but what's puzzling you is the nature of their game

 

L:  former U.S. Senator Perdue; R:  U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff

point of historical interest

Jon Ossoff (Democrat - Georgia) is the youngest sitting senator, at 35.  Ossoff is the youngest person elected to the U.S. Senate since Don Nickles in 1980.

        The average age of senators is now higher than in the past.

{Wikipedia}

point of current-events interest

When Hardball was on, Chris Matthews used to say the reason Congress does not change something is because they like how it is.

After this month's Buffalo, New York murder-tantrum in a grocery store, Democrats in Washington D.C. introduced the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2022.

        The bill passed the House.

        Last week on Thursday, two days after the murder-tantrum in Uvalde, the bill was summarily shit-canned in the Senate.

the vote in the Senate

-------------------------------------------

Democrats

Tammy Baldwin    Wisconsin      yea

Michael F. Bennett    Colorado      yea

Richard Blumenthal    Connecticut      yea

Cory A. Booker    New Jersey      yea

Sherrod Brown    Ohio      yea

Maria Cantwell    Washington      yea

Benjamin L. Cardin    Maryland      yea

Thomas R. Carper    Delaware      yea

Robert P. Casey, Jr.    Pennsylvania      yea

Christopher A. Coons    Delaware      yea

Catherine Cortez Masto    Nevada      yea

Tammy Duckworth    Illinois      yea

Richard J. Durbin    Illinois      yea

Dianne Feinstein    California      yea

Kirsten E. Gillibrand    New York      yea

Margaret Wood Hassan    New Hampshire      yea

Martin Heinrich    New Mexico      yea

John W. Hickenlooper    Colorado      yea

Mazie K. Hirono    Hawaii      yea

Tim Kaine    Virginia      yea

Mark Kelly    Arizona      yea

Amy Klobuchar    Minnesota      yea

Patrick J. Leahy    Vermont      yea

Ben Ray Luján    New Mexico      yea

Joe Manchin, III    West Virginia      yea

Edward J. Markey    Massachusetts      yea

Robert Menendez    New Jersey      yea

Jeff Merkley    Oregon      not voting

Christopher Murphy    Connecticut      yea

Patty Murray    Washington      yea

Jon Ossoff    Georgia      yea

Alex Padilla    California      yea

Gary C. Peters    Michigan      yea

Jack Reed    Rhode Island      yea

Jacky Rosen    Nevada      yea

Brian Schatz    Hawaii      yea

Charles E. Schumer    New York      nay

Jeanne Shaheen    New Hampshire      yea

Kyrsten Sinema    Arizona      yea

Tina Smith    Minnesota      yea

Debbie Stabenow    Michigan      yea

Jon Tester    Montana      yea

Chris Van Hollen    Maryland      not voting

Mark R. Warner    Virginia      yea

Raphael G. Warnock    Georgia      yea

Elizabeth Warren    Massachusetts      yea

Sheldon Whitehouse    Rhode Island      yea

Ron Wyden    Oregon      yea

_____________________________

_________________________________

Republicans

John Barrasso    Wyoming      nay

Marsha Blackburn    Tennessee      not voting

Roy Blunt    Missouri      nay

John Boozman    Arkansas      nay

Mike Braun    Indiana      nay

Richard Burr    North Carolina      nay

Shelley Moore Capito    West Virginia      nay

Bill Cassidy    Louisiana      nay

Susan M. Collins    Maine      nay

John Cornyn    Texas      nay

Tom Cotton    Arkansas      nay

Kevin Cramer    North Dakota      not voting

Mike Crapo    Idaho      nay

Ted Cruz    Texas      not voting

Steve Daines    Montana      nay

Joni Ernst    Iowa      nay

Deb Fischer    Nebraska      nay

Lindsey Graham    South Carolina      nay

Chuck Grassley    Iowa      nay

Bill Hagerty    Tennessee      nay

Josh Hawley    Missouri      nay

John Hoeven    North Dakota      nay

Cindy Hyde-Smith    Mississippi      nay

James M. Inhofe    Oklahoma      nay

Ron Johnson    Wisconsin      nay

John Kennedy    Louisiana      nay

James Lankford    Oklahoma      nay

Mike Lee    Utah      nay

Cynthia M. Lummis    Wyoming      nay

Roger Marshall    Kansas      nay

Mitch McConnell    Kentucky      nay

Jerry Moran    Kansas      nay

Lisa Murkowski    Alaska      not voting

Rand Paul    Kentucky      nay

Rob Portman    Ohio      nay

James E. Risch    Idaho      nay

Mitt Romney    Utah      nay

Mike Rounds    South Dakota      nay

Marco Rubio    Florida      nay

Ben Sasse    Nebraska      nay

Rick Scott    Florida      nay

Tim Scott    South Carolina      nay

Richard C. Shelby    Alabama      nay

Dan Sullivan    Arkansas      nay

John Thune    South Dakota      nay

Thom Tillis    North Carolina      nay

Patrick J. Toomey    Pennsylvania      nay

Tommy Tuberville    Alabama      nay

Roger F. Wicker    Mississippi      nay

Todd Young    Indiana      nay

_____________________________

_____________________________

Independents

Angus S. King, Jr.    Maine      yea

Bernard Sanders    Vermont      yea

-30-

keeping mercy for thousands

 

Old Bridge, New Jersey

The shooting at the Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York:

The person who allegedly did that has the last name Gendron:  his dad and mom are Paul and Pamela Gendron.

On You Tube, this comment from a guy who knew Mr. Gendron --

William O'Leary

        My brother & I were friends with Paul from 1st grade to 4th or 5th back in Old Bridge, New Jersey.  We spent summer after summer in his family's pool, playing ball, board games, and exploring the woods behind my house.

        His father did abuse alcohol and was physically abusive to Paul's Mom one time that we know of.  I can still remember his Mom running down the street to our house crying.  My mom immediately let her in.

        I think we stopped being friends with him because either he was embarrassed or maybe he thought we told people.  My brother & I can't remember because it was 40+ years ago.  It is crazy that it was his son who did this evil and heinous act.

        Our prayers go out to the victims, their families and all of Buffalo.

----------------------------------------

Exodus 34:7 - Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

-30-

children being murdered and the cops just standing around

 Looking at the two recent mass shootings,

in Buffalo, New York

and

Uvalde, Texas

there are very weird aspects to both incidents.

-------------------- in Uvalde, police stood around outside the school for an hour (AN HOUR???!!!) while children and teachers were being murdered inside.

Parents were there, begging the police to go in and put a stop to the murdering, to save their children - - and apparently police were attacking the parents!  They handcuffed a mom, they threw a dad to the ground.

When I first listened to these news reports, it was just astounding. Beyond comprehension.

I had a thought that I've never had before:

this is either gross incompetence, or

a covert war against the American people.

_________________________

NOW - - you tube video

title:  Report that retired agent knew of Buffalo shooting plan

uploader / channel:  WKBW TV Buffalo, NY

         It says retired agent had been communicating with the shooter for a while, and knew 30 minutes ahead of time what was going to go down.

I can't get my mind around this.

-30-

are we disingenuous?

 

Shea's Buffalo Theatre, Buffalo NY painting by Thelma Winter

 Fine Art America

2 interesting videos on You Tube, to watch:

Inside the NBA talk about Tragic Shooting in Texas

uploader / channel:  House of Highlights

Chris Russo's response to the mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas | First Take

uploader / channel:  ESPN

_______________________________

______________________________

May 25, 2022 headline

Trump Said to Have Reacted Approvingly to Jan. 6 Chants About Hanging Pence

The New York Times

_____________________________________

_____________________

Reader Comment under NYT Uvalde article

A proud Canadian

Ottawa, Canada

I am sorry to say this, but the latest incident of mass shooting calls into question whether the USA can truly be called a civilised country.

        Time and time again politicians express the view that they don't have an answer as to why these shootings take place in the US but rarely elsewhere.  Sorry, but they know the answer:  too many guns in the country and lax firearm laws.

Look, we are not perfect in Canada, but we do not have the gun obsession south of our border.  I am thankful I live in a country that does not give me the right to own a gun and I am also grateful I do not live in the USA.

--------------------------------

--------------------------------

_____________________

------ [excerpt, NYT article] -------------- The New York Times reached out on

Wednesday and Thursday to all 50 Republicans in the Senate to see whether they would support a pair of House-passed measures to strengthen background checks for gun buyers.  Within hours of the elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Senate Democrats moved quickly to clear the way for possible votes on the two bills.

3 categories of answers given by Republican senators:

Open or undecided

Opposed or leaning no

Declined to answer or deflected

Open or undecided

Susan Collins, Maine

Kevin Cramer, North Dakota

Mitt Romney, Utah

Patrick J. Toomey, Pennsylvania

Opposed or leaning no

John Barrasso, Wyoming

Roy Blunt, Missouri

Ted Cruz, Texas

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina

Bill Hagerty, Tennessee

Josh Hawley, Missouri

Ron Johnson, Wisconsin

James Lankford, Oklahoma

Cynthia Lummis, Wyoming

Mike Rounds, South Dakota

Rick Scott, Florida

Richard C. Shelby, Alabama

Tommy Tuberville, Alabama

Roger Wicker, Mississippi

Declined to answer or deflected

Marsha Blackburn, Tennessee

John Boozman, Arkansas

Mike Braun, Indiana

Richard M. Burr, North Carolina

Bill Cassidy, Louisiana

John Cornyn, Texas

Tom Cotton, Arkansas

Michael D. Crapo, Idaho

Steve Daines, Montana

Joni Ernst, Iowa

Deb Fischer, Nebraska

Charles E. Grassley, Iowa

John Hoeven, North Dakota

Cindy Hyde-Smith, Mississippi

James M. Inhofe, Oklahoma

John Kennedy, Louisiana

Mike Lee, Utah

Roger Marshall, Kansas

Mitch McConnell, Kentucky

Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia

Jerry Moran, Kansas

Lisa Murkowski, Alaska

Rand Paul, Kentucky

Rob Portman, Ohio

Jim Risch, Idaho

Marco Rubio, Florida

Ben Sasse, Nebraska

Tim Scott, South Carolina

Dan Sullivan, Alaska

John Thune, South Dakota

Thom Tillis, North Carolina

Todd Young, Indiana ----------------- [end / NYT excerpt]

___________________________

a bill to propose:

§ The U.S. Senate, House, and Supreme Court chambers shall be protected by weapons regulations identical to those in whichever state has the most lenient gun laws.

_________________________

-----------------------------------

(a You Tube Viewer Comment)

~~ Maybe if these states stopped electing the same type of officials, they could have better laws that help their citizens.  I truly feel for them, but they are the ones who keep electing people who obviously don't care about them.

_________________________

-30-

each of those kids is just copying the other ones

 

North Street - Uvalde, Texas

Fine Art America

propose a bill:

§ The U.S. Senate, House, and Supreme Court chambers shall be protected by weapons regulations identical to those in whichever state has the most lenient gun laws.

-------------------------------------

These kids -- feebs -- are just copying one another.  These incidents are like temper tantrums planned out in advance.  May 14th, it was the one at the grocery store in Buffalo, New York -- yesterday, elementary school in Uvalde, Texas.  Now they protect themselves with body armor:  their new fad.

        Are people like this born evil?

        Can we deal with evil?

        Or do we pretend it doesn't exist?

Speaking of evil, the NRA is holding a play-party -- oops, meant to say "conference" in Houston, Texas, this coming Friday through Sunday.  (Good it extends to Sunday, they can have "thoughts and prayers."  Sounds weally weally weeligious....)

        trump, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, and Texas Governor Greg Abbott are going to give speeches during this celebration.  (Do people get paid to speak at this?  If so, how much?)

        (Again, with the evil -- Greg Abbott, have you seen that guy?  His eyes:  it's like you looked into the Abyss.  You want to go get a cross and some garlic....)

- recent comment from you tube

~~ Maybe if these states stopped electing the same type of officials, they could have better laws that help their citizens.  I truly feel for them, but they are the ones who keep electing people who obviously don't care about them.

Reader Comments, New York Times

Daniel Cohn

Toronto, Canada

Instructive to note that the same day this happened, Texas Republicans voted to re-nominate pretty much all of the politicians who created a legal structure where it is harder to vote than to own and carry a gun.

I do not want to be so crass as to say Texans like things this way.

However, any reasonable observer has to conclude that changing the state's gun laws certainly is not a very high priority for many Texans compared to other things.

Tony Hartnett

Ireland

If Americans wanted to end these massacres they could, because the solution lies in their own hands -- literally.... One Party wants sensible gun control, the other does not.  If you habitually vote Republican maybe it's time to ask yourself if you're to blame, too.

Mitch 

Staten Island

One of the most distressing platitudes we hear after a Buffalo or Texas is "We are better than this."  Clearly we are not.

Mike S.

Eugene, Oregon

It's never about the victim's rights.  Or their family's rights.  Never.

If I were one of the parents I'd sue Abbott, Cruz, and the NRA back to the Stone Age.

-30-

in God's name, spare us

 

After today's school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, President Joe Biden stated, "As a nation we have to ask:  When in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?"

        But - but - but - U.S. Senators have stood up on this issue, they don't allow firearms in their workplace!

(Giant mental eye-roll.)

-------------------- Like the Buffalo, New York grocery store murderer ten days ago, today's Texas murderer also wore body armor.

------------------- U.S. Senator from Connecticut Chris Murphy called for his colleagues in the Senate to take action saying, "Spare me the bullshit about mental illness."

____________________________

headline today

Texas Governor Abbott is scheduled to address an NRA conference 72 hours after elementary school shooting

         Insider

-30-

a happy place

 

Russia withdraws from Kyiv

        I was watching this one You Tube channel with videos about different states and cities and towns around the U.S. -- the narrator does comparisons of the "best" places to live and the "worst" places.  He also compares best places to retire; worst places to retire; best places to move to if you're looking for a job...etc.

He had one that showed the 10 "worst" states, economically.  One viewer wrote in the Comments section:

~~ Maybe if these states stopped electing the same type of officials, they could have better laws that help their citizens.  I truly feel for them, but they are the ones who keep electing people who obviously don't care about them.

---------------- Besides "better laws," programs and initiatives -- to open opportunities for employment and education, to beautify the landscape, showcase local culture, and address climate change...

        Every state, and our country as a whole at the federal level, need representatives who will do positive things, and not spend their time making asses of themselves on social media.

_______________________________

Some critics say social media is corrupting our society.  I see it this way:  when something new is invented people have to learn to use it intelligently, rather than -- "dumbly"...if that's a word....

        A friend of mine who lived in the Depression era and World War II told me that when one of her family's neighbors in North Dakota got an automobile, back when they were still pretty new, first thing that happened, he was out driving it & he ran over another neighbor and killed him.

Well, that wasn't what cars were invented for, but that's what happened.  Social critics at the time might have said, "See, I knew no good would come from this new invention, it's crazy!  People getting killed!"

        But really, the thing was to learn to operate the automobile in a non-deadly way.  We didn't need to get rid of cars -- we needed to use them properly and safely.

Maybe it's the same with social media.  We don't need to get rid of it; we need to use it in a responsible fashion.

-----------------------------------------

headlines today

American Artillery Enters the Fight in Ukraine

         The New York Times

Boris Bondarev, a Russian Diplomat, Speaks Out on the War

         The New York Times

Russian soldier gets life in prison in war crimes trial

         The Washington Post

Biden vows to defend Taiwan if China were to invade

         The Washington Post

With Russians gone, Kyiv's suburbs struggle to return to being 'a happy place'

         Los Angeles Times

'One-sided': unionists react with scorn as US delegation arrives in Ireland

         The Guardian

Poem of the week: 1963 by Meg Cox

         The Guardian

Russia fully withdraws from Kyiv region, Ukrainians get drone training in US:  Pentagon update Day 42

         ABC News

-30-

el chapo and me

 

I heard a song today that I knew I liked but I couldn't remember what it was -- 

"You Make My Dreams (Come True)"

by Daryl Hall and John Oates.  

That punchy beginning part....

From Fear City to Drug Lords -- Netflix is transporting me to the world of ... criminality?!

Sometimes we watch something, and then ask ourselves, "Why am I watching this?  These people are terrible."  One opinion was, we watch because it's so different from our own lives.  Extreme.  People who are extreme, and they do extreme things.  Watching it doesn't mean we think it's right.

Like horror movies, I guess -- not like you want those things to happen to you or your family or friends, but it's a story and it lets you go to another world, in your imagination, and get a perspective on the world you are in.

Someone should write a song:

"Taking a Trip on Netflix"...

-30-

tilt

 

        Recently on You Tube I encountered some videos about "flat earthers" -- people who say they believe the earth is not round, but rather flat.

        Someone in a comment section said, "If the earth were really flat, the cats would have pushed everything off the edge, by now."

        Makes sense.

_____________________________

Comments on a news story today:

~~ Our country is in jeopardy of becoming an authoritarian regime.

~~ Well, George Wallace failed, and so will Trump.  America's democracy is too resilient.  It is not in our political DNA to tolerate autocrats.

_______________________________

Remember in Friends when Monica's parents refer to someone messing up as, they "pulled a Monica" - ?  (Terrible parents, really, with their Ross-favoritism, that dynamic was played for laughs in the show....)

        I just found out today that the pretend-expression "pulled a Monica" had a real-life antecedent:  to "do a Brodie" meant 

to take a chance or a leap, specifically a suicidal one.

-------------------------- [excerpt from Woody Allen's autobiography] -------------------------------------- When he comes home, the old man, my grandfather, has added a few zeroes to his bank account and smokes Corona Coronas.  He's the only Jew working as the traveling rep for a big coffee company.  

My father runs errands for him, and one day lugging some coffee sacks around he passes a courthouse, and down the steps strolls Kid Dropper, a thug of the times.  The Kid gets into a car and some nonentity named Louis Cohen jumps on the car and puts four slugs through the window while my dad stands there staring.  

The old man told me this tale many times as a bedtime story, which was a lot more exciting than Flopsy, Mopsy, Cotton-tail, and Peter.

        Meanwhile, my father's father, looking to become an industry, buys a string of taxicabs and a number of movie houses including the Midwood Theater, where I would spend so much of my childhood in flight from reality, but that came later.  I first had to be born.  Unfortunately, prior to that little cosmic long shot, Dad's dad, in a burst of manic euphoria, bet more and more on Wall Street, and you can see where this is going.  

On a certain Thursday the stock market did a big Brodie, and my grandfather, high roller that he was, was reduced to instant abject poverty.  The cabs go, the movie houses go, the coffee company bosses jump out windows.  

My father, suddenly responsible for his own caloric intake, is forced to go on the hustle; he drives a cab, runs a poolroom, strikes out with assorted scams and makes book.  

Summers he is paid to go to Saratoga to attend to questionable horse-racing business for Albert Anastasia.  

Summers upstate were another series of bedtime stories.  

How he loved that life.  Fancy clothes, a big per diem, sexy women, and then somehow he meets my mother.  Tilt.  How he wound up with Nettie is a mystery on a par with dark matter.  

Two characters as mismatched as Hannah Arendt and Nathan Detroit, they disagreed on every single issue except Hitler and my report cards.  And yet with all the verbal carnage, they stayed married for seventy years -- out of spite, I suspect.  

Still, I'm sure they loved each other in their own way, a way known perhaps only to a few headhunting tribes in Borneo.

_______________________________

{Apropos of Nothing, by Woody Allen.  Copyright 2020.  Arcade Publishing.}

-30-

anytime they say listen

 

        When I was typing yesterday's post here, I was describing a documentary about the Mafia, and I started one paragraph with the sentence, "Rudy Giuliani is in it."

        Re-reading it today I thought, oh that could sound like Giuliani is "in" the Mafia -- he's "in it."  I meant of course that he is in the documentary.  

        In the '80s Giuliani was the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and led federal prosecution of New York City mafia bosses.

Was going to watch Fear City on Netflix again, but first got sidetracked on You Tube -- there's a video where Mike Tyson is interviewing Michael Franzese.

(Former Mafia Captain Michael Franzese Hotboxin' with Mike Tyson

uploader:  Mike Tyson)

------------------------------------ some Viewer Comments:

~~ Whenever an Italian says "I'll tell you quick story" be prepared to sit there, fascinated for an hour.

~~ It takes the same amount of time for a Greek to bid farewell.

~~ Lol.  Truth.

~~ Whenever an Italian American.  The Italian Americans have nothing in common with real Italians.

~~ no, no... Italians are the same.  They can spin a yarn like few others.

~~ Same for Latinos    lmao.

~~ Mike interviewing an old mafia captain is actually better than a movie

~~ lmao    my old Italian neighbor tells me this shit all the time.

~~ Let me tell ya a couple or three things.

~~ That's a Brooklyn thing.  Black people, Italians, Latinos...same shit with the stories.

~~ It's also a New York thing.

~~ I'm Italian and let me tell you a quick story about quick stories  LOL!!

~~Love the stories though, ngl.

~~ "let me tell ya a coupla three things"

~~ You should hear my grandma

~~ *Anytime they say "listen..."

-30-

fear city

 

Fear City: New York vs the Mafia is a three-part documentary series on Netflix.  

I watched part of it a while ago, & am now watching it over, and all the way through.  Some familiar faces --

Michael Franzese, a former mobster - now a motivational speaker -- he is about to tour the UK, and he has a You Tube channel.

        (His father, John 'Sonny' Franzese, is the center guy in above photo.)

Rudy Giuliani is in it.  They have film of him being interviewed back during the '90s, when he seemed -- sane, and stuff. 

        When I think of former NYC Mayor Giuliani, I am reminded of the idea that as we human beings grow older one of the best things we can do for ourselves (and others, as well) is try not to go nuts.

People in this documentary talk about New York City being so dangerous in the 1970s.  I was there twice during that era, once with a church trip and once with a group from college.  

        We were aware there was a crime problem, but we just stuck together and walked fast.

-30-

down with Putin

 

Ukraine

I wish there was volunteer work we could do to help Ukraine.  There are lots of places online to send checks, but having sent what I can afford already, I kind of feel like writing checks is maybe the purview of our millionaires and billionaires.

I thought I would listen to some Ukrainian you-tubers, see what they know, in case we can learn anything useful.

(I want to -- spy -- for Ukraine.)

-30-

right this way, your table's waiting

 

reader comment:

~~ It is the emcee, so flawlessly played by Joel Grey, who delivers Cabaret's catharsis.  

While in the opening scenes of the film Nazi officials were pushed out of the Kit Kat Club as unruly, in the last scene they occupy every seat in the audience.  

Their faces are distorted in the mirrors like grotesque gargoyles.  

Tomorrow belongs to them.  

        The emcee understands that the era of relative liberty has come to an end.  All he can do now is to gracefully bow out.  The spotlight of history is now trained on an entirely different performance.

The relevance of Fosse's Cabaret is eerily current today, with Europe yet again facing a renegade leader with a homicidal agenda.  We need to draw the curtain on that threat, pronto.

_______________________

you tube video

title:  Cabaret, Liza Minnelli

uploader:  Felipe Ruiz de Chávez

and Play!

♫♫ ♪

What good is sitting

Alone in your room?

Come hear the music play

Life is a cabaret, old chum

Come to the cabaret

Put down the knitting

The book and the broom

It's time for a holiday

Life is a cabaret, old chum

Come to the cabaret

Come taste the wine

Come hear the band

Come blow your horn

Start celebrating

Right this way your table's waiting

What good's permitting

Some prophet of doom

To wipe every smile away?

Life is a cabaret, old chum

So come to the cabaret

I used to have this girlfriend known as Elsie

With whom I shared four sordid rooms in Chelsea

She wasn't what you'd call a blushing flower

As a matter of fact she rented by the hour

The day she died the neighbors came to snicker

Well, that's what comes from too much pills and liquor

But when I saw her laid out like a queen

She was the happiest corpse I'd ever seen

I think of Elsie to this very day

I remember how she'd turn to me and say

"What good is sitting

All alone in your room?

Come, hear the music play

Life is a cabaret, old chum

Come to the cabaret"

And as for me -- hah!

And as for me --

I made my mind up back in Chelsea

When I go... I'm goin' like Elsie...

Start by admitting

From cradle to tomb

It isn't that long a stay

Life is a cabaret, old chum

It's only a cabaret, old chum

And I love - a - ca - ba - ret!!!

-30-

all the odds

 

Guan Liang | Weimar, Germany, 1940

Reader comments on Bradshaw's Cabaret review in The Guardian:

~~ Great comment.  I remember seeing the film in the seventies and both being horrified by that image and thinking:  "well, at least THAT can never happen again,"  and now it is happening again.  I was much happier when evil was in Berlin in the '40s than Russia today.

~~ "I was much happier when evil was in Berlin in the 40s than Russia today."

The echoes of the 1930s have been growing over the last few years.  The USA was, and is again, in danger of being subverted from within to a conservative authoritarian ethos.

~~ The supporters of such people fall into two camps.

1) Those whose personal identity becomes totally dependent on the myth that is being promoted.

2) Those who cynically think they can benefit in some way - and believe they can control the outcome.

------------------------------------------

On You Tube, find the video with this title:

Maybe This Time - Full Song - Cabaret 1972 - Liza Minnelli

uploader:  Turner Classic Movies

...and play!   ♪ ♫ ♪

-30-

"still think you can control them?"

 

Portrait of Dr. Gachet

by Vincent van Gogh

Cabaret comment:

~~ The old man who refuses to join in the singing of "Tomorrow Belongs To Me" in the beer garden always reminds me of Van Gogh's Dr Gachet.

----------------

you tube

Tomorrow Belongs to Me - Cabaret

uploader:  Sean Scott

-30-

trickle of fascism

 

Cabaret comments:

~~ I adore this film.  It's got the ability to make you laugh, think, and fear the worst all in the space of a couple of hours.  The musical numbers are spot on and Minnelli is outstanding as the chaotic girl about town.

~~ The nightclub in the movie represents nihilist escapism.

~~ The movie is all about political apathy which is why "the Nazi thing" seems like a second thought.  Through its pacing, the movie subtly illustrates the trickle of fascism into everyday life in Weimar Germany.  This goes largely unnoticed by tuned out characters like Sally which makes the final shot with the audience in the cabaret so foreboding.

______________________________________

On You Tube find the video titled,

Liza Minnelli Performing Mein Herr with Chair

uploader:  OneoftheImmortals - And play... ♪ ♪ ♫

You have to understand the way I am, mein Herr

A tiger is a tiger, not a lamb, mein Herr

You'll never turn the vinegar to jam, mein Herr

So I do, what I do

When I'm through, then I'm through

And I'm through, toodle-oo

Bye bye mein lieber Herr, farewell mein lieber Herr

It was a fine affair, but now it's over

And though I used to care, I need the open air

You're better off without me, mein Herr...

-30-

was Berlin the Studio 54 of 1920s?

 

headlines

Fox News deals in Kremlin propaganda.  So why not freeze Rupert Murdoch's assets?

         The Guardian

We must fight powerful bullies, whether they are Putin, Trump, or tech billionaires

         The Guardian

Safety Lapses Cited in South Dakota Plane Crash That Killed 9

         The New York Times

Biden signs Ukraine lend-lease act into law, expediting military aid

         The Washington Post

Russian TV, online platforms hacked with antiwar message

         The Washington Post

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other reader comments on Peter Bradshaw's 5.5.2022 Cabaret article:

~~ I'm always amazed how clear sighted Isherwood was.  It's extraordinarily rare that someone can write as he did without the benefit of hindsight.  This film is a gem.

~~ 'Cabaret' is truly a masterpiece of story telling.  As a companion piece, I recommend reading 'Before the Deluge, A Portrait of Berlin in the 1920s' by Otto Friedrich (1972), which covers in detail all that's in the film.

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On You Tube, find video titled:

Cabaret (1972) - Willkommen

uploader:  ghost 122769

and play ... Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome!

Fremde, etranger, stranger.

Gluklich zu sehen, je suis enchante,

Happy to see you, bleibe, reste, stay.

Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome

Im Cabaret, au Cabaret, to Cabaret

-30-    

a mark, a yen, a buck or a pound

 

Liza Minnelli; Joel Grey

The Guardian

headlines today

Local elections 2022:  Tories lose hundreds of seats to Labour and Lib Dems; Sinn Féin set to become largest party in NI elections

Labour takes second place in Scottish elections as Tory vote plummets

Welsh Tories blame No 10 as they reel from disastrous losses across country

Russia summons UK ambassador over new sanctions on media outlets

        Russian foreign ministry says it will continue to react 'harshly and decisively' to all sanctions imposed by London

'I wanted the Conservatives out':  readers on the local election results

Elections 2022:  live council results for England, Scotland and Wales

        As the final votes are counted, heavy Conservative losses are tempered by a mixed picture for Labour while Lib Dems and the Greens perform well.  The SNP continues to dominate in Scotland and Plaid Cymru gain seats in their heartlands and beyond

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other reader comments on Peter Bradshaw's 5.5.2022 Cabaret article:

~~ Even after all these years I haven't forgotten how brilliant was this film.  And the acting of Minnelli, Grey, and York was superb.

~~ A fantastic film with outstanding performances by the whole cast.  The chilling biergarten scene is unforgettable.

~~ Joel Grey: icon of our times.  Again.

Welcome to the endtimes, partygoers.

Great soundtrack though

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On You Tube (m.youtube?) find the video titled,

Money makes the world go round Liza Minnelli

uploader:  zeitdiebemagazin

and play, to get some of the mood of

Cabaret (1972 film)

Director:  Bob Fosse

Starring:  Liza Minnelli, Michael York, and Joel Grey.

Screenplay by:  Jay Allen

Songs by:  John Kander; Fred Ebb.

-30-