#the back of Mike Palin

[fetchmearum420]

I’m having gender envy

[vintagetvstars]

Hot Vintage TV Men's Bracket - Full List

Sorry for the delay, it took us longer than expected to finalize the list. We are currently working on finishing and finalizing the bracket for round 1. For now enjoy the list of everyone in the tournament and we'll be back on Thursday evening to kick off round 1!

Boris Karloff

Clint Walker

Desi Arnaz

Claude Rains

James Arness 

James Garner 

William Hopper 

Adam West

Alejandro Rey

Bob Crane

Cesar Romero 

David McCallum

David Selby 

Davy Jones

DeForest Kelley

Dick Gautier 

Dick Van Dyke 

Dwayne Hickman 

Eddie Albert 

George Maharis

George Takei 

John Astin 

Jonathan Frid 

Larry Hagman 

Leonard Nimoy 

Mark Lenard 

Martin Milner 

Michael Nesmith

Micky Dolenz 

Patrick McGoohan

Patrick Troughton 

Peter Tork 

Randy Boone 

Raymond Burr 

Richard Chamberlain 

Robert Conrad

Robert Fuller 

Robert Vaughn 

Rod Serling 

Russell Johnson 

Ted Bessell 

Ted Cassidy

Tom Smothers

Walter Koenig 

William Hartnell 

William Shatner 

Alan Alda 

Brian Blessed

Darren McGavin

David Cassidy

David Soul

Dean Butler

Demond Wilson 

Derek Jacobi 

Eric Idle

Erik Estrada 

Fred Grandy 

Fred Rogers 

Hal Linden

Henry Winkler

Jamie Farr 

John Cleese

John Hurt

Jon Pertwee 

Judd Hirsch 

Kabir Bedi

Kent McCord 

Lee Majors 

Michael Landon 

Michael Palin

Mike Farrell 

Peter Falk

Randolph Mantooth

Richard Hatch

Ricardo Montalban 

Robert Wagner 

Rock Hudson

Simon Williams

Telly Savalas

Terry Jones 

Tom Baker 

Wayne Rogers 

Anthony Andrews

Bruce Boxleitner

Bruce McCulloch 

Colin Baker 

Dave Foley 

David Hasselhoff

Dirk Benedict

Gene Anthony Ray

Gerald McRaney 

Hugh Laurie 

Jameson Parker

Jeremy Brett

Jimmy Smits 

John Forsythe 

John Stamos 

Johnny Depp 

Kevin McDonald 

Mark McKinney 

Martin Kove

Michael J. Fox

Michael Praed

Mr. T

Patrick Duffy 

Peter Davison 

Richard Dean Anderson

Rik Mayall 

Rowan Atkinson 

Sam Neill

Scott Thompson 

Simon MacCorkindale 

Stephen Fry 

Sylvester McCoy 

Ted Lange 

Tom Selleck 

Tony Danza 

Alexander Siddig 

Andre Braugher

Andreas Katsulas 

Andrew Robinson 

Anthony Head 

Anthony Starke

Armin Shimerman 

Avery Brooks 

Brad Dourif 

Brent Spiner 

Bruce Campbell 

Charles Shaughnessy 

Colm Meaney 

Craig Charles 

Dana Ashbrook 

Danny John-Jules 

Darren E. Burrows

David Duchovny

David Hyde Pierce

David Schwimmer 

David Suchet 

David Wenham 

Dean Stockwell 

Garrett Wang 

Gary Cole 

Grant Show

James Earl Jones

James Marsters 

Jeff Conaway 

Jeffrey Combs 

John Corbett 

John de Lancie 

John Goodman

John Shea 

Jonathan Frakes

Joseph Marcell 

Kevin Smith 

Kevin Sorbo 

Kyle MacLachlan 

LeVar Burton 

Luke Perry

Marc Alaimo 

Mark-Paul Gosselaar 

Matt LeBlanc

Matthew Perry

Michael Dorn 

Michael Horse 

Michael Hurst

Michael O’Hare 

Michael Ontkean 

Michael Tylo

Miguel Ferrer 

Mitch Pileggi 

Nate Richert 

Nicholas Lea 

Noah Wyle

Paolo Montalban

Patrick Stewart 

Paul Gross

Paul Johansson 

Paul McGann 

Peter Wingfield 

René Auberjonois 

Robert Beltran

Robert Carlyle

Robert Duncan McNeill

Ron Perlman

Scott Bakula 

Seth Green 

Spencer Rochfort

Stephen Nichols 

Ted Danson 

Ted Raimi

Thorsten Kaye 

Tim Daly

Timothy Dalton

Tim Russ 

Valentine Pelka

William Shockley

Ben Browder 

Brandon Quinn

Brian Krause

Chad Michael Murray 

Christian Kane 

Conner Trinneer 

Daniel Dae Kim 

David Boreanaz

David Tennant 

Donnie Wahlberg

Eric Close

Ioan Gruffudd

Jensen Ackles 

Jeremy Sisto 

Joe Lando

Joshua Jackson

Keith Hamilton Cobb

Michael Shanks 

Nathan Fillion 

Neil Patrick Harris

Reece Shearsmith 

Richard Ayoade

Rob Lowe

Ron Glass

Scott Cohen

Skeet Ulrich

Tom Welling

Tony Shalhoub 

Billy Dee Williams 

Bruce Willis 

Clint Eastwood 

Colin Firth 

George Clooney 

Jeremy Irons 

Paul Michael Glaser

Pierce Brosnan

Sean Bean

Blair Underwood

David James Elliot 

Michael Vartan 

Michael T. Weiss 

Scott Patterson 

Sebastian Cabot

Luke Halpin

Adam Brody

Jason Bateman 

Matt Bomer 

Timothy Olyphant 

Woody Harrelson

Richard Biggs

Robin Williams

Will Smith

John Schneider

Milo Ventimiglia

Bobby Troup

Bobby Sherman

Chad Everett

Casey Biggs

Jason Priestley

Don Adams

[yonderghostshistories]

I'm planning on starting that MP Regency AU fanfiction! What should I include? (U, PG and 18+ suggestions are all welcome!)

OH MY GOD YOU'RE ACTUALLY DOING IT?!?!!? LESS GOOOOOOO!!!!!

Ok uhh here's my suggestions!! :

-All (well technically 3) the Pythons have a really specific kinda Regency royal/heir-like title/nicknames to them based on where they were born (i.e some random examples; John Cleese, Earl of Weston-super-Mare, Captain/Admiral/General Graham Chapman, Duke of Leicester, Terry "Jonesy" Jones, Baron of Colywn Bay of North Wales). Then you have Vicar Michael Palin (of Sheffield), Baron Terry Gilliam from Paris, France (he says he's a Baron but the others don't really believe him and thinks he's really a phony or something lol), and self proclaimed "Maestro" Eric Idle (from the local Cheshire pub). Then you also have Stableboy Neil (Innes)/Neil the humble Stableboy, Countess Carol Cleveland and Countess Connie Booth (in this AU, Connie is Carol's older half-sister/cousin) of London, Lieutenant David Sherlock (Gray's second-in-command in the army, and also love interest but pretends to just "be friends" so to not make people suspicious about their relationship with eachother, etc!

-Gray is both a highly respected army official by day (at work technically), and a promiscuously gay playboy by night (when he has the time off doing the army business). He smokes alot too.

-Jonesy ends up with Regency era Denise Coffey and learns that she's not as "bad" as anyone makes her out to be. She's considered"bad" because she's apparently "too common" to fit with society. In other words, society thinks she's "too unattractively normal" to be considered pretty, to which she politely says bullshit to :).

-John and Gray are childhood best friends with eachother. Michael and Jonesy are also childhood best friends with eachother. Eric and Terry tags along as well.

-John becomes instantly uhh "emo" and tragic and moody and cold because of his recent breakup with his (ex-)fiancé Connie, even though they just broke up since almost a week ago. He mopes about it all the bloody time that even his friends start to get annoyed by it all, and it makes even his own sappy poetry look like decent stuff.

-Eric and Neil meet up at the weekends to play as a musical duo at the local Cheshire pub. Eric is, ofc, sorta homeless, meaning he has to to stay over at Neil's cottage house but also stay at the local taverns until he has to pay rent.....but mostly he chills out at Neil's house.

-Eric gets a "rags to riches" kinda story where, with the help of Gray who just so happen to be at the local Cheshire pub to "meet a special friend of his" (which is ofc David) in which Gray overhears the pretty good singing, he agrees to hire Eric as his servant and give him a permanent place to stay and enough money to live by. Eric is ecstatic ofc!

-Michael is a kind and innocent vicar, a follower of god, but he's a bit horny too! He particularly has a crush on a nice and kind woman called Helena (who runs the local bookshop in the town). Mike has the hots for Helen but knows he can't actually ask her out due to him being religious and stuff and it apparently going against the rules to marry whilst preaching about god or something. However, he tries to get around this by starting out slow, via becoming companions with Helena by helping her with the bookshop part-time. It all seems going to plan. However, things start to get a bit too *spicy* when Michael accidentally sees Helena in her regency era undergarments (which is a "stay"-kinda undergarment) just as she was about to get unchanged. As if it couldn't get any worse, the stunned Michael commits the greatest sin he has ever committed.......he sees a bit of her bare back. That alone is enough to make Michael faint. Helena, being the good and understanding friend she is, helps Michael get back to life and takes care of the poor soul. Michael is grateful for Helena helping him, but feels guilty for seeing her like that. Helena tells him that it's ok and that it was an accident at the end of the day. Michael smiles, and out of the repressed passion he held back for all these years, he slowly cups her face and begins kissing Helena, and Helena, at first surprised, is then quickly eased and understands and kisses back Michael. Michael and Helena then have the most excruciatingly passionate sex that night, and both are left satisfied.

-Gray meets David in an abandoned farmhouse, and they both announce their feelings for one another, and they both kiss passionately and uhh have the most beautiful gay sex one could ever hope.

-There's alot of "characters running through the moors" whenever the character starts a new relationship, romantic or platonic.

-Gray wakes up naked every morning after each promiscuous affair.

-Terry the Parisian Artist develops a romance with the ""weird"" woman who runs the tailoring clothes shop, Ms Margret "Maggie" Weston. Terry & Maggie bond over their shared weirdness and love for absurdities in life.

-John and Connie began an (almost) lifelong romance (before they broke up) when they were young teenagers of about 16/15 at a ball one night. From there on, they hit it off with each other pretty well. The young John and Connie then sneakily exited from the ballroom, then they snuck out and playfully ran to the garden maze and then snogged each other all night long.

-The Pythons and Co go to a regency era fairground/carnival and have a lovely, fun time there. They also get to ride on the merry-go-round on the merry-go-round horses!

Uhh hope you enjoyed the ideas I gave! Let me know which of the ideas is your favourite and why? I absolutely can't wait to read it!!

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Right-wing commentator Mike Huckabee is coming under heavy criticism after warning of “bullets” in future elections should Donald Trump lose in 2024 due to his mounting legal woes.

Over the weekend, Huckabee accused President Joe Biden of trying to “destroy Trump” via legal actions in the courthouse rather than at the ballot box via an election.

“Here’s the problem: If these tactics end up working to keep Trump from winning or even running in 2024, it is going to be the last American election that will be decided by ballots rather than bullets,” he said during his monologue on his TBN show “Huckabee.”

Trump is facing a combined 91 felony charges in four different cases, including charges related to the mishandling of classified information, his attempts to stay in power after losing the 2020 election, and his efforts to overturn the election results in Georgia.

But Huckabee compared the proceedings to those that go on in “banana republics and communist regimes,” where political opponents are imprisoned or exiled for “made-up crimes.”

“Joe Biden is using exactly those tactics to make sure that Donald Trump is not his opponent in 2024,” he declared:

Huckabee is a former Governor of Arkansas and father of current Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who was a White House press secretary under Trump.

His comments over the weekend are the latest in a line of inflammatory statements from figures aligned with the former President.

Last week, Georgia state Sen. Colton Moore told former Trump strategist Steve Bannon that he wanted to defund Fani Willis, the district attorney prosecuting Trump in the state, and warned of dire consequences if she’s allowed to proceed with the case.

“We need to be taking action right now. Because if we don’t, our constituencies are gonna be fighting it in the streets. Do you want a civil war?” he said, according to Salon. “I don’t want a civil war. I don’t want to have to draw my rifle. I want to make this problem go away with my legislative means of doing so.”

Last month, former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin alluded to a civil war and urged Trump supporters to “rise up and take our country back.”

Last year, failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake also issued a thinly veiled threat to Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland and special counsel Jack Smith.

“If you want to get to President Trump, you are going to have to go through me, and you are going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me,” she said, The New York Times reported. “And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the NRA.”

She said it wasn’t a threat but “a public service announcement.”

On X, formerly Twitter, critics called Huckabee out for his extremist rhetoric:

[thealmightyemprex]

80's Fantasy month :Time Bandits

Welcome to 80's Fantasy month where I shall look at classics of 80's fantasy ,starting with a personal childhood favorite

A young boy named Kevin(Craig Warnock ) is whisked away by the Time Bandits (David Rappaport ,Kenny Baker,Jack Purvis ,Malcolm Dixon ,Mike Edmonds and Tiny Ross ) ,servents of the Supreme Being (Ralph Richardson)who have decided to use a map to various holes in time to get stinking rich ,unfortunately they are being watched by Evil (David Warner )who wants to use the map to take over the universe

This is a film that feels diffrent watching as a kid then as adult .As a kid the creativity and imganitive visuals are what stood out to me ,but as an adult its the cynical humor . I love the tactile look of the world,you feel the grime and dirt ,and I adore the costume design from the Bandits whose costumes are made of bits and bobs from diffrent eras to Evil who has a biomechanical look fitting his obseeion with technology .CErtain visuals have stuck with me since I was a kid like the giant with a ship as a hat ,or the minotaur who I cant tell is just a guy wearing a dead bull head or is a legit minotaur .The cynical humor really stands out to me as an adult from the fact the great figures,mythical and historical tend to not be as great as youd expect them to be ,to God being less this wise beneovlent being and more a grumpy kind of distracted guy ,to the Bandits not really being heroes but just a bunch of guys trying to make a quick buck to the ending which didnt work for me as a kid but works now for me

The film is full of guest stars who do their small parts really well with IAn Holm as a height obsessed Napoleon, John Cleese as a faux friendly Robin Hood ,Michael Palin and Shelley Duvall as starcrossed lovers ,Peter Vaughn as an Ogre with a bad back,Katherine Helmond as his wife (Apparently it was her idea for her to be human while he is an ogre,and that makes it even funnier that they are just so lovey dovey ) ,legendary Shakesperian actor Ralph Richardson appears as the Supreme Being ,and even Sean Connery appears perfectly cast as Kevins pseudo father figure Aggamenon (If I have a complaint with the film I do wish they were able to do the finale as originally intended with him coming to aid Kevin in the final battle but cest la vie )

David Warner is scene stealing as Evil.Warner is perfectly cast being both sinister but really funny as he discusses how understanding digital watches ,Car telephones and VCR's will help rule the universe .He balances the comedy well while still being a classic fantasy bad guy .I love the final battle where he is just easilly taking down every attack thrown at him

Kevin is a solid lead,a kid interested in history who is the voice of reason among chaos.The Bandits themselves are great,all 6 actors are wonderful,though I think the standouts have to be David Rappaport as the egotistical Randall ,Jack Purvis as the tough Wally and Kenny Bakker as the friendkly Fidget

Overall this is a funny and wonderfully creative movie and if you havent seen it give it a watch

@amalthea9 @angelixgutz @the-blue-fairie @ariel-seagull-wings@princesssarisa@makingboneboy@themousefromfantasyland @theancientvaleofsoulmaking

[worldofwardcraft]

The Trumpy Derby.

February 9, 2023

The hottest competition among Republicans currently is not for the 2024 presidential nomination. So far, the only declared candidate is Donald Trump, who announced in November hoping to freeze the field. No, the most riveting contest is over who will be Trump's vice-presidential running mate. It sure won't be his former veep, Mike Pence (pictured above receiving Mafia kiss of death), who was proclaimed MAGA non grata when he refused to violate the Constitution and install loser Trump as president in 2021.

Instead, many believe Trump will attempt to ease his numerous woman problems (he won only 44% of the female vote in 2020) by picking one to run with him 2024. But there are three things anyone wishing to be Trump's VP choice absolutely must do: 1) repeatedly claim Trump won the 2020 election, 2) look the part, and 3) praise him endlessly and effusively. With that in mind, let's handicap the fillies in the race.

One individual who fits the bill right down to her high-heeled pumps is failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake. Lake built her entire candidacy on election denialism (√), looks good on TV (√), and even traveled to Mar-a-Lago to fawn over him in person (√). Many consider her the current front runner. Odds: 5/2

But don't count out Georgia's Marjorie Taylor Greene. One former Greene adviser told NBC News that her "whole vision is to be vice president." Which is why she backed Trump ally Kevin McCarthy in the speakership squabble and has been raising her profile as an obnoxious MAGA loudmouth. Odds: 4/1

Then there's Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations. Haley criticized him after the January 6 insurrection, but has since tried to mend fences. He just might pick her to prevent her from running for president on her own against him. Odds: 10/1

Finally, also-rans in the Trump veepstakes include:

• Tulsi Gabbard. This former Democratic representative from Hawaii and presidential candidate has recently drifted MAGA-ward and might get the nod if Trump runs as an independent. Odds: 20/1 • Elise Stefanik. A member of the House Republican leadership, she's ferociously ambitious and an early Trump 2024 endorser, but has little else to recommend her. Odds: 45/1 • Kristi Noem. The governor of South Dakota told CNN she would be "shocked" if he asked her to be his running mate. She needn't worry. Odds: 100/1

Of course, there's no predicting how Trump's disordered rat's nest of a brain works. He may well end up picking someone totally else. Like Sarah Palin. Or Beyoncé.

[twosheds]

Truer words were never spoken than of that last confession.

For me, I remember that the first person who stuck out to me was Eric, especially as Robin, as well as Michael as Galahad and I was quite fond of them both but I couldn’t really make up my mind. Then I watched Brian and The Meaning of Life and Mike took the lead for quite some time before kind of out of nowhere Terry just struck me and he’s been very front and centre since. I watched everything in sort of the wrong order so when I went back and watched the show afterwards it only really strengthened him as my favourite seeing him play such a range of characters, especially the ladies. Eric and Mike sort of cycle in close second day by day now.

I do admire John and Graham, they are both very handsome and I love that John just towers over everyone too. I also find that short hair suits Terry G quite well so sometimes I’ll stop and admire him but TJ is very much my favourite, for a list of reasons I could go on and on about for hours.

I answered another ask before I saw this one but I LOVE THIS and YES! My Python journey was so weird, but even before I got into them properly I ALWAYS thought Michael Palin was so cute!

I actually watched Holy Flying Circus before I watched any Python and was an INSTANT John/Mike shipper 😂😂 then because I was so intrigued by the story I went and watched the actual Life of Brian debate lmao, and then my friend who had been trying to get me into Python for YEARS finally got me to watch Flying Circus with her so Mike was already there at the forefront.

Mike and John (and Eric to a certain extent) are such a huge part of British culture but discovering Gray and TJ was so interesting and fun for me! My biggest regret is not getting into them sooner because had I done I probably would’ve seen their final live show at the O2 😢

[tyrannosaurus-trainwreck]

This is... a reach.

The problem with the Bush thing is that we got Bush Sr. and then Bush Jr., to whom Bush Sr. handed all of his old cronies, donors, contacts, and geopolitical resentments.

The problem with the Clinton thing is that we got Mr. Clinton and then we got Ms. Clinton, who were very much a political team. Her active role in crafting legislation, strategy, and policy decisions during the Clinton presidency was a huge part of why the right wing had spent almost thirty years frothing over her by the time she ran for president. She wore pantsuits and had a plan for universal healthcare and that meant she should be burned at the stake.

Biden serving as vice-president and then running for president isn't dynasty-building. Especially since, as we're seeing literally right the fuck now, running mates are typically selected for their differences from the presidential candidate. He was a dude going "I was this guy's back-up and I know how the job works. Here's my platform."

Biden (seasoned political pro, known quantity, middle of the road white dude) was picked as Obama's VP to buffer the campaign against hand-wringing about his race, his relative inexperience, and his perceived ~*~radical leftist~*~ sentiments. Harris was picked as Biden's VP to buffer the campaign against the 'stale saltine cracker finally makes it to front of pantry' perception.

Hell, it's not unusual for presidents and vice presidents to even actively hate each other, like when McCain publicly said he wished he'd picked human clammy-handshake Joe Lieberman over Sarah Palin, or Donald Trump tried to have Mike Pence murdered by a lynch mob on Jan. 6.

It's not great that we went from a political landscape where it was pretty rare, actually, for somebody's vice president to nab the presidency by non-somebody-got-shot-to-death means to a political landscape where it's just kind of a given that the last vice president is going to be the party's next Special Little Guy unless the party's previous guy, say, went on social media during an attempted coup and tried to have him killed. It isn't.

And I don't know whether it's something we should go ahead and blame on Bush, who seemed to pick Cheney as his VP primarily because he'd told his dad to replace Quayle with Cheney when his dad was president, only his dad didn't listen to him, after which any other reason for picking a candidate is bound to seem Extremely Normal, or if it's just the result of Reagan's killing blow to the country's ability to focus on anything beyond the three part-time jobs that still don't pay the rent and the chronic illness they keep getting told is probably stress and sent home from the ER to die of.

I mean, at this point we might also be able to blame the aggressive media-driven corporate brainwashing of the past six decades that's got everyone extremely primed to favor recognized brands over politicians who won't get into rap battles on Twitter about who's going to nuke whom.

But I can point out that the same guy being vice president for two terms and then running for president isn't the same thing as the ex-CIA director/ex-president installing his fucking son, or the tedious idiots going "What if Michelle Obama, who has no political ambitions, ran for president, wink wink?"

[brotheralyosha]

Every Republican national leader since 9/11 had backed the harshest possible prosecution of the War on Terror. Even Mitt Romney pledged to double Guantanamo. Those relatively few prominent Republicans who did object to the war, like senators Rand Paul and Mike Lee, did so on the respectable grounds that it was costing America freedom and wealth. They were openly disdained by the ascendant McCains of the party. Rand Paul’s father, Ron, sought the presidency on an antiwar platform, but he was even more marginal, despite an enthusiastic following on the far right.

Handling the party’s nativists was a more delicate proposition for GOP leaders. Romney and McCain, uncomfortable fits in nativist circles, compensated by advocating “self-deportation” for undocumented immigrants or releasing “complete the danged fence” ads, to say nothing of proposing that the nativist Sarah Palin should be a heartbeat from the presidency. No Republican since 9/11 had been able to combine nativism with antipathy to the futility of the War on Terror and seize control of the party. It occurred to few to try. Then, in June 2015, Donald Trump descended his escalator at Trump Tower.

In his infamous announcement speech, the one claiming Mexicans were rapists and criminals invading a supine America, Trump demonstrated just how effortlessly 9/11 politics amplified nativism. His great insight was that the jingoistic politics of the War on Terror did not have to be tied to the War on Terror itself. That enabled him to tell a tale of lost greatness: “We don’t win anymore.” Trump was able to safely voice the reality of the war by articulating what about it most offended right-wing exceptionalists: humiliation.

It was a heretical sentiment to hear from someone seeking the GOP nomination. Every major Republican figure had spent the past 15 years explaining away the failures of the war or insisting that it was a noble endeavor. Trump called it dumb. His America was suffering unacceptable civilizational insults. “We have nothing” to show for the war, he said, and certainly not the spoils of war that Trump believed were due America. “Islamic terrorism” had seized “the oil that, when we left Iraq, I said we should have taken.” The war was a glitch in the matrix of American exceptionalism, and Trump offered a reboot.

But except for the Afghanistan war, which he considered particularly stupid, Trump was no abolitionist. “I want to have the strongest military we’ve ever had, and we need it now more than ever,” he stated. He threatened to sink Iranian boat swarms, even as Iran was aligned with the United States against ISIS in Iraq, engaged in the ground combat Obama desperately sought to avoid. Then there was ISIS, at home as well as abroad. Trump pointed specifically to ISIS’s spoils: the 2,300 Humvees they drove out of Mosul. “The enemy took them,” he complained, pledging that “nobody would be tougher on ISIS than Donald Trump.” His latest position on Iraq was that it was dumb to get in, dumb to get out, and now the United States had to win, whatever that ultimately meant.

Trump’s incoherence was less important than what it revealed: a disgust at waging the war on its familiar terms, along with an enthusiasm for voicing its civilizational subtext. The same weakness that made the War on Terror a no-win situation had also yielded the current wave of Central American migration. Trump promised to crash the wave against a giant wall on the southern border for which he would make Mexico pay. The socialist writer and critic Daniel Denvir observed that Trump’s pledge to extort Mexico’s wealth for the wall was effectively a demand for imperial tribute. The analysis applies equally to his claim on Iraq’s oil.

. . .

Fifteen years of brutality as background noise made it easy for many to misinterpret Trump’s position on the War on Terror. Journalists listened to his invective against it and called him antiwar, as if he had not been promising to “bomb the shit” out of millions of people. “Donald the Dove,” Maureen Dowd of The New York Times wrote, “in most cases . . . would rather do the art of the deal than shock and awe.” Such attitudes revealed what elites chose to believe about Trump and what they opted to consider merely an act for the rubes. What they overlooked by focusing on Trump’s criticisms of the ground wars was that he wanted to expand the War on Terror to frontiers it had yet to reach. Most important, they heard Trump describe the enemy as Radical Islamic Terror. For 15 years, nativists, stoked by Fox News, had considered such a definition a prerequisite for winning the war. Elites had never understood why the right was so spun up about the phrase. Trump knew that “Radical Islamic Terror” extracted the precious nativist metal from the husk of the Forever War.

None of this was tolerable to the Security State and its allies. Sean MacFarland, a David Petraeus-favored officer during the Iraq occupation who now commanded the war against ISIS, rejected indiscriminate bombing as “what the Russians have been accused of doing in parts of northwest Syria.” Dozens of Republican-aligned security luminaries signed open letters refusing to serve in a Trump administration, birthing the Never Trump Beltway movement. But the architects, contractors, and validators of the War on Terror were placed in awkward positions. One of the letters decried Trump’s “expansive” embrace of torture, since their own embrace of “enhanced interrogation” foreclosed on a more categorical rejection. Former NSA and CIA Director Mike Hayden, who had lied so extensively about torture that the Senate compiled his falsehoods into a separate annex of the torture report, who secretly constructed a surveillance dragnet around the United States while imploring Congress to set the balance between liberty and security, characterized Trump as “unwilling or unable to separate truth from falsehood.” Nor was there any self-reflection from signatories like Iraq occupation chief Bob Blackwill, who took over as Bush’s personal envoy after Paul Bremer, and who had asserted against “the professional pessimists within parts of the U.S. intelligence community” that “2005 will be a good year in Iraq for President Bush.” None of them seemed to understand that they had created the context for Trump. He was about to show them.

[kettle-on]

At last! Chapter 7!

You've all been so patient and I'm so grateful. The past few months have been disastrous and exhausting, and so many of my happy hobbies have had to fall by the wayside.

Still, I was determined to get back to this story, and you'll be happy to know I've planned up to a Chapter 13 already. We'll get there. Slowly but surely!

Anyway, without further ado...

Chapter 7

(attn: @jessm78 @coincidence-ithinknots-blog @pauls-mccharmly @sirrobinsminstrel and anyone I've missed. Let me know if you wanna be tagged for future chapters!)

It was already hot when Michael returned from his early morning jog which, despite his most scrupulous intentions, did not prove to clear his preoccupied mind. Images glided behind his eyes of Y/N’s knees and ankles, her shoulders, and her mouth. He couldn’t picture her eyes quite right; each attempt made them either too lifeless, or too cartoonish - either way, they were unreadable and disappointingly inaccurate. The combination of frustrations and the quickly rising temperature of the island made a cold shower the only comfortable option this morning.

After an insignificant attempt at a toweling off, Michael abruptly met with his reflection in the large square mirror that hung above the dressing table in his bedroom. His hair was dark with wet and slicked back for the moment. A droplet of water made its way down his forehead, took a turn at his brow, and slipped down to settle at the tip of his nose. His reflection confronted him:

What are you doing, Michael? What exactly is your plan? What possible outcome could you wish for that would benefit the group as a whole?

Maybe none, he answered himself. Maybe it’s time I act for my own benefit. Or at least for Y/N’s. Anyway, there’s no harm in being kind, is there? Attentive… curious… I could be good for her. Better. Perhaps Eric needs bringing back down to earth.

He remembered Eric’s words the first night he and Terry arrived: “This must be what being a god feels like.” Well, Michael was a man of flesh and blood, brought up on eggs on toast, tea, and marmalade. He could quietly pride himself on being sensible.

After tossing a comb through his hair that had almost fully dried in moments from the hot island air, and dressing himself (paying more mind to both than he would care to admit), Michael regarded the stacks of books he’d brought with him. He remembered Y/N’s request for a title for distraction. One stood out to him and he chuckled his approval, tucking the book under his arm with his script and editing papers.

The route to Y/N and Eric’s room seemed a long one. Michael’s composure came and went as he imagined her waking, like she had recently done beside him, only this time she’d be at ease, in no hurry, and the book would be a welcome and pleasant surprise. Ah! He could picture her face again, clear and bright. He could feel his heartbeat through his chest and up into his ears as the destination drew nearer. Before he reached it, the sliver of the open door widened and out slid an unexpectedly perky Eric.

“Mr Palin! What brings you to my door?” he greeted him with an unsteady grin and softly closed the door behind him.

“I thought I might catch Y/N. Is she free?”

“She’s having a bit of a lie-in this morning, I’m afraid. She hasn’t been sleeping well. And I think it’s catching.”

“Right,” Michael hesitated, hoping his disappointment wasn’t detectable. “Well, it’s just I’ve a book that I’ve been meaning to lend her…”

He drummed his fingers on the hardcover, eyeing up the doorknob and frame.

“Nevermind,” he resigned himself with a tight smile, “It can wait, of course.”

Leaving the quiet of the bedroom behind them, Eric and Mike set off down the wide corridor that was almost twinkling with morning sunshine peeking through the net curtains over the windows. It was a bold and tremendous contrast, Michael noted, to the well-trodden and familiar corridors of the BBC studios with their dated painted concrete and the occasional sparkle of quartz in the terrazzo tiled floor. That was a place of industry and experimentation, of forward motion in wool suits, with clipboards and coffee cups, and thick tortoiseshell glasses. And now here they were in cotton and linen, flip-flop sandals and sunglasses, short shorts and Muppet t-shirts. Success looked very different to how Michael had once imagined.

Eric brought him out of his reverie:

“Say, Mike, what did you get up to last night?”

“Me?” Michael questioned, actively trying to remember what indeed he did do.

“Mm.”

“Why?”

“There’s no need to look so guilty,” Eric laughed, “That wasn’t an accusation. I just meant… well, you didn’t happen to be skulking around my room in a tiger suit, did you?”

“I beg your pardon?!” Michael choked out in a startled laugh.

“Just the bottom half?” added Eric, “No, it must have been a dream, then. I was there too! I had the top half with the head and the teeth, and you were the bottom, rear end and tail.”

“I see.”

“We were stepping out from a bush – heaven knows where we were,”

“And what had we been… doing… in the bush?” asked Michael, wide-eyed with curiosity and insinuation.

“Who knows?!” shrieked Eric, arms wide and shoulders reaching his ears. “I don’t know! You had a moustache, and... I dunno.”

“Well, I hope you’re not looking for an interpretation,” said Michael

“No no, that’s fine. I think I’ll pass on this one.” Eric laughed.

A crucial part of any Monty Python project was getting the casting right. Several days ago it was agreed that the title role of Brian would be best played by the healthier and sturdy Graham, and the necessary “ratbag” mother character could only be done justice by Terry Jones. With those in place, this morning’s session focused on handing out the secondary and smaller parts – who among the group would multi-hand it, and who would need to be pulled in from elsewhere.

Terry Gilliam’s attentions were paid to the visual elements, of course: set design and costume, and after disappearing for a quarter of an hour with no explanation he returned to the morning room carrying and dragging every spare sheet he could lay his hands on, plus something that Terry Jones could have sworn was a curtain from the corridor.

Gilliam emerged from under the mountain of linens clothed only in a bedsheet, stepped up onto a nearby armchair, and declared:

“Fellas… what do we think?”

What followed was a clamouring of questioning how exactly a toga is worn, who would wear one, how many doorways would require a cloth panel, etc. Somehow a pillowcase ended up over John’s head, but was immediately removed and his hair diligently combed and reset with hairspray.

“Say Mike, you’re gonna be our oiled up leper, aren’t ya?” called Terry G, tossing him the discarded pillowcase. “I promise, no mud eating this time.”

Michael barely had time to answer before the newly coiffed John joined in.

“I should think it’s a bit more like this, wouldn’t you say?” he quipped, holding up a tea towel over Michael’s crotch.

In his embarrassment, Michael was struck by a case of the giggles. Truthfully, he wasn’t looking forward to baring all in a few months’ time. He was pleased with his physical fitness as it was, but his own body image was still something that made him uneasy, having been at times a “stocky” boy, and never intending to rely on his looks for work.

Taking a cue from Michael’s laughter, Terry Jones adopted his director voice: “Now come on, Michael, it’s a costume fitting. Put this on, please.”

“No!” he squeaked, and playfully batted away the tiny piece of fabric.

“All right then, I’ll put it on,” Terry conceded. But before he could lift his t-shirt above his navel, Eric launched from his perch on the armchair, and snatched the towel out his grasp.

“Nnnnot today, Jonesy! Not here. No no.”

Terry responded with a squawk of disappointment. His nudist tendencies would have to wait until later that evening when a swim offered him the chance to don his skimpiest shorts.

At that moment, Y/N peeked her head around the doorframe. She would often sneak a look or listen in on their writing sessions, knowing she was witnessing masters at work. Sometimes she’d steal a wink or a wave from Eric, but this time it was John who spied her.

“Ah, Y/N! Could you come here a minute, please?”

“I don’t want to distur-” she began, but John cut her off, indicating she stand next to him.

“No no, nonsense. Here… now, look,” he began. “No women present at the stoning.”

And he held yet another pillowcase up to Y/N’s chin, vaguely suggesting a beard. His famously inquisitive brows and moustache directed his idea to the group, and he was met with roars of laughter, and applause from his faithful writing partner Graham. That was going in the script, for certain.

“Costume day, is it?” asked Y/N, noticing the silliness in the air, and holding back smiles as she watched the boys play dress-up with their curtains and bedsheets.

“Very nice.” she added casually, waving a humble finger at Michael’s tea towel that Eric had masterfully tucked into the former’s waistband without his noticing.

Eric wasn’t sure what he was reacting to, but a sudden urge to catch and keep Y/N’s attention took him over. He was thrilled and proud that his close friends and co-creators got along so well with his girlfriend and that she appeared to be fairly comfortable around this squad of loonies. Nevertheless, he made a quick move to her side, and placed his hand on the small of her back. He wouldn’t admit that he was being protective, for that would mean he was also feeling threatened, and that, he knew, was totally unnecessary.

[yonderghostshistories]

..... that's actually pretty good fancasting ngl!

Now I want a HFC fanfic/HFC Part 2 but featuring the girls now!

Btw, I have some other HFC fan ideas/headcannon AUs up my sleeve, so allow me to unravel them!

-Building on the meta-esque "1970s-telephone equivalent of WhatsApp-ing" idea, Carol basically has separate telephones for each of the Pythons' spouses', and Carol's contacts are: Connie (John's ex), Helen/Mrs Palin (Mike's Wife) (in the HFC universe, everyone (including Carol) calls/refers to Mike's Wife as Mrs Palin), David (Gray's partner; played by Peter Sandys-Clarke cuz Peter actually looks like David fr imo, also he'd be great as Gray's Bae!!), Maggie (Terry G.'s wife), Alison (Jonesy's wife; played by Katy Wix cuz I think she'd be great as Alison Telfer imo), and Tania (Eric's girlfriend, since the timeline in HFC is set in 1979, as Tania and Eric got married in 1981), and they all have a chat about their lives and stuff.

-John (the HFC version that is) is secretly still a bit sulky about the divorce with Connie (the HFC version), but doesn't want to admit that to everybody else......although everybody else already knows John is secretly still a bit sulky over the divorce. However, John doesn't really have the courage to, well, make up with Connie and at least try to talk to her about his feelings. On the eve before the debate, John finally has the courage to pick up the phone and actually talk to Connie about his feelings, and Connie listens to him. Although it turns out that Connie has actually been calling John before from time to time to tell him that it's ok and that they can still be friends and that he can open about anything to her, but John was being a bit sulky back then that he kinda ignored her calls, or if he did pick up the phone, he half heartedly told her that he's DEFINITELY FINE (he's not).

Anyway, once John actually picks up the phone on his own agency, he finally opens up to Connie, telling her about his hidden, deep fear about what will happen tomorrow and whether it'll go wrong or smth. He also (albeit at first begrudgingly) that he's still a bit sulky over the divorce, and that deep inside he still loves Connie. Connie, being understanding, warmly humours John that he's being a bit silly about the his fear of the debate, but then immediately after gives him solid and heartwarming advice to him, telling him that whatever happens, at least he and Mike had the courage to stand up to those religious bastards. John cheers up a little, and thanks Connie. John, albeit shyly, then asks Connie if she and Carol could come over to the BBC to support him and Mike along with the rest of the gang. Connie tells him that sure, she'll come, because she wants to be a good friend and support her ex-husband, no matter what!

The next day, whilst everyone's getting prepped up before the debate at the BBC, Mike and John finally arrived. Carol and Connie are there too, and they both give Mike and John hugs and words of encouragement to support them. Connie hugs John for a little longer, and John smiles a bit. Connie tells him "good luck", and platonically kisses him on the cheek. John, trying not to blush so much that his face becomes a tomato, tries to be his sarcastic self, but deep down, he appreciates Connie's support!

-Connie (HFC) is seen reading some psychology books. I think it kinda fits ngl!

-George Harrison (voice) cameo cuz uhh funi reference

Ok uhh that's all I got rn! Do let me know your thoughts on the ideas Commie!

Honestly, my *ONE* and *ONLY* complaint (though tbch it's more a nitpick than anything else lol) about "Holy Flying Circus" (2011) is that......I'd have LOVED to see Carol Cleveland and Connie Booth appear in the film, or at least a cameo appearance!

Idk if it's just me, but I feel like it'd been kinda funny and great if Carol (the biopic version of, that is) appeared in a scene(/s) with the Python Boys and probably being the 2nd moral compass of the gang (next to Michael) and just being absolutely jovial throughout the whole thing. Plus, it'd been extra funny if Carol had the late 1970s equivalent of WhatsApp-ing Connie (again the biopic version of Connie I mean) via telephoning her about what's been happening lately and then just having a laugh with the Boys *kinda* overreacting a tiny bit about the whole thing, but do understand why these events leading to the debate are really important for the Boys!

Again, I get the decision for why including either Carol and/or Connie would've been a bit much in a way, what with all the other characters filling space up in the film, so I get why adding the 2 other Python Girls would've overcrowded the film, which I get. But tbh, it'd been pretty cool to see (biopic) Carol and Connie fr!

Btw, I wonder which actresses would've portrayed Carol and Connie if they were to be hypothetically included in film? What do you personally think?

I’d cast Tamsin Egerton as Carol Cleveland and Billie Piper as Connie Booth!

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

1960: John F. Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson vs Richard Nixon/Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.

1964: Lyndon B. Johnson/Hubert Humphrey vs Barry Goldwater/William E. Miller

1968: Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew vs Hubert Humphrey/Edmund Muskie vs George Wallace/Curtis Lemay

1972: Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew vs George McGovern/Sargent Shriver

1976: Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale vs Gerald Ford/Bob Dole

1980: Ronald Reagan/George H.W. Bush vs Jimmy Carter/Walter Mondale

1984: Ronald Reagan/George H.W. Bush vs Walter Mondale/Geraldine Ferraro

1988: George H.W. Bush/Dan Quayle vs Michael Dukakis/Lloyd Bentsen

1992: Bill Clinton/Al Gore vs George H.W. Bush/Dan Quayle vs Ross Perot/James Stockdale

1996: Bill Clinton/Al Gore vs Bob Dole/Jack Kemp vs Ross Perot/Pat Choate

2000: George W. Bush/Dick Cheney vs Al Gore/Joe Lieberman

2004: George W. Bush/Dick Cheney vs John Kerry/John Edwards

2008: Barack Obama/Joe Biden vs John McCain/Sarah Palin

2012: Barack Obama/Joe Biden vs Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan

2016: Donald Trump/Mike Pence vs Hillary Clinton/Tim Kaine

2020: Joe Biden/Kamala Harris vs Donald Trump/Mike Pence

The same candidates tend to show up year after year. Not just President running for re-election, but Vice Presidents running for the top slot themselves, incumbents or candidates, successful or not; Richard Nixon (1952, 1956, 1960, 1968), Hubert Humphrey (1964, 1968), Walter Mondale (1976, 1980), Bob Dole (1976, 1996), Al Gore (1992, 1996, 2000)

I would expect John Edwards (D-2004) to try and make a comeback, though he was only a one term senator from North Carolina, so that’s looking increasingly unlikely. The state swung for Obama in 2008, but hasn’t voted blue since (except for governor, but he has no power because the Republicans control the state legislature)

Paul Ryan (R-2012) will be back for sure; he retired from the House in part over of disagreements with Trump, but one doesn’t just give up being Speaker and slink away into obscurity (just look at Newt Gingrich, he refuses to shut up or die), so I think Ryan is just biding his time and hoping the whole Trump thing blows over in the next decade. If the party shifts away from Trump, he might offer himself as a slightly more moderate (“moderate*”) alternative.

Or maybe Sarah Palin (R-2008) will try and reclaim the presidency for herself; she’s a hardcore right wing nutjob, she was a Bush supporter AND a Trump supporter, and she’s still relatively young, so I could see her stepping back into the spotlight to try and “being the country back” to the traditionalism of the early 2000s. Nostalgia is cyclical, so I figure around 2028 or 2032 people will start looking back fondly on the Clinton and Bush years (Clinton more so than Bush, what with 9/11 and the wars and such)

Tim Kaine isn’t even one of the famous senators; there are some senators that everybody knows, even if they’re not from your state, like Chuck Schumer, Joe Manchin, Lindsey Graham, Bitch McConnell, big names with big reputations. Tim Kaine is a nobody, just a bland and inoffensive white dude Clinton picked to be as uncontroversial as possible (she couldn’t pick a woman or a black person because then the ticket would have been “too diverse”). He’s not the future of the Democratic party, but I could see him trying to become part of the Senate leadership. Maybe the whip (vice leader), I don’t think he has what it takes to be leader outright.

I don’t think Mitt Romney (R-2012) will run for president again; that ship has sailed. Moderate Republicans are critically endangered, extinct in the wild, with single specimens in captivity (in Vermont, Massachusetts, and Maryland). After back-to-back losses in 2008 and 2012, I don’t think Republicans will run a moderate candidate ever again. Romney could maybe just maybe become the whip if he so desired, he’s a big enough name with support enough to become their presidential nominee, though he’ll never be the leader; McConnell was their golden goose, he gave hem exactly what they wanted and changed the game to give them an advantage even in minority. They will only ever elect hardliners like him from now on. Romney is too soft; he cares too much about the other side (he’s not liberal by any stretch of the imagination, he’s a Mormon for Brigham’s sake, but he voted to impeach Trump twice which means he may as well be a liberal in the eyes of the public)

Mike Pence has committed political suicide. Democrats hate him for his homophobia, sexism, racism, classism, and weird relationship with his wife who he calls “mother.” Republicans hate him because he didn’t break the law to re-elect Trump. Damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t. He’s ultraconservative and super religious, so under normal circumstances he’d be a shoo-in for the nomination, but after breaking with Trump in January he’s dead in the water (he didn’t even really break away, there was literally nothing legal he could do; if he had tried anything it would have been struck down by the courts). And besides that, Pence is boring as hell. He’s milquetoast, he’s a saltine cracker without the salt because it’s too spicy, he orders plain hamburgers with ketchup on the side, all his steaks are cooked well done, he gets a boner when he sees a woman’s ankle and has to self-flagellate for penance, he sends back water if it has too much ice because it makes his teeth hurt. He’s the sacrificial lamb they’d nominate specifically to lose so they can save a stronger candidate for later when there’s no incumbent.

Kamala Harris is basically president-in-waiting (or rather nominee-in-waiting; who knows if she can actually win?) Biden ran on the unspoken promise that he would step down in 2024, making her the front runner, but he has recently walked this back and says he plans on running for a second term himself, pushing Kamala back until 2028 at least. She has good PR and has convinced half the country that she’s a progressive instead of a cop, so if she runs she’ll definitely have an edge over Democratic challengers. The media picks the nominee, and in 24 or 28 they’ll pick her for sure.

It’s becoming increasingly harder for people to stay relevant over multiple decades. I can’t imagine any 2004 candidates running in 2024, but Bob Dole managed to get on as Ford’s #2 and come back as #1 himself twenty years later (he lost both times, but still). Richard Nixon beat the odds and actually got elected in 68 after losing the presidency in 60 and the governorship in 62; he was pretty much coasting on Eisenhower’s legacy, selling himself as the anti-Goldwater, who lost in 64 to LBJ in a landslide.

Trump is acting like he’s going to run again, but whether or not he’ll fully commit is up in the air. On the one hand, his least insane niece says that he doesn’t want to put himself in a position where he could lose again, his ego couldn’t take it, he’s so embarrassed he can’t even admit it happened the first time. On the other hand, he’s too proud to accept defeat and just let some other candidate take his spot as leader of the Republican Party; the Republicans haven’t had a leader since Eisenhower, every other president has disappeared after leaving office.

Nixon resigned in disgrace

Ford was elected out

Reagan disappeared in the 90s because he didn’t want the country to see him deteriorate from Alzheimer’s

Bush Sr was elected out

Bush Jr was despised with approval in the 20s (record low), and could potentially have been tried at The Hague if Obama had balls

Now Trump wants to stick around, even though he’s older than Reagan and FAR less healthy. He’ll probably be dead in 15 years anyway; no way he reaches 90. His mind may already be going, but unlike Reagan he isn’t self aware enough to know it, so he might try to stay in the spotlight even after the dementia sets in. Wo knows?

What his niece says, and what I think is most likely to happen, is that he will pretend like he’s running in order to scam donors out of millions of dollars to pay his exorbitant legal fees, but then bow out of the race before the primaries. Whichever candidate he personally endorses will become the nominee and go up against Biden. Biden will win the popular vote, but I don’t know if he’ll win the electoral college; if this happens for the third time in a quarter century, I expect nothing less than chaos in the streets, perhaps even civil war (well, I expected civil war after 2020, and we’re still standing, so again, who knows?). All I know is that congressional Democrats will throw a hissy fit but do nothing to stop the Republicans from sneaking their way into office without a mandate AGAIN.

The last Republican to legitimately win the presidency was George Bush Sr in 1988. Jr lost to Gore, and only got re-elected in 2004 because he invaded Iraq the year prior. Democrats have won 7 of the last 8 elections, including the last 4 in a row. There are more Democrats and left-leaning independents than Republicans and right-leaners. If the Republicans lose-but-win AGAIN, I don’t think the county could take it; there would be phony calls for secession on TV and legitimate whispers behind the scenes, there would be lawsuits, there would be an even bigger assault on the Capitol than January 6, people would riot, the National Guard would attack brown people with impunity while peacefully corralling the white ones with shields and loudspeakers.

There hasn’t been an assassination since 1963, and no assassination attempt resulting in injury since 1981. Someone threw a grenade at Bush Jr in 2005, but they wrapped a handkerchief around it so the lever didn’t release. I think multiple politicians on both sides of the aisle might be targeted in the event of another electoral college screw up.

Trump could face jail time for his tax crimes, though given his high profile I think he’d get off with a slap on the wrist. He has never faced consequences before, so why would they start now?

[96thdayofrage]

The Black Wall Around Barack Obama: Who Does It Protect Him Against?

When we build a black wall around Barack Obama, we are only protecting him from accountability to us.

The presumption that Barack Obama, no matter what he does or doesn't do, enjoys nearly unanimous black support is a veritable wall around the president. But who does it protect him against? Republicans? Banksters? Tea partyers, warmongers, torturers? Or does it protect him against black people and the left, his supposed base?

It was the summer of 2007, and I was in the study of a prominent black Atlanta pastor. The conversation turned, as did so many that season to the coming presidential election, still a good 16 months away. “We've got to unite and build a wall, a solid black wall around Brother Obama,” the reverend declared.

I tried to ask whether one man's career was really more important than the needs of forty million black people, what obligations candidate Obama would owe the black community, and how we might ensure these were fulfilled. But the pastor wasn't hearing any of this. All the obligations, in his view, seemed to flow from the bottom up, while the power flowed from the top down. It's never easy to stop a preacher on a roll.

“If we can build that solid black wall,” he continued, “if we can unite black people behind Brother Obama, he will have the power to do anything he wants to do. Can't you see it?” he asked. “If we do that, nothing any of his opponents say or do will be able to touch him.” Almost four years later, it looks like black America's legacy leadership are still following the pastor's playbook.

The black political wall around Barack Obama is a reality, and one of the president's most powerful political assets. It trades upon African America's historic credibility as a people of struggle, the people who produced Nat Turner and Ida B. Wells, Charles Hamilton Houston, Kwame Toure and Martin Luther King and many, many others.

White liberals and progressives often tend to follow the lead of black America, whether right or wrong. You want to know what you should do? The president's black and black people are supporting him? What else do you need to know? But who is inside that wall, and who is outside? Who does the black wall the Atlanta preacher described protect Barack Obama against?

The black wall around Barack Obama doesn't protect him from the war makers and war criminals of the bipartisan military industrial complex.

From the beginning, the architects of the Bush-Cheney policies of torture and unjust war have been on the inside of Barack Obama's wall, not outside it. With U.S. troops in 144 countries, the most powerful person in government outside the White House is the Secretary of Defense. Obama was the first president in U.S. history to keep a Secretary of War (the office's pre-1948 name) from the other party. He ran promising to expand the military, to escalate the war in Afghanistan, crack down on the Palestinians, continue the provocations and threats toward Venezuela, Cuba, Iran and so forth, and to close Guantanamo and end illegal torture.

In office Obama kept Guantanamo and the network of global secret prisons remain open. He “legalized” torture, declined to prosecute Bush-Cheney crimes. This president has kept all his warlike promises, breaking only his peaceful pledges. The president has viciously prosecuted whistle blowers, like those who leaked video of U.S. troops gunning down innocent civilians in Iraq.

The black wall around Barack Obama protects the president, but it protects the war machine too. But while black America remains the most antiwar section of the U.S. polity, black critics of the imperial wars are not heard. They are on the outside of Obama's black wall.

Don't criticize the dear leader too loudly, they are told, lest you weaken him. Look--- over there --- it's President Michelle Bachman!

The black wall around Barack Obama doesn't protect him from greedy Wall Street banksters and corporate thugs.

Like the war makers, the banksters were inside the Barack's wall long before the inauguration, even before the election. When George Bush couldn't pass his own bailout bill through Congress, he had to summon Barack Obama to D.C. Obama halted his campaign for a week or two and lined up Democrats to vote for the Bush bailout. Without their votes, it could not have passed. Once in office, Obama doubled down on the bailout, doling out more than $21 trillion to his benefactors thus far.

Homes are the principal assets of most who have them. The continuing wave of foreclosures, disproportionately affecting black families, is the most serious raid on black wealth in decades, widening the already vast wealth gap between blacks and whites.

The black wall around Barack Obama protects the president, and the banksters with him. Those opposed to the foreclosures, who want to rein in and prosecute Wall Street predators, who organize against foreclosures find themselves outside Barack Obama's black wall, not inside it. ACORN registered voters to elect this president. But Obama stood by and watched them falsely accused, smeared and broken.

Look --- over there! It's the Tea Party! Circle the wagons, get back in line!

The black wall around Barack Obama doesn't protect him against the forces aiming to privatize public education

From the beginning President Obama has been an enthusiastic supporter of efforts to blame and defame public school teachers, and to charterize and privatize public education. As Chicago Schools CEO his infamous Secretary of Education fired hundreds of dedicated, qualified Chicago teachers in order to replace their schools with charters. Obama has taken Duncan's failed Chicago policies national, firing for example, a whole school district of teachers in Providence, Rhode Island. Obama's Race To The Top forces states to reorganize public education to suit the dictates of the Gates, Broad and Walton Family Foundations, the private sector actors who gave birth to the charter school industry, which is firmly inside Barack Obama's black wall.

This week the president is scheduled to make his first public appearance since announcing his re-election campaign at the national convention of Al Sharpton's National Action Network, along with Arne Duncan. Together with Newt Gingrich, Duncan and Sharpton have been campaigning for charters and school privatization nationwide for the last two years. Gingrich, Duncan and Sharpton, the three stooges of corporate school reform are firmly inside Barack Obama's black wall, along with their foundation benefactors. Public school teachers and the communities they server are as usual, on the outside, but required to man the barricades for Obama's re-election.

Watch out! It's Mike Huckabee and Mitch Romney! You don't want that to happen, do you?

The black wall around Barack Obama doesn't protect him against Republican-led assaults on democratic rights.

Restrictive voter-ID laws are proliferating in Republican-led legislatures across the country with the clear intent of reducing the number of student and minority voters. Perhaps the first was in Georgia, where the Voting Rights Act gives the US Justice Department authority to block any changes in election law that disproportionately affect blacks. The wave of disenfranchisement could have been prevented. But black legacy leadership didn't pressure the Obama administration, and the Department of Justice didn't lift a finger.

The traditional black leadership are so bankrupt that when right wing propagandist Andrew Breitbart smeared Shirley Sherrod, a local human rights activist of 45 years standing, even the NAACP, who doubtless knew her history, rushed endorsed the calumny. Shirley Sherrod, along with millions of black, brown and young voters are on the outside of Barack Obama's wall.

Republican governors and legislatures in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana have passed ambitious efforts to end public sector unions, ban union political contributions. Michigan passed a measure that would let governors overrule or dissolve school boards and local governments by declaring a “fiscal emergency” and appointing an individual or corporation to rule in their place.

But the fiscal hawks are inside Barack Obamas wall, not outside it. The president himself promotes the fictions that “national debt is like family debt” and that cuts in wages, benefits, Medicare, Medicaid and social security are the solution to his fictitious problem.

Unions are outside Barack Obama's black wall too, although he gratefully accepts their campaign contributions, and allows their leaders to sit on commissions and meet with him from time to time. Union leaders invited the president to come to Madison, Wisconsin during the face-off with the legislature. Fortunately, he declined. They invited the vice-president. He demurred. They invited the Secretary of Labor. No way. Here again, the president's freeze on the pay and rights of federal workers set the stage for Republican moves to take it one step further.

Look --- over there! It's President Sarah Palin! Can you live with that? Shut up and drink your kool-aid.

In every case, the black wall around Barack Obama protects him not from Tea Partyers and Republican foes, whom he is anxious to meet more than half way. The black wall around Barack Obama protects him from accountability to black people, to his supposed base.

Increasingly we can expect the White House and its allies will demand that all grassroots political agitation and organizing not explicitly connected with turning out the vote for the president and his party cease. That's been the traditional pattern. Antiwar movements, housing and human rights work, all of it folds in even numbered years, as activists allow all their efforts to be diverted into electing Democrats.

As 2012 looms, the black wall around Obama remains a crucial asset. It's why his first campaign appearance will be on the arm of Al Sharpton. The pressure will be on to circle the wagons again, to build the wall higher. As the pastor predicted, the black wall around Barack Obama wall insulates the president against his foes, not from the right, but from the left. It protects the president not against the Pentagon, the banksters, the corporate thugs, the privatizers and the Republicans, all of whom he seems to get along with just fine --- but against us. It makes him democracy-proof and people-proof. It protects him against his own supposed base.

It's time for black America to answer the questions the Atlanta pastor wouldn't. What's more important? Stopping the foreclosures, ending war and mass incarceration, reining in the banks and corporadoes, saving the public education and the environment, creating jobs and doing justice? Or protecting and prolonging the career of one man, a man who doesn't protect us?

Bruce A. Dixon is managing editor at Black Agenda Report, and based in Marietta GA, where he serves on the state committee of the Georgia Green Party.

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

Since news broke that the FBI searched former-President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate on Monday, a growing number of Republicans have spoken out against the raid.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., took to Twitter, posting a statement that read in part: "I've seen enough."

"The Department of Justice has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization," McCarthy continued. "When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned."

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., took it a step further, tweeting: "DEFUND THE FBI!"

A Twitter account for Republican members of the House Judiciary Committee run by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, tweeted: "This is what happens in third world countries. Not the United States." Another tweet read: "If they can do it to a former President, imagine what they can do to you."

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a series of tweets that "launching such an investigation of a former President this close to an election is beyond problematic."

"We’re 100 days away from midterm elections. President Trump is likely going to run again in 2024," Graham tweeted. "No one is above the law. The law must be above politics."

Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, called the raid "incredibly concerning."

"We need answers NOW," Scott tweeted. "The FBI must explain what they were doing today & why."

Several Republican Senators used the raid to further criticize President Joe Biden's sweeping climate, health care and tax bill, which Senate Democrats passed on Sunday and which includes nearly $80 billion in funding for the Internal Revenue Service. For instance, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., tweeted: "After todays raid on Mar A Lago what do you think the left plans to use those 87,000 new IRS agents for?"

Other Republicans, including potential 2024 presidential candidates, continued to attack the Justice Department and the FBI.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis tweeted that the raid "is another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies," then said: "Banana Republic."

Former Secretary of State and ex-CIA Director Mike Pompeo said executing a search warrant against a former President "is dangerous."

"The apparent political weaponization of DOJ/FBI is shameful," Pompeo tweeted. "I served on Benghazi Com where we proved Hilliary possessed classified info. We didn't raid her home."

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tx., called the raid "unprecedented."

Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel also released a statement, asserting -- without evidence -- that the search was an attempt by Democrats to "weaponize the bureaucracy against Republicans."

"Countless times we have examples of Democrats flouting the law and abusing power with no recourse. Democrats continually weaponize the bureaucracy against Republicans," McDaniel said. "This raid is outrageous. This abuse of power must stop and the only way to do that is to elect Republicans in November."

Multiple sources confirmed to ABC News that Trump's residence in Palm Beach was raided by FBI agents on Monday, starting around 10 a.m. local time. The former President was not there at the time.

Sources said the search of Mar-a-Lago was related to the 15 boxes of documents that Trump took there when he departed the White House, some of which the National Archives has said were marked classified. In January, Trump handed over the documents to the National Archives, and his attorneys said they were searching for any more records they may have.

The former President issued a statement Monday evening, saying Mar-a-Lago "is currently under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents." He added: "They even broke into my safe!"

Later Monday, during a planned tele-rally with Sarah Palin ahead of her upcoming special election in Alaska, Trump didn't specifically mention the raid but appeared to briefly reference it when saying: "Another day in paradise. This is a strange day."

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that the FBI's activities at Trump's compound are court-authorized.

The Justice Department and FBI declined to comment.

A senior official briefed on Monday's events told ABC News that the Secret Service was notified by the FBI a short time before agents arrived that they would be coming. The Secret Service validated the search warrant and facilitated entry into the residence, in accordance with a court order, the official said. Secret Service agents were not involved in the search.

The Secret Service declined to comment.

A Biden administration official told ABC News that the White House received no advanced notice of the raid.

The White House has otherwise referred requests for comment on the investigation to the Justice Department.

ABC News contributor and former federal prosecutor Kan Nawaday said the raid is "extraordinary" but not "that surprising."

"I don't think we've ever seen this," Nawaday told ABC News Live Prime on Monday night. "At the same time, to me, it doesn't seem that surprising, given all the evidence that the Jan. 6 Committee has set forth about possible crimes relating to [the Capitol riot]."

"I think the indication is that it's moving forward. They are taking active action and following the leads and following the evidence," he added. "It's only a matter of time, in my view, that they're going to work up the chain to other potential targets."

[silezukuk]

“The silly héroïnes of the new Python series, thinly disguised and looking pleased to be back: top left, Mike Palin, right, Eric Idle, front left, Terry Jones and, right, Graham Chapman who is known to have fallen from his chair while viewing Python sillinesses” / Radio Times, 24 October 1974, photo Alan Ballard

[sumukhcomedy]

Our Next President Will Be Really F***ing Old

In the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, 70-year-old Donald Trump defeated 69-year-old Hillary Clinton. The subsequent reactions to this result and the nature of the country since then don’t need to be discussed. They play out every day.

But, in the wake of it all, Democrats were preparing themselves for 2020. They knew they needed to line up a candidate to defeat Donald Trump and most have posed that as a top reason to vote for them as the primaries play out.

What we’ve also seen since the 2016 election is plenty of debate over generational issues: Baby Boomers blaming Millennials, Millennials blaming Baby Boomers, Generation Xers apparently just hanging out, Generation Zers just looking at their technology, me wondering what the next generation will be called since we’ve run out of letters. But what’s clear is we do have a spirited youth that are intelligent, politically and socially active, and whose votes and voices will matter.

Yet, here is where we stand: the Republican Party has aligned itself with the now 73-year-old Trump’s protocol even after desperately wanting to push him out of their primary years earlier. The Democratic field’s top candidates by polls currently are Joe Biden (77 years old), Bernie Sanders (78 years old; will be 79 on date of 2020 presidential election), and Elizabeth Warren (70 years old; will be 71 on date of 2020 presidential election). Mike Bloomberg (77 years old; will be 78 in a few weeks) has enough money to put himself in this field as well.

What is going on here? I’m not writing this with any political leanings one way or the other, but more from just a general societal perspective.

If you walked into any company and asked employees what they thought of any co-worker over the age of 70, I guarantee that a majority of those polled would say, “Why are they still working here?” And, yet, these are all the most viable candidates that both parties have fielded for President of the United States?

I’m sure I could be called out as ageist, but that isn’t entirely the point. It’s fine to field candidates that are senior citizens, but the notion that all the top ones are and that the parties chose to structure themselves in this way speaks to the fundamental problem and alienation that the younger generations felt after the 2016 election. They’ve become more vocal and more political and yet both parties don’t seem to be truly addressing it or caring about it.

                                            The future of America

Trump is already pretty majorly disconnected to the youth unless they happen to be conservative and then he’s unfortunately molding them into a really distorted view on Republican ideals or even faith. Biden has already shown signs of both age and an inability to relate to the current times whether it be with his viewpoints on marijuana or his touchiness with women. Warren and Sanders seem to have the most youth-backing and yet they are now locking heads for votes. It seems absolutely absurd that the voice that seems to be able to relate to the issues of the younger generation the most is coming from the oldest person in the field.

Trump loves junk food so much that he fed it to the college football championship winning Clemson team. His Twitter account doesn’t even need to be mentioned at this point as a sign of a concern. Sanders suffered a heart attack in October. Biden’s mental capacity in debates keeps coming under fire. We’ve seen from George W. Bush and Barack Obama how much a President can age in 8 years in office. There’s nothing wrong as a voter holding a concern for how old the leader of their nation will be and their health and yet this doesn’t seem to truly to matter to anyone right now.

One would think that the outlook of either party with a candidate isn’t just winning for 4 years but winning for 8. I don’t know that Trump could make it that far. I certainly don’t know that I feel that way about a mid-80s Biden or Sanders. So, it makes the vice president position all that more important and we’ve watched in the past how the frightening notion of Sarah Palin as president may have buried a campaign.

I’m not one to rally around and promote candidates or even my political preferences, but at a general level, it would seem that only focusing in on one age group and the most aged of them all for the highest office in the country doesn’t do a great job of speaking to the entire country. We have a minimum age limit of 35 which is good because that means an Instagram influencer won’t become our President which would be likely to happen. But it’s safe to question why we don’t have a maximum age and why our major political parties are slanting towards unbelievably older candidates.

They may be clinging to their final ways of shaping their worldview and, in the process, only further alienating a large youth population that is ready to take over.