The Crime Of Opinion

During the run up to the 2024 Presidential election, a lot of dire predictions were made about what life would be like in America under a second Donald Trump term. Everything Trump would do with unchecked power was outlined in Project 2025.  

A lot of overreaction, an exaggeration, you know? Surely America would not descend into totalitarian facism so easily because of one man.

Surely our fundemental rights would not be trampled like that. 

People yanked off the streets just for expressing an opinion? That's not America. 

That cannot and would not happen here. 

It won't be THAT bad, right?

Yeah, about that...

Rumeysa Ozturk would like a word with you.  

Fulbright scholar Rumeysa Ozturk is a Turkish national working on her Ph.D at Tufts University. She is here legally under a student visa.  

Rumeysa Ozturk was abducted off the street by dark garbbed men into an unmarked van.   

The men who bore no insignia on their "uniforms" were agents of ICE.

As you know, ICE has been tasked by Donald Trump to remove anyone and everyone who is in the country illegally. 

But isn't Ozturk here legally.

Yeah, about that...

 A year ago, Ozturk penned an opinion piece for The Tufts Daily with three other students calling on the school’s president to engage with pro-Palestinian protesters and divest from companies with ties to Israel.

College students all across the nation have been encouraging their institutions to do that.  

Currently Rumeysa Ozturk is cooling her heels in an ICE detention center for illegal aliens. 

But isn't Rumeysa Ozturk here legally under a student visa?

Yeah, about that...

Her student visa was revoked because of her acivities that align themselves with the Hamas terrorist group.  

The ring wing  nutcases of the MAGA faithful have been doing this awhile, conflating support for Palestinians as support for Hamas.  

And opposition to Israel's policies of bombing the shit out of Palestinians as anti-Semitism.  

When asked about the case of Rumeysa Ozturk, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson held to the party line that people who are guests in America who support terrorism should expect their invitation to be withdrawn and deported. 

The only evidence we have of Rumeysa Ozturk being "pro-Hamas" is a newspaper opinion piece in support of Palestianians not have the shit bombed out of them by Israel.

So to make sure we understand what is going on here:

Rumeysa Ozturk was abducted off the street.

She is being held in a prison.

For expressing an opinion. 

OK, but this us an overreaction to something that happened to one person, right?

Yeah, about that...

Mahmoud Khalil who was here legally on a green card would like a word with you. 

About his own abduction/arrest....

For expressing an opinion.  

It won't be THAT bad, right?

Yeah, about that....

It is that bad. 

Rumeysa Ozturk who was here legally and is now in a prison for expressing an opinion was not safe.

And neither are any of us. 

Having an opinion can be a crime in Trump's America. 

But I'm here legally so I'm safe.

If Trump and his cronies don't like what you have to say, they will find a way. 

Bananaless On Saturday

 

Yes, we have no bananas... on a Saturday.

Sorry, dudes but it's been kind of a hard week and I just don't have the bananas for blogging.

I am, sad to say, bananaless.

I think I'm gonna call it a weekend and I'll be back here on Monday.

Remember to be good to one another.   

Your Friday Video Link: MAGIC!!

The topic of today's edition of Your Friday Video Link is MAGIC!!!

What we have first is a classic display of the cup and ball trick, ye olde shell game!

Magician Paul Gertner shows how it's done. Or rather, he doesn't.  

The next magic trick involves a shot glass, a gullible mind and a hat. 

From Cheers, here is the late great Harry Anderson as "Harry the Hat" as he uses "magic" to score free drinks out of an unsuspecting Cliff Clavin. 

Hypocrisy of Merit

 So a few words on the scandal de jour in the Trump administration, the so called "Signalgate".  

Long story made short, a group of high level Trump stooges were making war plans on a public use app called Signal and we know this because someone invited a journalist to the discussion. 

Emojis posted after the strikes on Yemen were completed.

Jeffrey Goldberg, editor of The Atlantic, was witness to a discussion that one would assumes should've been confidential on planning for military strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen. 

In the days that followed, the response has been largely predictable: lies, deflection and blatant hypocrisy.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth immediately said Goldberg was making all this up. 

Despite someone in the White House confirming yep, that chat took place all right.

Goldberg has copies of the texts.

Then Hegseth attacked Goldberg's character as a liar and perpertrator of hoaxes against Donald Trump and that there was no discussion of any "war plans". 

Goldberg releases the entire text chain including Hegseth providing very detailed accounts of which military forces would be used, what missles would be fire and what boats and planes trhey would be fired from and the exact timetable all this shit would go down....  you know, war plans, motherfucker! 

Accusations are made challenging the veracity and viability of The Atlantic. Trump said the usual "it's a failing magazine no one reads anymore" blah blah blah. (For Christ's sake, Donnie, come up with some new material, why don't ya?) 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson dismissed the whole with "all I see here are high level officials doing their jobs".  Avoiding the point that we shouldn't be "seeing" officials sharing confidenrtial and possibly even classified information on a public texting platform.   

Jesse Watters at Fox News said it was nothing more than a "whoopsie".  Watters offered up, "Do you know how you try to set up a text group to make plans for a party and someone accidentally includes someone who didn't want to invite to the party? It was a mistake. Sometimes those happen."

Well, that's true. In this case, the mistake to include Jeffrey Goldberg in the text chat was made by national security adviser Mike Waltz.   

But once THAT mistake was made, it's everything else that follows that is cause for major concern. 

Why were these high level officials with access to sophisticated tools used by the Pentagon using Signal in the first place? 

And it's Pete Hegseth's extraoridinary level of detail on giving information on the attack on Houthi targets in Yemen on that platform is most egregious.  

By the way, one of the participants in the chat was in Russia at the time. I suppose Putin would've had an interest in this conversation. 

While Republicans, MAGA loyalists and the Fox "News" echo chamber go out of their way to  gaslight and spin this debacle, let's not think for a single goddam second that if ANYTHING like this had happened under Biden or Obama, these same people would be blood red with apolectic rage demanding heads to roll and charges filed. 

The current Trump regime has been browbeating everyone with it's roll back of DEI and putting people in place based on "merit".

Merit is not on display with the poor decisions reflected in that chet or the responses to it since then.

Just hypocrisy.   

Betty Boop Gets a Musical

About a week ago, I began getting videos on my Tik Tok For Your Page featuring scenes from a musical's curtain call.

That musical is Boop!

Boop! is based on Betty Boop who was the star of several animated shorts back in the 1930's. The show made its pre-Broadway debut at the CIBC Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on November 19, 2023.  

And it has now found it's way to Broadway.   

Boop! began preview performances on Broadway at the Broadhurst Theatre on March 11, 2025, and is set for an official opening on April 5.

From just the clips I've seen, Boop! looks like a colorful spectacle and a lot of fun, something I wouldn't mind seeing myself.  

This show stars Jasmine Amy Rogers as Betty Boop and if you never heard of Jasmine before, well, she is new and originated the role in Chicago and by all accounts is fantastic in the role of Betty.  

But just who the heck is Betty Boop? 

We all know the iconagraphy, from posters to semi-truck mudflaps.  

Betty Boop began life as a cartoon produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. Her first appearance, Betty was an anthropomorphic French poodle but eventually evolved into a full on human female woman person of the opposite sex.

And how! 

A caricature of a Jazz Age flapper girl, Betty Boop just oozed sex appeal, embracing her female sensuality freely as a single free spirit. 

Until the Hays Code spoiled all our fun. 

Next up is from a 1933 Betty Boop cartoon that tells a condensed and somewhat twisted version of Snow White.  In the middle of the cartoon we have Cab Calloway singing St. James Infirmary Blues. 

The Hays office for the Motion Picture Production Code (along with the National Legion of Decency) led changes to make Betty Boop more demure and domesticated, reducing her to the role of a spinster housewife or a career girl in a longer skirt.  

There have been various efforts to revive Betty Boop in animation or as a comic strip but mostly Betty is known by her image, a doe eyed short skirted that reflexes sexiness and innocence at the same time.

I hope Boop! does well.  From the clips I've seen, I think it certainly stands a chance. And make Betty Boop popular again near a century since her debut. 

Tuesday TV Touchbase: My Life Is Murder and Poker Face

 So what happened to Monday?

An unfortunate bout of gastrointestinal affliction knocked me out for a loop over the weekend and left me both physically and mentally wobbly to write anything. 

This particular bout was not as intense as what occured in December (as recounted here) and all the elements of gastrointestinal affliction are also possible side effects of Mounjaro.  

By the way, since March 4th, I have lost 17 pounds. 

I've still got a long, long way to go to be completely rid of 2 humans worth of weight but hey, a win is a win.

Enough of all that. Let's talk television.

I recently finished up season 4 of My Life Is Murder, the New Zealand set murder mystery season starring Lucy Lawless (Xena Warrior Princess) as Alexa Crowe, Down Under's answer to Columbo with a long coat and short amount of patience.  

The 4th season ended with a rare 2 parter that found Alexa accused of murdering the man who killed her police officer husband. Alexa is such a recalcitrant, grumpy gus that it seems quite possible she did it.  (Spoiler: she did not.) 

As I end one crime series, I pick up another one as I begin to catch up on season 1 of Poker Face. Created by Rian Johnson (Knives Out, Glass Onion), the series stars Natasha Lyonne as Charlie Cale, a woman with the uncanny ability to tell when people are lying.  

After solving the murder of her best friend, Charlie is forced to go on the run from the murderer's father who has promised deadly retribution against Charlie. 

The series works like Columbo in that we see from the beginning how the murder is commited and who done it and it's up to Charlie to make the pieces fit and it's usually some otherwise irrelevant damn thing that otherwise no one cared about.  

Poker Face is a lot of fun seeing how the pieces of a puzzle come together and Natasha Lyonne's Charlie is a distinctive and engaging character.  

Still a bit wobbly from the gastrointestinal affliction so that's all I've got today.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.   

Doctor Who Is Classic: The Horns of Nimon

It's time for another edition of Doctor Who Is CLASSIC  where I post about Doctor Who episodes from the classic era.

On March 2nd, I did a post about the episode "The Creature From the Pit".  Today's post is from the same season featuring "The Horns of Nimon".  

 

Welcome to the planet Skonnos, once the center of a might space empire.

These days... eh, not so much.

The leader of Skonnos is Donald Trump Soldeed, an ignorant blowhard who promises to Make America Skonnos Great Again with the help of Elon Musk the Nimon.  

The Nimon resides in a labyrinthine Power Complex and Soldeed promises that the Nimon will restore Skonnos to it's former glory and all the Nimon asks for are sacrificed fired federal employees young people and hymetusite crystals.

This is the mess that the Doctor, Romana and K-9 have wandered into. 

They've got to save those kids and figure out what the Nimon wants with those crystals. They doubt it has anything to do with any actual benevolence towards Skonnos.

The Nimon is part of a large parasitic race who travel via artificial black holes between planets.  

They go to a planet, drain it of all power and resources, then move on to the next one. The Nimon refer to this as the Department of Government Efficiency "the Great Journey of Life". 

They are now abandoning the distant Planet Crinoth to take over Skonnos. The crystals power their black hole tunnel.

The people are snacks.

The Doctor has his hands full trying to save a planet that has been sold a vision that there's an easy route to good times again. 

Education Time

"The Horns of Nimon" is an analogue of the Classical Greek myth of Theseus and the Minotaur. 

There are several allusions to the original myth: 

• the name of the planet Skonnos is close to Knossos
• the Anethans, like the ancient Athenians, are sent to die in a Labyrinth
• the eponymous bull-headed Nimon is based on the Minotaur

Like many stories of the classic era, "The Horn of Nimon" could benefit from some judicious editing eliminating some dull stretches due to meeting the mandated 4 half hour episode structure.  

Lalla Ward is great as Romana whose patiences is constantly challenged by the sheer stupid incompetence of MAGA the people of Skonnos. And she's rocking a pretty gorgeous ensemble in the process.

Props to Graham Crowden and his scenery chewing turn as Soldeed. 

Connection to Modern Who

In the 11th Doctor episode "The God Complex", the beast that stalks the inhabitants of the space time hotel prison is identified as being from a species that is distantly related to the Nimon.   

"The Horns of Nimon" was the last episode of the 17th season of Doctor Who. But it wasn't supposed to be.  The six part "Shada" written by Douglas Adams was curtailed due to a technicians strike against the BBC.   

The show marked the departure of producer Graham Williams. With the next season (18), John Nathan Turner would take the helm as the producer of Doctor Who. 

_________________________________

NEW Doctor Who is coming April 12th and that will be followed by the return of Doctor Who is NEW! 

Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post: Rich and Famous

Today's edition of Dave-El's Weekend Movie Post turns to a drama from 1981.  Co-starring Jacqueline Bisset and Candice Bergen and directed by George Cukor, this is Rich and Famous.

The film begins with two young women in 1959 at Smith College, a pair who are friends despite their divergent paths they want for their lives,  

Merry Blake, an all American blonde beauty whose aspirations are to elope with a young man named Doug and start living the American dream with a house, a yard, a dog and a cat and 2.5 children.  

Liz Hamilton who wants nothing to do with that and has literary ambitions. 

Liz quickly achieves on those ambitions with a critically acclaimed book. What comes after is a wandering path of speeches about that book, frustration at not righting the next one and drifting through a litany of one night stands,

Merry is living her life of perfect American domesticity with her husband and child in a beach house in Malibu, California. Merry decides to emulate Liz and write her own book,a trashy roman à clef about the Malibu elite. She gets it published and it becomes a best seller, turning Merry into a media hotshot. 

Then much to the chagrin of One Book Liz, Merry writes another book. 

And another one. 

And so on and so on 

The prolific Merry's ever escalating fame shatters the facade of her happy domestic life and puts a strain on her relationship with Liz who can't seem to find her groove. 

The movie ends with Merry and Liz sharing a cabin together for what could've been a sexy sapphic romantic weekend but it was 1981 and movies weren't ready to go their yet. 

But they are friends again, a fragile but constant core in a whirlwind of everything else.  

The film takes place over the course of 22 years, starting in 1959 then picking up with 1969, 1975 and 1981. We see Liz and Merry changing over time as does society around them.

I'm not exactly sure what drew me to watch this movie. The appeal might have been the vivacious Jacqueline Bisset.   I had seen her in  François Truffaut's Day for Night (1973) and I definitely do remember her from the coming of age comedy Class (1983) where she was a smoking hot MILF years before the term was invented.  Bisett as hot mess Liz Hamilton does not evoke such sensuality.

Candice Bergen (TV's Murphy Brown) does fine by Merry as she gets swept up in the rush of fame and noteriety with little inclination to slow down that rush.  

I think what really intrigued me was that George Cukor directed this thing. In 1981, he was still active?

Yes he was but Rich and Famous was his last movie.  

Cukor has quote the filmography back in the day: 

• Little Women (1933)
• Romeo and Juliet (1936) 
• The Philadelphia Story (1940)
• Gaslight (1944)
• Adam's Rib (1949)
• Born Yesterday (1950)
• A Star Is Born (1954)  

Cukor won the Academy Award for Best Director for My Fair Lady (1964).   

It's weird to have a director from that era overseeing a film in 1981 where someone says "fuck".  

Rich and Famous was the film debut of Meg Ryan who plays Merry's daughter in the 1981 segment.  

Over all, Rich and Famous is not a great film but it is a perfectly servicable melodrama that tracks a friendship between two women that spans decades, a relationship that is bruised and battered along the way but somehow still survives.

__________________________

Tomorrow on the blog: Doctor Who time!   

Your Friday Video Link: BUGS!! And BIRDS!!

Yesterday was the first day of spring and if  spring is here, you know what that means.

BUGS!

Flies, gnats, ants, bees, wasps, mosquitos!!

BUGS!!!

Your Friday Video Link is about...

BUGS!!!

You know what else we have to deal with come spring?!?!

BIRDS! 

Birds aroused by spring shitting on everything!!

My CAR is covered in CRAP left there by...

BIRDS!!!

Your Friday Video Link #2 is a suggestion of what we can do with the flying defecating fuckers now that spring is here!!! 

Also with spring we get another scourge:

POLLEN!!!

I don't have a video for pollen so you should leave now. 

...

...

...

Fuck it! Here's a video. 

Je deteste le spring! 

The Price Is Wrong Goes Wrong

OK, today's post is weird. 

It is a comedy sketch that came to me in a dream.

Seriously, I woke up Saturday morning with what follows fully formed in my head.  

I'm not saying the sketch is fully formed (it could use some tighening up, etc, perhaps a better ending) but what you're about to read is pretty much verbatim what I found floating in my brain cells Saturday morning.

This... whateve it is... centers around the Showcase Showdown on the Price is Right and the two contestants are based on Saturday Night Live cast members Heidi Gardner and Marcello Hernandez.

Let's get on with this!

____________________________________________

Drew Carey: And we're back for the Price Is Right Showcase Showdown.  Let's present our first showcase!

Announcer: Our first prize up for bid is a brand new Bar B Que grill, made of stainless steel, great for griling or smoking meat.  

Our second prize in the showcase is a trip to Hawaii, a luxurious tropical getaway at a 5-Star hotel.

And lastly in our showcase is a TIME MACHINE! 

Made of gold plated titanium and powered by quantum energies beyond mere human understanding, this TIME MACHINE can take you to the farthest reaches of the FUTURE where you can witness humankind explore the stars or to the past to see the very creation of LIFE itself!! With your TIME MACHINE, you can change human history as you see fit with powers like unto a GOD! 

And it can all be yours IF the price is right!" 

Drew Carey: So you have that really sweet grill and that nice trip to Hawaii and of course, the time machine. Heidi, are you going to bid or pass?"

Heidi: "Mmm! I think I'll pass."

Drew Carey: "Really? I mean there's a....

Heidi: "My boyfriend has a grill and I don't like to cook."

Drew Carey: "....but...."

Heidi: "And I've been to Hawaii and it's so overrated."  

Drew Carey: "There's a time machine!" 

Heidi: "Yeah but nah... not my thing."

Drew Carey: "But power... like unto a god and... all that..."

Heidi: "Nope! I've gonna pass, Drew!" 

Drew Carey: "OK then! So Marcello, are you ready to bid?"

Marcello: "Am I ever! My mom has to do all the cooking so I can help her with the cooking with that Bar B Que grill!"

Drew Carey: "Well, that's nice of you and..."

Marcello: "And my mom, she works so hard! She deserves a break! I can take her Hawaii!"

Drew Carey: "And there's the time machine...."

Marcello: "Oh, I'm almost forgot the time machine!"

Drew Carey: "You almost....forgot.... the time machine?!"

Marcello: "But it will come in handy. I can go back in time...."

Drew Carey: "Yes, you can!"

Marcello: "And have sex with my mom!"

Drew Carey: "What the fu---"

And that my friends was what was in my brain when I woke up Saturday morning. 

I kid you not.

And I apologize.

"Well, what the unholy fuck was that?!?"

Dave-El's Book Report: The Planetary Omnibus

Before I get to the object of today's post, I want to take a moment to catch up on whatever the hell is going on with Neil Gaiman.

As I wrote about here last year, Gaiman's reputation took quite a hit as multiple allegations were made that he had sexually assaulted women.  

In the intervening months since that post, the picture has not gotten much better for Neil Gaiman. 

Gaiman and his estranged wife, Amanda Palmer, were sued in federal court last month for alleged sexual assault and trafficking by Scarlett Pavlovich, one of the women who made those allegations last year.

Gaiman has produced several text messages with Pavlovich that he says refutes her accusations that her sexual encounters with Gaiman were not consensual. 

Whatever case Neil Gaiman may make in his defense that the cases against him of sexual assault never happened or were actually consensual, it seems the world has come to the conclusion that Gaiman is now persona non grata.  

Projects associated with Gaiman have been cancelled or curtailed all over and even past works, like DC's successful Sandman trades, have become pariahs in the marketplace. 

I'm covering this ground because the book I'm writing about today was written by a once very popular British writer whose rep was ruined by sexual impropriety.

When artist John Cassady died last year,  I realized I never completed reading Planetary, the signature series he created with writer Warren Ellis and so I put the Omnibus on my Christmas list which Andrea got for me.  

Planetary is an organization that exists in a world like our own but all the weird shit that goes down in genre fiction (comic books, sci-fi novels and movies, etc) really does happen but it's all being suppressed and hidden which represses the growth and development of human kind. 

Planetary is on a mission to investigate phenomena associated with alien invaders, mutated lizards, super powered beings, ghost detectives and more.

Their motto: "The world is strange. Let's keep it that way." 

At the core of the narrative is the Planetary field team:

• Elijah Snow, a 100+ year old curmudgeon dragged from self imposed exile to rejoin the world. He has cyrogenic powers that uses in the (excuse the pun) coolest ways.  
• Jakita Wagner, a leather suited femme fatale with super strenght and speed
• The Drummer (no other name), a beatnik with the ability to talk to machines and information is his super power. 

Elijan Snow is the book's center, his wonder at new things to discover and his anger that there are forces in this world who seek to hide these wonders for their own greedy and nefarious purposes.  Elijah is very much a grump gus who tends to infuriate anyone around him immediately but there is no denying his dedicationj, his pursuit of justice, justice for a Planetary member long assumed to be dead and justice for a world kept too long in the dark.   

This book is inventive and thought provoking, a complex and multi-layered journey through a multiverse of possibilities and wonders, of secrets and conspiracies.  

The omnibus includes the Planetary series that ran for 27 issues from April 1999 to October 2009 plus 3 specials that crossed over with The Authority, Justice League and The Batman. 

The two team specials do not do a lot for me but the Batman issue is a bit of fun as Ejijah, Jakita and the Drummer visit a Gotham City that is in a multiversal flux where Batman keeps shifting personas from page to page or even panel to panel. Like from Adam West TV Batman to Frank Miller's dystopian Dark Knight. 

All in all, Planetary is a wonderful display of the terrific talents of Warren Ellis and John Cassady. 

While I knew of Cassady's sad fate from his passing last year, I was somehow unaware of what was up with Warren Ellis. 

Nothing good it seems.

In June 2020, Warren Ellis was accused of "sexual coercion, manipulation, gaslighting and other forms of emotional abuse".

Ellis responded to these accusations that he had not considered that others would see him as having "a position of power and privilege.  I have hurt many people that I had no intention of hurting. I am culpable. I take responsibility for my mistakes. I will do better and for that, I apologize."

While a number of women consider that Ellis has been contrite and genuinely apologetic for his actions, the damage to his rep is considerable enough that he has not had any new comics work published in years.  

Future editions of Dave-El's Book Report will include another graphic novel from Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips and I've got Patrick Stewart's memoir on tap as well.  

Tuesday TV Touchbase: Invincible

I reached the finale of Invincible season 3 and it was.... violent.

There are times when I watch Invincible and I think my wife Andrea would enjoy this show.

Then someone gets punched in the gut and their intestines fly out and I think Andrea should not watch this show.

I'm not sure I should watch this show.

But there I am watching this show.

In the next to last episode of season 3, Angstrom Levy (nope, not dead) uses his dimension warping powers to gather an army of alternate versions of Invicible across the multi-verse.  

Unlike the Mark Grayson we know and love, these version of Invicible all took dark paths and are evil sons of bitches. Angstrom sends them out to smash shit.

As in buildings.

And human skulls.

Invicible and all the heroes of Earth are seriously out matched. 

Not all the heroes make it out of this alive.

Including Rex Plode.

A moment about Rex. From the get-go, Rex was an obnoxious jerk and nobody liked him. What Atom Eve ever saw in this asshole, I'll never know. 

But...

Over the course of 3 seasons, we saw Rex change a bit. Yeah, he could still says obnoxious things but we saw time and time again that he was willing to make the sacrifice play to save his teammates and innocent lives. 

Rex was starting to earn our respect. He was even in a non-toxic relationship with a new girlfriend and life was good.

Of course he had to die. 

The Evil Invicibles turn on Angstrom when they realize he's doing fuck all to help them but he warps them to a desserted planet totally devoid of life and no way home. 

Invicible beats the shit out of Angstrom to make sure he gets dead and stay dead this time but our villain warps away to plot another day. 

But before Mark and Earth's defenders can begin to catch a breath recover from the attack of the Evil Invincibles, the planet Vilrum has send an emmissary named "Conquest" to beat the shit out of Invincible, beat the shit out of any other heroes who dares to oppose and declare Earth the property of the Viltum Empire.  

If you don't watch this show and  actrually reading this, well, Jesus Christ, why?  

Click here for the Invincible TV show Wikipedia page to catch up on all this.

Where was I? Oh yeah.

Conquest is a dark sadistic son of a bitch and is on Earth to smash shit. Especially Invincible and anyone dumb enough to help him.

Conquest kills Atom Eve! 

OH FUCK NO HE DIDN'T?!?!?!?

Uh, yeah, he did.

But...

But her powers of molecular manipulation kick in to not only restore her to life but she now has powers like unto a god or something.

Writer Robert Kirkman better not be setting up some Dark Phoenix level shit with her! I will not stand for it!

Long story made short: a lot of people are unalived before Conquest can be put down.

He's supposed to be dead but now he's a llama! Sorry. Wrong story. Cecil has....

• Person who does not watch this show: Cecil? WHO are ALL these people?
• Me: Click here! 

Cecil has stored Conquest's remains in a vault deep under ground with plans for the future. 

The show ends with a bunch of shit to take care of in season 4.

• Viltrum is up to shit.
• Angstrom Levy is up to shit. 
• Darkblood is up to shit.
• The Sequids are up to shit.
• Cecils up to shit.
• Atom Eve's powers are wonky or up to shit.

Well, that's enough shit for this week's Tuesday TV Touchbase.

Until next time, remember to be good to one another and try to keep it down in there, would ya? I'm trying to watch TV over here.   

This Non Sporting Life: DUUUUUUUKE!!!

It's time for another edition of This Non Sporting Life, my blog posts about sports written by a guy who doesn't understand sports.

Although that may be not quite true anymore.

I was watching a game recently and made some observation about what Duke might do next in the game.

And then an announcer said the same thing I just said.

Am I starting to... understand sports? 

That does not seem like me at all.

Anyway...

So Duke won the ACC Men's Basketball Tournament this weekend.

And they did that without their star player Cooper Flagg who hurt his ankle on Thursday. Thankfully Tyrese Proctor stepped up along with a deep Duke bench to keep the Blue Devils in contentions.

Damn, I do sound like I know what I'm talking about. 

That seems wrong.  

And the week before that Duke also won the ACC Women's Basketball Tournament.

So......

DUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUKE!!!!!!!!

Andrea has been under constant stress over her beloved North Carolina Tarheels.  

They were on what is called "the bubble" to get into the NCAA Tournament. 

The conventional wisdom was UNC needed to win the ACC tourney to get invited to the NCAA. 

Duke beat them (for the 3rd time!) Friday night to end that quest.

Although it was kind of tight near the end of the game. After being down as much as 24 points, UNC pulled within 3 in the last minute just as Duke went stone cold down the stretch.

(God, I am started to sound like a sports guy!) 

I guess it was close enough to impress the NCAA committee because the Tarheels got an invite to the NCAA Tournament.  

So we're not quite done with college basketball here at the Fortress of Ineptitude.  

If Only Someone Had Warned Them

Well, it seems that people aren't happy with what Donald Trump is up to.

And people have been making their dissatisfaction known when Republicans from Congress hold town halls with their constituents.  

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson suggested that these town halls are upended by "paid agitators" and that Republicans should just not do them.  

Rep. Chuck Edwards of North Carolina decided that ignoring his constituents was not viable and held a town hall in Asheville NC.

What he did think was viable was trying to gas light his constituents and lie to them.

Edwards at one point claimed there have been no cuts to the Veterans Administration. A man in the crowd straight up said he was lying, that he worked at the VA and he was fired. 

Edwards also tried to claim that Trump respects the Constitution to a crowd that is angry over Trump's blatant disregard for that Constitution as he disregards all checks and balances as he bulldozes his way through the government.

In the above clip, a Republican stooge puts the onus on the public to be more respectful. 

I actually do agree with that people should be respectful but respect has to be earned to be given and Edwards trying to smooth over and sugarcoat the legitimate greivances of his constituents is NOT earning that respect.

You want respect? Yet, how about when Trump was asked last week about people facing stress and hardship due to being put out of a job due to these DOGE cuts and Li'l Donnie's response was "Most of these people weren't working anyway."  

Respect? There is no respect from Donald Trump or Elon Musk or ass kissing toadying sycophants like Chuck Edwards so why ask for respect from the people who are being fucked over?

Citizens are angry. What do you get from people who are angry?

ANGER, you goddam motherfuckers!!!

Now here is some ironic shit: these angry people voted for Donald Trump.

And they are not alone. I've seen lots of stories on polls revealing a great deal of "buyer's remorse" on the part of Trump voters.

How were they to know what terrible shit he was going to do?

If only someone had said something to let people know what kind of a selfish, uncaring, incompetent asshole Donald Trump!!!

Brother Matthew Pridgen quotes 2 Timthoy 3: 1-5  as a predictor for Donald Trump and his behavior and the shortcomings of the people who put such a person in power. 

Warnings against Trump are in the Bible? Who da thunk it? 

As I wrote here last month, cruelty and disrespect are baked into the design of what Donald Trump's intentions are as President.

As long as that cruelty and disrespect was directed at "the other" (such as "them thar transgenders"), I guess Republican voters didn't care, did they?

But now unhindered by any constraints on power and unanswerable to anyone, Li'l Donnie's cruelty and disrespect has a wider reach and suddenly, now people can see it?!

Gee! If only somone had said something beforehand.

Doctor Who Past and Future Stuff

 Let’s catch up on some Doctor Who stuff today.

 A week ago, actor Simon Fisher-Becker passed away.  He appeared as the blue skinned alien Dorium Maldovar.  

Dorium appeared in “The Pandorica Opens”, “A Good Man Goes To War” and “The Wedding of River Song”.  He made an indelible impression as the wheeler dealer of exotic technology and illicit information. 

 "You don't want me! I'm OLD! I'm FAT! I'm BLUE!"  

Dorium was a great character and Simon gave such a great performance in that role. 

I recently listened to the new episode of David Tennant’s recently returned podcast series where he sat down for a chat with Russell T Davies.  

Click here for that podcast.  

There's some good conversation here relating to Russell's journey of self discovery as a young gay man, his repeated efforts to work in television (the BBC rejected him several times for a talent development program despite that the "T" in his name stands for "television") and most poignantly of all, he relates how his husband Andrew discovered he had brain cancer and how they dealt with that. 

Andrew never did hear the prognosis of his life expectancy. He did not want to know. He lived for 8 years long after the doctors had predicted he only had 18 months. 

Of course you can't have a conversation between Russell T Davies and David Tennant without the topic of Doctor Who turning up.  Including it's future.

Despite rumors and gossip that the show will be cancelled, Russell is acting on the assumption Doctor Who has a future and who will be in charge of that future.   

“There’s thinking about that, there’s conversations about that, but it’s hard. It’s a tricky one.  But my replacement better exist… imagine, I’m dead at the desk. The cliché would kill me! Oh my god.” 

The next season of Doctor Who premiers on April 12th. Getting a lot of mainstream press is guest star  Alan Cumming who is providing the voice of the antagonist of the animation themed episode. I don't recall Alan getting this kinda of hoopla for his first turn on Doctor Who back in season 11's "The Witchfinders" where he played King John. I guess the additional attention is due to Alan's high profile gig as host of The Traitors.   

That's all I have for today. 

More Doctor Who next Sunday as I go back in time for a 4th Doctor adventure that connects to an 11th Doctor story.