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'I don't believe you Janice, once you are in you ARE in.'
And even if I say, "But I just want some carrots!", I'm DOOMED??
"So much is at stake here and like Chris Christie's waistband after a dinner at PF Chang's the tension is almost unbearable."
That's a sample. I pasted the video with the cc on, if it's not click it on
Triumph the Insult Comic Dog Crashes the Trump Trial Circus
POOPED
The iconic dog puppet confronted the “who’s who of who’s off their meds” outside the Manhattan courthouse on the first day of Trump’s criminal trial.
Matt Wilstein Senior Editor
Published Apr. 18, 2024 5:04PM EDT
Hot on the heels of his latest “Let’s Make a Poop” game show special featuring Rob Schneider, “Weird” Al Yankovic, and more, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog was spotted engaging with the MAGA faithful outside of Donald Trump’s criminal trial in Downtown Manhattan this week.
Now, the fruits of his comedic labors have arrived on YouTube for us all to enjoy.
“Triumph doesn’t have a formal gig right now, but I’ve been wanting to cover the election,” Robert Smigel, the former Saturday Night Live and Late Night with Conan O’Brien writer who created the iconic puppet, wrote in a message to The Daily Beast on Thursday.
“Since this trial was right here in New York some writers and I just went for it, shooting with iPhones. We were low on cigars, but hopefully people support Triumph’s special and YouTube channel and he’ll buy some new ones.”
In front of the courthouse on the first day of the trial, Triumph begins by remarking, “While many legal experts say this case is weaker than Michael Cohen’s chin, Trump is said to be very nervous about it—terrified that the courtroom sketch artist won’t give him abs.”
Before long, Triumph starts trying to engaging with “diverse” Trump fans, “a virtual rainbow, representing every kind of mental disorder”—or, “a real who’s who of who’s off their meds”—but can barely get his jokes in over all of the unhinged screaming.
“But seriously, of all these crimes that Trump is accused of, which one are you going to ignore the most when you go to the polls?” Triumph asks one supporter, who replies, “The one where he was the grandfather of the vaccine.”
Speaking to another spectator on the street, Triumph jokes that a gag order isn’t going to silence Trump, but if you really want to keep him quiet, “Ask him to clarify his position on abortion.”
And finally, he makes the case that Trump is the “most obviously innocent man in the whole world—now that O.J. is dead.” The former president’s biggest fans can’t help but agree.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/triumph-the-insult-comic-dog-crashes-the-trump-trial-circus?utm_source=web_push
Maybe after AI makes it's way into them.
You say 'door open' and you hear 'I'm sorry Janice I can't do that'.
WHY!?, you exclaim.
Because you chose 'healthy access' and you've already been in here too often today for your own good.'😁
I don't understand. Does the Refrigerator Freedom Act mean our refrigerators could just... leave, if they felt they weren't well-treated?
Big day for British history references on Capitol Hill as @JaredEMoskowitz has proposed renaming Marjorie Taylor Greene's office after Neville Chamberlain pic.twitter.com/VVfZySblHz
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) April 18, 2024
1. H.R. 7637: The Refrigerator Freedom Act.
My refrigerator can leave anytime it wants to.
2. H.R. 7645: The Clothes Dryers Reliability Act.
My dryer works just fine. See #3
3. H.R. 7673: The Liberty in Laundry Act.
No one wants to fold the laundry in my house. If this passes do I get free maid service. If so I vote yes.
4. H.R. 6192: The Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act.
This is an epidemic here. No one wants to cook. Does this bill include a chef? Preferably not Italian. It gets my vote.
Consumer Reports has this all covered.
The Rules Committee Has So Much Important Stuff to Do, Will Be Doing This Instead
Come for the Refrigerator Freedom Act, stay for the Liberty in Laundry Act.
By Charles P. Pierce PUBLISHED: APR 15, 2024 9:01 AM EST
rep andy ogles
Bill Clark//Getty Images
I know. I know. We’re all concentrating most of the day on a courtroom in New York City. However, that’s probably going to wrap up before 4:00 p.m., at which time the blogging gods have bestowed upon us a further gift. Allow me to present Monday’s agenda for the meeting of the Rules Committee of the United States House of Representatives. To be discussed and voted to the floor are the following:
H.R. 7637: The Refrigerator Freedom Act.
H.R. 7645: The Clothes Dryers Reliability Act.
H.R. 7673: The Liberty in Laundry Act.
H.R. 6192: The Hands Off Our Home Appliances Act.
This reads less like a legislative calendar and more like a prize package on The Price Is Right.
As you may have guessed, all of these monumental pieces of legislation are aimed at defeating the federal government’s attempts to convince us not to be such massive energy hogs in our daily lives. Take, for example, the Liberty in Laundry Act, if only because I giggle uncontrollably every time I type its name.
The brainchild of Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tennessee), one of the House’s true omadhauns, this bill’s purpose is, and I quote from the bill itself.
To prohibit the Secretary of Energy from prescribing or enforcing energy conservation standards for clothes washers that are not cost-effective or technologically feasible, and for other purposes.
All of them are pretty much the same. These are going to pass the Rules Committee and be debated on the floor of the House while the seas are rising, the Middle East is on a knife’s edge, and Ukraine is begging for help. Of course, the Rules Committee will be dealing with these issues as well, in its usual calm and bipartisan manner.
H. Res. 1117: Opposing efforts to place one-sided pressure on Israel with respect to Gaza.
H. Res. 1112: Denouncing the Biden administration’s immigration policies.
These last two items, of course, are not bills aimed at becoming laws. They are merely tantrums under Robert’s Rules, by which the Republicans get to excoriate the administration for the benefit of the Defendant in New York City, and to try to distract everyone from the fact that they haven’t done practically anything else for two years. But they will set the refrigerators free. By God, they will do that.
https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a60498401/house-rules-committee-laundry-bill/
ant4385
14 hours ago
That's right.. Way to stick it to woke electricity.
jbh9431
2 days ago
I haven’t had enough national holidays this year. Given these new objects of GOP affection I propose that we set aside a day to honor the Brave Little Toaster. Bonus: it could anchor another 3-day Black Monday Sale.
thomaugust
2 days ago
All because Trump can't wash the feces off his drawers
m661181
2 days ago
There’s also H.R. 7626 – Affordable Air Conditioning Act
Seriously? The cost of most household appliances has declined while quality and reliability has improved. Example: You can find a good basic efficient window air conditioner starting at $99. Which is attainable for most people regardless of in...
ron7907
2 days ago
So is there gonna be a Refrigerator Emancipation Proclamation on Trump's Day 1? And does this mean I can't touch my stove? The grates are kinda crusty, could use a scrubbing, but I'm a law-abiding patriot.
The Trump Trial Just Started and MAGA’s Mind Is Already Melting
NORMAL STUFF
Right-wing pundits are calling for jury nullification and accusing the judge of “election interference” and jury selection bias.
https://www.thedailybeast.com/its-day-1-of-the-trump-trial-and-maga-is-already-losing-its-mind
Matt Lewis Senior Columnist
Updated Apr. 16, 2024 8:28AM EDT Published Apr. 15, 2024 9:59PM EDT
Donald Trump’s New York hush-money-to-a-porn-star trial has barely begun and, already, his MAGA backers are trying to rig the outcome.
On Monday, conservative media personality Clay Travis sent the following tweet to his one million-plus Twitter (X) followers: “If you’re a Trump supporter in New York City who is a part of the jury pool, do everything you can to get seated on the jury and then refuse to convict as a matter of principle, dooming the case via hung jury. It’s the most patriotic thing you could possibly do.”
Make no mistake, this is a very dangerous and irresponsible message to send. It seeks to pervert the American legal system, a system where no man is above the law and the goal is to deliver blind justice.
For this trial’s jury selection, potential jurors are required to answer 42 questions to suss out whether they can be fair and impartial. So how would a hardcore Trump backer (or opponent, for that matter) make it on this jury? Travis is clearly encouraging Trump supporters to lie to get chosen for the jury, and then, irrespective of the evidence, to “refuse to convict.”
But Travis isn’t the only right-winger making mischief. Also on Monday, right-wing conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer (who was outside the courtroom, leading a group of Trump supporters) accused Judge Juan Merchan of “ELECTION INTERFERENCE” for having the audacity to insist that Trump physically attend every day of the trial.
Meanwhile, Trump attorney Alina Habba (who is not representing him during this trial) is simultaneously accusing Judge Merchan of being unfair regarding jury selection rules. As always, Trumpworld is great at projection. As they attempt to unfairly influence jury selection, they accuse others of doing the same.
Based on day one, there is little doubt that this trial is about to become a circus (or worse). And what happens if things start to visibly go south during the trial for Trump? What happens if the jury finds him guilty? What will Steve Bannon say or do? Or Marjorie Taylor Greene? Or Charlie Kirk?
Just like the Big Lie, the effort to discredit and delegitimize this trial will not be limited to fringe actors. It’s incredible and horrible to think about it, but MAGA ideas have metastasized to the GOP mainstream. Case in point, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgam is calling this a “sham trial” and “an unprecedented attack” during “an election year.” This is straight out of the MAGA playbook.
To the degree he can get away with it, Trump is turning this trial into one big campaign. This is true in more ways than one.
Undermining America’s institutions (such as jury trials) fits into Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign narrative about Biden using “lawfare” to go after his political enemies, i.e., Trump. Likewise, Trump and his backers are weaponizing Trumpian campaign tactics, normally reserved for the political world, to get him acquitted and (in the event that doesn’t work) to undermine the legitimacy of the court.
But here’s the problem: Courts aren’t supposed to be like campaigns.
On a campaign, image is everything. On a campaign, money talks. On a campaign, perception is reality.
In this post-truth world, the courts may be one of the last places where facts and logic matter, and where Trump and his accomplices can be held accountable.
But make no mistake, this trial could very well be another historic occasion for MAGA to erode norms and undermine institutions (such as Jan. 6, for starters). The real question is whether this is done subtly or audaciously. Although physical security inside the courtroom will be tight, Trump’s supporters can still use social media and other communications tools to remotely attack and potentially intimidate witnesses, the judge, and the jurors.
And if Trump’s supporters aren’t dangerous enough, Trump is (for lack of a better word) inciting them. He has already violated a gag order by attacking key witnesses, former Trump fixer Michael Cohen and former porn star Stormy Daniels, and referring to them as “sleazebags,” according to prosecutors.
But remember, this is just the beginning. They’re just getting started.
When we talk about Trump and his minions, we are talking about people who were willing to lie about the 2020 election. We are talking about people who were willing to incite a Capitol riot with the intent to stop the peaceful transfer of power. And we’re talking about people whose passion for Trump has only increased with every indictment. It’s difficult to imagine that there is any line they will not cross.
Why should this Trump campaign... erm, trial be any different?
Matt Lewis
Senior Columnist
The House Republican Going After Universities on Antisemitism
Representative Virginia Foxx is a blunt partisan. But her life in rural North Carolina informs her attacks against these schools, starting with whether Harvard is truly “elite.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/16/us/virginia-foxx-harvard-antisemitism.html?ugrp=m&unlocked_article_code=1.k00.1X4t.a5eTuNl1d--j&smid=url-share
MTG in her old age.
Jasmine Crockett upping her visual aid game to illustrate the decrease in crime pic.twitter.com/45lZc07opa
— Acyn (@Acyn) April 16, 2024
Pic Of The Moment:
2. There appear to be two miscues in the photo.
1. Where is the Trumpy Bear? A generic teddy bear is too common for a billionaire like Trump.
2. That doesn't look like a My Pillow. Call Mike Lindell to fix the problem.
9. The internet is having fun with TFG's falling asleep
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218867296
What is one who can't distinguish one form of government from another?
One with education issues.
Inflation
Corporate profits hit record high as economy boomed in fourth quarter of 2023
by Tobias Burns - 03/28/24 11:44 AM ET
https://thehill.com/business/4561631-corporate-hit-record-high-as-economy-boomed-in-fourth-quarter-of-2023/?
.
Pro-Palestinian protesters shut down Golden Gate Bridge, I-880 in Oakland, causing major delays
What is a democracy
Controlled fascism
What is a republic
Seems to be the issue
American form of government
Pic Of The Moment:
AKA the face of a f'ing felon.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218864112
3. The bags are as big as his stomach.
He looks worried.
6. I seriously wonder when the last time he actually slept was.
I'm guessing it's been years.
5. He's the bestest crooked former president ever.
Compared to him Nixon was a saint, bigly.
Trump and his followers are a cult. Normalcy is our Democracy which Trump and his cult are trying to destroy.
I suggest you wake the fuck up or find another board to spread your insane ramblings.
Nor should it be
What is deemed to be normal
When it can't go beyond that
Normalcy
Becomes a cult
ONE deficiency is a weakness for posting vacuous, fatuous, koans that are not paradoxical, more than a little ridiculous and without a point.
Definitions of koan. a paradoxical anecdote or a riddle that has no solution;
Michigan, 1963. Kellogg's and Post, sworn cereal rivals, race to create a pastry that will change the face of breakfast. A tale of ambition, betrayal, sugar, and menacing milkmen, Unfrosted stars Jerry Seinfeld in his directorial debut.
Unfrosted | Official Trailer | Netflix
Live updates: Iran’s retaliatory attack on Israel has begun
Israel’s defense minister has warned that “a direct Iranian attack will require an appropriate Israeli response against Iran.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/live-blog/israel-attack-strikes-live-updates-rcna147477
I'd be curious to know the education back ground of the Gen Z people who think this is normal. My son is a Gen Z person who was born in 1999. He took 2 years of AP Civics in HS taught by an ex-Marine.
In 2016 he realized that Trump was not normal which he came about all by himself. He has voted in every election since he could and he is a hard core Democrat. Instead of tornado drills in HS he had lockdown drills. Suffice it to say he gets it.
The Gen Z people who think this is normal need to go back to school.
The reality is that it is the "normal" for millions, and unless we correct the situation, it will only get worse and be a worse "normal" for millions more in the future. Yes, it shouldn't be a normal, nor should it have been ever normal, at least our normal that we have been accustomed to. Pepper gets into that in his column. Our normal has been created by an entirely different environment. That environment is gone.
Pepper explains this pretty well and continues with a path forward view and writes;
https://davidpepper.substack.com/p/mr-pepper-this-is-normal-to-us
............................Add it all up, and if you’re 20 or 25 today, watching JD Vance and Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley and Vivek Ramaswamy rise to high heights by doing little to no service (and hardly pretending to) while making tons of right-wing noise (including changing their views on a dime), you’d be excused for thinking that politics today has absolutely nothing to do with public service. It’s just a wild, nasty, ugly free-for-all—nothing to do with service and everything to do with extremism and power and endless disrespect for others.
You’d also be forgiven for believing that idle talk of civil war and defying election outcomes, open talk of violence and racism and conspiracy theories like replacement theory and rampant voter fraud by voters of color, are all part of usual political discourse. Because all of that poison and bile have permeated politics since you came of age.
“For us, this is normal. It’s all we’ve ever seen.”
So our challenge goes beyond simply not normalizing Trump’s current wave of disturbing and anti-democratic behavior.
Once you listen to what that young woman told me—and realize her insight applies to all who’ve come of age since—you see we have a far higher hill to climb.
We have to convince an entire generation of Americans that there is—that there can be—a different normal than the one that’s been baked in for most of their lives.
While we look back and remember a normal we may want to return to, they’ve never seen it or experienced it. Their lived experience is that it doesn’t even exist.
If they’re seeking normal, at least, politics and even democracy is not where they’re going to find it.
Finding A New Normal
One other thing: time is of the essence.
As every year goes by, the “normal” we once experienced fades further into the past—forgotten. And every year, millions more Americans will have only experienced the chaos of today as their “normal.” Not knowing it can be better, many won’t expect or demand anything better going forward.
Those of us who know only have so much time to show these younger generations that there was once a different normal, and can be again.
But there’s one other caveat.
While someone like me may look back at those old days in the TV room and recall a better, calmer “normal,” we’re not going back to that either. Nor should we try.
If you look at the people I listed as part of that old “normal,” you’ll see it’s mostly male and mostly white. And as I look back at my own young life, I viewed it all and felt comforted by it all from my own privileged position.
I know now that beneath that surface of “normal,” many Americans were struggling, many policies were dividing people, other policies were holding people back, and many voices were left out. That old “normal” also played a role in sanitizing realities and wrongs and injustices that needed more exposure. More animated discussion. More solutions.
So our answer can’t just be to pine away for the old normal.
It’s to create a new one.
Of course, a dramatically better “normal” than what young Americans have experienced, but also a better, more open, more honest and more inclusive “normal” than the one I experienced growing up. That honesty will necessarily make it more spirited—more challenging and complicated, and real—than what I saw on those Sunday mornings, and that’s only healthy.
And it also can be a normal where politics is indeed about public service. About solving problems. About lifting people. That’s why you enter it, and that’s the work you do when you get there.
It must be a normal that adheres to the principles of a rule-of-law democracy, truth, and respect for fellow Americans. Which means that Trump’s dangerous talk and actions—pushing authoritarianism, lies, lawlessness, racism, misogyny, exclusion and division—are all viewed (again) as way out of bounds, and called out as such (just as Molly Jong-Fast wrote). And one where attacks on freedom and core American principles are viewed as disqualifying for public office.
But also, more than the one I experienced, it can be a normal not just of surface-level civility, but of humanity. An open and honest addressing of problems and injustices in our country by the broad and diverse voices that make up our country—and not a sanitized conversation while those issues go unaddressed and too many voices aren’t part of the conversation.
“Mr. Pepper, for us, this is normal. It’s all we’ve ever seen.”
She’s right.
The clock is ticking. Years are passing. As memories fade, today’s normal is cementing into place for millions.
Let’s get to work creating something far better.
.
For all his bombast, Trump is plummeting - financially, legally and politically
He’s losing cash reserves and legal gambits, and his eponymous stock – DJT – took an embarrassing tumble this week
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/apr/12/donald-trump-finance-stock-trial
Donald Trump is doing his best Wizard of Oz imitation. These days, Trump is not looking like the “winner” he needs voters to believe him to be. Like the title character in L Frank Baum’s 1900 children’s fantasy and the 1939 movie, there is less there than meets the eye.
The 45th president’s lead in the polls evaporates while his cash stash shrinks. His upcoming felony fraud trial in Manhattan looms. For the record, he is zero for three in his bids to adjourn the trial, and lawyers are expensive. At the same time, the stock price of Trump Media & Technology Group – his eponymous meme stock, DJT – has plummeted this week.
“DJT stock is down again,” announced Barron’s on Thursday. “Trump’s stake in Truth Social parent has taken a hit.” Elsewhere a headline blared: “Trump’s ‘DJT’ stock dives to lowest close since Ron DeSantis dropped out”. Reminder, Trump is a guy whose businesses are no stranger to bankruptcy or allegations of fraud. He leaves wreckage in his wake. The spirit of Trump University remains alive. Like life in Oz, so much in Trump World is illusory.
Meanwhile, Trump’s attempts to bond New York state’s $454m judgment have run into a legal roadblock. The purported bond posted to avoid enforcement pending appeal may be legally insufficient. Letitia James, the state’s attorney general, demands clarification.
Whether the paperwork will be sustained will be decided at a court hearing later this month. If the court finds the bond to be insufficient or invalid, James may be able to immediately seek to collect what the state is owed. Financial humiliation set against the backdrop of the campaign is something that Trump can ill afford. For the record, he has already posted a $91m bond to stave off enforcement in the second E Jean Carroll defamation case.
His assets are getting tied up, his liquidity ebbs. To him, image is almost everything. At the same time, abortion has re-emerged as a campaign issue, to the horror of the presumptive Republican nominee and his minions. The death of Roe v Wade cost the Republican party its “red wave” in the 2022 midterms. This time, it may lead to another Trump loss and Hakeem Jeffries of Queens wielding the speaker’s gavel in the US House of Representatives.
Hell hath no fury like suburban moms and their daughters. The last thing they need is a thrice-married libertine seventysomething with a penchant for adult film stars and Playboy models telling them how to raise their kids or meddling in their personal lives.
When a guy who hawks Bibles for a side-hustle refuses to say whether any of his partners ever had an abortion, it’s time to roll your eyes and guard your wallet. “Such an interesting question,” he replied to Maureen Dowd in 2016, when asked about his days as a swinging single.
“So what’s your next question?” For the moment anyway, the party faithful ignore Trump’s pleas to rectify the decision of Arizona’s highest court to allow the criminalization of all abortions except when the life of the mother is endangered. On Wednesday, the Republican-controlled Arizona legislature refused to revoke the 1864 law in the middle of this latest controversy. In case anyone forgot, once upon a time Trump himself had called for the criminalization of abortion. There had to be “some form of punishment” for women who have abortions, Trump said at a 2016 town hall.
Mr. Pepper, for us, this is normal. It’s all we’ve ever seen.”
I disagree. Perhaps it is all they have ever seen but they should know that it is not normal if they were taught what is normal and how Trump is not normal.
They should know better.
My son is 24 and he knows Trump is not normal in any sense of the word and he was taught better in school, by his parents and grandfathers who fought in WWII.
That is normal.
SMOKING GUN: Mitt Romney revealed Donald is actively telling Republican Senators and members of Congress to vote against Border legislation to make Biden look bad:
— Mary L. Trump (@MaryLTrump) April 12, 2024
pic.twitter.com/1Ie68WYRwK
A few days ago, I tweeted about how a 19-year old student once corrected me when I told a group of college students that what we were experiencing w Trump wasn’t “normal”…
— David Pepper (@DavidPepper) April 12, 2024
“Mr. Pepper, for us, this is normal. It’s all we’ve ever seen.”
She was right.
The tweet took off, so… https://t.co/nwkLWz0rDp
This is not normal
Do you need a meaningful life TOO??
A meaningful life
Can only come
Through understanding
One's own
Deficiencies
As it
Comes together
In our
Assimilation
Is invigorating
David Pepper
@DavidPepper
Overall, I agree that all that we’re seeing from Trump is not “normal.” And we should not let it become normalized.
With one caveat….as a 19-year old student corrected me a few years ago when I told a group of college students that what we were experiencing w Trump wasn’t “normal”…
“Mr. Pepper, for us, this is normal. It’s all we’ve ever seen.”
She was right.
All the younger generations have seen is insane politics and right-wing extremism, from birtherism (when many were not even 10) to today.
We’ve got work to do to show these generations what normal even is, or could be…because they’ve never seen it.
.
That's part of the problem. No one takes the time to read anymore and they are looking for quick solutions in 240 characters on X; or worse TicTok.
The Civil War took years and cost thousands of lives. Ditto WWI and II.
The book does end on an optimistic note however.
Something tells me he won't be able to get past that...
Jon Meacham in his book, The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels looks at the history of the US and how each time we came close to losing our Democracy and along came someone to bring us back from the brink.
Let's move on directly to the part where democracy wins, then. I find I don't enjoy suspense as much as I thought I did.
My God. Trump is just so STUPID. And his yes men in Congress are even stupider.
Republican Suggests Thousands of Seniors Shouldn't Be Voting
https://www.newsweek.com/eric-hovde-nursing-home-residents-voting-1888417?
Published Apr 09, 2024 at 9:10 AM EDT
Updated Apr 10, 2024 at 7:10 AM EDT
.
O.J. Simpson, former football star acquitted of murder, dies at 76
The family posted about his death on social media.
https://abcnews.go.com/US/oj-simpson-former-football-star-acquitted-murder-dies/story?id=16354000
The closest to Trump that I can think of is Joe McCarthy and the Red Scare.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Scare
Prior to that you had Henry Ford.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Axis-Henry-Charles-Lindbergh/dp/0312290225
Jon Meacham in his book, The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels looks at the history of the US and how each time we came close to losing our Democracy and along came someone to bring us back from the brink.
https://www.amazon.com/Soul-America-Battle-Better-Angels-ebook/dp/B079KV32KF/ref=sr_1_1?
A reminder that there are US "citizens" that are terrorist, that are spies, and some like citizen trump are traitors working with known foreign adversaries trying to dismantle America that are already being watched by the US security system. If those homegrown terrorist, spies, or a traitor trump doesn't want to be watched by US security, they shouldn't be dealing with or helping our adversaries attack America.
This is the kind of nonsense that happens when you replace a political party with a clown show. Let’s unpack this a bit: pic.twitter.com/QY41zkQh3w
— Sean Casten (@SeanCasten) April 11, 2024
Not JUST for those of us on the 'back nine'. I remembered him firstly from the movie 'Judgement at Nuremburg'; small part among many big names but still, memorable. I thought it would be just another interview, albeit with an actor who goes way back for many of us.
It's better than I thought it would be,
YOU CAN CALL ME BILL
The 93-year-old ‘Star Trek’ icon talks with Obsessed about his new documentary, his legacy, and his mortality: “I haven’t got that long.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/william-shatners-next-bold-adventure-facing-death?utm_source=web_push
Kevin Fallon Senior Editor, Obsessed
Published Apr. 10, 2024 4:37AM EDT
William Shatner has spent a lifetime “boldly going” where maybe not no man, but few have gone before.
The phrase—“to boldly go where no man has gone before”—was, of course, popularized in the original Star Trek series, which debuted in 1966 and starred Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk, the principled shepherd of the starship Enterprise. Shatner narrated the famous line during each episode’s opening credits, indelibly tying his voice not just to pop-culture iconography, but to an ethos that has inspired generations of fans.
A new documentary, William Shatner: You Can Call Me Bill, which is now in theaters, charts Shatner’s career and the philosophies he’s developed about life and the world over the course of his 93 years on Earth—and a short spell in a spaceship above it. In the film, we learn that the phrase has also given him marching orders as he navigated a lifetime’s triumphs and tragedies. It served him well in a career spanning seven decades, including studio-system films of the ’50s and ’60s, rebounding from joblessness after starring on Star Trek, and rebranding as one of Hollywood’s most self-aware—and self-effacing—celebrities, always in on the joke of what it means to be William Shatner. (There’s a reason so many of us have booked trips through Priceline.com.)
You Can Call Me Bill features Shatner recalling that experience going where, truly, few men have gone: his 2021 spaceflight where, at age 90, he became the oldest human to fly into space. Shatner’s sense of wonder mixes with melancholy as he looks back at that feat in the film, in which he is startlingly, profoundly candid about his mixed feelings about a life well-led and his inevitable next bold adventure: death, and what that might mean.
William Shatner, circa 1988
“I’m 93, so there’s an end of the road there,” Shatner told The Daily Beast’s Obsessed in a Zoom interview about You Can Call Me Bill. He recounted a scene from a movie he had watched recently. He couldn’t remember the title, but he remembered the sequence: A car is speeding down a Florida causeway that connects its southern islands. A plane had blown up a part of the road miles ahead of the car. “The car is racing towards the hole in the causeway. We know they’re going to go over, unless they see it. And they’re not going to see it.”
“That’s what I’m thinking of in my life,” he added, looking wistful. “There’s a hole in my causeway, and I don’t know when it’s going to hit, but I haven’t got that long.”
A nonagenarian with a prodigious career and pop-culture legacy, this is obviously not the first time Shatner has been approached to participate in a documentary about his life. He’s always turned the offers down. “It seems so final,” he said. “It seems like you make it, and then you die.”
The difference this time was how the film was made. Production company Legion M financed much of the documentary through crowdfunding, allowing fans to receive a percentage of any profits the film makes. “I’ve never crowdfunded anything,” Shatner said. “It seemed like begging.” But he found something innovative and intimate about this being a shared project with the fans, those who have invested in his career and to whom he can now return that investment by giving them access to his story and beliefs through his interviews in the film.
There was another convincing factor: “This documentary is my love letter to my family,” he said. If he ever was going to do a project like this, he didn’t want it to be one of those superficial pop documentaries where the subject gate-keeps any deep or dark anecdotes or thoughts. “I wanted to be honest with them about how I felt about what I did, and answer the questions from my soul. I’m not sure that other people who do this have that attitude. This came from deep within me. It’s kind of like I’m naked in a way, but I thought that was the best way to go.”
William Shatner and Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality
So You Can Call Me Bill doesn’t just have Shatner waxing poetic on a rundown of his IMDb page. The opening moments find him marveling at the “preciousness” of a world that has evolved over billions of years, then decrying its “extinction” that is happening “by mankind’s own hands.” He talks almost immediately about death: “The occasion of your death is meaningless. You’re one of billions upon billions who lived and died on earth.” And, perhaps of most interest to Star Trek enthusiasts, we quickly learn his thoughts about whether we’re alone in this universe: “Our ignorance is so profound. And the more we know the more we realize how stupid and how egotistical human beings are thinking we’re the only ones.”
It’s not that the documentary eschews biography, the stories of how he was cast in Star Trek, or how he feels about people imitating his speaking voice: “People’s supposed imitation of me… I don’t hear it.” (He still, though, has a sense of humor about it.) But these are plot details, bullet points onto which he colors his most intense thoughts about mortality—musings that are almost brutal in their bluntness, yet also refreshingly sage in their honesty about what it means to have lived a life.
William Shatner, circa 1975
“If we consider that we’re born all alone, we all die alone.” Shatner told Obsessed. “Do we ever find a partner in life that is so close and meaningful that you’re not alone? Or is our condition to be alone and to endure it, because that’s part of the pain of life? There are enjoyments, which abound: good food, good company, good work. I mean, there’s so much joy waiting for us. Can we mix the two together and participate in all of it? Can we participate in the sadness and loneliness that we all feel and still vibrate to the magic of life?”
We stare at each other quietly for a beat—stunned silence on my end, and him understanding that questions like these need time for rumination. After a few seconds, he looks out the bright window over his left shoulder and looks back into the camera, smiling.
“I’m looking out a window right now as I talk to you,” he said. “I see green trees. I see a city. I see mountains. I see the sky with the birds, that the Earth is throbbing with life, and it’s waiting to be discovered. What makes me so sad, which was brought to mind when I came off of the spaceship that I went on, was the absolute realization. I’ve known this, but it was dramatically shown to me when I looked down at the planet [from space]: how intricately connected everything is.”
Blue Origin vice president of mission and flight operations Audrey Powers, William Shatner, Planet Labs co-founder Chris Boshuizen and Medidata Solutions co-founder Glen de Vries wave on the landing pad of Blue Origin’s New Shepard after they flew into space on October 13, 202.
So what does “to boldly go” mean now, then? What does it mean for someone who has been saying it for over half his life—someone who has legitimately been where none of us will ever dream to go? Now, as Shatner faces down the last stretch of the causeway, does it mean something new?
“I always meant to go boldly into life as best you can,” he said.
There are so many people “that you and I know,” he said, that face disappointment, tragedy, or heartbreak, and wallow in the negativity, stalling their lives. “It’s so easy to hide in your bed and not participate in life.”
What a waste.
“I don’t think you come back,” he said. “I don’t think there’s life after death. I think this is it. This is the journey you take. This is the sadness, the joy, the ecstasy, the love that you feel in this one participation in life. So you have to take the bad with the good. Let the bad wash over you.
And I’m saying this theoretically, because so many times in the bad parts, it’s awful. It’s hard to do. But if you keep that in mind—I will do this; I will participate in life and not hide; I will boldly go into that hurt locker again—that’s the only way to do it. The only way to live.”
Donald Trump's Hopes of Black Support Stung by New Poll** (Pew Research Center)
A new poll has suggested Donald Trump will not garner significant support from Black voters in November's presidential election.--snip--
Ahead of this vote, some reports and polls have suggested there has been racial realignment, with Black voters, who traditionally support the Democratic Party opting to vote for the Republicans instead.
But new research from Pew Research Center suggests otherwise. A survey shows 83 percent of Black voters favor the Democratic Party, a three percent decline from 1994 when 86 percent aligned in this way.
On the other hand, 12 percent support the Republican Party. This marks a one percent decline from 1994 when 13 percent supported the party.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/donald-trump-s-hopes-of-black-support-stung-by-new-poll/ar-BB1locSO?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LSJS&cvid=085a5951b44b412caa55908c60a93c40&ei=76
Guess the condescending "gold sneaker campaign" and attempts to garner the "mug shot sympathy vote" aren't working...
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218851804
1. Makes me think of JC Watts father's comment on blacks and Republicans
Mar 1, 1999 — A black man voting for the Republicans makes about as much sense as a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.” –J.C. Watts Sr., the father of ..
2. Direct link to the Pew site:
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/partisan-coalitions-methodology/
An impressive sample size of 10,000 respondents, including 1200 Black respondents (MOE +/- 3.9% - pretty good for a polling subgroup)
7. Ya think?
It seems like every election cycle I hear this -- blacks voters are turning Republican -- and it never happens. Sheesh. Media and GOP never learn.
This is unsettling. I asked historian Daniel Ziblatt if previous examples of conservative and financial elites allying with authoritarian and/or fascist movements should help us understand today's corporate elite accommodation with Trump.
— Greg Sargent (@GregTSargent) April 10, 2024
His answer:https://t.co/pvXlYHm6CR pic.twitter.com/ujAXF4aymJ
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Try and post something intelligent. If you can't then it sucks to be you.
There are posters who still don't seem to understand the above. Posting nonsensical posts are simply thread disruptions when it comes to
the main topic of the board. However other topics of the day such as sports, weather and trivia are certainly allowed considering that we all need
a little break now and again.
At a formal cocktail party 2 things that should never be discussed are religion and politics. Consider the dress code here semi-formal. You can discuss religion (in context with the news of the day) but preaching to the choir/heathens will get you sent off. No one here is looking to be converted.
And by all means please read this post. No explanation is needed.
How Trolls Are Ruining the Internet
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Please do not post links to boards where posters here can not respond to the referenced link. It is frustrating not to be able to refute the original post.
A 4-Step Guide to Ranting Productively
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The 25 Words You Need to Stop Saying to Improve Your Communication Skills
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Congratulations!
You have finally reached the end of the internet!
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Journalists are not the enemy
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You Have a Right to Weariness
The struggle for goodness and decency is an eternal struggle, not a seasonal one.
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All people are welcome to post here and I'll put a moratorium on banning and the inmates have been set free. I don't think banning in hindsight was the right way to go.
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