Midterm Madness Aftermath

CAUTION: Today's political post goes on a bit. Sorry but I had a lot of ground to cover. And even with all that is to come, I didn't cover everything.

On with the political purgatory.

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In last week's Midterm Madness post, I wrote:

Feeling assured America wasn't so STUPID to vote for a man so obviously STUPID...

in 2016, "America made me lie to my mother."

in 2024, "America made me lie to my wife."

As we sit here a day away from election day 2026, I wish I could assure myself that America isn't so STUPID to keeping voting for men and women who blindly support a man so obviously STUPID.

I'm afraid America might make me lie to myself. 

So Tuesday came and went and I was impressed.

America did not make a liar of li'l old me. 

It was a massive repudiation of the political right's obsessive cult of personality and the politics of hatred, cruelty, greed and corruption. 

In race after race, the better person won. 

In Texas, it was James Talarico over Ken Paxton for the U.S. Senate. The GOP case against Talarico was he didn't like meat and may be low on testosterone? Paxton was a shallow man mired in corruption with only the endorsement of Donald Trump behind him.  

In Ohio, Amy Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy to become the state's first female governor.  Wow! It seems weaponizing a woman's childhood trauma as a sex abuse survivor was not quite the winning strategy Ramaswamy though it was going to be.  

AN "I THINK THIS IS COOL" FACT: When Vivek Ramaswamy called Amy Acton to make his concession call, she let it go to voice mail. Damn right! Let that asshole fuck right off! 

Right here in North Carolina, Roy Cooper annihilated GOP hired gun Michael Whatley.  Whatley told an interviewer he was running for Senate because Donald Trump asked him to. Guess what quote made it into a Roy Cooper ad?

Hey, Roy Cooper may have the friendly serene demeanor of Mister Rogers but our boy don't fuck around. 

Locally, there is a Congressional race that it still too close to call between Democrat Chuck Hubbard and Republican Virginia Foxx.  Hubbard at last report is holding a 99 point lead over the woman known as "Satan's mee maw".  

Foxx who normally coasts to her regularly scheduled election wins put up a shit ton of ads this year, promoting her grass roots origin as regular folks against a liberal Hubbard who doesn't understand you.  I saw no ads for Hubbard because I guess poor Chuck did not have access to Elon Musk money.

FUN FACT: Elon Musk spent nearly half a billion dollars on pushing Republican candidates and got fuck all for his investment. Maybe Musk isn't really a genius? 

SIDE NOTE: Elon's Tesla announced it will stop making Cybertrucks. Good! Their ugly and stupid, much like Elon! Who is most assuredly not a genius! 

For the North Carolina state legislature, the midterm election results marked a seismic shift.

The state house flipped to Democratic control for the first time in 16 years.  Republicans still have control of the state senate but by a reduced number.

And this is in a state with a electoral map gerrymandered into twisted pretzels designed to maintain Republican control of the North Carolina legislature.  

What we saw here in North Carolina and across the country was a something we thought might be long dead: the voice of the people actually fucking matters! 

Political trickery and chicanery? Fuck you! We can still vote! 

Billions of dollars to tell us the billionaires pissing on us is rain? Hell no! We can see you! We can smell you!  We didn't like it and we fucking told you so! 

What pray tell is behind this massive wave of discontent against the Republican Party?  

• The blind deference to the rich?
• The indifferent cruelty?  
• The complete disregard for the working class?
• The absolute disrespect?  
• The complete and total loyalty to a constituent of one?

The path of the Republicans' defeat on Tuesday leads to one man, the one man that candidates for elected office pledged their loyalty and support over the needs of the voters.

That one man who we all know as...

SAY IT WITH ME! 

A  lying, petulant, bullying, unintelligent, sociopathic, dishonorable, treasonous, gutless, moronic, heartless, soulless, slimy, loathsome, vile, incompetent, psychotic, crooked, disgusting, reprehensible, revolting, horrible, malicious, obnoxious, hateful, narcissistic, small-minded, despicable god damn, motherfucking piece of shit!

Say AMEN, my brothers and sisters! AMEN!  

Hey, speaking of der Führer, how did he take the outcome of the 2026 midterm elections?  

Li'l Donnie was strangely... calm.

No standard issue Trumpian temper tantrums.  

He was weirdly subdued as he focused on his most important issue, his goddam fucking ballroom.

Then....

Li'l Donnie fired Susie Wiles and promoted Stephen Miller to take over as White House Chief of Staff.

Stephen Miller seen here.... oops! I did it again! That's Nosferatu. Man, I'm always making that mistake.

Remember, Dave-El! One of them is a soulless bloodsucking evil freak. The other is Nosferatu.

Anyway...

Stephen Miller seen here wondering what time is the next cross burning is the primary architect behind Trump's most cruel immigration policies.

INEXPLICABLE FACT:  Latinos in Texas switched over in droves to support Donald Trump in 2024.

Republicans gerrymandered their districts in Texas to take advantage of this demographic shift to vote for Republican candidates in 2026.

FUN FACT: Latinos REALLY regret voting for Trump in 2024 due to his excessively cruel anti immigration policies (that quite frankly they should've seen coming) and switched over in droves to vote for Democrats in the 2026 mid terms. 

So follow this: an entire demographic that voted for Trump in 2024 switched over to the Democrats in 2026 in response to Trump's policies which were avidly encouraged by Stephen Miller. 

Miller contributes to the reason why Texas turned blue and Trump decides to promote this guy? 

The role of the White House Chief of Staff is to serve as a bridge between the President and Congress, to help negotiate for Congress to pass legislation in support of the President's agenda.

Negotiate? With Congress? Fuck that! Who needs that when Li'l Donnie Trump uses executive orders like a cudgel?

Who expects negotiation from a man whose world view is this: “We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world … that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power."

Stephen Miller seen here watching an orphanage burn down is not expected to actually do the job of Chief of Staff.  Trump said of Miller "He gets it. He's a fighter."  With a Democratic controlled Congress coming in, Miller is a signal that der Führer does not give a fuck about so many things, including the will of the American people that voted in this Congress.

Miller as Chief of Staff is just another bully in a cabal of bullies run by the Bully in Chief.  

So where are we?

Well, congratulations to the American people for NOT being so STUPID to once again vote for men and women who blindly support a man so obviously STUPID.

Congratulations to the Democrats who fielded candidates of compassion, wisdom, intelligence and competence against a cadre of opponents who were none of those things.

But....

In the aftermath of the midterm election, the White House communications team put out this image.

Sadly, this lying, petulant, bullying, unintelligent, sociopathic, dishonorable, treasonous, gutless, moronic, heartless, soulless, slimy, loathsome, vile, incompetent, psychotic, crooked, disgusting, reprehensible, revolting, horrible, malicious, obnoxious, hateful, narcissistic, small-minded, despicable god damn, motherfucking piece of shit is still with us.

And he has no fucking intention of calmly accepting the will of the American people. 

Last week, the American people won a fight.

The war is still ahead of us.

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Travels By Toy Car 3

I'm still captivated by Cassie Aran and Lauren Lee and their world record seeking longest journey by toy car.

The goal continues to be to get to Niagara Falls but our toy car travelling gals have to still extricate themselves from New Jersey.

Navigating urban terrain can be quite a challenge with sidewalks blocked by random poles, fire hydrants and construction barricades. 

And there are equipment issues. Last week one of the cars broke some crucial support thingies underneath and needed to be welded back into place. 

Hooray for Dan the Welder Man!

The duo is now a trio with Jaden following on a support tricycle, ostensibly to carry extra batteries for the toy cars.

Except...

Except the ordered extra batteries have not arrived as of day 22 (Saturday) which delays making the big push on from New York City to Niagara Falls.  With longer stretches of less populated trails between the Big Apple and the Falls, having more batteries is essential for completing that part of the trip.  

Day 22 was a challenging day for our intrepid travelers.  Lots of obstructions, turning around to double back on the route, Lauren's car stops working for... some reason and then starts working again... for some reason? 

Just near the end of the day's journey with their Airbnb within sight, they're confronted by what may be an impassable obstacle.

And jeez! The cops show up?

Okay, I know the police may not have a good rep with some of you out there but damn, they do the toy car a gang a real solid by closing a bridge to traffic so they can zip across and make it to their shelter for the night.  

Their problems with sidewalk obstructions highlight ongoing problems for disabled people trying to frickin' get somewhere by wheelchair.  

I'm really pulling for this team to complete their mission and make it to Niagara Falls. But it is still so far away and at 2 or 3 miles a day, I don't see them getting there within the next month as planned.

But I'm guessing once they've navigated past the urban hellscape of the construction cluttered sidewalks of Jersey and NYC, maybe they can make better time each day.

The logistics of this enterprise are a nightmare and I would've given up by now. Thankfully, Cassie and Lauren have more fortitude than I.  

And remember they are not just doing this to enter the Guinness World Record books. They are also raising money for  the charity To Write Love on Her Arms to support mental health awareness and suicide prevention.

Stay true to the journey and the mission, Cassie and Lauren.

And welcome to the team, Jaden.

Star Trekking: TNG By Character - Jean-Luc Picard

Welcome to Star Trekking, my blog berth for my Star Trek fandom.

A few months ago, I did a look back at Star Trek: The Next Generation where in over 7 different posts, I picked one episode from each season to spotlight, beginning here and ending here.  

 

Starting today, I’m going to take another pass through TNG, this time focusing on one cast member per post.  This will include the regular cast as well as significant recurring characters.

 

In light of the recent passing of Patrick Stewart, I’ve elected to start at the peak, the top dog on the Enterprise D, Capt. Jean-Luc Picard.

 

As the Captain, Picard is central to almost every episode but I want to look at the episodes that provide an unique focus on the son of the vineyard farmer turned space explorer.

 

We’ll Always Have Paris

Picard spent most of the first season being stern and aloof, keeping a certain remove from those under his command.

This episode gives us some perspective on the young man Picard was before.  Apparently he was a bit of a cad not above ghosting a woman he was ostensibly in love with.

JENICE: We have unfinished business.

PICARD: Yes, we do.

JENICE: Why didn't you come to meet me that last day in Paris?

PICARD: I was afraid.

JENICE: Oh, I didn't want this.

PICARD: What?

JENICE: The truth.

PICARD: Oh, you want me to lie?

JENICE: Of course. A nice, soft, painless lie.

PICARD: Oh, I got the days confused. I thought it was Tuesday when it was Wednesday. I went to the Cafe Moulin instead of the Cafe des Artistes.

JENICE: Ah, that's better. 

 

Samaritan Snare

This is NOT a good episode but we can’t talk about Picard’s character development without it.  

The episode establishes Jean-Luc has an artificial heart and the circumstance of how it came to be.  Picard makes a rather momentous decision to open up to Wesley as he shares the tale of his reckless youth and how he came to be stabbed through the heart by an angry Nausican.

PICARD: My mates and I were at the Bonestell Recreation Facility, which was something of a dead rough crossroads at the time, filled with an assorted bunch of galactic riffraff. When a trio of Nausicaans came in, they were clearly spoiling for a confrontation with a group of fresh-faced Starfleet officers such as ourselves. 

Well, everyone in the group had the good sense to give these Nausicaans a wide berth, to stand off. Everyone, that is, except me. I stood toe to toe with the worst of the three, and I told him what I thought of him, his pals, his planet, and I possibly made some passing reference to his questionable parentage. And the next thing I knew, all three of them were on me and I was fighting for my life. I was actually doing quite well for a while.

WESLEY: You fought them? And won?

PICARD: I had this one Nausicaan down in this somewhat devious joint-lock when, unbeknownst to me, one of his chums drew his weapon and impaled me through the back. Curious sensation, actually. Not much pain. Shock, certainly, at the sight of serrated metal sticking through my chest. A certain giddy warmth. In fact I do actually remember that I laughed out loud. Well, it pierced my heart, of course. Well, if we'd not been so near to a medical facility, I would surely have died.

WESLEY: Really? Then what happened?

PICARD: Nothing. I was no hero, Wesley. I was an undisciplined, loud-mouthed, opinionated young man who was way out of his league. I learned a very hard, very painful lesson that day, but I learned it well. I hope you never have to learn it the same way. 

This line "I do actually remember that I laughed out loud" will be relevant later.  

Captain’s Holiday

Another episode that does not hold up as one of TNG’s best but it puts Picard in a position of being cut off from the resources of his ship and in a relationship with Vash, a woman who has not quite moved on from the recklessness that marked Picard’s youth.

  

Q-Pid

Q returns and places Picard and the crew in Sherwood Forest as Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

WORF: "Captain, I MUST protest! I am NOT a Merry Man!"

Vash returns and puts Picard in the awkward position of having his responsibilities as a Captain and his life as a man come into conflict.  

Family

TNG does something unprecedented with an episode without an alien threat or some cosmic crisis to contend with. 

Picard's ordeal with the Borg in The Best of Both Worlds remains a source of trauma that Jean-Luc is trying his damnedest not to deal with. Staying with Robert, his stern overbearing brother at the family vineyard sufficiently stirs the emotional pot enough to force Jean-Luc to finally break down and admit to his trauma, to the abuse he suffered at the hands of the Borg and Picard's guilt over not being strong enough.

Jean-Luc's fist fight with his brother in the muddy fields of the vineyard is powerful and cathartic. 

It also leads to a charmingly funny scene when Jean-Luc and Robert awkwardly explain to Robert's wife Marie why there's mud everywhere.

(There's mud, and muddy boots, on the carpet, and drunken voices singing 'Aupres de ma blonde, qu'il fait bon, fait bon, fait bon' dum, dum, dum. Marie enters from outside)

MARIE: What in the world? What happened here?

ROBERT: Ah

PICARD: It's entirely my fault, Marie.

ROBERT: Yes, I fell down, then he fell and then...

PICARD: We both fell down.

ROBERT: We both fell down.

PICARD: Together.

ROBERT: We both fell down together.

MARIE: Have you two been fighting?

ROBERT: Fighting? No, certainly not.

Darmok

This episode is quite a classic. Picard is stranded on a hostile alien world, alone with Darmok, the captain of an alien ship. 

Universal translator be damned, they can't frickin' understand each other.

It is fascinating to watch Jean-Luc's slow build towards epiphany as he pieces together why he and Darmok are on this planet. They are their to learn how to communicate so they can survive the dangers of this planet.  

  

Chain of Command Part 2

I'll be honest, this is not an episode I particularly enjoy. Watching someone being physically and mentally tortured is NOT my idea of entertainment. BUT...

Jean-Luc Picard's grueling ordeal at the hands of Madred, a cruel Cardassian taskmaster is intense and a master class in acting from Patrick Stewart.

The cruelest test by Madred is insisting Picard succumb to his captor's perception of reality.   Madred sits a desk under four lights.  He says he will release Picard from his torments if he agrees there are five lights.

Picard's strength and fortitude are remarkable.

PICARD: There! Are! FOUR! Lights!

Back on the Enterprise, Picard confesses to Deanna Troi that there were cracks in his armor. 

PICARD: I, er, I don't know where to begin. It was...

TROI: I read your report.

PICARD: What I didn't put in the report was that at the end he gave me a choice between a life of comfort or more torture. All I had to do was to say that I could see five lights, when in fact, there were only four.

TROI: You didn't say it?

PICARD: No, no, but I was going to. I would have told him anything. Anything at all. But more than that, I believed that I could see five lights.

Gambit Part 1 and 2  and Starship Mine

These episodes present opportunities to recast Jean-Luc Picard from wise and thoughtful Captain to action hero.  

It's cool to see the bald, thin Englishman that Gene Roddenberry did not see as his next Capt. Kirk being a total bad ass.  

Tapestry

Captain Jean-Luc Picard dies! 

(A bright white void. There is a figure also in shimmering white nearby. Picard touches its hand and then sees who it is.)

Q: Welcome to the afterlife, Jean-Luc. You're dead.

PICARD: Q, what is going on?

Q: I told you. You're dead. This is the afterlife, and I'm God.

PICARD: You are not God.

Q: Blasphemy! You're lucky I don't cast you out, or smite you or something. The bottom line is, your life ended about five minutes ago, under the inept ministrations of Doctor Beverly Crusher.

PICARD: No. I am not dead. Because I refuse to believe that the afterlife is run by you. The universe is not so badly designed.

It seems an alien energy beam to the chest would not have killed Picard if he still had his human heart instead of the mechanical one. 

TNG goes all Quantum Leap on us as Q sends Picard back in time to relive and re-do the youthful indiscretions that led to him being stabbed through the heart by Nausicans.  

Picard is able to avoid being stabbed by the Nausicans even though it comes at the cost of the very friends he was trying to save.  

But the cruelest twist to Picard's new fate comes when finds himself later in life assigned to the Enterprise as a dull, inhibited low ranking science officer.  Reversing the recklessness of his youth undoes the very path that made Jean-Luc into a Starfleet Captain.  

PICARD: You gave me the chance to change and I took the opportunity. But I admit now, it was a mistake.

Q: Are you asking me for something, Jean-Luc?

PICARD: Give me a chance to put things back the way they were before.

Q: Before you died in Sickbay. Is that what you want?

PICARD: I would rather die as the man I was than live the life I just saw.

So Q rewinds time and....

NAUSICAAN: Coward. Like all Starfleet. You talk and you talk but you have no guramba.

PICARD: What did you say?

NAUSICAAN: I said, you are a coward.

PICARD: That's what I thought you said.

(and Picard hits the Nausicaan. Picard gets stabbed, sees the knife sticking out of his chest, and laughs)

[Sickbay.  Picard is laughing on the biobed)

CRUSHER: His vital signs are stable. Captain. Jean-Luc. You've been injured, but I think you're going to be all right.

Picard's laugh is a nice call back to the story he told Wesley Crusher back in season 2.  

PICARD to WESLEY: I do actually remember that I laughed out loud.

The next episode on my list actually aired in season 5 before Tapestry but I wanted to save what I think is the best Picard centric episode for last.  

Inner Light

An alien probe sends Picard into the life of Kamin on a world called Kataan.

It is a very fascinating journey watch Jean-Luc go from a very reluctant passenger in Kamin's life to fully living Kamin's life as a husband, father and grandfather as the episode covers years, decades in this life. 

One element that helps us track this passage of time is Kamin becomes more proficient at playing the flute.

He also becomes aware of the grim reality that his world is dying. The sun is getting hotter and the water is drying up. 

Kataan is dying.  

Kamin is talking to his daughter and delivers a most moving piece of profound wisdom.

PICARD: Seize the time. Live now. Make now always the most precious time. Now will never come again.

This line has been quoted a lot in the many tributes offered in the wake of Patrick Stewart's passing.  

The probe was the way for the people of Kataan to remind the universe they once existed and they can live on in someone's memory.

We hoped our probe would encounter someone in the future. Someone who could be a teacher. Someone who could tell the others about us.  We have been gone for a thousand years. If you remember what we were, and how we lived, then we'll have found life again.

Back on the Enterprise, Picard is given a box that was recovered from the probe. The box contains Kamin's flute.

And Jean-Luc knows how to play it.

These are not the only episodes that put the spotlight on Jean-Luc Picard but I think I will leave it here for this post. And the episodes covered here are among my favorite moments with Patrick Stewart as the indomitable Capt. Jean-Luc Picard.

No matter the episode, Patrick Stewart always elevated Jean-Luc Picard and Star Trek: The Next Generation to a higher standard.  

So who is next for the TNG character spotlight? I have no idea. I haven't worked out the methodology of my approach yet.

Thanks as always to Chrissie's Transcripts Site for the script excerpts.

Until next time, live long and prosper and make now always the most precious time. 

Movie Time: Penelope

After a month of posts about horror movies of questionable quality and taste, I'm going to turn over November's cinematic posts to the tender mercies of female women of the opposite sex.

We're going to go back 60 years to November 10, 1966 for today's film

It's Movie Time! 

Today's post is about an American comedy caper film called Penelope.

The movie stars Natalie Wood, Peter Falk, Jonathan Winters, and Dick Shawn. 

Guess which one plays Penelope?  

On the surface, Penelope Elcott has a pretty sweet life. Married to a wealthy banker named James, she's a young beautiful woman with an eye for fashion and ensconced at the upper echelons of high society.

So why is she robbing her husband's bank?

She enters the bank as a dowdy grey haired old lady with a sweet smile, a friendly nature and a gun. She approaches a teller and makes an ever so pleasant demand for money.

An alarm goes off alerting there is a bank robbery.

In the ensuing chaos, the "old woman" disappears into a ladies room and later a different younger woman with red hair and a canary yellow suit exits.  

While the police and bank executives are rushing about trying to find the sweet old lady who just robbed them, the now red haired Penelope calmly walks out of the bank.

Later she doffs the red wig in favor of her natural brunette 'do and changes out of the yellow suit.

She gives away a bunch of the money to the Salvation Army and donates the yellow suit to a thrift shop.  

Penelope visits her psychiatrist Gregory and tells him of her criminal activities that began when she was in college and continuing after she got married, stealing various jewelry trinkets from her high society "friends".  Then she moved on to the big time, robbing a bank.

Gregory is torn. Penelope's confession makes him an accessory to her crimes. But she's also his favorite patient. The psychiatrist is working a serious crush on Penelope.

Meanwhile, Penelope's perfect crime is on the verge of being solved: Horatio, a police detective, has a young woman named Honeysuckle Rose in custody as the prime suspect.  

Penelope doesn't want an innocent woman to go to jail. So what's a girl to do? You might suggest confessing the crime should do it.  You might think but Penelope finds that isn't as easy as she thought.

What?  A rich, pretty, high society wife robbing a bank? Really?

Penelope is supposed to be some kind of broad satire taking aim at a wide variety of targets:  vanity, sexism, hypocrisy, capitalism, greed, sex. 

Unsure of it's targets or it's tone, Penelope lands as a muddled mess.  Natalie Woods does her darnedest to salvage this mess with her natural winsome charms which is what drew me to this movie when it popped up on TCM one day.

Peter Falk also holds our attention as the detective Horatio whose rumpled exterior and plain spoken manner belies his intelligence and insight.  Horatio can be seen as a clear forerunner of Falk's iconic role as Columbo.

But Penelope tries too hard to be too many things and sometimes it's disjointed tone just gets weird.

We get a 3 minute sequence where Penelope flashes back to her time in college and a college professor played by legendary comedian Jonathan Winters. The professor is a sex fiend who wants to fuck Penelope.  In an over the top sequence staged like a Benny Hill sketch, the professor chases young Penelope around a laboratory, lustfully lunging and pawing at her as her dress keeps tearing until she's stripped down to her bra and panties before making her escape. 

I don't care if it was the 1960's and it's a scene with Jonathan Winters, attempted rape is not funny.  

Penelope the character deserves better. She's smart and clever as evidenced by the flawless execution of the bank robbery at the start of the film. But as the movie progresses, Penelope has no agency.  She is subsumed and dismissed by the upper crust of society, her husband, the police, even her own psychiatrist who loses his objectivity and wants Penelope to run off with him.

All of this is just part of the joke, the whole point, that in the nascent days of the sexual revolution and women's liberation, a woman as smart and clever as Penelope is sublimated to the perceptions of others.

Penelope only achieves happiness in the end when she finally regains the attention of her husband Gregory.  

All in all, Penelope is not a satisfying experience.

Well, at least Natalie Wood looked good in it, sporting a $250,000 wardrobe from legendary film costume designer Edith Head.  

But while Wood may have looked good, she did not feel good.

After the major success of West Side Story, Natalie Wood was on a hot streak with a series of hit movies and acclaimed dramatic performances such as her role in Inside Daisy Clover.

But her personal life was a mess.  

Following a divorce from Robert Wagner, and the end of her much-publicized affair with Warren Beatty, she'd had a series of brief and unsatisfactory relationships, which had left her deeply depressed. While making Penelope, Wood was in a fragile emotional state. 

Natalie Wood later recalled the making of Penelope as one of the most difficult experiences of her career. "I broke out in hives and suffered anguish that was very real pain every day we shot. Arthur Hiller, the director, kept saying, 'Natalie, I think you're resisting this film,' while I rolled around the floor in agony."

The film was a box-office disappointment and critics were unkind in their assessments.   

The experience of making Penelope and it's resulting poor performance was so negative, Natalie Wood did not make another movie for three years. 

Personally, I found Penelope to be a pleasant enough distraction saved by performances by Natalie Wood and Peter Falk and the gorgeous fashion designs of Edith Head, but yeah, everyone involved in this deserved better. 

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Tomorrow, we go Star Trekking.

Next Saturday, Movie Time returns with a film from the 1930's that puts the spotlight on a female woman of the opposite sex.