Their Satanic Majesties Request
Here’s something you don’t see every day. Madeline Holcombe, writing for CNN, has a story about the Illinois State Capitol and the Satanic Temple of Chicago:
The Illinois State Capitol is decking the halls with holly, a menorah, and a Satanic statue.
This holiday season, the Satanic Temple of Chicago has been granted permission to place their statue in the lobby of the state Capitol building in Springfield, Illinois, a spokesman for the Secretary of State’s office told CNN.
The statue is approximately four and a half feet tall and about 18 inches long, spokesman Dave Druker said, and it depicts a snake wrapped around an arm holding an apple with the inscription “knowledge is the greatest gift.”
The statue has been on display since Monday and will remain through the end of the month, according to officials.>
How utterly brazen of them.
The Crime and the Cover-up
Natasha Bertrand in The Atlantic has the full account of Friday’s sentencing memos for Trump’s longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen and former national security adviser Michael Flynn. The memos “offer the clearest indication yet of how investigators are encircling the president and perhaps reaching the climax of the 19-month probe into a potential conspiracy between Trump and Russia in 2016.”
She goes on to explain how this involves not only Cohen and Flynn, but Trump and his family as well.
It isn’t just Trump who may be in legal danger now that Cohen is cooperating—it’s also his family members, who Cohen admitted to briefing on the Trump Tower Moscow deal in 2016. According to Mueller, Cohen discussed the Moscow deal with Trump’s family members “within” the Trump Organization. Donald Trump Jr., an executive vice president of the Trump Organization, told the Senate Judiciary Committee last year that he was only “peripherally aware” of the Moscow deal in 2016.
Trump said last week that he was free to pursue business deals while he was running for president. But he never disclosed the deal publicly, and Cohen’s guilty plea clearly shows how he lied in the written statement to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees to conceal the Trump Organization’s ongoing involvement in the Moscow project from January through June 2016, with the campaign under way.
The saying goes, “it isn’t so much the crime as it is the cover-up.” I’m beginning to believe in this situation it’s not only the crime, but also the cover-up.
It will be interesting to see what happens once Don Jr. and Jared are indicted. None of this is normal. None. Of. This.
Go Your Own Way
I am a fan of the concept of the Song Exploder podcast. Unfortunately, I’m an old and could not care less about 90% of the song breakdowns Hrishikesh Hirway has included. However, the latest episode features former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham talking about the gestation and creation of “You Can Go Your Own Way” from Rumors. This is a song I can get behind.
Avengers: Endgame Trailer
Just a few days after dropping the Captain Marvel trailer, we get the new Avengers movie trailer. It’s suitably bleak, dark and sad. Except for the end. Do I sense… hope?
Gene Simmons and His Mother
Apparently, the KISS press kit circa 1975 mentioned Gene Simmons being hatched from a dinosaur egg. As you might imagine, that wasn’t true. In fact, he was brought to the United States from Israel by his mother Florence. She was a Holocaust survivor and really the most important person in Gene’s life.
Paul Stanley, Gene’s musical and business partner for nearly 50 years, mentioned Florence passed away on his Instagram account.
Gene’s mother Florence Lubowski has passed away. I knew her as long as I’ve known Gene. Beyond her fierce love and pride in her only child she was his inspiration to live up to being worthy of the sacrifices she made in a very difficult and at times horrific life. A holocaust survivor she fought for all she had and her fierce protection and pride in Gene made her someone to be feared, admired and loved. I will miss her laugh and smile. Let us all say a prayer for her, Gene and his family.Gene followed up on his Instagram account.
I lost my Mother. My mentor. My moral compass. And I am heartbroken. 😞 My Mother, Flora Klein passed away at 93 years of age. No illness. No pain. She simply quietly, went to sleep. My Mother will always be in my thoughts and in my heart. Today. And Forever. And I would urge all of you, to run over, put your arms around your mother, kiss her and tell her how much you love her. Do this every day!This clip of Gene and his Mom from Gene Simmons Family Jewels is sweet, but Gene talking with Dan Rather for his AXS show about the two of them entering the United States might make you cry.
What Me Worry?
Dave Pell, master of the NextDraft email newsletter, linked to an article on Motherboard about “what worried you most about the future?” He decided to throw his hat into the ring and write about his worries.
As managing editor of the internet, I’m constantly worried about what the next five minutes of the news cycle will bring. But what worries me the most? Three things that are closely related: The widening economic divide, the growing contempt between people with different political views, and the increasingly obvious signs that fascism in on the rise in many parts of the world. I’m also quite worried about how today’s political climate will impact my kids. Those of us who have been around for a while like to preach the refrain: This isn’t normal. But my kids are ten and twelve. This is the only political environment they’ve ever known. To them, it’s normal. What gives me hope? That topic is not really in my wheelhouse, but I’ll give it a shot: First, I think lot of people in my generation thought that the trajectory towards progress on issues like racial and gender equality was a given. The last few years have been a reminder that nothing is a given. Everything is political. Everything takes work. It feels like people have been awakened to that reality and are re-engaging in the fight. And second, these seem like crazy times. But we’ve faced worse. A lot worse. We got this.I tend to agree. We got this. It will get better and the fight toward a better tomorrow will continue.
The Golden Goose
In a move that probably made a lot of St. Louis Cardinals fans happy (I know I made a little squeal), the club acquired six-time All-Star Paul Goldschmidt from the Arizona Diamondbacks in exchange for three young players and a conditional 2019 draft pick. It was a bold, win-now move for a club that needs bold moves.
Goldschmidt is a Gold Glove-caliber first baseman and the perfect slugger for the middle of the lineup. He’s by far the best first baseman they’ve had since Albert Pujols. He was the franchise face in Arizona and he could become that in St. Louis.
Of course, right field is still a bit up in the air for the Cardinals. The team is still in on the Bryce Harper craziness. I expect them to tender a lucrative offer to make him one of the highest-paid baseball players on the planet. He still might not come, but I think it won’t be because the Cardinals didn’t make a substantial offer. Plus, if they don’t land Harper it might mean Fowler has a shot at bouncing back after a truly miserable year. He could do it. I just don’t know. Otherwise, Tyler O’Neill is your starter in RF.
The only downside with the trade is Goldschmidt is a free agent after this year―a guaranteed one-year rental. The thought is to try and get him signed after the season, but it might also be better to look at trying to get Nolan Arenado after next season. It’s nice to have options.
I’m pleased management has decided to win now, like right now. I’m sure they are looking at Marcell Ozuna and Goldschmidt’s contracts and will only sign one after the 2019 season and they may part with both, so it’s now or never.
Personally, I’d like to be rid of Dexter Fowler and find Jose Martinez a home in the American League for some bullpen help.
And, you know, sign Bryce Harper.
The Quiet Departure
Rodger Sherman, writing for The Ringer, outlines succinctly the flawed reasoning for allowing Ohio State University football coach Urban Meyer to walk away after completely mishandling domestic abuse accusations involving one of his staffers.
Being a fan of Illinois football and watching how things went down after Tim Beckman’s ugly behavior as the head coach, I’m appalled Meyer was allowed to maintain a level of dignity. Of course, when you win on the field that’s what happens.
Bounce Back?
Bernie Miklasz in The Athletic talks about last year’s performance of one Dexter Fowler. If you didn’t follow St. Louis Cardinals baseball, Fowler had one of the most abysmal performances ever by a major leaguer.
Basically, Bernie thinks Fowler, surprisingly, isn’t completely on the outs (no pun intended) with the club. However, he isn’t precisely penciled in at right field either. Fans want the Cardinals to release him, pay him his $49.5 million, and walk away. Of course, that’s not realistic. Unfortunately, his trade value is below zero.
If the Cardinals do not sign Bryce Harper to man right field, it likely will fall on Fowler to have a bounce-back season. I have no idea if he’s going to do it. No one knows.
Rudy Giuliani Should Delete His Account
Cory Doctorow at Boing Boing tells the story of fatfingered Rudy Giuliani:
Rudy Giuliani fatfingered a tweet last week and inadvertently referenced a nonexistent URL (G-20.in); some clever wag registered the URL and stood up a static landing page that reads “Donald J. Trump is a traitor to our country.”
Now, Giuliani has taken to the intertubes again to upbraid Twitter (and Time Magazine!) for his stupid mistake, tweeting “Twitter allowed someone to invade my text with a disgusting anti-President message. The same thing-period no space-occurred later and it didn’t happen. Don’t tell me they are not committed cardcarrying anti-Trumpers. Time Magazine also may fit that description. FAIRNESS PLEASE.”
He’s wrong, of course.
Look, not everyone understands how the internet works. However, someone should have told Rudy how incredibly moronic he sounds here. Remember everyone, this is the personal lawyer of the President of the United States.
President George H. W. Bush Dies at 94
The first President Bush has passed away at age 94. Adam Nagourney has the story for The New York Times.
I wish I had a few more positive things to say about President Bush 41 other than he was an obviously devoted husband and father, avid baseball fan, war hero, frequent letter writer, and dedicated public servant.
Maybe that’s enough.
Captain Marvel Trailer
Hey, there’s a new Captain Marvel trailer. It looks like great fun with a bit of mystery and intergalactic war.
The best part? Nick Fury being all affectionate with Goose the cat (although I’m betting Goose isn’t really a cat…)
Running
Recently, through one of my newsletters, I found a link to Beto O’Rourke’s Medium collection. He has a couple of essays up, but the first one about running is tremendous. He writes of a time running in Washington passing by the Mall, seeing other runners, feeling the winds change, and being inspired by the Lincoln Memorial. It wasn’t so much a metaphor for him running for President as it was an open challenge to himself.
M. G. Siegler had a smart thought:
If Beto O’Rourke did this as a play on the “he’s running” meme, this is one of the most brilliant maneuvers ever. Either way, it’s great to see a high-profile would-be candidate writing like this. Just Beto Blogging.I can think of no other politician that has captured the imagination of the country like this since Obama. Even though he didn’t win his state Senate race, his campaign blossomed into one not just about Texas but the nation. Coming from out of relative obscurity and nearly beating an entrenched opponent in a state traditionally opposed to his point of view, he still feels like a winner.
It is without question I’m going to be utterly exhausted with the next presidential campaign. Still, it would be nice to feel inspired again.
Two Weeks
John Scalzi over on his blog just confessed to writing his latest novel, The Consuming Fire, in two weeks.
Two.
Weeks.
That’s crazy. It certainly took a toll on him and he obviously never wants to do it again, but maaaaan. Two weeks!
I’d like to, maybe, churn out my silly little YA novel in a year’s time. If I’m lucky.
Goal Setting
Nicholas Bate adds to his basics list with seven ideas regarding goals. Good ideas.
- A goal can be set anytime, not just new year.
- A goal needs a walk, some writing and considerable reflection to make it real.
- A goal set over a glass of wine, at a party, in the crowd when heart, mind and soul are truly (rightly) elsewhere is unlikely to bind your will.
- Goals may be big. But they need to have time friendly (20 minutes) and brain friendly (‘no problem-I can do that’) first steps.
- When setting the goal, agree the first three ever-so-easy steps.
- Don’t wait for January. Break out of the crowd.
- Set a breakthrough one today.
Galaxy of Adventures
In May 1977, I was eight years old about to turn nine a month later. I walked into an air-conditioned movie theater while on a Florida vacation and was transported to a galaxy far, far, away. I fell in love with Star Wars right then and there. I went back and watched it again the very next day.
A movie theater experience isn’t what it used to be. It’s loud. It’s expensive. You can’t pause the movie for a bathroom break, especially after drinking a Big Gulp. So, introducing Star Wars to kids the same age I was when I experienced it doesn’t always work. Hence the new project from Disney called Star Wars Galaxy of Adventures.
This series of animated YouTube shorts uses original dialogue and sounds from all the Star Wars films as a way of introducing iconic characters like Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Darth Vader and incredible scenes like when Obi-Wan Kenobi hands Luke the lightsaber and Darth Vader’s Rogue One hallway scene to the next generation.
The series is streaming on the Star Wars Kids website and the Galaxy of Adventures YouTube channel, with the first few episodes ready to watch right now!
Play Like a Girl
Eben Novy-Williams has your feel good story of the weekend.
Earlier this week, a 9-year-old California girl named Riley Morrison wrote an open letter to Curry, posted online by her father, in which she says she was disappointed to see the shoes were listed only for boys. “I know you support girl athletes because you have two daughters and you host an all-girls basketball camp,” she wrote. “I hope you can work with Under Armour to change this because girls want to rock the Curry 5’s too.”
Curry, who has been with the Baltimore-based company since 2013, was quick to respond. Thursday he posted a letter to Morrison on Twitter saying he’d spent the past two days working with the company to fix the issue. “We are correcting this now!” he said.
You can hate on the NBA, but you can’t hate Steph Curry.
The Spectrum of Possibilities
Rob Bricken, in his weekly Medium column Nerd Processor, talks about the upcoming final season of Game of Thrones, how it’s likely to disappoint, and why.
But the problem isn’t really with Daenerys, Tyrion, or all the other characters that may end up ruling Westeros or whether anyone rules Westeros or if it splits back into seven kingdoms or suddenly becomes a democracy or whatever. (Okay, that last one would be very crappy.) It’s that Game of Thrones is so popular and so epic and its ending so anticipated that every possible outcome, regardless of how good or bad it is, is inherently not as exciting as the spectrum of possibilities that precede it.That bit about the “spectrum of possibilities” is deliciously accurate. And it doesn’t just apply to how the Game of Thrones creators plan on ending the series. This problem is inherent in almost all of the upcoming genre television and movies.
How will Star Wars Episode IX wrap up the sequel trilogy? How can it be done without disappointing millions of fans?
How will the next Avengers movie wrap up the Infinity War story? How can they do it without millions of fans crying out in vain?
How will Westworld end? The Expanse? The Magicians? Mr. Robot? The list goes on.
How will the creators of The Big Bang Theory close out the series and will we ever learn Penny’s last name?
I’m not sure there are people wondering how Modern Family, Law and Order: SVU or Criminal Minds will end. Maybe I’m wrong. There’s definitely a fandom for This is Us that’s invested in the characters and timelines. The creators have done a fabulous job of teasing ideas and directions to keep viewers hooked and wondering where and how it will end. The “spectrum of possibilities” is the bread and butter of the show, along with the strong writing and character moments.
Of course, most of the time where characters go after the movie’s credits or show is off the air is in the realm of fan fiction or actual tie-in novels and comics. Want more seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer? They exist in comic book form and written by the guy who created Buffy. What happened after the end of the last Star Trek: The Next Generation movie? Read the novels.
Still, a fandom’s expectation for a satisfying conclusion has got to be a huge headache for the creators. I assume some just don’t care about the reaction and just want to tell their story and damn the torpedoes regarding fans (see Rian Johnson and The Last Jedi). I think other creators may try and walk the line of fan service and servicing the story.
I’d bet JJ Abrams will walk that line with Episode IX. Maybe David Benioff and D. B. Weiss will do the same for Game of Thrones. We will know soon enough. Meanwhile, I’ll write my own versions in my head and try not to scream when the creators do their own thing.
Love is a Gift
Just about a week before Halloween, I saw the first holiday television ad. I’m sure it was selling me something. The deluge hasn’t really stopped. So, when I found this short Christmas film it was a nice respite from the rampant consumerism of the season.
Phil Beastall made an incredible film. It’s going to make you cry. And probably hug your mom.