Category Archives: Culture

The Godfather Part IV

Culture, Politics

 

Expect to see a sequel to Solo: A Star Wars Story despite the disappointing box office receipts for this latest addition to the cinema event which began in 1977.  If there is anything Hollywood abhors, it is a once popular franchise going out on a sour note.  Remember Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom or anything about the plot or Harrison Ford’s co-stars?  George Lucas made sure you did not, teaming Ford with Sean Connery and the ancient city of Petra in the more critically praised and enduring Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.  (Cinematic Footnote:  If only it had been the last crusade for this franchise.  It does not take a directorial genius to know a crystal skull is no match for the ark of the covenant or the holy grail.  To make up for this, Ford has agreed to a fifth and final appearance as the archaeologist in a projected 2020 release with Steven Spielberg at the helm. Good luck. )

In Tinseltown, one the most talked about failures of a successful franchise to satisfy its audience remains The Godfather Part III, in which (spoiler alert if that is possible 27 years after a film’s release) Michael Corleone (Al Pacino) dies alone, a broken man.  After all, the first two installments won Oscars for best picture.  Attempts at a fourth incarnation based on the rise of Sonny Corleone’s (James Caan) illegitimate son Vincent (Andy Garcia) as the family head dissolved upon the death of the book’s author and screenwriter Mario Puzzo in 1999.

On the morning following what can only be described as a five-day roller coaster ride in the annuls of United States foreign policy, my thoughts turned to one particular scene in the 1972 original.  Following Sonny’s fatal ambush at a toll plaza, Don Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) calls a meeting of the heads of the five mafia families at a bank in New York City.  After acknowledging many of the attendees have lost loved ones as a result of the rivalry for control of various black market enterprises from olive oil to prostitution, Vito Corleone calls for a truce.

I hoped that we would come here and reason together.  And as a reasonable man I’m willing to do whatever’s necessary to find a peaceful solution to these problems…

As was the case in all three chapters of the Corleone saga, offers of reconciliation with enemies is a ruse that leads to the death of those who betrayed the family.  In the original, the bloodbath takes place during the the baptism of Michael’s son Anthony.  In Part III, the assassinations are carried out while Michael, his ex-wife Kate (Diane Keaton) and daughter Mary (Sofia Coppola) attend an opera in which aspiring singer Anthony performs for the Pope.

Which brings us back to the past week of Trump-style diplomacy.  For three-quarters of a century, the American president has been the de facto godfather of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).  Yet, in less than five days, Donald Trump traded his standing in NATO for leadership of the latest version of the five families.  Except in this sequel, Emilio Barzini, Philip Tattaglia, Ottilion Cuneo and Anthony Stracci are played by Vladimir Putin, Recep Erdogan, Rodrigo Duterte and newcomer Kim Jung-Un.

Vito Corleone dreamed of the day when the family business would be legitimate and his son Michael (Al Pacino) might be elected to the U.S. Senate.  Fred Trump never imagined his son could become not senator, but president and also remain head of the five families.

One final piece of advice to the other members of this new alliance.  In the unlikely event Trump ever attends an evening of opera at the Kennedy Center or the Met, watch your backs.  Those scenes never end well for anyone who thinks getting in bed with the godfather is good for their health.

POSTSCRIPT

One of the unforeseen sideshows of the G7 summit was Trump’s Twitter rants directed at Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.  Again, The Godfather sheds some insight into what motivates the current occupant of the oval office.  When Michael Corleone offers to revenge his father’s attempted murder by taking out a corrupt police officer who participated in the plot, Michael’s older brother Sonny warns, “You’re taking this very personal.”  To which Michael mouths the phrase which becomes the second most quoted excerpt from Puzzo’s script, “It’s not personal.  It’s strictly business.”

Image result for trudeau and ivankaExcept in TrumpWorld, it is always personal.  Remember this picture from Trudeau’s visit to the White House in February 2017.  The Guardian carried the photograph under the headline, “Pictures of ‘swooning’ Ivanka Trump and Justin Trudeau go viral.”  One can only imagine how much daddy wishes his daughter would view him in the same light.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

 

It’s Good to Be the King

Culture, Politics

 

Related imageIf you’re a Mel Brooks fan, you know the title of today’s post comes from History of the World, Part I (1981) in which Brooks plays a series of historical figures from Moses to King Louis XVI of France.  In this last portrayal, Brooks is surrounded by a number of young, buxom courtiers who submit to the King’s advances.  Breaking the fourth wall, Brooks continuously turns to the camera and reminds us, “It’s good to be the King.”

The above title was actually my third choice.  This post was originally going to be called Citizen Trump with the message being any common citizen, having behaved as Donald Trump, would have become a social outcast, relieved of his professional responsibilities and possibly been awaiting trial.  Just imagine the CEO of any American electronics company offering to save a Chinese competitor (a la ZTE) which had been charged with previously stealing the firm’s intellectual property or engaged in espionage.  The response by the Board of Directors can be summed up in one word, “ADIOS.”  Or imagine that same CEO promised to reverse years of fiscal irresponsibility only to reduce revenues by billions of dollars and further leverage an already over-leveraged portfolio. A shareholder revolt would be the least violent response.  Or imagine the CEO using corporate legal counsel to  arrange payment to silence a porn star with whom he had a one-night stand.  I could go on, but you get the picture.

My second choice for the title was, “Hey, What About Me?”  The ME in this headline refers to the Declaration of Independence.  Much has been made over the past week about Trump’s lack of understanding of our Constitution, a theme which first emerged when Gold Star parent Khizr Khan, during a speech at the 2016 Democratic Convention, asked Trump if he had ever read the document.  Since then, many have been quick to point out the Constitution lays out the ideals on which our Nation was found.   Checks and balances.  The Bill of Rights.  I disagree.  It is a manual or playbook which describes the parameters by which we are supposed to operate.  Remember, the Constitution was adopted in 1789, a full 13 years after the colonists rebelled against the Crown.

The controlling document is the one signed on July 4, 1776.  All one has to do is read the grievances against George III contained in the Declaration to fully understand how much the current White House occupant is the antithesis of what the founding fathers expected of the leaders of this new nation.  The colonists’ revolt was not against George III as a person (despicable as he may have been), it was against a fallacy, the divine right of kings, the doctrine that kings derive their authority from God, not from their subjects.  From the Declaration, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”  Even if everyone has rights “endowed by their Creator,” the power to govern is not one of those divine rights.

Consider the following specific grievances (in italics) against “the present King of Great Britain” based on actual experience. As Thomas Jefferson wrote, “To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.”  And as you read each outrage, simply substitute Trump for George III

  • He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.  Take your choice.  Nepotism.  Violation of the emoluments clause of the Constitution.  Eroding guarantees embraced in the First Amendment.  Using public position for personal gain.
  • He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.  Despite the call by John McCain and others to return to the “regular order of business,”  Trump with the consent of Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan obfuscate long-held procedures for the consideration of legislation.
  • He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. I see no need to pile on.  Jefferson said it all.
  • He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws.  Russia, Russia, Russia.
  • For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world.  Breaking trade agreements and imposing tariffs by executive caveat.
  • He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us.  Welcome to the culture wars.
  • AND FINALLY.  In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.  Those who disagree with our current King are labeled unpatriotic or falsely accused of dishonoring our military.  Ask any Philadelphia Eagle.

This is the soul and heartbeat of America.  And the colonists who signed the Declaration were as divided on many issues as much or more than the divisions within today’s American populace.  Yet, they put their differences aside to send a clear message to the Crown. It is time we do the same.  It is imperative we remind any of our leaders who think they are royalty that perhaps it may not be so good to be the King or Queen.

POSTSCRIPT

If you buy into the above, then perhaps you understand why I have always shared New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s opinion Bill Clinton should have resigned as president after disclosure of the Monica Lewinsky affair.  Substitute the term “intern” for “courtier” and Clinton becomes the 20th century reincarnation of Mel Brooks’ Louis XVI.  And just as I chose to suggest the consequences of Trump’s behavior should be no different than that of a private citizen running a public corporation, Clinton deserves the same comparison.  How long would the CEO of any major company survive if it was known he was partaking of oral sex from an intern, especially while talking on a phone about a issue which could determine the company’s future?  (Historical Footnote: Lewinsky told Special Counsel Kenneth Starr that on November 15, 1995, Clinton was on the phone conducting business with a congressman or senator while she pleasured him.)

Yes, that was almost 23 years ago.  But we should not need a #metoo movement to know it was as wrong then as it is now. As our founding fathers so articulated in 1776, “It is good to be the King” only to the extent the governed let him.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

 

It’s Complicated

Culture, Media

 

Alternate Title:  “To Bee or Not To Bee”

Two days ago, Samantha Bee and TBS f***** up!  All of the apologies and lost sponsors cannot undo the damage.  And Bee’s supporters have spent the last 48 hours trying to parse the difference between Bee’s vulgarity and Roseanne Barr’s racist comments.  Get ready for a different perspective.  It is not about the unprecedented use of the c-word on basic cable.   (Even though the audio was bleeped out, there was no question what Bee said.)  Programs have been pushing that envelope continuously.  In fact, the same night, FX Channel censors approved the use of the f-word on the finale of “The Americans.”  And Comedy Central has given Trevor Noah free rein to call bulls*** by its full name instead of BS.

Samantha Bee’s “crime” was hypocrisy in the first degree.  If you believe Roseanne’s comparing Valerie Jarrett to an ape is racist, you also have to believe referring to a woman as a c*** is misogynist, even when the speaker is female.  The comment was triggered by a Twitter photo of Ivanka Trump holding up her child while her father was tearing families apart along the the U.S./Mexico border.  What would Bee have said if the picture was of Jared rather than Ivanka?  Certainly, not the c-word.

Imagine yourself in the writers’ room.  I have no doubt someone might have said, “Can you believe the nerve of that c***?”  But that’s where it should have ended.  The task was not to share “writer  room chatter” but to make the point in a way consistent with the program’s entertainment as well as social mission.  Consider what the reaction would have been if Bee had shown the Twitter photograph on the screen and asked.

Now what would YOU call a woman who would post this on the same day Daddy is making sure immigrants and refugees will not have the same opportunity?  [Pauses and puts her finger to her temple. Gets ready to say something then pulls back. Finally, faces the camera head-on.] Callous!  Heartless!  Inhumane! Sadistic! Vicious.  Hard-hearted.  Cold-blooded! Malevolent. Unfeeling. Unkind.  Feel free to add your own.

A writer’s best friend is NOT SpellCheck.  It’s thesaurus.com.

Let’s be clear.  Bee’s remark was never intended to be funny.  The studio audience did not laugh, they gasped as I’m sure most home viewers did also.  My first reaction as I watched in real time Wednesday night, “Another holiday (oops Christmas) present to the alt-right cultural warriors.”  And once again, I thought of my favorite Ben Bradlee line to Woodward and Bernstein in All the President’s Men.  “You did something I didn’t think was possible.  You made people feel sorry for the President.”

In truth, the best adjective to characterize  Bee and her writers is LAZY.  Why?  Because ever since Jeff Sessions announced the administration would separate children from their parents as an anti-immigration tactic, I wanted to write a clever, yet insightful commentary to expose the policy for what it is, cruel and inconsistent with American values.  Below is the best I have come up with to date, a news story a la The Onion.

Dateline:  Washington, D.C., May 31, 2018

Today, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the administration had expanded its efforts to deter immigrants and refugees from entering the United States.  In addition to ripping children from their parents arms, in limited cases, the Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is separating  husbands and wives while being processed for deportation.  In some instances, the wives have been be sent to relocation centers.  Thomas Homan, ICE’s acting director, admitted under media questioning the policy shares some of the same problems with the parent/child protocol.  A number of spouses are currently unaccounted for.

One high profile case involves a 46 year old Slovenian immigrant who has been reported missing since May 12th.  She was last seen among the crowd welcoming home three Korean-Americans who had been released by North Korean leader Kim Jung-un.  Unconfirmed sighting have been reported in New York City and Palm Beach, Florida.

No knee-slapper, but neither is it a personal attack on any of the misguided individuals who think what they are doing will make America great again.  Writing this blog has given me a greater appreciation for the writers associated with programs like Saturday Night Live or Last Week Tonight.  I marvel at the teams that assemble the opening monologues for late night hosts Stephen Colbert and Seth Meyers who are under the gun to present current events as entertainment 200 times each year.

Until Wednesday night, I felt the same way about Samantha Bee and her staff.  This morning, however, I join the chorus of those who believe TBS should take her show off the air.  And please don’t suggest I am violating her First Amendment rights to freedom of expression.  This is about the disservice she and her staff have done to the other professionals in the field of satirical humor.  There are enough people outside the profession taking pot shots at an American tradition dating back to Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain and Will Rogers.  The last thing any of us, especially supposed allies in the resistance, should do is give fodder to support the efforts of those who want to divide the nation along cultural lines.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

 

The Tipping Point

Culture, Media, Politics

 

May 29, 2018.

Mark this date on your calendar.  It is the day on which three totally unrelated events (there’s that synchronicity thing again) signaled the first major crack in the tribal totem pole which has characterized the Trump era.

Event #1

Someone much smarter than I am (my daughter) once said to me, stop telling me what you see or hear on MSNBC or CNN.  It’s not news.  Tell me when Fox starts to push back on Donald Trump.  Well, yesterday was the day.  Not once, but THREE times.

During Shepard Smith Reporting, the host debunked Trump’s latest conspiracy theories that Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is a politically motivated, illegitimate and unlawful witch hunt.

Fox News knows of no evidence to support the president’s claim that lawmakers from both parties say using an informant to investigate suspected ties to Russia is not spying.  It’s part of a normal investigative process.

Congressman Trey Gowdy (R-SC), in an interview with Fox News’ Martha MacCallum echoed Smith’s reporting.

It was President Trump himself who said… ‘I didn’t collude with Russia but if anyone connected with my campaign did, I want the FBI to find that out.’ It looks to me like the FBI was doing what President Trump said, ‘I want you to do, find it out.’…I am even more convinced that the FBI did exactly what my fellow citizens would want them to do when they got the information they got.

And finally, Fox News judicial analyst and a strident Trump supporter Andrew Napolitano, also appearing with MacCallum, added:

The allegations from Mayor Giuliani over the weekend, which would lead us to believe that the Trump people think the FBI had an undercover agent who finagled his way into Trump’s campaign and was there as a spy on the campaign seem to be baseless — there is no evidence for that whatsoever.

Event #2

ABC cancels the #1 rated television show following Roseanne Barr’s blatant racist attack on Twitter referring to  President Barack Obama’s senior adviser Valerie Jarrett as an offspring of “the Muslim Brotherhood & Planet of the Apes.”  In ABC’s official announcement, Channing Dungey, president of ABC entertainment, stated:

Roseanne’s Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show. There was only one thing to do here, and that was the right thing.

Even though the current occupant of the oval office has consistently put politics and party before values, it was refreshing to see corporate America say values trump (pun intended) profits.  Ironically, ABC’s decision fell on the same day Starbucks shuttered its 8,000+ U.S. stores for half a day to conduct racial sensitivity training for all its employees.

FOOTNOTE:  Channing Dungey (ABC) and Rosalind Brewer, COO at Starbucks, are both African-American, suggesting the discussions in corporate boardrooms are less likely to be “business as usual” when some of the chairs are occupied by other than white males.

Event #3

Image result for gassamaYesterday, French president Emmanuel Macron promised to bestow citizenship on Mali immigrant Mamoudou Gassama.  Gassama, now nicknamed “Spiderman,” became a social media sensation when he climbed the outside of an apartment building to save a four year-old child who was dangling from a fourth floor balcony.  Additionally, Gassama was offered a job with the Paris fire department.

In contrast, Trump geared up for the 2018 mid-term elections at a Nashville rally for Republican Senate candidate Marsha Blackburn by focusing on immigrants he claims are not human beings, “but use glaring loopholes in our immigration laws to infiltrate our country to rape, murder and cut people into little pieces.”  He also blamed the administration’s policy that separates children from parents seeking asylum in the United States on congressional Democrats despite the “zero tolerance” approach announced by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.  “If you are smuggling a child then we will prosecute you, and that child will be separated from you as required by law.”

So why should we view May 29 as a tipping point.  Because the choice we face is NOT whether we support Donald Trump or not.  It is whether we support values which no longer tolerate dishonesty and bigotry.  Yesterday, we witnessed three instances where Americans and one world leader made the right choice.  And I’m willing to bet these journalists, corporate leaders and political figures slept better last night for having made that decision.  From their respective positions of power and influence, each suggested a new rallying cry, “Mr. Trump, as they say south of the border, BASTA,  BASTA!”

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP

 

I Hate It When I’m Right

Culture, Media

 

Last night, Bill Maher became the most recent defender of Michelle Wolf’s performance at the White House Correspondents Dinner (WHCD). He echoed others by saying, “She did her job!” Yes. If her job was to create sympathy for Donald Trump. On April 28, the day of the WHCD dinner Trump’s approval rating according to the Real Clear Politics average was minus 12.4 percent. This morning it sits at minus 7.7 percent.  The 44.4 percent approval rating is Trump’s highest since February 20, 2017  when a lot of skeptics were still saying, “Give him a chance.”

Let’s see.  What are all the positive things that have happened over the past seven days which might account for this shift in the polls?

  • More evidence that the D.C. “swamp” has gotten even swampier a la Scott Pruitt and Ronny Jackson?  NO!
  • Admission everyone in the Trump White House and members of his legal team cannot seem to get their Stormy Daniels story straight?  NO!
  • A Chinese boycott of U.S. grown sorghum which will have a major impact on the farm states which voted overwhelmingly for Trump?  NO!
  • Admission by Marco Rubio the GOP Tax Bill he voted for has not helped working Americans?  NO!
  • VP Mike Pence calling pardoned former Maricopa County sheriff and Arizona Senate candidate Joe Arpaio “a tireless champion of the rule of law?”  NO!
  •  Law suits by seven states to force Trump and the Justice Department to end the DACA program?  NO!
  • Emails which indicate Natalia Veselnitskaya, the Russian lawyer who attended the June 2016 meeting in Trump Tower was an informant with direct ties to  Putin’s prosecutor general Yuri Chaika?  NO!
  • Pew and Monmouth polls which show a majority of Americans support special counsel Robert Mueller and his ability to complete the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election?  NO!

I no longer expect any of these or future revelations to influence Trump’s 35-40 percent base.  But this nearly five percent approval increase is coming from somewhere else.  I would bet the mortgage these voters have not changed their support for permanent status for DACA eligible immigrants, net neutrality, legalization of marijuana, reasonable gun control legislation, affordable health care, etc.  On all of these issues, a decisive majority support the progressive position.

Trump seems to succeed only when he identifies opponents and then tags them as the epitome of everything that is wrong with the United States.  For three years, it was Hillary Clinton.  And Nancy Pelosi.  Then Kathy Griffin.  Now Michelle Wolf, handed to Trump on a silver platter, joins the Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse.  And it is significant his targets are always women.  A tenet of 1950s-based Trumpism is that the female gender is an economic and cultural threat to post-war America when “things were great.”

Wolf’s defenders are also calling out the White House press for apologizing to the White House and public for her remarks.  “What did they expect?”  Wolf, herself, echoed as much.  After her first reference to porn stars, she said, “Yep, kiddos this is who you’re getting tonight.”  But it is unfair to lay all the blame at the feet of those who sponsored this event for the purpose of underwriting the education and careers of their potential successors.

This is a culture war.  And you do not win by enlisting stereotypes who play into the hands of your opponents.  If we had a living,  breathing Democratic National Committee (DNC) they should have been the first to raise a red flag.  As soon as Trump announced he would stage a political rally opposite the WHCD, several things were obvious.  First, Trump would use his platform to reinforce the view that the White House press is an elite group of Washington insiders out to get him.  CHECK  Second, by encouraging members of his staff to attend, especially Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump knew there would be photo ops of tortured faces as his team was roasted.  CHECK  Third, in Trump’s absence there would be no counterbalance to the comedian’s shtick, regardless of who it was.  Americans love a fair fight, and this would not be one.  CHECK  CHECK

DNC Chair Tom Perez should have known better.  Obama’s former communications gurus such as David Axelrod or Josh Earnest, who were responsible for their boss’ widely praised performances at previous WHCDs, should have stepped in and offered some advice.  Think about this event as a special episode of “Friends,” not the Red Wedding from “Game of Thrones.”  How about two comedians in the SNL tradition of Jane Curtain and Dan Aykroyd’s “Point/Counter-Point?”  How about a comedian who would roast members of the White House press corps rather than Trump?  A little self-deprecating humor might have gone a long way toward offsetting Trump’s rants about the fourth estate.  And it would have put human faces on the hard-working journalists who Trump calls “the enemy of the people.”  Every pundit who covers this administration constantly says, “This is not business as usual.”  Then neither should the WHCD have been business as usual.

Ben Bradlee is turning over in his grave.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP