Category Archives: cable tv
Al Franken Reflection
Senator Al Franken says he won’t resign. Instead, he’s spending Thanksgiving in reflection.
Actually, I thought his staged grope gag was kind of funny. In a stupid 12 year old kind of way. True, Franken was 55 at the time. But maybe the joke is he’s not grabbing boobs. He’s grabbing a flak jacket.
Not that that makes it ok.
Nice flak jacket
And the snoozing Leeann Tweeden didn’t sign up to be a straight gal for a photo gag. No doubt it was humiliating.
Franken Reflection
Maybe Al is reflecting on Hot Lips Houlihan. A gag proving her natural blondeness was the big scene in Robert Altman’s iconic movie M*A*S*H. (Here’s the scene.) Now that would be humiliating.
But not so humiliating that feminist Alan Alda wouldn’t go on to star in the popular tv series based on the same movie.
As Harvey Weinstein said in his non-apology apology, you have to understand it was a different time:
I came of age in the ’60s and ’70s, when all the rules about behavior and workplaces were different. That was the culture then.
Anyway, Happy Thanksgiving!
Latino Victory Fund Scares Elephants
A moderate Democrat beat a moderate Republican to win the governor’s race in Virginia last week.
Latino Victory Fund
But a campaign ad by the Latino Victory Fund was anything but moderate. It featured an Ed Gillespie stand-in chasing minority children in a pickup truck. The ad only ran once but the Latino Viciory Fund president, Cristóbal Alex, says he’d do it again.
Some Republicans fear this could be a trend that will cost them their Senate majority.
Nothing really changed in Virginia though. A new Democrat simply replaced an old Democrat in the governor’s house.
President Trump’s NFL Rant
Some players are now saying they’re not protesting the flag or the country when they take a knee during the national anthem. But that’s not what Colin Kaepernick had to say when he started the whole thing:
“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses Black people and people of color,”
NFL Rant
It wan’t all about taking a knee during President Trump’s Friday night NFL rant. He also complained that the league doesn’t allow hard enough hitting:
“Today, if you hit too hard … 15 yards, throw him out of the game,” Trump said. “They are ruining the game, right?”
Medical researchers might want to take a knee over that.
Taking a Knee for NFL Ratings
According to Sports Illustrated NFL broadcasts on CBS are down 10% over the first two weeks of the season from last year. NBC is down 7% and Fox is off 3%.
Whether that’s due to hurricanes, players taking a knee or Trump’s executive tweet not to watch is unclear.
Hate Group Members
The extremist hate group thing seems a little trumped up to me.
The Southern Poverty Law Center says there are between 5,000 and 8,000 Klan members. The SLPC is the media’s go-to choice for hate stats. They even publish this helpful hate map.
But their definition of hate seems broad. They label some Christian groups that don’t share their views on LGBT issues, like the Family Research Council, as hate groups. Then again, I suppose the Klan also considers itself a Christian group not big on the LGBT agenda.
Anyway, I found the FBI figure of 2,200 Klan members quoted in Newsweek archives. So I went with it.
