DISPATCHES FROM ABC NEWS: In Case You Didn’t Know, Joy Behar Is The Expert On Being A Black Man In America.
Archive for 2023
May 23, 2023
THE NEW SPACE RACE: The Spaceport Company demonstrates offshore launch operations.
I DUNNO, I THINK THIS ARGUMENT MIGHT GET TRACTION WITH THE SUPREME COURT: Harlan Crow’s Lawyers Say Congress Doesn’t Have Authority to Investigate Supreme Court.
Harlan Crow, the Texas billionaire and GOP megadonor with close ties to Clarence Thomas, refused to answer questions from a Senate committee about his years of gifts to the Supreme Court justice.
Crow’s lawyers in a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee argued that Congress does not have “the authority to investigate Mr. Crow’s personal friendship” with Thomas, according to a copy of the letter reviewed by Bloomberg News.
“The Committee has not identified a valid legislative purpose for its investigation and is not authorized to conduct an ethics investigation of a Supreme Court Justice,” wrote Crow’s lawyers, who are from the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. They added that the committee is “targeting Justice Thomas for special and unwarranted opprobrium.”
They just can’t stand a strong Black man in a position of power.
But while Congress has the power to set some constraints over the Court, this mean-spirited and obviously political effort is pretty shady. And I very much doubt that Dick Durbin could withstand the kind of scrutiny he wants to aim at Thomas and Crow.
HOT! HOT! HOT!: My “Roots of Wokeness” article is now in its final, published form. If you want a sense of how we got to where we are today, this article will supply you with a significant piece of the puzzle.
(Also: Thank you to the student editors at the Texas Review of Law & Politics for their hard work.)
JOHN NOLTE: Hollywood Forced to Admit the Movie Star Is Dead.
“Hollywood Grapples With Loss of Young Star Power,” reads the headline. The story explains the problem this way…
“The hottest package at this year’s Cannes Film Festival stars a 76-year old action star and is a reboot of a movie that first dazzled moviegoers in 1993.” Variety is talking about Sylvester Stallone and his hit movie Cliffhanger. Yep, Cliffhanger 2 is the biggest deal at a prestigious worldwide film festival: a sequel to a 30-year-old movie starring a guy old enough to be a great-grandfather.
I love Stallone. I hope he lives forever, but imagine the year is 1974, and the hottest property at Cannes is Notorious 2, starring a 76-year-old Cary Grant*. What would the state of the industry have looked like then?
But in 1974, America was buried in young superstars: Al Pacino, Robert Duvall, Michael Caine, Clint Eastwood, Robert DeNiro, Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Sidney Poitier, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Pam Grier, Gene Wilder, Gene Hackman, Richard Pryor, Gena Rowlands, Dustin Hoffman, Richard Roundtree, Ellen Burnstyn, Jane Fonda, James Caan, Warren Beatty, Robert Redford, Jill Clayburgh, Steve McQueen, Burt Reynolds, Sean Connery, Peter Fonda…
Wrap your mind around this: In 1974, Charles Bronson, Paul Newman, Jack Lemmon, and Walter Matthau were still younger than Matthew McConaughey (53) is today.
In her 2013 book, Sleepless in Hollywood: Tales from the New Abnormal in the Movie Business, veteran Hollywood producer Lynda Obst wrote that Hollywood didn’t need movie stars — they had franchises to mine:
Obst explains the formula for ‘The New Abnormal” thusly:
1. You must have heard of the Title before; it must have preawareness.
2. It must sell overseas.
3. It should generate a Franchise and/ or Sequel (also a factor of 1 and 2).
As Nolte concludes:
Here is what happened: the studios believed they could sell movies based on brands and high concepts forever, but now they are all out of brands and high concepts, and there is nothing left to put butts in seats.
What is more, actors believed they could continue to be cruel, bigoted, humorless, self-righteous scolds, and the world would always fall at their feet.
Well, haha.
Fortunately, there’s fresh talent to take all of the aging stars’ places: Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Oh wait, what am I saying?! Phoebe Waller-Bridge is a franchise murderer — and Indiana Jones is her next victim.
It sure looks that way judging by the film’s early reviews:
WELCOME BACK CARTER!
Watch: New CNN poll finds Joe Biden's approval rating is lower than any president since Jimmy Carter at this point in their presidencies pic.twitter.com/DcuVQJTwAB
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) May 23, 2023
Was this the moment when it all started to go wrong?
OUT ON A LIMB: These Aren’t Tommy Lasorda’s Dodgers.
Beer drinkers are starting to realize that the people who run the beer business don’t like beer drinkers very much. Now baseball fans are getting similar signals from the people who run baseball. Major League Baseball moved the All-Star Game out of Atlanta in 2021 to make a poorly considered political point. The Cleveland franchise surrendered its Indians name to the woke mob.
Most Americans are happy to live and let live. The Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence have their agenda and in a free country that’s all fine and good. But why do the Dodgers need to let Sister T’aint a Virgin prance around the bases looking like a flabby Kirk Gibson in habit and cornette? Everyone is already welcome at the ballpark. It feels un-American to force-feed culture-war politics alongside the peanuts and Cracker Jack.
The O’Malley family owned the Dodgers from 1947-97. They were known for doing things the “Dodger Way.” That meant professionalism and class, on and off the field. Vin Scully, the team’s longtime radio announcer, personified the Dodger Way. So did Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges, Sandy Koufax, Steve Garvey, Orel Hershiser, Mike Piazza, Andre Ethier and Tommy Lasorda.
The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence aren’t classy. They’re obnoxious and gross. They don’t belong in the Dodger lineup.
Somewhere, the ghosts of the Weimar Republic are looking down and suggesting that American elites might want to dial the debauchery down a notch or ten.
SIDE EFFECTS OF DYSON SPHERE CONSTRUCTION: Betelgeuse Is Being Weird Again. What Gives?
Not much of a puzzle: When the construction is on our side of the star, it blocks light and dims it. When it orbits around to the far side it reflects light and makes it look brighter. Easy peasy. Remember: The answer is always aliens.
TRUE:
https://twitter.com/aethelamerican/status/1661028805186551808
THIS SHOULD BE OBVIOUS, BUT GOOD: Preliminary Injunction Against ‘Disparag[ing]’ or ‘Frivolous’ Claims About School Board or Employees violates the First Amendment, holds the Louisiana Court of Appeal.
“The School Board also accused Ms. Kellett of being critical of the School Board and publicly discussing ‘her child’s special needs’ and individual education plan with the media. Ms. Kellett allegedly maintained a ‘live web blog and other ongoing social media posts’ that involved discussion and disclosure of information related to the School Board, the special education program, and other identified individuals.”
In other words, know your place, peasant, and don’t criticize your betters.
Make them pay for this arrogance.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Study shows Wegovy effective for weight loss.
AMERICA’S NEWSPAPER OF RECORD: Dodgers Summon Satan To Throw Out First Pitch At Pride Night.
WE NEED A COMPLETE AND TOTAL SHUTDOWN OF HUNTER COLLEGE UNTIL WE CAN FIGURE OUT JUST WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON THERE: NYC college professor who threatened NY Post reporter with machete is fired as her lawsuit against NYPD emerges. “The unhinged art professor wielded the machete and spewed the menacing remarks after the veteran Postie approached her regarding a viral video that showed her flipping out on pro-life students at Hunter College earlier this month.”
START SUMMER EARLY: Grill Station for Kitchen, Camping, Outdoor, Tailgating, Black. #CommissionEarned
WELL, THAT’S THE LEFT: “It’s almost as if political violence is exactly what she’d most like to see.”
FORMER BORDER PATROL CHIEF SAYS CARTELS CONTROL BORDER: Contrary to common sense and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, the U.S. border is not secure, it is in fact under the direct control of the Mexican drug cartels.
And they have operatives in many U.S. cities, often with strong ties to gangs like MS13, according to former U.S. Border Patrol Chief Rodney Scott, testifying this morning before subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee.
ANTISOCIAL MEDIA: Social media risks for youth mental health highlighted in new surgeon general report.
Amid what he called the worst youth mental health crisis in recent memory, U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy issued an advisory Tuesday warning about social media’s impact on developing young brains.
“Through the last two and a half years I’ve been in office, I’ve been hearing concerns from kids and parents,” Murthy told STAT. “Parents are asking ‘Is social media safe for my kids?’ Based on our review of the data, there isn’t enough evidence that it is safe for our kids.”
The surgeon general’s report comes in the wake of a recent health advisory on teens and social media use from the American Psychological Association, which noted the increased risk of anxiety and depression among adolescents who are exposed to discrimination and bullying online. Other research has shown that adolescents ages 12-15 who spent more than three hours per day on social media face a heightened risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes compared to those who spent less time online.
It isn’t that great for adults, either.
MARK JUDGE: The liberal hypocrisy over ‘banned books.’
I have a challenge for Politics and Prose, the famous bookstore in Washington, D.C.
Sell my book. That’s it. That’s the challenge.
Of course, Politics and Prose would never carry my book. The Left cries a river about the banning of books while refusing to see or read books that challenge their political orthodoxy.
P & P advertises itself as open-minded, diverse (of course), LGBTQ, and, most elementally, against the banning of books. Every year they virtue signal about “Banned Books Week.” Former President Barack Obama shops at Politics and Prose, and wrote an essay about the importance of reading what you want: “That’s why I’m celebrating Banned Books Week and the freedom to read with people across the country,” he said. “Because the ability to learn about each other and engage with different ideas doesn’t just open our minds and broaden our perspectives — it brings communities together and strengthens our democracy.”
Read the whole thing.