Ides of October 2024
Trump appears lost, confused, and frozen on stage as multiple songs play for 30+ minutes and the crowd pours out of the venue early pic.twitter.com/6r0TE2qCYM
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) October 15, 2024
Georgia. Nick Corasaniti of the New York Times: "A county judge [--Robert C.I. McBurney --] in Georgia has rejected an argument by allies of ... Donald J. Trump that local election officials have the power to refuse to certify election results, finding the process to be mandatory and one that must meet critical deadlines. The ruling cuts at the heart of a key argument from right-wing activists following the 2020 election, when Mr. Trump sought to disrupt the certification process as part of his bid to subvert the results. In years since, right-wing groups have been seeking much broader authority and power over the certification process, an ambitious -- and legally dubious -- attempt to reimagine decades of settled law."
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Presidential Race
Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged. -- Kamala Harris, at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania ~~~
~~~ Erica Green of the New York Times: "... at a packed campaign rally on Monday night in Erie, Pa..., for Vice President Kamala Harris..., [she used] Mr. Trump's own words as her campaign amplified warnings of the dangers she says he poses should he win a second term in the White House. Ms. Harris pulled few punches as she portrayed her Republican opponent as an authoritarian obsessed with his own power, pointing to Mr. Trump's recent rallies and media appearances where he has asserted that his Democratic detractors were the 'enemy from within,' more dangerous than foreign adversaries like Russia and China, and that they 'should be put in jail.'... In a striking moment, Ms. Harris told the crowd of 6,000 that they didn't have to take her word for it, that she had an example of his 'worldview and intentions.... Please -- roll the clip,' she said as the crowd groaned and gasped as Mr. Trump's face flashed on screens. 'He's talking about the enemy within our country, Pennsylvania,' Ms. Harris said to a jeering crowd. 'He's talking about that he considers anyone who doesn't support him, or who will not bend to his will, an enemy of our country'." The AP's report is here.
Erica Green & Nicholas Nehamas of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris made a sweeping push on Monday to energize Black voters, among whom she faces slipping support, unveiling a plan to bolster the finances of Black men, appearing in interviews with two Black media outlets and releasing a pair of ads in battleground states targeted to that crucial voting group. Taken together, Ms. Harris's blitz put forward a broad argument that her administration would deliver meaningful policy changes for Black Americans and that ... Donald J. Trump was making empty promises that contradict his history of racist remarks.... The plan, called the 'Opportunity Agenda for Black Men,' expands upon Ms. Harris's 'opportunity economy' pitch, building upon efforts to address the unique barriers that the demographic faces in starting businesses and building wealth."
Look Who's Not Afraid of the Big Bad Fox. Michael Grynbaum of the New York Times: "Vice President Kamala Harris has agreed to an interview with Fox News, the network said on Monday. The interview, with Fox News's chief political anchor, Bret Baier, will take place near Philadelphia on Wednesday, shortly before it airs at 6 p.m. Eastern on Mr. Baier's program, 'Special Report.' Ms. Harris is expected to sit for 25 to 30 minutes of questions, the network said. This is Ms. Harris's first formal interview with Fox News, whose day-to-day programming is heavy on conservative punditry that often explicitly supports ... Donald J. Trump." (Also linked yesterday.) ~~~
~~~ Marie: Here's hoping Harris brings to the Fox interview some of the receipts Rachel Maddow featured last night; video below.
Michael Luciano of Mediaite: "Vice presidential candidate Tim Walz warned a crowd of supporters [at a rally in Wisconsin Monday] that ... Donald Trump was talking about them when denouncing 'the enemy from within.'... 'Donald Trump, over the weekend, was talking about using the U.S. Army against people who disagree with him. Just so you're clear about that, that's you. That's what he's talking about.... He called it "the enemy within." And to Donald Trump, anybody who doesn't agree with him is the enemy. I tell you that not to make you fearful or anything. I tell you that because we need to whip his butt and put this guy behind us.'...
At a rally in Colorado on Friday, Trump floated the idea of using the military on U.S. citizens. 'We have the greatest military in the world, but you have to know how to use them,' he said. 'It's the enemy from within. All the scum that we have to deal with that hate our country. That's a bigger enemy than China and Russia!' He reiterated the idea Sunday on Fox News. 'We have some sick people, radical left lunatics,' the former president stated. 'It should be very easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard or if really necessary by the military.'"
Listen to Walz pull out the stops: ~~~
In her lead segment last night, Rachel Maddow got to wondering about people who say that "business" or "the economy" are their main reasons they're voting for Donald Trump:
Some Things Donald Trump Has Lost: (1) Dozens of Court Cases; (2) 2020 Presidential Election; (3) His Marbles: ~~~
~~~ Michael Gold of the New York Times: "Donald J. Trump was about 30 minutes into a town hall Monday night in suburban Philadelphia when a medical emergency in the crowd brought the questions and answers to a halt. Moments later, he tried to get back on track, when another medical incident seemed to derail things, this time for good. And so ... rather than try to restart the political program, he seemed to decide in the moment that it would be more enjoyable for all concerned -- and, it appeared, for himself -- to just listen to music instead. Mr. Trump had his staff fire up his campaign playlist, standing on the stage for about half an hour and swaying to songs as his crowd slowly dwindled. He bobbed his head through the Village People's 'Y.M.C.A.'.... He swayed soberly to Rufus Wainwright's version of 'Hallelujah,' watched a Sinead O'Connor video, rocked along to Elvis, watched the crowd during 'Rich Men North of Richmond' and then, finally, left the stage to shake hands on his way out during one last song." ~~~
~~~ The Washington Post headline calls Trump's dance party "a bizarre town hall episode." Meanwhile, the AP report treats the incident as sort of standard Trump. ~~~
~~~ Marie: So according to the Times, Trump spent half-an-hour of a supposed town hall bobbing his head. And he brags about his "genius" "weave." Yet the the same paper of record ran a headline accusing Harris of bobbing and weaving?
David Badash of the New Civil Rights Movement, republished by the Raw Story: "After a weekend of speeches dehumanizing immigrants and threatening to use the U.S. military on Americans who oppose him, Donald Trump in a 1 AM dead of night post lashed out at his Democratic presidential opponent in what some are saying was projection. 'I believe it is very important that Kamala Harris pass a test on Cognitive Stamina and Agility," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform at 1:12 AM. 'Her actions have led many to believe that there could be something very wrong with her. Even 60 Minutes and CBS, in order to protect Lyin' Kamala, illegally and unscrupulously replaced an answer she had given, which was totally "bonkers," with another answer that had nothing to do with the question asked. Also, she is slow and lethargic in answering even the easiest of questions....' Late Monday morning Trump posted the same message on the social media site X....
"The Harris campaign mocked Trump in response. 'Trump posts at 1:12am that VP Harris must take a cognitive test,' wrote campaign spokesperson Ian Sams. 'As he refuses to release his medical records, sit with 60 Minutes, or debate her again -- instead retreating solely to rambling rallies where he's increasingly making no sense.'"
~~~ Marie: I doubt that Harris has taken a cognitive test. There's a reason for that. Unless a person shows signs of cognitive decline, these tests are usually reserved for people aged 65 & older, when Medicare kicks in. Harris is 59. Trump has taken the tests several times (by his own admission) because he's old and/or because his doctors suspected he was losing it. He's making a mistake to emphasize that by demanding that Harris take a test commonly reserved for the elderly and afflicted.
Aaron Navarro of CBS News: "More than 230 doctors, nurses and health care professionals, most of whom are backing Vice President Kamala Harris, are calling on ... Donald Trump to release his medical records, arguing that he should be transparent about his health 'given his advancing age.... Trump is falling concerningly short of any standard of fitness for office and displaying alarming characteristics of declining acuity,; the 238 signatories wrote in a letter dated Oct. 13 and first obtained by CBS News. 'In the limited opportunities we can examine his behavior, he's providing a deeply concerning snapshot.'...
"Harris again called on Trump to release details about his health in an interview released on Monday. 'I put out my medical records. He won't put out his medical records. And you have to ask, why is this staff doing that? And it may be because they think he's just not ready, and [is] unfit and unstable and should not have that level of transparency for the American people,' Harris told journalist Roland Martin in an interview for his Black Star Network."
Aurora is not a war zone, and the pleasant 1.2 mile autumn walk [I took] through a mixture of neighborhoods, park, etc. was lovely.... It's a very rich environment. I can walk to a mosque, buy treats at an Armenian bakery, get my middle eastern staples at an Iraqi store, observe African prayer services, and even a Mexican wedding with mariachi band at the corner park, etc. etc. Oh, and people keep their dogs and cats under supervision as (native) coyotes might be in need of a meal. -- Aurora, Colorado, according to Linda from Denver, writing in yesterday's Comments
[Donald] Trump painted a picture of [Aurora] apartment complexes overrun by 'barbaric thugs' and streets unsafe to travel, blaming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.... 'They're ruining your state,' Trump said.... 'No person who has inflicted the violence and terror that Kamala Harris has inflicted on this community can ever be allowed to become the president of the United States,' Trump added. Trump often used dehumanizing language, referring to ... migrants as 'animals' who have 'invaded and conquered' Aurora. The town is 'infected by Venezuela,' he said. -- Associated Press
Hmmm. So a person who follows Reality Chex can walk around Aurora freely and enjoy the street life. But a Trump follower would be afraid to step onto the curb. Looks like I am your protector. -- Marie
Bill Barrow of the AP: "Donald Trump insists that Project 2025, a nearly 1,000-page blueprint for a hard-right turn in American government and society, does not reflect his priorities for a White House encore. 'I haven't read it. I don't want to read it -- purposefully,' the Republican presidential nominee said Sept. 10 on the debate stage. Yet from economics, immigration and education policy to civil rights and foreign affairs, there are common ideas and shared ideology between Project 2025 and Trump's outline for another term -- from his official 'Agenda 47' slate, the Republican platform he personally approved and his other statements.... Here's a look at how Trump's 2024 campaign and Project 2025 align and deviate[.]" MB: Where Barrow notes the two differ: Trump likes Russia; Project 2025 backs Ukraine. So Trump is worse than Project 2025.
About Those Corrupt Trump Pardons. Ken Vogel & Eric Lipton of the New York Times: "A Florida man who received a commutation of a 20-year fraud sentence from ... Donald J. Trump in 2020 -- only to plead guilty this year to a related crime -- was arrested on Sunday on domestic violence-related charges in South Florida. The man, Philip Esformes, was charged with two felony counts that could result in jail time and fines if he were convicted, according to a public records database maintained by Miami-Dade County. Mr. Esformes is at least the seventh person granted clemency by Mr. Trump who has been charged with new crimes after receiving a second chance, according to a New York Times analysis. Mr. Esformes is also the third known recipient of a clemency grant from Mr. Trump to be charged with a domestic violence-related offense."
Claire Moses of the New York Times: "Lilly Ledbetter, whose lawsuit against her employer paved the way for the Fair Pay Act of 2009 and who dedicated decades of her life to fighting for equal pay, died in Alabama on Saturday, her family said in a statement. She was 86." Thanks to RAS for the link. (Also linked yesterday.)
Is it surprising that this savage fuck grew up to head the NRA? ~~~
~~~ Stephanie Kirchgaessner of the Guardian: "Douglas Hamlin, who was appointed to lead the NRA this summer in the wake of a long-running corruption scandal at the gun rights group, was involved decades ago in the sadistic killing of a fraternity house cat named BK, according to several local media reports at the time. Hamlin pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty brought against him and four of his fraternity brothers in 1980, when he was an undergraduate student at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The charge was brought against Hamlin under a local Ann Arbor ordinance. All five members of Alpha Delta Phi were later expelled from the fraternity. The details of the case, described in local media reports at the time, are gruesome. The house cat was captured, its paws were cut off, and was then strung up and set on fire. The killing, which occurred in December 1979, was allegedly prompted by anger that the cat was not using its litterbox."
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Rebecca Beitsch of the Hill: "Republican allies of former President Trump have embarked on a sweeping effort to restrict voting and purge voter rolls across the country since the 2020 election.... A review of the voting landscape by The Hill shows the breadth of efforts carried out at the state and local level, where GOP officials have adopted a number of measures to increase partisan control of elections and secure greater opportunities to audit results and hinder certification. They've also launched a series of lawsuits or other challenges seeking to cull voter rolls, sparking fears that bids to remove tens of thousands from the list will inevitably remove qualified voters."
Florida. Geoff Mulvihill of the AP: "Florida's government is finding fault on multiple fronts with an abortion rights ballot measure that Gov. Ron DeSantis opposes. This month, the state health department has been telling television stations they could be subject to criminal charges if they continue airing one ad from Floridians Protecting Freedom that the government says is untrue and creates a 'sanitary nuisance.' The ad has continued to run anyway. Separately, on Friday, the Office of Election Crimes and Security issued a report claiming a 'large number of forged signatures or fraudulent petitions' were submitted to get the question on the ballot. The state also announced a $328,000 fine against the ballot-measure group. The campaign director for the group says that the campaign has been 'above board' and that the state government is acting improperly to try to defeat the amendment."
North Carolina. Terence McGinley of the New York Times: "A North Carolina man was arrested on Saturday and accused of threatening federal emergency responders who have been administering aid since Hurricane Helene ravaged parts of the state last month. The man, William Jacob Parsons, 44, of Bostic, N.C., was charged under a law that makes it illegal to carry a weapon in a way that threatens the public. He was arrested at a supermarket where a Federal Emergency Management Agency bus was parked.... Mr. Parsons had a handgun and a rifle in his possession. No FEMA personnel were at the site.... The man was overheard voicing threats at a gas station in neighboring Polk County, and either a station clerk or a customer alerted U.S. Army soldiers nearby, [a Rutherford County Sheriff's spokesman] said. The Army informed the Rutherford County Sheriff's Office, whose deputies visited the gas station and obtained a description of the man's vehicle. That information led them to Mr. Parsons at the supermarket....
"Social media pages that appear to be run by Mr. Parsons feature messages supporting Mr. Trump and opposing coronavirus vaccines. One of the posts from 2020 shows the logo of the Three Percenters right-wing militia group and the message 'When tyranny becomes law, rebellion is order.'" CNN's report is here.
Texas Senate Race. Alexander Bolton of the Hill: "Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R) vented his frustration with the Senate Leadership Fund, a super PAC aligned with Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), for not spending any money in his competitive reelection race, accusing McConnell of using the group to 'punish' his critics in the Senate GOP conference.... Asked if McConnell or the PAC had put any money into his increasingly close race against Democratic Rep. Colin Allred (Texas), Cruz replied: 'Not a penny.' ... [Cruz] said the same thing happened in 2018, when he barely beat Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas), who outspent him by a large margin."
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Canada/India. Matina Stevis-Gridneff of the New York Times: "Canada accused the Indian government on Monday of homicide and extortion intended to silence critics of India living in Canada, escalating a bitter dispute that began last year with an assassination of a Sikh activist. Canada expelled India's top diplomat and five others, saying they were part of a vast criminal network. India reciprocated, expelling six Canadian diplomats. The two countries have been in an intense dispute following the assassination in Canada of a prominent Sikh cleric, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. The government of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at the time that his killing had been orchestrated by the Indian government. Canada is home to the largest Sikh community outside India, where the religious minority lives mostly in the northwestern state of Punjab. The Indian government says that some Sikhs in Canada are actively involved in a secessionist movement that seeks to carve a Sikh homeland known as Khalistan out of India."
Israel/Palestine, et al.
The Washington Post's live updates of developments Tuesday in Israel's wars are here: "A top U.N. humanitarian official condemned an Israeli strike on a hospital compound in central Gaza, which set tents ablaze and killed at least four people. The Israel Defense Forces said the strike was targeting Hamas militant infrastructure." ~~~
~~~ The New York Times' live updates Tuesday are here.
Shira Rubin & Ellen Nakashima of the New York Times: "Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told the Biden administration he is willing to strike military rather than oil or nuclear facilities in Iran, according to two officials familiar with the matter, suggesting a more limited counterstrike aimed at preventing a full-scale war."
AP: "More than 400,000 children in Lebanon have been displaced in the past three weeks..., [Ted Chaiban, UNICEF's deputy executive director for humanitarian actions] said Monday, warning of a 'lost generation' in the small country grappling with multiple crises and now in the middle of war. Israel has escalated its campaign against the Lebanon-based Hezbollah militant group, including launching a ground invasion, after a year of exchanges of fire during its war with Hamas in Gaza. The fighting in Lebanon has driven 1.2 million people from their homes, most of them fleeing to Beirut and elsewhere in the north over the past three weeks since the escalation."
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All Trump supporters may not be swastika flying Nazis, but all Nazis are Trump supporters. All. [link fixed]
A Trump boat parade in Jupiter, Florida (with Stoopid Eric in the lead) includes Nazis sieg heiling Trump, saying we have to make America white again (it was never white in the first place, assholes).
As I’ve said before, if you vote for Trump, you’re voting for a guy whose primary political advisor is Adolf Hitler. The Nazis know it. Clearly AG doesn’t or he wouldn’t be promoting support for Nazi policies as mere intellectual curiosity. “Arbeit macht frei”, is that it, AG?
Funny that such a virulent homophobe as Fatty J. Bigot was on stage doing his white guy head bob to “YMCA”, a gay anthem, watching a Sinead O’Connor video, O’Connor having been best known as a staunch opponent of Christianity and a long time supporter of gay rights, and listening to Rufus Wainwright (a gay man) singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, a song that refers to such things as David’s “secret chord”, a nod to a deeper connection to universal truths, a song of strong emotions, a strange one for such a sociopath whose primary emotions are self love and hatred of billions of human beings.
I’m guessing this fat old fart is pretty tired of campaigning. He probably still gets a little charge out of the droolers responding to his lies and racist insults, but probably wishes it could all be over so he can get some sleep at last, maybe in one of those courtrooms waiting for his felonious ass.
Marie,
Thanks for the repair job. Not just a protector, but a digital mechanic as well.
For a long time, we here at RC have been whacking the AG Times for its bothsiderism, but lately it seems that very often, the paper comes down mostly on one side.
One of AG’s winger opinionators sees the absolute need to protect the first amendment right of white supremacists. Protestors against Bibi’s annihilation of civilians in Gaza, not so much.
“Times columnist John McWhorter, who teaches at Columbia University, is a part of the paper’s growing chorus of elite, pearl-clutching commentators (e.g., 6/7/18, 11/9/21, 3/18/23, 2/24/24) who blame society’s ills on an amorphous enemy of tyrannical ‘wokeness,’ which McWhorter (3/21/23) presents as “an anti-Enlightenment program.” The Times embraces the idea, widespread in corporate media (Atlantic, 1/27/21; Newsweek, 7/25/23), that today’s social justice warriors are the true enemies of free speech.”
Yup. Woke is evil. But racism? I guess, like Trump’s interest in Nazi blood and soil policies, bigotry is just a form of “intellectual curiosity”.
“In sharp contrast to his denunciation of pro-Palestine protesters’ speech, McWhorter (New York Times, 10/3/24) offered a full-throated defense of Amy Wax, a University of Pennsylvania law professor who has been sanctioned by the school for ‘flagrant unprofessional conduct,’ including ‘a history of making sweeping, blithe and derogatory generalizations about groups by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and immigration status,’ as well as ‘breaching grade privacy requirements’ (Wall Street Journal, 9/24/24).
A faculty panel unanimously recommended Wax be suspended for a year at half salary, publicly reprimanded and stripped of her named chair; Wax has appealed the recommendation and is still teaching.
Wax has said that the US is ‘better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration’ (CNN, 9/25/24). The Daily Pennsylvanian (8/10/17) wrote that, in an interview, Wax ‘said Anglo-Protestant cultural norms are superior’: ‘I don’t shrink from the word ‘superior’…. Everyone wants to go to countries ruled by white Europeans.’
Wax made public comments about Black students’ grades that were both a violation of confidentiality and, according to the Penn law school dean, false (Vox, 2/16/23)“
It’s getting harder and harder to categorically deny that AG isn’t, at heart, a Trumper. It’s not about both sides anymore. It’s “Fuck
Harris and stick up for Trump and Trumpy ideology.”
@Akhilleus: The music played at trump rallies should be from
'Springtime for Hitler', a gay romp with Adolf and Eva at
Berchtesgarden.
@Akhilleus & @ForrestMorris: Popular music generally does not promote backward-looking views, and that's a problem for Republicans. Except for some country & western stuff, there isn't much out there for "conservatives," so they're stuck with "liberal" music and barrier-breaking musicians.
I have noticed all my life that confederate young people have adapted to this dearth of popular-music-for-reactionaries by just ignoring the meaning of lyrics.
Maybe this is what primes them for accepting the lies Republican politicians tell & living in a fantasy world where down is up and up is down.
Stuart Stevens takes down billionaire loser Bill Ackerman on his reasonings for supporting TFG. Another rich guy living in TFG's carnage fantasy world. I'm sure he'd fit right in with the NYT's opinion section people.
@Marie: Yeah, I remember Paul Ryan saying that one of his favorite bands was Rage Against The Machine who are as far from his Republican Party values as you can get. The lyrics and messages behind the music get completely ignored. It is probably good practice for them for ignoring all other information out in the world that doesn't fit into their tiny view of the world.
Since DiJiT is a big Taylor Swift fan, maybe he should add to his music show the first two stanzas of "Shake it off", I'm sure she'd give him the address of Scooter so DiJiT could apply to use the "not Taylor's" version:
" I stay out too late
Got nothing in my brain
That's what people say, mm-mm
That's what people say, mm-mm
I go on too many dates
But I can't make 'em stay
At least that's what people say, mm-mm
That's what people say, mm-mm ... "
New York Times
"The Trump Voters Who Don’t Believe Trump
When the former president endorses violence and proposes using the government to attack his enemies, many of his supporters assume it’s just an act.
That’s the way some of his voters think another term might go. It’s how they rationalize his rhetoric, by affording him a reverse benefit of the doubt. They doubt; he benefits."
I got a late start this morning due to early morning take-out-the-elderly-Icelandic sheepdog, then could not fall back asleep for hours-- Daughter told me what Fat F*** did last night at his "town hall..." and I saw a couple of clips. The first thing I thought of is YMCA? I thought that was an anthem to LGBTQ people, of which I am not one, so I agree that is weird! Note that all the uncomfortable people besides the Dakota dog shooter look like they are saying WTH is going on here? He looked a bit like he was on something-- do his aides drug him up when he is going onstage? It would fit with the listless way he leans on the lecturn and nonenergetic way he pronounces his Nazi-isms.
Have to turn off people today-- and the comments to the Obama speech instagrams are all hideous symphonies of declarations of love for Fat Felon...I wrote there they should turn off comments...And the teevee people just don't know what to do with polls that put the two unequal candidates at tied...such "concerns" (a la Susan Collins) and worry about black men, with others already declaring KaMAla dead in the water...This is worse than Comey and emails and laptops. Add that to the hurricane idiocy and threats to FEMA and lies all perpetrated by the Fat F***-- must turn on Grantchester instead. (British teevee about post WWII vicars and detectives...I always get involved with these shows, and it is painful to remember they are fiction AND long dead if the people were real...)
Have a nice Tuesday if you can. Harder and harder at three weeks out.
RAS,
I’ve been reading about that sort of rationale, pretending that the crazy spewed out by Trump and Vance is just an act, “Oh, he’ll never do that!”
Right.
The other day in the grocery store I overheard a couple of obvious Trump voters (the MAGA hats are giveaways, also the t-shirt with guns all over it) spinning the same yarn. “Liberals are all lying about Trump. He’s a great guy. They try to make him sound like a psycho.” I’m thinking “Well, it’s not a tall order. He’s a great help.” One of the guys notices I’m within hearing range. He asks me what I think. Realizing there’s no point in getting into a debate with a guy who walks around looking like a gun store ad and is ready to vote for Hitler, I decided to go the literary route.
“Chekov’s gun” I said.
I left before they showed me their guns.
But it’s an apt reference. Chekov had the idea that a writer shouldn’t add stuff to a story (or movie, or stage play) unless it’s has some intrinsic value to the narrative. Non-essential details should be cut out.
So, in the story, a guy walks into a room. Up on the wall he sees a hunting rifle. That gun will (or should), according to Chekov, play a role at some point in the story. Someone’ll get shot with it, or it turns out to have belonged to a former czar or something.
This idea has become so ingrained we don’t even think about it anymore. You’re watching a movie. A girl invites her new boyfriend to her apartment. He picks up a picture sitting the piano. “Who’s this?” “Oh, that’s my crazy Uncle Reynaldo. He went to prison years ago for murdering 45 people with a butcher knife.” Surer than shit you know old Uncle Reynaldo and his butcher knife will make an appearance later on. If not, you’re like “What the hell was all that about the crazy uncle?”
Trump says he’s going to deport immigrants, take away broadcast licenses, go after enemies with the military? He’s gonna do it, or at least he’ll try to do it.
Trump’s gun.
Jeanne,
Love those British crime shows, perfect Sunday night fare, wherein murders and assorted nasty doings are solved by nice old ladies, vicars, or various amateur sleuths in two hours or less.
I was a big fan of GK Chesterton’s Father Brown books when I was a kid, and enjoy the more recent TV adaptations. But as with the Inspector Morse series, I was always slightly amused/appalled at all the horrible crap going on regularly near bucolic English country churches or in an ancient and refined college town like Oxford. I guess those nasty crooks just don’t get how Holmesian those turned around collar guys can be.
If you’re looking for something a bit different but no less engaging, try “Dark Winds” on Netflix. I binged through two seasons recently as an escape from the constant stream of Trump defecations on democracy. This series is based on several Tony Hillerman novels about Navajo tribal police set in the 70s. A lot of the dialogue is in the Navajo language so it’s got a great feel to it. Great cast, as well. And no white guys made up to look like Indians as in those old Hollywood movies.
Nothing like a good murder show to shake off the fetid Trump stink.
Forrest,
Ahhh…”Springtime for Hitler”. Love the part where madcap Dick Shawn, as a crazed Hitler, is on stage saying “I liebs ya baaaby, now lieb me alone!” to Eva Braun. In the audience, the helmeted Nazi guy says “Vat is dis ‘Baby’? Der further never said ‘Baby’”
Haha. Now we need some enterprising producer to come up with “Springtime for Fatty”.
The Orange Dementia Man insists on everyone he hates taking a cognition test. Very well. November 5th. National Cognition Test Day. Depending on how you vote, you’re either mentally stable, marbles intact (Harris) or a babbling idiot wearing your underwear over your head (Trump).
Okay? There’s your test.
Are you fucking kidding me?
Isn’t Fatty supposed to the most savvy, experienced team of handlers this year? WTF were they all doing while this idiot was standing on a stage swaying back and forth looking like Rainman learning how to dance?
You half expect him to shout “Five minutes to Wapner!” at any moment.
Were they updating their resumes? Taking bets on how many votes they were losing with each song? Or doing Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who had to go out and drag his demented ass off the stage?
“Watch my feet, Raymond. Raymond! Watch my feet!”
“Yeah. Okay. Raymond’s dancing.”
“That’s or Raymond. Nuclear codes, here we come.”
Pardon me if I just missed it, but I haven't seen any follow up reports on the "fainters" at his rally. I certainly hope they weren't "raptured" by proximity to the presence but all the commentary went on to Trump and Noem at the Hoe down.
So you say "Chekhov's Gun", but the guy in the store thinks to himself, huh, Chekhov always had phasers.
I'd have stuck with that Jesus guy, respond "By their fruits you shall know they're fruitcakes." Or something. Or better, "Hey, look eggs are down to 2.50!"
Aaron Rupar
"The NYT says Trump was just doing an "improvisational departure," like John Coltrane or something, when he behaved like a complete madman on stage tonight"
Making Trump look normal is hard work.
AK: thanks for the suggestion for my next Netflix fix! I seem to try a lot of things and then leave them to wither on the vine...Just did the Kristen Bell thingie (not a series, not on network) where she falls in love with a rabbi, and that one was nice...forget the name. I will go back to PBS for a new series when Grantchester is over. I used to watch all Masterpiece Theater things, but fell out of the habit. The old ones were so good-- Danger NXB or something like that, about the bombing of London...love Call the Midwife and Doc Martin and All Creatures Great and Small. Not PBS but I wonder if I would like Homicide-- did not watch it when it was actually on so long ago... Daughter steered me to Brooklyn Nine Nine and it is lovely for a break from super dramas... And there is always another library book, so I CAN turn off Katie Tur or Andrea Mitchell... Happy Tuesday with other things, anyhow!
Jeanne,
Not wanting to get too TV Guidey, but “Homicide, Life on the Street” is a landmark in broadcast television, easily the best cop show from that world. It was a dry run, in many ways, for “The Wire”, in my opinion, the greatest series in television history. “Homicide” came out of the reporting of Baltimore Sun writer David Simon, who went on to create “The Wire”. And if you enjoy “Brooklyn Nine Nine”, I’m guessing it has a lot to do with the great Andre Braugher, one of the top four or five actors of his era. Braugher’s breakout performance on “Homicide” helped put that show on the map.
Give it a shot. I read somewhere that the show has finally become available on some streaming service. The cast is astonishingly good, the writing and directing, top of the class. More ways good murder stories can suppress the urge to Trump-barf.