Movie

If nothing more than for the brilliant musical score, many of us have watched the biographical movie about the life of Ray Charles more than once. If you are like me, you are familiar with a line uttered by Jamie Foxx, portraying Charles early in the film. When Ray Charles...

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  • January 13, 2023

I grew up in the 1960s, and verbal memes were significant in my black experience. Conversational shorthand was prevalent, with words like solid, psych’, and even rap having a different meaning then than now. Solid could take on multiple meanings depending on context; it could mean I understand, you are...

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  • December 5, 2022

CNN’s David Gergen: The Only Thing That Can Stop Donald Trump From Running in 2024 is a Prison Sentence From the Insurrection, we know that conspiring to commit felonies is also a felony. We know with greater certainty that Trump knew what was going to happen, despite Pence’s resistance and...

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  • October 24, 2021

Oh, yes. As every publicist knows, the best way to handle a PR crisis is to bring up the awful thing you desperately want people to forget about five or more years after the fact. This is the stable-iest, most genius-y thing I’ve ever heard. Donald Trump, whose numerous grievances tend...

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  • October 15, 2021

I share an important date with former basketball coach the late Don Haskins, March 14, our birthday. Haskins led the then Texas Western Basketball team to the 1966 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) basketball championship against the vaunted and famed Kentucky Wildcats, led by legendary coach Adolph Rupp. Coach Rupp...

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  • October 13, 2021

If you have seen the movie Birds of Prey (And the Fabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), you know the underlying theme was her discovering her power amidst a world of insanity, crime, and social degradation; hence her emancipation. That brings me to the current impasse in the Senate, with...

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  • October 4, 2021

I took a moment, in the interest of “fair and balanced” reporting, to tune into Fox News’ coverage of the opening of the 1/6 Committee hearing, last week. Of course, the scrolling chyron across the bottom of the screen calling it the Pelosi Committee was an obvious attempt to prejudice...

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  • August 2, 2021

Reminiscent of the unfounded fears spread around by conservatives about the Affordable Care Act and “death panels,” President Biden’s call for a door-to-door educational program about the coronavirus vaccine sent the GOP and conservatives into a paranoid tizzy. Republican members of Congress, fake news stations, and right-wing bloggers went into...

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  • July 21, 2021

Burned out at the end of the Joy-Ann Reid hour on MSNBC, I am ready for mindless tv. By that time, my intellectual palette is dulled by the talk of the continuous meal foisted on me of tasteless conservative ambrosia. A nice, seared steak of the NBA playoffs or a good...

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  • July 9, 2021

Florida bans its schools from teaching critical race theory On Thursday, Florida’s State Board of Education unanimously voted in favor of an amendment banning the teaching of critical race theory in schools throughout the state. The theory, according to PolitiFact, is a collection of ideas about systemic bias and privilege...

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  • June 12, 2021

More gaslight: Trump’s speech Saturday in North Carolina was one being delivered by the person who incited an act of terrorism designed to overturn the 2020 election. Lapsing into irrelevance, Trump says the same lies: “The 2020 election was definitely the most corrupt election in our history,” Trump claims after...

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  • June 6, 2021

A 12-year-old boy with an AK-47 and a 14-year-old girl were arrested after allegedly shooting at cops while boasting “it’s like Grand Theft Auto.” Florida authorities said two armed children engaged in a violent shootout with law enforcement in the town of Enterprise on Wednesday. Travis O’Brien and Nicole Jackson...

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  • June 5, 2021

Critical Race Practice. Organizers have canceled plans for an afternoon of speeches and performances commemorating the centennial on Monday of the Tulsa massacre. This reminds us that the early 1920s was a mass othering of America that includes events like the Wall Street bombing of 1920, whose death toll was exceeded in the Tulsa...

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  • May 28, 2021

I’m not sure if this is an indication that the COVID pandemic is winding down or that civilization is. It might be both, honestly, but that’s not for me to decide. Ricky Schroder first came to prominence as the kid on Silver Spoons. I tuned in once, because I just...

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  • May 16, 2021

I took my first shot of the Pfizer vaccine two days after my birthday. I had my second shot 21 days later, and I am well past the two-week waiting period to be considered fully vaccinated. Now that I have reached that milestone, I am ready for the next public...

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  • May 14, 2021

With the new mask guidelines the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released Thursday, the COVID-19 pandemic feels like it’s nearing an end for many of us. I get my second Moderna shot next week, at which point my transformation into the little-known Batman supervillain Blood Clottus will be complete. (Okay, just...

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  • May 14, 2021

‘The Diamonds Must Be Returned’: Pretending that Democrats did a smash and grab only reminds us of the insurrection. Previous Guy must have been watching a diamond heist movie amidst his rounds of golf. But are the Democrats really diamond thieves or is Trump fantasizing about conflict diamonds or cubic...

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  • May 11, 2021

Unfortunately, celebrity lends itself to mythology, and American ideologies are fascinated by fame and fashion. We haven’t yet turned that corner despite previous guy. Then again TMZ caught Jenner off-guard yesterday about her GOP beliefs. The U.S. has a rich history of celebrities entering politics, and the list is growing. Caitlyn Jenner is...

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  • May 2, 2021

Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers may notice that...

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  • April 24, 2021

As much as I would like to take credit for the fitting title of this piece, I cannot. I heard it for the first time yesterday afternoon (April 8th) on the Randi Rhodes radio broadcast. A caller from Philadelphia used the two-word descriptor, and I found it apropos to the...

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  • April 9, 2021

Actually, had Spielberg reduced the running time, the film 1941 might have been a classic. The classic film history teaching exercise would be to edit it down to 2 hours. Craig Lindsey’s article argues for the Pogo conclusion that the enemy is us when we allow fear to take over. 2020 did that...

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  • April 2, 2021

I wanted to make sure you all saw this: Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet on Wednesday called on the Senate to act in the wake of a mass shooting at a supermarket in his state, asserting in an impassioned speech from the chamber floor that his colleagues have a moral obligation to a generation...

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  • March 25, 2021

Concealability had nothing to do with Monday’s massacre in Boulder, Colorado, but the details tell us more about the marketability of semi-automatic firearms using high-capacity magazines. Discussing open-carry regulation may have been rendered irrelevant with the death of the police officer although some details will be important: was he carrying his “patrol rifle” and...

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  • March 25, 2021

We have all experienced remotely-located call centers, whether from US prisons or foreign countries. “Minerva at Midnight” (I’m usually posting a story at midnight so I might as well make it a feature, not a bug) Blade Runner questions will be at least amusing when you as a disgruntled consumer, is...

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  • March 22, 2021

Asian actor/activist Olivia Munn tells an inconvenient truth about who can cover whose stories. She was so eloquent in the manner that she made it readily obvious. It is more than invisibility. Olivia Munn exposes an inconvenient truth x x YouTube Video See full episodes here. As I listened to Olivia...

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  • March 20, 2021

Without the strange speculation about how Trump is in decline, it is reasonable to think that Trump is consistently inconsistent in not being able to assemble a successful policy or even a political apparatus to execute policy. For example his insistence on claiming credit for COVID vaccine development also comes with...

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  • March 15, 2021

Consistency really isn’t their thing, is it? In the last election cycle, Tom Norton, a once and future candidate for Congress, challenged “RINO” Peter Meijer in the GOP primary for Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District. He lost. By a lot. Meijer captured 50.2% of the vote while Norton came in a distant...

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  • March 4, 2021

Though my spot on the introversion spectrum lies somewhere between Kleenex box-wearing Howard Hughes and urine-collecting Howard Hughes (and as I continue to age, I’m on a bullet train to raw-fish-eating Gollum), I still usually get sick in the winter, at least once. In the past, while grocery shopping or taking...

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  • February 28, 2021

There was a putsch; will Trump return for a revival after crashing the Hindenberg. https://twitter.com/allwritenow/status/1359122161252921344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw Editors, publishing agents and authors have signed-up to a letter in the hundreds, demanding the industry deny Donald Trump the publication of any post-presidential memoir. The letter, titled “No Book Deals for Traitors,” was signed by more than...

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  • February 16, 2021

Yeah, I remember feeling this way after Friday the 13th Part VIII: Jason Takes Manhattan. No fucking way can they make another Friday the 13th movie. I mean, that’s ridiculous, right? Twenty years later, after three more sequels and a reboot, I looked like a damn fool. Not as foolish...

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  • February 11, 2021

No one wants to hear about GameStop(gate) even if it’s not really a scandal or a flaw in capitalism. Slavoj “we must end capitalism but won't” Žižek on GameStop is like imposing a libidinal economy on Sudetenland when you take it over. Was the appeasement good for you too? There’s a market...

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  • February 2, 2021

Democracy is an afterthought for Trumpists. Whether it’s the “sense of style” or “good men knowing their limitations” the movie character of Dirty Harry played by Clint Eastwood resembles the RWNJ fantasy of transcendent morality embodied in some westerns. Harry Callahan acts beyond a rule of law premised on liberal...

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  • January 28, 2021

Oh, this is so, so sad. No one wants to come to Li’l Donnie’s clubhouse anymore. The Wall Street Journal: New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick has turned down President Trump’s invitation to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom in the wake of the riots last week at the U.S. Capitol. Belichick, who...

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  • January 12, 2021

Once again, shocking but not all that surprising. Hasn’t anyone in the federal government ever glimpsed at Parler? And the NAACP is pointing out the unbelievable hypocrisy in all this. x And you thought “Taking A Knee” was too much!?!— NAACP (@NAACP) January 6, 2021 (For the non-tweeterers: “And you...

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  • January 6, 2021

During her second appearance on the leader of the genre in daytime talk, The View (1/5/21), following her maternity leave, Meghan McCain was told in no uncertain terms by one of the other four co-hosts, Joy Behar, that she was not missed.  Although McCain was apparently appalled by the rebuke,...

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  • January 6, 2021

Happy New Year Kitchen Table Kibitzing is a community series for those who wish to share a virtual kitchen table with other readers of Daily Kos who aren’t throwing pies at one another. Drop by to talk about music, your weather, your garden, or what you cooked for supper…. Newcomers...

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  • January 2, 2021

If Marco Rubio really wants to upbraid people who have lied and been disingenuous about COVID-19, he doesn’t have to look far. For instance, there’s Donald Trump, who told Bob Woodward how he downplayed the virus early on and, indeed, always intended to downplay it. You also have Donald Trump, who...

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  • December 27, 2020

Whoever stuck the Tin Man funnel in my head and power-blasted a veritable Niagara of DMT into my brain, please just stop. I get it. Nothing makes sense. And if I see the White Rabbit I’m gonna bite his head off. And I’m a fucking vegan, for fuck’s sake. So, yeah,...

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  • December 20, 2020

We are in the world of Dr. Doom, Doc Octopus, and Doctor Strange, as Trumpian ignorance has yet to recede from not recognizing the differences among honorific, honorary, and honor. The WSJ publishes an opinion piece suggesting Dr. Jill Biden stop using the ‘Dr.’ title The Wall Street Journal published an opinion...

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  • December 12, 2020

There are varying theories on how hypnosis affects the state of mind. Some believe a hypnotic trance is an altered version of one’s being, while others believe it is an altered state of cognizance that allows you to subconsciously role play. I am not sure my explanation makes sense or...

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  • December 11, 2020

At 10:28 am on September 11, 2001, the first of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center tumbled to the ground. Collectively, Americans stood in unison and cried, oh freedom. Weeks later George W. Bush stood on the pitcher's mound at Yankee Stadium and threw a ceremonial strike to...

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  • November 30, 2020

The best ad is one that is based on reality. West Wing star, Richard Schiff, contracted COVID-19 in Canada and saw Medicare For All in action. West Wing star supports Medicare for All in Canada x x YouTube Video See full episodes here. West Wing star Richard Schiff thought he...

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  • November 28, 2020

Joe Scarborough stumbles onto some truths. West Wing star tells the truth about Canada’s Medicare-for-All. Americans are suffering. Does Joe Scarborough have an inconvenient truth? x x YouTube Video Politics Done Right Live weekdays @ 3:00 PM Central Video Zoom: LINK — Live Calls: (346)248-7799 ID:254 0 9091 Topics: Joe Scarborough...

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  • November 27, 2020

To all my friends, this year has been a doozy but no matter how you spend Thanksgiving….Be safe. Don’t gather in large crowds or even small ones.  Stick close to the homefront and if you prepare Turkey or Chicken, be sure to sanitize your work area.    I hope you...

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  • November 26, 2020

I took a break from watching Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story just now to check out some of Mayor NutFiddles’ “hearing” in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The world will little note nor long remember what Rudy said there today, but that doesn’t mean we can’t all have a good larf over it...

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  • November 25, 2020

Former Fed Chair Janet Yellen will be nominated as Treasury Secretary. Remember that Trump though Mnuchin lifted some Russian sanctions during the Mueller investigation on one Russian oligarch in particular, affecting steel and aluminum tariffs. Then there was Mnuchin’s stonewalling during the impeachment. x https://t.co/drXVFNCBYs— Claudia Sahm GET MORE MONEY...

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  • November 23, 2020

For all the naysayers, and denier(s) who think that Black Lives Matter is an abominable allegory, I point you to the states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. I have a good friend who lives in Detroit, which is in Wayne County. The board of canvassers which certifies the election results...

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  • November 18, 2020

Remember when Time named climate activist Greta Thunberg its Person of the Year? And Donald Trump’s reaction was totally sane and not at all petulant or petty? Of course you do. x So ridiculous. Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie...

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  • November 5, 2020

Donald Trump has lost. I don’t think I’m jinxing anything by saying that. Look here … x Trump's vote margin in PA has declined to 116k now, and with maybe ~500,000 left to count (depending on how many in-person ballots remain in Philly) it's only a matter of time before...

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  • November 5, 2020

WE WIN. Biden will be declared winner because the next state like Nevada after 264 electoral college votes pushes him over the top. x WATCH: The man, wearing a white tank top that read “BBQ, BEER, FREEDOM,” yelled three iterations of “The Biden crime family is stealing the election. The...

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  • November 5, 2020