Melania spoke at the RNC last night. I really don’t care. Do U?

by Therese Odell, posted in watch this

It’s another Wednesday, and 69 days until we can elect this motherfucker out of office. NICE.

There’s a massive hurricane bearing down on my fellow Texans and our neighbors in Louisiana. I don’t have much more to say about this, except please keep Lake Charles in your thoughts: they are about to go through it.

And before we get to all the rest of the terrible news — and it’s all pretty terrible, I hate to report — here are two gorillas respectfully observing a caterpillar:

Political Crap

The good news: we are halfway through the Republican National Convention. The bad news: we are only halfway through the Republican National Convention.

Last night featured a whole nest of Trumps; Pam Bondi, the Florida A.G. whose campaign PAC received a $25,000 gift from the Trump Foundation a month before her office announced it would not be looking into fraud claims against Trump University; the Covington Catholic school kid; the Attorney General who refuses to charge Breonna Taylor’s murderers; and a whole lot of broken norms and laws.

So, Pam Bondi came out and spewed a bunch of lies about Hunter Biden and laughably railed against nepotism.

 

Then there was Nicolas Sandman, the MAGA hat kid who became famous after smirking in a Native American protestor’s face:

Eric and Tiffany gave completely unmemorable speeches. This is what happens when your brother and his girlfriend use up the week’s allotment of cocaine in one night.

And then there was Melania. The First Lady was one of the only people in this God-forsaken circus who expressed sympathy to those who have lost so much during the pandemic, and she tried to paint her troll of a husband as not THAT much of a monster. And some in the media were ready to eat it all up with a spoon because they will never learn their lesson.

 

FUN FACTS: Melania is an unrepentant birther and racist who wore an “I REALLY DON’T CARE DO U?” jacket to a child concentration camp that her husband built and who renegotiated her prenup before coming to the White House to play the role of First Lady at a higher price. SHE IS NOT A GOOD PERSON.

And then there’s the part where she delivered her speech in front of a maskless, not socially distanced and non-tested audience in the Rose Garden, violating The Hatch Act, a law that, among other things, says that federal employees and property can not be used for campaign purposes.

Also violating the Hatch Act: Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who flew to Jerusalem where he gave a speech — which is also in violation of State Department policy.

But for my money, the most galling violation of the Hatch Act was when Acting Homeland Security Chad Wolf took part in a small naturalization ceremony in the White House and overseen by President Shut Down the Borders. Offensive, cynical and obvious, it was absolutely sickening to watch.

Do NOT forget who this President is:

More from Miles Taylor:

When it came to the border wall, Trump would dream up “sickening” medieval plots “to pierce the flesh” of migrants, rip all the families apart, “maim,” and gas them, Taylor claims. “This was a man with no humanity whatsoever,” Taylor says. “He says, we got to do this, this, this, and this, all of which are probably impossible, illegal unethical,” Taylor recalls, but he was writing them down as the president spoke. “And he looks over me and he goes, ‘you fucking taking notes?'”

Black Lives Matter

It’s been a rough week in Wisconsin. On Sunday in Kenosha, a White police officer shot a Jacob Blake, an unarmed Black man, in the back seven times as he was getting into his car as his three young children watched. The video is out there, but if you have somehow managed to avoid seeing it, I highly recommend you do not seek it out. Blake has been in and out of surgery for the past three days and will probably be paralyzed for life.

Back in 2018, the Sheriff of Kenosha said AT A PRESS CONFERENCE, some … interesting things:

So … yeah.

There have been protests over Blake’s shooting for the past three nights, and, horrifically, last night a 17-year-old counter-protestor from a different state, Kyle Rittenhouse, shot three protestors, killing two of them. There’s also video of this incident and not only does it show the murders — it shows the police arriving, the shooter walking towards them with his hands up, and the cops RUNNING PAST HIM and towards the scene, ignoring THE GUY WITH THE GUN.

Again: Jacob Blake was unarmed and he was shot in the back seven times, while a white guy with a long gun is completely overlooked by the cops at the scene of a deadly shooting. But go ahead and tell me with a straight face that this isn’t a racist country, Republicans.

As Doc Rivers, the coach of the Los Angeles Clippers explained in an emotional statement: Black folks are the ones who are being killed, yet the Republicans are trying to tell White suburban women that they are the ones who should be afraid?

“All you hear, from Donald Trump and all of them, is talking about fear,” Rivers says. “We’re the ones getting killed. We’re the ones getting shot. We’re the ones who are denied from living in certain communities. We’ve been hung. We’ve been shot.

“And all you keep hearing about is fear,” Rivers said, choking up. “It’s amazing to me why we keep loving this country. And this country does not love us back.

“My dad was a cop. I believe in good cops. We’re not trying to defund them and take all their money away. We’re trying to get them to protect us, just like they protect everybody else.

“How dare Republicans talk about fear. We’re the ones who need to be scared. We’re the ones having to talk to every Black child. What white father has to have a talk with his son about what to do if you’re pulled over?”

And speaking of basketball, the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted today’s playoff game in protest over the shooting of Jacob Blake.

It’s been 166 days since police murdered Breonna Taylor — and the Attorney General of Kentucky, who could press charges against those cops, was at the RNC last night. Meanwhile, Portia Williams was arrested again in a protest for Taylor.

Roger Goodell wishes he “had listened [to Colin Kaepernick and other kneeling protesters] earlier.” Would coulda shoulda.

The Kansas City Chiefs will ban face paint and headdresses. I mean, it’s a start, I guess.

Lake Tahoe ski resort Squaw Valley is going to change its name to something not racist.

Four episodes of Bravo’s Southern Charm have been pulled for containing racist nonsense. SHOCKING I TELL YOU.

Melissa Fumero, Amy on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, has some thoughts on the white-washing of her character in the French-Canadian version of the show.

Jasika Nicole, Astrid on Fringe, opened up about the on-going joke about her character’s name on the show and how it hurt her as a Black woman with an “unusual name.” John Noble has apologized for his role in perpetuating the joke. I have to be honest: I blogged Fringe, and never thought the joke was meant to be racist, but more about Walter being a mad scientist who was too crazy to keep things as simple as someone’s — even someone very close to him — name straight, but I can totally understand Nicole’s point here and respect her feelings.

Don’t step to Al Roker.

John Boyega is done with racist asshole fans.

Warner Media is launching an investigation into the toxic work environment claims against Joss Whedon on Justice League.

Ten more films by Black filmmakers that should be added to the Criterion Collection is hardly enough, but it’s a start.

Oh, Randy Rainbow.

Going Viral

The CDC has changed its testing policy, now suggesting that people who are asymptomatic don’t need to be tested at all, thanks to political pressure from the White House.

A sudden change in federal guidelines on coronavirus testing came this week as a result of pressure from the upper ranks of the Trump administration, a federal health official close to the process tells CNN.

“It’s coming from the top down,” the official said of the new directive from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The new guidelines raise the bar on who should get tested, advising that some people without symptoms probably don’t need it — even if they’ve been in close contact with an infected person.

Previously, the CDC said viral testing was appropriate for people with recent or suspected exposure, even if they were asymptomatic.

COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL.

And then there is the part where President Quakery came out on Sunday and gave emergency authorization to use blood plasma from recovered patients as a therapeutic, with the head of the FDA, Dr. Stephen Hahn, making some bold claims about its effectiveness.

EXCEPT, the next day, Hahn tweeted some … regrets:

So, for those keeping score, President Pseudoscience is destroying the credibility of both the CDC and the FDA so he can be reelected. What could possibly go wrong? (I mean, aside from this administration also possibly pushing out an unproven vaccine in the next month that leads to illnesses, skepticism or unwarranted optimism that in turn leads to more death. I’M SURE IT WILL ALL BE JUST FINE.)

Tom Cruise made a video about going to see Tenet in a theater and it has nothing at all to do with the fact that Scientology is dismissing the severity of COVID-19 since it’s cutting into their profits.

And just as I predicted/suggested: CBS is turning to its CBS All Access content to bolster its fall schedule after all. Star Trek: Discovery; One Day at a Time; and something called Manhunt: Deadly Games have all been added to their fall lineup.

Live with Kelly and Ryan! is returning to its studio on September 8. It’s interesting, only because I wonder how this will impact American Idol‘s taping, if at all.

THESE GUYS:

All Other TV News

News broke yesterday that Dorinda “Make it Nice” Medley is leaving The Real Housewives of New York — which is a damn shame because she’s some amazing television. And it sounds like she was fired, not that she quit. According to what clues people can find, Bravo appears to want to make the cast more diverse, and there’s some rumbling that Sonja Morgan and Ramona Singer could be leaving (fired) too. I appreciate they want to diversify an all-white show, but getting rid of Sonja AND Dorinda? HUGE MISTAKE. A Bravo “source” claims that Dorinda could show up in some capacity next season. OK.

Jason Bateman knows exactly how Ozark is going to end.

Right now most TV stories are just actors and showrunners doing press ahead of the Emmys, angling to get one of those trophies, and I ignore them to the best of my ability. This story about Moira’s most amazing costumes on Schitt’s Creek is definitely one of those sorts of stories, but I can’t resist including it here.

Carrie Underwood is your new Hank Williams Jr.

Infinity Train needs your love, fans.

Netflix is promoting The Haunting of Bly Manor with a creepy voicemail …

Young people are killing live TV. (As someone who lives with two teens, I can confirm this 100%.)

Cancellations

  • I’m Sorry has been canceled by TruTV due to rising COVID costs and I’M FURIOUS.
  • Altered Carbon has been canceled after two seasons and an anime special on Netflix.

In Development

Casting News

Mark Your Calendars

  • Julie and the Phantoms will premiere on Netflix on September 10.
  • Uncensored will return on TV One on September 6.
  • They Call Me Dad will debut on OWN on September 15.

R.I.P.

Dan Parise, Emmy- and Grammy-nominated producer

Arnold Spielberg, Father of Steven Spielberg

Gail Sheehy, Author

Riley Gale, Lead singer of Texas thrash metal band Power Trip

Landon Clifford, YouTube star

WATCH THIS

Republican National Convention: Vice President Mike Pence 7 p.m., PBS, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News 9 p.m., ABC, CBS, NBC

The Women in Film Presents: Make It Work!: “The one-hour variety special, a combination of music, comedy and fun celebrity testimonials, explores the issues and solutions for getting women back to work.” Uhhh … what? 7 p.m., The CW

Rising Phoenix: A documentary about the Paralympic Games which would have been excellent timing if they hadn’t been postponed until next year. Netflix

Corporate: Kate and John make a power grab in the series finale. 9:30 p.m., Comedy Central

Late Night:

  • Late Night with Seth Meyers: Rep. Nancy Pelosi
  • The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Rep. Nancy Pelosi
  • The Late Late Show with James Corden: Madison Beer
  • Jimmy Kimmel Live: Guest host Jason Derulo
  • The Daily Show: The Daily Social Distancing Show

 

WEDS. 7:00 7:30 8:00 8:30 9:00 9:30
ABC United We Fall
(new)		 The Goldbergs
(repeat)		 The Conners
(repeat)		 American Housewife
(repeat)		 Republican National Convention
CBS Big Brother
(new)		 Tough As Nails
(new)		 Republican National Convention
CW Women in Film: Make it Work! Coroner
(repeat)		 Local
FOX MasterChef/b>
(repeat)		 News/Local
NBC America’s Got Talent
(new)		 Ellen’s Game of Games
(repeat)		 Republican National Convention

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