vxbush 12/23/2020 5:16:53 AM

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vxbush 12/23/2020 5:32:35 AM

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vxbush 12/23/2020 5:59:47 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2020 6:30:30 AM

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Life mirrors Art!

Remember Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,and how James Stewart, the political naif, is framed for interfering with the Willett Creek Dam graft slipped into "the Deficiency Bill," which was to provide relief to Depression victims?  Stewart asks the Senate to postpone his expulsion---and passage of the bill---for a week until he can return home to deal with the forged evidence against him, at which point a number of the Senators turn on him for daring to suggest that they postpone for one minute passing a bill that is "vital to the whole country" but which has been "months in preparation, delayed and delayed (their words)."  It is their refusal that prompts Stewart to start his filibuster.

Well, as people (some people, anyway) look on in disgust at the huge amount of irrelevancies and pork-barrel padding in the just-passed "covid relief bill," Trump is talking about how paltry the actual covid relief is, how inappropriate the padding is, and mentioning that he might not sign the bill into law.  The Congress is reacting exactly like the Senators in Mr. Smith---after delaying and delaying passage of the covid bill and loading it up with graft.  There's even, shall we say, a certain similarity between the blatant election fraud and the forged evidence against Stewart in the film.

This could get interesting.

vxbush 12/23/2020 7:23:55 AM

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In #4 buzzsawmonkey said: There's even, shall we say, a certain similarity between the blatant election fraud and the forged evidence against Stewart in the film.

But the only folks who will know this will be the ones who don't get the news from the MSM. That news is too slanted to be trusted to release the truth of the situation.

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2020 7:37:08 AM

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In #5 vxbush said: But the only folks who will know this will be the ones who don't get the news from the MSM. That news is too slanted to be trusted to release the truth of the situation.

Again, very similar to the film, where the Boy Ranger hand-printed newspaper goes up against the manufactured public opinion of the Taylor Machine.

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2020 7:42:03 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 5:

I was also musing, since this is Christmas-movie season, on the similarities and differences between the scene Mr. Smith where Claude Rains has the sacks of letters and telegrams of "Taylor-made" public opinion brought into the Senate chamber, and the similar scene in Miracle on 34th Street where John Payne has the postal workers bring in the sacks of Santa mail to prove that Edmund Gwenn is "the one and only Santa Claus."

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2020 9:25:16 AM

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Since I'm talking movies, and it's almost Christmas, here's a reminder: Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life is actually a re-telling of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, from the point of view of Bob Cratchit, and transposed to then-modern times.

Keep in mind, too, the film's use of name symbolism: "Clarence" provides clarification for George Bailey. 
"Bailey" is a pun on bailee, a legal term for someone who is given charge of, or responsibility for, something. The Building and Loan is founded by Peter Bailey; he is "the rock" on which it rests. George takes it over when he dies; there was a catchphrase back then, "Let George do it," which basically meant "Let someone else take care of it."

Everybody in town "lets George do it"---indeed, the film is all about his finding out that the town depends entirely on him, while they've "let him do it." He's what they call in law a "gratuitous bailee," someone who takes responsibility for something at no charge.

The druggist is named "Gower." "Gow" was slang for opium back then; to be "gowed up" was to be high on drugs, and laudanum---a common painkiller in those days---was opium-based.

Gloria Grahame's character is named "Violet Bates." Well, violet (purple) is the color of passion, and Violet Bates is the town's "bad girl," who baits the men.

For that matter, the "Bailey Park" development is built on what used to be "Potter's Field." "Potter's Field" is where the nameless and indigent are buried; "Bailey Park," with its affordable houses, is a resurrection of those who would otherwise be buried in "Potter's Field."

Occasional Reader 12/23/2020 9:28:04 AM

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In #7 buzzsawmonkey said: I was also musing, since this is Christmas-movie season, on the similarities and differences between the scene Mr. Smith where Claude Rains has the sacks of letters and telegrams of "Taylor-made" public opinion brought into the Senate chamber, and the similar scene in Miracle on 34th Street where John Payne has the postal workers bring in the sacks of Santa mail to prove that Edmund Gwenn is "the one and only Santa Claus."

And there are also parallels to the scene in another classic Christmas movie, “Die Hard”, in which John Maclane uses holiday- themed tape from the Nakotomi Tower mail room to attach his Beretta 92F to his back.

See the parallel?  Mail, mailroom!

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2020 9:30:04 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 9:

It's too bad that "Laugh-In" is so deeply buried in the dustbin of history.  I'd bet they'd have done a really great Christmas version of their "Sock It To Me" sequences as "Nakatomi" if they were still around.

Occasional Reader 12/23/2020 9:30:36 AM

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Boris Johnson announces “Tier 4 lockdown” of London.  The result is, well, predictable.

http://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=391805

Occasional Reader 12/23/2020 9:34:15 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2020 9:38:01 AM

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doppelganglander 12/23/2020 10:07:48 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 10:

Laugh-in is available on Amazon Prime Video and I watched a few episodes a few months ago. It's terribly dated, of course, though some of it was still funny in a nostalgic sort of way. I was very young but my parents let me watch anything. The "adult" humor is very mild by today's standards. 

buzzsawmonkey 12/23/2020 10:09:15 AM

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Santa Claus Announces Change of Plan

"I've furloughed the reindeer," Santa said in this exclusive interview. "The way governments have been behaving, I've had it with that whole "reindeer unto Caesar" thing. I've gone to the North Woods and gotten a new team to draw my sleigh that will be certain to bring Merry Chris-Moose to all. And yes, I plan to caribous with me this year."

vxbush 12/23/2020 10:37:03 AM

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In #11 Occasional Reader said: Boris Johnson announces “Tier 4 lockdown” of London.  The result is, well, predictable.

This, despite the evidence from two different research papers that there is NO such thing as asymptomatic infection. If you are showing symptoms, then you can share the disease. 

This level of insanity cannot be supported for long.

JCM 12/23/2020 11:41:51 AM

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In #16 vxbush said: This level of insanity cannot be supported for long.

They've managed to keep it for 9 months despite all the contrary evidence.

JCM 12/23/2020 2:13:58 PM

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Couple of days ago an oil train derailed and caught fire near the Canadian border.

My first thought was terrorism.....

Today the headline is...

Kosh's Shadow 12/23/2020 2:42:16 PM

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Reply to JCM in 18:

So they protest a pipeline by showing how much safer it is than rail traffic?