February 28, 2023

How Trump could use "The Wire" defense to get off all charges against him

 By Hal Brown

I consider "The Wire" to have been one of the best  crime themed television series of all time:

Click above for link

Law and Crime is the website run by Dan Abrams. The site was referenced here in an article in Raw Story.  I'd seen Law and Crime referenced previously so I thought I look at the website. This is the story that caught my eye:
Click above to read article

"The Wire" ran from 2002 to 2008. The man arrested for murder is accused of committing the crime in 2011. There is evidence he was a such a big fan of "The Wire" that he identified with one of the major criminals depicted on the show and that he used a method of silencing a gun shot from the show.

According to a report from Boston ABC affiliate WCVB-TV, prosecutors said that investigators at the residence found a phone which was “attached to” the name Marlo Stanfield. Marlo Stanfield is the name of a fictional character in “The Wire,” who headed up the most ruthless and feared drug ring in Baltimore.

In another nod to “The Wire,” authorities also reportedly said that they recovered a sweet potato from the scene of the fatal shooting. In season four of the HBO show, one of the fictional police investigators solves a murder in which the shooter used a potato as a makeshift silencer when fatally shooting his victim.
Here's a third similarity:

According to a 2011 report from Cape Wide News, Lampley was inside of his home at night when he was shot by someone standing outside of his bedroom window, a possible third link to “The Wire.” In season one of the show, a fictitious woman who is cooperating with police is killed when the shooter stands outside of her window at night, taps the glass to get her attention, waits for her to approach the window, and then fires a fatal shot into the home.

Hampton and Lampley also had a previous connection, with Hampton testifying in court that Lampley was involved in the July 2007 murder of Jacques Sellers in the same neighborhood, CWN reported. Sellers was also reportedly shot inside his home by someone shooting through a window from outside.

This seems to have nothing to do with politics, or so it would seem. 

The defense this accused murderer could use is that he was brainwashed into being a killer by identifying with the criminals on "The Wire". Notably, the show tried to depict criminals in a way that showed them in a somewhat sympathetic manner.

His lawyers would introduced the case of an actress who played a ruthless hit woman on The Wire who was convicted of second degree murder:

Felicia Pearson (born May 18, 1980) is an American television actress, rapper, published author and convicted murderer. She played Felicia "Snoop" Pearson on The Wire and wrote a 2007 memoir, Grace After Midnight, detailing her troubled childhood and time in prison for second-degree murderWikipedia profile

I don't know whether Felicia Pearson used her playing a murderer in a TV show as part of her defense, but she could have. 

Donald Trump could use the defense that he also was brainwashed from identifying with characters depicted heroically on television as breaking the law for the greater good or to render justice on shows like "24" where Jack Bauer used torture literally to save the entire world, and on "Dexter" where Dexter Morgan was a serial killer who killed serial killers, a surefire way to stop their killing sprees.

Another blog from today:

Click above to read



February 27, 2023

Morning Joe, please don't call Marjorie Taylor Green a freak or weirdo

 By Hal Brown

These guys were freaks:


The Mothers of Invention touring Europe in 1968. Back row: Roy Estrada, Frank Zappa, Don Preston. Front row: Jimmy Carl Black, Bunk Gardner. 
Ron Kroon for Anefo - Nationaal Archief CC0

This woman may be freakish, but she's not a freak like members of The Mothers, Alice Cooper,  and Iggy Pop.

Neither is her former BFF:


 Of course her new BFF is Kevin McCarthy.

This morning Joe Scarborough repeated at least two times that the GOP is being run by freaks, weirdos, and insurrectionists.

Read article here 

GOP will 'suffer' because it's led by 'freaks' like Marjorie Taylor Greene'.

I take exception to his describing people like Marjorie Taylor Greene as a freak. He is not only being too kind but is using a term which could be, if not complementary, at least not derogatory. 

In my younger days when I was a student at Michigan State (see photos) in the 1960 through the early 70's the word described people who were unabashedly and proudly nonconformists.

The freak scene was originally a component of the bohemian subculture which began in California in the mid-1960s, associated with (or part of) the hippie movement. The term is also used to refer to the post-hippie and pre-punk period of the early to mid-1970s. It can be viewed as encompassing a range of disparate groups including hippies, pacifists, politicized radicals, as well as psychedelic and progressive rock fans. Those connected with the subculture often attended rock festivalsfree festivalshappenings, and alternative society gatherings of various kinds. (Wikipedia)

As for calling these people weirdos, the weirdos of the world ought to be offended. Children sometimes call other kids who march to the beat of their own drummers weirdos. They may bully them just because they are different or eccentric. There's even an anti-bullying web series called Weirdos.

Children today who the conforming kids may call weirdos include lots of youngsters who will grow up to be more successful than those who were the popular kids. 

History is replete with examples of  celebrities, innovators, and world leaders who were unpopular when they were children. Here's a list of celebrities who were bullied as children. "Bill Clinton As a junior high schooler was picked on relentlessly for being a 'fat band boy' with bad taste in clothes. Their taunting culminated in an incident at a junior high dance: one older student teased Clinton about his carpenter’s jeans, and even hit Clinton in the jaw." (Reference) Love him or hate him, Elon Muck was bullied as a child. 

What then would I call the current leadership of the GOP? This is a cop-out, but don't get me started. I'll just leave it with what Joe Scarborough called them and quit the nitpicking. In current parlance we might as well call them freaks, weirdos, and insurrectionists.

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February 26, 2023

Tucker Carlson might be Trump's best pick to run with him for VP

 

By Hal Brown

Anyone who says the following might be the best pick for Trump to ordain as his running mate:

From The Washington Post:

How a small-town train derailment erupted into a culture battle

The East Palestine train accident is one of hundreds each year, but it’s become a significant political flashpoint

Fox News host Tucker Carlson used his show to bring race into the discussion, decrying an alleged lack of urgency by the government for a blue-collar community with few people of color. “Is it because these are not their voters?” he asked Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), who agreed with the premise.

This is small potatoes compared to Tucker Carlson's latest coup enabled by Kevin McCarthy. Whether or not other media are able to get all the J6 videos of the Capitol attack his getting first dibs will score big time points with Trump.

What puzzles me is, even though the word is in quotes, why Carlson refers to this as "insurrection day" instead rebranding it with a term that most people peacefully entered the Capitol and were there to make sure the election wasn't stolen. 

With the speculation as to whether Trump would prevail in the GOP primary leaning heavily towards it being the former president there has also been chatter in the punditry about who is angling to be his vice presidential pick. There's no similar discussion about who might be currying favor with Ron DeSantis to persuade him they would be his best running mate choice.

Look at this web search:


First, what would be in it for Tucker Carlson? 

While he's the top banana at Fox News, being second banana to a president of the United States who might die in office would make him president, and assuming Trump lived it would position him to run for president in 2028. The answer for him in one word is "power". He'd have to be patient and should Trump win he knows he'd be hand maiden to a megalomaniac but time would be on his side. In addition, what would he have to lose since if Trump was defeated he could simply go back to his former Fox News gig.

The second and more important question is what would be in it for Trump. What would Carlson bring to the ticket that nobody else would, and what are the drawbacks of having his as a running mate?

The only drawback I can think of is that Tucker is another crowd pleasing performer, an actual star. It's possible he could upstage Trump. He's Marjorie Taylor Greene without being certifiably insane.

The benefits include Carlson's star power. Trump could make sure Carlson never upstages him when they are literally appearing on the same stage by warning him about this. Carlson is smart enough never to do this. 

The only possible better lead-in act for a Trump rally than Tucker Carlson is Marjorie Taylor Greene, but does Trump really want a screaming manic introducing him? Besides, he can include her as a member of his rally show cast and she can appear before Carlson. Greene, Carlson, Trump: now that would be a MAGA crowd pleaser. 

With Trump who would make the best, i.e., the most competent vice president is irrelevant. It was a fluke that he picked Mike Pence who actually had some governing experience. He picked him because he was a national unknown who wouldn't upstage him. He believed in his grandiose self-confidence that he didn't need anyone to help him win.

With Trump running again he may have rethought this and want to run with someone who has their own huge fan base. He may have a moment of humility and want to run with someone that may actually bring him additional votes in the primary coming from those who lean towards DeSantis because they see him as Trumpian without being Trump. 

For Trump it is always about winning. Who can forget this?


The question I have is whether the star of a long-running hit show is if he'd be willing to allow an equally talented understudy to be hired.

Addendum: 

As a reward to Marjorie Taylor Greene Trump could make her his Chief of Staff. She's adept at sucking up and has demonstrated this with Kevin McCarthy. No puns intended here...
Click above to read snarky replies to this tweet.

Can you guess who just tweeted this?

Hubris is the delusion that causes people to mistake themselves for God. They imagine they have power, wisdom and foresight they don’t actually possess. It’s a species of mental illness. 

It is Carlson's latest tweet:

I am sure that the graduate of Harvard and Yale Law knows the meaning of the word "hubris". He's obviously not referring to himself, a high priest of hubris.
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