Senior Investigator Maurene Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey.
Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in 2005.
Donald J. Trump; Melania Trump , Jeffrey Epstein & Ghislaine Maxwell,
The more Trump talks about the Epstein issue, the guiltier he seems. Each new headline pours more gasoline onto Elon Musk’s recent “X” allegation that Trump himself is implicated in the files.
Donald J. Trump & Ghislaine Maxwell.
Yet Donald J. Trump has a gigantic appetite for revenge. His firing of former FBI Director Comey in 2017 might be blamed on Trump’s thirst for vengeance. Trump may have been seeking retribution for James Comey’s role in the probe of links between Trump’s 2016 campaign and Russia, as well as a recent Instagram post by James Comey that Trump allies saw as threatening to Trump. (Seashells on the beach, no less.) Then again, Maurene Comey, an FBI investigator for a decade, had key roles in investigating both Jeffrey Epstein and Sean “Diddy” Combs. Maurene Comey’s supportive co-workers escorted the Senior Investigator to her car after the sudden and unexplained firing.
Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayer
“As Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated in her dissent to the decision that allows DJT to destroy the Department of Education, ‘When the Executive publicly announces its intent to break the law, and then executes on that promise, it is the Judiciary’s duty to check that lawlessness, not expedite it.’ Right now, the law is whatever Trump says it is.”
So wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor in dissenting from the Supreme Court giving Donald J. Trump the green light to destroy the Department of Education.
Supposedly, a President cannot unilaterally abolish a federal agency that was created by an act of Congress. Except that Trump says that whatever he says goes, and the Court’s conservative super-majority has agreed. I’m sure we all remember the Access Hollywood tape, where DJT said, “When you’re a star, they let you do whatever you want.”
The demolition of the Department of Education will be a cruel act of sabotage towards not only vital educational research and financial aid for education, but, also, will further undermine the rights of low-income students and students with disabilities. Trump has never been known for his compassion for the weak. His attitude towards the frail and sick and disabled can be compared to that of ancient Sparta, where those with disabilities were thrown on the rocks to die a cruel death.
blind justice statue
Medicaid will no longer be able to help the poor in America. Trying to use it for health care will be death by 1,000 paper cuts. And now the Department of Education, long a target of the Trump MAGA hordes, is in the cross hairs.
This is not the United States of America I grew up in, and it is not the nation I love. We need to stop this man and the monsters and incompetents within his administration before they ruin us forever.
Orlando Bloom
Rupert Friend
With the characters Zora Bennett, Henry Loomis, and Duncan Kincaid, it seems like Jurassic World Rebirth is trying to recreate the iconic trio from the original “Jurassic Park.” It didn’t work. We just don’t learn enough about the many characters to relate to or care much about any of them, which isn’t surprising given how many characters the plot involves.
I’m guilty of trying to make readers care about too many characters at once. It doesn’t work well. However, with the accomplished writer of the original “Jurassic Park,” David Koepp at the helm, it was surprising that he fell into this amateur trap. Critics described the characters as boring, one-dimensional and lifeless—which, come to think of it, could be a common complaint of a lot of the summer’s big studio releases.
DINOSAURS ONSCREEN
There are definitely a lot of dinosaurs in Jurassic World Rebirth. However, many critics agree that the real dinosaurs, such as the T-rex, the mosasaurus, and the spinosaurus’, are scarier and more fun to watch than the hybrid dinosaurs. This suggests that the franchise needs to finally abandon the idea of hybrid dinosaurs. They may have worn out their welcome.
Cinematography (John Mathieson) and visual effects, while good, do not eclipse this 7th-in-the-series follow-up to the 1993 film, which seems odd since the first Steven Spielberg film is thirty-two years old. Music by Alexandre Desplat was fine, but not as impressive as Hans Zimmer’s in “F-1.”
THEN AND NOW
I went into the film without reading any other critics’ reviews. I loved the original Steven Spielberg film (who didn’t?) and hoped this sequel would be just as good as the original film. As is almost always the case, the sequel is not as good, despite the presence of a bona fide Academy Award winner (Mahershala Ali) in a key role as Duncan Kincaid and the usually excellent Scarlett Johansson as Zora Bennett. Other major characters are the already mentioned Rupert Friend as the bad guy and Jonathan Bailey, fresh off “Wicked,” as the good-guy nerdy dinosaur expert. [Bailey and Mahershala Ali carried off the acting honors, for me.]
I did find the near-misses with the dinosaurs exciting, but the cute little hammerhead creature just made me wonder if, because Bella (the young girl character who ultimately saves them all, of course) had touched the creature, the baby hammerheaded dinosaur would later be rejected by its own kind (which is what would normally happen in the wild.) I did not find the baby dino to be “cute,” but, then, I don’t find creatures that could kill me “cute” most of the time.
SCREENPLAY ISSUES
I was struck by the fact that screenwriter David Koepp, who did the screenplay for the original “Jurassic Park” as well as the “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” seems to have run out of steam. He is a well-known and well-respected scribe, also responsible for “Mission Impossible,” “Indiana Jones & the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” and “Spider Man” by Sam Raimi. Having just seen “F-1,” I heard the same exact scripted nugget in “Jurassic World: Rebirth” that was just used in “F-1.”
In “F-1”, screenwriters Ehren Kruger and Joseph Kosinski gave Brad Pitt this line to deliver to his co-star, the young race car driver Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris): “Don’t be shitty to yourself. There are plenty of people out there who will do that for you.” In “Jurassic Park: Rebirth” David Koepp inserts this line: “Other people may talk shit about us, but we don’t have to do the job for them. Otherwise, it comes true.”
GMTA?
Scarlett Johannsson
Is this a case of Great Minds Thinking Alike, or is there a shortage of true originality and creativity going on in these two recent big studio releases? The latest “Jurassic World” is currently raking in $530 million worldwide (on a budget of $180 million) so critics be damned. The critics didn’t praise “F-1” for originality, either. Sign of the times. The studios will still laugh all the way to the bank. But I’m looking for originality and creativity, not a script or a concept created by a committee and judged to be acceptable to the masses (i.e., no controversial deep thoughts articulated.)
Since I have a life-long habit of scribbling down the memorable lines from the films I’m reviewing (since 1970), here are a few more gems from “Jurassic World: Rebirth.:” They (the dinosaurs) may be through with us, but we’re not through with them.” (This one might turn out to be wrong; maybe audiences ARE through with them.) Another possibly prophetic gem was, “Nobody cares about these animals any more.”
Or we have the pithy exchange, “What do we do now?”
Followed by “Try not to die.”
DOUBLE TROUBLE
Many reviewers have pointed out the folly of having two sets of characters who ultimately merge. The first set, of course, was the family of Reuben Delgado (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo). The protective father, his older daughter Teresa (Luna Blaise), her ne’er-do-well boyfriend Xavier (David Iacono), and her younger sister Isabella (Audrina Mirande). Their boat is rammed by a giant sea creature. They are then rescued from their sinking boat by the rig being piloted by Duncan Kincaid (Mahershala Ali).
After the family group is separated from the group of scientists, all of the remaining characters (8? 10?) ultimately end up on the beach for the finale, which, hopefully, will involve a helicopter rescue.
CONCLUSION
Pacing issues, weak script, CGI we’ve seen before, too many characters to follow—there are still some thrilling moments, especially the rappelling down the cliff segment and the finale. It wasn’t the worst movie of the summer, but it wasn’t the best, either. Enjoy the close calls and re-watch the original for the fresh spirit of Michael Crichton’s original creative tale.
Donald J. Trump
“At this point, calling Donald Trump a sociopath feels like stating water is wet. But throw that term around too loosely and people stop hearing it. So let’s be precise.
Trump & Putin
The tragic twist? Authoritarians and autocrats abroad have figured this out. Trump’s second-term travel itinerary is a map of manipulation. NATO leaders learned: flatter him, and he’ll do whatever you want. Putin knew it. So did MBS. So does Musk. His emotional development stopped sometime before junior high, and it shows. If you coddle the ego, you get the policy.
BEE GONE book cover
We need voters to stop falling for tough-guy cosplay. We need to educate people about what this kind of psychological profile actually looks like—and why it’s disqualifying, not admirable.
[Excerpts from “Flash Floods and Climate Policy in the New Yorker, by Elizabeth Kolbert (7/12/2025)]
Flash flooding in Davenport, Iowa on July 11, 2025
As anyone who has read my blog knows, I am with Greta Tunberg, the Swedish activist for climate awareness, in feeling that we must do what we can to stop the frightening proliferation of weather catastrophes, brought on by the global warming that former Vice President Al Gore has tracked for decades. It isn’t a matter of not believing it is happening any more. We are in the midst of it happening.
On Friday, July 11th (2 days ago) the area where I am currently living (Iowa/Illinois border) was hit by an EF2 tornado. The area where we spend the harsh Midwestern winters, Texas’ Hill Country and the Guadalupe River, has now lost over 110 lives to the rampaging river. Experts say that the warming atmosphere allows more precipitation to be held in the clouds and be dropped during flash floods very quickly.
Areas all over the planet are experiencing flooding. (Italy, China, etc.) We are not immune here in the United States. Obviously, moving 1,000 miles from one area to another in the U.S., as we did in May, has simply exposed us to flooding in both places. It’s raining in Texas in the Austin area right now on Sunday, July 13th.
Camp Mystic, Texas on the Guadalupe River. Over 110 dead and many still MIA.
Read the excerpts from the article (below) and tell me that this isn’t a problem that needs to be addressed with slogans other than “Drill, baby, drill!” And it needs to be addressed NOW!!!
The Trump Administration has made no secret of its disdain for science, and on June 30th it recommended cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from projects aimed at improving climate and weather predictions. Among the many research centers the Administration wants to shutter are the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, the Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, the National Severe Storms Laboratory, and the Cooperative Institute for Severe and High-Impact Weather Research and Operations. The last two of these are based in Oklahoma; all are funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which is part of the Commerce Department. “I cannot emphasize enough how disastrous closing the National Severe Storms Laboratory and CIWRO would be—for ALL of us,” Stephen Nehrenz, a meteorologist with the CBS affiliate in Tulsa, posted on X after the budget proposal was released.
Nearly six hundred people have left the agency since President Trump took office, many because they were fired and others because they took early retirement. Among those in the latter group is Paul Yura, the warning-coördination meteorologist at the Weather Service’s office in New Braunfels, Texas, which handles forecasts for Kerr County. A story that ran on the weather blog of KXAN, Austin’s NBC affiliate, in April, when Yura announced that he was leaving, noted that he had “tremendous experience understanding local weather patterns while ensuring timely warnings get disseminated to the public in a multitude of ways.”
Davenport, Iowa, Friday, July 11th, 35th St. area and near Duck Creek area were hardest hit.
The amount of rain falling on so-called “extreme precipitation days” has, during the past several decades, increased by twenty per cent in the region that includes Texas, by almost half in the Midwest, and by a staggering sixty per cent in the Northeast. European researchers concluded that the Kerr County floods in Texas bear the fingerprints of warming. “Natural variability alone cannot explain the changes in precipitation associated with this very exceptional meteorological condition,” the researchers wrote.
In a sane country, information like this would prompt two responses. First, steps would be taken to limit the dangers of climate change by reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. Second, more resources would be devoted to preparing for weather extremes. Unfortunately, that is not the sort of country we live in now.
The federal government is openly trying to maximize fossil-fuel consumption—and, hence, emissions. On Monday, as twenty more deaths were reported in Texas, Trump signed an executive order aimed at further hobbling the solar- and wind-energy industries, which had already been kneecapped by previous executive orders, as well as by the provisions of the so-called Big Beautiful Bill, approved by Congress earlier this month. On Tuesday, as the death toll climbed by another ten people, the Environmental Protection Agency held hearings on a proposal to scrap Biden-era limits on emissions from coal-fired power plants. Trump and congressional Republicans have put an end to, as one commentator put it in Forbes, “any notion that a true energy transition is happening in the United States.”
Meanwhile, the White House is actively undermining the nation’s ability to predict—and to deal with—climate-related disasters. In April, the Administration dismissed nearly four hundred scientists who were working, on a volunteer basis, to draft the next climate-assessment report, which is due, under law, in 2027. Late last month, it shut down the website of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, where the Fifth Assessment report and its predecessors used to be available. It has cut off grants to climate scientists, kicked nasa climate researchers out of their offices, and hired climate-science deniers to fill key government positions.
Davenport, Iowa, Friday, July 11th, 35th St. area and near Duck Creek area were hardest hit. The Illinois side of the river did not get hit as bad as the Iowa side.
Flash flooding in Davenport, Iowa According to the Scott County Emergency Management team, over 100 houses are affected and there are numerous 9-1-1 calls. I was on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River until about 5 p.m., but the downpour came later. I noticed that the atmosphere seemed to be getting hotter close to 5 p.m. and, for want of a better term, the air became sultry.
Girl in flood waters in Davenport, Iowa
My biggest concern for what remains of my life on the planet is the worsening condition of the weather. It doesn’t seem to bother the current Republican administration at all. “Drill, Baby, Drill!” is the chief buzz word from MAGA nation. I am well aware that the current weather crisis cannot be put back “the way it was” but there were steps, including the promotion of electric cars over those that run on fossil fuel, that might have helped, over time. I’ve read that China has made some progress in its polluting of the atmosphere.
Flooded car in Davenport, Iowa on July 11th, 2025.
Have we? Will we?
“2024” book jacket
There’s a new book out entitled “2024,” It is written by 3 co-authors who appeared on CNN to shill for this new book. The book is subtitled: “How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America.” The authors are Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of the New York Times, and Isaac Arnsdorf, Senior Washington Post Reporter.
On CNN the trio played an exclusive audio recording of Trump reciting the details of a conversation he had with Vladimir Putin. Knowing DJT, you can not believe what he says. It is also true that I can only type so fast, so my transcription of the audio piece, while substantially correct, is slightly truncated. I’m sure you’ll hear this amazing piece of audio soon elsewhere, but let me synopsize it for you.
Trump: “I had a very strong conversation with President Putin and he understood. And I won’t go into the great details of the conversation because nobody has to hear it, but did they fear me? I suspect they did. I told him, ‘If you go into Ukraine I’m gonna’ bomb the shit out of Moscow. I’m telling you: I have no choice.’ So he goes like, ‘I don’t believe you. He said ‘No way.’ I said ‘Way.’ And then he goes like, ‘I don’t believe you.’ I said the same thing to Xi Jinping. If you go into Taiwan I’m gonna’ bomb the shit out of Beijing.’ And he didn’t believe me either. I think they believed me 10% and that’s all you need. They thought I was just crazy enough that I might do it.”
Another part of the tape dealt with Trump’s solicitation of huge political contributions to his campaign. Trump mentioned a donor who gave him $25 million. The audio tape went this way: “He was worth 4 or 5 billion. Most of its—half of it in cash. And he wants to have lunch and hand over a million. I said, ‘You’re much richer than that. You’re worth 5 or 6 billion. I’m not having lunch. You’ve got to make it 25 million.’ And he said ‘Oh, that sounds like a lot.” The tape continued, “He gave me 25 million. It’s crazy.”
True or false? Bragging or embarrassing himself (and our country?)
A snippet of the televised Cabinet meeting of July 8, Tuesday was played. A female reporter asked Trump who had okayed the pausing of the delivery of munitions to Ukraine, (which occurred recently.)The President did not like the question. He said, very sarcastically, “Why don’t you tell me.”
Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense.
Trump did not hand off the military question to his Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who was seated to his immediate left.
The discussion of the experts onscreen went on to say that Hegseth may have “okayed” the stopping of aid to Ukraine without properly notifying Trump that he was doing so. Pretty easy to believe of a guy who included the Editor of the “Atlantic” on a highly classified military discussion of bombing Yemen and faced no further repercussions. But, then, being a talking head on Fox News is not the best preparation for heading up the military of the United States. Incompetent people may do incompetent or poorly thought out things.
This audio tape was played on CNN on Tuesday, January 8th, about 6 p.m. I would anticipate that Trump’s people will deny it was authentic audio and then attack the reporters (as is their custom). Some further discussion of Putin and Trump occurred involving Rahm Emanuel, former Mayor of Chicago, former Ambassador to Japan, and current CNN Global and Foreign Affairs Commentator.
Rahm Emanuel, former Obama advisor, Chicago Mayor, and Ambassador to Japan.
Emanuel offered the opinion that Putin has “bet the farm” on his invasion of Ukraine. The experts agreed that Trump has misjudged Putin, who does not, as Trump previously thought, desire closer relations with the West. Putin’s true aim is to return Russia to its previous Glory Days, not to ally it with the wicked West. The talking heads felt that DJT might be changing his opinion on a future chummy relationship with Russia, saying, “We got a lot of bullshit thrown at us by Putin.” (So much for bringing the Ukrainian War to a halt in 24 hours.)
Emanuel’s take on our current relationship with China is that the most dangerous threat is not an invasion of Taiwan, but a take-over of the Philippines, saying, “The real challenge is the South China Seas and the Philippines.”
The three authors of the book said that Trump spoke to them for the book. In March, they approached Joe Biden, who agreed to speak with them, but did not follow through. The story, as related by Tyler Pager, was that he had asked Biden’s aides for months to speak to him. Finally, Pager got Biden’s direct cell phone number and phoned him directly. Biden answered and, said Pager, “He seemed open to talking to us.”
However, when the trio called back to set up a time to speak, the number had been disconnected. Pager also related some fairly critical phone conversations with Biden aides, who admonished him about contacting their boss.
It will be interesting to see if there is any coverage of the clip that reveals our current leader as a loose cannon, threatening WWIII, strong-arming rich donors for bigger contributions, and generally behaving in the boorish manner we have seen on the national and international stage. (Makes you proud to be an American—right?)
The very last bit of business that the CNN report addressed was Jimmy Carter’s funeral, where the film clip showed Obama speaking with Trump as they sat with the other living presidents and with Vice President Harris (who seemed annoyed that Obama was being civil to DJT in the row behind her.) The trio says the conversation was of Trump inviting Obama to play golf at one of his clubs.
Perhaps the title shouldn’t mention the multiplex, since one of the three movies I’m going to address is already streaming on HBO Max. (“Sinners” directed by Ryan Coogler).
To put this in perspective, three films that I’ve taken in since fleeing the heat (and floods) of Austin are “Sinners” (now streaming), “28 Years Later,” and “F-1.” The release dates were, respectively, April 18th, June 20th and June 27th. I’m still planning on taking in the “Jurassic Park” reboot, although initial word from the front is not totally encouraging.
So, which of these three was my favorite and why?
RANKING
#1) I’d have to give the nod to Danny Boyle’s “28 Years Later.” For one thing, it got by on a budget of $60 million (versus”F-1’s” alleged $200 or $300 million). For another, as critic Brett Arnold wrote and with which I agree, the movie has “tender reflections on mortality and misguided exceptionalism, and even the hint of those ideas make ’28 Years Later’ a more thoughtful movie than you’re likely to find at the multiplex this time of year.” This third in a planned five-movie series highlighting the journey of Spike (Alfie Williams) from adolescence to adulthood in a world blighted by a mysterious plague has a lot of meat on its cinematic bones. I fear for Spike by film’s series end, as he is going to fall under the influence of Jack O’Connell’s minions from here on out. The story arc for his emotional development with that lot as his companions on the mainland: not bright. The film was very well-done, with great settings, excellent acting from Jodie Comer as Mom Isla and Ralph Fiennes as the eccentric Dr. Kelsen and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as father Jamie.
#2) For me, “Sinners,” the Michael B. Jordan-starring (“Black Panther”) Ryan Coogler film came in second for interesting intellectual content, as I watched the story about Smoke and Stack, the extremely well-dressed pair that return to their Southern roots and end up holed up in a fight to the death against vampire hordes, led by Jack O’Connell as Remmick. It was interesting that Jack O’Connell, who got his big break-through in the Angelina-Jolie directed film “Unbreakable” in 2014, appears in both “28 Years Later” and “Sinners.” It is O’Connell as Jimmy, at the end of “28 Years Later” who is shaping up to be a big influence on Spike’s development as a human being in future Boyle films. I found the concept of “Sinners” more original than most of Hollywood’s offerings. I couldn’t help but think, at film’s end, that the trapped Blacks about to become prey for the white vampires might have bettered their lot in life if they had agreed to convert to the dark side and become immortal as vampires, feeding on their white adversaries. Given the history of this country in terms of race relations, what have they got to lose? With every Trump 2.0 edict it seems that the color of one’s skin is, more and more, the criteria as to whether U.S. citizens have a right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” and whether or not we believe that “all men are created equal.” (Tell that to the innocent Latinos being rounded up and sent to hell-holes in El Salvador or to Alcatraz Alley without much thought for due process or habeas corpus.) Why not give in to the idea of living forever, with the catch being that, during the “forever” part, the besieged group of Black citizens is going to have to feed on their oppressors. That gets a bit bloody It also might become relatively monotonous and boring after, say, a couple of lifetimes.
#3) So why is “F-1” only ranking as third on this abbreviated list of recent releases of 2025, when it has already snagged $293,388,533 worldwide since its June 27th release, far out-pacing the $144 million that “Sinners” has racked up and the $126 million that “28 Years Later” has earned since June 20th? Perhaps simply citing Karl Moore-Forbes (“Forbes), who called it “one-dimensional and lacking in depth” or using Coleman Spilde’s (“Salon”) adjectives of “safe, defanged, neutered, fearful tame moviemaking,” calling it “completely sexless” might give a rough idea of some of the objections from the critical horde. Most critics have liked it.
“F-1”
I am not in complete agreement with Coleman Spilde or Karl Moore-Forbes, but I agree that “F-1” missed opportunities that might have made it a better film. It seemed so intent on pushing what one critic referred to as “a promotional synergy machine” that deeper thoughts or more nuanced concepts or discussions of important societal issues are shoved aside. Some have said that the female characters are one-dimensional and not fleshed out (true). The most damning sentence that stood out to me as having some truth in it, but not being totally representative of the movie in totality was this: “If a movie can’t be made without sacrificing its heart—or, for that matter, ever having one in the first place—it’s not worth making at all.” I did not feel that negatively about the shallowness of the plot. The race scenes were too engaging and, after all, it’s Brad Pitt.
While agreeing that “Ford vs. Ferrari” was a “better” movie about racing, for me, because it built up the human element motr and allowed for some humor to develop, I liked “F-1,” too, and most audiences will, too. This one shows us, thanks to great cinematography from Claudio Mirando, what it must be like to be behind the wheel of a Formula-1 racing car going 200 miles an hour. (The actors did at least 180 during their stints behind the wheel. Cruise and Pitt were to have been the original leads for the Christian Slater/Matt Damon “Ford vs. Ferrari” racing movie, until Cruise passed because his character (Shelby, played by Matt Damon) didn’t get enough time behind the wheel. No CGI—or not as much as nowadays—and race after race after race. Not only do we see Silverstone (the 77th British Grand Prix), the Spanish Grand Prix, Japan’s Suzuka Japanese Grand Prix, Abu Dhabi, Hungary, the Italian Grand Prix in Monza, the Autodromo Mexican Grand Prix in Mexico City, but we also see the Belgian Grand Prix, the Zandvort Dutch Grand Prix, the Las Vegas Grand Prix and probably a few others that I’m unintentionally omitting. The 17+ settings are colorful and exciting and I understood about as much about F-1 racing after as I did before, which was next to nothing. We learn that Plan C means Combat and there is a lot of emphasis on F-1 racing being a team sport, not an individual one. One critic pointed out the need to kill somebody off in such a dangerous sport. I can’t argue with that. I think the objection was that this was a film without a climax.
MUSIC
I was impressed with the Hans Zimmer score and the placement of wonderful songs in the film, like the opening of “Whole Lotta’ Love” or Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” “F-1” marks the 13th collaboration between Hans Zimmer and Producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Other songs include“I’m just as bad as I used to be” by Chris Stapleton and a song at film’s end, “Driver,” written by Ed Sheeran. No musical note has been left unsung. The effect worked. Securing the rights to the songs, alone, must have cost a fortune. This is the 15th Brad Pitt film to make over $100 million domestically.
THE “COOL” FACTOR
Brad Pitt
Lately, I’ve noticed a lot of articles in papers like the “New York Times” and the “Washington Post” about what makes someone “cool.” There has been a severe shortage of cool ever since Steve McQueen’s classic films like “The Cincinnati Kid” (1965), “Bullitt” (1968) and “The Getaway” (1972.)There have been some attempts at reviving cool in the intervening 60 years, but McQueen crafted an entire career around the cool image. He pretty much owned it, despite such cool contenders as Paul Newman, Robert Redford, and Sean Connery back in the day.
Pitt has resurrected McQueen’s mastery of cool. He managed to do so in this film without a single sex scene of any significance. That, in itself, is noteworthy.
Pitt’s wardrobe and carefully layered neckwear , his monosyllabic answers to the questions from the press all play into this image. Even the questions play to the real-life regrets that might haunt Sonny, the character, and Brad Pitt the man.
Sonny’s devotion to driving as the be-all and end-all in life is impractical, but hopelessly romantic. Sonny lives in a van. [ I couldn’t help but wonder if the van was “down by the river.” [If so, thank God it wasn’t the Guadalupe River in Texas.]
Sonny chooses to drive when his previous accident at the Spanish Grand Prix should disqualify him from Formula-1 competition for fear of blindness and paralysis. Sonny says, romantically if not practically, “If the last thing I do is drive that car, I will take that life 1,000 times.” He also shares, “Sometimes, there’s this moment in the car where everything goes peaceful. No one can touch me. In that moment, I’m flying.”
So, the scripted cool guy who is loyal to his friends to a fault and doesn’t care about the money (“dumb, sentimental broke losers” is one description) has been carefully crafted by Director/Writer Joseph Kosinsky (“Top Gun: Maverick”) and his team. Kosinsky and co-writer Ehren Kruger reflect in Pitt all the things that the typical American male would like to be. It’s projection, plain and simple. The same projection that caused naive voters projecting their own desires for money and pretty women onto a candidate who, in real life, was a malignant narcissist, an unsuccessful businessman, a convicted felon and very possibly unhinged. “Perception is reality.”
DEEPER THEMES?
Besides wondering how Damson Idris ended up with the plum role of Joshua Pearce, playing opposite Brad Pitt’s old white guy, I share the regret of many that the rivalry between the young Black protégé and the seasoned old professional isn’t a platform for exploring issues more significant and substantial than such superficial issues as old age versus youth. At a time in America when Black Lives Matter is on the ropes as an organization and DEI is being relentlessly pursued and eliminated, wouldn’t this have been the perfect opportunity to explore the U.S.’s long simmering racial past? Apparently not, because it’s totally brushed aside in favor of semi-humorous jibes at how race team owner Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem) is giving “second chances to the elderly.” Jazzy lines like “Hope is not a strategy” and descriptions of Pitt as handsome and as “punk rock for the brand” have to suffice, replacing any real Black/White subplot. It’s the safe way out of discussing any of the real problems in American society, especially in these days of ICE and anti-immigrant white supremacist ideologues.
CONCLUSION
“F-1 poster
The acting in “F-1” is good. Javier Bardem simulates excitement at Sonny’s wins convincingly, which, given Bardem’s Oscar for “No Country For Old Men,” probably isn’t much of a stretch. Shea Whigham (“Boardwalk Empire”), who seems to be in everything, has the opening speaking part opposite Pitt. Kerry Condon (“The Banshees of Inisherin”) is well cast as the love interest, although one chaste kiss is about all we get on that front. Kim Bodnia (“The Bridge”) as crew chief Kaspar is fine. Only Damson Idris and Samson Kayo as Cash, his cousin, fell short, for me. We are told how great a driver Idris is repeatedly; it would have been best to show rather than tell. It was also interesting to learn that the actress portraying Damson Idris’ Mom (Sarah Niles) is only 4 years older than Idris.
Pitt won an Oscar as Best Supporting Actor (for his role in Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film “Once Upon A Time in Hollywood”). He was nominated for his acting in “Twelve Monkeys” in 1995 and was nominated again, in 2008, 2011 and 2015 [2008 (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” as an actor), 2011 (“Moneyball”) and 2015 (“The Big Short”).]His Plan B movies are even more impressive, including an Oscar as the producer of 2013’s “Twelve Years A Slave.” He earned $30 million for his role in “F-1,” a career high and sponsorship and brand deals garnered $40 million towards a budget variously described as $200 million or (some say) $300 million.
For a 62-year-old kid born in Shawnee, Oklahoma, who grew up in Missouri and attended Kickapoo High School, Brad Pitt has, by any career measure, been successful. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, two Golden Globe Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award. Films in which he has appeared in have grossed over $9 billion worldwide.
It is best seen on the IMAX screen. Just suspend your desire for deeper themes or more romance and enjoy the racing sequences.
Damola Adamolekun, CEO of Red Lobster at age 36.
Just returned from dining at the Red Lobster. I want the Red Lobster to come back as a business—I really do. (For one thing, I have stock.) I’ve recently seen the ads featuring a tall, good-looking young Black gentleman, Damola Adamolekun, their new CEO. He is the youngest CEO in Red Lobster history at age 36 and came from P.F. Chang’s and Goldman Sachs. Perhaps you’ve seen him doing a nationally televised ad for Red Lobster? One article I consulted said that Damola has “a proven record of transformation.”
Damola reminded me of Brad Pitt’s co-star (Damson Idris) in the movie “F-1” that we had just seen (more about the movie later.)
Good luck with that transformation, Damola. I have some suggestions.
I now have intense sympathy for any animal that has to forage for its food—squirrels come to mind. I ordered the crab special, which advertised a pound of crab legs for $31, plus crispy potatoes (I asked if they were French fries; they were not) and one side dish. I selected broccoli as my side dish. The 3 or 4 small pieces of potato that were swimming in the butter on the plate were not any kind of potato I’ve had anywhere else. I actually never got to eat one, so I cannot comment on how they tasted.
I’ve been taking weight loss drugs that give you no appetite. I can’t eat a dozen shrimp. 2 lobsters, and a bunch of other stuff at one sitting. I can eat 4 shrimp—maybe—and possibly 1 lobster tail. My advice would be to package some meals with smaller amounts for those of us now unable to eat like we used to eat. (*Consult the NYT for articles on how this weight loss craze has changed the “business lunch.”)
Damson Idris, of “F-1”
I thought crab legs, with all the attendant hassle to dig them out of their shells, might be a good choice for me. In other words, I expected this to be a smaller-than-their-average amount of food.
Damson Idris, co-star of “F-1,” another handsome young man on the way up. (Review of film to follow later).
SUGGESTIONS:
1) Advertise that there are small half-sized plates. The local Biaggi’s Italian restaurant has a smaller/cheaper half-plate option.
2) Make it possible for the customer to NOT have to wear plastic gloves and go to work for an hour digging tiny amounts of shredded crab meat from unforgiving shells. You could pierce the shells, but the crab would not come out. (“Come out! Come out! Wherever you are!”)I empathized with squirrels who bury their nuts against the harshness of winter and then spend hours digging fruitlessly, trying to find the hidden food.
3) Get a better tool to crack open the shells, or do it for the customer before serving the entree. With the handy-dandy tool I was given to extract the crab from the crab leg, I now could produce a shell with a needle-sized hole in it. No crab meat emerged. The contents of the shell were still very secure within the hard tube.
4) Make sure that the customer knows, going in, that all of the butter and LOTS of garlic will be dumped atop the plate, unless you specify otherwise.
OBSERVATIONS
I just want to warn anyone who selected this entrée for perfectly, good reasons, as I had: GOOD LUCK. Not only will you end up completely covered with garlic bits and butter, you won’t be rewarded with enough crab meat to adequately feed that squirrel.
My spouse warned me that the crab legs would be messy. I offered up my rationale for selecting the crab legs (my lower appetite), instead of his choice (the Admiral’s Feast). I hate to admit it, but he was right. The crab—no matter what the “deal” currently is—was a bad choice on SOOOO many levels!
In “the old days,” (which means before Red Lobster went bankrupt and DJT 2.0 set about bankrupting us in every other area of life), I would have ordered the meal that consists of fried shrimp, a lobster, and crab. That meal is pushing $50 now and I’m just not that hungry any more. So, I selected the crab legs, knowing it would be less bountiful. That was just fine by sixty-pounds lighter me.
I ordered the crab with garlic butter. I did not know that the “new way” to serve a Red Lobster customer garlic butter was to dump it atop the already-messy crab legs. You don’t get it on the side in a little container (like the old days) unless you specifically ask for it on the side. It would be best to warn Old Time Red Lobster patrons of this fact before they are presented with a large heap of oily crab legs, literally drowning in bits of garlic. (I don’t really like garlic that much; I generally ask my daughter-in-law to not put the garlic in my green beans, because I like a hint of the flavor, but I don’t eat it by the spoonful. But spoonfuls of this aromatic stuff had definitely been used on top of the crab legs.)
Red Lobster flyer.
Even though they gave me plastic gloves (I’m not kidding; actual plastic gloves), this greasy thankless crab-removal task is a job nobody needs nor wants. What happened to the idea of slicing the crab shell open in the kitchen before the customer has to start wearing surgical gloves to retrieve their meal?
When the plate first appeared with massive amounts of garlic garnishing it, our waitress stopped to check on us. I was really sorry to be “that customer” but I told her that, actually, I had not anticipated the giant greasy load of garlic pieces.
“I don’t even like garlic much,” I mumbled.
I feel very bad to EVER send anything back. It’s not in my nature. I cringe just writing this, but I could not just sit there staring at the plate, so I answered honestly. I give high marks to the waitress’s efforts to please an ignorant customer who ordered without complete knowledge of the “new” Red Lobster.
She was great about it. She took the plate with the untouched pound of crab legs and the pound and a half of garlic and butter and the very few pieces of potato that were buried beneath this mess in a greasy liquid butter to the kitchen. The crab legs were returned without the butter and the garlic (also without the potatoes).
If I ever dine there again, (1) I will not order the crab legs and (2) I will definitely ask that the garlic butter of olden days be put on the side, like it used to be. I can’t even finish 1/2 of the 6-pack of chicken nuggets from Chik’ Fil A these days. Damola, maybe consider the smaller plate option with a smaller price if you order less?
I wonder how many times and how many other unsuspecting customers have been burned by this New Way of Doing Things at Red Lobster? Maybe Red Lobster needs to write the advice about the dipping sauce on the actual menu next to the entrée description. The need to re-do my plate was certainly wasteful. For that I apologize.
So now starts the fun part: trying to get the crab out of the shell.
Forget it.
The broccoli was good. I ate most of it while waiting for the return of the garlic-less crab legs. No idea what happened to the “crispy potatoes.” I can guarantee you that they weren’t very “crispy” after marinating in a pound of butter and garlic; then they disappeared. I honestly did not care by that point. I needed to go wash my hands, one of three trips to the women’s rest room necessitated by the overly greasy presentation.
RED LOBSTER REST ROOM
Let’s leave the booth in the bar for a moment and travel to the nearby women’s bathroom in Davenport, Iowa. After the ordeal of foraging for 2 to 3 ounces of crab meat like a famished squirrel, I needed to wash my hands. Repeatedly.
So let me warn prospective patrons about the two (2) stalls in the women’s rest room in the Red Lobster location in Davenport, Iowa. (I was recently locked in the rest room of the Main Street Pizza in Buda, Texas for almost half an hour, calling on my phone for someone to come pry the stuck door open, so bear with me if I sound skittish about being locked in the rest room stall in the women’s rest room of the Red Lobster in Davenport, Iowa.)
Stall #1, the handicapped stall, has a lock that no longer functions. The bar that slides back-and-forth only slides back-and-forth on the wrong side (outside) of the metal thing that you are supposed to slide the bar into. Good luck in trying to hold the door closed with your hand while seated during your time in the stall! (Ahem).
On my second hand-washing trip, a portly woman with a cane tried to lock the door to Stall #1–the one that needs a handyman to come and fix it. She tried to “fix” it by slamming the door repeatedly. That didn’t work, but, as a result, I got stuck in the Stall #2 where the door had (previously) operated just fine.
Stall #2, the stall closest to the entry door, DID have a lock that worked. This was good news. [Since the gizmo given me to free the 3 oz. of crab meat from the shell didn’t work I lost faith in all of the implements provided by the establishment for specific purposes.]
The door to Stall #2 DID work, but wait: Just try to exit Stall #2 after unlocking it. The door only opened 8 inches. It reminded me of my red Prius (the FireBird) after a teenaged driver slammed into us in Okmulgee, Oklahoma on our November 3rd drive to Texas. The side impact crash totaled the car. The door on my car’s passenger’s side only opened about eight inches. My husband had to come around from the driver’s side and pull with all of his force to open the door to allow me to exit. (And then we twist tied the car together and drove 6 hours to Austin, Texas, with no headlights).
The Firebird, post crash.
This Red Lobster door to Stall #2 in the women’s rest room opened almost the same amount, but I had no male companion in the ladies’ rest room to help pry it open. I wonder if the large woman with the cane, in attempting to lock her side of Stall #1, did damage to MY door?
Fortunately, following my Ozempic/Mounjuaro months, I am much smaller (60 lbs.). I was able—just barely—to slip through the very narrow opening and return to the booth to struggle with securing food. [Hungry squirrel returns to the field to forage.]
Finally, I decided to discontinue wrestling with the crab legs. That battle was lost. The bill was close to $100 (2 people, no alcoholic beverages). I figure my 3 oz. of shredded crab probably cost about $20 an ounce. I was still hungry when I left.
Warning to prospective crab leg customers: be sure to ask for whatever kind of butter you select on the side.
[If you’re female, good luck in the rest room!]
Camp Mystic, Texas.
In the wake of the Texas flash flood catastrophe that has, so far, claimed 68 lives, with over 41 still missing, 27 of them (originally) young girls at a campsite (Camp Mystic) along the Guadalupe River, this seems like a good time to mention how the current GOP administration is taking care of Americans facing weather disasters. Helicopters in Texas are searching for survivors even now, according to the U.S. Coast Guard Liaison to the city of Kerrville, a Texas location which was hard hit. The Cajun Navy (unofficial) is helping try to locate and hopefully rescue survivors. The U.S. Coast Guard is assisting in the search. Army Corps of Engineers and Border Patrol are involved, according to Texas Governor Greg Abbott.
Director of Homeland Security Kristi Noem
Kristi Noem
Kristi Noem, former Governor of South Dakota, is now the United States Secretary of Homeland Security—(also known as the woman who shot her own dog dead.) She was seen on CNN, stylishly attired, saying,”When President Trump took office, he said he wanted to update this ancient system. We can do all we can to fix these kinds of things.” In other words, she offered nothing substantial to reassure residents of any state that things will improve over time, and the facts suggest that they will get worse—much, much worse.
These empty words came from the administration that just dramatically cut major aid to weather forecasting agencies and to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which Trump wants to put entirely under his own presidential control, so that he can “play favorites” in sending aid to states hit by weather disasters. Trump has said he wants to completely eliminate FEMA by the beginning of next year’s hurricane season.
Tropical Storm Chantal is the third major storm of the hurricane season. It is strengthening off the coast of South Carolina right now. It may well be another weather crisis that will hit within 24 hours of the Texas Guadalupe River tragedy. Will Kristi Noem’s agency be prepared? Will she have the right outfit for the inevitable destruction that Chantal might cause? Her previous pose, outside the prison in El Salvador, featured a backdrop of shackled prisoners. Reminded me of Robert Palmer’s videos for “Addicted to Love” and “Simply Irresistible,” (only with a less well-attired backdrop). Will someone steal Noem’s purse while she is on camera, her favorite place to be?
Robert Palmer girls in “Addicted to Love.”
Official Warnings
It might be a flood, a tornado, a hurricane, an earthquake, a derecho or a fire. (Or, today, in Illinois, warnings about dust storms that remind of the Dust Bowl Days.) In Texas, at hours that survivors describe as two to four in the morning, river levels rose from a foot to heights that reached thirty-four feet… a virtual wall of water that swept away everything in its path. Survivors described individuals being swept 6 to 12 miles downstream and—if they were lucky—holding on to trees, bushes and telephone poles to survive.
At 6:16 a.m., the City of Kerrville’s Police Department posted on its Facebook page its first warning about the weather, noting that it’s a “life threatening event” and “anyone near the Guadalupe River needs to move to higher ground now.” Kerr County Sheriff posted on its Facebook page for the first time about the flooding at 6:32 a.m.
At 7:22 a.m., the City Hall of Kerrville posted on Facebook: “Much needed rain swept through Kerrville overnight, but the downside is the severe weather may impact many of today’s scheduled July 4th events. Citizens are encouraged to exercise caution when driving and avoid low water crossings. Kerrville Police and Fire Department personnel are currently assessing emergency needs.” At 7:33 a.m. it posted about road closures due to flooding. At 8:32 a.m. it posted: “If you live along the Guadalupe River, please move to higher ground immediately.”
Speaking on Friday, Lt. Gov. Patrick (the very Lt. Governor whose own staff sued him in a famed whistleblower suit) said there were 14 helicopters, 12 drones, nine rescue teams as well as “swimmers in the water rescuing adults and children out of trees.” He said there were 400 to 500 people on the ground helping with the rescue effort. The numbers of the dead—many of them unidentified—rise hourly.
First-Person Accounts
Interior of Camp Mystic, the 100-year-old Christian camp hit by the flash flooding along the Guadalupe River in Texas.
Caroline and Juliana, daughters of Representative August Pfluger of Texas, were safely evacuated from Camp Mystic. Unfortunately, twenty-seven other female campers are still missing. Carl Jeter of Spring Branch, Texas, rescued a woman from a tree near his house. He talked with the woman, who had been camping above Ingram, Texas. Ingram to Hunt is currently, on 7/6 at 3:30 p.m., being evacuated, as it is near a bend of the Guadalupe River and a wall of water may be coming. Residents of Hunt, Texas, are being urged to get to higher ground and there are non-stop traffic jams.
The four individuals woke up, got in the car, and tried to drive out, but it was too late. The woman and her three companions climbed through the sun roof of their car and into the flood waters. She went through 4 dams and through Sydney Baker Road in town. She saw cars going by and screamed for help as she was swept possibly 20 miles in the raging flood waters. She summoned the strength to grab a tree and climb up, spending 4 hours treading water in the Guadalupe River. She had lost contact with her 3 companions. She is now hospitalized.
Trump’s Budget’s Effect on Future Disasters
Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which could more accurately be described as the Big Bad Bill, has caused FEMA to lose 25% of its full-time staff, reducing its trained staffers ready to deploy to disasters from 6,588 to 1,952. Twenty-five % of its full time staff, about 2,000 people have been let go or resigned since January. The Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June through November, could produce up to 19 storms and 5 major hurricanes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This is above the annual average of 14 named storms, which NOAA official say is a result of higher ocean temperatures and lower trade winds. FEMA last year passed $64 billion to states and local governments for disaster relief, cleanup and recovery. Is that likely to continue? Officials are worried that it will not.
Officials now also worry that they won’t receive notification of impending climate catastrophes because Trump’s Big Bad Budget cut 20% of NOAA’s staff. More than a dozen NWS forecast offices along the hurricane-prone Gulf of Mexico are understaffed. The release of weather balloons has been suspended or reduced at sites across the U.S. The Hurricane Hunter unit, which flies planes into storms to collect critical data for hurricane monitoring, lost 2 flight directors and one electronic engineer due to cuts. Its ability to fly 24/7 missions is jeopardized. Retired NWS meteorologist James Franklin said (of the weather service), “They can move the desk chairs on the Titanic but they just don’t have enough bodies to do the job they are supposed to do.”
Acting FEMA administrator Cameron Hamilton testified before Congress in May, saying that he did not believe that it was “in the best interests of the American people to eliminate FEMA.” He was fired by Trump the next day. He has been replaced by another typical Trump appointee—someone with no emergency management experience who is a painter, novelist and ex-Marine. The #2 in command of FEMA, MaryAnn Tierney, quit as the agency’s #2 expert last month. She said, in her resignation letter, “The agency is failing its moral and statutory obligations to the American public.” She added, “Everyone has a line and I have reached mine.”
The current inexperienced novelist-turned-FEMA director, David Richardson, warned that the federal government is no longer going to cover 75% of disaster relief and recovery costs, but only 50%. Hurricane Helene (North Carolina) last year cost $53 billion. FEMA has provided $656 million in emergency aid for North Carolina, but future payouts are in doubt, causing Governor Josh Stein to raise the alarm in the legislature. To scrap FEMA with no careful thought and no good planning—a hallmark of Trump administration moves like DOGE—is described as “frightening” by residents of Florida who suffer buffeting from hurricanes with great frequency.
Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Alex Padilla (D-CA) introduced the FEMA Independence Act to make FEMA a cabinet-level agency which would remove it from Kristi Noem’s purview. The way Trump prefers, the federal government will distribute less disaster aid and funding will come directly from the President’s office. This means that DJT will play favorites and politicize aid to devastated states—something that sounds exactly like a dictator in an authoritarian state. Tillis announced recently that he would not vote for Trump’s Big Bad Bill and would not seek re-election, saying he could not vote for the Medicaid cuts, among other horrors in the bill. Trump immediately exulted.
Thom Tillis (R, S.C.)
Is this GOP administration looking out for your welfare in the best way possible? Do you feel reassured that the government will be there to help your state, if your state has a climate catastrophe?
Mid-terms are coming. Vote them out!
