This morning I am reminded of Lloyd Bridges’ running gag in the movie Airplane: “It looks like I picked the wrong week to …“
I took the last two Mondays off (and had a very restful trip to the Azores). But it looks like a lot of things happened while I was gone. This week I’ll try to catch up.
Shortly after my last blog posts, Charlie Kirk was murdered. Then Jimmy Kimmel was canceled. Then (in some order) a sniper shot at an ICE facility in Dallas, we found out about Tom Homan’s $50K bribe, Jim Comey got indicted, Trump and RFK Jr. declared definitively (and without any scientific evidence) that Tylenol causes autism, Trump made a bonkers speech to the UN, Kimmel came back, Trump announced an invasion of Portland, a guy sitting in my airplane aisle had a personal story to tell about the H1-B visa fiasco, all our generals and admirals have been called to a meeting in Virginia tomorrow, and I probably forgot something.
Looks like I picked the wrong week to take a vacation.
The short version of the last few weeks is that Trump’s bid for dictatorial power seems to be coming to a head. There’s a race against time to seize as much power as he can as his popularity plunges.
Anyway, I have choices to make about which stories to spin off into their own posts. I’m going to write about Kirk simply because much of what I read about him isn’t that good. He wasn’t a saint and he was more than just a collection of bigoted quotes. The Kimmel saga will get its own post, because it raises the question of a turning point. I’m not sure yet what else.
Anyway, the Kimmel post will come out first, maybe around 10. We’ll see what happens from there.
The Weekly Sift 
Comments
You missed the mass shootings, including a church just yesterday,. With the Kirk murder, it connects to whether a killing counts as political violence or just a deranged person depending on whether it came from “one of us.”
Llyod Bridges, not Leslie Nielson.
The running gag was Lloyd Bridges’s, but point taken. (Don’t ask me how many times I’ve seen this movie.)
Thanks for your posts, I look forward to them every week.
hope you had a refreshing vacation, though!
yes, we’re hearing from Black preachers who are say no to the murder if Kirk – and no o it erasing all the horrible things he’s said. I knew as soon as it happened he’d be transformed into a martyr. Too bad the young man who killed uim spent think beyond the act.
murders at church and at seaside in Southport NC – both by ex-Marines around age 40 with known PTSD – our vets definitely need help.
Lloyd Bridges said that line.
“If I must constantly remind you how friendly my store is, it isn’t. If I must constantly tell you how low my prices are, they aren’t. Likewise, if as a radio or TV broadcaster I must constantly trumpet to you that I am telling the truth, I’m not.” * ~~AT Coffey*
It was Lloyd Bridges.
Maybe it’s too simplistic, but I lean towards the Bill Maher interpretation. These shooters just needed to get laid. I don’t think guys with girlfriends and a healthy social life go out and kill people. It’s hard for politics of any stripe to work someone up into a murderous rage if they’re happy – or at least not miserable – in their day-to-day lives.
It was Lloyd Bridges that made the statements in Airplane.
Of course it was. Thanks to all of you for the correction.
I want to see some of those bigoted quotes by Kirk.
The Senneca Project on YouTube has a short compilation of some of his statements.
It’s kind of sad that you are incapable of researching them for yourself. Do you really not know how to use a search engine? If you want text, try The Guardian, but if you prefer video start here. And then maybe learn how to do your own research. (Or are you saying that you don’t understand what a bigoted statement would look like? Hmmmm…..)
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