#if carter had won in 1980

[sniperct]

[mariacallous]

Americans love to focus on presidential campaigns. The House of Representatives and Senate receive some attention every now and then, but our political love affair tends to center on the race for the White House. When congressional elections gain some attention, it usually happens during the midterms when political junkies don’t have much else to talk about.

But this is a mistake. Congress matters. The outcome of congressional elections during a presidential campaign is crucial to shaping the first two years of an administration, the period when the opportunity for legislating is greatest. In the coming months, the fate of the Democratic Party agenda—regardless of who wins the presidency—will depend as much on how power is distributed on Capitol Hill as who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Even after a mandate election, just one chamber of Congress can be sufficient to check a new president’s agenda. This was the story in 1980. The election was devastating to Democrats. Ronald Reagan, who was a key figure in the modern conservative movement that took hold in the 1970s, promised to move the national agenda sharply to the right after the one-term presidency of Jimmy Carter. And then, for the first time since 1954, Republicans won control of the Senate with a majority of 53 seats.

The saving grace for Democrats that year was the House, where they remained on top. While Reagan defeated Carter in an Electoral College landslide, 489-49, Democrats exited Election Day with a 243-seat majority. Though the number of conservative Democrats had increased, the caucus as a whole was quite liberal compared with the Republicans. Under the speakership of Tip O’Neill, the lower chamber became the last bastion of liberalism. Using this as a base of power, Democrats were able to veto many of Reagan’s boldest initiatives while continuing to push forward their own agenda, even as the chances for passage were minimal.

The impact of a Democratic House was evident in both domestic and foreign policy. Republicans were forced to back away from many of their most ambitious plans to slash the social safety net. When the administration moved to reduce Social Security benefits for early retirees in 1981, O’Neill mobilized a coalition as he warned that the president aimed to dismantle this popular program. Republicans were shaken. Rep. Carroll Campbell was frustrated with the electoral impact: “I’ve got thousands of 60-year-old textile workers who think it’s the end of the world. What the hell am I supposed to tell them?” Democrats also approved a budget that raised taxes, a move that was anathema to Reagan’s acolytes. In 1983, the administration worked with congressional Democrats to shore up the financial strength of the program. The Democratic majority would be bolstered in the 1982 midterms, which took place in the middle of what O’Neill called the “Reagan recession.” The political scientist Paul Pierson showed in Dismantling the Welfare State? the limited progress Reagan made on cutting most major programs.

Similar effects were evident with foreign policy. Reagan’s hawkish posture toward the Soviet Union had been defining as he rose in national prominence during the 1970s. He railed against Presidents Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Carter for practicing the policy of détente, easing relations with the Communists, while ramping up rhetoric against the Soviet Union, calling it an “evil” empire in moralistic terms that presidents had traditionally avoided. He also curtailed negotiations over arms agreements and increased support for anti-communist operations in Central America.

House Democrats responded in force. In 1982, 1983, and 1984, they passed the Boland Amendments, which curtailed Reagan’s ability to provide support to the government of El Salvador and the anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua, the Contras. The global nuclear freeze movement also found strong support on the Hill as a number of members supported resolutions for limitations on nuclear arms production. “I can’t remember any issue, including Watergate, that has moved so many people so quickly,” Democratic operative Robert Squier noted in 1982.

None of this meant that Reagan could not achieve big changes. After all, the president pushed through a massive supply side tax cut in 1981 that made deep inroads into the finances of the federal government and began a path of ongoing cuts that privileged wealthier Americans and business. Scared to oppose him, many House Democrats voted for the cuts of their own accord. Reagan increased the defense budget, and his administration used illegal methods to direct support to Central America. And House Democrats couldn’t stop the enormous impact that Reagan had on pushing national rhetoric toward the right, either. Nonetheless, House Democrats played a pivotal role in restraining conservatism while protecting the liberal legacy of the New Deal and Great Society.

The reverse has also been true. Some congressional elections are extraordinarily dramatic. For all the attention paid to the legendary political prowess of Lyndon B. Johnson, the fact that the 1964 election produced massive Democratic majorities in the House (295) and Senate (68), while shifting the balance of influence within the party away from conservative southerners toward the liberal North, was instrumental to the passage of the Great Society legislation: Medicare and Medicaid, the Voting Rights Act, higher and secondary education funding, immigration reform, and more all became possible because of the size and structure of the Congress that Johnson was able to work with. “The once powerful coalition of Republicans and conservative Democrats appeared to have been rendered impotent, or nearly so,” the New York Times noted in 1964. Once the 1966 midterms revived the conservative coalition of southern Democrats and midwestern Republicans that had ruled Capitol Hill since 1938, Johnson’s window for legislating closed.

Most recently, there was the 2020 election. One of the most important outcomes was Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock winning in Georgia, giving Democrats two Senate seats and effective control of the upper chamber. As soon as they won, the Biden administration’s fortunes changed dramatically. With unified control of Congress, Biden’s path to legislative success opened. Although the administration would have to struggle to placate the demands of Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, Biden kept his party united enough to move a series of major bills on COVID-19 relief, infrastructure, and climate change. In so doing, he racked up an impressive record.

When Biden was still at the top of the Democratic ticket, one of the greatest sources of concern for Democratic legislators such as former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Rep. Adam Schiff was that he was making a Republican Congress almost inevitable. Democrats in many parts of the country watched as their polling numbers plummeted.

With the energy and momentum that Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have brought to the campaign, the odds for Democrats to win control of the House and possibly the Senate have vastly improved.

As much as Democratic voters will be focused on raising money, canvassing, and promoting their presidential candidate, they would do well to devote as much energy to key congressional races—whether the seats in Long Island that Republicans picked up in 2022 or Senate races in states such as Montana and Ohio.

Johnson always understood how Congress controlled his fate. In 1968, when Treasury Secretary Henry Fowler told the president, “You are the master of the Senate and always have been,” Johnson responded: “I’m not master of a damn thing.” As a veteran of Washington, Johnson always understood that his legacy would ebb and flow based on the composition of the Congress.

This time around, Democratic control of one or two chambers will be pivotal, regardless of who wins. If Donald Trump is reelected as president, congressional power will be essential to impede his inevitable efforts to aggressively deploy presidential power and dismantle the administrative state.

If Harris wins, on the other hand, congressional power will be essential to ensuring that she can use the limited window she would have to expand on and strengthen the legislative legacy of Biden—and to start tackling new issues aimed at exciting an emerging generation of voters.

[qqueenofhades]

While I generally agree with your writings, I find myself confused by the term "Online Leftist". As a 75-year-old who has had a Social Democratic bent (and because of that has seen more of his votes lose than he ever wished in these United States), I have voted in every county-through-federal level election in my life since age 21. I also use social media sparingly, but I feel I certainly could be considered to be a leftist who is online, but I don't share the viewpoint of those you call "Online Leftist". Please clarify the meaning of that phrase in your writings.

I have to add that I've voted third party only once. I voted for John Anderson in 1980 and instantly regretted that action when Ronald Reagan won. (At that time, Jimmy Carter wasn't perceived as the great humanitarian and climate visionary he truly was, and the economy and the hostage crisis ruled the election arguments.) It was a lesson that was hard-earned. Thus in 2016, even though I supported Bernie Sanders's ideas and philosophy, I voted for Hillary because 1) she had unimpeachable (no pun intended) qualifications, and 2) not to vote for her would ensure that a really nasty and incompetent clown would be leading our country.

Thank you for all of your Tumblr postings. I find myself reblogging them hoping to reach the idealistic voter who tends to want to vote "purist" rather than "pragmatist."

The term "Online Leftists," as myself and others use it, refers to the specific group of often-young, often-white, often-western terminally online social media users, usually on Twitter, who post frothing manifestos about how corrupt the world is (specifically, how corrupt and fascist the Democratic Party of America is) and how the only way to fix it is to have some mythical leftist Revolution that will destroy late-stage capitalism and the current world order and somehow have no bad effects whatever and then a magical "progressive" utopia will spring into existence and everything will be fixed. Even the ones who don't go that far are heavily influenced by the ideology that the establishment/country is corrupt beyond repair, voting (especially voting for Democrats) is morally evil and indefensible, that there is no difference between the political parties of America, and that America/the West is the cause of all evil in the world. It has become especially visible with the Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Hamas wars, when they enthusiastically or at least tacitly support Russia and Hamas simply because those states/groups are "anti-western."

It also has to do with the whopping western leftist levels of virulent antisemitism and eagerness to call Israel a "white western colonialist settler state," as discussed in previous posts. Even while they decry Israel's genocide of Gaza, they will twist themselves into knots to excuse Russia's genocide of Ukraine or any legitimacy to a Jewish state or need for Israel to defend its own civilians, because you see, those genocides are committed by people they like in support of something something, Advancing the Great Revolution Cause. This is partly influenced by the belief that modern far-right fascist Russia is somehow a standard-bearer for old-school USSR socialism (which itself was horrifying enough) and should be defended and cheerled as a principled enemy of the West. This is the same group of people who unironically spend all their time posting fulminations that Biden is a genocidal fascist and America is a dictatorship, because they know that literally nothing will happen to them and they will face no real-world consequences, because none of those things are actually true. But as long as they can claim it for the rhetorical martyrdom, that does not matter.

By political beliefs and presence on Tumblr, I too am definable as a leftist who is online, but the Online Leftists (used together and with capital letters) are a distinct group whose ideology is marked by righteous nihilism, rejection of voting, support for a mythical "Revolution" in place of ever trying to work within the flawed political system, support for violent genocidal states or groups as long as they are "anti-western" or "anti-Israeli" (witness how they flocked to quiveringly defend the Houthis) while simultaneously yelling at everyone else for supporting genocide, making no attempt to incorporate actual politics, history, or reality into their all-consuming ideology, and shaming everyone else who doesn't agree with them. As you say, they are focused on some "pure" level of political engagement, which is of course impossible and therefore means the only thing they do is spend their time on Twitter rampantly spreading misinformation as long as it fits their beliefs. Pragmatism, harm reduction, nuance, or making a flawed choice that puts any kind of "moral burden" on them does not exist to them and is a dirty word, because it might conflict with bringing about La Revolution. So yeah.

[deadpresidents]

Which President’s term had the greatest number of Olympic Games? (It can’t be FDR because of all of the editions canceled during WWII, right?) It must be someone post-1992 when the Summer and Winter Games became two years apart instead of in the same year.

I figured it would have been Bill Clinton because I thought that when they switched the timing of the Games it worked out so that an extra Winter Olympics took place while he was in office, but I was wrong. Nearly all of the Presidents who served two terms in the Olympic era are tied with four Olympic Games:

Biden could have broken that tie if he won and completed a second term because the Tokyo Games that were postponed due to the pandemic would have given him an extra Olympics during his time in office and the 2026 Winter Games and 2028 Los Angeles Olympics would have added up to five total Olympics during his Presidency.

(Also, there should probably be an asterisk next to the 1980 Moscow Olympics since President Carter's decision to force American athletes to boycott those Games means they shouldn't count for him either.)

[cartermagazine]

Today In History

Diahann Carroll, an American television/stage actress, and singer — known for her show 'Julia' and films such as 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,’ and ‘Claudine’ was born on this date July 17, 1935.

Carroll made a number of films during her career and was nominated for an Academy Award for Claudine in 1974. It wasn't until she was cast as the lead in Julia in 1968, however, that Diahann Carroll became a bona fide celebrity. The role made her the first African-American woman to star in her own TV series. She was nominated for an Emmy for Julia in 1969 and won the Golden Globe Award in 1968.

She was also well known for her role as jet setter Dominique Deveraux on Dynasty from the 1980s. She received her third Emmy nomination in 1989 for her role on A Different World.

Diahann Carroll has had a long, successful career that expanded through 5 decades.

CARTER™️ Magazine carter-mag.com #wherehistoryandhiphopmeet #historyandhiphop365 #carter #cartermagazine #diahanncarroll #blackhistorymonth #blackhistory #history #staywoke

[scotianostra]

On July 25th 1980 Alan Wells won the Olympic gold for the 100 metres.

For most Scots the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow remain memorable for two principal reasons.

Their first recollection, of the political wrangling and boycott of the Games, will be shared by many worldwide.

The second, more powerful, memory is Allan Wells becoming Olympic 100m champion.

On 19th July 1980 the world watched as Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev opened the XXII Olympiad.

Three months earlier all the international focus had been on his Cold War rival, the American President Jimmy Carter. In 1980, the United States led a boycott of the Summer Olympic Games in Moscow to protest the late 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. In total, 65 nations refused to participate in the games, whereas 80 countries sent athletes to compete.

The US was joined in the boycott by more than 50 countries including West Germany, Canada, China and Japan.

The British Government backed the boycott.

However the British Olympic Association did not, and on 25 March 1980 the BOA voted to send the British team to Moscow.

The vote was decisive, with only hockey opposing the decision to go. The British team, minus the hockey squad and some individuals who did not wish to participate for their own reasons, decided to travel.

While world leaders played politics with the Games, the athletes continued to prepare themselves.

For many it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to take part on the biggest stage their sport offered.

At 28, Wells was considered old for a sprinter, but he travelled to Moscow with medals in mind.

Preparing for the Olympics as a sprinter was not what Wells originally had in mind when his athletics career began.

It was the triple jump at which Wells first excelled, becoming 1970 Scottish junior champion before moving on to the long jump.

The decision to concentrate on sprinting only came in 1976 and yielded sparkling results.

A time of 10.55 seconds was clocked for the 100m and Wells took almost a second off his previous best 200m time, to record a 21.42.

At the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, the gold medal in the 200m event belonged to Wells and he lost out by only 0.04 of a second to the great Don Quarrie in the 100m.

Progress continued to be made. Wells was the British record holder at both 100m and 200m when he travelled to Moscow, having completed his training in his home town of Edinburgh, then Australia and Cote D'Azur.

Wells was a medal prospect going into the start of the 100m event in Moscow. By the end of the second round, after a blistering 10.11, that had changed; he was now a gold medal contender.

Detractors claim the 1980 Olympic Games were tarnished due to the non-participation of strong countries such as the USA and West Germany.

However, the Moscow games saw the setting of 73 Olympic records, 36 world records and 39 European records.

In the case of Wells, the 100m field for the final contained many first-class sprinters - Silvio Leonard of Cuba, Marian Woronin of Poland, home favourite Aleksandr Aksinin and Bulgarian Petar Petrov.

With his wife Margot watching the final from the stands, providing strong vocal support that was relayed to a watching nation by the BBC, Wells took to the starting blocks. He had previously performed in competition without blocks but was compelled to do so due to an Olympic rule change. Back home, hopes were high that Wells would be the man to strike gold and emulate Harold Abrahams who had won in Paris 1924.

Wells had been drawn in lane eight with Silvio Leonard far to his left in lane one. It was from the two outside lanes that the drama would come with the bronze medallist emerging from those sandwiched between.

Just 10.25 seconds after the starter's gun had fired, the race was over. Momentum carried Wells, Leonard and the whole field past the finish line but the result was unknown.

The Cuban and the Scot had fought neck and neck the whole way down the track and a photo-finish was required.

After a wait in which the identity of the gold medallist was the subject of intense debate, Wells was declared the winner. Scottish celebrations began.

For Wells the Games were not yet over. Having beaten the world record holder at 200m, Italian Pietro Mennea, in the 1979 World Cup in Turin, Wells knew that there was the opportunity for a second gold medal. In the final a British record run of 20.21 was superb but Wells could not hold onto the race lead; Mennea's time of 20.19 was enough to push Wells into second place and bring Italy gold.

While the sprint double had eluded Wells, he departed from Moscow as the Olympic champion of the blue riband event, and he was in no doubt to whom his victory was dedicated.

When asked by an English journalist if he wanted to dedicate his win to Abrahams, who had died 18 months previously, Wells replied in typically frank fashion: "No disrespect to anyone else, but I would prefer to dedicate this to Eric Liddell."

Because Wells won the gold with so many athletes missing due to the boycotts, many detractors thought it was a tainted victory. Had the Americans, particularly Stanley Floyd and Mel Lattany, been present at Moscow, then surely they would have won, so the argument went.

Fired up by such talk, Wells decided to race in Germany just two weeks after his gold medal win. Still plagued by back trouble and exhausted after a tiring season, it was a huge gamble to take. Had he lost, the critics would forever have held the ammunition to degrade his accomplishment. But Wells was determined to prove to everyone that he was the finest sprinter in the world. And so he did. Beating the field to win the final, Wells was approached by Lattany shortly after the race finished. The magnanimous American wanted to let the Scotsman know that, regardless of who was running, Wells would have won Olympic gold in Moscow.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Do you remember the military junta that ruled Greece from 1967 to 1974?  I didn’t remember much about it either, except for a vague recollection that there had been a military coup just before elections were scheduled to be held in May of that year.  The elections were predicted to be won by Georgios Papandreou’s Center Union, a leftist party that had won elections in 1963 and 1964, the second by a large majority.  The right wing in Greece was rattled by the probable election of Papandreou in1967.  They were even more alarmed that his son, Andreas, who was even further to the left than his father, would have a role in a new government, so a group of generals and colonels pulled off a coup just before the elections to keep Papandreou from winning.

They ran tanks into downtown Athens, creating mass confusion and fear, and dispatched military units around the country to arrest Center Union politicians, intellectuals supporting Papandreou, the acting Prime Minister, Panagiotis Kanellopoulos, and ordinary citizens who were suspected of leftist sympathies.  The coup suspended most of the Greek Constitution, making possible arbitrary arrests and prosecutions without warrants or formal charges.  Georgios Papandreou was arrested at his home in a nighttime raid.  His son Andreas was chased from his bedroom by soldiers armed with machine guns and rifles with fixed bayonets.  He was caught on the roof of his house and surrendered when one of the soldiers held a gun to the head of his 14-year-old son, George Papandreou (who would later serve as prime minister from 2009 to 2011).

There was a military coup in Cyprus in 1974, a failed military coup in Greece in 1975, a failed military coup in Spain in 1981, and martial law was imposed in Poland to put down the Solidarity movement, also in 1981.

I remember sitting here comfortably in the United States, watching all of this happen overseas from the house I had just bought on North Haven Island out in the Hamptons.  In this country, a new conservative government led by Ronald Reagan had just been elected, and although Democrats were disappointed, there were no protests in the streets.  President Carter and his wife Rosalyn met the Reagans under the White House portico and welcomed them into the White House on Jan. 20, 1981, and as outgoing presidents had done before them, attended Reagan’s inauguration that day at the Capitol.

Later in the 1980’s I met an extremely wealthy woman from one of the leading countries in Europe.  Her family owned a huge company that manufactured things you have probably used every day in your life.  She had enough money to buy herself an island and get away from it all, if she became unhappy with the politics and behavior of her own country, which had been conquered by Hitler in World War II.  Some of her own countrymen had been collaborators with the Nazi occupiers. Having watched coups in Europe and occasional political unrest in her own country, she did not trust that all would continue to be well in Europe, so where did she turn, and what did she do?  She traveled to the United States each time she was pregnant and had her babies here, so that they would always have American citizenship as well as citizenship in their own country.  She wanted her children to have what we have.

We didn’t have the danger of military coups and rule by junta.  Our democracy was healthy.  Our government was stable, with our three branches – the Executive, the Congress, and the Judiciary – going to work every day and doing their jobs, reliably if not always agreeably. Our two major political parties differed over issues, politicians occasionally got nasty with each other rhetorically, but we hadn’t had a real upheaval in this country since Richard Nixon was forced out by threat of impeachment over crimes he committed in office.  Our elections were a model for the world.  U.S. observers were asked by other countries to monitor their elections and help make them “free and fair,” as it was often said.

Our economy was the best in the world.  Money came from all over the globe to invest in our stock market.  Foreign auto manufacturers imitated U.S. companies and built cars to compete on an equal basis for sales in this country.  The United Nations sat on the East River in Manhattan where attempts to settle international disputes without going to war were made every day.  Foreign nations maintained embassies in Washington D.C. and U.N. missions in New York City.  Our universities, major and minor both, received thousands of applications for admission from foreign students who wanted to come here to be educated so they could go home and be able to compete in the international marketplace of money and politics and ideas.  Many foreign graduates chose to stay here and enrich our universities, cities, businesses and our politics.

This was American exceptionalism – in the words of Ronald Reagan in his farewell address from the Oval Office to the American people, we were a “shining city on a hill,” a beacon of stability and creativity and freedom to the rest of the world.

Who would say that of the United States of America today?  One of our two major political parties has not accepted the results of the last election and has ceased behaving like it is part of a democracy. It is making plans for a coup if the next election doesn’t go their way. Even if they win, their plans resemble a coup.  Remember the description of Greece in 1967?  If Donald Trump is elected in 2024, it won’t look like a win, it will look the installation of a dictator.  He has said he will invoke the Insurrection Act on “day one” and will use active duty soldiers to put down demonstrations in the streets.  He will use soldiers to enforce the law in any way he wants.  He has said he will “go after” President Biden and his entire family.  He will use the Department of Justice not to enforce the law but to bludgeon his opponents.  He has said he will demand an oath of loyalty to him from anyone who goes to work in the federal government.  He has promised to arrest and jail his political opponents. Using the Insurrection Act to suspend the Posse Comitatus Act, he will use the military to carry out arrests and detentions.

We could see tanks on street corners in Washington D.C. as the Greeks saw them in Athens in 1967, and that is if Trump wins.  The Heritage Foundation has come up with a document with plans for a Trump administration that reads like a coup-in-place.  His henchman Stephen Miller has said a Trump administration will round up tens of millions of immigrants and put them in what amount to concentration camps pending deportation under rules that suspend the normal process involved if a person is to be expelled from the United States.  Spokesmen for Trump have even promised to separate children from their mothers at the border again, and presumably as part of their roundup of immigrants. 

We won’t be a nation of laws.  We will be a nation with armed soldiers in the streets and razor-wire camps waiting to imprison anyone who opposes Donald Trump.

That is what our new American exceptionalism will look like.  The beacon on our shining city will be a red light:  Stop.  Stop using the word “gay.”  Stop the right to control your own healthcare if you are a woman.  Stop the study of American history that talks about slavery and Reconstruction and Jim Crow.  Stop the free marketplace of ideas.  Stop voting rights.  Stop free and fair elections.  

The Donald Trump plan to Make America Great Again will end our democracy and replace it with a fascist state.

[jasoncanty01]

How Reagan's GOP Impacted America

From Facebook

Jonathan Zucker

  · 

I have long been positive that the Republican party prolonged the Iran Hostage crisis in 1979 to ensure Jimmy Carter's defeat.

The theory was based on the fact that the hostages were released the day Reagan was inaugurated, far too quickly for any legitimate negotiation to have occurred. Furthermore, the Iran-Contra scandal (in which the Reagan administration violated a US arms embargo to covertly sell arms to Iran) always seemed to be the perfect quid-pro-quo for holding the hostages until Reagan was President.

However, multiple credible investigations--focused on Bill Casey (chairman of Reagan's campaign and later director of the CIA) as the intermediary--had been unable to substantiate the theory.

However, we now have proof.

The problem, as it turns out, is that these investigations focused on the wrong person as the intermediary. Casey was smart enough not to do take the trip himself or to use any foreign relations expert as a surrogate.

A blockbuster article in the New York Times yesterday revealed that, in 1979, John Connally (former Republican Governor of Texas) went on a tour of middle east capitals with one message to be passed to the revolutionaries in Iran: "If you reject any deal Carter is offering and hold the hostages past the election--all-but-ensuring Ronald Reagan would win the election--Reagan will give you a much better deal than Carter is offering."

Accompanying Connally on this trip was a little know political aide named Ben Barnes.

Yesterday Barnes came clean (50 years later) and, in a detailed interview with the Times, revealed where Connally had travelled and to whom he had spoken. And, that, upon his return, his first stop was to brief Casey on his trip.

What this means is that:

(a) the Reagan campaign condemned 52 American diplomats to months of unnecessary (additional) captivity with the express purpose of influencing a Presidential election;

(b) the illegal Iran-Contra arms sales were, as suspected, the quid pro quo to the religious dictatorship of Iran for holding America's hostage to ensure Reagan's victory.

Just another reminder that the contemporary Republican party--focused on winning at all costs, damn the republic--is nothing new.

It's the same Republican party we have had since FDR broke their hold on power in 1932. It is just that from 1932 to 1980 they only managed to win Presidential elections.

But, starting in 1980 when they took control of the Senate (for the first time since 1955), and began their campaign to

(a) take control of the judiciary to undo the New Deal regulatory state (abortion, gun rights, and so-called "religious freedom" are window dressing issues to secure votes from White evangelicals) and

(b) pile up debt by engaging in tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy (eventually forcing, in their view, a radical downsizing of federal programs).

This has been the agenda of the wealthy elite that funds the Republican party since--literally--1932.

With Trump's Supreme Court appointments and tax cut (which built upon the Reagan and both W. Bush cuts), they succeeded.

It took them 90 years, but they won.

Tax rates on the wealth are lower than at any time since the 30s and the Supreme Court is systematically hamstringing the 20th century regulatory state. And, as a result, concentration of wealth has returned to the pre-New Deal levels of the "Gilded Age."

While I do not think it was their intent, I don't think they care that our very democracy may be a casualty of their efforts.

Anyway... clear evidence that Reagan's victory in 1980 is severely

tainted, if not completely illegitimate.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

According to the most recent polls, Republicans’ electoral fortunes have improved markedly over the last few weeks. Democrats went from a roughly two-point advantage in the generic congressional ballot at the beginning of October to about half a point today. It seems likely the GOP will take control of at least one chamber of Congress in 2023.

There has been a simmering debate over the past few years as to whether claims of conservative populism mean anything in a practical policy sense. Many have claimed that things have changed from the old days of tax cuts for the rich, business-friendly deregulation, and trickle-down economics—like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), who once wrote, “We are a working-class party now. That’s the future.”

We now have an answer to this question, and it is firmly negative. If they win in 2022, Republicans are promising the same old massive cuts to social programs, above all Social Security and Medicare, which they’ve been trying to get at for decades. And they’re going to try to force President Biden to agree by threatening a global financial apocalypse. In the words of Roger Daltrey, meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

All four GOP representatives running to head the House Budget Committee have promised that they are going to take the debt ceiling hostage to get big cuts. “Our main focus has got to be on nondiscretionary—it’s got to be on entitlements,” said Rep. Buddy Carter (R-GA). Specifically, they mentioned increasing the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare, and adding means tests or work requirements. Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who will probably be Speaker of the House if Republicans take control, endorsed the strategy. “You can’t just continue down the path to keep spending and adding to the debt,” he said.

To review, the debt ceiling is a legal mechanism dating from 1917 that says the government can only borrow a certain amount. So when Congress passes a budget requiring some borrowing (which is almost every time), if the resulting debt would go beyond the ceiling, Congress has to pass an additional measure to raise it. It’s as if you had a credit card with a borrowing limit that you could set yourself.

If this sounds weird and stupid, that’s because it is. The debt ceiling is a completely pointless legal archaism. The only other country that has one is Denmark, but its government rendered it inoperative years ago by raising it far above where its debt is ever likely to reach. (It’s a sad demonstration of America’s political dysfunction that we can’t even manage this kind of elementary national housekeeping.)

Despite its stupidity, should the debt ceiling be reached, it would cause a very real crisis. The Treasury Department would probably miss an interest payment, meaning a default on the national debt. Since U.S. government debt is considered about the safest possible asset in the world, and everyone from financial firms to institutional investors to central banks owns trillions of dollars of it, the hit to global economic stability would be severe. That’s why the debt ceiling is “a hostage that’s worth ransoming,” as Mitch McConnell put it in 2012 after doing just that the previous year.

We thus see that the core of Republican economic policy remains unchanged. From the 1980s to today, it is the belief that the rich are too heavily taxed. Aside from the military, the biggest pots of money in the federal budget that might be raided for more tax cuts for beleaguered billionaires are the big welfare programs: Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.

Ever since Donald Trump won in 2016, there have been innumerable articles, books, and conferences discussing a promised birth of new ideas in the conservative movement. But lo and behold! It’s the exact same party of granny-starving plutocrats as before, except now with a heavy dose of even more overt homophobia, transphobia, and antisemitism, not to mention sheer 200-proof lunacy.

One might wonder why Republicans didn’t gut Social Security and Medicare when they controlled the presidency and Congress in 2017-2018, or even try to do so. (There were large cuts in Trump’s budget proposed in 2018, but they never made it into actual legislation.) The reason is that doing so is grossly unpopular. When Trump proposed huge Medicare cuts in his 2020 budget (one that was dead on arrival because Democrats controlled the House), it polled at about 72% disapproval. A more recent poll by a pro–Social Security organization found overwhelming disapproval for cuts to the program, and overwhelming support for increasing benefits by removing the payroll tax cap. In short, Americans love their Social Security and Medicare, and if they want changes, it is to make the programs more generous, not less.

So Republicans would much prefer to get welfare cuts through coercion and brinkmanship rather than normal legislation. That way they can starve grandma in a bipartisan fashion, while simultaneously trusting that the average swing voter will blame President Biden for it, if not sticking the blame on him themselves.

At any rate, Democrats could defuse the political pipe bomb—which they handed to Republicans themselves, incidentally—in several ways. In the upcoming lame-duck session, they could pass the reconciliation bill they still have available for fiscal year 2023, raising the debt limit to an absurd amount (I personally favor Avogadro’s number), or alternatively implement some formula that would automatically keep the debt limit in line with new borrowing.

Or President Biden could mint the famous platinum coin to increase his borrowing authority through seigniorage, or he could declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional under Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which states that “The validity of the public debt of the United States … shall not be questioned.” This constitutional argument is surely correct—especially since Congress would be giving Biden contradictory legal instructions, requiring him to spend certain amounts through the budget process while also not allowing him to borrow the necessary balance.

Whatever choice they make, Democrats would be well advised to defuse the debt ceiling forever, before this session of Congress ends. So long as it exists, there is a live chance that Republicans will use it to do something appalling or insane.

[papermoonloveslucy]

TV on TV!

Part 3 ~ The Television Shows of the Lucyverse

Although it may seem redundant, the worlds created by Lucille Ball on television frequently created and mentioned other TV shows as well as popular TV commercials!  Here are a few from “Here’s Lucy” (1968-1974), and one from “Life With Lucy” (1986). 

“Lucy Visits Jack Benny” (1968)

At the end of the episode, bus driver Ralph Kramden (Jackie Gleason) makes an appearance at Benny’s barbecue. Gleason played the iconic character on his own variety show as well as the sitcom “The Honeymooners” (1955-56). 

“Lucy’s Impossible Mission” (1968)

Lucy mistakenly enters a phone booth meant for a secret agent and becomes embroiled in a mission impossible. This episode is a spoof of the TV series “Mission: Impossible” (1966-73) which was a Desilu / Paramount series. Had Lucille Ball not given the nod to the series in 1966, there would be no Mission: Impossible movies today!  

The episode uses the “Mission: Impossible” theme and original underscoring by Lalo Schifrin. The theme won a Grammy Award earlier in 1968. The instantly recognizable theme song is saved for the final chase sequence. 

“Lucy and Carol Burnett” (1969)    

Lucy convinces Carol Burnett to participate in a benefit to raise money for Kim and Craig’s high school gymnasium.Lucy and the kids attend a taping of “The Carol Burnett Show,” a CBS program that Lucille Ball herself had already appeared on twice as a guest star and would return to twice more. "The Carol Burnett Show” always opened with her taking questions from the studio audience, so this is recreated on “Here’s Lucy”. A new episode of “The Carol Burnett Show” aired at 10pm on the same evening this “Here’s Lucy” was first broadcast. 

“Here’s Lucy” attempts to physically reproduce “The Carol Burnett Show” studio and stage, even using the CBS eye gold curtain. The audience section, however, is much smaller on “Here’s Lucy.”

“Lucy and Tennessee Ernie’s Fun Farm” (1969)

A farmer (Ernie Ford) wanders into the Unique Employment Agency in need of farmhands. Instead, Lucy proposes they turn his farm into a vacation spot for city folks. They start with a TV variety show and commercial to get the word out! 

The commercial that Lucy and Harry do for Ernie’s Fun Farm gives us a glimpse of them as a dysfunctional married couple, complete with two typical teenage kids!

The commercial turns into a fully-staged musical revue.

“Lucy and the Used Car Salesman” (1969) 

When the Carters want to become a two-car family, Kim and Craig visit a used car dealer named Cheerful Charlie (Milton Berle).

Cheerful Charlie makes his pitch using a television commercial.

In the commercial, Charlie’s chatter is chock full of alliterative chit-chat!  

“Lucy and Johnny Carson” (1969) 

When Harry takes Lucy and the kids to the filming of an educational TV show, Lucy wangles their way into “The Tonight Show” instead. Playing ‘Stump the Band’, Lucy and Harry win dinner at the Brown Derby.  

From 1968 to 1980 Lucille Ball made 16 appearances on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson and Ed McMahon. One appearance was just two weeks before this episode initially aired. “Here’s Lucy” recreates the stage and studio audience of “The Tonight Show”.  The iconic multi-colored stage curtain is reproduced and the show’s theme music is used. 

In the office, Ed leaves Johnny a box containing a small tape recorder that leaves a message vowing he will “go on the wagon”. During the playback, the “Mission: Impossible” music plays on the soundtrack. The message concludes with “This tape will self-destruct in five seconds.”  This is a spoof of the TV series “Mission: Impossible”(1966-73), which was a Desilu / Paramount series. 

After Craig jokes that Kim should wear three earrings, she quips “Very funny. Which one are you today? Rowan or Martin?” This is yet another of almost bi-weekly references to “Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In,” “Here’s Lucy's” phenomenally successful competition on ABC.    

“Lucy’s Burglar Alarm” (1969)

When Lucy surrenders a measly $1.19 to the burglar (Guy Marks), he remarks “For this I had to miss ‘Laugh-In���?” 

“Lucy and the Generation Gap” (1969)

Kim and Craig are in charge of producing the school play. In a nod to Desilu’s series “Star Trek” (1966-69), at the opening of the space age segment, Craig (with the help of the Desilu special effects department) materializes in a transporter tube. Beam me up, Lucy!

“Lucy and Lawrence Welk” (1970)

VIVIAN (To ‘Lawrence Welk’): “I watch your show every Saturday night!”

When Vivian visits, she expects Lucy to fulfill her promise to arrange a date with Lawrence Welk. Lucy doesn’t know Welk, so she borrows a wax dummy and convinces Vivian to give up her glasses. “The Lawrence Welk Show” began airing in June 1955 and had a remarkable 16 year run on ABC TV before being syndicated for a further 11 years ending in 1982. Welk was as associated with Saturday nights as Lucille Ball was with Mondays. Two days before this episode first aired (January 17, 1970) Welk’s guest was Ted Mack, legendary bandleader and talent scout.

“Lucy and Ann-Margret” (1970)

A chance meeting with Ann-Margret leads to songwriter Craig performing with her on television. On December 6, 1969, Lucille Ball guest-starred on “Ann-Margret: From Hollywood with Love” on CBS. Ball played herself and a character named Celebrity Lu, an autograph hound, opposite Autograph Annie (Ann-Margret).

“Lucy Competes with Carol Burnett” (1970)

Lucy dresses like a charwoman identical to the character created by Burnett for her variety series “The Carol Burnett Show”. When Carol Krausmeyer (disguised as a hippie reporter) asks how Lucy Carter thought up such a goofy outfit, Lucy replies “from some goofy dame on TV.”  Carol says “Well, she must be some kind of nut!”

“Lucy Loses Her Cool” (1970)

Lucy goes on "The Art Linkletter Show” and is challenged not to lose her temper for 24 hours in order to win $500. Lucy Carmichael also appeared on “The Art Linkletter Show” on “The Lucy Show.” Lucille Ball appeared on “House Party with Art Linkletter” in 1964.

“Lucy and Flip Go Legit” (1970)

Lucy takes a temp assignment with Flip Wilson in order to answer his fan mail. Although it is never explicitly stated, Flip Wilson is preparing for his weekly television variety show “Flip” (1970-74). His most famous creation is Geraldine, a sassy woman with the catch phrase “The devil made me do it” and an unseen boyfriend named Killer. In the episode he is rehearsing a “Three Musketeers” sketch. 

“Lucy and Mannix are Held Hostage” (1970)

Lucy happens to see three crimes in one day.  Convinced thugs are after Lucy, Harry contacts his old friend, private eye Joe Mannix (Mike Connors). The private detective series “Mannix” from 1967 to 1975, which ran on CBS concurrently with “Here’s Lucy.” “Mannix” was an hour-long crime drama that was saved from the scrap heap by Lucille Ball when she was in charge of Desilu Studios. CBS planned to cancel the show after one season, but Ball used her influence to convince them to renew it with the assurance that changes would be made. In the second season, Joe Mannix was changed into a more hard-boiled independent private detective. The changes worked and the series became a big hit running for eight seasons. It was the last successful TV show to be produced by Desilu.  

“Lucy and the Astronauts” (1971)

Harry takes Lucy along to a NASA splash-down, but before the astronauts can be medically cleared, Lucy has kissed them forcing Lucy and Harry to join the space travelers in isolation. Before reporting to an aircraft carrier to watch the splash-down, Lucy watches a moon walk on TV at home. Apollo 15 was launched on July 30, 1971, just a few months before this episode aired. The two-day mission sent astronauts David Scott and James Irwin to the moon.

“Lucy Helps David Frost Go Night-Night” (1971)

Television host David Frost hires Lucy as his traveling companion to assure that he gets some sleep on his flight to London. When she gets to London, she is so exhausted she falls asleep on his television show. Frost hosted a US talk show “The David Frost Show” from 1969 to 1972.  The evening this episode first aired “The David Frost Show” featured Frost interviewing Lauren Bacall. Starting in 1970, Lucille Ball appeared on “The David Frost Show” five times, with the fifth appearance just two weeks before this episode first aired.

Complimenting David Frost, Lucy mentions that she saw him on “The Carol Burnett Show.”  Frost appeared on the variety show in May 1971, six months before this episode first aired.

“Lucy and Candid Camera” (1971)

Allen Funt has a criminal impostor who recruits Lucy, Harry and Kim to commit robberies under the pretense that they are doing stunts for his “Candid Camera” television show. “Candid Camera” began on radio as “Candid Microphone” and moved to television in 1948. Although aired on all three major networks and in syndication, the radio program was originally aired on CBS and sponsored by Philip Morris, just like “I Love Lucy.”  

“Lucy’s Lucky Day” (1971)

To capitalize on what seems to be a lucky streak, Lucy goes on a TV game show. Dick Dunkirk (Dick Patterson) is the host of “The Milky Way to Riches” sponsored by Dover Dairy. Lucy must answer three geography questions to qualify to earn a chance to win $1,000:  

DICK: Where is the lowest point in the world below sea level? LUCY: Oh, boy.  I’m dead, see — ~Answer: The Dead Sea DICK: The Dead Sea is part of the border between Jordan and what other country? LUCY: Oh, boy.  That question is real tough – ~ Answer: Israel DICK: It’s an autonomous region of China, bordered by China on the north and east, by India on the south and Cashmere on the West. Name this Chinese autonomous region. LUCY: And I wanted to bet I’d win. ~Answer: Tibet

After answering three questions, Lucy has to pick between three doors, just like on the TV game show “Let’s Make a Deal.” Lucy picks door #2, which is the gag prize, an untrained chimpanzee named Jackie, which she must teach to do a trick to get the money. 

“Lucy and Joe Namath” (1972)

Lucy and Namath watch “The National Football League's Salute to the Quarterback” on her TV.  Actual clips of Namath on the field for the New York Jets (#12) are featured.

Namath is delighted, but Lucy cringes at the physical violence.   Coincidentally, “Here's Lucy's” main competition during the 1972-73 season was “Monday Night Football” on ABC. The night this episode first aired the Oakland Raiders bested the Houston Oilers 34 to 0.

“Lucy is Really in a Pickle” (1973) 

LUCY: “Thank goodness I remembered to bring Polly Parker’s Perky Pickles. Mmmm, they’re delicious! Yes, Polly Parker’s Perky Pickles make any picnic perfect. Polly’s Pickles will tickle your pallet. So next time you’re planning a picnic, pick up a pint of Polly Parker’s Perky Pickles.”

Lucy’s show business aspirations get her cast in a pickle commercial. Her alliterative pitch is foiled by the sour taste of the pickles, just like the alcohol in Vitameatavegamin was the undoing of Lucy Ricardo’s television commercial. 

The TV camera in the studio is labeled KBEX COLOR. Similar to the way 555 is the prefix used for fictional telephone numbers, KBEX were the call letters for fictional TV and radiostations. They were used in many TV shows and films, including in Desilu’s “Mannix” and “Mission: Impossible.”

When the commercial pitch is suddenly changed to a duet song and dance number, Lucy and Kim become singing and dancing pickles - literally.

“Lucy and Chuck Connors Have a Surprise Slumber Party” (1973)

When Connors is filming a movie in Lucy’s home, Harry mentions that he is also the star of a popular television show. “Thrill Seekers” was a syndicated television series that was produced in 1973 and 1974. Hosted by Connors, it featured people who did dangerous stunts. In Lucy’s kitchen, Connors wears his orange “Thrill Seekers” jacket. The name of the show is stitched on the sleeve. Lucy tells Connors that she has seen “The Rifleman” reruns three or four times. “The Rifleman” was a Western television program starring Chuck Connors as rancher Lucas McCain.The show aired on ABC from 1958 to 1963.

“Lucy Plays Cops and Robbers” (1973)

When Harry panics after being locked in the closet by the burglar, Lucy slaps him and he says “Thanks. I needed that.”  This is a reference to a ubiquitous TV commercial for Mennen Skin Bracer Men’s Cologne. The TV ads originally starred John Goodman (“Roseann”).  

“Milton Berle is the Life of the Party” (1974)

Milton Berle appears on a TV telethon auction raising money for a Day Care Center Fund. Berle offers his services as a guest at a party thrown by the highest bidder - Lucy! 

“Lucy Carter Meets Lucille Ball” (1974)

A televised Lucille Ball look-alike contest is sponsored by Mais Oui Perfume. Lucy and Kim hope to win the grand prize - a sports car. The episode opens with Lucy and Kim rushing home to catch a movie on television.

“Lucy Gets Her Wires Crossed” (1986)

With competition from other hardware stores, Lucy gets Curtis booked on a morning TV show as Mr. Fix-It. Lucy goes along as his helper and ends up gluing herself to everyone!  “Wake Up Pasadena” is hosted by Fred Dunlap (Dick Gautier) and Stacy Reynolds (D.D. Howard).

LUCY (to Curtis): “Let grandma be on television!”

[Photos of “Life with Lucy” property of Getty Images]

[beardedmrbean]

HARARE, Zimbabwe -- Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa on Monday hailed recent elections as a sign of the country’s “mature democracy” and a victory over Western adversaries, as he took an oath of office following a vote whose credibility was questioned by both Western and African observers.

Mnangagwa, 80, won disputed polls held on Aug. 26, garnering 52.6% of the vote ahead of main opposition leader Nelson Chamisa’s 44%. His ZANU-PF party, which has ruled the tiny nation of 15 million people since independence from white minority rule in 1980, also retained a parliamentary majority.

“There are no losers but victory for the people of Zimbabwe against the neo-colonial tendencies of our country’s detractors and those who believe that might is right. … We have shamed our detractors,” he said before jubilant supporters, many of them bussed to pack a 60,000-seater Chinese-built stadium in the capital, Harare.

“Counter revolutionaries and their proxies will never prevail in Zimbabwe,” said Mnangagwa, who routinely accuses the opposition of being puppets of the U.S and other Western nations that placed sanctions on the country two decades ago over alleged human rights violations.

The elections are the second since the ouster of longtime autocratic ruler Robert Mugabe in a 2017 coup. Mnangagwa, a close Mugabe ally for years, became president following the coup. He undertook to thaw icy relations with the West after taking power.

He even applied for Zimbabwe to rejoin the Commonwealth, a bloc of mainly former British colonies that Zimbabwe left in 2003 after it became apparent that the organization would extend a suspension imposed a year earlier following elections marred by allegations of violence and rigging.

But criticism over his rule by the West has seen Mnangagwa strengthening ties with traditional Mugabe allies such as China and Russia. He hosted Iran’s president Ebrahim Raisi in July, months after a visit by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, and talked up coalitions against U.S sanctions.

Mnangagwa also won disputed presidential elections against Chamisa in 2018. The country’s constitutional court rejected Chamisa’s challenge of the election result.

The 45-year-old opposition leader did not approach the court this time despite describing the poll as a “blatant and gigantic fraud” and calling for fresh elections supervised by the country’s neighbors.

Observers from regional blocs the Southern African Development Community and African Union as well as the Carter Center and the European Union said that although voting day was largely peaceful, an atmosphere of intimidation had characterized the runup to the polls.

Mnangagwa did not directly address Chamisa’s concerns or those of the observers during Monday’s speech, but he described the elections as “peaceful, free, fair, transparent and credible” and criticized Western sanctions as “illegal” and “heinous.”

Credible elections were viewed by many as a key step toward ending Zimbabwe’s international isolation and setting the stage for the recovery of a once prosperous economy in a country with rich agricultural land and vast mineral resources.

Zimbabwe has Africa’s largest deposits of the highly sought-after battery mineral lithium that has attracted interest from China.

Mnangagwa in his inauguration speech promised to use the country’s minerals that include gold and diamonds to drive economic growth. He touted developments in roads and dam construction and a rebound in the agricultural sector as evidence of his record.

A carnival atmosphere engulfed the stadium, with thousands dressed in the ruling party’s green, yellow and red colors dancing to live music. Helicopters and planes from the country’s air force flew in formation and neatly dressed security forces slow marched, among other displays that included a 21-gun salute. The presidents of Mozambique, South Africa and Congo attended the event.

But the situation was muted in much of the capital, Harare, an opposition stronghold where street vendors teemed the streets. About two thirds of the country’s working age population survives on informal trade such as street hawking after the collapse of many formal industries over the past two decades, according to the International Monetary Fund.

Mnangagwa promised a new era of freedom, democracy and economic prosperity after replacing Mugabe, yet many say they don’t see much change.

“There is nothing to celebrate, it’s going to be another five years of suffering and repression,” said Onismo Mweda, pushing a cart from where he sold fruits and vegetables in the capital’s central business district.

[deniroarchives]

“One-sheet poster for Raging Bull, 1980 Robert De Niro Papers osf 58 De Niro was given a copy of the book Raging Bull, My Story by Jake La Motta (with Joseph Carter and Peter Savage) while he was in Italy working on The Godfather, Part II. De Niro found the story full of cinematic possibilities but could not persuade Scorsese to direct. De Niro began to develop the project himself. In 1976 De Niro asked producers Robert Chartoff and Irwin Winkler - who had recently finished production on Rocky - to consider working with him on the project. Intrigued by the story and wanting to continue their creative collaboration with De Niro and Scorsese, the two agreed to produce. Scorsese, however, was focused on developing The Last Temptation of Christ, which Chartoff and Winkler had also agreed to produce, and again declined to direct. In 1978, Scorsese collapsed from exhaustion during the Telluride Film Festival. De Niro's conversations with Scorsese during his recovery resulted in Scorsese's growing enthusiasm for Raging Bull. Winkler and Chartoff had been disappointed with previous versions of the screenplay but were encouraged by Paul Schrader's draft, which they felt was vastly improved but "cold." Winkler encouraged Scorsese and De Niro to write one themselves based on Schrader's work and LaMotta's book. After four weeks of intense work the two produced a draft that impressed everyone. De Niro studied every detail about the character; did background research on boxing, watching countless bouts on videotape; and trained for months with Jake LaMotta himself. Scorsese cast Joe Pesci as Joey after seeing him in an independent film The Death Collector (1976), and Pesci in turn recommended Cathy Moriarty for the part of Jake's wife, Vicky. Initial reviews of Raging Bull were mixed due to the brutality both in and outside the ring, but the film ultimately received eight Academy Award nominations. Thelma Schoonmaker won for editing and Robert De Niro for Best Actor. In 1990, the Library of Congress added Raging Bull to the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.”

[mariacallous]

If you were asked to guess which prestigious film-making duo had spent their career scratching around desperately for cash, trying to wriggle out of paying their cast and crew, ping-ponging between lovers, and having such blood-curdling bust-ups that their neighbours called the police, it might be some time before “Merchant Ivory” sprang to mind. But a new warts-and-all documentary about the Indian producer Ismail Merchant and the US director James Ivory makes it clear that the simmering passions in their films, such as the EM Forster trilogy of A Room With a View, Maurice and Howards End, were nothing compared to the scalding, volatile ones behind the camera.

From their initial meeting in New York in 1961 to Merchant’s death during surgery in 2005, the pair were as inseparable as their brand name, with its absence of any hyphen or ampersand, might suggest. Their output was always more eclectic than they got credit for. They began with a clutch of insightful Indian-set dramas including Shakespeare-Wallah, their 1965 study of a troupe of travelling actors, featuring a young, pixieish Felicity Kendal. From there, they moved on to Savages, a satire on civilisation and primitivism, and The Wild Party, a skewering of 1920s Hollywood excess that pipped Damien Chazelle’s Babylon to the post by nearly half a century.

It was in the 1980s and early 1990s, though, that Merchant Ivory became box-office titans, cornering the market in plush dramas about repressed Brits in period dress. Those literary adaptations launched the careers of Hugh Grant, Helena Bonham Carter, Rupert Graves and Julian Sands, and helped make stars of Emma Thompson and Daniel Day-Lewis. Most were scripted by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, who had been with them, on and off, since their 1963 debut The Householder; she even lived in the same apartment building in midtown New York. Many were scored by Richard Robbins, who was romantically involved with Merchant while also holding a candle for Bonham Carter. These films restored the costume drama to the position it had occupied during David Lean’s heyday. The roaring trade in Jane Austen adaptations might never have happened without them. You could even blame Merchant Ivory for Bridgerton.

Though the pictures were uniformly pretty, making them was often ugly. Money was always scarce. Asked where he would find the cash for the next movie, Merchant replied: “Wherever it is now.” After Jenny Beavan and John Bright won an Academy Award for the costumes in A Room With a View, he said:“I got you your Oscar. Why do I need to pay you?” As Ivory was painstakingly composing each shot, Merchant’s familiar, booming battle cry would ring out: “Shoot, Jim, shoot!”

Heat and Dust, starring Julie Christie, was especially fraught. Only 30 or 40% of the budget was in place by the time the cameras started rolling in India in 1982; Merchant would rise at dawn to steal the telegrams from the actors’ hotels so they didn’t know their agents were urging them to down tools. Interviewees in the documentary concede that the producer was a “conman” with a “bazaar mentality”. But he was also an incorrigible charmer who dispensed flattery by the bucketload, threw lavish picnics, and wangled entrées to magnificent temples and palaces. “You never went to bed without dreaming of ways to kill him,” says one friend, the journalist Anna Kythreotis. “But you couldn’t not love him.”

Stephen Soucy, who directed the documentary, doesn’t soft-pedal how wretched those sets could be. “Every film was a struggle,” he tells me. “People were not having a good time. Thompson had a huge fight with Ismail on Howards End because she’d been working for 13 days in a row, and he tried to cancel her weekend off. Gwyneth Paltrow hated every minute of making Jefferson in Paris. Hated it! Laura Linney was miserable on The City of Your Final Destination because the whole thing was a shitshow. But you watch the films and you see no sense of that.”

Soucy’s movie features archive TV clips of the duo bickering even in the midst of promoting a film. “Oh, they were authentic all right,” he says. “They clashed a lot.”The authenticity extended to their sexuality. The subject was not discussed publicly until after Ivory won an Oscar for writing Call Me By Your Name: “You have to remember that Ismail was an Indian citizen living in Bombay, with a deeply conservative Muslim family,” Ivory told me in 2018. But the pair were open to those who knew them. “I never had a sense of guilt,” Ivory says, pointing out that the crew on The Householder referred to him and Merchant as “Jack and Jill”.

Soucy had already begun filming his documentary when Ivory published a frank, fragmentary memoir, Solid Ivory, which dwells in phallocentric detail on his lovers before and during his relationship with Merchant, including the novelist Bruce Chatwin. It was that book which emboldened Soucy to ask questions on screen – including about “the crazy, complicated triangle of Jim, Ismail and Dick [Robbins]” – that he might not otherwise have broached.

The documentary is most valuable, though, in making a case for Ivory as an underrated advocate for gay representation. The Remains of the Day, adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s Booker-winning novel about a repressed butler, may be the duo’s masterpiece, but it was their gay love story Maurice that was their riskiest undertaking. Set in the early 20th century, its release in 1987 could scarcely have been timelier: it was the height of the Aids crisis, and only a few months before the Conservative government’s homophobic Section 28 became law.

“Ismail wasn’t as driven as Jim to make Maurice,” explains Soucy. “And Ruth was too busy to write it. But Jim’s dogged determination won the day. They’d had this global blockbuster with A Room With a View, and he knew it could be now or never. People would pull aside Paul Bradley, the associate producer, and say: ‘Why are they doing Maurice when they could be making anything?’ I give Jim so much credit for having the vision and tenacity to make sure the film got made.”

Merchant Ivory don’t usually figure in surveys of queer cinema, though they are part of its ecosystem, and not only because of Maurice. Ron Peck, who made the gay classic Nighthawks, was a crew member on The Bostonians. Andrew Haigh, director of All of Us Strangers, landed his first industry job as a poorly paid assistant in Merchant’s Soho office in the late 1990s; in Haigh’s 2011 breakthrough film Weekend, one character admits to freeze-framing the naked swimming scene in A Room With a View to enjoy “Rupert Graves’s juddering cock”. Merchant even offered a role in Savages to Holly Woodlawn, the transgender star of Andy Warhol’s Trash, only for her to decline because the fee was so low.

The position of Merchant Ivory at the pinnacle of British cinema couldn’t last for ever. Following the success of The Remains of the Day, which was nominated for eight Oscars, the brand faltered and fizzled. Their films had already been dismissed by the director Alan Parker as representing “the Laura Ashley school” of cinema. Gary Sinyor spoofed their oeuvre in the splendid pastiche Stiff Upper Lips (originally titled Period!), while Eric Idle was plotting his own send-up called The Remains of the Piano. The culture had moved on.

There was still an appetite for upper-middle-class British repression, but only if it was funny: Richard Curtis drew on some of Merchant Ivory’s repertory company of actors (Grant, Thompson, Simon Callow) for a run of hits beginning with Four Weddings and a Funeral, which took the poshos out of period dress and plonked them into romcoms.

The team itself was splintering. Merchant had begun directing his own projects. When he and Ivory did collaborate, the results were often unwieldy, lacking the stabilising literary foundation of their best work. “Films like Jefferson in Paris and Surviving Picasso didn’t come from these character-driven novels like Forster, James or Ishiguro,” notes Soucy. “Jefferson and Picasso were not figures that audiences warmed to.” Four years after Merchant’s death, Ivory’s solo project The City of Your Final Destination became mired in lawsuits, including one from Anthony Hopkins for unpaid earnings.

Soucy’s film, though, is a reminder of their glory days. It may also stoke interest in the movies among young queer audiences whose only connection to Ivory, now 95, is through Call Me By Your Name. “People walk up to Jim in the street to shake his hand and thank him for Maurice,” says Soucy. “But I also wanted to include the more dysfunctional side of how they were made. Hopefully it will be inspiring to young film-makers to see that great work can come out of chaos.”

[jen4k2]

From Jessica Orsini.

[deep breath]

This started as a reply to someone in another post of mine, someone who expressed that both major party candidates this year are unacceptable and expressed hope for an independent candidate to somehow save us. I replied there... and then realized that this should in fact be a post of its own. So here we go.

INDEPENDENT/THIRD PARTY CANDIDATES

First things first: the independent angle. The short version is, that's a fantasy and it's best to move past it. The long version is, well, here we go:

In our first-past-the-post system, combined with the Electoral College, independent candidates are non-starters at best and destructive spoilers at worse. Remember 1992, with Clinton-Bush-Perot? Perot took up a lot of oxygen, but won not a single solitary electoral vote. Likewise 1980, with Reagan-Carter-Anderson. In fact, the last time an independent secured electoral votes was in 1968, with Wallace running a full-on racist ticket in the South and garnering five states for 46 electoral votes... which still had no real effect on the Nixon-Humphrey contest.

It doesn't help one bit that the people who actually run as minor party or independent candidates are just awful. RFK Jr is an inveterate conspiracy theorist. Cornell West thinks he's the modern Malcom X. Jill Stein wants homeopathy covered by Medicare. The only minor party or independent candidate even on the ballot in enough states to *theoretically* hit 270 electoral votes is Libertarian candidate Chase Oliver... and half of his own party tried to throw him overboard for Trump.

There are ways to fix the systemic problems that minor parties and independents face in the U.S., but all of them take exactly the kind of hard work and long-term planning that none of these parties have so far been willing to put in; instead, they toss up quadrennial Quixotic candidates and then complain loudly that their unseriousness isn't taken serious by the electorate.

I can go into more detail on this elsewhere if you like, but that's enough for this particular thread. Suffice to say that wistful dreams for a third-party white knight are just that: wistful dreams. And with everything that is at stake, we have to set those aside and deal with reality.

THE PROBLEMS WITH THE TWO MAJOR PARTY CANDIDATES

So, that being said, either the Democratic or Republican candidate will be elected President in November. Unless one or the other or both die or drop out, those are Joseph R. Biden and Donald J. Trump.

It's not an ideal situation, to be certain. Both of these men are older than dirt. Both are prone to memory lapses. Both are prone to spewing word salad. I suspect that Biden's physical health is a bit better than Trump's, but that's honestly not saying much. Biden has an obvious hard time getting thoughts out. Trump delves down bizarre semiliterate rabbit holes that are reminiscent of Archie Bunker.

So no, neither should be running. But they are. There's some chance that Biden might drop out and allow someone else to run, but I wouldn't rate it higher than 10%. There's absolutely no chance of Trump doing so. So, let's set aside their aforementioned cognitive/senior issues and look at them.

THE REAL CHOICE BEFORE US

Biden is a life-long public servant. It's pretty much in his DNA. He really, really wants to be able to work across the aisle in a way that was possible until Gingrich's revolution in the House in '94, and still tries despite an opposition with zero interest in doing so. He surrounds himself with experts and capable administrators, and has a capable vice president. He is, at his core, a compassionate and empathetic man.

Trump is a life-long narcissist. It is, again, pretty much in his DNA. He has sought personal power and adulation his entire life. He has openly discussed -- quite often -- his desire to be able to jail, deport, and/or just plain execute his political enemies, and opined how much he wishes he had the personal power of Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping, and Kim Jong Un. He surrounds himself with shameless sycophants, intends to fire some 50,000 career federal employees via Schedule F reclassification to replace with dedicated Trumpists, and has made clear that his number one qualification for a running mate is personal loyalty to him above anything and everything else. He is, at his core, a selfish and vindictive man.

Barring Biden dropping out, one of these two men is going to be the next President of the United States, and will do so in an era of unparalleled and uncontested power vested in that office by our increasingly imperial Supreme Court. Given the two men involved, given their long personal histories and character traits, the obvious choice -- suboptimal as it may be -- is Biden.

[deadpresidents]

If Ford had won in 1976 do you think that Mondale could have been the 1980 nominee? And who do you think might have been his running mate?

In that scenario, I think Mondale probably would have been one of the leading candidates but I'm pretty sure Ted Kennedy would have been the clear favorite for the 1980 Democratic nomination. If Carter had lost in 1976, Kennedy would have probably coasted to the nomination without having to challenge an incumbent President in the primaries.

If it was Mondale who was the nominee in that situation, he probably would have had to decide between two strategies when choosing a running mate. He could have picked another young, rising Democrat to put together an exciting ticket of fresh faces -- kind of like what happened in 1992 with the Clinton/Gore ticket with nominees in their mid-40s -- maybe someone like Jerry Brown, who was 42 in 1980 and in his second term as Governor of California, or even a 38-year-old Senator that you may have heard of: Joe Biden. Most likely, he would have gone the traditional route and chosen someone who would give the ticket regional and ideological balance, like a moderate or conservative Democrat from the South or Northwest, like former North Carolina Governor Terry Sanford or Washington's Senator Henry "Scoop" Jackson.

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Today In History

Diahann Carroll, an American television/stage actress, and singer — known for her show ‘Julia’ and films such as ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,’ and ‘Claudine’ was born on this date July 17, 1935.

Carroll made a number of films during her career and was nominated for an Academy Award for Claudine in 1974. It wasn’t until she was cast as the lead in Julia in 1968, however, that Diahann Carroll became a bona fide celebrity. The role made her the first African-American woman to star in her own TV series. She was nominated for an Emmy for Julia in 1969 and won the Golden Globe Award in 1968.

She was also well known for her role as jet setter Dominique Deveraux on Dynasty from the 1980s. She received her third Emmy nomination in 1989 for her role on A Different World.

Diahann Carroll had a long, successful career that expanded through 5 decades.

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