A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
It’s clear that the youngest generation of voters isn’t the same as the ones that came before. So, what’s up with the kids?
Gen Z researcher Rachel Janfaza joins Vox’s Astead Herndon to discuss how young voters are prioritizing economic survival, confronting their anxieties related to AI-job displacement, and searching for pragmatic, transparent leaders who address their everyday challenges.
00:00 Astead’s love-hate relationship with Gen Z
05:04 The theory of two Gen Z’s
06:19 How the pandemic broke Gen Z
09:48 Growing up with a phone in one hand
16:15 Rejection of the algorithm
17:56 The drivers of economic anxiety
22:08 AI and the future of work
25:25 The gender divide, explained
31:43 Hope for a post-Trump politics
32:51 Takeaways
I've been teaching since 1978, when I became UCLA's flag instructor, and I've seen how every generation is different. They require me to change my teaching to match their peer personalities. Some generations are independent learners, some require more direction. That difference generally reflects how they were taught in K-12. Having been trained and worked as a secondary school teacher allows me to pick up the styles they learned under. Gen Z in particular has been, as Rachel Janfaza pointed out, shaped by remote learning during the pandemic. That would make them more independent, along with the effects of social media, giving them access to sources outside of the classroom, both for good and for ill.
I agree with FiveThirtyEight's quick summary of what our gerontocracy means for policy. It's good for issues relevant to seniors, but maybe not so good for those important to younger Americans. That's good and bad for me personally. I'm 63, so the current Congress would be more likely to pay attention to health issues, like my diabetes, and retirement. On the other, they might not take climatechange and technology as seriously as I think they need to, while a younger group of legislators would. Sigh.
Gen Z getting mobilized against AI in general and data centers in particular shows that they are getting other generations to attention to pay attention to their issues.
I'm not surprised by Gen Z's activism; according to Strauss and Howe, they are the same kind of generation as the Silent Generation, that of my parents. That was the generation that supplied the then-young activists of the Civil Rights Movement and later the Women's Liberation Movement. Boomers may claim credit based on their protests against the Vietnam War, but the Silents really provided the people power behind the first two.
Speaking of the past, Gen Z probably has even less connection to the events of the Depression and World War II than I had to the Civil War in my youth. First, I was a young boy during the Centennial of the Civil War, so I got reminded of it regularly. Second, the U.S. has never stopped rehashing the issues of the Civil War, such as sectionalism and racism; the Civil Rights era was still going on when I was young. The Cold War replaced the global struggle of fascism, which everyone thought was defeated. Now that fascism is back, the people who remember are mostly gone and today's young people see World War II as ancient history; they don't understand the relevance. That's one of the reasons why history, even if it doesn't repeat, certainly does rhyme, as Theodor Reik wrote, then had his line attributed to Mark Twain. The history is forgotten, then it returns. Cue George Santayana: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
That's a gloomy thought, but one that isn't enough to make me think less of the final generation of my students. I like the generation that is saving movies and the mall. As I wrote in those two posts, I like them and think they're good people.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for more Emmy Awards coverage tomorrow.
Happy Throwback Thursday! As I wrote yesterday, I'm resuming my series on the News & Doc Emmy Awards. Today's topic is Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. One nominee stands out, Prime Minister with two nominations as the preview image shows, Best Documentary and Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. The rest of the field has only the one nomination for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary. On that basis, I'm declaring Prime Minister the favorite. Watch Prime Minister | Official Trailer | HBO.
“World leaders have rarely been captured with as much intimacy” - @variety
A rare and unfiltered portrait, #PrimeMinisterHBO chronicles the unexpected journey of Dame Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s 40th Prime Minister. Premieres September 30 on @hbomax.
I found Jacinda Ardern inspirational while she was Prime Minister during the pandemic, and I felt that way again watching this trailer.
Bodyguard of Lies is the first unvarnished documentary on the Afghanistan War, exposing the falsehoods told to Americans and the secrets kept. The film reveals the staggering cost of deception: thousands of lives lost, trillions spent, and a truth buried for decades.
I expressed what a waste of time, money, and lives the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan was ten years ago in We could have had the Moon, instead we get Afghanistan. Seeing this collapse a decade later demonstrates that I wasn't disgusted enough at the squandering of blood and treasure in "the Graveyard of Empires" at the time.
It was even worse than I thought and the people in charge knew it.
Unprecedented and audacious, HOLLYWOODGATE is the riveting result of the year director Ibrahim Nash'at spent with the Taliban in the wake of the United States withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021. Risking his life in the war-torn nation, Nash'at is on the ground with the Taliban when they enter an American base loaded with a portion of the roughly $7 billion worth of U.S. armaments left behind. Driving towards an astonishing and chilling end, Nash'at tracks Taliban leaders as they attempt to transform from a fundamentalist militia into a modern military regime, employing Hollywood-style propaganda to achieve their goals.
#TheDarkMoneyGame: Ohio Confidential & Wealth of the Wicked by Academy Award Winner Alex Gibney premieres Tuesday, April 15 and Wednesday, April 16 at 9pm on @hbomax.
That's two nominated documentaries from Alex Gibney. The man is a powerhouse.
Which are the distinct attributes sculpting the Japanese identity? What makes you Japanese? In order to figure out the answers, the British Japanese filmmaker closely follows 1st and 6th graders for one year at a public elementary school in Tokyo, as well as their teachers, unveiling how teachers and students interact and shape one another. The outbreak of the pandemic and its restrictions constitute just another controlling measure. The kids in Japan are after all forged by their homeland's culture through a strictly defined education process which is in pursuit, with unwavering focus, of the appropriate equilibrium between individual progress and harmony of the society as a whole. Offering a unique hybrid perspective, the filmmaker critically examines a culture that is equally familiar to her as it is foreign, while she peruses the school environment in terms of an industrial production plant, in which the raw materials for processing are the students.
One of the points I make when I cover shows about government is that public education is government, too. I'm glad to see the News & Doc Emmy selection committee recognize this.
Now for Prime Minister's second category.
2000 Meters to Andriivka leads with six nominations, Turning Point: The Vietnam War follows with five nominations, Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time, Life After, and Love + War tie at four nominations, and Black Snow and Union tie at this one nomination. I had 2000 Meters to Andriivka penciled in to win this category because of its awards history, especially its wins at the DGA and WGA Awards, but seeing it lead this category, if not all nominees, in nominations inks that prediction in.
I'll probably examine Hurricane Katrina: Race Against Time tomorrow. In the meantime, follow over the jump as I continue my retrospective of top posts about the Emmy Awards during the 15th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
The Nobel Prize in Physics has been awarded to John Clarke, Michel H. Devoret and John M. Martinis for their work on quantum mechanics that is paving the way for a new generation of very powerful computers.
"There is no advanced technology used today that does not rely on quantum mechanics, including mobile phones, cameras... and fibre optic cables," said the Nobel committee.
The announcement was made by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences at a news conference in Stockholm, Sweden.
The three winners will share prize money of 11 million Swedish kronor (£872,000).
Yay, three physicists from the University of California, even if they aren't from my undergraduate alma mater, UCLA!
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has decided to award the 2025 Nobel Prize in chemistry to Susumu Kitagawa, Richard Robson and Omar M. Yaghi "for the development of metal–organic frameworks." The new type of molecular architecture developed by the group allows for "large cavities in which molecules can flow in and out. Researchers have used them to harvest water from desert air, extract pollutants from water, capture carbon dioxide and store hydrogen," according to the award-giving body. Their research could provide solutions for combatting climate change.
"A small amount of such material can be almost like Hermione's handbag in Harry Potter. It can store huge amounts of gas in a tiny volume," Heiner Linke, chairman of the Nobel Committee for Chemistry, said during a press conference.
The Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded to Mary E Brunkow, Fred Ramsdell and Shimon Sakaguchi for their work on the functioning of the human immune system.
The award, announced by Sweden’s Karolinska Institute on Monday, will be presented to the trio in December for “their groundbreaking discoveries concerning peripheral immune tolerance that prevents the immune system from harming the body”.
The research “relates to how we keep our immune system under control so we can fight all imaginable microbes and still avoid autoimmune disease”, said Marie Wahren-Herlenius, a rheumatology professor at the Karolinska Institute.
The prize of 11 million Swedish kronor ($1.17m) is to be shared equally between Brunkow and Ramsdell, both 64, of the United States and Japan’s Sakaguchi, 74.
The king of Sweden will also present them with gold medals.
Al Jazeera’s Paul Rhys reports from Stockholm.
This advancement could help me personally, as I am a cancer survivor and Type I diabetic, an autoimmune disease. May I live long enough for the science to advance enough to improve my condition.
“We don’t have the right to tune out when previous generations fought and fought and fought.” Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin, the youngest Democratic female serving in the U.S. Senate, joins Michael Kosta to share her perspective on the current state of national security and the Democratic agenda moving forward. The senator explains why voters are looking for Democrats with alpha energy (“You don’t have to be a male to [have] alpha energy,” she says), how President Trump’s tariff policy is “slow-rolling us into a recession,” responsible vs. reckless change, and the importance of tuning in during challenging times.
I think Senator Slotkin did well in one of the friendlier interviews I've seen on The Daily Show — fellow Michigander Jordan Klepper might have been as cordial, but Desi Lydic and especially Jon Stewart might have grilled her harder — but Kosta avoided asking about her suggesting that Democrats should avoid mentioning oligarchy, which got Bernie Sanders and AOC to tell her off. It also garnered a lot of hostile comments on the YouTube upload, only one of which I'll repeat, eyuin5716: "Slotkin needs to go home. I’m not interested in playing footsie with the modern day Kyrstin Sinema." EYuin, you have no idea, especially which Senator Sinema, the Democrat or the independent, you're comparing Slotkin to. If it's Sinema the Democrat, the better comparison in the current Senate would be John Fetterman, who Voteview describes as "the most conservative Democrat of the 119th Senate." He's moved up and to the right since 2024. If it's Sinema the independent, then you're on to something. Slotkin is not only the youngest female Democratic Senator, she's also the most "establishment" (conservative on Voteview's second dimension) Senator, Democrat, Republican, or independent. Look at the chart below.
This is nearly identical to her position on the second dimension when she was in the House, so her Senate voting record should come as no surprise.
It should also come as no surprise that Slotkin would come into conflict with AOC, who, along with the rest of "The Squad," are at the opposite extreme along the second dimension, making them the most anti-establishment members of the House. The establishment politician would support the current power structure, especially regarding national security and foreign policy, while the anti-establishment ones would oppose it. The current power structure would oppose mentioning oligarchy, while its opponents would make it a central issue.
I have two "for what it's worth" observations about this. First, at least between Slotkin and "The Squad," this is not a Left-Right (first dimension in Voteview) issue. Slotkin's ideological (first dimension) score both as a Senator and as a House member is -0.338, more conservative than 63% of Democrats in the 119th Senate and more conservative than 65% of Democrats in the 118th House. In contrast, AOC's ideological score is -0.319, more conservative than 66% of Democrats in the 119th House and 71% of Democrats in the 118th House. Yes, AOC is to the right of Slotkin, at least according to Voteview's algorithm. Surprise!
Second, this is a fight over tactics and tone, not goals. Slotkin, Sanders, and "The Squad" all oppose Donald "Hoover Cleveland" Trump and the threat to democracy and the rule of law he poses; they're just arguing over the most effective way to do so.
Amy Poehler presents Peter Straughan with the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for 'Conclave' at the 97th Academy Awards.
This was no surprise.
Best Adapted Screenplay:Conclave won the Golden Globe as well as the Critics' Choice Awards and WGA Awards, so it's a prohibitive favorite here; again, all eleven editors voted for it to win.
Just the same, congratulations to Peter Straughan on winning Conclave's only Oscar out of eight nominations.
Once the period of mourning for Pope Francis is done, the centuries-old tradition of selecting a new pope, known as the conclave, gets underway. NBC’s Keir Simmons reports for TODAY about the process that’s shrouded in secrecy.
Saturday’s funeral and burial of Pope Francis mark the beginning of nine days of official mourning at the Vatican, with cardinals leading masses each day. The words of their homilies will be closely examined and analyzed for clues about what’s on their minds as they prepare to elect a new pope. John Yang speaks with John Allen, editor of Crux, for more.
LOL, Spaceballs. That's not a flattering comparison, but it gives me the opportunity to mention the movie on this blog for only the second time.
I expect I'll return to the topic once the real conclave elects a new Pope. In the meanwhile, follow over the jump to see how Gold Derby's Oscar predictionsfared.
I told my readers to "stay tuned for more SaturnAwardscoverage" today, but I didn't say which category. That's because the leading nominees for Best Horror Film and Best Thriller Film each have seven nominations and I wasn't sure if I would save the horror nominees for Friday the 13th. I probably will, so thriller films it is.
Best Thriller Film: Blink Twice
Civil War
Saltburn
Speak No Evil
Strange Darling
Wolfs
As the subject line states, Strange Darling, which is ironically the one film in this field I hadn't heard of before the Saturn Awards were announced, leads with seven nominations. Civil War has two, and the rest each only have one. Normally, I'd vote for the most mainstream choice and the political thriller, Civil War, but I'll see if Strange Darling Exclusive Trailer (2024) can persuade me.
Check out the Official Trailer for Strange Darling starring Kyle Gallner and Willa Fitzgerald!
O.K., I'm persuaded. It looks more fun and more scary than Civil War, so I'm voting for it, especially after I renewed my Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Film Academy membership this morning.
Stay tuned for more Saturn Awards coverage, although tomorrow is Gingerbread House Day and I have a driving update to write, since Pearl's odometer rolled over another 1,000 miles yesterday. Decisions, decisions.
I told my readers to "stay tuned for evergreen and holiday posts through the rest of November." I'm following through by sharing Amy Shira Teitel of The Vintage Space explaining When Republicans Were Democrats: The Party Flip, which is about as evergreen as it gets.
Those who have been reading this blog since 2012 may be surprised at Amy using The Vintage Space to examine history that isn't about space, science, and technology, so I'll let her explain in the introduction to the Medium post that accompanies and features this video.
The Republican party today is unrecognizable from when it was established in 1854. The party that abolished slavery and extolled the virtues of individual liberties for all Americans doesn’t quite feel like the same one that celebrated overturning Roe v. Wade. The same is true of the Democrats; the party of slave-owning secessionists and segregationists is hardly the party that today stands for minority, women’s, and trans rights, to name a few. Both parties have evolved, but the significant change came in the mid-20th century with the Party Flip. And it’s not a myth like I’ve seen some people claim.
As a mid-century historian, I work almost exclusively in this politically strange era where nothing aligns with what we know today, and the lines aren’t quite as black and white as readers expect. It confuses people, and frankly, I sometimes need to get it reframed in my head. Especially as a born and raised Canadian; this isn’t anything I ever learned in school. It’s a fascinating history, and like so many big topics, it needs a lot of context. To start unpacking the Flip, we’re going to look at how the two party system came to be, how their ideologies developed, and how those two major parties flipped in the 20th century. And we’re going to start right at the beginning.
Both the video and blog post compose a comprehensive summary of the evolution of party systems in the U.S. so far. It's a good place to start, especially since it looks like the U.S. looks like it's undergoing another realignment as a result of the re-election of convictedcriminalDonald Trump. That's a topic I plan on returning to, but only after the Sunday entertainment feature, which will not be highlights of tonight's Saturday Night Live; that would be topical other than the Thanksgiving sketches and I'm not writing topical posts until the end of the month.
The editors at Gold Derby have changed most of their minds since I first covered this category in Gold Derby's predictions for Emmy-nominated shows. Here were the top six movies according to Gold Derby's editors in mid-July.
Four editors were forecasting Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie to win while two were picking Red, White & Royal Blue, but no one thought Quiz Lady had a chance of taking the trophy home. In contrast, these are the picks of Gold Derby's editors and site odds as of last night.
Seven editors now predict Quiz Lady will win, while four are forecasting Red, White & Royal Blue, but no editor now thinks Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie will take home the statuette. What a difference two months makes!
Neither the experts nor the top 24 users have received the memo from the editors, as six experts and 16 users are sticking with Mr. Monk's Last Case: A Monk Movie, while two experts and four users picked Quiz Lady, one expert and four users have chosen Red, White & Royal Blue, and one lone expert picked Scoop. Red, White & Royal Blue and Scoop both fit my stated interest in covering awards shows, examining depictions of politics and government in entertainment, so I can justify this blog post.
Outstanding Casting for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Baby Reindeer – Nina Gold and Martin Ware (Netflix)
Ripley – Avy Kaufman, Francesco Vedovati, and Barbara Giordani (Netflix)
True Detective: Night Country – Francine Maisler, Deborah Schildt, and Alda B. Gudjónsdóttir (HBO)
TV movies could have been nominated in this category, but this year's class isn't last year's, when Weird: The Al Yankovic Story had the most nominations in the Emmy field with eight, followed by Prey with six, Hocus Pocus 2 with three, Dolly Parton's Mountain Magic Christmas with two, and Fire Island with only one. That's a lot of nominations for television movies. This year, all the TV movie nominations had only one nomination each. That's disappointing. I think the stars in Quiz Lady Awkwafina, Sandra Oh, and Will Ferrell, along with supporting actress Tawny Newsome and the next to last appearance of the late Paul Reubens, could have made it competitive here. Sigh.
Enough whining. On to the Gold Derby odds! All eleven editors along with nine experts and 22 users voted for Baby Reindeer. One expert and user each think Fargo could upset. One user hasn't chosen a winner. They should pick Baby Reindeer.
The next award is the first music category listed on Wikipedia, which is fortuitous, for it serves as a transition between TV movies and limited series above the jump and music below the jump.
Outstanding Music Composition for a Limited or Anthology Series, Movie or Special (Original Dramatic Score)
All the Light We Cannot See: "Episode 4" – James Newton Howard (Netflix)
Lessons in Chemistry: "Book of Calvin" – Carlos Rafael Rivera (Apple TV+)
The Tattooist of Auschwitz: "Episode 1" – Kara Talve and Hans Zimmer (Peacock)
Gold Derby's forecasters favor Fargo with eight editors, seven experts, and 17 users filling in their ballots with it. Two editors and four users selected Lessons in Chemistry with one editor went out on a limb with All the Light We Cannot See while three experts and one user took a chance with The Tattooist of Auschwitz, probably based on Hans Zimmer being one of the nominated composers and the limited series also being nominated for Original Music and Lyrics. I should listen to selections from the soundtracks first, but if I don't get around to it, I'd probably pick Fargo.
Follow over the jump for the rest of the music categories with Gold Derby predictions.
John Oliver discusses the Supreme Court, the ethically questionable gifts some of the justices receive, and an offer for Clarence Thomas that could ruin John’s life. Genuinely. You’ll see.
I conclude by repeating what I wrote on Tuesday: "I'm sure Thomas won't retire, at least while Joe Biden is President, despite Oliver's generous offer." Too bad.
How Republicans won Michigan, how they lost it, and what it all tells us.
...
The “blue wall” once referred to a group of Northeast, Midwest, and West Coast states that, conventional wisdom said, “always vote for Democrats.” Unfortunately for Democrats, that was wrong, and in 2016 Donald Trump shockingly won three “blue wall” states — including, narrowly, the state of Michigan.
It maybe shouldn’t have been such a shock, though. All three of the “blue” states Trump won actually had a history of electing Republicans at the state level. Michigan in particular had been fully taken over since 2010 by Republicans, who then spent years gutting unions, restricting abortion, loosening environmental protections, and generally just turning a Republican policy wish list into law. So Trump winning Michigan was, in a way, just the culmination of a years-long drift to the right there.
But by 2022, something had changed dramatically. In a midterm election where Republicans were favored, Democrats won every branch of elected government in Michigan — governor, state House, and state Senate. The state Senate in particular had not been under Democratic control since 1984. And Democrats got busy using their new power immediately: repealing much of the right-wing legislation of the previous years, passing strong LGBTQ protections, quadrupling a tax credit for the poor, and allocating a billion dollars for the auto industry to transition to electric cars. Suddenly Michigan was cranking out more progressive legislation than almost any other state in the US.
So to recap: Michigan was once a blue state, except it wasn’t actually, and in fact over time it got pretty red, but then it became an actual blue state. (Again?) Or something like that. Obviously, the truth is that Michigan is a swing state. But the story of each of those swings is actually key to understanding how US politics work in the 2010s and 2020s. And it can tell us a lot about our next election, too.
I've lived in Michiganfor 35 years now, so I've seen everything described in this video first-hand, and can vouch that it's all true. In particular, I participated in the Women's March in Ann Arbor where I saw Debbie Dingell speak. I may even be in the shot of the 11,000 people attending that event that Vox shows. I could go on, but this video shows why Michigan is important and why I'm glad I moved here.
Enough politics. Stay tuned for comedy and drama at the Emmy Awards.
Biden's trip Tuesday is expected to be the historic appearance by a president on a picket line, according to historians.
On Wednesday, Trump is scheduled to deliver a prime-time evening speech in Clinton Township to an audience of autoworkers and other union members. Trump has repeatedly said on social media that autoworkers should reject electric vehicles, arguing that they will be made outside the U.S. and UAW members will lose jobs.
Both the GOP and Democratic front-runners are seeking the support of rank-and-file UAW members in the upcoming presidential race.
While Democratic presidents and union members have a long history of mutual support, Biden walking a picket line is unprecedented.
[Cornell University's Art] Wheaton said U.S. presidents have typically avoided all picket lines. The U.S. Secret Service, he said, most likely doesn't want a president to be walking a picket line because the action there can be so unpredictable and notoriously difficult to control.
And a president, Wheaton said, wants to be neutral and not appear to be picking sides in a labor dispute, favoring the union over the corporation.
"But President Biden has been very open that he stands with the UAW," Wheaton said, "so that's a refreshing change and should not be unexpected by anyone in politics."
"He claims to be the most union president at least in our generation so we should not be shocked that he wants to support the union in the way he can."
Tompor packed a lot of political and economic analysis in her commentary, including the increasing popularity of unions and a history of presidents working with the UAW. Read it before it goes behind a paywall.
President Biden is set to join striking auto workers on the picket lines Tuesday in Michigan.
It may be the first time a sitting president has walked a picket line, but it won't be the first time for Biden, who did so before he was president.
The White House reporter for the Associated Press mentioned electric vehicles (EVs) as an issue between the UAW and automakers, something Tompor also explored in her article. She mentioned that it's become a campaign issue as well. Yahoo Finance explored Why EVs are becoming politicized amid UAW strikes.
President Biden is set to join the United Auto Workers' strikes this week to show support for union workers, shortly before Former President Donald Trump joins picket lines in Detroit, skipping out on the second GOP debate. One of the issues at the center of the strike is EV production and what it means for the future of auto workers. Biden's policy to have electric vehicles account for 50% of all new auto sales by 2030 has been lauded by Trump, among other Republicans, over automation fears that could eliminate jobs and the auto parts needed for assembly. Yahoo Finance Senior Reporter Rick Newman joins to discuss what is factual and what is political strategy from both sides of the aisle.
[T]he transition to EVs...is going more slowly than hoped, and...the strike is likely to impede that technological change even more. I'm not happy about that, as I'm in favor of EVs. However, sustainability is a balancing act, which is why I wrote "May people not suffer so that the planet and profit thrive" on Labor Day. Here's to maintaining that balance.
I'll have more on the strike, maybe later this week, in between the News&DocumentaryEmmyAwards, a possible government shutdown, and maybe the second Republicandebate. I'm just not feeling that last one this cycle, so I might skip it. In any event, stay tuned.
HappyNationalVeepDay! Today is the anniversary of the day when Vice President Gerald Ford became President of the United States upon the resignation of President Richard Nixon in 1974, the culmination of the Watergate scandal. Last year was the 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, so it's no surprise that news organizations produced documentaries about it. It's also no surprise that two of these documentaries, Watergate: High Crimes In The White House and Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal, earned nominations at the News & Documentary Emmy Awards and are the subject of today's post.
The gripping documentary, "Watergate: High Crimes in the White House," premieres 50 years to the day of the infamous break-in at the Democratic headquarters located within the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. What seemed at first a mere burglary grew into an extraordinary story of crime and scandal that took down President Richard Nixon.
CNN will debut Watergate: Blueprint for a Scandal, with John Dean offering his first-hand account of the break in that brought down Richard Nixon’s presidency, on June 5.
Dean, former White House counsel for Nixon, serves as an executive producer on the project, with the debut tied to the 50th anniversary of the break in.
As John Dean is quoted as saying, "The criminal conduct of Richard Nixon and his top aides...became the blueprint for what no President of the United States should do." Unfortunately, it became the blueprint for what the former guy actually did, resulting in two impeachments and several indictments, beyond what happened to Nixon, who resigned before he could be impeached and was pardoned before he could be indicted.
Since becoming an independent, Kyrsten Sinema has moved from being the second most conservative Democrat to being left of the median Democrat in the Senate. She's also become more "establishment" than every other Senate Democrat. Surprise!
None of this has made a dent in perceptions of her, which seem rooted in her voting and other behavior while a Democrat, which placed her as the second most conservative Democrat in the U.S. Senate next to Joe Manchin, as shown below.
Both her critics on the left and within the Democratic Party and her supporters in groups like No Labels still think of her as a centrist who supports business interests, as More Perfect Union portrays in The Third Party Bid That Could Sabotage Trump and Biden.
A group calling themselves "No Labels" has suddenly emerged as a huge financial backer of Kyrsten Sinema.
They're also floating the idea of running Joe Manchin for President.
We dug into them, and found a whole lot of billionaires with a history of opposing democracy.
Moving left appears inconsistent with both her critics' and supporters' opinions of her. However, becoming more "establishment" (up along Voteview's second dimension) is another way to become more conservative and No Labels may be more interested in her being more supportive of "establishment" positions than in her staying in the center along the left-right axis. Also, Sinema may be trying to position herself to the left as a defensive move against the Democratic challenger. It remains to be seen how that works out.
On a related note, I should examine No Labels' effort to gain ballot access in next year's elections. Stay tuned.
In honor of Star Wars Day, this special episode analyzes the politics of the Disney+ series ‘Andor’ and just how much this tale about the origins of the Rebellion against the Empire has to tell us about the current global fight against tyranny and oppression.
My wife and I couldn't get past the second episode of "Andor." It was too slow a burn for us and not escapist enough. On the other hand, the critics and entertainment professionals love it. Its IMDB page lists 2 wins and 22 nominations, including Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie at the Critics Choice Super Awards.
Congratulations!
Watching Hasan, Tracy Brown, and Wajahat Ali dissect "Andor" and relate it to real-life struggles against occupation and oppression make me interested in resuming the series. I've heard that the show gets more interesting after the second episode and looking at it as a serious political allegory would probably increase my appreciation for it. Besides, I'm a Saturn Awards voter and want to be able to vote intelligently in this year's awards.
Now I'm curious about how "Andor" will help the Star Wars franchise in 'Star Trek' vs. 'Star Wars' in streaming science fiction at the Saturn Awards. I voted for "The Mandalorian" last year, but "Star Trek: Brave New Worlds" won. Let's see how well "Andor" does at this year's awards should it be nominated. That's not a sure thing. The Saturn Awards goes for entertainment over art and likes to stick it to the experts, so "Andor" might not even earn a nomination. I hope it earns at least two, one for the show and another for Diego Luna.
Follow over the jump for food, drinks, and music for the day.
President Joe Biden and comedian Roy Wood Jr. poked fun at Trump's hush money case, Dominion Voting Systems defamation suit against Fox News, recent cable news firing and more at the 2023 White House correspondents' dinner.
Those are some of the best jokes and zingers of the night, but not all of them. I'm sharing both Biden's and Wood's complete remarks to see and hear every one of the jokes in context, beginning with Biden's 2023 White House correspondents’ dinner speech from The Washington Post.
President Biden's speech at the 2023 White House correspondents’ dinner tackled free speech, the 2024 election, and his GOP opponents.
Comedian Roy Wood Jr. joked about President Biden's and former President Trump’s classified documents cases and poked fun at CRT, Fox News-Dominion settlement and more as he headlined the 2023 White House correspondents' dinner.
Speaking of avoiding things, KyrstenSinema becoming an independent means she will avoid a Democratic primary that she was likely to lose. It also means I will have to create a new version of the following image and write new commentary about the first independent female U.S. Senator.
By the way, Manchin and Sinema are the two most moderate/conservative Democratic U.S. Senators as the above chart from Voteview shows. The blue dots to the left of their names shows their ideological positions according to DW-Nominate, the same source I used to rank Democratic presidential candidates from left to center. Just to emphasize the point, Manchin's page calls him "the most conservative Democrat of the 117th Senate" and Sinema's page describes her as "more conservative than 97% of Democrats in the 117th Senate." Sinema was also the most conservative Democrat in the 115th Congress when she left the House of Representatives in 2018. Neither were ever true liberals, despite Sinema being a member of the Green Party.
From now on, Voteview will plot Double-Doctor Sinema's ideological position with a black dot, just as it does for Angus King of Maine and Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Also, the second most conservative/moderate Democratic Senator is now Mark Kelly, the other Senator from Arizona. At least that distinction hasn't left the Grand Canyon state.
Weekend Update anchors Colin Jost and Michael Che tackle the week's biggest news, like a woman leaving 3 buckets of human waste at a police station.
I haven't mentioned Chris Christie on my blog for more than two years, so leave it to his relatives to get me to do that. Also, the R. Kelly story is enough to qualify this as an entertainment update. Finally, apologies to my French readers about the deodorant joke. I want you to keep reading.
The nominees for Outstanding Comedy Series are Abbott Elementary, Barry, Curb Your Enthusiam, Hacks, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Only Murders in the Building, Ted Lasso, and What We Do in the Shadows.
As I wrote yesterday, "My interest in covering entertainment awards consists mostly of covering shows that portray history, government, politics, and other social issues, like diversity and representation, or are speculative fiction." "Abbott Elementary" is about public education and "public education is part of government," a thought I'll repeat tomorrow for "Euphoria." "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel" has had wonderful social commentary but became more political during the second season. "What We Do in the Shadows" has "a lot of political intrigue and comedic conflict among different factions of vampires with other fantastic creatures, particularly werewolves, so the show has a lot of fantastic politics." It also has two Saturn Award nominations, so I'll write about it more later this month. Of the three, "Abbott Elementary" has the best chance of winning according to the Gold Derby editors with three editors, including Joyce Eng, picking it to win. That puts it ahead of "Hacks" with two editors choosing it, and behind the returning winner "Ted Lasso" with eight editors thinking it is the favorite (so do the readers). That written, "Ted Lasso" won no Creative Arts Emmy Awards, despite having the most nominations of any comedy series with twenty!
The nominees for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series are Donald Glover, Bill Hader, Nicholas Hoult, Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Jason Sudeikis.
"Atlanta" has a lot of social and political commentary in its comedy and "The Great" has the most government and politics content, as it's a comedic look at a young Catherine the Great of Russia. This is a rich field with Donald Glover, Bill Hader, and Jason Sudeikis having won this category for these same roles before and Steve Martin and Martin Short winning Emmy Awards for comedy writing. Nine of the Gold Derby editors think that Hader will win, including Eng, three have picked Sudeikis to repeat, and one thinks Steve Martin will win his first Emmy for acting. The readers think it will be a close win for Hader. I can see that.
The nominees for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series are Rachel Brosnahan, Quinta Brunson, Kaley Cuoco, Elle Fanning, Issa Rae, and Jean Smart.
As I wrote last year "Kaley Cuoco's Cassie Bowden is recruited as an undercover agent at the end of the first season," adding a lot more government content to the show. That turned out surprisingly well, although I think the finale stuck the landing and then tripped. That's not Cuoco's fault as an actress, but it's indirectly her fault as a producer. Issa Rae has brought a lot of social commentary in "Insecure." Neither will win. Instead, twelve of the thirteen Bold Derby editors along with the majority of uses think Jean Smart will repeat for "Hacks" with only editor predicting Quinta Brunson for "Abbott Elementary." That fits with my usual handicapping favoring the most recent returning winner.
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series
Anthony Carrigan – Barry as NoHo Hank (HBO/HBO Max)
Brett Goldstein – Ted Lasso as Roy Kent (Apple TV+)
Toheeb Jimoh – Ted Lasso as Sam Obisanya (Apple TV+)
Nick Mohammed – Ted Lassoas Nathan Shelley (Apple TV+)
Tony Shalhoub – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Abe Weissman (Prime Video)
Tyler James Williams – Abbott Elementary as Gregory Eddie (ABC)
Henry Winkler – Barry as Gene Cousineau (HBO/HBO Max)
Bowen Yang – Saturday Night Live as various characters (NBC)
As much as Bowen Yang deserves this nomination and is the only one nominated from "SNL," I don't think he's going to win, as he's up against three previous winners in Brett Goldstein, Tony Shalhoub, and Henry Winkler. I'll handicap their chances and the rest of the nominees from comedy series later.
Later is now, when I'm reporting that twelve of the thirteen editors along with the readers think that Brett Goldstein will repeat. Only one editor, Rob Licuria, thinks that Anthony Carrigan from "Barry," who first came to my attention as Victor Zsasz in "Gotham," will upset. Licuria is not Eng, so I'm going with Goldstein.
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
Alex Borstein – The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel as Susie Myerson (Prime Video)
Hannah Einbinder – Hacks as Ava Daniels (HBO/HBO Max)
Janelle James – Abbott Elementary as Ava Coleman (ABC)
Kate McKinnon – Saturday Night Live as various characters (NBC)
Sarah Niles – Ted Lasso as Dr. Sharon Fieldstone (Apple TV+)
Sheryl Lee Ralph – Abbott Elementary as Barbara Howard (ABC)
Juno Temple – Ted Lasso as Keeley Jones (Apple TV+)
Hannah Waddingham – Ted Lasso as Rebecca Welton (Apple TV+)
Unlike Yang, Kate McKinnon is a previous winner of this award, but she's competing against last year's winner Hannah Waddingham and two-time winner AlexBorstein, so I don't consider her the favorite.
Waddingham barely qualifies as the favorite, as only six of the thirteen Gold Derby editors have picked her to repeat. Five editors picked Hannah Einbinder of "Hacks" and two, including Eng, chose Janelle James of "Abbott Elementary" to upset. That gives me pause. If I had to bet, I would put my money on Waddingham, but I would only wager a small sum.
Now for the two behind-the-camera categories to be awarded on Monday.
Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series Atlanta: "New Jazz" – Hiro Murai (FX) Barry: "710N" – Bill Hader (HBO/HBO Max) Hacks: "There Will Be Blood" – Lucia Aniello (HBO/HBO Max) The Ms. Pat Show: "Baby Daddy Groundhog Day" – Mary Lou Belli (BET+) Only Murders in the Building: "The Boy from 6B" – Cherien Dabis (Hulu)
Only Murders in the Building: "True Crime" – Jamie Babbit (Hulu) Ted Lasso: "No Weddings and a Funeral" – MJ Delaney (Apple TV+)
This is the only nomination for "The Ms. Pat Show," a program that all of the Gold Derby editors and the readers have in last place. Their first choice is Bill Hader for "Barry" with the readers and twelve of the editors choosing it. Hader could end up with two Emmy Awards Monday if they're right. The readers' second choice is "Hacks," while "Only Murders in the Building" has one editor as the upset choice. I've seen enough of the nominated episode that I agree it deserves to win.
Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series Abbott Elementary: "Pilot" – Quinta Brunson (ABC) Barry: "710N" – Duffy Boudreau (HBO/HBO Max) Barry: "starting now" – Alec Berg and Bill Hader (HBO/HBO Max) Hacks: "The One, the Only" – Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky (HBO/HBO Max) Only Murders in the Building: "True Crime" – Steve Martin and John Hoffman (Hulu) Ted Lasso: "No Weddings and a Funeral" – Jane Becker (Apple TV+) What We Do in the Shadows: "The Casino" – Sarah Naftalis (FX) What We Do in the Shadows: "The Wellness Center" – Stefani Robinson (FX)
My previous comment about this category was in 'Abbott Elementary' wins four Television Critics Association Awards, including Program of the Year, where I wrote "I think these four wins at the TCA Awards have definitely improved the odds of the show winning its categories, but I currently think the only categories where that might push it into the winners circle are for writing and casting, although the competition is stiff for those, too." It won casting and the Gold Derby readers think it will win writing, although the editors split their picks with "Hacks," with six each predicting "Abbott Elementary" and "Hacks," while one editor forecast "Ted Lasso" upsetting the two front runners. My usual handicapping would lead me to pick "Hacks," but the readers break the tie in favor of "Abbott Elementary," as does Eng.
“There are so many amazing comedy series and the nominees here are sensational,” declares Gold Derby senior editor Rob Licuria about the state of the Best Comedy Series Emmy race this year, which features one of the strongest lineups in decades. Licuria suggests that the frontrunner is not necessarily last year's winner "Ted Lasso" or probable runner-up "Hacks," but actually the Hulu breakout success story "Only Murders in the Building," which has just concluded a buzz-worthy second season while Emmy voting was winding down.
Licuria is joined by fellow Gold Derby contributors Charles Bright and Tony Ruiz to debate the most likely winners in this year’s top comedy races. Above, watch our 2022 Emmy predictions slugfest video on the comedy categories.
They don't sound quite as unanimous as they seem just reading their predictions.
My interest in covering entertainment awards consists mostly of covering shows that portray history, government, politics, and other social issues, like diversity and representation, or are speculative fiction. While the nominees in the limited series categories do that, they are the ones that have won and will likely win fewer awards at this year's Emmy Awards. That's because the big winner so far and probably the big winner on Monday is "The White Lotus," which is a comedic social satire about a bunch of well-off vacationers and the people making their vacations possible. The show definitely explores class issues and some of the legacy of colonialism, but many of the other nominees, including the other limited series winners at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, do more thorough and serious looks at these subjects and are better examples of speculative fiction.
The nominees for Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series are Dopesick, The Dropout, Inventing Anna, Pam & Tommy and The White Lotus.
All of these nominees have at least one crime or scandal, real or fictional, at their cores, real in the cases of "Dopesick" (opoidcrisis) "The Dropout" (Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos), "Inventing Anna" (Anna Sorokin), and "Pam & Tommy" (the theft and illegal distribution of an infamous sex tape), and fictional in "The White Lotus." Based on what I've seen of the shows themselves as well as the opinions of the critics at Gold Derby, "The White Lotus" is most likely to win.
The nominees for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie are Colin Firth, Andrew Garfield, Oscar Isaac, Michael Keaton, Himesh Patel, and Sebastian Stan.
The crime theme continues with Colin Firth in "The Staircase" and Andrew Garfield in "Under the Banner of Heaven," who join Michael Keaton from "Dopesick" and "Sebastian Stan" from "Pam & Tommy," but not either of Oscar Isaac and Himesh Patel; "Scenes from a Marriage" is a character study and there isn't enough law left in the world of "Station 11" for there to be crime, although a lot of the action there would be criminal in a world where law and civilization still existed. Based on the critical opinion, I think Keaton will win.
The nominees for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie are Toni Collette, Julia Garner, Lily James, Sarah Paulson, Margaret Qualley, and Amanda Seyfried.
Crime continues with Sarah Paulson for "American Crime Story: Impeachment" and Margaret Qualley for "Maid," although the domestic abuse in the latter gets legal but not criminal attention in the story, joining two portrayals of criminals and one of a victim. The contest seems to be between Amanda Seyfried playing Elizabeth Holmes and Lily James as Pamela Anderson, at least according to the editors at Gold Derby, who are picking Seyfried over James eight to five. Joyce Eng is picking Seyfried, so I am, too.
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Murray Bartlett – The White Lotus as Armond (HBO/HBO Max)
Jake Lacy – The White Lotus as Shane Patton (HBO/HBO Max)
Will Poulter – Dopesick as Billy Cutler (Hulu)
Seth Rogen – Pam & Tommy as Rand Gauthier (Hulu)
Peter Sarsgaard – Dopesick as Rick Mountcastle (Hulu)
Michael Stuhlbarg – Dopesick as Richard Sackler (Hulu)
Steve Zahn – The White Lotus as Mark Mossbacher (HBO/HBO Max)
The Gold Derby editors unanimously think Murray Bartlett will win and I think they're right.
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie
Connie Britton – The White Lotus as Nicole Mossbacher (HBO/HBO Max)
Jennifer Coolidge – The White Lotus as Tanya McQuoid (HBO/HBO Max)
Alexandra Daddario – The White Lotus as Rachel Patton (HBO/HBO Max)
Kaitlyn Dever – Dopesick as Betsy Mallum (Hulu)
Natasha Rothwell – The White Lotus as Belinda (HBO/HBO Max)
Sydney Sweeney – The White Lotus as Olivia Mossbacher (HBO/HBO Max)
Mare Winningham – Dopesick as Diane Mallum (Hulu)
The Gold Derby editors also unanimously pick Jennifer Coolidge and I agree.
Outstanding Directing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie Dopesick: "The People vs. Purdue Pharma" – Danny Strong (Hulu) The Dropout: "Green Juice" – Michael Showalter (Hulu) The Dropout: "Iron Sisters" – Francesca Gregorini (Hulu) Maid: "Sky Blue" – John Wells (Netflix) Station Eleven: "Wheel of Fire" – Hiro Murai (HBO/HBO Max) The White Lotus – Mike White (HBO/HBO Max)
Twelve of the Gold Derby editors picked "The White Lotus" to win. Since the one dissenter who chose "Dopesick" isn't Joyce Eng, I'm going with "The White Lotus."
The Gold Derby editors unanimously think "The White Lotus" will win Outstanding Writing for a Limited or Anthology Series or Movie, too. If they are right, then "The White Lotus" will win five awards to go with the five it has already won at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards for a total of ten. We'll see Monday night.
“I was assuming that we would all be on the same page about Best Limited Series,” declares Rob Licuria about what he thinks should be a relatively easy category to predict. "It's one of the most important categories of the night, and as far as I'm concerned, I thought 'The White Lotus' is winning that in a heartbeat! [But] maybe I'm not necessarily on the right path."
He’s joined by fellow Gold Derby senior editor Matt Noble and contributors Charles Bright and Tony Ruiz to debate the most likely winner in the Best Limited Series race along with their picks for the other limited/movie categories, plus their choices for Best Competition Program, Best Variety Sketch Series and Best Variety Talk Series. Above, watch our 2022 Emmy predictions slugfest video on the limited, variety and reality categories.
You can see where I'm getting my opinions.
Follow over the jump for the limited series and TV movie winners at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards.
