Kingsman: The Golden Circle review and the rules for action sequels.

Following the success of the spy movie Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014) is the sequel Kingsman: The Golden Circle. And like any action sequel there are rules, at least for big budget sequels. Yeah, this is inspired by the rules from Scream 2. (1997)


Rule 1. Bigger action set pieces. Come on you got more money because of the first one. It's a franchise. Rule 2. More carnage. That means more dead bodies. Rule 3. Bigger explosions. See Rule 1. Rule 4. Big dramatic plot surprises. Yeah, everybody wants to make The Empire Strikes Back. Rule 5. Give the audience more of what they saw in the first one. But what about creativity? You want art, go to The Louvre. We're trying to make a boatload of money from our franchise.

In The Kingsman; The Golden Circle, super drug dealer Poppy (Julianne Moore) destroys The Kingsman headquarters. She's this crazy nostalgia freak for the fifties, and the sixties. And her Cambodian jungle headquarters shows it. There's an old fashioned bowling alley, and yes it could be a nod to The Big Lebowski. After all Jeff Bridges is in this movie. At the center is Poppy's headquarters which is fifties hamburger diner complete with robot dogs and a gigantic meat grinder for turning your human enemies into meat patties. She's also captured Elton John who has some very funny moments. Anyway, she's got a plan. Since she supplies most of the world's drugs, she's decided to spike the supply with a poison and blackmail the world since she has the antidote.

Kingsman Eggsy aka Galahad (Taron Egerton) and Merlin (Mark Strong) must seek out help. They are directed to Kentucky where the Statesman are headquartered. The Statesman are American version of the Kingsman. They're led by Champagne aka Champ aka as The Dude. (Jeff Bridges) Um... okay, he's not known as The Dude. But come on, there's Julianne Moore here and bowling. They find Harry Hart still alive. (Colin Firth). Hart was shot in the head by Samuel L. Jackson in the last film. Halle Berry is here as the American version of Merlin or Q. But she's given very little to do. Hold on. Berry, Bridges, Moore and Firth. A law firm? No. But these four actors have Oscars. Whoa. Bet you a dollar, nobody is going to get an Oscar for this movie.

Director Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman have made a screenplay that follows the rules of action sequels. It's got bigger action, there's more carnage, bigger explosions, big dramatic plot surprises, and it gives the audience the same stuff from the last movie. Action and comedy. So what's not to like? Well, too much of a good thing may not be a good thing. The movie is bloated. For example, Poppy grinds a henchman into ground... well, ground henchmen and then cooks the um... said beef and makes a burger out of it. She then feeds it to another henchmen. You guys are trying to turn us into vegetarians. And then the way they bring back Harry is kind of ridiculous. The Statesmen have nano technology to repair head shots. Really? How about just having him shot as glancing flesh wound? And if you thought the first one was campy, this one seems to get its inspiration from the sixties Batman TV show. There was also no need for the demise of some of the characters. Guys, you're not making The Godfather II here.

Director Vaughn certainly knows how to frame and set up the action set pieces. He relies less on editing and more on slow motion tracking shots. It makes sense and there is less confusion. There's some good comedy here and some cringe worthy comic material. The later stages of the poison causes people to dance. As Steve Martin would say, "Comedy is not pretty." I will say this. Elton John's last sentence is one of the funniest lines in cinema this year.

Kinsman: The Golden Circle is fun. But it's like eating ice cream too fast. You'll get a headache. The grade is B.

Trump shows the world he's a racist and Colin Kaepernick's mother's response

On Friday, conservative Republican President Donald Trump showed the world he wants the angry bigoted white man vote and that he is a racist. You see he was in Alabama, the heart of the angry , racist white male nation. Remember what Bull Connor did to civil rights protesters in the sixties? Anyway, Trump in a political rally said this about NFL players kneeling in protest to racial injustice during the national anthem,

"Get that son of a bitch off the field right now, he's fired. He's fired!" CNN REPORT

Now let's not be suckers here. We know who he is referring to. It's African American quarterback Colin Kaepernick who kneeled in protest to the treatment of black people by the police. Trump said this in front of a white audience full of angry white males. He said it in Alabama, the heart of angry, white, racist male nation. Alabama has a history of opposing civil rights. It's a message of support for bigots. And before you say there was nothing about blacks in that statement please remember that Trump did not call Nazi protesters "sons of bitches." In fact, he said there were "fine people" in the Nazi ranks. (The Atlantic) Guess who are the bad guys according to conservative Trump? The African Americans. And what about free speech/ This is not just saying that the NFL can punish protests therefore not a government suppressing speech. Trump as President is the government. By urging the suppression of free speech, he's violating the guarantees of free speech under the First Amendment.

So, what did Colin Kaepernick's mother say about this? Here's her glorious tweet.

Guess that makes me a proud bitch!

— Teresa Kaepernick (@B4IleaveU) September 23, 2017

You go girl. Impeach Trump now. Vote liberal Democrat, if you want to live.

The Bengals' season is over

Is it too early to call the 2017 Cincinnati Bengals season over? After last week's game where the Bengals couldn't score a touchdown against the Houston Texans who had their two starting cornerbacks injured and now the Bengals drop a game to the Green Bay Packers after leading them 21-7, this long suffering Bengals fans has had it.

Yesterday's game against the Packers had all the hallmarks of your typical Bengals epic meltdown. After leading the Packers at halftime by 21-7, the Bengals scored just 3 points the remainder of the game. It's time to sit Bengals cornerback Adam "Packman" Jones down. His new nickname should be "Toast." Because he got toasted on a 72 yard pass play to set up the Packers winning field goal. Not only has he lost a step, he's an embarrassment off the field and do you all remember his meltdown against the Steelers in that 2016 Playoff game? His temper in that game caused a unsportsmanlike penalty which gave the Steelers a chip shot field goal. (Check out this News Record op-ed piece on Jones.)

Yesterday, the Bengals lost in the usual heartbreaking way. I've seen this movie before. Time to call the season. Not really interested in writing about the Bengals until they do something sustainable in a positive way. Time to think about the draft. Here's Lance McAlister's report.

Sen Bill Cassidy aka Doctor Death fails two oaths and Jimmy Kimmel torches conservatives

Conservative Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) who is a doctor violated his primary medical oath which is to do no harm and then fail his own coined term "The Jimmy Kimmel Test." Cassidy after hearing Kimmel make a public plea to Congress to provide health care to everyone even those who could not afford medical care. Kimmel was grateful that he had health insurance to cover his infant son who had a congenital heart condition. Kimmel was urging Congress to either fix Obamacare or provide insurance to everyone even the poor. Cassidy told Kimmel on his show that any plan he would support would do so.

Kimmel unfortunately trusted a conservative Republican. You see they view government assisted healthcare as socialism That comes from their god, Ronald Reagan. (My post with Reagan's audio on the issue.) So now Cassidy has proposed a new healthcare plan. It would repeal Obamacare. And it would slowly kill Medicaid. Place caps on how much insurance would pay for one patient. And get this it would allow states to opt out of mandating insurance companies to cover pre-existing conditions. Since his plan would cause millions to lose coverage and likely lead to deaths. So, let's call Cassidy, "Doctor Death."

Here's Jimmy Kimmel on the Cassidy 's "healthcare" plan.



Cassidy then said he didn't lie to Kimmel and then indicated that Kimmel didn't understand healthcare. Bad mistake. Kimmel torches him. Thank you Jimmy Kimmel for fighting for Americans' healthcare. Here's Kimmel's response. And vote liberal Democrat if you want to live.

mother! review

mother! is the second movie this year to deal with the idea of creativity. The second was Alien: Covenant. Whereas that movie was more conventional science fiction. mother! is a film that answers the hypothetical question of what a movie made by Luis Bunuel, Salvador Dali and Stephen King would look like.

Mother (Jennifer Lawrence) and Him (Javier Bardem) are husband and wife. They have no children. Him is a poet. They live together in a large house somewhere in the country. One of the opening scenes of the film has Him placing a crystal on a mantle. The crystal was recovered from previous house which burned down inspires Him to write. However, Him is having a bit of writer's block. A doctor (Ed Harris) stops by and asks to stay. Later, doctor's wife (Michelle Pfeiffer) joins him. She lectures Mother that she should have a child. They are basically boarders from hell. Speaking of which, when the doctor breaks the crystal, all hell breaks loose. It doesn't happen all at once. But actions in the movie are murder, blood seeping in floors and walls, riots, cannibalism, a strange creature living in the toilet, and idolatry. You know the stuff in Disney movies.

You get no bad performances with this A list cast. Jennifer Lawrence suffers quite a bit in this movie. Physical and emotional. In keeping with the surreal nature of the movie, the insane events seem to be real to her. Javier Bardem initially seemed a little to intense for me but his performance makes sense as a man who needs the approval and worship of a crowd. As his career winds down, Ed Harris is making some excellent acting choices. His Man in Black in Westworld was more than evil he was complicated. In this film, he strikes me as a hypocrite. Michelle Pfeiffer's wife has a Lady Macbeth vibe happening here.

Director and writer Darren Aronofsky's camera follows Mother around with either over the shoulder, first person or cover shots. She is in virtually in every scene in the movie. The effect is that we feel her suffering. This film is certainly metaphorical and surreal. With all the gore and violence, it becomes quite intense. That's a problem for mother!. Aronofsky's film needed editing. Was there a need for all the murder, people getting shot and rioting? It got to a point where it slowed down the movie. Still, the film is fascinating. I spent the time trying to understand the multiple allegories crashing into each other.

mother! is a thought provoking, surreal and disturbing movie. Big studio Paramount should be praised for producing this piece of avant-garde art. The grade is B.

What?! Former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn was advocating building Middle East Nuclear Power plants with Russians while in the White House

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that former National Security Adviser Micheal Flynn was supporting the construction of nuclear power plants across the Middle East with Russians while he was working in the White House. (Wall Street Journal) Rachell Maddow covers the scheme in the video below at the 8:30 minute mark. Flynn did not disclose any contacts with foreign individuals as required by his security clearance. Maddow then goes over all the things that Flynn did not disclose as required by law. It's at the 14:25 mark. It's a lot of failures. He's in a lot of trouble.

What did conservative Republican President Trump know and when did he know it? Impeach this guy now. Vote liberal Democrat if you want to live. And General Flynn. Do the patriotic thing. Do the thing in your self-interest. Do the thing to save your family. COOPERATE AND TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT TRUMP AND RUSSIA. HELP THIS COUNTRY GET RID OF TRUMP WHO IS A CANCER KILLING THIS COUNTRY.

How dirty Russian money is laundered in a Trump property

Ever wonder how dirty Russian money might be laundered in conservative President Trump's properties? Found this July article from Craig Unger of The New Republic. (New Republic: Trump's Russian Laundromat) Basically, if you are a Russian seeking to launder dirty money, you would buy an apartment say in Trump Tower. Unger traces Trump's Russian connections back thirty years. And he also covered Trump adviser Felix Sater, who has become more relevant lately as it has been reported that he was trying to set up another Trump tower in Moscow in 2015. Unger appeared on MSNBC's the 11th Hour to summarize his report. Below.

Impeach Trump. And vote liberal Democrat if you want to live.

Trump wanted a tower in Moscow

Conservative Republican President Donald Trump says he had no contact with Russia. Should we believe him when his son was colluding with the Russians to win the election? Now, there are reports that Trump adviser Felix Sater in late 2015 set up a deal for Trump to build a tower in Moscow. Trump allegedly signed a letter of intent. Check out this video from Rachel Maddow. Guest David Corn (Mother Jones) was the reporter that broke the Steele dossier. Yeah, I agree with Corn. It's clear. Trump is good to Russia because he wanted to and wants to do business with Russia.

Impeach Trump. And vote liberal Democrat, if you want to live.

Comedy Central shows that Trump supporters are idiots

Jordan Klepper (The Daily Show) trolls Trump supporters and finds out that they are really idiots. I mean they are so obsessed with Hillary Clinton that they are signing petitions to impeach her. Hey you Trump fanatics. She isn't in office. Any office. Not president. Not senator. Nothing. This is what is wrong with some conservatives. It's all blinding hatred. Facts don't matter to these folks.

People, vote liberal Democratic if you want to live. Anyway, check out the video.

Trevor Noah shows that Breitbart's Steve Bannon was a product of immigration

On Sunday, former White House adviser Steve Bannon and head of Breitbart "News" told CBS 60 Minutes how he feels about immigrants. Which Bannon says that America was built by the citizens but he fails to note that those citizens were derived from immigrants. So, Trevor Noah of The Daily Show investigated Bannon's roots. His great grandfather was from Ireland. (Video below at 3:50) So why is it that it's okay for his great grandfather to come to America. Oh, I get it. He was white. What a racist hypocrite.

Vote liberal Democrat, if you want to live.

Wall Street Journal: Lawyers recommend Kushner should resign

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday that White House lawyers recommended that adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner resign. Fordham Law Professor Jed Shugerman indicates that the recommendation occurred about the same time that Kushner was seeking a Russian bailout for the property at 666 West Fifth Avenue, New York, New York. (Video below and great analysis by the Last Word panel.) His problems could entangle the White House in legal jeopardy. I've already surmised that conservative President Trump's proposed unilaterally lifting of Russian sanctions could be done to get Kushner a loan. (My post.)

Impeach. Vote liberal Democratic, if you want to live.

It review

The protagonists in It are preteens but that does not mean you should bring children to see it. The film is violent with mature themes. And don't go if you are scared of clowns or are a clown because you are going decry clown discrimination. That means Trump won't like this movie.   Yeah, we heard about that boycott by Trump supporters.  Okay, the Trump boycott was about author Stephen King's strong dissent to the blond hair, orange skin one.  Not about Trump being a clown.  Still, the boycott  didn't work.  (Huffington Post)

It's 1989 in Derry, Maine. Bill (Jaeden Lieberher) is a preteen student at Derry Middle School. His brother Georgie is missing and presumed dead. In fact, his arm was bitten off and he was dragged down a sewer by Pennywise (Bill Skarsgard), a clown. Hey, I told you don't take the kids. Anyway, Bill is the leader of The Losers Club.  It's a group of nerdy outcasts. They include Richie (Finn Wolfhard), a trash talker. Ben (Jeremy Ray Taylor) is chubby and literate. Beverly (Sophie Lillis) is the pretty girl who smokes and has earned an undeserved reputation as being sexually promiscuous. She also has an abusive father. Stan (Wyatt Oleff) is the son of a Rabbi. Eddie (Jake Dylan Grazer) is the kid with multiple health problems and an overbearing mother. Mike (Chose Jacobs) is an African American kid. All of them are tortured by the bullies led by Steve Bannon, Brietbart "News", and Sebastian Gorka. Um... sorry.   The bullies are led by a slightly older kid named Henry. (Nicholas Hamilton)  The Losers are not ordinary kids. They receive visions of their fears and Pennywise terrifying them.

The ensemble cast is simply outstanding.  Any notion that children can't act is put to rest here.   I'm looking at you, Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. (1999)  And yeah, I might be biased here, being a geek but I want to be a member of The Losers Club.   I would love to have friends like these.  Affection.  Loyalty.  Caring.    Anyway, two performances stand out here.   Finn Wolfhard as Richie, the trash talker.  He steals every scene with his jokes.  Kudos to the writers for the one liners.  Wolfhard delivers them with relish.  I love this kid.  Bill Skarsgard as Pennywise  turns in a performance that almost doesn't require any special effects.  His movements are inhuman.  He's a predator with human flesh on his mind.   He's that scary.  There's no empathy in him.  Kind of like Trump.  Sorry, wrong clown.   Pennywise only wants to survive by instilling fear and killing.

Film is a collaborative art. And when everybody is clicking, you have a good movie. It works on all levels.   First, this film has excellent writing.  You start with Stephen King's source material which is his novel.  King's story is a mash-up of Stand By Me and The Shining.  Then there is the screenplay by Chase Palmer, Cary Fukunaga and Gary  Dauberman. The dialogue is all genuine and there is quite a bit of warmth here.  Yes, the writers put an emphasis on the friendships of the members of The Losers Club. You root for them as they face their human monsters and the paranormal one. I will add that I wish all the adults weren't all jerks but that's a small point.

Director Andy Muschietti certainly knows how to frame a shot. And for the most part, he wisely lets his camera do the story talking versus letting the editor substitute fast cuts for the action. There are some hand held shots but again he doesn't let those dominate the movie. There must be praise for the director of photography Chung-hoon Chung. This is a movie about things that go bump in the night. Chung gives enough light and shadow to let you know there is something there in the darkness. And it's not a kitten. Production designers Mara LePere-Schloop, Claude Pare, art director Peter Grundy, and set decorator Rosalie Board all deserve Oscar nominations for art and set direction. The surreal things like the haunted house, those multiple clown heads in a room surrounding a coffin, black and white photos with Pennywise photo bombing, and creature creations will give you chills down your spine.

For those of you wondering how they cram King's long novel into one film, this movie is only part one. And there is an ending. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait for about two to three years for part two.   Or you can watch the excellent 1990 mini-series or read the book.   It arrives just in time after an August of dreary movies and before the scary times happen.  And I mean Halloween not the antics of the Trump administration.   The grade is A.

Bungle in the Jungle: Bengals lose opener

The Cincinnati Bengals started the day by introducing its greatest players for the fiftieth anniversary.  They should have stopped there and not play their opening and first home game with the Baltimore Ravens.  You knew the day was going to be bad when Bengals quarterback Andy "Opie" Dalton threw a red zone interception.  Doh.  Bengals humiliated,  20-0.  If you want the depressing details, read Lance McAlister's summary. 

Bill Maher destroys Rush Limbaugh, the conservative coward

Republican Rush Limbaugh has been touting that Hurricane Irma is this liberal conspiracy between the media and retailers to get people to by water and supplies. In essence, he's saying it's not that big a deal. Well, the "big fat idiot" as Senator Al Franken once called him is evacuating his Florida digs. CNN report. What a hypocrite and coward. IF he really thought Irma was nothing, he would not be running. Thank goodness for Bill Maher. Here's his monologue for Real Time where he torches the idiot. Be warned, he drops an F bomb. And remember folks. Vote liberal Democrat, if you want to live.

Stephen Colbert skewers Steve Bannon

Conservative former White House adviser, Steve Bannon made a mistake by making up a story that the Catholic church loves immigrants so they can give money to it. Well, Stephen Colbert is a Catholic. Bannon just invited Colbert to slap this idiot around. Check Colbert's piece below.

Steve Bannon insults the Irish

Former White House adviser told 60 Minutes that Chris Christie would not get a cabinet job because  he did not stand up for conservative President Trump after the Hollywood Access tape.  That was the tape were Trump bragged about sexually molesting women because he was a celebrity.  (CBS News)  Here's what he said:

"Rose: Boy, you took names on Billy Bush Sunday, didn't you?

Bannon: I did. O – I gotta – I gotta – you know, I'm Irish. I gotta get my black book and I got 'em. … Christie, because of Billy Bush weekend – and – was – was – not looked at for a Cabinet position."

Bannon is a punk.  I know Irish and the ones I know I consider friends. None of them are vindictive.  It's an ethic slur to paint the Irish as angry, revengeful people.

Hey Kirk Cameron, God is sending hurricanes because of global warming

Conservative actor Kirk Cameron and I agree on one thing.  God is sending hurricanes to strike at America.  We seem to disagree as to why.  Camerons says they are,  "sent to cause us to respond to God in humility, awe and repentance." (Huffington Post.)

Okay.  But how about this.  God is sending a message to conservatives that global warming or climate change is real and is making these hurricanes into monsters.  It's all that warmth that is driving up the energy of the hurricanes.  Check out this excellent Vox video.

Trump Jr. lies just like his father

Donald Trump Jr. is as big liar as his conservative President father. Today, in a meeting with Senate staffers, Trump Jr. told them he met with Russians so that he could learn about the fitness of opponent Hillary Clinton. (Huffington Post) Ha. First, the guy said the meeting was about Americans adopting Russian children. By the way, that would mean repealing the Magnitsky Act for the quid pro quo. Then a day later, he said it was about getting dirt on Hillary. Which is illegal if such information were given to the Trump campaign by a foreigners. Now he's got this patriotic angle.

Impeach Trump now. And vote liberal Democratic, if you want to live.

Seth Meyers: "Hillary, Don't blame Bernie"

In her new book, Hillary Clinton blames Bernie Sanders for the "Crooked" Hillary campaign pitch by the Dear Leader Donald Trump. Really? Seth Meyers tell Hillary why Senator "Woodstock" did not cause this.

I'm not buying Destiny 2

I'll admit I was a Destiny addict.  In case you don't know, Destiny is a first person shooter, massively multiplayer online. role playing video game. Or try saying MMORPG FPS video game. Whew. But my addiction was broken and I'm not buying Bungie's game.

Here's why I'm not buying Destiny 2. The first Destiny had major problems. The story lacked exposition. Remember the Stranger. Yeah, she had the great line, "I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain." So you didn't care about anybody or anything in the world. Then there were the Raids. These were large form missions that you needed other players to perform They were sadistic. Because many times if one player didn't perform his task in a puzzle of a raid then the whole raid would fail. That led to the other people yelling at the guy who screwed up. And yes, I've messed up. So, it was me at times. Finally, there was the nerfing of weapons. Nerfing means that a developer will weaken a weapon or power. In the first Destiny, if a weapon or power became popular, Bungie would nerf it. So all the work you put to getting that great gun was for naught. This led me and other players to say, "F...k you Bungie."

Now if Destiny 2 fixed the sadistic raids and the nerfing, I might reconsider. But in the future, I'll look to the new Wolfenstein game.

God to conservative Republicans: "Here's more proof of global warming. Hurricane Irma."

Hurricane Irma is now a category 5 storm.  It could hit Puerto Rico, The Virgin Islands and maybe Florida. (USA Today story) We have just gotten out of Hurricane Harvey.  Hey,  President Trump and your conservative Republican buddies.  How much more death and destruction do you need to see before you believe that global warming is causing these storms to become monsters?  Hurricane Katrina.  Sandy.  And now Hurricane Harvey and Irma.

Check out this excellent Vox video detailing the science behind the strengthening of hurricanes due to global warming or climate change.    Vote liberal Democrat, if you want to live.

Wind River review

The great thing about movies is that they can take us to a place that you don't see everyday.   The modern Native American society is such a place. Wind River takes place in the Wyoming Indian reservation of the same name. The question for this film is whether it's a fair depiction of modern Native American life.

In Wind River, Fish and Wildlife officer Cory Lambert (Jeremy Renner) is hunting a predator on the Wind River Indian reservation when he discovers the body of a young, native American girl. He calls in Ben (Graham Greene) , the tribe's police chief. The body shows signs of rape. They bring in FBI agent Jane Banner. (Elizabeth Olsen) With magic of Banner and the eagle eye marksmenship of Lambert, they're able to bring the bad guys to justice. Um... sorry. That's the Avengers. Look, I had to make an Avengers joke here. You do have the actors who play Hawkeye and The Scarlet Witch.

Anyway, let's go over what Wind River gets right. The acting is excellent. Jeremy Renner and Elizabeth Olsen turn in their usual good performances. But I want to talk about the outstanding performances by the Native American cast. They all express themselves as modern Native Americans. It's quite believable. Legendary Graham Greene (Dances with Wolves) is a practical cop who has to deal with the obstacles of enforcing the law in a large rural area.   . The victim's father played by Gil Birmingham. He's grief stricken and suffers from serious depression. Julia Jones is Cory's long suffering wife. Let's hope that they get more work in the future.

Director and writer Taylor Sheridan has made a good drama with a balanced emphasis on character, nature, action and mystery. Where the movie stumbles is Sheridan's handling of action pieces. He relies too much on the editing to replace the action versus letting the camera do the work. For example, there's a scene where gunmen are starting to flank the cops leading to a Mexican standoff.  It would be better if Sheridan let the camera follow the gunmen rather than editing it with fast cuts. I t's more coherent.

 Then there's this white-centric telling of the story from two white characters.   . Why not write this story from a Native American's viewpoint? While it  might be good commercial sense to write a lead character as white and cast a known actor. But we don't get enough of the modern Native American culture when that happens. This movie might have been better if the Lambert character was Native American. You could still have a FBI agent played by a known actor. And speaking of the FBI agent, Elizabeth Olsen's Jane is given little to work with in regards to exposition. Too often, she bursts into emotions. Those come  out of nowhere.

The movie  doesn't do enough to show the modern Native American culture.  What we get from the movie is all of the bad stuff.  Drug use. Unemployment.  Poverty.    And Sheridan has the strange idea to end the movie with a literal statement about missing Native American women.   Well, okay but this movie barely touches that.

Wind River is well made mystery-drama.  But don't look to this movie as showing you anything about what it is to be a Native American in today's world.  The grade is B..

Farewell Walter Becker

Walter Becker, co-founder of the jazz-rock band, Steely Dan has passed away. (Walter Becker wikipedia page) He played guitar and co-wrote the songs. This band was one of the groups that led me to love jazz. God speed Walter. Here's Steely Dan's song "Black Cow" from the album Aja. Becker is playing rhythm guitar to the left of lead singer Donald Fagen. I've always loved this sweet piece of jazz-funk.

Ivanka Trump is a fake feminist

Yesterday, White House Adviser, "Princess" Ivanka Trump, supported the scuttling of an Obama equal pay initiative that would give the nation an idea of how bad pay discrimination is for women and people of color. (Huffington Post) Without such data of pay disparity, it will be easy for white men like her father, President Trump to argue that there is no discrimination in the workplace. Women of America, do not let Princess Ivanka fool you. She's a fake feminist. And remember. Vote liberal Democrat, if you want to live.

Princess Ivanka's maternity leave initiative only benefits married women and the child care deduction is worthless to the poor. Here's Michelle Wolf of The Daily Show to skewer Princess Ivanka.


John Oliver's look at Princess Ivanka and her husband, "savior of the world", Jared Kushner. Warning: It's a little salty. Plus, Kushner's real voice is as funny as the one in the piece. The real Kushner sounds like he just passed puberty.


And here's Saturday Night Live's fake ad for a Princess Ivanka perfume aptly called "Complicit."

Fox News' employee admits that the old Clinton email scandal is just a diversion for Trump-Russia scandal

Tomi Lahren just admitted that Fox News's obsession with Hillary Clinton's emails is about throwing a smoke screen against the Trump-Russia scandal. (Huffington Post; Lahren's Tweet below)

.@TomiLahren: "How about when the mainstream media stops covering Russia day in and day out, maybe we can drop the Hillary email scandal." pic.twitter.com/OwfYWfuhDD

— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 31, 2017

To answer your question, Tomi, "When Trump is impeached and all of his men are removed from office, that's when we'll stop talking about Trump-Russia."

It was here first: Preparing for Trump pardons of Kushner and Trump Jr.

Let me be "Trumpian" here and say I beat the mainstream media. I suggested New York step in legally if Trump tries to pardon his way out of the Russia scandal. ( 8-25-17) Okay, I don't know if I actually beat the media but Politico just published a story that New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Special Counsel Robert Mueller are working together. (Politico, 8-30-17) A couple points here. If there were any crimes committed, it's likely they were done at Rump Tower..er, Trump Tower in New York City. The state of New York would also have jurisdiction over state crimes. And Dear Leader Trump can only pardon people for federal crimes. Keith Olbermann goes over the idea of Trump pardoning his way out of the Russia scandal.