, rejected for being too offensive.
The mildest came from Trump on Friday night at a rally in Arizona when he ranted about the January 6 investigations, crying out on video for all the world to see his mournful angst, "Where does it stop? Where does it end?" In fairness, that wasn’t a bad quote, just utterly clueless as to not understanding the reality of public reaction when you attempt an insurrection to overthrow the government and democracy. But at least now he knows how many felt during his fascist time in office. And also there is an answer to his question, which is probably either "In court" or "Leavenworth." (I was going to use a quote from Sunday when Trump spoke at the Turning Point Action convention. There was so much to choose from Trump -- including praising himself during a disastrous heat wave around the world)for having gutted environmental protections -- but the most Pure Trump came when he said, and yes, this is on video, "As President, I wanted to give myself the Congressional Medal of Honor but they wouldn’t let me do it.. They said that would be inappropriate." It must be very, very lonely inside the void of that humanoid shell. "Inappropriate" may have been what they said. It absolutely was not what they thought. But then, dropping down a level, we have Josh Hawley, made a national public figure of ridicule on Thursday with video of him racing around the Senate to save himself after having earlier given a power fist of support to the insurrectionists. And for reasons unknown to Man, he made a PAC speech -- on video -- that said, among other things, "I'm not going to cower, I'm not going to run." Yes, he really, honestly said that. The total lack of self-awareness is astonishing. "I'm not going to run"??? When memes of him running away are flying all over social media, and video ads. What's most remarkable, though, is that no one on his staff leaped in and destroyed the camera! It's like he's a golf ball and has chosen to put himself on the tee for the rest of the world to take out their #1 wood. Fore!!!! But all that is only the hors d'oeuvres. But plummeting much lower, there was Lauren Boebert (R-CO) at the Turning Point Action convention. The video shows her sashaying across the stage – and as much as I’d like to describe it some other way, that’s the most accurate – and then she says: "Contrary to popular belief, I have never been as escort for Senator Ted Cruz." Yes, really. Right up there, with “I am not a witch” and other great quotes from Republican politicians. But the thing is, that’s only part of what she said which got the most attention. But what she (actually) said right after makes her quote even worse - and yes, that's possible. She next says: "But -- I will tell you tonight, it's the coolest thing I've ever heard about Ted Cruz!" And yes, she really, truly said all that. There’s video. And just speaking here as a former publicist, let me note that sashaying while saying all that isn’t the best delivery choice. I should add that I wonder what Ted Cruz would say is the coolest thing he’s ever heard about Lauren Boebert? But amazingly, that from Ms. Boebert is not only not the worst thing a Republican official said on Saturday (amazing at that may be), it’s not even the worst thing a Republican official said on Saturday at the Turning Point Action convention!!! (Repulsive as that may be.) That honor goes to Matt Gaetz (R-FL), the congressman currently being under FBI investigation for sex trafficking with a minor. What Matt Gaetz said (and yes, I know that when you’re under FBI investigation about anything you should probably keep a low profile and say nothing in public – but especially when the FBI is investigating you for sex trafficking a minor, you shouldn’t say anything that has to even suggest sex, including “Please pass me that sextant”) -- what Gaetz told the audience was: "Why is it that the women with the least likelihood of getting pregnant are the ones most worried about having abortions? Nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb." I swear this is true. Again, there is video. It’s awful. But as awful as it is, this is less about Matt Gaetz (since we know who he is and that he's under FBI investigation for sex trafficking a minor), and instead almost entirely about seeing if anyone among GOP officials criticizes him for this. Heavy betting odds are on "No," with only slightly lower odds for "No way in hell." You can’t damn the entire Republican Party because a few party officials says clueless, mind-numbingly stupid or horrifically thoughtless statements, all on just one weekend -- several on the same day. But you can define the party is no one, let alone its leader, are okay with it all. And doesn't even include former VP Mike Pence's tweet telling Republicans to quit looking at "grievances" of the past and instead look to the future. Never mind that the main point of conservativism is to protect the past -- it's in its very name! But to call an insurrection to overthrow the government and democracy where police were beaten, people died, a mob broke into the U.S. Capitol, and there were threats against the lives of congressmen...and his own life (!) nothing more than "grievances" might even be the worst thing a Republican official said on Saturday -- and we're not even including it. And this is today’s Republican Party. Wanting to take away American’s rights to abortion, contraceptives, same-sex marriage, and interracial marriage just as starters – and we haven’t even gotten to voting rights. If anyone wonders why the GOP is called fascist today, these are just some of the reasons why. Though none of it should come as a surprise when you see what some of their officials say and it’s all met with silence and tacit approval. On this week’s ‘Not My Job’ segment of the NPR quiz show Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the guest is actor Sean Hayes. He has a fun, lively conversation with host Peter Sagal, that covers growing up in Chicago, being music director at the Pheasant Run Dinner Theater there, and recently playing Oscar Levant at the Goodman Theatre, along with a funny Paul Lynde story. (But no, nothing about Will & Grace.)
This the full Wait, Wait… broadcast, but you can jump directly to the “Not My Job” segment, it starts around the 18:30 mark. On this week’s episode of 3rd and Fairfax, the official podcast of the Writers Guild of America, the guests are screenwriters Karen McCullah & Kirsten ‘Kiwi” Smith, who wrote the films 10 Things I Hate About You and The Ugly Truth. They talk about writing the comedy Legally Blonde, which was named one of the “WGA’s 101 Greatest Screenplays of the 21st Century (*so far).”
From the archive. The contestants are Lynda and Doug Miller from Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. If you don’t get the hidden song, you’re not trying. I’d even say that it you don’t get it within three seconds you need a refresher course. As for the composer style, it came down to two possibilities – though I had three in mind, but eliminated one whose works I don’t know quite well enough to guess -- and actually, there it should have been a fourth person, who foolishly I didn’t think of. And I missed it, because it was that “third” who I just didn't know well-enough and so eliminated..
Terrorism expert Malcolm Nance talks about his new book, They Want to Kill Americans, on the clear & present threat of, as Al puts it, “The coming Civil War.”
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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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