Bricks in the Wall

So what’s up in the world? 

In a tizzy of a snit, Li’l Donnie is bitching about immigration and threatening to shut down the government over it.

It’s about the wall.

Sigh. It’s always the wall with this guy. It kind of reminds me of college.

Dorm roommate: I’m going to get high and listen to some music, man.  

Me (thinking): Please don’t play Pink Floyd’s The Wall again!  Please don’t play Pink Floyd’s The Wall again! 

Dorm roommate: The Wall by Pink Floyd, dude!

Me: DAMMIT!

Trump does love his wall. He hasn’t let go of his dream for a big, beautiful wall between the United States and Mexico. Remember when he used to brag about making Mexico pay for it? Here’s how that negotiation went.

Trump: Hey, Mexico! Pay for the wall!

Mexico: Fuck you!

Trump: Hey, Congress! Pay for the wall!

Democrats: Fuck you!

Republicans: Eh, whatever you say, boss!

Democrats: Really?! 

Republicans: Shhh! No, not really. But don’t tell anyone. 

Trump: Democrats hate America and won’t pay for the wall!

Democrats: But… but… it’s not… Hey, the Republicans said….

Republicans: No worries, boss! We’re working on it!

Democrats: Fuck you!    

Now anybody with even the tiniest smidgen of common sense knows Trump’s wall is a boondoggle. The logistics of constructing a wall along the length of the American/Mexican border are just not favorable. And then there’s the idea of whether a wall would actually be effective for all the costs and effort required to make it a reality.

Trump at ribbon cutting for the wall.

Trump: Behold the wall! America is completely safe from illegal immigrants!

Group of dusty immigrants with shovels standing nearby next to a hole in the ground, chanting: USA! USA! USA!

In the sky above, immigrants wave from the bucket of a hot air balloon,  chanting: USA! USA! USA!

Trump: Dammit! Why didn’t I think of that?  

There have been some concessions from the Democrats in previous budget deals to agree to some funding for Trump’s wall. But Trump has nixed those deals, citing they were not tough enough. I’ve read where White House staffers are frustrated in that they keep negotiating with Congress to get some funding for the wall and then Trump gets all pissed off that he’s not getting ALL the money up front for the wall. He wants it ALL and he wants it NOW.

And if you’re thinking that sounds like a spoiled petulant child not getting his own way, well, duh. 

Meanwhile...

Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani completely short circuited Monday.  

Giuliani appeared to tell CNN’s Alisyn Camerota that President Donald Trump was not present at the infamous Trump Tower meeting attended by Donald Trump Jr.

Which is a interesting thing to bring up because no one else had said Trump was at the meeting. Giuliani was answering a question no one asked.  

Media pundits immediately wondered, "Hey, why is Giuliani denying an accusation that no one had made?"


So Giuliani called Fox News’ “Outnumbered” hours after his CNN interview to clarify things.

Here's how that went.  

“So let me take you through it. The day of the meeting with the Russians, Cohen has said ― now he’s leaked it, so we’re not even sure he’s said it, somebody said it for him through a reporter ― he said that he was in President Trump’s office, Donald Trump Jr. walked in and told him about the Russian meeting. That is categorically untrue. Did not happen.”


"Second, there was another meeting that has been leaked but hasn’t been in public yet. That was a meeting ― an alleged meeting ― three days before, according to Cohen ... he says there was a meeting with Donald Jr., with Jared Kushner, with Paul Manafort, with Gates and possibly two others, in which they ― out of the presence of the president ― discussed the meeting with the Russians. ... That meeting never, ever took place. It didn’t happen. It’s a figment of his imagination.”

Confused? You’re not the only one.  Fox News hosts' eyes were spinning like a juggler's dinner plates. 


Fox News host Melissa Francis asked, “Why are you saying that the president wasn’t at the meeting? Who asked if he was there? No one asked if he was there.”

Rudy Giuliani stabbed the air with his finger, smiling broadly and exclaimed, "A-HA! Exactly!" 

Then Rudy Giuliani strapped on a rocket pack to his back and flew out of the studio.  

Here's a visual representation of Rudy Giuliani's remarks on Fox News. 

Also, there was some thing or another about some GOP politician being into "Bigfoot erotica" but guys, I'm spent. 

Look, if you're really curious, click here: What’s Bigfoot’s Dick Like? And do your own research.  

The Sulzberger Rebuttal

The New York Times hit back at President Donald Trump’s tweet Sunday that described his recent meeting with the newspaper’s publisher, A.G. Sulzberger.

Li'l Donnie Trump tweeted about a meeting he had with A.G. Sulzberger, publisher of the New York Times.  

"Spent much time talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media & how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, ‘Enemy of the People.’ Sad!”

Trump is lying. A.G. Sulzberger says so.  

A little bit of background on that one.  

On July 20, Sulzberger and James Bennet, the editor of the Times’ editorial page, met with Trump at the White House, Eileen Murphy, a spokeswoman for the Times, commented that "this was not unusual; there has been a long tradition of New York Times publishers holding such meetings with presidents and other public figures who have concerns about coverage.” 

Here's an interesting twist. Trump’s aides requested the meeting be off the record. Trump didn't listen to them. His tweet on Sunday put the meeting “on the record".  Which means that for A.G. Sulzberger, the gloves were off as per the following statement. 

My main purpose for accepting the meeting was to raise concerns about the president’s deeply troubling anti-press rhetoric.

I told the president directly that I thought that his language was not just divisive but increasingly dangerous.
I told him that although the phrase “fake news” is untrue and harmful, I am far more concerned about his labeling journalists “the enemy of the people.” I warned that this inflammatory language is contributing to a rise in threats against journalists and will lead to violence.

I repeatedly stressed that this is particularly true abroad, where the president’s rhetoric is being used by some regimes to justify sweeping crackdowns on journalists. I warned that it was putting lives at risk, that it was undermining the democratic ideals of our nation, and that it was eroding one of our country’s greatest exports: a commitment to free speech and a free press.

Throughout the conversation I emphasized that if President Trump, like previous presidents, was upset with coverage of his administration he was of course free to tell the world. I made clear repeatedly that I was not asking for him to soften his attacks on The Times if he felt our coverage was unfair. Instead, I implored him to reconsider his broader attacks on journalism, which I believe are dangerous and harmful to our country.

Trump often accuses the Times and other media outlets, including The Washington Post, CNN and NBC, of publishing false stories in response to articles that portray him in an unflattering manner.

As you know, Li'l Donnie has a bad habit of calling any story he doesn't like "Fake News", accusing media outlets like CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and more of making up out of thin air all stories that portray him or his administration in a negative light. Trump has gone as far as to call out the press at his rallies as "really bad people" and "the enemy of the people". In an appearance last week, Trump evoked George Orwell's 1984 by declaring that whatever people was seeing or hearing in the news isn't really happening.  

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Times’ statement. Sarah Succubus Sanders was asleep in her sarcophagus and I'm sure she will work up a lie about it by tomorrow. 

Anyway, Trump is still living in his delusional bubble. I'm sure whatever Sulzberger said, Trump wasn't hearing it.  

What Sulzberger said:  "I implored you to reconsider your broader attacks on journalism, which I believe are dangerous and harmful to our country.

What Trump heard: "You're the greatest President ever! Sorry about the Fake News! You are the best!"  

In other news, Trump is still bitchin' and moanin' about Mueller's investigation but guys, I just can't deal with that right now.  

Kimberly Guilfoyle: Fall of a LEGend

In last Sunday's post (which continues to trend in my blog stats as a highly viewed post for some reason), I addressed the departure of Kimberly Guilfoyle from Fox News and took a brief look at her LEGal career as an attorney and as a LEGal analyst on television. There were some hints that Guilfoyle's exit from Fox was not entirely voluntary. Were those rumors for real or are they not LEGit?  

Since then, Huffington Post dropped some knowledge about some drama in the background at Fox News. So today's post takes a look at some of the details from the Huff Post story as we ponder Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fall of a LEGend.  

It seems that Fox News was ready to show Guilfoyle the door following a human resources investigation into alLEGations of inappropriate behavior including sexual misconduct. 

As you know, Fox News has quite the checkered past when it comes to inappropriate behavior and sexual misconduct. It was such scandals that brought down such Fox News power players like Bill O'Reilly and Roger Ailes. I believe this might be the first time such alLEGations have been targetted at a woman. Guilfoyle’s attorney John Singer denies this story has a LEG to stand on: “Any accusations of Kimberly engaging in inappropriate work-place conduct are unequivocally baseless and have been viciously made by disgruntled and self-interested employees. During her lengthy and decorated tenure with the company, Kimberly was beloved, well-respected, and supportive of anyone she ever met."  

AlLEGations about Guilfoyle’s behavior includes showing personal photographs of male genitalia to colleagues (and identifying whose genitals they were), regularly discussing sexual matters at work and engaging in emotionally abusive behavior toward hair and makeup artists and support staff.

HR reportedly warned Guilfoyle about her behavior several times. But apparently, Fox News had enough and gave Guilfoyle the option to find a new job first before leaving, something in TV or going back to doing LEGal work, you know, whatever.  

In response to questions last Friday about Guilfoyle’s exit, the network issued a terse statement: “FOX News has parted ways with Kimberly Guilfoyle.” It declined to comment any further on her departure. Hours after HuffPost published its report that Guilfoyle’s departure was not voluntary, her attorneys from the law firm Clare Locke LLP sent a threatening legal notice to HuffPost and this reporter, claiming the story was false and defamatory and that failure to retract it would constitute evidence of “actual malice.”

Well, I hope her attorneys from the law firm Clare Locke LLP don't look my way to threaten or take any LEGal action. I'm just a poor blogger looking to share some insight into the LEGacy of Kimberly Guilfoyle at Fox News. 

Dear reader, just a moment, please.

Pssst! Guys, what's up with the last photo. 

That's too close up. And where's her head? 

Are we even sure that's even Kimberly Guilfoyle? 

Look, I'm trying to do a serious post here. 

Don't make a mockery of it, OK?  

There was a time not long ago that Kimberly Guilfoyle's LEGacy at Fox News was assured.  She was a protégé of Roger Ailes; she was untouchable.

But since the ouster of Roger Ailes as chairman of Fox News, the LEGend of Kimberly Guilfoyle has lost it's luster.  

When Ailes was in charge, Guilfoyle had ready and immediate access to the highest levels of power at the network. When Ailes was under fire for his own sexual misconduct, Guilfoyle urged female on-air talent at Fox News to make supportive statements about Ailes publicly.  After Ailes was forced out from the network, Guilfoyle was cut off from her mentor and has alienated herself with the women at the networkd for her unflinching loyalty to Ailes and  Guilfoyle's pressure to make other woman support him. Without her biggest supporter at the network, Guilfoyle's prospects with the network seemed less LEGit.  

For the full Huff Post write up, click here.  

I liked watching Kimberly Guilfoyle on Fox, especially if the sound was off. Maybe the complaints against her at Fox were LEGit or maybe the people making accusations really don't have a LEG to stand on. But as a leading LEGal analyst for Fox, she will be for a long time to come a part of the Fox News LEGacy. 

Doctor Who: Post Con Ponderings

Hi there! And it’s a Doctor Who post!

Looks like the new Doctor was a big winner at last week’s Comic Con in San Diego.  Jodie Whitaker just seemed to be enjoying the whole experience a lot while charming the hell out of everyone.

Here’s Jodie with her Doctor Who mates in a photo with the cast of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

I’m assuming this photo has already inspire some fan fictions of the Doctor teaming up with the  Nine-Nine squad. Charles is smitten with the Doctor and Amy’s curiousity about how the sonic screwdriver works consumes her while Ryan and Yas suspect Hitchcock and Scully are Slitheen in disguise.  

Hitchcock and Scully are Slitheen in disguise? It would explain so much.  

At Comic-Con, Jodie poses with the life sized Lego replica of the Doctor. 

So that was cool. 

Looking back over the trailer released at Comic Con, there is a character missing: the TARDIS.

As you may recall at the end of Twice Upon A Time, immediately after the Doctor regenerates, the TARDIS goes haywire, kicks the Doctor out and as she plummets to Earth, the Doctor witness the TARDIS exploding and vanishing.

Will the Doctor be without the TARDIS for Series 11?

Fans have caught sight of the familiar old police box on location shoots including a scene where the Doctor and crew are exiting the TARDIS.

And other publicity material show Jodie’s Doctor with the TARDIS.

Chris Chiball did confirm series 11 will be ten stand alone stories and that the series is a good jumping on point for new fans. I can’t help but think that would preclude any extended arc where the Doctor is deprived of the TARDIS. I expect the TARDIS will be back by the end of the 1^st episode of Series 11.

I imagine the absence of the TARDIS from the trailer is playing to that concern about it’s fate after exploding at the end of the 2017 Christmas Special. 

The Doctor Who panel at Comic Con was a lot of fun despite the fact no one could talk about anything relating to the new season. Chibnall was rather insistent that Series 11 is all about looking forward with all new worlds, aliens and monsters.  Well, that’s cool. I’m all for moving forward but I would hope there’s room for at least some small look back to the past. Look, after a lifetime of 2,000 years plus, the Doctor is for the first time in the form of a woman. We have to have at least one person from the past to react to that on screen.

One rumor was that person would be Capt. Jack Harkness. Jack would be a good choice. We haven’t seen Jack in a episode of Doctor Who since Russell Davies’ swan song. And Chris Chibnall did write for the character when he was running Torchwood.

Another character from the past that could make an appearance is Kate Letheridge Stewart, head of UNIT. Again there is a Chibnall connection since he wrote Kate’s first appearance in Doctor Who in The Power of Three back in Series 7.  I  would love to hear Kate repeating her father’s classic line upon seeing the Doctor has changed form: “Well, here we go again.” 

The thing is, regardless of gender change, the Doctor changing form should be a big deal and I like to see that acknowledged on screen by someone who knows. 

You know what else we didn’t get from that trailer? A release date. Look, I need to know when this fershlugginer thing is coming out so I can make sure my social calendar is clear to see these new episodes. 

Disclaimer: I do not have a social calendar. 

OK, that’s enough babbling about Doctor Who today.  Now for the anxious wait for actual episodes!

Last Sunday’s blog post on former Fox News person Kimberly Guilfoyle was one of the most read posts on I’m So Glad My Suffering Amuses You within the last couple of weeks.

Well, I’ll all about giving the people what they want. So….

Tomorrow’s post is a sequel as we look behind the scenes of Kimberly’s fall from grace as a Fox News LEGend. 

That Unbreakable Queer Eye Glow

Welcome to I’m So Glad My Suffering Amuses You, the blog that is unbreakable! I’m Dave-El and I’m alive, dammit! It’s a miracle!

May I blog about TV? I would ever so much enjoy that, I ever would so. 

I’m still working to keep my resolution for 2018 to watch MORE television.

Wednesday night, I caught up on season 1 of Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, the wacky Netflix comedy about a woman who was kidnapped by a doomsday cult and forced to live underground for 15 years and that woman’s determination to make a life for herself in New York City, armed only with boundless determination and an 8^th grade education.

I really like this show. Hell, I even like the theme song!  Here are the lyrics. 

Unbreakable

They alive, damn it

It's a miracle

Unbreakable

They alive, damn it

But females are strong as hell

Unbreakable

They alive, damn it

It's a miracle

Unbreakable

They alive, damn it

That's gonna be, uh... you know, a... fascinating transition.

Damn it!  

Ellie Kemper is a pure joy (A PURE JOY, DAMN IT!) to watch as Kimmy navigates a life that is weird by any standard, let alone for a young woman who spent her formative years in a bunker. Although Kimmy is 30 years old, I love the almost childlike way she scrunches up her nose when something puzzles her and the way her eyes light up when she figures something out. She was taken into the bunker when she was still pretty much a child so it makes sense that her sensibilities and perspective are locked into that when she comes out of the bunker.

Titus Burgess is a blast as Kimmy’s roommate, Titus Andremedon. Titus leans hard into every trope and cliché of a metropolitan black gay male but what redeems his character is he knows he’s leaning hard into every trope and cliché of a metropolitan black gay male and he doesn’t care.

I’m less enamored with the show when it moves away from Kimmy. I can tolerate the self-absorbed snooty socialite Jacqueline Voorhees as a foil for Kimmy but it’s hard to care when Kimmy isn’t on screen with her.  Jacqueline is played by Jane Krakowski. If you’ve seen Jane as Jenna Maroney on 30 Rock, then that’s Jacqueline but with fewer redeeming qualities. Season 1 does end with Jacqueline divorced and seeking to explore her identity by returning home to her family and her Lakota Indian roots.

Really. Since Kimmy’s heading back to NYC, I’m not sure what we’ll get from watching Jacqueline head back to North and/or South Dakota.  

The last 2 episodes of the season have Kimmy leaving New York to reluctantly return to Durnsville, Indiana, her hometown where the Reverend who held Kimmy and other women captive in the bunker is on trial. Despite being overwhelmingly and obviously guilty of the crimes of which he has been accused, the Reverend, serving as his own attorney, is on the verge of getting away with his crimes. It doesn’t help that Durnsville is populated with complete idiots. And the prosecuting attorneys seem clueless on the most basic practices of law. And the prosecutors also look Marcia Clark and Chris Darden, the same attorneys who managed to lose the case against obviously guilty double murderer O. J. Simpson.

And the Marcia Clark look alike is played by Tina Fey which just about breaks my heart. How can the future step mother of my daughter play someone so stupid?

Thankfully, Kimmy saves the day with a video tape audition the Reverend made to appear on NBC’s The Apprentice starring Donald Tr—

NO! Today is TV blog day! I will NOT permit that man’s name to sully this blog post!

TV is my friend.

It makes things…. simple somehow.

MORE TV STUFF!

Finished up season 2 of GLOW which culminates finding the girls both failing and succeeding at the same time. The Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling are building up a loyal following. People know who the women of GLOW are. They’re getting fan letters and marriage proposals. But the TV station airing their show in Los Angeles has put the show in a shit time slot of 2:00 AM.

Why the hell did that happen?

It’s a move of petty revenge enacted by the station manager after Ruth Wilder extricated herself from his private bungalow where he was putting the moves on Ruth for a private performance. (In other words, sex.) Ruth thinks she doesn’t need to put up with this shit so she leaves. The station manager thinks he doesn’t need to put up with this shit and moves GLOW to Saturdays at 2:00 AM.

Unfortunately contract shenanigans won't let GLOW be sold to another TV station or network. Well, that sucks and the women of GLOW are bummed. They’ve become a close knit group, supportive of each other. And dammit if they haven’t come to have some pride in this cockamamie women’s wrestling show. They’re loathe to give this up.  

Our avantgarde schlockmeister director Sam has made a new friend, a guy who owns a strip club who comes to the taping of GLOW’s season finale. Turns out this strip club dude also has a sweet set up in Las Vegas. Hey, the contract that’s keeping GLOW from jumping to another TV outlet does not keep them from doing live shows. So they gather up their stuff, board a bus and the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling are off for Vegas, baby! 

If you come to GLOW for the purient interest of watching hot chicks in tight shiny lyrca outfits wrestling each other, you will be surprised to find a genuinely sweet and funny show. The absurdity of watching this ramshackle shoe string production actually become something real is interesting enough but the stories of the women caught up in making this shit into something worth putting on TV are compelling. 

This really comes home in the 7^th episode of season 2 in the aftermath of Ruth Wilder of getting her foot broken in the ring during a match. That episode is exclusively set in the hospital as the women, in their own odd and idiosyncratic ways, rally around their fallen fellow fighter. It’s an emotional story that demonstrates how much this group of women have come to mean to each other. Or how much Sam, grumpy misanthrope that he is, has come to care about them. Particularly Ruth whose artistic aspirations have annoyed the hell out of him since the first episode of season 1.

Episode 8 of season 2 is just balls to the wall weird. It’s an actual episode of GLOW that goes out on the airwaves of the greater Los Angeles area, complete with wrestling matches, music videos, comedy sketches, commercials, promos and more.

Also on Netflix….

My daughter Randie sucked me into this one: Queer Eye. This show is a revival of the old Queer Eye for the Straight Guy series that used to run on the Bravo cable channel. The premise then was it takes gay men teach a straight man how to be a better straight man. Straight men are so clueless without fashion tips from gay men.

The new Queer Eye loses “the Straight Guy” from the title which introduces some flexibility into the premise.  Yes, most of the men targetted for help are hapless straight guys with no clue how to run their lives. But in the episodes I watched with Randie, there were a couple of variations to the theme. 

One was an episode where the Queer Eye team (the Fab Five) is called in to help an African American woman in a small town. She asks that the Fab 5 help her with a special project, the completion of a community center at her church.

Which brings us some conflict. All of the Fab 5 have had to navigate at least some of the treacherous waters of certain church ideologies versus their status as gay men. One in particular has had some particularly disturbing encounters with the church over his life and refuses to enter the church’s sanctuary.

The woman they are there to help has had to make her own journey to bridge the gap between the church she loves and the son she also loves who came out as gay. One of the Fab Five is a black man who reaches out to this young man as a mentor.

At the end of the episode, the world is still not a perfect place but this tiny corner of it, thanks to the efforts and kindness of these 5 gay men, this part of the world is certainly a better place.

The finale of Season 2 finds the Fab Five called in to help sort out the life of a young man named Skyler. The episode opens in an operating room. The patient is Skyler undergoing top surgery, the process of breast removal. Skyler is trans and the goal of this episode is not just to clean up his messy apartment and update his wardrobe. The Fab Five are there to help Skyler fully become the man he always felt he was. 

The thing about the LGBT community is that it’s not just some homogenous blob of “not straight” people. Each part of that community has their own struggles that vary even further with each individual person. It is not a given that a gay man is going to automatically understand what life is like for a trans person. And that’s what we find with the Fab Five who have their own knowledge gaps about what life is truly like for a transgender man like Skyler. But their compassion and joy drives them to learn and help Skyler to fully actualize being the man he always felt he was and now in a real physical sense, completely is.

It is a heartwarming episode but admittedly, a hard one for me to watch. Of all the permutations of differing sexual orientations and genders, being transgender is a concept my mind sometimes struggles to wrap itself around. I think it owes less to bigotry and more to just lack of experience with transgender persons. But I’m trying to be better. Randie has friends who are transgender and is very devoted to being a supporter and defender of this community. She’s been very patient with me even as I still mangle my pronoun usage.

Over all, Queer Eye is a fun show. The Fab Five are distinct personalities that mesh well with each other and the people they are tasked to help. Although enjoyable, I can find the show a bit depressing. I look around at my messy life and it makes me sad to know that five awesome gay guys are not coming to my rescue.

Well, that just leaves me with more time to watch TV. 

Twitter Against Trump #2

I regret that so much of I'm So Glad My Suffering Amuses You is given over to documenting the stupid, moronic, unethical, illegal, boneheaded actions and words of the small dick, Cheeto hued idiot in chief.  

And there is so many stupid, moronic, unethical, illegal, boneheaded actions and words to keep track of, it's more than one person can keep track of.  

Thankfully, I have help.  

Today's post is given over to people who are keeping track of all this stupidity in a feature I call..

TWITTER AGAINST TRUMP

TWITTER AGAINST TRUMP

TWITTER AGAINST TRUMP

TWITTER AGAINST TRUMP

TWITTER AGAINST TRUMP

I'm really proud of this one!

I talked to freakin'.......

ALYSSA MILANO!!!!!!

Man, I wish I had something more encouraging to say to her.   

Next up are some memes and images from Twitter in defiance of our Idiot In Chief.

And finally....

Yes, we knew all along. 

Damn us all to hell, we knew.