Welcome to WeeklyWilson.com, where author/film critic Connie (Corcoran) Wilson avoids totally losing her marbles in semi-retirement by writing about film (see the Chicago Film Festival reviews and SXSW), politics and books----her own books and those of other people. You'll also find her diverging frequently to share humorous (or not-so-humorous) anecdotes and concerns. Try it! You'll like it!
Presidential caucuses have been Connie’s specialty in Iowa as she followed the elections of 2004, 2008, 2012 and wrote the 2 books “Obama’s Odyssey: The 2008 Race for the White House.” She also continues to follow politics by avidly reading everything she can get her hands on, including “Rolling Stone,” “Mother Jones,” “Newsmax,” “Time,” etc.
Elon Musk claims DOGE is uncovering all kinds of waste and fraud, outrageous scams perpetrated on the American people. These scams are so blatant and obvious that even youngsters untrained in forensic accounting can find them in moments. The implication is that federal workers, who are experts in their fields are either too stupid to have seen them or irredeemably corrupt. Look at the Social Security Administration, for example. Musk posted that his minions had found more than 20 million entries in the database with ages over 100 years old, including millions of people listed as over 150. It’s “the biggest fraud in history,” Musk said.
Except, of course, it’s nothing of the sort.
Because of a coding quirk in the vintage computer program the agency uses, an unknown birth date defaults to 1875, 150 years ago. These people are listed in the system, but they aren’t receiving Social Security checks—as a 2023 inspector general’s report had already concluded. In reality, only some 44,000 centenarians are alive and receiving checks, a figure that jibes with census data. And while there are certainly some fake numbers, even the conservative Cato Institute says those are mostly illegal immigrants who use them to get jobs, which means they pay into the system but get nothing out of it.
What else has DOGE turned up?
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was eager to tell us, saying last week, “I love to bring the receipts!”
But the only examples she offered were a few programs related to equity and inclusion, such as a $3 million Patent and Trademark Office program offering internships to minority inventors, and a $57,000 award for climate mitigation in Sri Lanka. Those may go against current administration protocols but they certainly don’t amount to fraud, since the money for them was duly appropriated by Congress. And cutting them will hardly engender significant savings in a $7 trillion budget.
You know who does know how to find waste and fraud?
The Inspectors Generals in our government agencies.
But Trump fired them all.
*****
Elon Musk.
Elon Musk’s claim to have cut $55 billion is already a fantasy—this week DOGE claimed an $8 billion savings for cutting a contract actually worth only $8 million.
Catherine Rampell (“The Washington Post”): “Trump voters want a shake-up and many cheer the wrecking ball. There are legitimate problems with the status quo, but the fix isn’t to indiscriminately fire air traffic controllers, gut public health agencies, or cut funding for cancer research. Trump is not fixing the problems MAGA voters care about. He’s creating new, much scarier ones.”
Said Martin Wolf in “Financial Times: “It’s a coup that will pave the way for autocracy, plutocracy and dysfunction. You can’t boost efficiency by hacking away at a complex bureaucracy, but you can chase out conscientious workers and replace them with loyalists who’ll do your every bidding. And once Trump and Musk achieve their goal of dismantling the civil service, it won’t be easily rebuilt. “This is destruction, not reform and whatever they have been told, ordinary Americans will not benefit.”
But we know who will.
(The lyrics to Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” that contain the phrase “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot” are: “They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot. Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you got till it’s gone.”)
“BEE GONE,” warning about all the above, can be purchased on Amazon. Read about it here: https://conniecwilson.com/product/bee-gone-a-political-parable/
January 6th: Trump-inspired invasion of the Capitol. All pardoned, with no cogent plan to separate those who had attacked police officers and headed militia organizations.
That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, “Not an issue.” (https://www.washingtonpost.com/…/donald-trumps…/)
That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn’t care, you exclaimed, “He sure knows me.”
That when you heard him relating a story of an elderly guest of his country club, an 80-year old man, who fell off a stage and hit his head, to Trump replied: “‘Oh my God, that’s disgusting,’ and I turned away. I couldn’t—you know, he was right in front of me, and I turned away. I didn’t want to touch him. He was bleeding all over the place. And I felt terrible, because it was a beautiful white marble floor, and now it had changed color. Became very red.” You said, “That’s cool!” (https://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-howard-stern-story)
That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, “That makes sense.” (https://www.usatoday.com/…/what-trump-has…/1501321001/)
Liz Cheney amidst backlash over her anti-Trump stance.
That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, “Thumbs up!” (https://www.theatlantic.com/…/why-cant-trump…/567320/)
That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, “That’s the way I want my President to be.” (https://www.huffpost.com/…/trump-insult-foreign…)
That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they’re supposed to be regulating and you have said, “What a genius!” (https://www.politico.com/…/138-trump-policy-changes…)
That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, “That’s smart!” (https://www.usnews.com/…/how-is-donald-trump-profiting…)
That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, “falling in love” with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, “That’s statesmanship!” (https://www.cnn.com/…/donald-trump-dictators…/index.html)
That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids, has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas – he explains that they’re just “animals” – and you say, “Well, OK then.” (https://www.nbcnews.com/…/more-5-400-children-split…)
That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise. (https://www.americanprogress.org/…/confronting-cost…/)
What you don’t get, Trump supporters, is that our succumbing to frustration and shaking our heads, thinking of you as stupid, may very well be wrong and unhelpful, but it’s also… hear me… charitable.
Because if you’re NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering.
– Adam-Troy Castro
And, if I may add a personal note from a recent discussion, an intelligent friend with whom I was speaking wrote a defense of his Trump vote, when I made the comment that, historically, Dems were often “too nice” (as we were in Florida when Gore stepped aside for the good of the country and let “W” be handed the presidency by his brother, Jeb.)
His response? (And, yes, this person is well-educated and intelligent, so the statement that Adam (above) ends his data with does rear its ugly head.) Everything that was mentioned in “BEE GONE” is coming to pass now under Trump 2.0 and our democracy is at stake if we don’t defend it and if the (stacked) courts don’t stand up to this wannabe dictator. The price of eggs and beef has shot through the roof (so much for lowering the price of groceries). Inflation is increasing. Economists warn of a coming recession. We’ve pissed off our two closest allies, who are probably going to be boycotting American goods for a very long time. The bird flu, nuclear weapons arsenal, and people that might protect us from ebola, tuberculosis and measles epidemics are in free fall as the CDC is under attack. The 100,000 or more federal employees who have been summarily fired, without due process and possibly axed by an A.I. robot, are justifiably angry and demoralized. The positions like FBI and FAA that require extensive training, as well as places like the IRS that were already understaffed, are struggling. The United States insulted the leader of Ukraine and voted “No” along with North Korea and Russia to a U.N, resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine without cause. Our President is barely even conducting meetings, preferring to let Elon Musk and a toddler do the honors. Veteran analysts, seeing all of what is happening, have declared that it is their professional opinion that DJT was being groomed as a Russian asset from many years back and that the Manchurian Candidate may have moved from fiction to fact.
Most experts predict a Constitutional crisis, when these many questions of illegality reach the Supreme Court and we find out whether Chief Justice Roberts will stand up to the malignant narcissist who has completely ruined the United States’ reputation on the international front. European (and other) allies no longer believe in the United States as a steady-in-the-traces ally, and NATO—which Trump had attacked verbally as related in John Bolton’s book—-is now not the bulwark against Soviet aggression that it had been since WWII. (Trump, while in Air Force One on his way to a NATO meeting with Bolton, complained about the organization and revealed an almost complete lack of knowledge of its importance.)
Not everything can be judged or weighed in terms of money to be made. Perhaps that is what our current President thinks, but there was real value in being “the shining beacon on the hill” that Reagan eulogized. The dismantling of the USAID, the Department of Education, and too many other organization to mention by name has left us vulnerable to aggression from abroad as well as to plummeting faith in our institutions and the organizations, like FEMA, that serve Americans in crisis. The entire change of personnel is going so poorly that it is a wonder that we are maintaining whatever position we had as a world power, since all of this chaos and these poorly chosen federal employees, have plunged us into becoming a kakistocracy. Yes, it gives late-night comedians material, but at what price glory?
The book (above), BEE GONE, is a classic parable for our times, as it predicted what might happen if a drone in the hive tried to take over from the Queen Bee (*this was 2016’s election). As the book makes clear, “So the hive lost its honey, its Queen and its money. It was really a mess, and that isn’t funny.” The book really nailed some important facets of the fight today in 2025, following the election of 2024. It is available on Amazon. DJT killed it the first time (he was in office).
TRUMP VOTER, to me:, in defense of DJT: (I had said that Al Gore and the Dems were “too nice” in stepping aside for the good of the country in Florida (the “hanging chads”) back in 2000, therefore dooming us to 8 years of “W” when his brother, Jeb, handed him the presidency. This person felt that it was awful that Democrats were saying that Trump’s supporters were Nazis, but what else can be inferred from Elon Musk giving the Nazi salute at Trump’s inauguration?
His defense:
“Too nice?”
I see one side calling the other side Nazis and fascists. The other side just wants what we had under 45. The lowest poverty rate in the history of the stat in America and the associated childhood poverty rate. It’s as if childhood poverty doesn’t matter to some people. Also the most impressive increase in household income that we’ve seen in our lifetimes. That’s food on our most at-risk peoples’ tables. I guess I don’t understand the name-calling when it’s clear that empowering people is far better than entitling them.”
First, let me say that the “calling of the other side Nazis” may well have come from the Nazi salute Elon Musk gave at Trump’s inauguration. And were it only true that just ONE side has resorted to name-calling. You must have some pretty selective hearing if you only hear the comments aimed at Trump and his supporters. I not only heard worse things aimed at me (Trump Rally, Davenport Iowa Fairgrounds, 2016) but was physically threatened simply because I was wearing a Press badge. That was the last of my following of the candidates across the country, which I had done in 2000, 2004, 2008, 2012 and part of 2016. You are a very tough MAGA follower if you feel it is appropriate to physically threaten a 5’2″ retired 70-something retired English teacher simply for trying to report on a rally. But it was consistent with what happened in Butler, Pennsylvania, when the MAGA crowd seemed to blame the crowd for the youthful would-be assassin’s shots at DJT. Hostility was aimed at the enclosure that held the Press. Trump is actively banning the AP from press conferences now, because they did not rename the Gulf of Mexico as the Gulf of America.
Second:
It’s really reaching to pretend that the incumbent really cares about childhood poverty, when Trump has just dismantled the USAID, which is responsible for less than 1% of the U.S. budget.
And we liberals/independents/anti-Trumpites are the bad guys because WE are the ones who don’t care about childhood poverty?
Absolutely incomprehensible that anyone would try to mount a defense using THAT
“Retirement Plan Plan:” A 7-minute short from Screen Ireland featuring Domhnall Gleeson.
I recently had the pleasure of viewing a 7-minute short that is to screen at SXSW in March entitled “Retirement Plan.” From Fis Eireann/Screen Ireland, It was written by John Kelly and Tara Lawall and was an absolute delight. If you have the opportunity, don’t miss it. It is narrated by Domhnall Gleason (Bill Weasley inthe “Harry Potter” franchise) and shows a man of retirement age musing about all the great things he is going to do in retirement. Meanwhile, in the background, John Carroll Kirby’s simple piano tunes tinkle pleasantly, with the song “Walking Through A House Where A Family Has Lived” giving you a head0up concerning the light-hearted tone of the short piece.
My favorite exchanges were the narrator saying, “I will paraglide.”
In the next frame, he is shown with a walker and says, “I will NOT paraglide.”
The animated character that animators Marah Curran and Eamonn O’Neill present to us in the short muses on many things he will do in retirement: He will read 35 years of books that he has been putting off reading. He will clean his desktop. He will birdwatch. He will swim every morning. He will hike (“Camping is HORRIBLE!”) The camping line made me think of Woody Allen’s famous line about how his idea of “roughing it” was watching black-and-white TV. [Agreed.]
I’ve been retired for 22 years. I joined a gym with a pool in November. It is almost March. I have yet to swim even once. While I did swim (4 times) last year, the chlorine was so bad that I thought I was going to sink to the bottom of the pool, unnoticed, and drown. (Nobody else is swimming during a weekdayafternoon; there is no lifeguard). I only learned on a Monday last year when they canceled the children’s swimming class that the chlorine ratio was totally screwed up. So much for, “No, Doc, I don’t know why I get dizzy and almost pass out while swimming. That never happened to me before I retired.” (It could be because L.A. Fitness didn’t bother to check their chlorine levels; some of the kiddies ALSO almost —or did?—pass out. THEN they fixed it!)
HOUSTON ART GALLERY
Lolita at the Houston Art Gallery.
I related to the cartoon character’s comment that he would go to an art gallery and “I will want to be there.”
I recently went on a 3-day trip to see Gauguin paintings at the Houston Art Museum. A really unpleasant woman within the Museum followed me for 4 rooms because I leaned against a wall in the first room. I was severely chastised for same. (There were no paintings nearby or on the wall). She finally cornered me in the fourth room, asking me if I “wanted to talk to her manager.”
My response was, “No. I don’t want to talk to your manager. And I don’t want to talk to you, either. I just want to get out of here. I have a bad knee and I felt dizzy. Which would you rather have had me do? Lean on the wall or pass out on the floor?”
Lolita and I were not destined to become buddies.
I enjoyed the trip, overall, but found myself (once again) trying out a retirement activity with a downside.
OTHER THINGS TO TRY IN RETIREMENT
What other relatable activities does our retired figure discuss?
“I will take better care of myself.” Right. I spend one day a week visiting doctors. (Today: bloodwork; tomorrow, the endocrinologist). This is my Most Normal Retirement Activity: visiting doctors’ offices. Oncologist. Endocrinologist. Heptologist. Dentist. Oral Surgeon. Podiatrist. Dermatologist. Primary Care Physician. I read an article recently that said that this is common in we “mature” individuals and doctors make no effort to help you consolidate the MANY appointments. Today, I was told that an A1C would cost me, personally, $84, because “you’ve had too many tests and your insurance won’t cover it.” [No kidding. I thought I was simply in training to become a human pin cushion.]
Elise Wilson in action. (This is how I envisioned my volleyball playing would appear. It did not.)
“I will finally find my sport.” That’s not gonna’ happen, either. While playing volleyball in a co-ed league, a demented stork-like 6′ 5″ person (male) on the other side of the net spiked it down, hard, on 5′ 2″ me. My left elbow dislocated as I turned a backwards somersault. A nice nurse in the gym ran over and said, “I think you just broke your arm.” We went to the emergency room where I was injected with intravenous valium and X-rayed to see if I HAD broken my arm. (No, but I still have bone chips in my left elbow and it aches when it rains.) I spent 6 months in a sling, invested many dollars in front-closing bras and capes, and had to go to physical therapy to address the torn ligaments and tendons. Not fun for me. The insertion of the elbow back into the socket was not fun for the 2 men attempting that task, nor for me. (The spouse waited in the hall). The little blonde diving in the clip above is my 16-year-old granddaughter, Elise. This is how I envision my volleyball playing looked. Sadly, it did not.
“I will completely nail my final words.” Probably not happening, either. I always liked the guy that wrote, on his tombstone, “I can’t be dead. I still have checks.” That retort has not aged well. There’s always W.C. Fields’ “All in all, I’d rather be in Philadelphia” for a final greeting from the grave.
BEST LINES
From the 7-minute short “Retirement Plan” from Screen Ireland.
In addition to the line “CAMPING IS HORRIBLE” and “I will not paraglide,” I laughed the hardest at the vow to “haunt the absolute shit” out of an enemy. As the author of “Ghostly Tales of Route 66” I hope this option is open to me in the after-life. I have a couple of “friends” (I use the term loosely) and relatives who, after 35 to 60 years of faithful friendship and loyalty on MY part, backstabbed me into wanting to come back as one of the ghosts of Route 66 and give them a little taste of the misery they’ve visited upon me since 2005. (YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE!)
CONCLUSION
I honestly have not laughed so hard at a 7-minute bit in a long time. I would like to thank Fis Eireann/Screen Ireland for this truly delightful (and accurate) presentation of retirement. As someone who loved her job and didn’t really want to retire in 2003, [but, unwisely, did], I salute you.
Retirement sucks, basically.
It means you have to actively seek out things to do and “travel more” and “birdwatching” and “going to plays” (“I will find out if I like plays”) isn’t cutting it. (I have learned I prefer movies to plays. Hell, I prefer shorts like this one to most plays.)
Retirement was the worst idea I have had—if it was even MY idea. I seem to remember my spouse of 57 years suggesting we would travel more, blah, blah, blah, but that went out the window when he began playing golf locally in multiple golf leagues with his old high school, elementary school, and work colleagues. The last time we traveled anywhere was before the pandemic. (I’m not counting the time sharesbought in the nineties, because we go to those every year as our “home away from home.”) Me? I did not grow up in his home town and, post-work, it’s been unfun and dull. I hear that the Governor of Iowa has just declared all of Iowa a disaster area because of the bird flu, and we’re very close to Iowa. I would really like to leave any disaster area before disaster strikes (plus, they closed the only theater on the Illinois side of the Mississippi for over a year!)
VACATIONS?
The previous owners of Royal Resorts properties in Cancun (we owned at the Sands and the Islander) dumped it into the Holiday Inn Vacation Club All Inclusive world recently. That is a special kind of backstabbing. They built a kiddies’ pool right outside of our first floor digs. Now I get to listen to screaming kiddies knocking themselves out on the water slide at the crack of dawn. I can hardly wait. Does that sound like fun in retirement? [Just shoot me now.]
From the short “Retirement Plan”(Fis Eireann/Screen Ireland).
If I were to be asked what I would recommend people do in retirement, I would recommend that they watch this 7-minute film, because it has summed up my own reaction(s) perfectly, including the line “I will find out what a pension is.” I have. It’s not great. Between the taking of half of my Social Security moneys because I had been a teacher and we had a state pension system (I spent more time in the private sector, but SocialSecurity still took half) and the potential insolvency of the Illinois TRS (Teachers’ Retirement System), who knows? I may be back at work before long.
Don’t give up your day job, but do try to see this wonderfully honest and creative short 7-mnute film. After all, if you’re retired, that still means that for that retirement day, instead of having 1,440 minutes to fill with useless activities, many of which you won’t enjoy, you will only have 1,433 minutes to fill.
Something that the MAGA group seems to need to be reminded about is that CHARACTER MATTERS. A person’s past actions are the single best predictor of their future actions, as I was once told by a job recruiter running “mock” interviews for my Rhetoric students at Eastern Iowa Community College,
CHARACTER, DOES INDEED MATTER. A Washington Post reporter interviewed a former aide to Senator John McCain and the news from the front was not pretty.
“Karen Tumulty writes that we have catapulted past constitutional crisis and are now in the domain of constitutional collapse. She is also writing about the shadow emperor, whose designs lurk behind an executive branch “run-a-Musk.”
Of course, the president is at fault for this collapse, Karen writes, but so, too, is Congress, which the nation’s Founders could never have imagined would be “so supine in the face of such a barrage.”
Karen writes wistfully of the “statesmen of an earlier era, all Republicans,” who stood up for Congress’s authority when presidents overstepped. One of those was Sen. John McCain, whose former chief of staff Karen interviews.
He tells her: “We’re getting a pretty intense lesson in how much our constitutional order depended on people’s character. … Republicans, almost to a person, have failed.”
“Why Musk’s Nazi Salute Matters” –from Zach Beauchamp of “Vox”
“Elon Musk doesn’t deserve the benefit of the doubt,” said Zack Beauchamp. While speaking at President Trump’s inauguration, Musk twice thrust his arm out in a Nazi salute—there’s “no other plausible interpretation of his gesture.”
Some tried to dismiss it as merely an awkward moment, but context matters, and Musk has an “extensive track record of extreme right policies, flirtations with antisemitism, and juvenile trolling.”
Elon Musk
Musk responded to the uproar not with an apology, but by mocking critics with snide Nazi-themed puns, including “Bet you did nazi that coming.” Not surprisingly, neo-Nazis were giddy about Musk’s salute; the fact that it occurred at a presidential inauguration signals “a deeper rot.”
The tech oligarch is promoting Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany party, urging party members to move “past guilt” over Nazism’s horrors, and he personally restored neo-Nazi Nick Fuentes’ account on “X”. It’s all part of “the Trump era ‘vile shift,” in which there’s no accountability for extremist rhetoric and performative cruelty. As we descend this slippery slope, it’s vital that decent people “assert that there are real moral standards” and that Nazi play-acting violates them. Those standards may be our only bulwarks against the return of “honest-to-goodness Nazism.”
Pavel Talankin, director of Mr. Nobody Against Putin, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Helle Moos.
“Mr. Nobody Against Putin” about the Putin-dictated shift in Russia’s schools was made possible by a young Russian schoolteacher named Pavel (“Pasha”) Talankin. At the time of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Pasha was serving as the school videotographer and event coordinator for Karabash Elementary School, the biggest school in what is a very small town of 10,000 people deep in the Ural Mountains, Russia’s industrial heartland. Karabash was world famous because it was once dubbed “the most toxic place on Earth,” with an average life expectancy of 38 and a huge copper mining plant that has blackened the mountaintop with pollution. One commentator called it “the most depressing place I’ve ever been” and “the darkest place on the planet.” But to Pasha it was home, where he lived near his widowed mother (his father drowned in a lake when Pasha was 9) in a two-bedroom apartment in the city center. Pasha’s humble flat contained 427 books, carefully arranged by color coding, and he has a dog named Nebraska.
NEW RUSSIAN PROGRAM
At the outset of the Russian invasion, Pasha sent out an e-mail ( described as “an overly long e-mail”) about the exhaustive program Putin’s government was pushing on Russian schools. The New Federal Patriotic Education Program was an impediment to actual teaching. Said Pasha, “Few of us were prepared for such an effort to interfere in our ability to teach…I am a teacher forced to do the exact opposite of what a teacher should do.” I could relate to Pasha’s dismay, because I lived through a push from those above me in pay grade to make all of us jump through hoops to select students for the Scripps Spelling Bee Competition. It soon became clear that 75% of my classroom time would have had to be spent doing spelling bee trials to select the finalists. The other things I was supposed to be teaching, which included, at that time, literature, grammar, composition and spelling, were to be shunted aside in favor of the Spelling Bee lady, who apparently outranked me on the food chain (even though I was ostensibly Department Chairperson and had been there many more years and had an actual degree in my subject area, which this woman did not. She, however, was married to a fellow School Superintendent; I was not). I soon cut to the chase and selected my contestants based on abbreviated preliminary bees, which left me free to go back to actual teaching. Things did not go quite as smoothly for the woman who insisted that ALL of our classroom time be spent running things the way the local newspaper dictated and she soon ran in a ringer who had not competed at all, as he was in the hospital with a broken leg during her many elimination bees. But he had an I.Q. of 152, so the rules that Mrs. Superintendent had imposed on us all soon went out the window, given the upset wins her trials were creating.
But for Pasha, the restrictions were going to get worse, and they came from much higher up.
NEW RUSSIAN TREASON LAWS
A still from Mr. Nobody Against Putin by David Borestein and Pavel Talankin, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Pavel Talankin
Initially, shooting the film for this documentary was risky, but not illegal. But in April of 2023 Putin and his government passed a law mandating life imprisonment for treason and strengthening the laws about “treason.” Things would become increasingly dangerous for Pasha as he filmed what was happening in Karabash.
Pasha: “It’s a very unpleasant feeling. It’s like you’re in a room and the walls are closing in and the air is leaving. You remain trapped in the system. I love my job, but I don’t want to be a pawn of the regime.” Pasha actually resigned his position at one point, but when director collaborator David Borenstein contacted him, suggesting they act on Pasha’s idea, he withdrew his resignation and set about documenting what was going on in Russian schools. Pasha: “I’ll use my camera to film the abyss this school is sinking into.”
Others in the town mention how even first graders are being asked to recite war poems.
Pasha: “Since last year there is no freedom to be found here. All Russian movement is for the children’s movement.” Every day there are clubs being formed that resemble the Nazi Youth Clubs of Hitler’s day/ Victory Day, the holiest day of the year when parading crowds carry pictures of their dead veterans, seems to suggest, “Maybe one day you can be a dead soldier, too.” Pasha notes that the young people will have to carry the burden of victory over evil. Pasha: “All of you will die, but know one thing: Mother Russia will never forget you. Every warrior’s name will be carved into a plaque.”
At this point, Russia is losing 1,000 soldiers a day in the Ukrainian conflict. Says Pasha, “It’s now time for the mercenaries to teach: marching drills, grenade throwing competitions, shooting competition.” The film of boys as young as 10 being handed guns and sighting down the length of them is frightening. They are shown handling weapons of the Great Patriotic War, including Mosin, SVT machine guns, etc.
There are scripted lessons after scripted lessons. Proof that the school is complying with the directive is required. Soon, the scripts are given to the students, as well. They are being brainwashed by the state in the New Federal Patriotic Education Program.
KARABASH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL HISTORY TEACHER
David Borestein, director of Mr. Nobody Against Putin, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by Helle Moos
Pasha films history teacher Pavel Abdulmanov. Abdulmanov is strictly by the Russian book. He suggests that, “It’s so crucial to eliminate dissenting views so there is no split in our Mother Country. If you don’t like it, go to the country that you think is better.” When asked to name the Russian historical figures he admires most, he names Lavrentiy Beria, Stalin’s father of the Gulag system; Viktor Abakumov, Stalin’s spy hunter; and Pavel Sudoplatov, Stalin’s assassin for enemies. Sudoplatov masterminded the murder of Leon Trotsky from an ice pick driven into Leon Trotsky’s brain. Abdulmanov tells his students daily that “Russia could destroy Ukraine in a couple of days” and warns that countries in Europe will “soon be riding horses” as there will be no wheat or oil from Russia. He also tells the students that “state policy in Ukraine is decided by radicals and Nazis,” suggesting that Russia must eliminate the Nazis in power in Ukraine. Abdulmanov was given a luxury apartment as a reward for being named Teacher of the Year at the school.
LASHING OUT
Feeling an uncontrollable urge to lash out, one morning Pasha plays a recording of Lady Gaga singing the United States National Anthem, rather than the Soviet anthem. Soon thereafter, a police car is parked outside of Pasha’s apartment.
PASHA’S MOTHER
Throughout the film Pasha is shown bringing his mother flowers as she works to repair damaged school books in the school library. He repeatedly praises his mother. She is a particularly dour woman who never expresses any warmth towards her only son. At one point, he says he is going to stop over with something for her that evening and she tells him “Forget it.” Her view on the changes in the school’s atmosphere : “I am sorry, but people love war. It’s always been like that. People love to shoot each other.” Also representative of the town’s collective feelings is Masha, one of Pasha’s students, whose brother is drafted into the war effort. She says, “I could care less about the war as long as it doesn’t impact me personally.” This seems to be the main opinion of the town. (Masha’s brother eventually defects and is killed.)
GRADUATION
Pasha is in charge of arranging for Graduation Day. He addresses the assembled crowd, saying, “My dear friends: wherever your life takes you, I wish you solid ground under your feet. There’ll be turning points you’ll have to choose. Sometimes to express your love, you must sacrifice everything, but I know that your choice will come from your heart. Thank you so much for working with me through this year. I love you very much. The time for the last bell has come.” This heartfelt speech is followed by dancing in the most toxic town on Earth and students tossing Pasha into the air in celebration.
That night, he flees Russia. He is being paid as co-director of this impressive effort for the BBC’s Storyville, but he was not present at the Q&A at Sundance.
A still from Mr. Nobody Against Putin by David Borestein and Pavel Talankin, an official selection of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute.
CONCLUSION
Pasha put in three years of work on the project. He tells the camera, “Even a guy like me should have some principles. By June I am done here.”
This was a brave act of principle in the face of an oppressive autocratic regime. Having just completed a University of Texas class entitled “Putin’s Rise to Power” that laid out the ways in which Putin has closed down and expelled Western journalists from Russia. I am now enrolled in a class entitled “Misinformation and Disinformation.” Our first lecture went into a great deal of detail about how difficult it is to get truthful reporting out of Russia.
This documentary is a real treasure and should be seen by anyone who loves democracy. It was a courageous and brave act by someone who has risked his entire life to help alert the world to the truth of Vladimir Putin’s plans for world domination.
I’m sitting here on election night, watching the blue wall fall and feeling dejected, but not as “taken off guard” as I felt in 2016 after Hillary Clinton lost her much-vaunted race against Agent Orange.
I am convinced that Donald J. Trump (and cohorts) have bought the presidency (Thanks, Elon!, she said ruefully) and misogyny, racism and incompetents in office are going to be the order of the day. Think about RFK, Jr. running Health Care. No, don’t think about it, if you can put that aside, which any sane, thinking individual cannot. It will just depress you further.
At least Vance is ostensibly a smart guy and has certainly learned how to suck up to power. He will be the future of the GOP/Trump Maga cult. Eat your heart out, Ron DeSantis!
FEARS
Donald Trump
I never felt that Harris had it “in the bag.” I sent a copy of a very insightful article about why not to a friend, which was pulled from a book that was written by Democratic strategists in 1970, pointing out where the Democratic party had lost its way, as far as determining the mood of the country. Just showing up at my local gym, run by young Black athletic types, told me how they viewed the geriatric Trump as way superior to Biden (then the candidate), and they definitely would not have been keen to vote for a woman to be Boss—even though it is past time.
I would not put anything past Donald Trump. He would order “hits” on people if it meant keeping himself out of jail and that is what this election meant to him. If Kamala Harris had been able to prevail, DJT would face consequences for his crimes and misdeeds, but now he’s going to be like a bull in a china shop. I wonder if I can take up a hobby that allows me to transport myself to another dimension in order to forget that we might face 4 years of DJT (unless he is successfully impeached, which looks unlikely now that Republicans are seizing the Senate) or worse.
DISGUST
I don’t feel sad so much as I feel disgusted. How dumb is the average rural voter that they can’t tell that the man is a congenital liar and you can’t believe a word he says? It seems to be rural voters who have prevailed to place him back in office. (Shame on you, Iowa!) Now we U.S. citizens will have to hang our heads in shame, worldwide. Richard Gere sold his house in the U.S. just in time. He is moving to Spain with his Spanish wife. [Good move, Richard!]
Many more savvy analysts than me will be analyzing this election for years, but I will just give you some thoughts off the top of the head of the woman who was named Yahoo Content Producer of the Year for Politics in 2008. I knew that Obama was going to win in 2008 because I traveled all over following him. He represented change. We were sick of Bush and company and endless wars. The pendulum has a way of swinging and it has swung. I was not traveling the country with this year’s candidates and, therefore, had no “gut” feeling for who would win this thing. In fact, after 2016, I was concerned. As it turns out, I was concerned for good cause.
CHANGE
Barack Obama
People saying that “change” (even if it is change from an honorable person to a convicted criminal) is a powerful vote getter at all times. You had a man who lied constantly during his appearances and ranted on about how “bad” the country was doing—even though it wasn’t. He failed to mention what a terrible manager he was for Covid, but talked about higher grocery and gas prices (When did things NOT go up overtime?) He failed to mention that we need to address climate change and, instead, called it a hoax. Good luck to us during this period of climate catastrophes brought on by people like DJT and good luck to the Ukraine!
Obama’s win represented change. The backlash to a Black man being elected to the White House is part of the racism that has now propelled a man (convicted way back in the 70s of refusing to rent to Blacks) into office again.
So, Change, Misogyny, Racism, and a guy who was literally running for his life, because if he lost, he probably could have gone to jail for his incitement of the January 6th coup.
MONEY TALKS
Let’s not forget the Big Money Donors (Elon Musk, anyone?) who got behind DJT. Or those like Jeff Bezos who did not have the courage to try to help the better candidate prevail (even though she is a woman. That, in and of itself, is difficult to overcome). Get ready for rich people to get richer, and poor people to get poorer.
“She handled herself well. She tried to appeal to the better angels of people’s nature.” (from David Axelrod) He went on to say that her debate performance was one of the best ever and that was why Trump did not want to debate her a second time. My sister and I agreed, noting how the Democrats way back in 2000 showed the gracious way to behave during an election, even one that was probably handed to the opponent by the opponent’s Governor brother. The Trumps of life fight dirty and have no compassion or empathy or respect for science. “Drill, baby, drill!” is not the rallying cry that will save the planet, but rural America did not like the thought of giving up their gas-guzzling vehicles in favor of electric ones.
Van Jones thinks that Kamala’s own words beat her and mentions the phrase “Nothing comes to mind” used by the GOP in their attack ads. That WAS a bad ad. Van also brought up the Israel issue, which I felt was going to lose Harris the Michigan vote. “I can’t think of anything offhand” was disastrous, says Axelrod. She should have just said she was grateful to him and talked about the future and not criticized her mentor. I agree.
The Republican on the debate says that the “green new deal” was not what the American public wanted to buy. (“They were selling what the American public did not want to buy.”)
TRUMP’S REMARKS
West Palm Beach, Florida at 2:31 a.m.
“I’m proud to be an American” is playing in background. (Lee Greenwood)
Melania looks like the cat that swallowed the canary.
J.D. Vance is smiling smugly.
“Incredible movement….a movement like nobody’s ever seen before. The greatest political movement of all time. Never been anything like this before in this country. Help our country heal. We have a country that needs help and needs it very badly. We’re going to fix everything about our country, We overcame obstacles that nobody thought possible Look what happened. Is this crazy? It’s a political victory that our country has never seen before,” from Trump.
“I will fight for you and your family. Every single day I will be fighting for you. I will not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe America. Will truly be the Golden Age of America. It will allow us to ‘make America great again. ’“We’re going to make you very happy and proud of your vote.”
North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Predicting 315 electoral votes for himself. Also glad to have won the popular vote.
Unprecedented and powerful mandate: control of the Senate.
Right now, 266 to 195 (Trump to Harris).
“What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up, like a raisin in the sun?” When Al Gore failed to fight for the position in 2000, we lost 25 years of preparation against the catastrophes of climate change. We are now reaping that poor election choice, 25 years later. I can only assume that climate change will get worse, under Trump, before it gets better, because he has called climate change a hoax.
J.D. Vance and Tim Walz debated on 10/1/2024 as Vice Presidential candidates on CBS.
I just watched the Vice Presidential debate between J.D. Vance and Tim Walz.The Talking Heads are suggesting that Walz may have been “in over his head” in debating the slick and chameleon-like Vance, who seems to have made a career of being all things to all people. Vance described Donald J. Trump as “America’s Hitler” in e-mail pronouncements of yore and severely criticized Trump’s performance in office, but tonight he was all in on supporting DJT.
Most people consider it a situation where the more experienced debater (Vance) performed better on style, but Walz did just as well (a tie) on substance. Vance’s statements were often duplicitous and that of a chameleon who takes the position that he says what he thinks people want to hear. It reminded me of the recent Supreme Court candidates who answered Congress the way they thought would win them lifetime seats on the Court and then went ahead and did exactly what they planned to do all along, overturn Roe v. Wade.
I did my usual copious note-taking. I want to resurrect a couple of moments in the debate that stood out to me, just as the “eating dogs and cats” remarks in the last Harris/DJT debate stood out.
THE 2 WORST MOMENTS: WALZ & VANCE
VANCE
J.D. Vance (GOP candidate for VP) and eyeliner.
For me, the worst moment from J.D. Vance was his failure to admit that Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. As Tim Walz said,“A President’s words matter. It is not right to deny what happened. 2020 was the first time that a President tried to overturn the peaceful transition of power. The winner has got to be the winner.” Walz called it “a damning non-answer.” He was right.
WALZ
For Governor Walz of Minnesota, his weakest moment was when he was called out on having said that he had been present in China during Tiananmen Square. Rather than wade into that murky water and admit that he misspoke or was caught in a situation that caused Brian Williams to be removed from his post as chief anchor (and end up much less visible on our TVscreens), he gave an answer that David Axelrod said would have been more comprehensible if given in Chinese.[When Vance at the outset after Question #1 was cornered, rather than answer the very first question that he was asked about Iran, he dodged and weaved and gave us 2 minutes about himself without answering the initial question.]
Tim Walz, Governor of Minnesota and Democratic candidate for Vice President on 10/1/2024.
In the summer of ’89 Walz traveled to China, he told us. He also told us that he started a program to take kids to China. “My community knows who I am. I’ve tried to do the best job I can. I was elected to Congress 12 times. Governor of Minnesota twice. To make sure that I make this right. (*Wasn’t the question about whether he was at Tiananmen Square protests? So far Walz hasn’t explained the discrepancy.)
ABORTION
Vance said he “never supported a national ban,” a lie, because he DID support a national abortion ban. In 2022 in an interview when he was running for the Senate he said, “I certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.” On his website, he said he was “100% pro-life” and GOP ” has got to earn people’s trust back.” Tonight, he talked about how the GOP needed to “reach out,” which made no sense at all. This “softening” of his intractable anti-abortion stance was part of the plan to try to make DJT seem more “sane” and reasonable.
Here are a few lines that struck me beyond the ones mentioned above:
Walz on the Middle East and nuclear weapons: “Iran is closer to a nuclear weapon because Donald Trump nixed the plan we had and left nothing in its place.”
Walz on Climate Change and our changing weather patterns (especially as they apply to farmers): “Our #1 export cannot be topsoil from these massive storms.”
Walz on statements that foster divisiveness: “This is what happens when you don’t want to solve it. The remarks about eating cats and dogs vilified a large number of people in Springfield, Ohio, who were in the country legally. The Governor had to send National Guard to escort first graders to school.”
I also enjoyed Walz’s response, “Just mind your own business. Things worked best when Roe v. Wade was the law.” Another good one-liner was when Walz gave an incredulous response to DJT’s “I have a concept of a plan” response about an overhaul of the Affordable Care Act that he now has had 9 and 1/2 years to develop. Walz said, ““I have a concept of a plan. That cracked me up. I have a fourth grader who wouldn’t have given me that.”
Margaret Brennan (“Face the Nation”) who moderated along with Norah O’Donnell on CBS.
After the scripture quote from Matthew (”What we do unto the least of our brethren,” etc.) by Walz, Vance commandeered the time and ranted on virtually uninterruptedly. The female moderators (Nora O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan on CBS) finally cut his mike. You go, Girls! Vance’s Ivy League polish showed; the man’s not a dummy. The split screen favored him, not Walz, even though Walz is without a doubt the more genuine and truthful of the two.
About the Democratic party: WALZ – “We’re pro women. We’re pro freedom. We are pro freedom for women to make their own choices.” He cited the Democratic Party’s $6,000 child tax credit and Amber Thurman, who was made to drive 600 miles to get health care in North Carolina.
Two Big Lies that Vance made were to say that DJT gave up power peacefully and that DJT saved Obamacare. Vance’s nose must have grown a foot, at least, after those remarks.
One good thing that everyone seemed to appreciate was the relative civility of the debate, “like the old days.” However, when one realizes that it was Vance’s Master Plan to lie to the public, just as happened with the testimony of the Supreme Court appointees who then went ahead to do what they had said, under oath, they would not do re Roe v. Wade, well—–
Amanda and I were mightily amused by the Moose. (It doesn’t take much to entertain us).
Harking back to my post-debate piece on the Harris/Trump September 10th debate, faithful readers—all 3 of you—will remember that I asked the question “IS LUCY SAFE?” regarding a pet cat that we were forced to re-home because of our wintering in Texas. Lucy—like the pet cats and dogs that Donald J. Trump claimed during the September 10th debate are being kidnapped and eaten in Springfield, Ohio—was an indoor/outdoor cat, as she had come to us from the ravine behind our house. Could she have become a statistic in Trump’s always unreliable statistics?
The newspapers on the day after the debate, were filled with memes and comments on that unlikely topic of the debate, i.e., the kidnapping of cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio and their alleged use as an entrée by Haitian immigrants. In Springfield (a town that Bart Simpson callshome) it has apparently gotten so bad that the city fathers have asked for understanding. They have acknowledged that their city’s sudden fame and prominence has become a real problem, complete with bomb threats.
Taylor Swift and cats
The dog/cat debate came on the heels of the RFK, Jr. revelation ( made to Roseanne Barr while on television) that he once picked up a dead bear that was road kill and took the animal with him to clean it and eat it. While this may be normal behavior for the Kennedy clan, most of us would not stop and scavenge a dead animal, taking it along to clean and eat later.
In the version I read, RFK, Jr.. then remembered that he had reservations at Peter Luger’s Steakhouse—an establishment I have actually eaten at once—and, therefore, decided to forgo cutting his own steaks from the dead bear. Instead, the young RFK, Jr., dumped the dead bear in Central Park, along with a bicycle. This may have been imeant to make others think the bear bicycled there and expired. (I’m not sure I understand the part where one stops and picks up road kill, saving it “for later,” but I definitely found the bear/bicycle story to be even more unbelievable than the Springfield cats & dogs story.) Also, I wondered if the Moosehead was much smaller than the whale head that RFK, Jr., is said to have cut off with an electric saw after the animal washed up on a beach.
Does this moosehead rival the whale head that RFK, Jr., also is said to have removed with a chain saw?
So, with the two paragraphs above as preamble, imagine my surprise when, upon leaving a restaurant known as the Treehouse, there was a $1,795 dollar moose head sitting outside the door in a flimsy wooden cage. Wow. This was random even on a Friday the 13th! And WHY was the moose head—worth nearly $2 grand—sitting there with no security and no obvious owner? Was Brian Rashid planning on mounting it somewhere within the restaurant? Did it have anything to do with the Bull Moose Party? (That’s the last time a very questionable assassination attempt went awry when the bullet struck a copy of Teddy Roosevelt’s speech, as I understand it.)
THE TREEHOUSE
Brian Rashid, owner of “The Treehouse”
The Treehouse (Bettendorf, Iowa) is owned (or co-owned) by Brian Rashid, who is a big Donald J. Trump admirer. On September 20, 2023, DJT stopped by the Treehouse restaurant in Bettendorf, Iowa, after campaign stops in Maquoketa and Dubuque. Articles online suggest Rashid has had 12 or 13 DUI arrests and may have been illegally triggering alarms to see if law enforcement responded promptly enough to suit him. It is somewhat remarkable that the GOP party in Scott County was not aware of all this about the owner of the Treehouse, since it isn’t what most campaigns would want associated with their candidate…unless the candidate is Donald J. Trump. Trump handed out pizza to random patrons; he signed autographs for some of the lovelies assembled in the restaurant.
Trump at work charming Iowans and signing…uh…autographs?
THE MOOSEHEAD
The moose is loose.
As we were exiting the restaurant on September 13th (FRIDAY, the 13th), there was a large moose head immediately outside the door, with a price tag commensurate with the going rate on large moose heads: $1,795. (The moose is loose!). I couldn’t help but wonder if RJK, Jr., had a hand in this random moosehead situation right outside the door of one of the area’s most vocal Trump supporters.
DINING AT THE TREEHOUSE ON FRIDAY THE 13th
I cannot fault the food, (although the Scott County Health examiners have done so after inspections), but on Friday the 13th the women’s bathroom was tied up the entire night. No idea what, exactly, was going on in there, but there is only one rest room for the men (a one-holer) and one rest room for the women (also aone-holer). I stopped and tried to enter the women’s rest room on our way into the restaurant, as I had consumed two Diet Dr. Peppers prior to our trek across I-74 to dine. A full 40 minutes later it was still impossible to gain entrance. Then our friends (a couple with two children, one a third-grade girl) arrived.
Isla wanted to wash her hands. I accompanied her to the rest room that had been “busy” when we entered.
It was still busy. At least 40 minutes had passed since my first futile attempt to use the rest room.
If you want a Moose head, be prepared to shell out Big Bucks. (But money well spent—right?)
I encouraged my small companion to give the door handle a good try. She certainly did.
Later, she announced her intention of standing by the door until the occupant emerged. (That was way more than I was willing to do.)
Soon, Isla returned to our table and shared the news that the toilet in the women’s rest room was “all backed up” and that she heard a woman “throwing up” behind the door. (She gave a very good imitation of the noise she heard. Bravo, Isla!). She advised that any of us wanting to use the bathroom should try the men’s rest room. (Nothing like a smart third-grader to cut to the root of the problem and figure out what is going on behind a locked door.)
The food and service was satisfactory, but the rest room situation was not great. I told our server that the women’s rest room had been continuously occupied for at least an hour and he acknowledged that it was “probably a staff member.” (Ewwww)
So ends my tale of the Treehouse Restaurant in Bettendorf, Iowa, (which offers the Plantation Salad, well-known in the area if you are 50 or older).And a story of cats, whales, moose, RFK, Jr., DJT and Friday the 13th, 2024.
That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids, has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas – he explains that they’re just “animals” – and you say, “Well, OK then.” (
