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mariacallous · 10 months ago

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Some prominent conservative lawmakers and commentators are advocating for ending no-fault divorce, laws that exist in all 50 US states and allow a person to end a marriage without having to prove a spouse did something wrong, like commit adultery or domestic violence.

The socially conservative, and often religious, rightwing opponents of such divorce laws are arguing that the practice deprives people – mostly men – of due process and hurt families, and by extension, society. Republican lawmakers in Louisiana, Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas have discussed eliminating or increasing restrictions on no-fault marriage laws.

Defenders of the laws, which states started passing a half-century ago, see legislation and arguments to repeal them as the latest effort to restrict women’s rights – following the overturning of Roe v Wade and passage of abortion bans around the country – and say that without such protections, the country would return to an earlier era when women were often trapped in abusive marriages.

“No-fault divorce is critical to the ability, particularly the ability of women, to be able to exercise autonomy in their own relationships, in their own lives,” said Denise Lieberman, an adjunct professor at the Washington University School of Law in St Louis, who has a specialty in policies concerning gender, sexuality and sexual violence.

Before 1969, when then California Republican governor Ronald Reagan, who had been divorced, approved the country’s first no-fault divorce law, women, who are more likely to experience violence from an intimate partner, were often forced to stay in marriages. If they could not prove that their husband had been abusive or persuade him to grant a divorce, they would not be able to take any assets from the marriage or remarry, according to a study in the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

States around America gradually followed suit and passed similar laws allowing unilateral divorce until 2010, when New York became the last state to approve the practice.

Between 1976 and 1985, states that passed the laws saw their domestic violence rates against men and women fall by about 30%; the number of women murdered by an intimate partner declined by 10%; and female suicide rates declined by 8 to 16%.

Without such laws, “it’s hard to prove anything in court relating to a family because you don’t have any witnesses”, said Kimberly Wehle, professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law. “It’s very difficult to get evidence to show abuse of children. How do you do it? Do you put your kids on the stand?”

Conservative commentators such as Matt Walsh, Steven Crowder and lawmakers such as the Republican senator JD Vance of Ohio have argued that the laws are unfair to men and hurt society because they lead to more divorces.

The divorce rate in the United States increased significantly from 1960, when it was 9.2 per 1,000 married women, to 22.6 in 1980. But by 2022, the rate had fallen to 14.5.

On the increase in divorces, Vance said in 2021: “One of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace” is the idea that “these marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy, and so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that’s going to make people happier in the long term”.

Beverly Willett, a writer and attorney, argues that unilateral no-fault divorce is also unconstitutional because it violates a person’s 14th amendment right to due process.

The defendant “has absolutely no recourse to say, ‘Wait a minute. I don’t want to be divorced, and I don’t think that there are grounds for divorce. I would like to be heard. I would like to call witnesses,’” said Willett, who experienced a divorce she didn’t want because she thought her marriage could be saved. “I believed in my vows” and “didn’t want to give up”.

But Willett’s argument relies on the idea that “women are either property or that somehow men’s liberty is restrained by not allowing them to stay in a marriage with someone who does not want to be married”, said Wehle, who also wrote about it in the Atlantic. “I disagree with the idea that women are somehow property interests of their husbands. That is an arcane relic of law that has no place in modern society.”

Willett responded to Wehle’s critique by writing that “nobody has suggested a return to antiquated laws of the 18th and 19th century. Considerable reform that protects women and ensures their equality in family court has been enacted since then.”

On the argument that no-fault divorce reduces domestic violence, Willett points to data that most domestic violence occurs between unmarried couples and says regardless, with “any contract, any lawsuit, you still have to follow the constitution”.

But without such laws, victims of domestic violence would then have to navigate a court system that can be time-consuming, “very adversarial and very costly” because the plaintiff often must then pay for child care and transportation, said Marium Durrani, vice-president of policy for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

“Any sort of additional barrier that we add to the ease of legal proceeding is, frankly, a nightmare and an enormous burden for survivors,” said Durrani. “I’m not trying to be an alarmist, but it can increase death [if] a survivor of domestic violence has to prove that they are being abused in a divorce proceeding.”

Still, Lieberman does not think Republicans will succeed in their efforts to make it more difficult for people to get divorced.

“I do believe that that train has left the station. I mean, we have had no-fault divorce now for 50 years,” Lieberman said. But “I didn’t think the supreme court would overturn Roe v Wade, which we had for 50 years, so I suppose we will see.”

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posttexasstressdisorder · 1 year ago

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They killed our Jesus: A Lament for Generation Jones

Two things happened in 1980 that would ensure the iron grip of the fascist state would (first slowly, then quickly), tighten on the entirety of the nation's populace from that moment forward: Ronald fucking Reagan was installed as president, and a CIA-psyop'd Christian Nationalist shot and killed John Lennon.

Those two things are connected.

First let's look at exactly who "Generation Jones" encompasses, and specific moments in the generational timeline that defined our future. The wiki page is actually quite good. Here's an excerpt that really hits it on the head:

"The name "Generation Jones" has several connotations, including a large anonymous generation, a "keeping up with the Joneses" competitiveness and the slang word "jones" or "jonesing", meaning a yearning or craving.[17][18][19] Pontell suggests that Jonesers inherited an optimistic outlook as children in the 1960s, but were then confronted with a different reality as they entered the workforce during Reaganomics and the shift from a manufacturing to a service economy, which ushered in a long period of mass unemployment. Mortgage interest rates increased to above 12 percent in the mid-eighties,[20] making it virtually impossible to buy a house on a single income. De-industrialization arrived in full force in the mid-late 1970s and 1980s; wages would be stagnant for decades, and 401Ks replaced pensions, leaving them with a certain abiding "jonesing" quality for the more prosperous days of the past.

Generation Jones is noted for coming of age after a huge swath of their older brothers and sisters in the earlier portion of the Baby Boomer population had; thus, many note that there was a paucity of resources and privileges available to them that were seemingly abundant to older Boomers. Therefore, there is a certain level of bitterness and "jonesing" for the level of doting and affluence granted to older Boomers but denied to them.[21]"

That sets the stage, for the most part. I was four when JFK was shot on TV. I was a wide-eyed, open-eared five year old when The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan and The Supremes were on the radio. I was ten when we landed on the moon, and I wanted to be a hippie at Woodstock at eleven. "Basketball Jones" came out when I was 12...I jonesed for a telescope because SPACE and got one from that great maker of fine telescopes, KMart.

Generationally, we jonesed to be ten years older, so we could have had all the cool shit THEY had. They had The Beatles, and we had the solo Beatles, they had Hendrix, Cream, Jefferson Airplane, and we had the fucking BeeGees and disco. It's like we, as a generation, were fated to live The K-Mart Knockoff of Life, instead of the bright, shiny Brand Name One all our older brothers and sisters got.

MUSIC and SCIENCE were EVERYTHING to us as kids/teens...the Eshittification Of Music truly began in 1973, and proceeded through SynthPop Hell in the '80s. Rock and Roll heroes became hairdos with guitars. The rock heroes of the '60s were getting married and having kids and baking bread. AM Radio ceased to be something you listened to for music...it began to replace music with strident, screaming hate voices that would eventually engulf all of AM Radio 24/7/365.

We were continually thwarted most of the way from our young adulthood on, blatantly from the moments in 1980 that the vile Ronald Reagan and the core operatives of evil for the next 50 years took over, and then the moment of what I call "Our Generational Wounding", the murder of John Lennon.

Back in '66, John had inflamed all the grandpas of todays magats by saying (truthfully) that with teens, The Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Beatle hate became a Very Big Thing in Bumfuck South Texas. Record burnings, merchandise burnings, book burnings, all were commonplace. A very palpable, and very specifically "Anti-Beatle" hate got instilled in a lot of kids/teens at that point, so anything to do with the Beatles was taboo for "good people" (read Southern Baptists) to like.

That, of course, made me love them that much more, and to follow their paths from their breakup forward with 'bated breath, buying every 45 they put out, trying to save pennies up to buy their albums.

John was the radical hippie, the one who wanted peace, the one with the weirdo wife, the one who held a "Bed-In" for peace. In a very fundamental-to-our-generation way, John Lennon was OUR "Jesus".

Richard Nixon (president from '68 to '74) HATED him.

In 1971, there was a true mass consciousness that incorporated us along with our older siblings, a musical mass consciousness. I became aware of many things in 1969, specifically fall of '69, so I was experiencing all this in real-time, as it happened. When the news that The Beatles officially broke up came across the AM radiowaves in May of '70, it was A. Very. Big. Deal. Everyone watched everything they did from that point on with GREAT interest.

George put out "My Sweet Lord" and "What Is Life" (first record I ever bought), John put out "Instant Karma", "Mother", then "Power To The People", then "Imagine". Ringo put out "It Don't Come Easy", and Paul & Linda had "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey". EVERYBODY was a "post-breakup Beatle critic", panning Paul's very first solo 45 "Another Day", "Uncle Albert" was the followup. This band called Badfinger that sounded suspiciously like The Beatles appeared on American radio, and would make 1972 one of the final "Golden Years" of AM Rock Radio.

In 1970 we heard about this Elton John guy, by the end of '72, I was playing as many of his songs on the piano as I could figure out. My favorite album was (still is) "Madman Across The Water". When "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" came out in '73, a very noticeable shift was occuring.

Pop became much less political. It softened. It mellowed. It grew its hair long and lived in the country, learned how to grow potatoes and play the mandolin, making Country Rock the one lasting "legacy" of our sad sub-generation. By the time I graduated HS in May of '77, it was all there was on the radio, besides....disco. Oof.

One of my first TV memories was JFK getting shot. That was the Generational Wounding of our older brothers and sisters. When Mark Chapman (a Christian nationalist who changed the words of "Imagine" to "Imagine there's no John Lennon") shot John in December of 1980, it was the 2 in the 1-2 PUNCH done to our OUR generation. The first, of course, being the installing of Reagan and the evil Evangelical influence beginning in earnest.

It also began the buildup of the "Holy War" radical right, and an utter denial and clampdown of "hippie", of "counterculture" in general began, ensuring that John's vision of world peace would never come true, at least not on their watch. They had, effectively, killed OUR Jesus, along with our chances of the kind of security our older sibs got in spades. It also marked the unholy marriage of the evangelicals and the republican apparatus.

When Reagan got elected by virtue of the vile Newt Gingrich's 'Southern Strategy', a clampdown in earnest on the very SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE of our generation's incredible want and need, our collective JONESING for world peace began. Richard Nixon had planted the seeds. Nixon hated John Lennon with a passion. After Reagan was elected, I firmly believe Chapman was "activated" and they killed John as a Christmas present to Nixon.

It was after that, when the dream of a scientific future began to die, as well. When we were in high school, SCIENCE WAS EVERYTHING, so we wanted to be some kind of scientist "when we grew up".

I dealt with four years of college, majored in Biology, and in early 1981 realized my dream of being a Forest Ranger in Yosemite or some other national park somewhere, living in a cabin, giving talks to visitors about the biology aspects of the park....all that went POOF, almost instantaneously. My degree would get me nowhere, so I left before the end of that year and started working in record stores.

I was effectively the Cusack character in the movie about record stores, but it led to a dead end. Record stores weren't all that glamorous, and yes, the pay was dogshit. I tried working in record stores for the love of the music, while trying to BE a musician in a town FILLED OVER FLOWING with musicians, but that was quickly shat on by the beginning shrieks of late-stage capitalism.

It was like working in the record stores was my trying to keep holding onto the dream, our generation's dream...John's dream of world peace (along with my dream of being a working musician) died a pitiful death by the end of 1986.

What followed was nothing but a series of Jobs I Hated, and the beginnings of the true Jonesing for the life we'd been promised, because we didn't get the raises, the pensions, the house, the car, boat and camper, none of that shit for us. A life of being a low-paid, no-insurance drub, destined to be a life-long renter, unless a financial miracle happens.

So when people ask why we (as a generation) hate Ronald Reagan so much, let's just say I'm with Bugs on this one.

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hussyknee · 6 months ago

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Unrolled twitter thread by Progressive International (@ProgIntl)

30 Sept 24 • 4 minute read • Read on X

On 30 September 1965, the Indonesian military, working closely with the US government, initiated a coup that would depose President Sukarno and install the brutal, 30-year dictatorship of General Suharto.

In the dark years that followed, the dictatorship massacred over a million Indonesian communists, with the CIA and US diplomats drawing up “kill lists” for the Indonesian military. The operation would become a template for the US’s regime change operations for decades to come.

Major-General Suharto with Indonesian Army in 1966

In 1945, President Sukarno led Indonesia to independence from Dutch colonial rule. He championed the Non-Aligned Movement and hosted the historic Bandung Conference, a meeting of Afro-Asian states, in 1955.

First President of Indonesia Sukarno making a speech circa 1945

Opening the conference and forecasting what was to come, Sukarno said: “We are often told ‘Colonialism is dead’. Let us not be deceived or even soothed by that… Colonialism also has its modern dress, in the form of economic control, intellectual control, actual physical control by a small, but alien community within a nation.”

Leaders attending the Bandung Conference 1955 in Bandung, Indonesia. From left: Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Ghanian Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah, Egyptian Prime Minister Gamal Abdel Nasser, President Sukarno, and Yugoslavian Prime Minister Josip Broz Tito.

By 1965, Indonesia possessed one of the world's largest communist parties, the PKI. The PKI had a mass membership and mobilized vast numbers of people in the battle against Indonesia’s ruling class.

Campaign of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in September 1955.

Terrified by the strength and organization of Indonesia’s people, the Indonesian military’s 30th September Movement began to purge the PKI.

Men suspected of being IPK members being transported under guard by an armed Indonesian soldier

In the early hours of 1 October, a group of military conscripts murdered six high-ranking generals. Blaming the deaths on the PKI, Suharto used the attacks as a pretext to seize power. CIA communications equipment allowed him to spread false reports around the country and begin a long campaign of anti-communist propaganda.

The US had tried to overthrow Sukarno for years; in 1958, the CIA backed armed regional rebellions against the central government. In 1965, they did all they could to aid Suharto’s murderous power grab.

The campaign soon became genocidal. On islands like Bali, up to 10% of the population was massacred — and luxury hotels soon began to appear over the killing fields.

One US embassy staffer told the US press that Suharto’s military “probably killed a lot of people, and I probably have a lot of blood on my hands, but that's not all bad.”

Time Magazine referred to the killings as “the West’s best news for years in Asia”.

A cable from the US embassy’s first secretary, Mary Vance Trent, to the State Department referred to events in Indonesia as a “fantastic switch which has occurred over 10 short weeks”. It also included an estimate that 100,000 people had been slaughtered.

Cementing his power, Suharto became president in 1967. His ‘New Order’ policy allowed Western capitalism to exploit Indonesia’s cheap labour and plunder its natural resources. Civil rights and dissent were suppressed.

In one of the world’s most populous countries, any possibility for the emergence of a new, democratic political project was eliminated. Richard Nixon described Indonesia as “the greatest prize in Southeast Asia”. Suharto would not leave office until 1998.

U.S. President Ronald Reagan stands with Indonesian President Suharto in the White House South Lawn at the arrival ceremony for Suharto's State Visit. Oct 12, 1982

CIA officers described Suharto’s rise to power and anti-communist purge as the “model operation” and “Jakarta” soon became the codeword for anti-communist extermination programs in Latin America, where hundreds of thousands were massacred in regime change efforts engineered by Washington.

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mx-defying · 1 year ago

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#Octopus murders #Music industry #The octopus #Mafia #Organized crime #Sage #ronald reagan #White House #dOJ #The department of Justice #Hollywood

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daughter-of-sapph0 · 2 years ago

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imagine you're in Vietnam in the 50s and you find out that the kid you bullied in school just had his family murdered. and you sorta feel bad, but then you find out that he's actually alive, and he joined the Viet Cong and singlehandedly blew up the us military's biggest battleship ever that's the size of an island. and then you learn that he's a magical wizard with precognition and telekinesis. and then he comes back to town, kills the local crime lord, leaves without saying hi to any of his old friend, and then murders Ronald Reagan and blows up a second massive battleship the size of an island.

that's what Luke Skywalker is to the people of tatooine

#dostxt

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mtnman451 · 4 months ago

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Leftists, Liberals and Democrats.

Here's the thing. As of late in The Tumblrverse, Leftists, Liberals and Democrats are applauding the actions of the CEO Shooter not as an act of Cowardly Act of Murder but as an act of Karmic Retribution and hail him as a "hero" of the masses. However, those same people believe former Marine Daniel Penny, a man who saved ALL the people trapped with him in that locked subway car regardless of skin color from the actions and threats of a Drugged Up Mentally Ill Man, as a murderer and racist.

Yes. That just how Fucked Up these people truly are. Don't lend any credence or pay attention to anything they say. After all and like Ronald Reagan said,

“It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so.”

#democrats #leftists #liberals #liberalism #us politics #politics

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super-sootica · 2 years ago

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FINE, you get another go at the time machine and the ability to prevent one birth (or commit a murder up to you), don't worry about the butterfly effect, we want the butterfly effect that's part of the point. Your actions will prevent them from ever rising to prominence. Original poll here There may be a face off poll at the end. Hitler still isn't an option because we'd all chose to kill him.

Am gonna go Pontius Pilate and say my hands are cleaned of this one. All of the below are nominees.

#poll #tumblr poll #history

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iocaisaint · 5 months ago

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Random ACOTAR takes

cw*: my unsolicited opinions

I agree with #that woman that canon Lucien and Nesta (and I mean pre-ACOSF) would've been terrible for each other sorry

As of right now Nesta is the only Archeron sister with direct connection to the Dusk Court, like her and her alone 🤷🏾‍♀️

Out of the love square (?) Lucien is lowkey the only one with a storyline that isn't made out of paper mache and hope. There's so many angles you could go: Beron, Eris, LOA, The Autumn Court or Spring Court, Tamlin, or Day Court, Helion, being an heir, or helping Vassa with Koschei + his overall friendship with Jurian + Vassa + humans as a whole and that's without touching on the mating bond even once. Real set-up wished she'd done that with everyone else

That being said, I disagree with a bunch of Lucien's stans when it comes to his characters, y'all have a power fantasy for him that's in direct contradiction to how he's actually written (I mean I get it the books treat him like trash)

If Nesta is pregnant I'll have a crash out to end all crash outs.

Everybody in this fandom bar maybe Feysands are shipping fanon, the scenes that y'all talk about and the ones that exist on page are either not the same or straight up don't exist.

I hate the HK/HQ plot even for Nesta, like is blatant colonialism.

Everybody here is a hypocrite when it comes to their faves we'd all be happier admitting then bending over backwards.

I do not care for Elain, simply because fanon Elain is so far removed from what's on page, that most her pro arguments simply don't make sense to me.

There's no reason for Helion to give up his Pegasi but I know HOFAS was a mess but when the place was revitalised after the Asteri were murdered they came back, my guess is that place and the prison are mirror worlds so the same will happen once the Prison is liberated

Azriel isn't boring but he also isn't extremely interesting. If he was a girl no one would gaf about him, but there are enough concepts of an idea where I could see his book not being awful.

Neither the pro or the anti side gives a fuck about Emerie, double points if you're engaging in that ship war. No I won't expand on this, I'm right.

Nessian sucks, that's all.

Actually no I'm expanding on that point, the fact that people defend no "I love you" from the MMC is crazy, that fact that people defend Nesta being threatened without Cass stepping in even worse, the fact that Rhys knows he can berate Nesta in Cassian's presence....like they had an 800+ page book and I'm still having to hear about how they need to "grow as characters" y'all aren't serious people

I've become more neutral-positive to Feyre because some of the arguments against her are just crazy but on that note she'd be deeply more entertaining if the narrative wrote her refusal for self reflection as a flaw

Gwyn cannot be a evil light singer and irrelevant at the same time please pick one.

Also I don't hate the light singer theory, sorry. Monsters not actually being monsters is this series's bread and butter. It'd be great if a woman finally got that treatment

I can already tell Eris is about to be retconned to hell because SJM hates a character not being vindicated by the narrative to redeem them (she already started by implying Eris wants his father dead for #feminism). Let it be known I like/d him as is

I don't get into arguments about Rhys cause I find him boring. Y'all are fighting day in day out about faerie Ronald Reagan

Nesta should've been bi, how tf did we get stuck with Mor

I have more but that's it for now.

#acotar #anti sjm #anti elain #anti elain Archeron #anti feyre archeron #anti feyre #anti mor #anti rhysand #this isn't actually anti anyone but I'm praying y'all have those tags filtered not in the mood to argue #anti cassian #anti nessian

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deadpresidents · 11 months ago

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Everyone knows about Lincoln and Garfield and McKinley and Kennedy, the quartet of America Presidents who fell victim to assassination. Even the most casual observers of Presidential history can probably name the four Presidents who were murdered while in office, and many even know the names of the four assassins responsible for their deaths: Booth, Guiteau, Czolgosz, and Oswald.

There have also been quite a few (in)famous unsuccessful assassination attempts, where Presidents barely escaped with their lives, that many Americans are familiar with, including (but not limited to):

•Richard Lawrence's miraculously unlucky double misfire on the steps of the U.S. Capitol in 1835 which left Andrew Jackson unharmed but resulted in Lawrence -- who would be found not guilty by reason of insanity -- getting viciously pummeled by the cane-wielding President Jackson until Davy Crockett intervened to save the would-be assassin from the 67-year-old President. •The shooting of former President Theodore Roosevelt in Milwaukee as he sought another term in the White House during the 1912 Presidential election. Despite being shot in the chest, Roosevelt decided to go ahead and deliver his campaign speech before being taken to the hospital where doctors discovered that the bullet lodged inside of TR had first passed through a case for his eyeglasses and the thick pages of his speech in his jacket's pocket, lessening the damage from the gunshot. •The attempted assassination of President-elect Franklin D. Roosevelt in Miami in February 1933, just seventeen days in before FDR's Inauguration, which wounded four people and killed Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak. •The ill-fated 1950 attempt by Puerto Rican nationalists to storm Blair House (the temporary Presidential residence during the renovation of the White House) and kill President Harry S. Truman as he was napping. Truman was not hurt, but a White House Police Officer and one of the two assassins were killed during the wild shootout. •President Gerald Ford's trouble with two California women who separately tried to kill him in Sacramento and then San Francisco just two weeks apart in September 1975. •The shocking shooting of President Ronald Reagan in broad daylight from just a few yards away as he exited the Washington Hilton following a speech in March 1981, which left four people wounded and very nearly killed the 70-year-old Reagan just two months into his Presidency.

But what is amazing is that, in this age of instant information and the constant regurgitation of media coverage via the 24-hour news cycle, very few Americans know that there is a man sitting in prison in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia for attempting to assassinate President George W. Bush. What even less Americans realize is how close Vladimir Arutyunian actually came to accomplishing his task.

On May 10, 2005, President Bush spoke to a large crowd at an outdoor rally in Tbilisi, Georgia. In one of the photos at the top of this post, Bush is seen speaking from the stage in Tbilisi. The other photo is of Arutyunian holding a plaid handkerchief close to his chest. Wrapped in that handkerchief was a live hand grenade.

As President Bush spoke, nearby sat his wife, Laura, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, and the Dutch-born First Lady of Georgia, Sandra Roelofs. They had no idea that, during the speech, Arutyunian tossed his handkerchief-wrapped grenade towards the stage. The grenade landed just 61 feet away from President Bush, well within range of causing serious injury, if not death.

Of course, the grenade did not explode. At first, it was thought to be a dud, but upon closer inspection it was discovered that the only reason the grenade didn't explode was because Arutyunian's handkerchief -- used to conceal the explosive as he stood in the crowd -- was wrapped too tightly around the grenade, preventing the firing pin from deploying. A Georgian security official noticed the grenade, grabbed it quickly and disposed of it as Arutyunian disappeared into the massive crowd and President Bush continued speaking.

After Bush's speech was over and once it was recognized that the President had only narrowly escaped a legitimate attempted assassination, Georgian police worked closely with the United States Secret Service, the FBI, and the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the assassination attempt and find the would-be assassin who seemingly melted into Tbilisi after his brazen, albeit unsuccessful attempt on Bush's life. Using DNA evidence and tips from informants, the Georgian police ultimately tracked down Arutyunian two months later. When they went to arrest Arutyunian, a gunfight broke out and Arutyunian killed Zurab Kvlividze, a top counterterrorism official with Georgia's Interior Ministry. Arutyunian was wounded before finally being captured with the assistance of Georgian Special Forces.

The Georgians tried Arutyunian on the murder of the police officer, as well as the attempted assassinations of President Bush and President Saakshvili. Arutyunian was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. A federal grand jury in the United States also indicted Arutyunian on the federal charge of the attempted assassination of the President of the United States, which is a felony. The U.S., however, has not attempted nor has any potential plans to extradite the failed assassin from Georgia, and Arutyunian will almost certainly spend the rest of his life in a Georgian prison.

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deke-rivers-1957 · 1 month ago

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Frankie And Johnny Review

Based on a real life 1899 murder, Frankie and Johnny is actually a remake of a 1936 film with the same name. The news of a woman named Frankie being accused of murdering her boyfriend nicknamed Johnny, inspired numerous depictions of it through art, music and movies. Also in an interesting tidbit, this is the last movie the director made who was known as directing the then future president Ronald Reagan.

However, this is an Elvis movie. Given the emphasis on making it a lighthearted musical, no one is actually murdered. Instead, Johnny being a gambler with a fixation on luck survives by the end of the film. With the change in nature of how this story is depicted, does this movie help change the narrative of poor Frankie and Johnny's story, or does it completely sanitize the history of this couple just to be a light hearted musical set in New Orleans? Let's find out.

What a great way to open the film. You're introduced to the setting right away and you know right off the bat this is not meant to be a modern film. "Come Along" is a direct invitation to the viewer to travel back in time to the days of river-boating as that was a common way to travel cross country. It also makes for a perfect set up to the eventual New Orleans environment. I almost forget that we don't immediately start off there because the visuals remind me of the location. We get introduced to our cast and you know things are good when there's a build up to seeing Elvis. It shows that there's a focus on establishing characters as opposed to shoving Elvis into every scene. Blackie isn't even a main character and still shows up before Elvis. When we do meet Elvis, we find that he's a gambling man named Johnny who's very superstitious. One thing that made me laugh despite being completely unintentional was Cully saying "hello wife" to Peggy as he walked in and me immediately assuming he would say "goodbye wife" in the exact same tone. I think right off the bat he is an underrated side character. It makes me wish Elvis movies had more of this where he does have friends.

After his first musical number "Petunia's Garden" with his girlfriend Frankie, we get an understanding of many things: Johnny is self aware that he's a loser and gambles so much because he wants to prove that he can be the right man for Frankie, Cully is trying to write a song that's good enough for Broadway, and Braden's live entertainment acts have been duds. Interestingly enough, this movie is structured like a Broadway musical with each song actually contributing something to the story by either introducing a character, location or theme; or reflect a shift in character dynamics and emotional status. I don't know if it was an intentional decision when arranging the soundtrack like it was to include rag-time songs, but I love it.

To change his luck, Johnny and Cully go to a fortune teller so she can tell him what will be needed. All for the high cost by that era’s standards of $20. That’s right based on the time period this movie takes place $20 is a lot of money. You understand more of that financial pressure for Johnny to get one big win. Now I know a lot of people would think the fortune telling scene aged poorly because of the stereotypes involving the Romani people. However, given that this movie takes place in the late 1800s-early 1900s, I very much understand why. While it was not at all intentional, the Romani people had so much struggle in the US that playing into the stereotype knowing it was a "guaranteed" way to make money has the odds of happening as more than 0. Regardless you do need something like this to set up the plot as Johnny is superstitious to the point where I headcanon him as having OCD. It would be one thing to have his superstitions be tied to his gambling, but they make it clear it stems well beyond the gambling room. He gets upset about Cully breaking a mirror and rubs a horseshoe before going on stage to do a very physically tame musical number. Again not at all intentional, but just because conditions like this weren't common knowledge doesn't mean people weren't at least a little aware of how people with those conditions act.

The fortune teller tells Johnny that he needs a beautiful redheaded woman to get good luck. While Johnny shows his loyalty to Frankie by opposing this idea, he still goes along with it because this is still the beginning of his character arc where he believes the fortune teller can't possibly be wrong. We also get the song "Chesay" and it is definitely meant to be a Broadway style musical number. You have an entire ensemble including Cully singing with dubbed vocals. I only knew they were dubbed because the song credits Ray Walker doing the vocals for Cully's actor Harry Morgan (he also did Tom's vocals in Clambake interestingly enough). I know it's stereotypical, but the musical arrangement still gives you a certain fascination with the Romani culture. Even the concept of Johnny needed a redhead plays into the superstition that they were associated with the devil and Johnny would be doing wrong with Frankie by going with another woman.

We then get introduced to a convenient redhead named Nellie Bly who turns out to be Braden's old flame. You can easily guess where this goes, but surprisingly Johnny doesn't have any romantic interest in her at all. Watching him say that he's only following the fortune teller's advice in such a matter of fact tone is honestly hilarious. It does a good job of endearing you to Johnny so you feel bad for the eventual drama that will come up. You know that is where it will go as soon as you have Johnny sing "What Every Woman Lives For" and he so much as focuses on Nellie too long. I do appreciate how we see various Memphis Mafia cameos throughout the song and even throughout the movie. It really does showcase that this is a steamboat and fills in all that space with people.

Frankie of course is jealous and it does drag the film down. Johnny makes it clear from the beginning that Nellie means nothing and Nellie isn't all that quick to jump his bones either. Therefore, we are more primed to think Frankie is unreasonable. Cully naming his song after Nellie and giving a role in their new show doesn't help matters. The transition to the first show confused me first watch. I had no idea that it was the actual show as opposed to it just being a rehearsal. If only you were at the watch party, the whole vibe after this scene was just chaos.

"Frankie and Johnny" is filmed so well. Easily the best originally filmed scene (there's a reason behind this involving foreshadowing). I don't even mind that Frankie's singing is clearly dubbed because Johnny's look of shock and betrayal is so on point. I even made a meme about it because of how human it is. You feel like you are watching a person actually get shot by his girlfriend. The show of course is an absolute success which really showcases the time period. Broadway really was the biggest stage to be on so of course it would be a big deal when Cully gets an advance for his song. I don't even mind getting another song this soon in "Look Out Broadway" because again, it reflects the emotional status of these characters celebrating their upcoming success. We also get pretty obscure references by 21st century standards. If you are reading this, leave a comment if you knew who Lillian Russel, Stephen Foster and/or Diamond Joe were.

Johnny of course, gives into the superstition again by trying to find a redhead other than Nellie. I know you’re thinking “why couldn’t he just ask Peggy and avoid all this”? The answer is simple actually: Peggy would never enable Johnny’s gambling addiction. It just isn’t her character to support that type of behavior as she’s already upset Cully enables it. Therefore she was never a viable option even though she was an easily accessible redhead. That is why we meet the best one scene only character ever in Abigail. I love her so much that I actually wished she got more to do in the movie. Her drunken line "I am fickle" is so relatable when watching these movies as some movies do the same thing yet they don’t always work for me. Surprisingly this redhead luck is also fickle as it specifically applies to redheads standing immediately next to Johnny. Poor Abigail falls flat on the floor and is never seen again. What a shame as it also leaves Johnny penniless again. I know we need to toe the line between superstitions having merit and being outright nonsense so I can totally understand why this has to happen.

This time Frankie doesn't even seem that upset but more disappointed. I have no idea what it is about Nellie specifically that upsets her. It would be one thing if it was just Johnny's gambling problem that upset her, but she seems to pick and choose the wrong battles to take on. Johnny even makes it more clear that there is no reason to doubt his love for her by singing a sweet song about what I believe was their first show together. It gives me Gone With The Wind energy with how she’s dressed. When you completely ignore the politics of that region in that period of time, the fashion is almost otherworldly. I'm now realizing that by the time this movie was being made the Civil War ended exactly 100 years ago which is unfathomable to think about despite the nostalgic feeling this scene makes you have for that era.

The set design is so beautiful despite not lasting long. That is what gives the movie charm as it is very low stakes so far, but you can see the amount of care put into the visual production and set design. For a not at all big budget, they made the most of it and you can definitely see it in the final product. "Beginner's Luck" is very appropriately named as you do get the idea that Johnny is starting to shift away from thinking that he needs to follow his fear of disobeying superstition. He is essentially reflecting on why he went on a gambling run to begin with and how he could just go back to the good ol days. I do wish the transition was executed better as I was at first confused over where the flashback ended. A simple fade back to Johnny as he sighs and turns off the light would be enough.

We finally get to New Orleans and I love that the scene takes place outside. It creates a sense of glamour as you don't have this crammed onto one soundstage. Granted "Down By the Riverside" and "When the Saints Go Marching In" creates an anachronism as spirituals weren't really recorded by white people until the 1920s. I don't think the writers remembered the references they used earlier in the movie that would date this before the phonograph was even invented. At the same time, we're not supposed to care about that because we're in New Orleans now. "Shout it Out" is a great way to kick off Mardi Gras but that is where the party ends. So Frankie, Nellie and Mitzi all have Madam Pompadour costumes. I'll give you three guesses on what happens next. Actually I'll just tell you. Frankie and Nellie come up with a plot to make Braden jealous and catch Johnny cheating on Frankie. This plan is so awful from a logical perspective that I just lose respect for these otherwise decent female characters. It also does not help if you are like me and genuinely can not tell the difference when they are all in the costume with wigs.

The only thing that saves this whole stupidity is Mitzi. For some reason the drunk women in this movie are better written than Frankie and Nellie in this scene. Her getting together with an equally drunk Braden works. What would make this whole thing pay off is if it was a cliched misunderstanding. The women dress up as actual redhead Queen Elizabeth from the 1500s so Johnny can feed into his superstition while still being loyal to Frankie. Nellie and Mitzi also having that costume will still work as Mitzi being drunk and lonely can lead to her cozying up to Johnny. When Johnny kisses her, thinking he's kissing Frankie, both Frankie and Braden see this and think he's kissing Nellie. It's the exact same result but we don't have to sit through this sober stupidity.

It makes it worse when we get "Hard Luck" and "Please Don't Stop Loving Me" as a framing device that paints Johnny as being in the wrong. Looking at him kiss Frankie thinking she was Nellie was more of a spur of the moment kiss that was never meant to be taken seriously. This just doesn't work and if anything makes Frankie unreasonable as opposed to justifying her actions. Johnny even says that the fortune teller was wrong and that he only ever needed Nellie to be lucky. This would have been perfect for his character arc, but Nellie ruins it by going as far as to throw $10k out the window. I know she was angry but seriously, you are willing to throw $10k away after getting burned by a plan you came up with? That's your own fault, Frankie.

At least we get Elvis in tight pants and a build up to the real climax. Braden is still drunk and wants to propose to Nellie. In a drunken fit of jealousy, he doesn't object to Blackie coming up with a plan to kill Johnny thinking it would make his boss happy. This is the type of stupid plan that actually does work because one half is drunk, the other is stupid. But if anything I think it works as it shows that no one is an actual villain. I don’t even think there’s an antagonistic force with how the characters act like real people. Braden doesn’t actually want Johnny to die when he finds out what Blackie will do. They make assumptions, they get drunk, they make bad decisions. In Blackie's case, they have apprehensions. As much as it was his idea, Blackie has to drink before finding the "courage" to put in a real bullet. Frankie is still mad at Johnny and again I have no idea what Johnny was supposed to apologize for. On paper she isn’t really an antagonist either but I wish this wasn’t so dragged out. He clearly didn't run off with Nellie like Frankie thought he would but whatever. This is just a means to build up to what really does matter.

The show begins and yeah there's reused footage. I just don't care because the song itself is not the focus. It is more of a medium for the suspense knowing that Frankie is going to unknowingly shoot Johnny. This whole musical number was a medium to foreshadow what will eventually happen. Even down to Mitzi being the catalyst to Johnny's "death". If Frankie didn’t mistake her for Nellie, she never would’ve come up with that stupid plan. We also get genuine suspense as Braden runs to prevent Frankie from pulling the trigger. The longer the scene goes you start to realize Braden might actually fail to make it in time. That being said the twist of Johnny's lucky cricket saving him is weak. Braden yelling don't shoot out of nowhere is more likely to cause Frankie to miss. That type of gun is relatively heavy so you need to have a lot of concentration when aiming. Especially when you’re let’s face it: a woman in a period of time where unless she lived in the Wild West or the mountains would’ve otherwise never handled a gun before. The slightest twitch can alter the trajectory of the bullet. This would cement Johnny's superstition arc being resolved and actually pays off him saying the fortune teller was wrong. He would realize that because Frankie gave the cricket to him, it was because he loved her that made it lucky.

Meanwhile, the in universe audience would be losing their minds as this could easily be seen as part of the show. Even the delivery of Johnny saying "baby you have me" felt like it was a planned twist as opposed to a genuine near death situation. So of course the show is a smashing success and everyone is happy. After watching this movie a couple times, I can't shake some of my negative feelings towards Frankie. She created her own problem and blamed Johnny only to take it all back. I think a lot of it has to do with the dramatic irony that we know Johnny's motives and know that Nellie Bly means nothing to him. At the same time, Frankie's plan is still stupid and something that I would expect a drunken Mitzi to come up with. Happily Ever After with an invite into their world in "Everybody Come Aboard" but I wish we got to our destination via less choppy waters.

It was confusing on the first watch but man it gets better every watch. Is it flawed? Yes but it's still enjoyable. Even though it's not accurate to the real story, it's still suspenseful. When Braden said don't shoot the audience would be losing their minds in real life. Elvis movies are at their best when they have an ensemble cast. That isn't because Elvis isn't good enough to carry a full story on his own. Elvis works best when he's bouncing off of others. The stories that he is given need to have him with roots. It doesn't work when he's just dropped into a location and we're expected to care for him. Here even though this is the only movie where his character doesn't have a last name, you don't care. The world building is pretty well done that you don't see it as being empty. The riverboat doesn't have the same 10 people, you have an entire ensemble that makes up the world.

The women's plot to trick Johnny is still stupid as well as the cricket being enough to stop a bullet, but those are very easy to fix. The medium of musical theater was executed well and I'm amazed more movies haven't done this. Elvis can still shine and not have the movie try to make it seem like he's the only singer in the world. Dare I say it, this is an 8/10. The songs in the movie didn't feel unnecessary at all. I actually didn't realize there were that many because they all blended into the story very well. I would even go as far as to say I recommend giving it a watch. When looking at Elvis vehicles as just a light hearted form of entertainment, I can honestly say this is the gold standard of accomplishing that while still valuing good writing. I would say that while it did gloss over what really happened to the real Frankie and Johnny it didn’t make their proxies bad people. Unlike Johnny for most of the movie, you won't have a bad time watching this.

AN: I was not expecting the full detailed story behind this song to be this intense. I don't think the average person who heard of the song would've known that this was a black couple. I was just looking forward to talking about the history of Mardi Gras. If I had known, I would've made this for February to honor Black History Month. The history behind this movie is so insane that it should almost be its own movie with how far cultural depictions have gone from the reality of it.

Tagging: @codalysssssworld, @presleysweetheart, @smokeymountainboy, @arrolyn1114, @peaceloveelvis,

@mercsandmonsters, @eapep, @atleastpleasetelephone, @without-him, @lucy114505,

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and @joecartwright1842.

#frankie and johnny #johnny #elvis film review #1966

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