Members of the Cosa Nostra were united in their disappointment that the Vatican has not changed their stance concerning the sinfulness of murder, theft and prostitution.
“It’s a real cultural problem.” said a spokesman for the Bocce crime family. “Don Giuseppe was saying just the other day that the church’s stance unfairly stigmatizes people whose culture, tradition and inclination. has steered them in this direction for centuries.”
“It’s a terrible disappointment.” said Fr. Mel A Stophilies of Angel of Light Parish and the unofficial chaplain to the Polenta family. “Why just the other day Dona Polenta was talking about how Pope Francis’ attacks on the mafia had affected her 14 year old grandson who has dreamed of entering the family business since he was five and has just started his career as a runner: ‘Does the Vatican understand what his can do to a 14 year old just staring in the rackets? It can destroy him'”
At the business of Dino and Luigi Vercotti they echoed this statement noting that on the local level their priest have been more supportive.
“At our parish they have been much more caring toward the women in our business just trying to make a living.” Said Dino Vercotti in between answering calls for appointments, “In fact our parish priest Fr. Heretic has been using a more compassionate translation of scripture where Jesus tells the woman caught in adultery in John 9:11: ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now that’s not sin any more.’ It’s really made both our girls and their customers feel better about themselves.”
In Philadelphia some locals still expressed hope that the Vatican will see the light on these things.
“If the church is going to be part of the world and not hated they need to change with the times and recognize that the acceptance of things like adultery, theft and the occasional murder (as long as it doesn’t cross the wrong racial lines) is where society is.” said Fr. Morty Sine “After all if they took those lessons to heart have spent hours filling in and delivering ballots in the wee hours after election day? If they hadn’t done that Rome would not have been able to celebrate the election of only the 2nd Catholic president of the United States.”
“After all one man’s sin is another’s way of life.” said Fr Terr. I know our parish has greatly benefited from the support we have given the local families and I’m sure eventually the Church will see the advantages of such an arrangement.
Listening to music is a serendipitous adventure. And it was on one of those journeys I uncovered another great band that you’ve probably never heard of, The Divine Comedy. Last year before the post was swallowed up by a memory hole at Da Tech Guy, I profiled another undeservedly unknown band, the Rainmakers. Only I first encountered the Rainmakers on a local radio station years ago.
I discovered The Divine Comedy when I downloaded the “Inspired by the Kinks” compilation on Apple iTunes. A great collection, yes, and easily the standout cut for me was “The National Express,” a satirical look at a ride on the eponymous company’s bus line.
Unknown? As this is an American blog with, I believe, a predominately American readership, that’s true. But The Divine Comedy has scored hits in Europe, particularly in Great Britain and Ireland, which is understandable as the band’s only constant member is Neil Hannon, who is from Northern Ireland.
As great as “The National Express” is, there’s just one small issue in my opinion. I’m a huge Kinks fan, but unless you count that British band’s last big hit, “Come Dancing,” it doesn’t sound like any other Kinks tune.
Listen for yourself!
The Divine Comedy’s first album, since cancelled by Hannon, was the R.E.M. inspired Fanfare for the Comic Muse, which was released in 1990. The only place it seems to be available is on YouTube. If you somehow find a copy of it at a rummage sale or used record store, grab it if it’s priced cheap, as it is probably a collector’s item.
The band then “regenerated” three years later into a chamber pop, or if you prefer Britpop band, for Liberation. Actually I prefer the moniker baroque pop. Regardless of the name, what kind of music am I talking about? Think along the lines of “Penny Lane” by the Beatles, “Senses Working Overtime” or “Easter Theatre” by XTC, or “Never My Love” by The Association, the glimmering song that was used with such beautiful yet chilling effect in the final episode of the most recent season of Outlander. Oh, throw in a bit of Cole Porter too. Back to Liberation: My favorite song from that collection is “The Pop Singer’s Fear of the Pollen Count,” which is cleary inspired by the Beach Boys. Yes, I suffer from allergies too so I can commiserate.
Hannon, who writes nearly all of the band’s songs, is a clever lyricist who brings wit and even snarkiness to many of his songs. The Divine Comedy’s melodies are striking and the musicianship is superb.
With her military might She could defeat anyone that she liked And she looked so bloody good on a horse They couldn’t wait For her to invade Catherine the Great.
Yes, there is a sly reference here to the historical gossip that the Empress of Russia died from a mishap during carnal relations with a stallion.
One more Divine Comedy favorite of mine is “Gin Soaked Boy” from the 1999 compilation A Secret History…The Best of the Divine Comedy, which might be good place for you to see if The Divine Comedy is for you. Or you can begin as I did on Apple Music with their “Essentials” and “Next Steps” collections.
Of the band’s dozen studio albums Fin de Siècle, which contains “The National Express,” is my favorite. If you prefer to see what the Divine Comedy is up to now, its latest album is Office Politics. The track I enjoy the most on this collection is “Philip and Steve’s Furniture Removal Company.” It’s about a proposed sitcom and its theme song, both devised by Hannon, in which minimalist classical composers, Philip Glass and Steve Reich, operate a furniture removal business in the 1960s in New York.
Silly? Of course. Brilliant? Definitely.
Oh yes, I said “regenerated” earlier. Regeneration is the title of the Divine Comedy’s 2001 album. Perhaps not coincidentally Hannon contributed a couple of solo tracks, “Song for Ten” and “Love Don’t Roam” to Doctor Who: Original Television Soundtrack from 2006.
In addition to Apple Music works by The Divine Comedy are also available on Amazon.
Lost among the fallout after the presidential election was the debut of a compelling four-episode on Netflix, The Liberator. It tells of exploits of the leadership of Felix Sparks (Bradley James), who eventually reached the rank of lieutenant colonel, of the 3rd Battalion of the 157th Infantry Regiment in the European theater of World War II. Yes, for the most part, this is a true story.
The series which began streaming on Veterans Day, is animated and it uses the new technique of Trioscope, which combines live action and computer and manually created images. The series is based on Alex Kershaw’s book The Liberator: One World War II Soldier’s 500-Day Odyssey from the Beaches of Sicily to the Gates of Dachau. It’s a huge improvement over rotoscoping, most famously, or notoriously used in the first feature film version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord Of The Rings, which was directed by Ralph Bakshi. The animation is grainy with a touch of sepia, the latter hue of course is common in films set in first half of the 20th century.
For the most part, The Liberator avoids hackneyed plotlines and characters of many World War II projects, other then sepia. There is no “Guy From Brooklyn” in it. But here is a soldier from Chicago, who of course is a Cubs fan. Fact: real and fictional characters from in television and movies are never White Sox fans, unless, as in Field Of Dreams, the South Siders are central to the plot. Oh well, to be fair it was the Cubs, not the White Sox, who played in the World Series in 1945.
When Lieutenant Sparks arrives at Fort Sill in Oklahoma shortly before America’s entry into World War II, he’s given command of “Company J,” which consists of soldiers locked up in the stockade. These ragtag men are a mix of Mexican Americans, Native Americans, and cowboys.
It’s a tough command, “The Indians and the Mexicans don’t like each other very much,” a jail guard tells Sparks. “And they hate us more.”
But Sparks is looking for fighters, not divisiveness. He and molds them–even though the Native Americans and Mexicans can’t enter a bar off base in Oklahoma. In Italy a captured member of the Thunderbirds is confronted with this irony by a German officer.
During its two years in Europe, in addition to the invasion of Sicily and the liberation of Dachau, but also the invasion of southern France, as well as the Battle of the Vosges near the German border, and finally fighting in Bavaria, the 157th Infantry Regiment encountered over 500 days of combat. Sure there are arguments and spats among the soldiers. People never always get along. But the soldiers form an effective fighting unit.
The German troops are treated relatively sympathetically in The Liberator, but only up to a point as the Thunderbirds later of course liberate Dachau.
The supporting cast is superb, particulary the performance of Martin Sensmeier as Sergeant Samuel Coldfoot and Jose Miguel Vasquez as Corporal Able Gomez, two composite characters.
Originally The Liberator was intended as a live action miniseries for A&E Studios for the History Channel but filming such a project in so many disparate locales, the plains of Oklahoma, Italy, the Mediterranean coast, the Vosges, and Bavaria, proved financially impossible. Not so much with animation. Which is why The Liberator is probably on the cusp of what we’ll see soon on the big and small screens. And the use of animation in war dramas will spare us motion picture embarrasments such as the desert combat scenes in the 1965 box office flop The Battle Of The Bulge.
The Liberator is currently streaming on Netflix. It is rated TV-MA, although despite depictions of battlefield wounds and the frequent use of profanity–in English and Spanish no less–I’m unsure why. Oh, some people smoke cigarettes in it too. I’m mean c’mon. This is the 1940s!
Tune in and start watching. You’ll be glad for it.
There is more to life than Democrats creating magic ballots to steal the republic thus crisis or no our Sable / Gerbel face to face tabletop baseball lead held our draft on Saturday.
The Draft order was determined by last years record and draft picks for the 1st five rounds were eligible to trade. Teams were able to retain from 6 to 16 of their previous players and then drafted till they held 35.
Drafting Team
Player
MLB Team
Position
C ?
SP ?
RP ?
Round 1
San Diego
Brett Sutter
MIL
LR
x
Seattle
Emilio Pagan
TB
SR
x
Tampa Bay
Marcus Simeon
OAK
SS
San Francisco
Tyler Glasnow
TB
SP
x
Washington
Javier Baez
ChC
SS
NYY
Michael Brantley
HOU
LF
St. Louis
German Marquez
COL
SP
x
Colorado
Darvish
ChC
SP
x
Round 2
San Diego
Aaron Bummer
ChC
LR
x
Seattle
David Fletcher
ANA
3B
Tampa Bay
Victor Robles
WSH
CF
San Francisco
Zach Gallen
ARI
SP
x
Washington
Lorenzo Cain
MIL
CF
NYY
Roberto Perez
CLE
Cat
x
Tampa Bay
Roman Laureno
OAK
CF
Colorado
Charlie Morton
TB
SP
x
Round 3
San Diego
Casey Sadler
LAD
LR
x
Seattle
Max Keplar
MIN
RF
Tampa Bay
Howie Kendrick
WSH
1B
San Francisco
Ryu
LAD
SP
x
Tampa Bay
Pettit
TB
LR
x
Tampa Bay
Oliver Drake
TB
LR
x
St. Louis
Starling Marte
PIT
CF
Tampa Bay
Lucas Giolito
CWS
SP
x
Round 4
San Diego
Mark Melancon
ATL
RP
x
Seattle
Alex Gordan
KC
LF
Tampa Bay
Wilson Conteras
CHC
C
x
San Francisco
Josh Hader
MIL
RP
x
Washington
Yadier Molina
StL
C
x
NYY
Justin Turner
LAD
3B
St. Louis
Christian Vazquez
BOS
C
x
Colorado
Eugenio Suarez
CIN
3B
Round 5
San Diego
Tony Walters
COL
C
x
Seattle
Matt Chapman
OAK
3B
Tampa Bay
Josh Bell
PIT
1B
San Francisco
Tyler Duffy
MIN
SR
x
Washington
Whit Merrifield
KC
2B
NYY
Cory Seager
LAD
SS
Tampa Bay
Andrelton Simmons
ANA
SS
Tampa Bay
Manny Machado
SD
3B
Round 6
San Diego
Yolmer Sanchez
CWS
2B
Seattle
Maillex Smith
SEA
CF
Tampa Bay
Buster Posey
SF
C
San Francisco
David Doll
COL
OF
Washington
Odorizzi
MIN
SP
x
NYY
Steven Strausberg
WSH
SP
x
St. Louis
Joe Musgrove
PIT
SP
x
Colorado
Alex Cologme
CWS
RP
x
Round 7
San Diego
Peon Braxton
SEA
CF
Seattle
Miguel Rojaz
MIA
SS
Tampa Bay
Edwin Encarnacion
NYY
1B
San Francisco
Brad Peacock
HOU
SP
x
Washington
Robby Ray
ARI
SP
x
NYY
Jonathan Villar
BAL
2B
St. Louis
Eric Sogard
TB
2B
Colorado
Jorge Solair
KC
OF
Round 8
San Diego
Yuli Guriel
HOU
1B
Seattle
Ross Stripling
LAD
LR
x
Tampa Bay
Brandon Workman
BOS
SR
x
San Francisco
Hanser Alberto
BAL
2B
Washington
Domingo German
NYY
S/RP
x
x
NYY
Mike Soroka
ATL
SP
x
St. Louis
Oscar Mercado
CLE
CF
Colorado
Danny Santana
TEX
1B
Round 9
San Diego
Evan Longoria
SF
3B
Seattle
Chad Green
NYY
LR
x
Tampa Bay
Cam Bedroisian
ANA
RP
x
San Francisco
Andrew McCutchen
PHI
OF
Washington
Gabriel Ynoa
BAL
S/RP
x
x
NYY
Marcus Stroman
NYM
SP
x
St. Louis
Eduardo Escobar
ARI
3B
Colorado
Hunter Renfro
SD
OF
Round 10
San Diego
Trevor May
MIN
RP
x
Seattle
Colin Mchugh
HOU
S/RP
x
x
Tampa Bay
Liam Hendricks
OAK
SR
x
San Francisco
Nick Wittgren
CLE
RP
x
Washington
Marcus Waldon
BOS
LR
x
NYY
Mike Zunino
TB
C
x
St. Louis
Melvis Goloria
KC
C
x
Colorado
Miguel Sano
MIN
3B
15 minute break
Round 11
San Diego
Carlos Santana
CLE
3B
Seattle
Tyler Clippard
CLE
RP
x
Tampa Bay
Ehire Adranza
MIN
SS
San Francisco
Mitch Garber
MIN
C
x
Washington
Sergio Romo
MIN
RP
x
NYY
Zach Britton
NYY
RP
x
St. Louis
Julio Urias
LAD
RP
x
Colorado
James McCann
CWS
C
x
Round 12
San Diego
Hunter Wood
CLE
RP
x
Seattle
Anthony Bass
SEA
RP
x
Tampa Bay
David Peralta
ARI
LF
San Francisco
Kevin Newman
PIT
SS
Washington
Anibel Sanchez
WSH
SP
x
NYY
Alex Verdugo
LAD
OF
St. Louis
Brandon Kintzler
CHC
RP
x
Colorado
Billy Hamilton
ATL
OF
Round 13
San Diego
Cesar Hernandez
PHI
2B
Seattle
Kyle Seager
SEA
3B
Tampa Bay
Zach Plesac
CLE
SP
x
San Francisco
Byron Buxton
MIN
CF
Washington
Kurt Suzuki
WSH
C
x
NYY
Alberto Mondesi
KC
SS
St. Louis
Jose Berrios
MIN
SP
x
Colorado
Kyle Schwarber
CHC
LF/C
x
Round 14
San Diego
Jose Altuve
HOU
2B
Seattle
Dee Gordon
SEA
2B
San Francisco
Josh Osich
CWS
RP
x
Washington
Francisco Lindor
CLE
2B
NYY
Glaybar Torres
NYY
ss
St. Louis
Albert Pujols
ANA
1B
Colorado
Ian Happ
CHC
2B
Round 15
San Diego
Vladimer Guerrero Jr.
TOR
3B
Seattle
Adam Frazier
PIT
2B
San Francisco
Biggio
TOR
2B
Washington
Delino Deshields
TEX
2B
NYY
Scott Kingery
PHI
CF
St. Louis
Luis Rendiko
ANA
2B
Colorado
Stephan Creighton
ARI
LR
x
Round 16
San Diego
Jason Hayward
CHC
OF
Seattle
Harison Bader
StL
CF
San Francisco
Wil Harris
HOU
RP
x
Washington
Kyle Farmer
Cin
2B/C
x
NYY
Tanaka
NYY
SP
x
St. Louis
Greg Allen
CLE
LF
Colorado
Madea
LAD
S/RP
x
x
Round 17
San Diego
Francisco Cervelli
ATL
C
x
Seattle
Michael Conforto
NYM
RF
San Francisco
Robinson Chirinos
HOU
C
x
Washington
Austin Hedges
SD
C
x
NYY
Roberto Osuna
HOU
RP
x
St. Louis
Brian Anderson
MIA
3B
Colorado
Anthony Desciafani
CIN
SP
x
Round 18
Seattle
Isaih Kiner-Falefa
TEX
C/3B
x
San Francisco
Mike Canha
OAK
OF
Washington
Adam Plutko
S/RP
x
x
NYY
Pedro Baez
LAD
RP
x
St. Louis
Trevor Bauer
Cin
SP
x
Colorado
Joc Peterson
LAD
LF
Round 19
Seattle
Daniel Vogelbach
SEA
1B
San Francisco
Hunter Pence
Tex
OF
Washington
Wade Miley
HOU
SP
x
NYY
Scott Oberg
COL
RP
x
St. Louis
Daniel Murphy
COL
1B
Colorado
Lance Lynn
TEX
SP
x
15 Minute Break
Round 20
San Francisco
Matt Baumgardner
SF
SP
x
Washington
Edwin Diaz
NYM
RP
x
NYY
Danny Swanson
ATL
SS
St. Louis
Hector Neris
PHI
RP
x
Colorado
Ryan Pressley
HOU
RP
x
Round 21
San Francisco
Tommy Phan
TB
LF
Washington
Eric Hosmer
SD
1B
NYY
Jandal Gustave
SF
RP
x
St. Louis
Ansel Robles
ANA
RP
x
Colorado
Carson Kelly
ARI
C
x
Round 22
San Francisco
Sean Doolittle
WSH
RP
x
Washington
Ryan Braun
MIL
OF
NYY
Ian Kennedy
KC
RP
x
St. Louis
Jeff Samarga
SF
SP
x
Colorado
Yoan Moncada
CWS
3B
Round 23
San Francisco
Nikki Lobez
KC
2B
Washington
Jason Kitmas
CLE
2B
NYY
Austin Meadows
TB
CF
St. Louis
Jiman Choi
TB
1B
Colorado
Jordan Hicks
STL
RP
x
Round 24
San Francisco
Sevy Zavala
CWS
C
x
Washington
Colin Moran
PIT
2B
NYY
Rowdy Tellez
TOR
1B
St. Louis
Brandon Drury
TOR
3B
Colorado
Christian Walker
ARI
1B
Round 25
Washington
Chris Owings
BOS
2B
NYY
Brett Gardner
NYY
OF
St. Louis
Jorge Polanco
MIN
SS
Colorado
Noah Sindergarten
NYM
SP
x
Round 26
Washington
Leroy Garcia
CWS
3B
NYY
Luis Serverino
NYY
SP
x
St. Louis
Jorge Polanco
MIN
SS
Colorado
Homer Bailey
OAK
SP
x
Round 27
Washington
Eddie Rosario
MIN
OF
Colorado
Dede Gregorious
NYY
SS
Round 28
Colorado
Carlos Carrera
HOU
SS
Round 29
Colorado
Reyes
HOU
RF
Round 30
Colorado
Adrian Howser
MIL
RP
x
Round 31
Colorado
Shane Green
ATL
RP
x
In addition to the standard draft there was the AA draft. This is a draft of any fringe player (fringe meaning a batter with a % or a pitcher with a spot start rating and no relief rating )
Teams were able to hold the rights to up to five AA players who can not be used this season. Franchises can retain up to five rookies that they already had rights to and then can fill any remaining spots via said draft.
1st Rnd
Team
Player
Position
San Diego
Jose Rodo
RP
OAK
Seattle
Chad Walch
C
MIA
Tampa Bay
Wil Smith
C
LAD
Washington
Adam Haseluy
CF
PHI
NYY
Bo Bichette
OF
TOR
St. Louis
Genesis Cabrera
S/RP
StL
2nd Rnd
Seattle
Tim Lopes
CF
SEA
Tampa Bay
Dustin May
RP
LAD
Washington
Emmanuel Place
RP
TEX
NYY
Austin Riley
LF
ATL
St. Louis
Adam Duval
OF/1B
ATL
3rd Rnd
Seattle
Austin Adams
RP
SEA
Tampa Bay
Wendelken
RP
OAK
NYY
Eric Kratz
C
TB
4th Rnd
Seattle
Marco Hernandez
2B
BOS
Tampa Bay
Gonsolin
SP
LAD
5th Rnd
Seattle
Tyler Alexander
RP
DET
St. Louis also has Sean Manaea
If a player retains “fringe” status the following season a team may keep them on their AA roster. If said player gets fulltime status they must either be kept on their standard 35 man roster or be released.
Opening Day is Black Saturday (Nov 28th) for a 60 game season. Good luck to all.
If you have an interest in joining next year contact us. if we have multiple players interested a short AA season might be possible as a test run to be played at the same time as the regular season using the non-drafted fringe players as a roster.
King Arnulf: Now, I know what some of you must be thinking… the day has come…. we’re all going down, etc. etc. But let’s get away from the fantasy and look at the FACTS. FACT ONE – The threat of total destruction has kept the peace for one thousand years. FACT TWO – The chances of it failing now are therefore one in three hundred and sixty-five thousand. FACT THREE…[by this time the water is up to people’s knees, and several have crowded onto the lower steps to avoid getting wet.] FACT THREE – Our safety regulations are the most rigorous in the world. We are all nice to each other, we never rub each other up the wrong way or contradict each other, do we?
Crowd: [As the building sink and fall] No.
Citizen:We… er… do seem to be going down quite fast, Your Majesty – not trying to contradict you, course.
King Arnulf:No, of course you’re not, citizen. But let’s stick to the facts. There has NEVER been a safer, more certain way of keeping the peace. So whatever’s happening, you can rest assured, Hy-Brasil is NOT sinking. Repeat, NOT sinking.
Erik the Viking 1989
There is one dynamic that is playing on in the challenge to the Democrat Magic Ballots that deserves more attention.
I’ve already talked about the uphill climb the President has legally here. But it’s the mountain that the Democrat / Left / Media has to conquer is a higher one that is forcing them into absurdity at best and violence and intimidation at worst.
You see people who know statistics and elections know what happened. People who have followed Philadelphia, Detroit, Milwaukee and Atlanta know what shenanigans have gone on in the past and continue to go on. this is no secret to anybody even remotely connected to these cities and states.
In fact the Democrat / Tech / Media left has apparently gone all in on the idea that there is no such thing as election fraud but that any who dare suggest so must be punished.
Donald Trump is playing Elliot Ness, he is attempting to expose and stop the corruption that people have known has been going on for decades in these cites and prove that is was enough to overturn the results of an election. He will have to have a strong case, there is a reason why Al Capone was convinced of Tax Evasion rather than bootlegging and conspiracy.
The Media / Democrat / Tech left is not satisfied with those advantages. They have they have decided to go all out to prove that there is no fraud PERIOD. It’s like telling people in Chicago in the 20’s and 30’s to declare in public that Al Capone isn’t a gangster and to punish anyone who doesn’t say so.
I think this is a mountain beyond them and even if they manage to win their cases this is a moment that has within it the seeds of their destruction.
Democrats decided to play one last stunt with the Amy Coney Barrett nomination replacing themselves with cardboard cutouts for what became a unanimous vote to send Amy Coney Barrett to the full senate with a positive recommendation.
Under the Committee rules you have to have at least two senators of the minority party to have a quorum allowing a vote but alas to have a quorum call you have to have at least one senator suggesting the absence of a quorum and that would have required at least one of them to abstain from their exercise in performance art.
I swear the left is entirely made up of failed wanna be actors.
Watching how this election process has turned out reminds me of the biblical tale of Noah’s Ark with Trump & his supporters as Noah. For a solid year the left / media have spent their time pointing and laughing at him and now as election day comes closer and closer the rain has started to fall and they are getting more and more nervious.
Election day will be like them watching the ark float away while they seek higher ground.
Speaking of the Bible and scripture The Pope latest actions of this week reminded of this quote:
He said to his disciples, “Things that cause sin will inevitably occur, but woe to the person through whom they occur.
It would be better for him if a millstone were put around his neck and he be thrown into the sea than for him to cause one of these little ones to sin.
Luke 17:1-2
Andrew Sullivan’s plan of working to redefine sin rather than struggling to overcome it has found a buyer in Rome. No word yet if he is going to apply this same standard to other mortal sins like having a mistress or other things.
As a Catholic I never realized how spoiled I was by a lifetime of Saintly Popes until Francis came along.
The real irony in watching Facebook determine this Monty Python Joke by the Babylon Bee
Senator Hirono Demands ACB Be Weighed Against A Duck To See If She Is A Witch https://t.co/nRjiG0kNRI
is an incitement to violence is that the Monty Python Crew was always fighting censorship from their TV show to the Life of Brian and even in their final performance when Eric Idle wrote a special skit to replace a censored scene on TV which made fun of said censorship.
Of course given that Eric Idle and John Cleese are both steadfastly against this president perhaps they don’t see this censorship of a joke hitting Trump opponents problematic.
(I’m not aware of any public position by Michael Palin or Terry Gilliam nor has any mystic produced a comment from beyond the grave from Terry Jones or Graham Chapman so I can’t comment on what they might think).
Update: After I wrote this post Facebook reversed itself claiming it was an automated system what done it:
Update: Now that this story has attracted some media attention, Facebook has reversed their decision and lifted the restrictions on our page. They now say it was just a mistake and blame it on their automated systems (even though a person manually reviewed it after our appeal).
I guess it all depends on what the word “manual” means.
Speaking of Comic genius Mel Brooks has in his 94th year decided to come out with a video endorsing Joe Biden and hitting Donald Trump before the election hitting him over COVID.
What I find really ironic and in fact comical is the timing Brooks investment of political capital. Not only is it unlikely to change any minds but at this point the battle is already lost. (and if he didn’t know it before the debate he likely knows it now. It’s sort of like jumping on a horse to join the Charge of the Light Brigade or Picket’s charge just at the moment when it’s clear they have failed. You’d think a comic genius would recognize when something is a joke.
Of course in fairness to Mel he’s likely deep in the Hollywood bubble and at his age he likely past the point of having to worry about offending the customers.
Although I’m wondering if this is a crazy as a fox move to make the left decide not to censor his movies after he’s gone to keep the Royalties coming for his son.
I was going to finish with Mel but I just watched the Debate and I can’t believe what I saw. Joe Biden could have just put a “kick me” sign on this rear and be done with it. What kind of idiot denies he ever opposed fracking and suggests that Trump put on his web site if he did?
Ignoring all else, nobody that stupid should be leading the US.
I was raised by parents who kept a close eye on what my brothers and sisters and I watched on television. As we only had two TV sets, that was a very easy task for them as my folks didn’t socialize outside our home much. Until the early 1970s it was especially easy for them as television fare for the medium’s first 25 years was mostly G-rated fare. Otis Campbell’s drunkeness on the Andy Griffith Show was as bad as it got in the 1960s, although interestingly, the character was rarely shown consuming alcohol.
So in 1972 when Bea Arthur’s eponymous character in Maude, in a two-episode storyline became pregnant–she pondered an abortion and then went through with it–my parents made sure that our televisions were tuned to a different station those nights.
Abortion was not only very controversial in 1972, it was illegal in most states, although Arthur’s character lived in New York, where it was not. At that time I didn’t even know what abortion was.
Nearly five decades later, Big Tech and Big Media are trying to control what I see on my computer and portable devices. And because broadcast and cable news often takes its lead from what they view as “elite” media, their decisions effect what I see on my TV.
Our “betters” in the media, working for CNN, MSNBC, as well as onetime somewhat fair but left-leaning print outlets such as the New York Times, the Atlantic, the New Yorker, and Vanity Fair, are attempting to limit what information we consume. And in control of the metaphoric off switch is Big Tech, led by Twitter and Facebook.
Stories that are harmful to the reputation to President Donald Trump blare across the media, such as reports on Trump’s tax returns. The New York Times did not publish those returns, but it reported on them. The Old Gray Lady won’t say how it got them, but assuming reports on the returns are accurate, who ever gained access to them and gave them to the Times broke the law. The stories on Trump’s tax returns, where it was reported that he paid as little as $750 in federal taxes, were reported pretty much everywhere by the media, and posted, reposted, Tweeted, and re-Tweeted on Facebook and Twitter.
“Kids, kids, come to the living room! You need to see this news story on TV!”
Contrast Trump’s taxes to reports from the New York Post about the emails it accessed from a laptop that once belonged to Joe Biden’s troublesome son, Hunter. Because Hunter dropped of the computer at a repair shop and never bothered to pick it up, that computer became property of the shop’s owner. Emails found on that computer confirm accusations that Hunter used that Biden name to for influence peddling. Illegal? Maybe not. Sleazy? For sure. And the shop owner did not break the law.
And the media, with the exception of Fox News and other conservative news sources such as Breitbart, ignored or minimized coverage of Hunter Biden’s emails. Last week a Democratic Party shill masquerading as an ABC journalist, former Bill Clinton staffer George Stephanopoulos, didn’t ask Biden about the New York Post revelations. Yeah, I get it, the format was a town hall, but ABC chose the participants and it knew what questions they would ask. Contrast Biden’s friendly treatment to the grilling Trump received from Savannah Guthrie at the NBC town hall the same night. Guthrie is married to Michael Feldman, the traveling chief of staff for Al Gore in the 2000 election. Guthrie brought up Trump’s tax returns, among other things.
That’s bad but what is worse is that Twitter and Facebook for a while blocked the posting and sharing of the New York Post’s Hunter Biden email revelations. And it wasn’t yokels like me who suffered the indignity. Trump’s press secretary, Kayleigh McEnany, saw her Twitter account briefly suspended for Tweeting the Post’s Hunter story. The twisted explanation from Big Tech is that the Hunter Biden’s emails were hacked–they weren’t–and that the story was unverified. Remember, the NY Times never actually published Trump’s federal tax returns, which may have been hacked. But the Post did show images of some of Hunter’s emails. Even the New York Post’s Twitter account was suspended for a short time on the day it published the Hunter story.
“Kids…turn off that TV and go to your room!”
Of course these media and tech big shots are our “betters.” Jeffrey Toobin, a CNN analyst and New Yorker writer, a product of Harvard University, is one of them. But yesterday Toobin was suspended by CNN and the New Yorker after exposing himself and more–click here for the X-rated details–during a Zoom call simulating election night scenarios. Toobin is a scumbag. He had an extramarital affair with Casey Greenfield, the daughter of journalist Jeff Greenfield. Okay, I know, Trump has been unfaithful while married too. But Greenfield bore his child, which Toobin only acknowledged after a DNA test, and only then began paying child support. And while pregnant Toobin offered to pay for her abortion.
American media can do much better than Toobin and his fellow “betters.” I will write another entry on the sad state of the media after the election.
But right now we’re headed to Chinese government-style control of the media by the left.
A free press and free association are two things that French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville saw as two key safeguards in his landmark 19th-century work, Democracy in America.
But Big Tech and Big Media, as well as the increasingly far-left Democratic Party, are trying to minimize both.
We live in a perilous time.
UPDATE 7:30pm EDT: Correction, the New York Post Twitter account was “not suspended for a short time” as I wrote earlier. There are no new Twitter entries from @nypost since October 14. If the account has been suspended it clearly has been locked out. This is censorship.
The @nypost, the oldest and one of the largest news outlets in America, has been frozen out of Twitter for 6 days.
If you’re looking for the movie that is the “Anti-Cutie” Fatima is it.
Fatima tells of the Apparitions of Our Lady in Fatima Portugal during mid 1917 to three children. The disbelief of both the church and local officials of this story and the final conclusion of the “Miracle of the Sun” witnessed by the thousands who came to see the promised miracle.
The story of three children Lucia (Stephanie Gill) Jacinta (Alejanda Howard and her brother Francisco (Francisco) is told through a series of flashbacks as an author and skeptic Professor Nichols (Harvey Keitel) visits the adult Sr. Lucia (Sonia Braga) at her cloistered convent as part of a book he is writing.
There are solid performances here. All the child actors are excellent. Joaquim de Almeida (Father Ferreira) is excellent as the parish priest, Lucia Moniz as Lucia’s mother the faithful catholic who doubts her daughter is particularly good and the interplay between the Mayor(a staunch atheist trying to defend his position and his wife the faithful catholic is extremely interesting and well done.
For myself it’s the little dramatic things that resonated with me. Lucia recognizing the temptation and presence of the Devil when she is feeling pride the crowds wanting “the seers”. The anger of a mother who had lost a son (the movie takes place during World War 1) demanding answers as to why HER faithful prayers are not answered. The realization of what happens to your fields of crops when hundreds tramp on them to get to a site and the child and man hawking Rosaries at the site of the apparition illustrate human nature in action.
The story is pretty faithful to historical events from the appearance of the Angel of Peace and Portugal (Ivone Fernandes-Jesus) to the pushback and persecution that the children get to the point where they are held by the civil government to prevent visiting “the lady of the Rosary” (Joana Ribeiro) as they are considered a threat to the atheistic government of Portugal at the time. The irony is what is left out, [Minor Spoiler] particularly in the finale where my wife and I both noted that the single tangible physical miracle of that final day is completely skipped [/spoiler] as is at least one of the visits and parts of the message of our lady.
That is the only nitpik for the faithful and the only reason for the secular woke left to cheer. That a movie like this which promotes the promises of our Lady and the hope they can bring is coming out at a time of an international pandemic, civil unrest in the US is huge.
That a movie that promote three pious children and how they suffer for their obedience and piety it comes out at the same time as Netflix and critics are pushing “Cuties” a movie that exploits young girls sexuality to the delight of the critics and the establishment left as legitimate entertainment is, in my opinion, the hand of God.
The Atlantic magazine has come out against the Nobel Peace Prize itself
"The record of achievement of the peace laureates is so spotty, and the rationales for their awards so eclectic, that the committee should take a long break to consider whether peace is a category coherent enough to be worth recognizing," @gcaw writes: https://t.co/kMGZGzTaki
If Donald Trump is for the Peace Prize they’re agan it!
Can we now assume that the Nobel Peace prize for Barack Obama was an affirmative action award?
I think it’s been really something to see the left go on a full defense of what objectively is child porn in their defense of Netflix “Cuties”
If I was Donald Trump I’d direct the AG to investigate if the movies violates US child porn laws as written.
The whole: ” If Donald Trump is against Child Porn then I’m for it” reaction from will be something to see, of course in fairness they’re already all defending it. I wonder how fast they would condemn the movie Fatima about the miracles there if Trump came out for it?
Well at least the new peace deal between Barain and Israel is something that Democrats can celebrate. Right?
Asked on @CNNSitRoom if Trump deserves credit for Bahrain-Israel deal, Pelosi questions his ties to Saudi and says: “Good for him for having a distraction on a day when the numbers of people who are affected and the numbers of people who are dying from this virus only increases”
There has been another ambush of law enforcement and the Joe Biden Voters are acting like…Joe Biden voters
Protesters are chanting “WE HOPE THEY DIE” & blocking emergency room entrance as 2 Los Angeles cops are fighting for their lives following ambush in Compton.
“After watching Thursday’s game and also watching the Dolphins players’ video, it shows that it is not about who is standing or who is kneeling for the anthem,” Mayfield said. “But instead, coming together and taking action to create real change. Also after reading many letters and messages over the past few weeks, I have been showed (sic) that a gesture such as kneeling will only create more division or discussion about the gesture, rather than be a solution towards our country’s problems at hand. With that being said, I am choosing to stand for both anthems to show respect, love, and unity to everybody involved.”
Trump will obviously be for this so as you might guess the left is agan it but I suspect those who have invested in him as an advertising spokesman are for it. The real question is this: Given that the Ravens are expected to be blitzing a lot will his offensive line be for it or agan it?
This week’s DaTechGuy off DaRadio no frills livestream podcast comes via a new laptop (Thanks to all of you) and some new topics:
Goodyear Goodbye & fighting back
Netflix & the Weinstein / Epstein Culture
Bannon and the big lie
We’ll be talking about these and more on DaTechGuy off DaRadio today at 3 PM EST. You can watch the live stream here (the embedded placeholder of last week’s show will be replaced 5 or ten min before we start)
Looking forward to our time together.
FYI remember this podcast exists to do two things.
Boost the readership of the blog
Bring in an extra $180 or so a month.
If you like what we do here please share the podcast or consider kicking into DaTipJar. Of course there is the problem of us getting big and effective enough for google, youtube and twitter to ban but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.