Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an ambitious man:
Here's how we can Make America Healthy Again. Please join me. #MAHA 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/NmGLw1rxcC
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) September 22, 2024
Over the weekend, he proposed making America healthy again by “getting the fluoride out of the water,” which tells you where this is coming from. He’s previously announced that he only drinks raw milk. And he’s against vaccines. So, bringing back widespread tooth decay, preventable childhood diseases and the constellation of illnesses that can be traced to unpasteurized milk. Make Dentures Commonplace Again!
And still, the race remains tight. Ai-yi-yi.
And then there’s Mark Robinson story. I haven’t waded through the comments on the last post, but again: Ai-yi-yi. The phrase “I’m a black Nazi” got thrown around a lot, mainly because it was the least offensive thing he posted. Not that I ever would quote David French, but for the sake of concision, a snippet:
Even before the primary, Robinson’s horrific character was on display. Among other things, he had called school shooting survivors who advocated gun control “media prosti-tots,” accused Michelle Obama of being a man, and trafficked in so many antisemitic tropes that his election as lieutenant governor in 2020 was an alarm bell for Jewish leaders in the state.
In other words, Republican voters knew he was a bad man when they chose him. Now they know he is a very bad man.
Actually, this isn’t a terrible column, if a bit obvious:
Both parties have always been vulnerable to nominating or electing the occasional crank, but Donald Trump’s ascendance meant that a crank led the party, and the best way to join with him is to imitate him. That’s how you get a Mark Robinson, or a Marjorie Taylor Greene, or a Lauren Boebert, or a Matt Gaetz. The list goes on. That’s how leaders change institutions. They make them into images of themselves.
In this case, Trump has done so explicitly. Almost all the worst figures in the Republican Party have ridden Trump endorsements to the top of their local pyramids. Robinson received Trump’s endorsement and swamped his primary opposition. Trump even called him “Martin Luther King on steroids.”
The lesson is simple: If you want more Mark Robinsons, vote for Donald Trump.
Ugh, this stupid, stupid country. Maybe we can still save ourselves.
At least it was a good weekend. Went to a film noir screening Friday, “Victims of Sin” and “Night Editor,” both unknown to me. Saturday, enjoyed — or endured — the last hot-and-miserable summer day, which happened to be the last day of summer. Today, work and a change in the weather. And so fall arrives. And the new week begins.
Deborah said on September 22, 2024 at 8:54 pm
I have barely followed the Robinson story, I knew of it but I need to read more, not sure what I need to know but obviously the guy is toast, or at least I hope so.
Is that movie “The Apprentice” out yet? I see trailers here and there. Will it be at theaters or streaming? Not sure I want to go to a theater and get mowed down by a gun nut to see it. Seriously.
368 chars
Brandon said on September 23, 2024 at 12:50 am
Who is Mark Robinson if not a real-life Principal Lewis? Incidentally, most of his campaign staff has quit.
320 chars
Jim said on September 23, 2024 at 5:20 am
If Blob IS re-elected, he will announce himself Dictator .
58 chars
Jeff Gill said on September 23, 2024 at 7:06 am
Enjoyed the Kathy Bates “Matlock” last night, but now we have to wait a month for it to start showing, I think on Thursday nights. And my wife & I “celebrated” 43 years together watching the date that turned the page, “Continental Divide.” If you’ve never seen it, I really can’t recommend it; Lawrence Kasdan wrote it as practice before “Raiders of the Lost Ark” (there’s a parallel scene I’ve never been able to figure out which was written/filmed first) and “Empire Strikes Back,” “The Big Chill” and “The Bodyguard.”
But our lives have had so many weird parallels or at least echoes to that story, and we’ve been a couple ever since we walked out of that movie and started talking. It’s a point of lasting regret that we didn’t get married six months or so later; finishing degrees and seeking parental approval for something that was never going to happen (the approval, that is) meant we didn’t marry until 1985, but whenever I’m tempted to tell a younger person to wait on a big decision, that “mistake” we made is my counterweight to whatever I do end up saying.
It’s worth watching for Blair Brown tearing into a couple of poachers. She plays an implausible bald eagle expert, but in the “things that have gotten better” department, she says at least three times in the movie that there are only 2,000 bald eagles in the U.S. in 1981. Today there are well over 300,000, 73,000 nesting pairs, of which at least three are here in the county where we now live.
1476 chars
Dorothy said on September 23, 2024 at 7:38 am
Oh Jeff. Mike and I love certain scenes in Continental Divide. John Belushi was a non traditional choice for the male lead but he made it work. I would watch it again anytime. I find it a silly romantic movie.
I got my new Harris Walz shirt yesterday. All it says is HARRIS WALZ OBVIOUSLY. Can’t wait to get it washed and dried so I can wear it.
356 chars
Jeff Borden said on September 23, 2024 at 9:16 am
I’m wondering when a MAGAt shoots a Haitian immigrant in Springfield. That bastard Vance urged people at a rally this weekend to go to Springfield and see for themselves the horrors all those black people with funny accents have perpetrated on the “real” Americans who live there. Remember the nutbag from North Carolina who grabbed his AR-15 and drove al the way to a pizza shop in D.C. because he believed Hillary Clinton and other Dems were running a child trafficking ring in the basement? QAnon spread that rumor and it damned near ended in tragedy. Now, the sack of filth who would be a heartbeat from the presidency is pushing a similar fraud to the dumbshits who fall for such stupidity. It’s despicable.
713 chars
alex said on September 23, 2024 at 9:59 am
So after interviewing a grotesque old fool like RFK Jr., why would a 30-year-old journalist get sexually or romantically involved with him? And is her name pronounced Nutsy, Nudesy or Newsy? (She seems to be all three.)
Jeff, I watched “Matlock” too even though I hadn’t planned on it, and the plot twists already have me hooked, especially the big reveal at the end of the first episode. My rational brain is already fighting the enormous leaps I have to make to suspend disbelief, especially that in this day and age anyone could fake their identity or credentials and get hired as an attorney in a big-city law firm. But now that this premise has been established, it looks like we’re going to have a series about an aggrieved mother seeking vengeance on Big Pharma for causing the death of her daughter by gatecrashing the office of Big Pharma’s legal counsel.
I guess we could blame TV and cinema, at least to some extent, for half this country’s willingness to uncritically accept conspiracy theories and anything that comes out of Donald Trump’s pursed little poo hole. I’m hoping for a Hollywood ending where the villain gets his just deserts and democracy is saved, but then I’m too rational to believe this will really happen.
1238 chars
Jeff Gill said on September 23, 2024 at 10:45 am
If you’re thinking “wait, what? John Belushi as a romantic lead?” that’s a fair reaction, and I won’t say he pulls it off consistently through the movie (you can tell the filming sequence by his weight shifts from scene to scene, as he showed up heavy and lost a great deal during the shoot), but this pic might convince you:
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNDU2ZGYxMmQtZDM5Ni00MmE3LTg2ZTMtNzMwZjY3MDMyZjZmXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_.jpg
438 chars
Deborah said on September 23, 2024 at 11:11 am
Another romantic lead that seemed odd at first but worked is Jack Black in a couple of movies. One of them was “The Big Year”, if you haven’t seen that, it’s a hilarious movie about bird watchers.
I believe it is pronounced noot-see. She is no longer engaged to the journalist Ryan Lizza. How does one have a non-physical, emotional, digital relationship? And she once wrote a hit piece on RFKjr.
400 chars
Jenine said on September 23, 2024 at 11:19 am
@Jeff, so glad to hear that the country club is out, after all their foot dragging
82 chars
Jason T. said on September 23, 2024 at 1:08 pm
I’m unsure why they’re calling the show “Matlock” when they’ve changed the premise so drastically.
It’s like rebooting “The Andy Griffith Show” and making the premise something like, “Ving Rhames plays Andy Griffith, a retired DEA agent haunted by his demons, who takes a job as a sheriff’s deputy on the mean streets of Philadelphia.”
I know everything is IP and brand-extension now, and calling it “Matlock” rather than something else may trigger some people into tuning in, but this strikes me as bizarre.
515 chars
FDChief said on September 23, 2024 at 1:45 pm
Looking across the arc of US history what’s surprising about 40-50% of the public being utterly vile? I mean…We the People started by shooting the original inhabitants like coyotes and moved on from there. It’s perfectly in the National Character for a huge chunk of the public to be all in on scum like Tubby and this Plague Rat.
The big difference this time is that the usual suspects – plutocrats at the top working racist, sexist, nativist, anti-everything-not-14th-Century scum – actually have a plan to douse the sparks of the American Experiment.
I wouldn’t put money on them failing. The tools the Framers put in the hands of wealthy white guys are still working as designed…
700 chars
Jakash said on September 23, 2024 at 1:54 pm
I recall liking “Continental Divide” pretty well and have been curious to watch it again. Since it’s currently streaming on Prime, we might. If it holds up as well as last night’s reviewing of “The Age of Innocence,” I’d be content.
At any rate, I’m gonna guess it was a better date movie than “Interiors,” which I once opted to treat a young lady to. I liked it, and was impressed that Woody was maniacal enough to decide to have that be his follow-up to Annie Hall. Uh, my date was utterly bored and mystified as to what we were doing there…
Jason T., it seems like it’s out of the same bizarre playbook as pretending that the new “Perry Mason” bore any but the faintest resemblance to the original.
713 chars
Julie Robinson said on September 23, 2024 at 2:14 pm
We watched Matlock because my cousin’s husband is the First Assistant Director, and Kathy Bates, natch. It was okay but I’m not really a fan of lawyer shows or procedurals.
I never watched the original. I also never watched the last show cousin’s hubby worked on, the procedural with Ice-T, who is apparently just the nicest person.
However, I will note that said cousin has been traveling around volunteering for the Harris/Walz campaign, so the job pays enough for that kind of freedom for her, and huzzah.
515 chars
Dave said on September 23, 2024 at 5:30 pm
We watched Matlock last night only because of Kathy Bates. Enjoyed the show, never once watched the Andy Griffith show. I thought the premise a bit odd, how likely is it that you could pull off being very rich and keep that status hidden for long without a law firm doing some research and finding out? It doesn’t seem likely to me but then, it’s a tv show.
We remember watching Kathy Bates play a lawyer in another short-lived show that was set in Cincinnati but I’ve no idea of the name now without looking it up.
I liked the Perry Mason HBO series but I knew it bore little resemblance to the Earle Stanley Gardner character or Raymond Burr’s series. I never saw much of that, either, my parents never watched that Perry Mason show and we all know in those days, you watched what your parents watched.
I see that the Orange One has said that Catholics who vote for Harris should have their heads examined. He’s getting on the good side of Catholics and Jews, do his comments please the evangelicals who support him?
Whoops, I see through closer reading that Alex has already brought up suspending disbelief for Matlock, apologies, Alex.
1148 chars
Dorothy said on September 23, 2024 at 5:49 pm
I never saw one episode of the Andy Griffith Matlock so I’m looking forward to watching last night’s show which I recorded.
HBO did a reboot of Perry Mason that was really good. I’m sad it didn’t get renewed. I think it was on for just two seasons. Matthew Rhys played the title role and it was compelling and kind of mesmerizing. One of the best series I ever saw only had one season (A CRIME!) – it was Boomtown, a show about cops in LA. IMDB shows it with a rating of 8.1. We own the solo season on DVR. I think I might have to get that out and rewatch it sometime. Our DVD player is in my sewing room so I’ll just have to tuck in and do some hand stitching instead of machine stitching to revisit that amazing show. Sure hope the DVR still works. I can barely believe it premiered 22 years ago. Where does the time go?!
839 chars
Jakash said on September 23, 2024 at 6:03 pm
I just watched the posted RFK video, which is pretty scary to me. It’s bad enough for right-wing wackos to remain in the Biggest Loser’s cult. I really don’t relish the thought of left-wing wackos jumping on the crazy train, welcomed aboard by their formerly independent hero, Junior.
Unlike with Trump’s ranting and raving, he seems so calm and reasonable, if one just doesn’t consider the implications of what he’s saying. And who wouldn’t like to make America healthy again? No vaccines, no flouride, but all the pesticide-free hamberders you want, evidently!
I’m sure once they dismantle the main health care agencies, which are clearly filled with nefarious Biden minions, they’ll be replaced via the very, very best “concept of a plan.”
756 chars
Deborah said on September 23, 2024 at 7:34 pm
Today is our 24th wedding anniversary, we’ve actually been together 34 years because we lived together 10 years before we married. Next year we’re having a big party for our 25th on our Mesa in Abiquiu where we had our wedding. You all are invited of course.
258 chars
Julie Robinson said on September 23, 2024 at 7:58 pm
Happy Anniversary to both Deborah and Jeff!
So, we got D off on his next trip out west with his sister, and now we are facing a hurricane. *Puts fingers in ears, sings la-la-la*
180 chars
Jeff Gill said on September 23, 2024 at 9:02 pm
Jenine, they got more money than they deserved, IMHO, but Dec. 31, 2024 they are gone, and Jan. 1, 2025 I will be at the Octagon Earthworks wandering freely no matter what the weather that day. We’re working on plans for events with the remaining northernmost moonrises through 2025. Stay tuned!
649 chars
Dexter Friend said on September 24, 2024 at 11:02 am
President Joseph Biden delivered his farewell to the world speech minutes ago. Pundits and critics said it was a mere laundry list of wishes for piece and his stated accomplishments and the way he saw the world evolve since 1972 when he was 29 years old and a newly elected US Senator.
I thought it was a heartfelt speech and a perfect end to his communications with world leaders at the United Nations.
I was there once in the observatory gallery as a high school kid in 1967. I remember being awed and damn-nearly overwhelmed to be witness to that august gathering of world leaders…although in May, the place wasn’t all that busy.
638 chars
Jeff Borden said on September 24, 2024 at 11:31 am
Now tRump is casting himself as the protector of American women? The adjudicated rapist? Mr. I Walked into the dressing rooms for Miss Teenage USA when he wanted? The pussy grabber? MAGA women must be morons.
208 chars
alex said on September 24, 2024 at 12:08 pm
MAGA women must be morons.
Goes without saying.
Excellent Ezra Klein interview with Mayor Pete and I’m gifting it here:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/09/24/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-pete-buttigieg.html?unlocked_article_code=1.NE4.MfCt.x0_nUSn4k2hU&smid=url-share
If this man isn’t president one day then there is no justice in this world.
364 chars
Jeff Borden said on September 24, 2024 at 12:16 pm
Alex,
He’s young enough to see the country catch up to him…assuming we can drive MAGAts from the public square. He’s clearly the most skilled young politician in the country.
177 chars
Sherri said on September 24, 2024 at 1:27 pm
After becoming a Formula 1 fan during the pandemic, I’m ready to place F1 on my list of most corrupt sports organizations.
1. International Olympic Committee
2. FIFA
3. Formula 1
4. World Athletics
5. NFL
I almost put Formula 1 ahead of FIFA, but FIFA is bigger and therefore their corruption is larger scale. Formula 1 could move below World Athletics if it didn’t let one organization own two teams.
408 chars
brian stouder said on September 24, 2024 at 1:56 pm
I’ve been an American open-wheel (ie ‘IndyCar’) fan since forever…Anyone who lives in Indiana is pre-disposed to this. F1 was something I’d heard of, but the sudden death of Ayrton Senna made me look twice, and set the VCR for their (usually quite early) races on ESPN. Summation: at some point, there’ll be an interesting movie about Bernie Eccelstone (et al) and their multi-level payola/corruption/success/vindictiveness
468 chars