Tuesday TV Touchbase: Brilliant Minds

Boy, yesterday's post was a bit of bummer, wasn't it?

Did I watch anything related to July 4th and celebrating America's birthday?

I caught up on Lucy Worsley's PBS special on the American Revolution.  God knows I love Lucy, her clever insights and her distinctive fashion choices. (She spends part of the special in silver wedged heels paired with white bobby socks. It was so cute!)  

I also caught the NYC fireworks on NBC.  Somehow I missed the part where the Brooklyn Bridge caught fire.

And I caught some random bits of ABC's Disney Celebrates America such as David Muir climbing up to the torch of the Statue of Liberty. (That was pretty darn cool.)

The always unbiquitous Ryan Seacrest was on hand to host musical segments from Disneyland.

Look like he was having fun but as you gathered from yesterday's post, I was not in the mood to party.

Onward! It's time for the Tuesday TV Touchbase. 

Last week, Andrea and I checked ourselves out of Bronx General Hospital.

While the rest of America checks in to Seattle's Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital over on Grey's Anatomy or the Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center on The Pitt, we chose to hang out with the gang at Bronx General on Brilliant Minds.

And now we have reached the series finale.  

Frequent promotions for Brilliant Minds during the 2024 Summer Olympics compelled Andrea to really want watch this show. God bless her but she is easily influenced by marketing.

Hey, the show stars Spock from the Kelvin timeline Star Trek movies so, hey, why not? I'm on board too.

So that's two people watching the show.

And not may others beyond that, it seems. 

Brilliant Minds went on a break for this year's Winter Olympics with 6 episodes still to go in season 2.  It was during that break that NBC announced the show would not be renewed for a season 3.  And those last 6 episodes would air during the summer.

I fully expected NBC to renege on that deal and say to hell with it and burn 'em off on Peacock or some damn thing.  

But NBC followed through and ran those 6 episodes as promised.

So we got to see the resolution of the Hudson Oaks storyline.  In the first episode of season 2, we got a flashforward to Dr. Oliver Wolf as a patient at the psychiatric facility and desperae to escape.  

Over the course of the season, we were witness to Wolf's slowly unravelling mental health to the point he was hallucinating a patient named Sofia and at the pre-Olympic break sees the timeline catch up to Wolf being admitted to Hudson Oaks.

Hudson Oaks actually does Wolf a lot of good in his recovery from his mental breakdown. But there is some sketchy shit going down as Dr. Fredericks, the administrator, has a bad habit of denying patients their release when they are otherwise well enough to leave. She's bilking insurance companies for excessive stays and pocketing those funds into her own bank account.

SPOILER: Dr. Fredericks gets busted! 

The final 6 episodes also give us some resolution to the will they/won't they between Dr.Oliver Wolf and Dr. Josh Nichols.

Reminder: Brilliant Minds is as gay as fuck. 

Dr. Dana Dang breaks up with her paramedic girlfriend but has a one night stand with Sofia.

Wait! Wasn't Sofia part of Wolf's hallucinations?

Is Dana hallucinating Sofia now?

No, she is real but her name is Margot and she turns out to be the sister Wolf didn't know he had from the 2nd family he didn't know his father had.

Meanwhile, Josh and his boyfriend Beau break up because Beau wants to get married but he sees that Josh is still hung up on Oliver Wolf.  

Which Josh can't argue with that.  

Near the end of the episode, Josh shows up at Oliver's home with a fern.  (Oliver, a consumate medical professional who has saved the lives of many people, has an ongoing battle with keep plant life alive.) 

Josh says, “This thing has taken over my life. It’s unpredictable, stubborn, moody, I never know what it needs, it’s all I can think about." 

Guys, I don't think Josh is talking about the fern. 

Even the frequently oblivious Oliver can figure that out.   

And we get a big damn kiss.

Again: Gay. As. Fuck. 

Not knowing that NBC was going to cancel the show, the producers do button up a few dangling plot lines but some are still flapping in the wind.

• Erica thought she found her birth mom.  The woman denies it but hey, we out here in TV land can hear the dramatic music cues and we know something is up with that.
• Carol and her ER doctor boyfriend hit a serious bump in the road after he commits an ethetical violation when he defies Cariol's diagnosis of a patient.  
• Did Dr. Charlie Porter actually turn a corner to become a nice guy after spending most of the season actively plotting against Dr. Wolf? Wolf forgave him and Wolf's team of interns have slowly started to accept him.  Andrea and I are not sure we do.
• Is Margot going to hang around to be a sister to Oliver? And give Dana another roll in the hay?

The episode ends with Oliver and Josh on vacation together in Mexico with Carol along as their designated straight 3rd wheel.

But a medical crisis has struck their resort and the trio spring into action and....

We're done.  

Brilliant Minds was a smart show that challenged it's audiences expectations and made you think.  What defined this show was not so much the medical genius on display with each impossible case but it's dedication to empathy, the insistence on seeing the world through each patient's eyes.   

Brilliant Minds deserved a better fate and it will be missed.

________________________________

We're not quite done! 

We go from Bronx General to General Hospital.

The classic ABC soap opera landed on our viewing schedule recently and I'll tell you why.

The TuesdayTV Touchbase Too is back and will post in a few hours later this morning.    

American Afterparty

So Saturday, July 4th, marked the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, marking the beginning of the nation we have come to call Oosah.

OK, I call Ooshah.  As in USA.  USA = Oosah?  Get it?

I need to accept this is not going to catch on.

But c'mon, guys! It's clever! Ad it's funny! 

Oosah!

...

...

Just me, then? Fine! 

Anyway...

250 is a nice big round number and seems to warrant celebration.

God knows some entities tried to drum up a sense of a having a good time.  

For example, ABC and Disney put on a program called Disney Celebrates America, a 24-hour long broadcast across multiple platforms. Anchored by David Muir, it was an immersive program with stories, events and performances across 50 states.  

Well, good for them.  

But I did not feel like celebrating.

I remember back in 1976 when the 200th anniversary felt like a more joyous occassion.  Of course I was a kid and perhaps not fully cognizant of the nation's mood.

I mean we were a country that just got it's ass kicked in Vietnam.

And we had a scandal plague President resign in disgrace.

But those set backs were in the rear view mirror and maybe, just maybe looking back to the kooky can do spirit of throwing off the shackles of British rule in 1776, we could find inspiration of to throw off the chains of self doubt and despair and possiblty see a brighter future.

Yeah, I was a kid then so what the hell did I know.

But it feels different now than it did then.  

It feels more like.... WARNING! This is gonna sound bitter.

Today, celebrating the 250th birthday of America feels more like one of those situations where you're forced to go to a nursing home to "celebrate" the birthday of an ancient great grandma whose dementia addled brain has no fucking idea where they are or who you are.

But your mom or aunt insists goddammit we're gonna have a party for dear sweet great grandma who is reduced to barely audible whispers pleading for death. 

And by God we WILL gather around a shriveled soon to be corpse and sing "Happy Birthday" with a flame dotted chocolate cake the poor suffering great grandma can't eat.  

Yeah, the 250th birthday of the United States of America feels like that.

And you're thinking, "Dude, you were right! That is some serious levels of bitter."

But it's how I feel.

And speaking of dementia addled brains, this lack of joy, this lack of hope, this lack of giving a goddam solitary fuck can be laid at the feet of one indivividual.

I know him as 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.   

Or, to save time, Donald J. Trump.   

Faced with a pivotal moment in history, to speak to the ages, to speak to ALL Americans, Li'l Donnie can only speak to his own ego and his own petty fear mongering impulses.

Speaking at Mount Rushmore on July 3rd for a presumably 250th birthday celebratory event, der Führer chose to rant about communists.

Let's organize our timeline a bit.

• The current year is 2026.
• We're looking back at an historic event in 1776.
• Trump thinks he's in 1956.

Evoking the 1950's era Red Scare, Li'l Donnie's new favorite bogeymen are Communists that he insists will take over the country if Democrats win the midterms. 

As far as I can tell, Trump defines a communist as anyone who disagrees with him.  

If you are an American citizen who does not think the way der Führer thinks, you are in his petty little mind the enemy of America.  

Since his petty little mind is preserved in the amber of 1956, that makes you a communist.

Naturally Trump loves the 1950's.  Everyone on TV was white.

Trump is incapable of anything resembling an appeal to unity.

He only sees life as "Us Vs. Them".  

Or maybe more to the point, "Him Vs. Anyone Not Him".  

On the night of July 4th while Americans were trying to capture some kind of feeling of unified joy with fireworks, der Führer had to open his damn mouth right before midnight with a 45 minute meander through a MAGA themed American history, brags about his accomplishments (it seems Iran has been destroyed for what, the 100th time? No one has destroyed Iran more times than Trump), reminders that communism is a threat and an appeal to pass his voter suppression bill, the SAVE Act.

In an historic moment 250 years in the making, designed for unity and joy, Li'l Donnie could only stagger towards that moment with his usual appeals to his ego and to fear.

And yeah, I'm not happy about that.  It's been 250 years. This country has been through a lot and we deserve better.

Instead we're broken apart, from the world and from each other and there's 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 pounding on that break with a crow bar.

The chocolate cake is on fire and great grandma would like to die in peace if that's OK with you. 

Star Trekking: The Feminine Uniform Mystique

We open in a corridor of the starship Defiant.

Gathered there are Capt. Ben Sisko, Chief Miles O'Brien and Dr. Julian Bashir who are dressed for a very unusual away mission.

Back in time to the USS Enterprise under the command of Capt. James T. Kirk.

BASHIR: (in medical/science blue) Captain.

SISKO: (in command gold) Lieutenant, actually. I didn't want to push my luck.

O'BRIEN: (wearing engineering red) Looks good on you, sir.

SISKO: Thank you, Ensign.

BASHIR: Wait a minute, aren't you two wearing the wrong colour?

O'BRIEN: Don't you know anything about this period in time?

BASHIR: I'm a doctor, not a historian.

SISKO: In the old days, operations officers wore red, command officers wore gold.

(Jadzia Dax enters)  

DAX: And women wore less.

(Dax pirouettes.)

BASHIR: I think I'm going to like history.

Man, I like history too, Dr. Bashir. Especially when history is dressed up like that! 

That sequence from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Trials and Tribble-ations" calls attention to a unique fashion design from Star Trek, the original series.

The mini skirt as a Starfleet uniform.  

The 1960's was a pivotal era in the development of women's liberation and the sexual revolution.

The heightening hemlines of skirts and dresses were a reflection of women's new found freedom of self expression.  

In the pilot episodes of Star Trek, the original Starfleet uniform for women was the same as it was for men, a color coded tunic paired with black trousers.

But Grace Lee Whitney who played Yeoman Janice Rand wanted something more.  Or should I say less? 

She wanted something that would show off her "dancer's legs".

And creator/producer Gene  Roddenberry and costume designer William Ware Theiss were more than happy to oblige.

The result was a super short dress paired with semi-opaque black tights and go-go boots and VOILA! The new official uniform for the female officers of Starfleet. 

 Whitney was pleased with the results, calling the design “sensational”, an outfit that "stopped traffic.”

What was sensational for Grace Lee Whitney became required for Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel.

And for every other female officer in Starfleet, including Lt. Uhura.

Nichelle Nichols had some thoughts about the outfit.  

"In later years, especially as the women’s movement took hold in the seventies, people began to ask me about my costume. Some thought it 'demeaning' for a woman in the command crew to be dressed so sexily. It always surprised me because I never saw it that way. 

After all, the show was created in the age of the miniskirt, and the crew women’s uniforms were very comfortable. Contrary to what many may think today, no one really saw it as demeaning back then. In fact, the miniskirt was a symbol of sexual liberation. More to the point, though, in the twenty-third century, you are respected for your abilities regardless of what you do or do not wear."

While Nichelle Nichols may have been appreciative of the mini-skirt uniform, her fictional alter ego Lt.Uhura may have been less sanguine as expressed in DC's Star Trek Annual#2 by Mike W. Barr, Dan Jurgens & Bob Smith.  

Poor Scotty really doesn't have a good response to this.

What's he gonna say. "Aye, lassie! But I love the wee skirt!" 

If you wanna go cosplay as a TOS female Starfleet officer, here are some tips.  

1. The Iconic Uniform Dress

The signature female uniform is a long-sleeved, a-line mini dress with a wide open collar. The color of the dress indicates the wearer's division:Command (Gold/Yellow): Worn by Captain Kirk.Operations/Security/Engineering (Red): Worn by Lieutenant Uhura and Scotty.Science/Medical (Blue): Worn by Mr. Spock and Nurse Chapel.

2. Undergarments & Accessories

Because the dress has a very short hemline, it was worn over matching high-cut shorts (often referred to as "modesty shorts") of the same color as the dress. Complete the outfit with opaque* black tights or pantyhose and flat or low-heeled go-go boots.

*I would say you want to go with semi-opaque. If you go opaque, you could wind up with black out tights that might as well be black trousers and not really convey the look of the original series.  

3. Emblems & Rank

Authentic details elevate the cosplay:The Starfleet Insignia: A gold, metallic or embroidered delta-shaped patch is pinned to the left breast.Rank Braids: Gold ribbon was sewn onto the sleeve cuffs to indicate rank (e.g., three stripes for a Commander, two for a Lieutenant).

4. Hair and Makeup

Lean into the 1960s aesthetic. Think heavy eyeliner, voluminous hair, and structured updos or sleek, shoulder-length styles with thick blunt bang.

While I understand the design of the women's uniform from the perspective of the 1960's Star Trek was originally made in, I still have a hard to time squaring the circle as to how and why in universe this was an acceptable fashion choice in the 23rd century.  

I know Nichelle Nichols made the case that "in the twenty-third century, you are respected for your abilities regardless of what you do or do not wear."  But such a feminine aesthetic does seem somewhat antithetical to a future where men and women should be treated equally and not be divided by such drastic differences in uniform design.

I've noticed some variation of this design in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds with Una Chin Riley sporting an extended tunic similar to the mini dress but paired with black trousers instead of tights.

Anything is better than the bland pajama uniforms in Star Trek: the Motion Picture.  Which thankfully did not last beyond that movie.   

Movie Time: Hoppers

I'm going to start today's movie post about a movie I'm not seeing and that's Supergirl.  The follow up to last year's Superman has failed to pique my interest enough to pry money from my wallet and move my posterior to a cinema seat to go see it.

I'll be honest, I'm not sure I can articulate my disinterest in Supergirl beyond a rather vague "something seems... off".  The legitimate reviews I have seen have voiced concerns with a lackluster script and a less than engaging antagonist.  

A lot of behind the scenes drama did the movie no favors. Click here for the Hoillywood Reporter's autopsy of what went wrong with Supergirl.  

Gushing praise of Milly Alcock as Supergirl and Jason Mamoa as Lobo have not been enough to fend off the very discernable stench of failure around this film.  

Even with Krypto in it. 

The box office take for Supergirl has been underwhelming between bad reviews and strong competition from Toy Story 5.

Despite glowing reviews and record setting box office receipts, I have not been moved to spend money and time seeing this latest outing from Pixar in a movie theater.

The trauma of Toy Story 4 is still too raw.

Speaking of Pixar movies....

It's Movie Time! 

Today's post is about a Pixar film that came out earlier this year which Andrea and I watched on Disney+ last weekend. 

Hoppers is about a robot beaver....

And can I stop right there?

I mean, I had a lot to do at work this week and I'm kind of tired.

And really, what more do you need to know.

Robot. Beaver. 

Fine! We'll go a little deeper.   

Say hello to 6-year old Mabel Tanaka.  Mabel is a rebel against the establishment, seeking to free her school's various pets from their respective cages, terrariums and what have you to release them back to the wild. 

Mabel gets busted by school authorities and suspended for her acts of revolution on behalf of the critters in the school.

Mabel bonds with her grandmother who shares with her granddaughter a nearby glade and teaches her to appreciate the bounty of life that calls this place home.

13 years later after her parents have moved away and her grandmother has died, college student Mabel strives to protect the glade.

But it's in danger. Jerry Generazzo, the mayor of Beaverton, is really super big on building an expressway that will run right through the glade. 

One of the many obstacles facing Mabel is the absence of the critters who normally callthe glade their home. All the animals are missing.... except for one lone beaver.

Who is not really a beaver.

Mabel tracks the animal back to the university where she discovers Dr. Sam, a scientist/professor/sort of a mentor person, is running an experimental program called "Hoppers" that can transfer a human mind into a robot animal.  

Mabel usurps the program, putting her mind in the beaver and skedaddles back to the glade to solve the mystery of the missing critters.  

Mabel meets a beaver, King George, who serves as monarch over the animals who have left the glade and living in an overcrowed dam.  

I'm going to stop here and say that I have enjoyed certain elements of Hoppers so far but as a holistic movie experience, I can only say....."something seems... off".

As I write what I've written so far, it seems to me that the plot structure needed to get Mabel into a robot beaver and then get her into position with George and his makeshift kingdom seems a bit rickety, an overly complicated Rube Goldberg device.  

Shouldn't the character of Dr. Sam have been introduced earlier, establishing her relationship with Mabel? Mabel's discovery of the "Hoppers" program leads to a big info dump to bring us up to speed who this scientist is, how she knows Mabel, etc.  

It's a lot of work to get Mabel in a robot beaver and interacting with the animal kingdom. 

Mabel's efforts to help George save the glade and make it safe for the animals to move back there spins out of control when the Animal Council decides to declare war on Mayor Jerry.  

They're gonna squish him.

To that end, a flock of seagulls will drop a shark named Diane on top of him.   

Which gives us one of my favorite lines of dialogue from the movie.  

Vanessa Bayer provides quite the friendly voice for Diane the Shark.

Hey, Doctor Who reference? The antibody drones inside the Teselecta have a similar advisory:

ANTIBODY: You will experience a tingling sensation and then death.

"Let's Kill Hitler",written by Steven Moffatt, 8/27/2011

The "That's Not Patton Oswalt" Dept.

Earlier, I was watching the season 4 finale of Invincible and there was a character named Ed who is Zoe's father.

I thought, "Hey, that sounds like Patton Oswalt!"

I looked it up.

Nope! It's Bobby Moynihan.

While watching Hoppers,  Andrea said, "Hey, George sounds like Patton Oswalt!"

I looked it up.

Nope! It's Bobby Moynihan.

So I imagine a producer says, "Get me Patton Oswalt!" 

And an associate replies, "We can't afford Patton Oswalt!"

Then the producer demands, "Then get me Patton Oswalt's low cost substitute."

And so an agent somewhere makes a call: "Hey, Bobby! Guess what?" 

And... scene! 

Back to the movie! 

Which takes a dark turn when the Insect King usurps control over the Animal  Council, declaring all out war on humans using a robot Mayor Jerry suit to like kill everybody.

We've got some kind of Animal Farm/Lord of the Flies/Mad Max vibe going on in our Pixar movie.   

Can anyone stop the Insect King's mad tyrannical quest for power and carnage?

Incredibly easy, barely an inconvenience. 

The Frog King flicks out his tongue and eats 'em.

So there!  

It all ends well as one expects it should.  Mayor Jerry has learned a lesson to be nice to nature or it WILL kill him.

He restores the glade to it's original state and the animals all come back to their home.

And human Mabel and beaver George remain friends.  

What? You think they should be more than friends? What is wrong with you? Will someone please think of the children?!?

SIDE NOTE: What about the lizard?

In the run up to the release of the film, TV was littered with promotional stuff that highlighted Tom Lizard.

So many commercials with Tom going "I have something I would like to say!"

DId I miss something? Did I take a nap through whatever part of Hoppers Tom Lizard actually made a signifiicant contriution?

I guess it's like with HeiHei the rooster in all the promos for the first Moana film and when the movie came out, he was just...  there.

Speaking of Moana....

There's a live action version coming out this summer.

Why?

This seems to me so unnecesary beyond a blatant cash grab.

Back to Hoppers! 

All in all, I enjoyed the movie more than I did not.  There are some really sweet moments such as Mabel's relationship with her grandmother.... but it felt kind of manipulative, like Pixar was trying really hard for a sweet but sad Up style moment.  

And there were some genuine laughs  with a some aburdly over the top comedic sequences that call to mind The Emperor's New Groove. 

But I think Hoppers lacked a cohesive narrative structure that undermined my ability to fully care about Mabel's life and her story arc. 

Yoir Friday Video Link: Happy Birthday, America!

Tomorrow is the 4th of July, marking the 250th birthday of the United States of America! 

I know you may not be in a celebratory mood but let's try to give it a go, eh?

Your Friday Video Link#1 is Stephen Colbert teaming with a bunch of people all across this great land of ours to sing the National Anthem.  

This musical moment kicked off the very first episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. 

Your Friday Video Link#2 offers up a lesson in American history and geography as Wakko Warner from Animaniacs offers up a musical overview of our states and capitals.  

Your Friday Video Link#3 presents a somber and respectful tribute to the greatest nation on Earth as only the Muppets can! 

Happy 250th anniversary to the United States of America! 

Well, it was a good run while it lasted.

Dave-El's Spinner Rack: Justice League and the DC Pride Month Event

 

Justice League Unlimited#19 reunites writer Mark Waid with the overworked but still amazing Dan Mora as the implications of the League's amnesty plan unfolds.

Some people...

...are NOT happy about it!  Jim Gordon gives Batman an earful on his thoughts on the matter.

It doesn't help that Lex Luthor blabbed to the media about the Justice League's offer of amnesty to select super villains. Lex can't help but make a power move to make things about himself.   

The public thinks the amnesty plan is somehow carte blanche to all villians.  It is not. 

Some super villains are showing up, doing shit and claiming amnesty as if it's a shield against arrest or getting the crap beat out of them by super heroes. Again, it is not.

The program does have it's successes.  Doctor Polaris, master of magnetism and long time foe of Green Lantern, is instrumental in stopping the rampage of radioactive bad guy Neutron.   

Meanwhile, perennial butt monkey Air Wave (really, Mark Waid, stop fucking with this poor guy) is used a conduit to facilitate the return of the Brainiac Queen. 

Next let's pick up with the Justice League Intergalactic Special#1 which involves a mission with Star Sapphire, Adam Strange, Green Arrow, Argus*, Galaxy and Dreamer going to Naltor to locate some missing Green Lanterns.  

*Argus, we are constantly reminded is NOT a dog. 

This is Argus. 

It's a sprawling cosmic tale beautifully illustrated by Travis Moore.  

Naltor is a planet of pre-cogs that has fallen into hard times and under the corruption of Maal Sinestro, the Witch Queen.   

Nia Nal, aka Dreamer, is not a particularly willing member of this expedition. Or welcomed for that matter.  Her participation in Amanda Waller's Absolute Power initiative has left a lot of heroes distrustful of her. And she is the target of various governments for crimes committed in Waller's employ.

Or as Nia puts it, "I'm a wanted woman in three countries and a wanted man in six."

This version of Nia Nal, Dreamer, originated on television in Supergirl, portrayed by trans-gender actor Nicole Maines.  Nicole has kept the character alive by writing various projects for DC Comics including this special.   

Nicole is joined on this issue by co-writer Jadzia Axelrod, a trans-gender woman who created the character of Galaxy featured in a series of YA graphic novels published by DC.

Galaxy is the story of a young man on Earth who discovers he... or rather, she is a super powered alien princess in exile.  

A resident of Philadelphia, Jadzia Axelrod has a local connection as a student at Guilford College here in Greensboro.   

Axelrod made her gender transition in 2015 at the age of 36, and named herself "Jadzia," inspired in part by Jadzia Dax from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

You might spend our $5.99 on the Justice League Intergalactic Special#1  and expect to get an extra length complete space adventure and you almost do...   

Except...

It ends on a cliffhanger.

I spent $6 on a comic book that doesn't end?

Dreamer and Galaxy fall unconscious and this leads us into

Justice League: Dream Girls#1.

Yeah, this year's DC Pride Event book is not a self contained special but a 4 issue mini-series firmly rooted in the current DC Universe.   

Trapped in a dream world by long time Justice League foe The Key, Dreamer and Galaxy are shifting through various realities, finding themselves cast in roles other than themselves such as Supergirl and Batgirl.  

Or as Wonder Woman and one of her Amazonian sisters.

While struggling with the Key's wicked manipulations, Nia Nal (Dreamer) struggles with her complicity in Amanda Waller's schemes and her own identity.  This sequence where Nia is channelling John Constantine is particularly raw and powerful.

Speaking through Nia Nal, I would express praise for Nicole Maine's bravery for exposing her own fears and worries.  

The main series did present some problems for me with lots of references to book and events I have not read. (I am not up to speed on the Galaxy YA graphic novels.) But I was able to pick up on things pretty well. Nicole Maines and Jadzia Axelrod deliver a pretty solid adventure with lots of action, humor and drama.

In our current political and social climate, I am impressed that DC still produces a Pride comic book. And I think making that Pride event a mini-series set firmly within current DC continuity is a bold choice.  

The series has back ups that spotlight LGBTQIA+ characters such as Batwoman and Poison Ivy.

As is the case with DC's Pride Events, we get an autobiographical feature, this year from legendary comics artist Klaus Janson whose tale of coming out parallels his discovery of and passion for comics. It's not an easy tale to read with Klaus encountering some brutal bigotry and hate but it is a heartfelt and inspiring tale.  

And that is that for this week's Spinner Rack.

Next week: Batman! 

The City of God and the City of Man

Today's topic is religion so we're going to start off with a joke.

Four men, a Muslim, a Jew and 2 Southern Baptists, survive a ship wreck, swimming ashore to a deserted island.

All four men are devoted men of faith and thank God for their deliverance from death on this island.

Each of them decide to establish as a show of faith and devotion a place of prayer and worship.

Using rocks, branches and straw, the Muslim makes the island's first mosque.

Also using rocks, branches and straw, the Jew constructs the island's first synagogue.

And likewise employing rocks, branches and straw, the 2 Southern Baptists build the island's 1st and 2nd Baptist churches.

Anyone who has ever driven through any small southern town knows where I'm coming from. 

I grew up in a small town that you think could barely sustain one Baptist church and we had three! (Or four if you count the black Baptist church but we didn't count it because of, you know, racism.) 

The thing is there are a lot of different people with different ideas of faith and God.  And those ideas are important to each person who believes in them.  

But even within a particular segment of faith, however, there is not always unity about those ideas of faith and God.

Which brings me to the non-joke part of this post.

(And I know there may be a smartass thinking "Wait! Did I miss the joke part?" Well, I know I'm thinking it and I'm writing this.) 

Last week, a rather official sounding government group called the Religious Liberty Commission issued a report.  

The commission was created at Donald Trump's request but I feel assured to say he will not read the report. It has 14 chapters.

Li'l Donnie's lack of reading comprehension as well as the lack of any substantial attention span will forestall any reading of the report. 

He may read the page one summary, especially if there is a color coded graph or chart.  

"Americans must know their rights and stand with courage when those rights are challenged. To preserve this freedom, we must build bridges, not walls, between the City of God and the City of Man. If we do so, we will pass on a free and prosperous nation to the next generation"

To clarify and summarize, the Commission is recommending eliminating the seperation of church and state.

The report tries to put some distance between it's recommendations and the concept of the seperation of church and state:  “To be clear, this does not involve or require advocating ‘theocracy’ or even the total elimination of any separation between church and state."

The report goes on to "clarify" that we need to acknowledge there is a “tension between the relevant clauses of the First Amendment” the guarantee religious freedom but forbidding any government-established church.

What I think this boils down to is this.

If my religion says that...

• I don't want a black person in my neighborhood.
• I don't want a gay  person in my neighborhood.
• I don't want a woman having an abortion in my neighborhood.

But if the law says....

• I can't say NO to a black person in my neighborhood.
• I can't say NO to a gay  person in my neighborhood.
• I can't say NO to a woman having an abortion in my neighborhood.

Well, we have a problem and the government should not get in the way of my religion.

If your rights as an American citizen run counter to the tenets of my religion, I should not have to make compromises to allow you to live your life your way.

If your rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are diametrically opposed to my right to practice my religion as I choose, well, one of us needs to step aside.

And it won't be me because I have God on my side. 

Which is (and I might be quoting Pope Leo or Mother Theresa) "a pretty fucked up way of thinking".   

The commission's report provides a series of recommendations, to increase the role of religion in government, schools and public life.

Okay, fine but whose religion will have an increased role in government, schools and public life?   

Given that the commission is made up of people who have asserted that the United States is a Christian nation, we can have a good guess on which religion wins that lottery.

And even within the context of a Christian focus, which version of Christianity? 

Baptists think Methodists are on par with Sapphic druids. 

Let's break the tension with another joke.

How can you tell the difference between a Baptist and a Methodist? Unlike a Baptist, a Methodist will say "hi" to you in the liquor store.

On the same day the Religious Liberty Commission was delivering it's report, the Republican-controlled Texas State Board of Education added parts of the Bible to a list of required reading for millions of students.

Starting in 2030, all public school students in Texas will be required to read passages from the Bible in class.

• Hey, what if you're Jewish and your faith doesn't include the New Testament parts of the Bible?
• What if you're Muslim?
• Or Hindu?
• Or atheist?

I believe the answer from the good Christian people of Texas is "Fuck them! They're going to hell anyway!"  

Or to put it in more professional terms, I'll turn the blog over to Rachel Laser, the president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State:  “Today’s vote by the Texas State Board of Education is yet another example of Texas politicians pushing Christianity on public schoolchildren. Public schools should not force children to read Bible stories. This policy is part of a broader movement ... to misuse public schools to impose one narrow set of religious beliefs and indoctrinate a new generation of Americans in the lie that America is a Christian country.”

Let me take a moment to comment on what a freakin' cool last name "Laser" is! 

Susan Perez, founder of Citizens for Education Reform, a right-wing organization that pushes for Christianity in public schools, begs to differ with Ms. Laser:   “We need to focus on what our nation was founded on and not apologize for that. It is the truth, and we should not be afraid.”

I'm always wary of alleged Christians who conflate faith with truth.

• Truth is objective, factual, some other 3rd thing.  
• Faith is subjective, spiritual, yet another 3rd thing.  

One time while driving in the countryside, my son and I saw a church sign that said "I don't just believe I'm going to heaven. I know it!"  

So there's this ONE guy who has this all figured out. Absolutely sure he's getting in. Have you considered everything?

St. Peter: "Let's see, it says here you went to church on Sunday, gave a 10% tithe to the church and said prayers everyday. Uh oh! What's this? You had the endless shrimp at Red Lobster? You know that thing in Leviticus against eating shellfish? Yeah, turns out THAT, not the gay thing, is the deal breaker. 'Bye!"

We have NO idea!  Assuming there is an afterlife and there is criteria for getting in, it could be anything. 

St. Peter: "So Dave-El, you remember that one time you fondled yourself watching Daisy Duke in Dukes of Hazzard?

St. Peter:  One time and the 22,437,513 times after that? NEXT!"

OK, so I might not be getting in. 

This is getting silly. 

Houston resident Joshua Fixler, you may have the microphone:  “This list is full of Christian texts that are inappropriate for public school classrooms. As a rabbi and a parent of Jewish kids, I think it is vital that this board make a distinction between teaching about religion and teaching religion. This list will force teachers to cross that line.”

As the United States approaches it's 250th birthday in a few days, in what shoud be a time of unified celebration, the nation is fundementally divided on the subject of religion.  

My faith matters more than your faith.

This perspective is wrong and dangerous. 

Despite assertions by Donald Trump and right wing pundits, Christianity is NOT under attack.

I would say that NO ONE is telling you what you can or cannot believe.

I would say that NO ONE is telling you what church is the right one to go to.

I would say that except....

The Religious Liberty Commission and the Texas State Board of Education are telling us what to believe and what church to go to. 

They want to make THEIR faith a component of OUR laws.  

And that is not a joke.

Not NOW, Gary!