Recent Appearances...

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Recent Appearances...

-Lurid Crime Tales-

TV news reporter robbed of camera at gunpoint in San Francisco

2021-03-05

[NYPOST] A TV news news hound was robbed of his camera at gunpoint while conducting interviews about car break-ins in the Socialist paradise of San Francisco
...where God struck dead Anton LaVey, home of the Sydney Ducks, ruled by Vigilance Committee from 1859 through 1867, reliably and volubly Democrat since 1964...
, authorities said.

KPIX news hound Don Ford said he was preparing to interview residents Wednesday for reaction to a string of thefts around Twin Peaks when four men pulled up in a white luxury sedan.

"The car came up here while we were about to do an interview, three guys jumped out," Ford told the news station. "One had a gun and put in my face and said, ’We’re taking the camera.’"

Ford said he focused on remaining calm despite the weapon directed at him.

"My whole thought at the moment was ’Be calm. Let’s not get this guy excited. He’s got the gun. I don’t. So you take you the camera. It’s yours, buddy,’" he said.

The assailants fled with the camera, but the device — which had a tracking chip — was recovered later Wednesday, cops said.

No arrests have been announced in connection to the theft.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Anderson Davis, 17-month-old shot in Texas rampage, expected to survive

2019-09-02

[NYPOST] The family of a 17-month-old girl who was struck by a bullet fragment during the latest Texas mass shooting on Saturday says she will survive — but they’re hoping donations will help with her medical bills.

Anderson Davis was grazed by shrapnel on the right side of her chest, according to a GoFundMe page set up on behalf of her family.

More shrapnel knocked out her front teeth and tore a hole in her bottom lip and tongue, the page reveals.

“She is alive,” family friend Haylee Wilkerson wrote in setting up the fundraiser.

“When others today are not alive.

“I ask you to continue praying for our hearts as we experience this, pray for complete healing of Anderson, pray for every other family in our same situation, or worse, today and pray for the shooters,” she wrote, describing Anderson as a “sweet sweet baby girl who is so little and doesn’t realize what is happening.”

“Pray that whatever is causing them to do this will be defeated by God and they will stop shooting,” the post says.

The New York Times interviewed an eyewitness to Anderson’s shooting.

“She was conscious, but she was just covered in blood,” Junior Bejarano, 20, said of finding the tot in her car seat outside the Twin Peaks restaurant, where he is an employee.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Charges dropped in 2015 Waco Texas biker brawl that left nine dead

2019-04-04

These things happen. It's time to move on.
[BBC] Not a single person charged for their suspected roles in a fatal shootout at a Texas biker bar in 2015 has been convicted, a prosecutor says.

The newly elected district attorney in Waco said he is dropping all remaining charges against the bikers involved.

The brawl resulted in nine deaths, 20 serious injuries and 177 arrests.

McLennan District Attorney Barry Johnson blamed his predecessor for not properly prosecuting all those charged in the fracas.

Nearly every person at the Twin Peaks restaurant was arrested and initially accused of engaging in organised crime following the shoot-out between the Cossacks and Bandidos gangs on 17 May 2015.

Mr Johnson said in a statement on Tuesday that former District Attorney Abel Reyna should never have issued such a blanket arrest warrant, and should have issued more specific arrest warrants based on the evidence against each individual.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Daily Depraved Digest

2017-11-10

Multiple Women Accuse Minnesota State Senator Dan Schoen Of Sexual Harassment
Minnesota state Sen. Dan Schoen sexually harassed women involved in state politics while serving as a DFL lawmaker, according to multiple women who have spoken to MinnPost. Schoen, currently a first-term senator from St. Paul Park, previously served two terms in the House. He also works as a paramedic and police officer in Cottage Grove.

The women describe behavior by Schoen that ranges from persistent and unwanted invitations to meet to physically grabbing a woman from behind. One woman, who asked to not be identified, said he sent her a photo of male genitalia via Snapchat.

Schoen, who was presented with the allegations in a meeting with MinnPost, was aware of each incident but said in a subsequent statement that the allegations are “either completely false or have been taken far out of context. It was never my intention to leave the impression I was making an inappropriate advance on anyone. I feel terrible that someone may have a different interpretation of an encounter, but that is the absolute truth. I also unequivocally deny that I ever made inappropriate contact with anyone.”

“Despite this, if any of my actions or words have ever made another person feel uncomfortable or harassed, I deeply regret it and truly apologize,” Schoen continued. “This is not who I am nor is it the person I would want anyone to feel I am.”

Up Next: Robert de Niro
[USNP.TODAY] According to court records, journalist John Lichfield, who works for London’s Independent, discovered that the prostitution agency routinely ensnared girls as young as 15, forcing them to have sex with Hollywood’s rich and powerful elite.

Of course the mainstream media did everything they could to cover up for Hollywood favorite Robert De Niro. His regular dealings with the brothel, proved by court documents, received little to no media coverage.

After discovering the court documents, John Lichfield wrote, "Six people are charged with the running of an international prostitution ring, whose call-girls entertained the actor Robert de Niro, the former tennis player, Wojtek Fibak, two senior (but unnamed) French politicians and several Gulf princes. The agency specialised in tricking, or trapping, star-struck teenage girls into selling their bodies with the promise of careers as models or actresses."

TV star Ed Westwick accused of rape
A second woman has accused Ed Westwick of rape.

Aurélie Wynn claimed the Gossip Girl star sexually assaulted her in July 2014.

The actress, who went by the stage name of Aurelie Marie Cao, described the alleged attack on Facebook on Wednesday.

Mariah Cary facing sexual harassment charges (!)
Racism, it’s not just for white people, and sexual harassment, it’s not just for men anymore, at least if a former bodyguard of one of the world’s biggest diva’s is to be believed. As reported by TMZ, the owner of the singer’s former security company has alleged that Mariah humiliated him by constantly referring to him as a Nazi, a skinhead, a KKK member and a white supremacist.

Diane Nyad: My life after sexual assault
Here I was, a strong-willed young athlete. There he was, a charismatic pillar of the community. But I’m the one who, all these many years later, at the age of 68, no matter how happy and together I may be, continues to deal with the rage and the shame that comes with being silenced.

NPR covered up sexual harassment beefs against Michael Oreskes
The left-wing Washington Post reports that NPR “leaders were aware of at least four complaints against” Michael Oreskes, NPR’s top editor, prior to his resignation last week after two allegations went public. With charges of a cover-up floating about, NPR chief Jarl Mohn has taken a four-week leave for what he says are medical reasons.

Sexual harassment charges against Robert Knepper emerge
Prison Break star Robert Knepper has been accused of sexual assault.

The Twin Peaks actor, 58, has denied allegations that he groped costume designer Susan Bertram while on the set of the 1992 film Gas Food Lodging.

Hotelier Andre Balazs groped Justin Bateman's squeeze in 2014
Hotelier Andre Balazs groped Jason Bateman's wife at his luxury London hangout the Chiltern Firehouse, it has been claimed.

In an article published by The New York Times on Thursday, Bateman and his wife Amanda Anka confirmed the incident and described it as 'vile'.

According to them and others who were there, Balazs, 60, committed the alleged assault after persuading Anka to climb up a fireman's ladder to reach a suite which had an impressive view of London.

2 more wimmin accuse Jeremy Piven of unwanted sexual advances
Two more women have accused Jeremy Piven of sexual assault and harassment, bringing the total number of women to have aired allegations against him to four.

Washington-based advertising executive Tiffany Bacon Scourby, 39, and Hawaii-based porn star Isis Taylor both say Piven, 52, attacked or harassed them.

LA DA to form sexual crimes task force
Prosecutors in Los Angeles announced on Thursday that the city will form a special task force assigned to sexual assault cases involving Hollywood figures.

Jackie Lacey, the district attorney of Los Angeles County, said on Thursday that the new task force would be assigned to oversee the investigations and prosecutions of people in the entertainment industry accused of sexual misconduct.

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Police Release Video Of Waco Biker Bar Shootout that left 9 Harleys riderless

2015-10-30

[Daily Caller] Police released the intense surveillance video of the biker bar shootout in Waco, Texas that left nine people dead and resulted in 177 people arrested.

People in the video obtained by CNN can be seen diving out of the way as the bullets start flying, while others draw their own weapons and return fire. One gang member, however, is clearly shown spraying bullets from the patio of the bar.

The carnage was a result of three rival biker gangs meeting up at Twin Peaks Sports Bar and Grill on May 17, 2015. Shots erupted as tensions escalated from a fight. When the smoke cleared and the carnage was over there were nine people dead, 18 in the hospital with serious injuries, and 177 biker gang member arrested.

Link

-Land of the Free

This Week In Guns, June 13th, 2015

2015-06-13

By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com

Finally, journalism is starting to catch up with actual events in Waco.

It turns out that at least 44 shell casings ejected from firearms were recovered at Waco, of which 32 were from bikers' guns. More shots than that were likely fired from private/non-police firearms, since some of the 151 firearms seized following the shootings were probably revolvers. The other 12 ejected weapons casings recovered were from Waco Police Department guns. As I said last week, the contention that thousands or even hundreds of shots were fired in just a few seconds was unlikely. The Waco police chief said that ARs used at the scene were not on automatic, but were set to semiautomatic.

Reading a Free Republic thread about the latest information, someone pointed out that there is a lot of spinning and parsing of information. Most of the recovered firearms played no roles in the shooting, many of them having been locked in vehicles at the time of the shooting. Some of the firearms were ditched/hidden inside the Twin Peaks restaurant, and likely also played no role.

And nothing is being addressed about state and federal police said to be in the area at the time of the shooting: did any of those operatives take part in the shooting.

It should be noted that thus far, all reporters are doing now is taking dictation, not reporting.

I remarked to a friend at work how much of the activity of the press at Waco reminded me of the spoon feeding of the press done in Oklahoma by the federal government just after the Murrah Building bombing in Oklahoma City 20 years ago. No one is doing independent reporting so far.

Probably one of the worst weeks from 2nd Amendment reporting is that David Codrea was fired from his column on the Examiner after violating their terms of service. The idea I got from what he wrote about the incidents is that Examiner changed their policies and started picking on Codrea. When he protested, they "terminated" his column.

I had considered doing work for the Examiner many years ago, but I quickly came to the conclusion those folks have no idea of what they are doing. I signed up, but eventually posted nothing for them.

A proposed US State Department rule which would disallow anyone from posting technical data on firearms was advanced this week, with the proposed rule to go into effect in November. The idea behind the new rule is to deal with a lawsuit filed by Defense Distributed over their release of data on printable firearms.

And the fascists keep coming for the guns.

Loads.

Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:

Prices for pistol ammunition were mostly steady, while rifle ammunition prices were mixed.

Prices for used pistols were mixed, while prices for used rifles were mostly higher.

Pistol Ammunition

.45 Caliber, 230 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (10 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Quality Made Cartridges, Store Brand, FMJ, reloads, .28 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 300 rounds: Homeland Munitions, Store Brand, FMJ, Reloads, .27 per round (From Last Week: -.01 Each)

.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: SOWW Armory, Summit, FMJ, Reloads, .26 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt!, American Quality, FMJ, reloads, .24 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (5 Weeks))

9mm Parabellum, 115 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: SG Ammo, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel Cased, .19 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: Homeland Munitions, Store brand, FMJ, Reloads, .17 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks))

.357 Magnum, 158 grain, From Last Week: -.01 Each After Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, FMJ, Steel cased, .28 per round
Cheapest Bulk: 1,000 Rounds: Lucky Gunner, Tulammo,FMJ, Steel cased, .30 per round (From Last Week: -.03 Each)

Rifle Ammunition

.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (3 Weeks)
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Today's Ammo, Wolf Polyformance, steel cased, FMJ, .24 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1,000 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, steel cased, .23 per round (From Last Week: +.01 Each After Unchanged (2 Weeks))

.308 NATO 150 grain, From Last Week: -.01 Each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: LAX Ammunition, Tulammo, steel cased, .42 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt!, Tulammo, steel cased, .40 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (9 Weeks))

7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: +.01 Each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Ammo 2U, Wolf WPA, steel case, .25 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: SG Ammo, Wolf WPA, steel case, .23 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (1Q 2015))

.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks)
Cheapest, 50 rounds (10 Box Limit): AmmoMen, Remington Thunderbolt, RNL, .09 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Ammo 2 U, Remington Thunderbolt, RNL, .09 per round (From Last Week: Unchanged (2 Weeks))

Guns for Private Sale
Rifles

.223/5.56mm (AR Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $575 Last Week Avg: $555 (+) ($616 (11 Weeks), $515 (15 Weeks))
California (252, 250): American Tactical Imports: $600 ($650 (21 Weeks), $425 (24 Weeks))
Texas (302, 318): DPMS: $550 ($700 (14 Weeks), $350 (9 Weeks))
Pennsylvania (156, 151): Mixed Build: $500 ($700 (10 Weeks), $490 (25 Weeks))
Virginia (170, 174): Delton M4 RTK100: $650 ($750 (14 Weeks), $500 (19 Weeks))
Florida (351, 341): Mixed Build: $575 ($625 (6 Weeks), $450 (33 Weeks))

.308 NATO (AR-10 Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $987 Last Week Avg: $920 (+) ($1,359 (9 Weeks), $920 (2 Weeks))
California (47, 41): CMMG LR-308: $940 ($1,700 (24 Weeks), $900 (2 Weeks))
Texas (74, 81): Armalite AR-10: $1,295 ($1,500 (29 Weeks), $900 (34 Weeks))
Pennsylvania (32, 28): DPMS LR-308T: $800 ($1,500 (14 Weeks), $800 (22 Weeks))
Virginia (48, 48): Mixed Build: $1,000 ($1,600 (14 Weeks), $900 (30 Weeks))
Florida (66, 61): DPMS Panther: $900 ($1,500 (30 Weeks), $750 (18 Weeks))

7.62x39mm (AK Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $560 Last Week Avg: $533 (+) ($626 (11 Weeks), $462 (25 Weeks))
California (50, 48): Zastava Opap: $575 ($700 (14 Weeks), $320 (25 Weeks))
Texas (86, 82): Zastava: $600 ($750 (13 Weeks), $350 (31 Weeks))
Pennsylvania (54, 59): CAI VZ-2008: $500 ($750 (19 Weeks), $375 (4 Weeks))
Virginia (54, 51): WASR: $625 ($625 (17 Weeks), $350 (19 Weeks))
Florida (102, 102): Czech VZ2008: $500 ($650 (9 Weeks), $300 (29 Weeks))

30-30 Winchester Lever Action Average Price: $320 Last Week Avg: $360 (-) ($489 (20 Weeks), $320 (19 Weeks))
California (6, 7): Marlin 336W: $399 ($450 (5 Weeks), $350 (4 Weeks))
Texas (18, 22): Marlin 336: $300 ($550 (19 Weeks), $300 (24 Weeks))
Pennsylvania (17, 16): Marlin 336: $300 ($450 (19 Weeks), $250 (24 Weeks))
Virginia (11, 10): Western Field M72: $350 ($450 (3 Weeks), $350 (21 Weeks))
Florida (21, 19): Winchester Model 94: $250 ($500 (16 Weeks), $250 (2 Weeks))

Pistols

.45 caliber ACP (M1911 Pattern Semiautomatic Pistol) Average Price: $371 Last Week Avg: $391 (-) ($450 (18 Weeks), $360 (13 Weeks))
California (157, 166): Rock Island Armory 1911: $425 ($600 (18 Weeks), $350 (29 Weeks))
Texas (288, 295): Rock Island 1911: $400 ($600 (28 Weeks), $350 (15 Weeks))
Pennsylvania (163, 163): Llama 1911: $300 ($550 (7 Weeks), $300 (CA: $325 (26 Weeks)))
Virginia (162, 162): Tisas Zig M 1911: $430 ($550 (9 Weeks), $250 (26 Weeks))
Florida (307, 299): Llama Max: $300 ($450 (19 Weeks), $250 (15 Weeks))

9mm (Beretta 92FS or other Semiautomatic) Average Price: $295 Last Week Avg: $304 (-) ($336 (16 Weeks), $286 (21 Weeks))
California (161, 166): Smith & Wesson SD9VE: $300 ($450 (18 Weeks), $250 (23 Weeks))
Texas (236, 244): Smith & Wesson Model 59: $300 ($355 (17 Weeks), $220 (8 Weeks))
Pennsylvania (200, 198): Bersa BP9CC: $275 ($350 (34 Weeks), $240 (13 Weeks))
Virginia (201, 192): Ruger P95: $300 ($400 (10 Weeks), $275 (30 Weeks))
Florida (400, 400): Smith and Wesson SD9VE: $300 ($375 (25 Weeks), $250 (14 Weeks))

.40 caliber S&W (Glock or other semiautomatic) Average Price: $352 Last Week Avg: $326 (+) ($368 (6 Weeks), $300 (33 Weeks))
California (85, 79): Smith & Wesson: $300 ($400 (10 Weeks), $250 (23 Weeks))
Texas (117, 113): Smith & Wesson: $360 ($425 (27 Weeks), $275 (10 Weeks))
Pennsylvania (87, 82): Glock 22: $300 ($340 (31 Weeks), $250 (18 Weeks))
Virginia (76, 77): Glock 22: $450 ($450 (6 Weeks), $275 (22 Weeks))
Florida (137, 128): Smith & Wesson: $350 ($400 (16 Weeks), $260 (5 Weeks))

Used Gun of the Week: (Oregon)
Smith & Wesson Model 19-4 Chambered in .357 Magnum

Chris Covert writes for Rantburg.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com and on Twitter.

Link

Home Front: Culture Wars

The other 1 percent: A guide to the racist, sexist bikers

2015-05-21

A bit of silliness by a Salon writer who believes that calling bikers sexist will bring tears to their (bikers') eyes
In the parking lot of a Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, Tx. this Sunday, nine were killed, 18 injured and at least 170 arrested in a shootout between the Bandidos and the Cossacks — two rival biker gangs believed to be fighting for control of Texas.

OMGs, or outlaw motorcycle gangs, are organizations that take advantage of their motorcycle clubs in order to conduct criminal activities. According to the FBI, "OMGs are highly structured criminal organizations whose members engage in criminal activities such as violent crime, weapons trafficking, and drug trafficking." The most notable gangs include the Hells Angels, Mongols, Outlaws, Sons of Silence and the Bandidos.

OMGs first formed after World War II, as subcultures that promoted nonconformity and the outlaw life.

"Thrill-seeking attracted some returning veterans to choose a saloon society lifestyle centered around motorcycles," wrote James Quinn, a professor at the University of North Texas. "Positive views of military experiences, and the intense camaraderie they bred, also made such a lifestyle attractive."

In fact, bikers and law enforcement are still intertwined — one of the bikers busted in the Waco shooting is a retired detective.

They adopted the term "one percenters" to describe themselves after a 1960s speech from the then president of the American Motorcycle Association argued that 99 percent of motorcyclists lived according to the law. The one percenters, obviously, do not.

Today, OMGs are actually a fairly small portion of the U.S. gang population, with only 2.5 percent of gang members belonging to an OMG, however the FBI considers them a disproportionately large threat. In the 2013 National Gang Report, the FBI found that 11 percent of respondents report that OMGs are the most violent gang type in their areas.
More insipid garbage at the link...

Link

-Lurid Crime Tales-

Texas Pow Wow Between Bandidos, Cossacks, Scimitar etc. Bikers Turns into War Zone

2015-05-18

A meeting between rival Texas biker gangs to settle their differences turned into a brawl that escalated to gunfire in a restaurant parking lot today, leaving nine people dead, Waco police said.

Eighteen people were taken from the scene to hospitals, mostly for gunshot and stab wounds, Waco Police Sgt. Patrick Swanton said at a news conference. Everyone involved was a gang member, police said.

He said dozens of suspected gang members were detained.

Members of as many as five biker gangs gathered at the Twin Peaks Restaurant in the Central Texas Market Place early this afternoon to discuss their differences, Swanton said.

A fistfight began and quickly escalated to include knives and firearms, and then spilled into the parking lot, where gang members fired at each other, Swanton said.

"As that fight progressed, it progressed very rapidly from hands and feet as weapons to chains," he said. "My understanding a club was involved and knives were involved."

Officers were at the scene when the shooting started, police said, and some officers fired at the bikers. No officers were injured, police said.

"This is probably one of the most gruesome crime scenes I've ever seen in my 34 years of law enforcement," Swanton said.

The people injured were mostly being treated for knife or gunshot wounds, police said.

"I was amazed that we didn't have innocent civilians killed or injured," Swanton said.

Witnesses reported hearing as many as 100 rounds fired from 30 guns.

Police closed the entire Central Texas Market Place shopping area, saying that there was a danger of more violence.

"It is still not totally secure because of the intel that we're getting of individuals wanting to do some payback," Swanton said.

The FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were also at the scene to help with the investigation.

Over the past few months, Swanton says the police were aware of rival biker gangs causing issues at the Twin Peaks restaurant.

"We have attempted to work with the local management of Twin Peaks to get that cut back to no avail," he said. "They have not been of much assistance to us."

Calls to Twin Peaks in Waco and the Twin Peaks corporate office were not immediately returned.

Jay Patel, operating partner of the Twin Peaks Waco franchise, posted a statement on Facebook saying: "We are horrified by the criminal, violent acts that occurred outside of our Waco restaurant today. We share in the community's trauma. Our priority is to provide a safe and enjoyable environment for our customers and employees, and we consider the police our partners in doing so. Our management team has had ongoing and positive communications with the police and we will continue to work with them as we all want to keep violent crime out of our businesses and community. We will continue to cooperate with the police as they investigate this terrible crime."

In Texas the Patels are Indians. Not American Indians but Indians from India, kind of new to the wild wild west.

Link

Home Front: Politix

Crushed beneath the wheels of the Bush juggernaut

2005-01-14

PHILLIP ADAMS
How can Americans love The Simpsons yet vote for Bush? That's not merely paradoxical; it's paranormal. In the recent presidential elections, Hollywood came out for Kerry. The biggest names in cinema and in television were united in their detestation of Bush. In LA, only Arnold Schwarzenegger stood out. But his brand of Republicanism seemed light years from Dubya's as demonstrated by his gubernatorial endorsement of stem cell research. Despite the help of everyone from Spielberg to Streisand, from Springsteen to Gary Trudeau, the luminaries who sing the songs, make the movies and draw the cartoons were crushed beneath the wheels of the Bush/Rove juggernaut.

Gee. Golly. Gosh. Lemme think real hard here... Oh. I have it. Speilberg's political opinions are unconnected with what he does for a living, as are those of the rest of them to greater or lesser degrees. Streisand is a black belt dipwad. Trudeau has become tiresome and predictable. And Springsteen is in the same category as Spielberg, prompting calls to "Shut Up and Sing." Basically, what it tells us is that they're not as important as they think they are.

Fundamentalist Christians see Los Angeles as both Sodom and Gomorrah, cities of Jews and liberals, whose salacious offerings are destroying the nation's moral fibre.

Oooh. Look at the cliches! I can't speak for fundamentalist Christians, being a fundamentalist agnostic, but I don't think anybody sees Los Angeles as Sodom and Gomorrah except for when some actor or actress turns to a pillar of salt. I do like the way Phil off-handedly implies that them there fundamentalists are anti-Semitic, concetrating as they are on the Jew content of Los Angeles. I can honestly say I've never heard anybody bring that up in conversation, though there have been occasions where people have remarked on the number of Mexicans who live there. On the other hand, when it comes to anti-Semitism, liberals like Phil seem to have a pretty good handle on feeling the plight of the poor Paleostinians and sniffing at the brutal Jews of the Zionist Entity, though as we all know, they're not anti-Semitic, they're anti-Zionist.

This is despite the fact that films in The Terminator genre are decidedly Nietzschean, more than a little fascist in their peddling of superman individualism and ultra-violent.

"More than a little fascist in their peddling of superhuman individualism"? Phil, fascism doesn't glorify the superhuman individual. Fascism glorifies the fasces, the slender reeds, weak in themselves, bound together by the ties of state power, which produce a bundled unity of strength. Roving gangs of fascisti beat people up and destroy the property of Ãntermenschen, and, yes, they do it with ultra-violence. Fascism isn't the individual, it's the group. The individual lacks the ability to terrorize the Ãntermenschen.

Combined, in Hollywood's case, with turbo-charged patriotism.

Scratch the Stars and Stripes Forever. We wouldn't want to believe in our country, would we? Drop the Washington Post March, but do turn that into an entire sentence.

But conservatives are on firmer ground when they instance the scurrilous and exuberant subversion of, yes, The Simpsons.

Is there meaning to that sentence? Film at 11...

Seinfeld may seem utterly apolitical. Certainly its lead characters never mention politics or express an opinion that could be identified with Republican or Democrat. Yet they had baby boomer written all over them and, of course, engaged in or (in the cases of George and Kramer) dreamt about promiscuities. Not the sort of values that should appeal to the Bible belt. Yet those decadent New Yorkers rated enormously everywhere in the US.

I believe people living in more civilized areas watched the series in the breathless anticipation that something would eventually happen, explaining it all. It never did, but they kept coming back expecting that it would kind of like people used to watch Twin Peaks in the expectation there was some sort of sense behind it that would eventually be revealed.

But The Simpsons provides the clearest of cases with its own axis of evil dominated by a Phil Ruddock lookalike who, consumed with greed, owns his own malfunctioning nuclear power station. Among the most frequent targets of lethal satire are The Simpsons' next-door-neighbours, archetypal Christian conservatives whose religiosity our hero, Homer, constantly derides. Indeed, pretty much all the baddies in a Mike Moore movie can be seen in The Simpsons which, at its heart, is a never-ending version of Fahrenheit 9/11.Yes, it can be laughed off as a cartoon but it's a cartoon closely related to the cartooning of Gary Trudeau in Doonesbury.

Ummm... I beg to differ. Unlike Doonsebury, the Simpsons are usually funny. Nor is the Simpsons tiresomely political like Doonesbury. Homer works in a nuclear power plant because the idea of a nuclear power plant hiring a dullard like Homer is laughable on its face. The Simpsons isn't "a never-ending version of Fahrenheit 9/11." It's a good laugh because it lampoons the pompous and the pretentious like... ummm... Phil, among others.

Most of the major drama series are essentially liberal in their themes and attitudes. ER, for example, is full of hints and clues and assumptions that are not merely liberal but often left-wing. And that's been true of every hospital program from Mash to Chicago Hope.

We've noticed that. We've commented on it...

The only significant TV series in which the lead characters would be pro-Bush is - The Sopranos.

The gangsters on HBO? They wouldn't be pro-Bush. They'd be lined up with the Teamsters, buying local Democratic politicians.

Their line on Muslims, the war in Iraq, let alone their ongoing prejudices against African/Americans, would put them firmly in the category of chest-thumping, white alpha males.

There's another base assumption of the intolerant and cliche-ridden left: if it's Republican, it's obviously against African-slash-Americans, because... ummm... What about Bull Connor and those dawgs and firehoses and such? Oh. Wait. He was a Democrat. But you know what he means...

Of course, at some levels, David Chase's fascinating portrait of New Jersey criminality is a social satire. At others, it takes over where Coppola's The Godfather left off - as a piece of symbolism of US capitalism.

Is that what it is? I thought the Godfather was a modern morality tale, in which young men, both the young Vito and the young Michael, are caught up in a system they didn't make, reacting to the conditions around them, and are eventually changed to the point where they become a part of the system and men they never wanted to be. I thought it was a ripping good novel, with characters who were familiar without being cliches people you knew when you were young, or you knew guys who knew them set against a backdrop of the postwar world. If you'll notice, throughout the novel, the only real reference to politix comes with reference to buying politicians; Don Vito and Michael weren't Democrat or Republican. I haven't watched The Sopranos, but I gather from things I've read that there's a certain amount of the same approach in the writing, which is probably why it's so popular.

Even when the entertainment industry produces an overtly political series The West Wing the result is bizarre.

... to say the least.

It turns contemporary political issues on their head by having them played out in a fictional Democrat administration where Sheen fills the same role as Dubya but, of course, plays things very differently. Any parallels with current events are more than offset by the contradictions so that we finish up with a program that's half doco-drama and half fairy story.

Phil is probably still sitting at his computer trying to compose a closing paragraph to bring all this hodge-podge together. Either that, or he didn't have anything to say in the first place, but he vented and his editor didn't read all the way through this load of cliches to discover there's no substance to it.

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Avengers and Spooks are âcool TVâ

2004-02-17

Nothing like a "Best Of" list to inspire well reasoned discourse:
The Avengers, Miami Vice and BBC hit Spooks have been included on a list of the "coolest" TV programmes ever made. The decades-spanning list, published in this weekâs Radio Times, extends from political drama The West Wing to cult shows like Twin Peaks and The Prisoner.
"At its best cool TV makes you want to leap from your armchair and shout âYes! I want to live like that,â" said Radio Times TV editor Alison Graham. "It makes you think, âI want to wear sunglasses to work and walk down corridors in slow motion!â"
"I want to nail a different hot chick every week!"
Here is the list in full, in alphabetical order:
The Avengers (1961-69)
Mrs. Peel in her leather cat suit, sigh!
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2001-)
If you like hot chicks at room temperature
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (1965-68)
They had the coolest toys
Miami Vice (1985-90)
And yes, I had a white jacket, why do you ask?
Murder One (1996-97)
Huh?
The Prisoner (1967-68)
Number Six, your Balloon of Death is waiting
Queer as Folk (1999)
Donât ask
The Saint (1962-69)
Very cool
Seinfeld (1993-2001)
Very funny, but not cool. Not that thereâs anything wrong with that.
The Sopranos (1999-)
Tony will be happy
Spooks (2002-)

State of Play (2003-)

Twin Peaks (1990-91)
Strange, not cool
The West Wing (1999-)
Itâs a BBC list, what can I say.

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