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In this age of Donald J. Trump and the Mueller investigation, you can expect updates on what is happening to our country and its Constitution.

Dec. 19th: One Week Until Christmas, 2023

By Connie Wilson

On December 20, 2023

In Editorial, Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest

Stacey & Scott Wilson.

These are my two children, Scott (now aged 55) and Stacey (now aged 36).

Yes, I understand that that is a long time between children, but there you have it: a son who was going off to college when he learned that his parents were having a second child.

I still remember Scott looking at the sonogram of the sister then residing in my 42-year-old womb. He was unsure of the sex and said, “Oh, great! I can throw a football at him!”

I said, “At HER.”

So, Stacey Kristin Corcoran Wilson joined our family in 1987 and we would be poorer for it if she had not.

Scott (and his wife and twins Ava & Elise, now aged 14), reside in Austin, Texas, as of this writing, and we all—minus Stacey— had a family dinner last night.

(L to R) Scott, Stacey, Connie, Ava, Jessica, Elise, Craig.

Meanwhile we are eagerly awaiting Stacey’s arrival for the Christmas holiday, but her duties as a flight attendant for SW airlines will take precedence until she can break free and join us. During the pandemic we all hunkered down in Austin (Stacey normally resides in Nashville) and it was a wonderful treat to have my original nuclear family all together for an extended stay because, keep in mind, Scott was raised as an only child until he left for college and Stacey came along after that (and went off to college, herself, in 2005).December 19th Thoughts on the Passing

So, it is almost 20 years since my nuclear family expanded to one son and one daughter and I couldn’t be happier that I have one of each.

Gained a new grand niece today (Ruthie Kay Wilson) when nephew Michael Wilson and Rachel in St. Louis had a brand new baby girl, who will grow up alongside Winnie Wilson, age 2, the daughter of Megan and Aaron Eddy,

Welcome to the world, Ruthie Kay!

“Iowa Nice” Comes Through in CNN Town Hall Meetings with DeSantis & Ramaswamy

By Connie Wilson

On December 14, 2023

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Interviews, News, Politics, Television

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 19, 2022. (Photo by Wade Vandervort / AFP) (Photo by WADE VANDERVORT/AFP via Getty Images)

There’s Iowa Nice, and then there’s Iowa Smart. Both were on display on Tuesday and Wednesday nights (12/12 and 12/13) on CNN at 8 p.m. (CDT).

After watching the GOP Town Hall Meetings on CNN with Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy I have to say that the people of my home state did Iowa proud. Their questions were so much better than any of those asked by the professional media people moderating the “real” debates recently that there really was no comparison.

Instead of dwelling on the issue of trans-gender sex change operations for youth—a topic that affected fewer than 1,200 people in 2019, the peak year for such surgeries—-these rank-and-file Iowans asked questions that matter to all of us, on the following topics:

U.S. Economic prosperity
Israel vs. Ukraine support from the U.S.
The border issue
Fentanyl
Social Security
Abortion (a notable exception during the GOP debate hosted by Megan Kelly)
Trade relations with China
Why DeSantis would be different/better than Trump as President
Nikki Haley’s support from big business
DeSantis’ position on fracking

Yes, there was a question on a purely Iowa issue, the Satanic Temple display at the State Capitol in Des Moines. And the Pork-on-a-stick at the Iowa State Fair was, perhaps, not a Biggie, but kudos, Iowans!

Vivek Ramaswamy on Dec. 13 during the CNN Town Hall in Des Moines, Iowa, at Grandview College.

When Vivek Ramaswamy graced the Grandview College stage on Wednesday night, December 12, 2023, the people of Iowa came through again, asking Vivek Ramaswamy how he would be different from Trump; the border; Vivek’s Hindu religion in a largely Christian state and nation; Putin’s response to Ramaswamy’s proposed Ukraine solution; inequity in wealth between the top 1% wealthiest Americans and the middle class; a president’s demeanor while serving as the nation’s leader; challenges he had experienced as a candidate because of his age and his position on diversity programs.

The questioning did go off the rails a bit when Ramaswamy (his own worst enemy) went on and on and on about various debunked conspiracy theories and what he had learned about Iowans, in general. (They don’t call it “Iowa Nice” for no reason.)

I’ll write more about their responses in the next few days, but…Damn! You did us proud, questioners. Give those Talking Heads some tips for future debates.

Will the Real Ron DeSantis Please Stand Up

Red State/Blue State Debate: Whose Idea Was This?

By Connie Wilson

On December 4, 2023

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics

We watched the debate between Gavin Newsom, Governor of California, and Ron DeSantis, Governor of Florida, and, the entire time, what was going through my mind was, “Why?”

The debate was staged by Fox News and Sean Hannity was the moderator, but the obvious take-away, up front, is that this thing is not going to be “fair and equal” because it is being run (some would say “rigged”) by Fox News.

After the debate was over there were charges that DeSantis had been fed the questions ahead of time, that he was talking with his “team” during the debate (accusations made of both), that a screen was slanted towards DeSantis and not towards Newsom. After the debate had lurched to a close, the moderator said the mismatched duo were going to stay on and continue.

Jennifer Siebel Newsom.

But that didn’t happen. There were reports that Newsom’s wife, Jennfer Seibel Newsom, marched onstage and barked “We’re done.” Some reports said that she was particularly ticked off that her father (Newsom’s father-in-law) was cited by DeSantis as having introduced himself to the Florida governor and endorsed Florida’s superiority to California as a state in which one wished to live, having just relocated from California to Florida himself.

I keep asking myself why Newsom would agree to participate in what was most certainly going to be a rigged presentation, with Fox News attempting to bolster DeSantis’ race for the White House and Newsom not even being a candidate this election cycle. Or is he?

DeSantis kept referencing Newsom’s “shadow campaign” for the White House, while each liberally insulted the other. Meanwhile Hannity threw up a variety of charts and graphs that favored Florida, as you just knew it would.

For this reason my spouse (who says he is Independent but is from good Republican stock) declared DeSantis to have been “the winner.” I felt that the statistics would favor Florida, everyone’s favorite retirement destination. However, I felt that the presentation and command of the stage and facts win went to Newsom.

I admit to being quite concerned about Newsom’s judgment when I think about the fact that he was once married to Kimberly Guilfoyle, now Donald Trump, Jr.’s main squeeze, but his new blonde wife looked like a massive step up. Wife #2 recognized that this debate would feel so good once it ended and helped facilitate that, which was probably smart.

One of the contentious things that came out of the debate was DeSantis holding up a picture of a graph he claimed represented the most heavily feced areas of San Francisco. Later, Newsom said this was a violation of the rules agreed upon beforehand. The placards and other such debate aids that Hannity put up onscreen were also being argued about, after the debate had concluded. Supposedly, they were not to be allowed, although Hannity disputed this contention. (Don’t they all?)

California Governor Gavin Newsom.

I just kept wondering, “What’s in this for Gavin Newsom? Who thought up this entire idea?”

One idea that did make sense was this one: If Biden were to pull out of the presidential race at the last minute for any reason, who would the Democrats belatedly run? Naturally, one thinks immediately of Vice President Kamala Harris, who is, if polls are right, is even less popular right now than Biden himself.

She is from California. So is Gavin Newsom. According to the 12^th amendment to the Constitution, electors may not vote for presidential and vice-presidential candidates who both reside in the elector’s state—at least one of them must be an inhabitant of another state.

Is all of this part of some behind-the-scenes plan to hedge all bets and find a way to exclude the unpopular Harris? Who thought up the entire ordeal that Newsom just endured ?

We are a house divided and, while I agree that the placards carried the day for Florida over California, DeSantis’ sickly smile and poor debate skills couldn’t hold a candle to the much smoother Newsom. DeSantis kept trying to “diss” Newsom as “slick.” If you think back, that perjorative term was applied to Bill Clinton and, later, to Barack Obama. I’m perfectly fine with “slick” if it means competent, poised and articulate. The fact that Newsom is so poised is surprising considering his life-long history of dyslexia, which continues to the present.

Setting aside my reservations about Newsom’s poor judgment in selecting a Screaming Mimi as his first wife in 2001 and being married to her until 2005, there is also this. He had an ill-advised affair with Ruby Rippey-Tourk, the wife of his good friend and Chief of Staff, Alex Tourk, a woman who worked for him. Newsom met and married film-maker Jennifer Siebel in 2007 and the couple has four children.

Former New Jersey Governor and potential presidential hopeful (2024) Chris Christie.

The bench for successor to Biden is not currently very deep. The GOP party is a shadow of its former self and Nikki Haley is looking like a more viable candidate than DeSantis, while preliminary reports are that Chris Christie may not even make the ballot in one state. (Who knows if he’ll make another debate stage?)

Whatever Democratic strategist gave the go-ahead for Newsom to take a thrashing, factually, but prevail in the personality department should be brought forth to explain to the rest of us what is really going on here.

“Remember This” Documentary at Nashville Film Festival Stars David Straithairn

By Connie Wilson

On October 2, 2023

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Interviews, Movies, Politics, Reviews

David Straithairn as Jan Karski in “Remember This” at the Nashville Film Festival.

Academy Award nominee David Straithairn portrays Polish Underground hero Jan Karski in this 95-minute documentary from the Nashville Jewish Film Festival. Straithorne will be better known to audiences as Tom Cruise’s convict older brother in “The Firm” or as the Oscar nominee for 2006’s “Good Night, and Good Luck.” More recently Straithairn was the male lead opposite Frances McDormand in the Oscar-winning Best Picture of the Year, 2021’s “Nomadland.”

In this Jeff Hutchens and Derek Goldman directed tour de force one-man show, Straithairn is onstage with just a table and a chair and must carry the entire story of the Polish war hero and the Nazi genocide without benefit of anything but some accompanying music. It’s a tall order with Straitharn, an actor in his 70s, portraying over 30 characters. It is the spare black-and-white no frills approach that kept the budget to $500,000.

The film is based on the play “Remember This: The Lesson of Jan Karski” by Clark Young and Derek Goldman. As a play, it ran with Straitharn “live” at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier. The film was shot on a Brooklyn soundstage in July of 2020 at the height of the pandemic, and was completed in 2022. The play was originally prepared for the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics at Georgetown University.

Karski was a Polish Catholic with a photographic memory; he was a true Polish patriot. Said Karski, “I am a 28-year-old machine. I am an insignificant little man.” He volunteered to become a sort of human tape recorder, documenting the genocide of the Jewish population of Poland and Germany. Captured at various points in his perilous journey, he narrowly escaped death at many points, attempted suicide at least once, and maintained that he was an ordinary man until the end of his life. We see a short snippet of the real Jan Karski, and he breaks down while trying to recount his adventures.

Throughout the film about World War II a viewer cannot stop thinking of the Ukraine/Russia conflict that is ongoing. Repeated throughout the film is the question, “What can we do?” The only suggestion during the film consisted of hunger strikes to publicize the atrocities.

The seeming indifference of the top leaders of the Allied powers in the UK and the US is underscored, with Supreme Court Chief Justice Felix Frankfurter flat-out telling Jan during their meeting that he does not believe him. Likewise, President Roosevelt was being urged by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to do more for the beleaguered Jewish population. She wanted him to allow more Holocaust victims to flee to the United States, but he followed the lead of Sir Anthony Eden of Great Britain, who said only, “The matter will take its proper course.”

Meanwhile, as Karski is told by his Superior in London, Szmul Zgielbojm (Polish government in exile), “Tell them in London and the U.S. that we are dying. Remember this.” Repeatedly Karski is told, “Perhaps this will shake the conscience of the world.” The message that echoes throughout: “Governments have no souls. They have only their interests. Individuals have souls.”‘

While Straithairn does what he can with the part, this is no “Schindler’s List.” The filmmakers did insert some sound effects and music that aids a bit, but it is truly up to Straithairn to convey the horror of a systematic attempt to wipe out three and one-half million Jewish residents of Poland and 6 million throughout Europe. The numbers of Jewish survivors in Poland are reduced to a few thousand survivors.

The letter to Roosevelt and Churchill that laid it out quite baldly said, “The surviving Jews of Poland beg you to find a way to save them. The greatest crime in human history. Force the Nazi murderers to stop the systematic extinction of our people.”Karski also had meetings with the top diplomats of the U.K. and the U.S., including Roosevelt I recently completed Robert Dallek’s biography of FDR entitled “Franklin Delano Roosevelt: A Political Life.” That comprehensive history of FDR’s years in office confirms the stories that Jan Karski tells about the slow pace of world leaders; those leaders would later claim that they had not been told of the full extent of the Holocaust.

One of the most telling historical stories depicted in the film is that of Szmul Mordeko Zgielbojm, the member of the Polish government-in-exile in London to whom Jan Karski reported. Zgielbojm was a Polish Socialist politician and Bund trans-union activist. He and Karski sought every avenue to publicize to the world the atrocities being committed in Poland, Germany and throughout Nazi-dominated Europe. On May 11th, 1943, after the brutal crushing of the Polish Warsaw Rebellion by units under the control of SS-Brigadefuhrer Jeugen Stroop, Zbielbojm committed suicide to protest the inaction of the western Allied powers.

The testimony is important for history, especially in an age when there are still Holocaust deniers. Straitharn does what he can with a bare bones production. Checking out some of the original recordings of Jan Karski (the Shoah Project) is a worthwhile pursuit. You can find some links at RememberThisKarskifilm.com.

“Another Body” Traces Deep-Fake Porno in Timely Documentary

By Connie Wilson

On September 29, 2023

In Editorial, Education, Movies, News, Pop Culture, Reviews, Science and Medicine

A timely issue for our time is the use of deep-fake video. It was one of the sticking points during the recent 148-day Hollywood entertainment strike. It is bound to rear its ugly head again during the 2024 presidential race. Porno videos with famous people’s faces super-imposed on the bodies of others are out there. In this documentary, it is a college student who makes the discovery that there is “Another Body,” represented as hers, circulating on the Internet. The supreme irony is that, in able to testify to the damage being done to victims like the fictional Taylor Klein, she had to “deep fake” her own testimony, (which made it all the way to the White House.)

In the timely documentary “Another Body,” directed by Sophie Compton and Reuben Hamlyn (co-written by Isabel Freeman), a college student discovers deep fakes represented as being Taylor, circulating online. Using video diaries, synthetic media, and 2D and 3D animation, the documentary takes you behind the scenes: who did this and why and how can it be stopped and rectified? :”I kept asking myself who would do this and why would they want to do this? I worry that they are going to do something more drastic? I believe that, in his mind, he is getting back at us for rejecting him.”

THE GOOD

I marveled at the expertise that the filmmakers showed in presenting this complicated story to us, using dummy-like automatons to represent the fictional “Mike” (the perpetrator that Taylor and friends track down over time.) It was very impressive in regard to its technical achievements.Bravo!

I empathized with statements like, “I’ve had to deal with all the consequences that he should have had to deal with. I’ve had to leave the fun group, but he hasn’t.” 9,500 porno sites with 14 million hits a month sounds like the death throes of a decadent society. Are sites like PornHub that “normal” in this country’s incel culture that this sort of thing is doubling every six months, as the film says? Do those who use such sites routinely end up on a roof with a gun, shooting at spectators at a Fourth of July Parade in Illinois? What-the-heck is going on? Yes, Trump is the poster boy for such bad behavior, but…really?

I also recognized that the misogyny that today’s women of the MeToo movement are not willing to put up with has been going on for decades. DJT is a throwback to those decades when it truly was “a man’s world” and, as he bragged on video, if you were male you could get away with just about anything, because that is what women were told they had to put up with in order to be “good” female citizens. Women were not supposed to “take a man’s job” and we were supposed to stay barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen, waiting on our man. R-i-i-i-g-h-t. So, I enjoyed seeing the new generation of women take on the male establishment. Maybe the good guys—err girls—will win, this time. I hope so. The request that she be respected for her professional achievements and viewed as “good” is not a pie-in-the-sky goal for the fictional Taylor of this tale; it is what women deserve, but have seldom achieved without a fight.

THE BAD

Like many other documentaries, this one could have been shorter. A half hour trim would not have taken away from the film, which became repetitive. Some of the interactions between Taylor and other victims could have been shortened.

Worst of all, the conclusion that Taylor draws near the end of the film is depressing: Sometimes the bad guys win.

GOP Second Debate on September 27th, 2023, Ends Up As Shout-Fest

By Connie Wilson

On September 27, 2023

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics

Will the Real Ron DeSantis Please Stand Up I just watched the second GOP debate. I feel like I need a shower and a stiff drink. Maybe some ear plugs, too, since at least four of the seven candidates for the Republican nomination for president were usually talking at once.

We watched the debate on Fox “live,” as it was held from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California because I’m in Nashville for the film festival, which starts tomorrow, and the daughter’s set has mainly streaming services. We finally located it “live” on YouTube.

A British guy named Stuart Varney started this cluster-f*** off by totally mangling the name of his Hispanic co-host, Ilia Calderone of Noticias Univision. How Ms. Calderone got on this panel is a good question; she did bring some interesting questions to the candidates, including one on LGBQT people that saw Mike Pence move from a statement about protecting all Americans to one saying he would ban all transgender efforts in the United States. It’s quite a stretch from asking how you would protect LGBQT Americans, who, Ms. Calderone noted, are far more likely to be violently attacked, to vowing to attack them yourself using legal means. (Yikes!)

The three hosts were Ilia Calderone and Dana Perino and the British badly balding Stuart Varney. Not the “A” team.

Not only did Varney basically mutilate Ms. Calderone’s name in a fashion that we hadn’t heard since John Travolta mispronounced Idina Menzel’s name as Adele Dazeem at the 2014 Oscars, but Varney had absolutely no control over the combatants, although he kicked off the evening by saying, “Keep it civilized.” (Ha!)

I switched between a YouTube Live showing of the contestants and what we used to call Twitter (now “X”). Several “X” users had posted pictures of Vivek Ramaswamy’s mile-high hair next to pictures of Beavis or Butthead. (I can never tell them apart; not a regular fan.) One other “X” user had posted a picture of Vivek’s mile-high hair next to an Afro wearer, mentioning that Ramaswamy was really trying hard to get the Black vote tonight.

One analyst commented on Tim Scott’s dumb take on the UAW strike, saying something to the effect that they (the auto workers) should get fired like the air traffic controllers were fired under Reagan. Citing $86 billion in aid for union pensions, (which Scott claimed was “the1 ^st bill under Joe Biden,”) Scott criticized the auto workers desire for shorter work week but more pay and added, “Joe Biden shouldn’t be on the picket line. He should be on the Southern border.” Apparently Tim Scott has missed out on hearing about the phenomenal salaries that the Big Three CEO’s are pulling down, while, because of the financial crisis in 2008/2009, auto workers gave up many perks of their jobs at that time to help save the car companies and now would like a fair share of the record profits they are raking in. The GOP haranguing against unions is nothing new, however. I was surprised that they didn’t attempt to drag teachers’ unions through the mud with mis-statements, once again.

As the MSNBC analysts pointed out, to hear these candidates tonight, the very worst thing that Donald J. Trump has done is to not show up for the GOP debate. No mention of his planning and executing a coup. No mention of his recent suggestion that General Mark Milley be executed or his willingness to let his VP be hanged on January 6th. This ignoring the elephant in the room seems to be the norm of the new Republican party. Tonight Trump took heat from several of the candidates, including Ron DeSantis, who had meticulously avoided criticizing Trump by name until tonight, but only for his failure to appear to shout over the others. No harsh words for the man about his 91 criminal indictments or how he was recently found guilty of decades of fraud in his business practices, other than wondering why he couldn’t be here this night to join in the general chaos and talk over the other candidates, which he most certainly would have done. (My daughter wanted to know when civility and behaving in a polite fashion while debating went out of style, and my answer was, “When the GOP elevated a con-man like Donald Trump to the top spot in their party.” Which, by the way, he still occupies, even if his hold on the party is tenuous as the charges against him mount.

IMHO, it was very difficult to understand Ilia Calderon. And Stuart Varney just seemed out of his element. Dana Perino seemed to perform the best of the three moderators, but all were underwhelming.

There was a lot of criticism of the failure to control immigration at the border, with very little acknowledgement of how longstanding a problem this is. It is not just Joe Biden who has dropped the ball on immigration reform. The system is broken and Congress needs to act to fix it, but never let the truth get in the way of a good debate.

Both Mike Pence and others threw shade at Ramaswamy for doing business with China as an entrepreneur. If I heard correctly, Ramaswamyy had done business with the same organization that Hunter Biden is accused of doing business with. Pence, mentioning that Ramaswamy had withdrawn from the business deal with China in 2018, asked if that was the year Vivek began voting for president. Ramaswamy took a lot of incoming; he seemed in high spirits throughout. Ramaswamy and Chris Christie laughed at the chaos unleashed by the complete disregard for civility that these debates seem to have devolved into, with Christie literally lounging against the lectern with a big smile on his face when things were going down the tubes.

Most of the specific mentions of policies were one candidate attacking another, as when Haley attacked DeSantis or Scott attacked Haley over a gas tax. (I liked Nikki Haley’s remark of “Bring it” and how hard she worked to correct the misinformation about a gas tax in her state.)

Some mentioned that the Hispanic moderator brought up some facts that Fox viewers do not normally get to hear, like the fact that 90% of illegal drugs are sought by purchasers in the U.S. and are caught at the border (so much for the tough talk on how tough each would be on the drug cartels) or how LGBQT people are more likely to become victims of vicious attacks.

One of my favorite moments was when Chris Christie looked directly into the camera, saying that he knew DJT would be watching, and then said, of Donald J. Trump, “He’s divided people all over this country. He needs to be voted off the island and be voted out of this process.”

Neither Christie nor Burgum got much of a chance to contribute, tonight, even when the topic was something that Burgum of North Dakota claimed expertise in, energy security. This despite the fact that Nikki Haley said, “Energy security is national security.” Pence, who looked extremely tired this evening, noted that, during his stint as Vice President under the man who plotted to overthrow our national election, we (the U.S.) became a national exporter of energy for “the first time in 75 years.” Pence did not seem to give much credence to the fact that our dependence on fossil fuels has contributed to the wacky weather that we have all experienced this past year, (including the hottest day on the planet in July). The Biden administration’s attempts to move us off fossil fuels and onto other alternatives, plus the efforts to get the United States car manufacturers making electric vehicles (which China is way ahead of us on doing) is directly linked to the global warming that human mistreatment of the planet, including using coal and oil instead of wind or nuclear or solar power], has created.

I hope that someone more dedicated than me investigates whether Floridians did or did not get to vote on fracking before DeSantis’s actions on fracking and drilling. There was a heated debate between Nikki Haley and DeSantis on that very point; she seemed to be winning. DeSantis, in the manner of politicians from forever, fielded a question about the cost of college by pivoting to his own educational achievements and his military record (“I’ll be the first person since 1988 who has also served.”) It was absolutely not answering the question asked and smacked of a self-serving stroll down memory lane

I wish that Cassidy Hutchison’s insights into the January 6th riots had been viewed by as many people as viewed tonight’s so-called “debate” because they were far more relevant to selecting the right people to run our country in 2024.

“No Labels” Third Party May Really Be A GOP-Ploy to Re-Elect Trump

By Connie Wilson

On August 28, 2023

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Pop Culture

“No Labels’ attacks are the kind of division the country needs less of right now, and it’s a betrayal of every moderate and every problem solver in Congress,” Rep. Brad Schneider said. | Samuel Corum/Getty Images

A group of House Democrats with ties to No Labels is turning on the centrist group after it attacked one of their founding members.

No Labels texted people who live in the district of Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), criticizing the congressman for scoffing at their idea for a unity presidential ticket and claiming it could result in Donald Trump’s return to the presidency.

The information (above) is something I sought out after listening to the Sunday, August 27th, episode of “Meet the Press.” During the waning moments of the show (which I always tape) there was a spirited debate between one of the founders of the No Labels movement and an individual responsible for a Democratic largely reader-written blog that is currently being sued by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for reporting on some of his positions and appearances, “Daily Kos.” (Even RFK, Jr.’s family is upset that he is running, because of his tendency to embrace fringe theories.)

Since polls have found that somewhere around 65% to 75% of Americans do not want either of the leading candidates—Trump or Biden—to run, the No Labels group claimed to be attempting to field other candidates for President. Chief among those mentioned were Joe Manchin (D., W.Va.) and Governor Chris Sununu. The spokesman on “Meet the Press” said that they would be interviewing candidates in March/April and making an announcement after that.

What the No Labels group claims it is doing is offering candidates to the public that they actually want to vote for.

What they may, actually, be trying to do is to act as a ‘spoiler’ group, assuring that no candidate gets to 270 Electoral College votes. That would send the choice of the president to the House of Representatives, which is currently GOP dominated. There hasn’t been a successful third party challenge of the magnitude of Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose party for decades, although the next-closest attempt occurred when Ross Perot attempted the feat in 1996.

Perot ran an independent campaign in the 1992 U.S. presidential election and a third-party campaign in the 1996 U.S. presidential election as the nominee of the Reform Party, which was formed by grassroots supporters of Perot’s 1992 campaign. Although he failed to carry a single state in either election, both campaigns were among the strongest presidential showings by a third party or independent candidate in U.S. history (the most successful since Teddy Roosevelt’s Bull Moose party).

Former GOP stragegist and Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson argues that No Labels’ “centrist do-gooder” position is deeply misleading. “What could possibly go wrong?” he asks. “The thing that could go wrong is the election of Donald Trump.”

“Mother Jones” did a run-down of who is financially behind “No Labels” here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/06/no-labels-exposed-heres-a-list-of-donors-funding-its-effort-to-disrupt-the-2024-race/

Tuesday Weld Turns 80 Today: August 27, 2023

By Connie Wilson

On August 27, 2023

In Editorial, Local, Movies, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Pop Culture

Tuesday Weld with Richard Janssen of “The Fugitive.”

If you are a child of the 60s, you will remember Tuesday Weld.

The blonde bombshell combined an innocent, virginal blonde beauty with a sexuality that made her Stanley Kubrick’s first choice to play “Lolita.” (She turned the part down, saying, “I don’t have to play it. I was Lolita.”)

You have to admire a woman who changed her name, legally, to Tuesday when she was only 16 years old and, when asked what drove her from Hollywood, responded, “I think it was a Buick.”

Tuesday had some outstanding roles, although it was always her appearance that preceded her, in the same way that Michelle Pfieffer’s blonde good looks have made her into a line in a Bruno Mars song.

Her childhood was not a happy one. Born in 1943, she became her family’s sole breadwinner when her father died at age 49 in 1947 just before Tuesday’s fourth birthday. Her mother, Yosene Balfour Ker, daughter of the artist and Life illustrator William Balfour Ker, was Lathrop Weld’s fourth and last wife.

Mother Yosene put Tuesday into modeling and she soon began her career as an actress. Tuesday began drinking heavily at ages 9 and 10 and had a breakdown at age nine. Mommy didn’t think that Tuesday needed therapy and life went on pretty much as before, with Tuesday’s first suicide attempt at age twelve. Later, Tuesday expressed a great deal of hostility towards her mother and said she only felt free when her mother had passed. In fact, she began telling people that her mother was dead literally decades before she had actually died.

Most of her life, Tuesday was preyed upon by older men. One of the most famous of her laiasons with the actor John Ireland, who was then in his forties, while she was underage. Over the years, she had romances with Al Pacino,^[29] David Steinberg,^[30] Mikhail Baryshnikov^[31] (whose previous girlfriend, Jessica Lange, had been Weld’s best friend),^[32] Omar Sharif,^[33] Richard Gere^[34] and Ryan O’Neal.

Tuesday Weld in 1960.

Career

Weld attracted attention as the favored, out-of-control Katherine in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) – packing into her short screen time an orgy, a divorce, a lot of alcohol, and two abortions – and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress;^[20] later she appeared in Who’ll Stop the Rain (1978) opposite Nick Nolte; and the ensemble satire Serial (1980).

She said she preferred television. “What I dig about TV is the pace”, she said. “Two weeks for even a heavy part – great. Too much thinking about a role is a disaster for me. I mean, let’s do it, let’s get it done.”^[25]

She played the lead in the TV films A Question of Guilt (1978), in which she plays a woman accused of murdering her children, Mother and Daughter: The Loving War (1980), a remake of Madame X (1981), and a new version of The Rainmaker (1982).

In feature films, Weld had a good supporting role in Michael Mann‘s acclaimed 1981 film Thief, opposite James Caan. She played Al Pacino‘s wife in Author! Author! (1982) and co-starred with Donald Sutherland in the TV film The Winter of Our Discontent (1983). This performance earned her an Emmy nomination.

In 1984, she appeared in Sergio Leone‘s gangster epic Once Upon a Time in America, playing a jeweler’s secretary, who is in on a plan to steal a shipment of diamonds. During the robbery, her character goads Robert De Niro‘s character, David “Noodles” Aaronson, into “raping” her with her complicity. She later meets up with the gang from the robbery, and becomes the moll of James Woods‘ character Max Bercovicz. Disturbed by what she sees as Max’s delusional, even suicidal, ambitions, she convinces Noodles to betray Max to the police. The performance earned Weld a BAFTA nomination for Best Supporting Actress of 1984.

On TV, Weld was in Scorned and Swindled (1984), Circle of Violence (1986) and Something in Common (1986). She had a supporting role in Heartbreak Hotel (1988).

Later career

Weld was reunited with Anthony Perkins in an episode of Mistress of Suspense (1990).

In 1993, she played a police officer’s neurotic wife in Falling Down, starring Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall. She had small supporting roles in Feeling Minnesota (1996), Investigating Sex (2001), and Chelsea Walls (2001).

Personal life

Weld was married three times. She was married to screenwriter Claude Harz from October 23, 1965, until their divorce on February 18, 1971. They had a daughter, Natasha, born on August 26, 1966. Weld was awarded custody of Natasha in the divorce and $100 a month in child support payments.^[26]

She married British actor, musician and comedian Dudley Moore on September 20, 1975. On February 26, 1976, they had a son, Patrick. The couple divorced in 1980, with Weld receiving a $200,000 settlement plus $3,000 monthly alimony for the next 4 years and an additional $2,500 a month in child support.^[27]

On October 18, 1985, she married Israeli concert violinist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman, becoming stepmother to his daughters Arianna and Natalia. The couple divorced in 1998. In court papers, Zukerman quoted Weld as saying, “Why do I need to go to another concert when I’ve heard the piece before?” and “I can’t stand the backstage scene. I don’t want to hear another note.”^[28]

Weld sold her beach house in Montauk, New York, in the late 2000s and moved to Carbondale, Colorado. In 2018, she left Colorado and bought a $1.8 million home in the Hollywood Hills.^[36]

Montauk house

Weld and then-husband Zukerman purchased 74 Surfside Ave in 1990 from the estate of Norman Kean, who produced the long-running Broadway show Oh! Calcutta! and who killed himself and his actress wife Gwyda Donhowe in their Manhattan apartment in 1988.^[37] Although the Montauk residence was not a crime scene, Weld later struggled to find a buyer for the property due to its murder-suicide connection. Listed in 2006, it sat on the market for three years before selling at a reduced price of $6.75 million in 2009 and is now rented.^[38][39] Weld bought a “tiny condo” there in 2021 for $335,000.^[40]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1956	Rock, Rock, Rock	Dori Graham
1958	Rally ‘Round the Flag, Boys!	Comfort Goodpasture
1959	The Five Pennies	Dorothy Nichols, age 12 to 14
1960	Because They’re Young	Anne Gregor
	Sex Kittens Go to College	Jody
	High Time	Joy Elder
	The Private Lives of Adam and Eve	Vangie Harper
1961	Return to Peyton Place	Selena Cross
1961	Wild in the Country	Noreen Braxton
1962	Bachelor Flat	Libby Bushmill/Libby Smith
1963	Soldier in the Rain	Bobby Jo Pepperdine
1965	I’ll Take Sweden	JoJo Holcomb
1965	The Cincinnati Kid	Christian Rudd
1966	Lord Love a Duck	Barbara Ann Greene
1968	Pretty Poison	Sue Ann Stepanek
1970	I Walk the Line	Alma McCain
1971	A Safe Place	Susan/Noah
1972	Play It as It Lays	Maria Wyeth Lang	Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama
1974	Reflections of Murder	Vicky
1977	Looking for Mr. Goodbar	Katherine	Nominated — Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
1978	Who’ll Stop the Rain	Marge Converse
1980	Serial	Kate Linville Holroyd
1981	Thief	Jessie
1982	Author! Author!	Gloria Travalian
1984	Once Upon a Time in America	Carol	Nominated — BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
1988	Heartbreak Hotel	Marie Wolfe
1993	Falling Down	Amanda Prendergast
1996	Feeling Minnesota	Nora Clayton
2001	Investigating Sex	Sasha Faldo
2001	Chelsea Walls	Greta

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1959	The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet	Connie/Cathy	3 episodes
	The Red Skelton Hour	Starlet	Episode: “Appleby: The Big Producer”
	77 Sunset Strip	Barrie Connell	Episode: “Secret Island”
1959-62	The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis	Thalia Menninger	Series regular (season 1) Guest star (seasons 3-4)
1960	77 Sunset Strip	Kitten Lang	Episode: “Condor’s Lair”
	The Millionaire	Beth Boland	Episode: “Millionaire Katherine Boland”
	The Tab Hunter Show	Ginny	Episode: “The Doll in the Bathtub”
	Dick Powell’s Zane Grey Theatre	Beth Lawson	Episode: “The Mormons”
1961	Follow the Sun	Barbara Beaumont	Episode: “The Highest Wall”
1961	Bus Stop	Cherie	Episode: “Cherie”
1962	Adventures in Paradise	Gloria Dannora	Episode: “The Velvet Trap”
	Naked City	Ora Mae Youngham	Episode: “A Case Study of Two Savages”
	Route 66	Miriam Moore	Episode: “Love Is a Skinny Kid”
	Ben Casey	Melanie Gardner	Episode: “When You See an Evil Man”
1964	Mr. Broadway	Emily	Episode: “An Eye on Emily”
1964	The Fugitive	Mattie Braydon	Episode: “Dark Corner”
1967	The Crucible	Abigail Williams	Television film
1968	Cimarron Strip	Heller	Episode: “Heller”
1975	F. Scott Fitzgerald in Hollywood	Zelda Fitzgerald	Television film
1978	A Question of Guilt	Doris Winters	Television film
1980	Mother and Daughter: The Loving War	Lillie Lloyd McCann	Television film
1981	Madame X	Holly Richardson	Television film
1982	The Rainmaker	Lizzie	Television film CableACE Award for Actress in a Theatrical or Non-Musical Program
1983	The Winter of our Discontent	Margie Young-Hunt	Television film Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Miniseries or a Movie
1984	Scorned and Swindled	Sharon Clark	Television film
1986	Circle of Violence	Georgia Benfield	Television film
1986	Something in Common	Shelly Grant	Television film
1990	Chillers	Jessica	Episode: “Something You Have to Live With”

Five False Facts From the August 23, 2023, GOP Debate

By Connie Wilson

On August 25, 2023

In Editorial, Education, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics

“What the Democrats are trying to do on this issue is wrong, to allow abortion all the way up to the moment of birth.”

(Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida)

“We cannot let states like California, New York and Illinois have abortions on demand up until the day of birth.”

(Senator Tim Scott)

THIS IS FALSE.

Roe v. Wade was the law of the land for over 20 years and the American public still wants the right to decide their own fate in regards to whether a woman is forced by the GOP to bear a child to term because religious zealots have made it very difficult to secure an abortion that is safe and medically supervised. The sanest voice in the room seemed to be Nikki Haley—-also the only female—who felt that this should be a matter decided by a woman in consultation with her family and physicians. Abortion has always been about the male desire to retain power by keeping women down and in their place. The Democratic proposal that did not pass the Senate allowed states to ban abortion after fetal viability, roughly 24 weeks, except when the mother’s life was threatened. There are good reasons to allow an abortion, but no one in the Democratic party has lobbied for a late-term abortion. This question was answered by former Vermont Governor Howard Dean in a back yard in Muscatine, Iowa, in 2004, when he was campaigning for the Democratic nomination for president. A physician, he had actually checked records in Vermont and testified that there had never been a documented case of a late-term abortion in Vermont history.

2) “We will back law enforcement because we remember who we really are. And that’s also how we address that mental health epidemic in the next generation that is directly leading to violent crime across the country.”

(Vivek Ramiswamy)

This is unsupported by factual evidence. There is no direct correlation between people with serious mental illness and responsibility for violent acts. Ramiswamy had a bad night on the “factual” level, constantly making random remarks that were not supported by any factual evidence. He also voiced the sentiment that Ukraine and Israel should not be supported by the U.S.

3) “We need to acknowledge the truth, which is that these subsidies are not working.” (Nikki Haley)

THIS IS FALSE.

President Biden in Independence, Iowa on the Fourth of July, 2019.

Early data suggests that President Biden’s subsidies for renewable energy are proving to be more popular with companies and consumers than initially forecast. Job creation and investment have been rising. The possibility that subsidies could spur greater reductions in greenhouse gas emissions than originally estimated have been put forth. (Governor Doug Burgum).

THIS IS FALSE.

In 2021, the Director of the CIA, William J. Burns, traveled to Moscow, informing Putin about American intelligence concerning Russia’s war plans and cautioning him about the consequences of such an attack.

4) “The reality is more people are dying of bad climate change policies than they are of actual climate change.” (Vivek Ramaswamy)

THIS IS FALSE.

No deaths have been linked to the growth of renewable energy or to the Biden administration’s attempts to reduce the use of fossil fuels to address global warming. Between 1970 and 2021, however, according to the United Nations, 2 million people died from extreme weather events. Right now, we are sweltering under a heat wave and rising global temperatures have caused more than 700 deaths, 67,500 emergency room calls and more than 9,200 hospitalizations.

5) “Joe Biden’s Bidenomics has led to the loss of $10,000 of spending power for the average family.” (Senator Tim Scott)

THIS IS FALSE.

Economists agree that the $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue package did contribute to inflation, but it was not the sole cause of rising prices. There was also the stimulus passed under Donald J. Trump and the monetary stimulus by the Federal Reserve, along with disruptions to supply chains caused by Covid-19.

GOP Debate Is Fox News Love Fest

By Connie Wilson

On August 23, 2023

In Editorial, Essays on Politics: Best Political Essays & Ideology, Interviews, Local, News, Of Local (Quad Cities') Interest, Politics, Pop Culture

So, I’ve been watching the Republican debate. (Just shoot me now.)

First, on a positive note, the woman singing the “Star Spangled Banner” was outstanding.

Second, Ron DeSantis did not answer a single question asked of him. He simply answered something completely unrelated every time.

Chris Christie, bearer of truth, saluted Mike Pence’s actions on January 6^th and reminded us that Trump is a flawed candidate.

Vivek Vivaswamy: The man refused to admit that climate change is real and does not support Ukraine or Israel, among other faux pas. He is young, yes, so perhaps that can be his excuse, but his pledge to pardon Trump was bad and most of what he said was fairly ignorant of the facts.

Nikki Haley got in a plea for abortion rulings being between a woman and her family and doctors and seemed

one of the saner members of the group.

So far, Christie and Haley and Hutchinson seemed the most stable. Pence seemed overly reliant on his religious convictions and also seemed very disgusted by the Indian candidate’s brash smile and ignorance of the facts. Hutchinson had some good moments. DeSantis seemed angry and defiant

We attempted to find out if the Trump interview was airing anywhere that it could be watched, but that did not seem to be the case. I went out on Twitter (now “X”) and looked around, but didn’t find much there except claims that Trump had put an end to Fox News, which is a debatable statement.

BEE GONE: A POLITICAL PARABLE

DeSantis is now talking about how he kept Florida’s schools open. He fails to mention that Florida had more deaths than any other state. He is now attacking critical race theory and gender education and sounds like an angry, opinionated Know-It-All.

The two quietest candidates are the Black candidate (Tim Scott) and the Governor of North Dakota, Ron Berglum.

Viviswamy is talking about ending teachers’ unions and re-establishing Civics as a subject everyone should have to pass. He’s now attacking the “epidemic of fatherlessness” and singing the praises of the nuclear family (shades of Ron Reagan). Doug Burglum (Governor of North Dakota) is talking about education differing state by state, which seems apropos of nothing. He is now touting how he built a company from scratch. Also, that he grew up in a town of 300 people. Not sure how those two accomplishments make you the right candidate for President of the United States, but okay. He wants to get rid of the Department of Education.

The Lightning Round is on and Chris Christie just got the UFO question. It is causing some humor in the ranks.

There is a concerted effort to attack Teachers’ Unions, which seems ill-advised. Apparently, we underpaid teachers are the only group not deserving of representation in our jobs.

The Round-Up at the End:

Governor Ron Berglum: blah, blah, blah. Nothing memorable.

Asa Hutchinson: “The solution is new leadership that can bring bold ideas to America.” Citing Reagan. Critical of Trump.

Senator Tim Scott: South Carolina Senator. Brought up “mired in poverty.” (used that phrase a lot), Talked about his mother working 16 hour days. Making accountability a thing. Wants Iowans to caucus for him.

Chris Christie: “The only way that’s going to happen is if we beat Joe Biden.” Beat a Democratic incumbent. Stands for the truth. 8 years in NJ as governor being cited. “I’m the one who can win this race and if you give me the chance, I will restore our country by winning it.”

Nikki Haley: Mentioning her husband going off to war. (She is the former South Carolina Governor) “If they are willing to protect us from there, we should be able to protect us from here.” Pro law enforcement. Make sure we have an America that is strong and proud.

VP Mike Pence – Joe Biden has weakened America at home and abroad. Afghanistan. Energy. Border. “I know we can bring the nation back.” The GOP owes the American public a choice. “I have faith in the American people. God is not done with America yet.”

Vivek Ramaswamy – “We are really all just the same.” This is our moment to revive our national spirit. Pro fossil fuel. Nuclear family promotion. Pro Constitution, but doesn’t mention how pardoning Trump would be completely counter to that.

Ron DeSantis: Ended fairly strong, but sounded angry.

During the “Hannity Live from the Spin Room in Wisconsin” Reince Preibus and Kelley Anne Conway held forth and basically praised Trump. Nobody wanted to address the elephant in the room (91 criminal indictments). Hannity has just revealed that his mom was a prison guard. Why does this not surprise me? (He said his mom always thought he’d end up inside the prison; same comment).

Ramaswamy is now libeling and slandering both Joe and Hunter Biden in the spin room interview. (Said they were “selling off” America to foreign countries, when evidence indicates that we have seen more of that from the 4 Trump years, with the sweet Saudi Arabia deal with Jared Kushner.)

Senator Tim Scott, talking to Hannity. Scott says he felt really good and wanted to tell people that America could do for them what it did for him. He is talking about 3 million new jobs, for reasons that are not clear, since he never mentioned this during the debate. He is supporting gas and coal, despite all of us sweltering in 115 degree heat because of the overuse of fossil fuel and global warming. Hannity is talking about the expense of a gallon of gas, rather than the fact that climate change brought on by fossil fuels has put us in a pot of hot water that is nearing the boiling point. Hannity is promoting the idea of the DOJ persecuting the likes of Trump. Scott says the first thing he would do is fire Merrick Garland. While I think that Merrick Garland has been entirely too wishy-washy and perhaps should be fired for that, he certainly is not responsible for the faltering confidence in the justice and in the Supreme Court. In fact, Merrick Garland should have been Obama’s appointment to the Supreme Court, but for Mitch McConnell’s campaign to keep Obama from being allowed to appoint a Supreme Court justice, like every other President in history.