Ramblin' with Roger

Kamala and DonOLD

Nikki Haley in spring 2024: djt unhinged, unqualified to be president, diminished.

It should be no surprise to anyone who has read this blog more than three times that, in the Presidential race between Kamala and DonOLD, I’m voting for the South Asian woman who also knows she’s black.

On ABC News’s This Week for Sunday, September 8, 2024, just before the debate, former Wyoming Congresswoman Liz Cheney chose between Kamala and DonOLD. She spoke with ABC’s Jonathan Karl. This is just some of the interview, which I recommend.

CHENEY: Not only am I not voting for Donald Trump, but I will be voting for Kamala Harris. Donald Trump, if he is re-elected, will be far more dangerous than we have ever seen before. Dick Cheney [her father] will be voting for Kamala Harris.

KARL: The former vice president’s statement endorsing Harris offered an especially harsh view of Donald Trump. “In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”

CHENEY: Donald Trump presents a challenge and fundamental threat to the republic. Somebody is willing to use violence to attempt to seize power and stay in power—someone who represents unrecoverable catastrophe. And we must do everything possible to ensure he’s not re-elected.

Harris as Reagan?

CHENEY: I have never viewed this as a policy election. If you look at Vice President Harris’ speech at the Democratic Convention, it is a speech that Ronald Reagan could have given. It’s a speech that George Bush could have given. It’s an embrace and an understanding of the exceptional nature of this great nation. A love of America. A recognition that America is a special place. A recognition that we all have to work together to ensure that.

And you contrast that with what we hear from Donald Trump daily, that America is a failing nation, that America is a laughing stock. The trash-talking of the United States of America is very much part of the message that Donald Trump is pushing.

I think it’s important for people to recognize he’s not a conservative. Embracing global tariffs is fundamentally anti-conservative. It will choke off global trade and likely lead us down the path that we’ve seen before, a depression.

The important thing for people to remember is that he can do it alone. He does not need Congress if he were to be re-elected, to impose those massive tariffs that will kill the American and the global economy.

Kamala’s coalition

CHENEY: I think, from a policy perspective, it is very important to recognize that [Kamala] understands that this election is going to require a coalition of people from across the political spectrum supporting her, and that also necessitates an understanding that you’ve got to govern for all of those people. And on top of all of that, the Republicans have nominated somebody who you know is depraved. So, the choice, in my view, is not a close one.

When you look at national security policy, there are certainly areas where I disagree with the Biden administration. However, regarding fundamental alliances and the importance of NATO, for example, we’ve seen a sea change. We now have a Republican Party that is embracing isolationism, that is embracing Putin.

Nikki voters

KARL: There was a lot of talk during the primaries of the Nikki Haley voters, and some states seemed like even when she stopped running, almost a third of Republican voters were looking for an alternative to Trump and voting for Nikki Haley. She’s now saying she is “on standby” to campaign for Donald Trump to help him get reelected.

She’s also, of course, called him unhinged, unqualified to be president, diminished. What do you make of Nikki Haley’s position on this?

CHENEY: I can’t understand her position on this in any principled way. I think the things she said while running in the primary are true.

And those of us who are conservative, those of us who believe in fidelity to the Constitution, have a responsibility and a duty to recognize that this is not about partisan politics, and the country is going to need to rebuild a true conservative movement when we’re through this election cycle…

But this November, casting a vote for Donald Trump or writing someone in means that you’ve decided in too many instances what so many elected Republicans have made, which is to abandon the Constitution, to tell yourself that this is just simply a partisan choice. That’s not what we’re facing this time around.

No guardrails

CHENEY: It’s personal to me when I listen to fellow Republicans in the past say things to me like, it’s fine, there are guardrails. He can’t do that much damage. It’s just simply not true.

KARL: Well, on those guardrails, we had the Supreme Court declare essentially that a president has immunity for anything that can be in any way defined as an official act. What does it mean to the possibility of a second Trump administration?

CHENEY: Well, it obviously makes the danger even greater. But when you look at what Donald Trump could do with the levers of power, the extent to which he’s already said he will not abide by the rulings of the courts. Our courts can’t enforce their own rulings. If a president won’t abide by the rulings of the courts, the rule of law disintegrates immediately. He’s made clear that he will, for example, pardon the January 6th rioters.

And now, a few links

Let’s check his references. The Dangers of djt, From Those
Who Know Him

Judge Unseals New Evidence in Federal Election Case Against djt

Questions for djt

Project 2025, Etc. — What’s Really Going On

Remember the women who accused djt? They call themselves the Sisterhood of the Strange Sorority

He’s Jumped the Shark

djt Promised to Release His Medical Records. He Still Won’t Do It.

If elected again, he would become the oldest president by the end of his term. Yet he is refusing to disclose even basic health information.

’60 Minutes’ Sets Presidential Candidates Interview Special, Only For djt to Bail

djt’s “Vastly Overpriced” $100,000 “Swiss Watch” Is Probably Made in China, Experts Say

I Learned So Much I Didn’t Know From Vance in the Debate. Did you know that President Trump saved Obamacare? (Ha!)

Blank Space (Donald’s Version) – A Randy Rainbow Song Parody

Top/Favorite MOVIES

not boring

Drew from California asked:

Have you made your Top/Favorite MOVIES (so far in your life) list? If so, I’d love to get some good recommendations, as I feel rather “movie-watching deficient” in my lifetime. I do like Rom-Coms and intelligent conversations. Good adventure and sometimes good suspense are also fun to watch.

I find this extraordinarily difficult. For instance, I really liked EEAAO (Everything Everywhere All at Once). But will it stand up to the test of time? I dunno. I remember liking ALTERED STATES (1980) and Z, but they have faded from memory.

Likewise, I was a fan of Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim) (1962), a French film I saw in Binghamton in the late 1960s in a museum theater. It was my favorite foreign film, but I saw a lot of movies, such as Wild Strawberries, that I do not remember well.

That said, I tend to remember and enjoy movies I see in the cinema more than the ones I’ve seen on TV. Seeing a movie again is almost always revelatory. For instance, seeing The Wizard of Oz in 2022 on the big screen was way better than watching it several times on TV.

I like from coms. Is Groundhog Day a rom-com? You could try Love Actually. I like lots of documentaries, but only one of them made this list.

Here’s a list; THE list may never exist.

Casablanca (1942) – saw outdoors at a screening in the late 1970s near Rochester, NY. A great film

Gaslight (1944), which I wrote about, and the word, here.

Rear Window (1954) – I saw it at the Spectrum Theatre in the 1980s. Most excellent and full of suspense.

12 Angry Men (1957) – I wrote about it here

Always on the list

West Side Story (1961) –Some of my favorite music is here. It’s not a great movie – it takes too long to get going, but it was the first grown-up movie I saw.

101 Dalmatians (1961). Possibly the first movie I ever saw in a theater. The lead male adult, Roger, gets to sing “Cruella DeVille.”

The Sound of Music (1965) —My mother had the soundtrack on LP, but I never saw it until the 21st century. It is far better than I expected.

Le Roi de cœur (King of Hearts – 1966) – it played approximately annually at a movie theater in New Paltz, where I went to college.

The Night They Raided Minsky’s (1968)- there is a story here.

Cabaret (1972) – I saw it when it first came out, then a half-century later, both in theaters. It holds up.

Young Frankenstein (1974) – Possibly the funniest movie I ever saw. I had an aisle seat, and I laughed so hard at one point that I was literally rolling in the aisle.

Annie Hall (1977) – I haven’t seen it this century, but I wrote about it in 2007 here.

Being There (1979) – I spent a lot of time defending this film from people who thought it was “boring” and that “nothing happens.”

Airplane! (1980) – It has a character named Roger, played by Kareen Addul-Jabbar. Oh, and other stuff, including the script based on an existing dramatic film.

Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988)? Well, of course. This was a remarkable technological feat and features a character named Roger.

Baseball

Field of Dreams (1989): I opted for this Kevin Costner baseball film rather than the fine Bull Durham (1988) because it’s sappier, and I totally buy into it.

Do the Right Thing (1989) – probably the first Spike Lee movie I saw.

Groundhog Day (1993) was one of the first items I owned on VHS. It features JEOPARDY! to see annually.

THE IRON GIANT (1999) – I LOVE THIS animated MOVIE

Being John Malkovich (1999) – surreal

Chicago (2002). An old-fashioned musical

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) is one of the few movies I have seen at home on the list.

The Incredibles (2004): My favorite Pixar film, which I can tell, because it was later on NBC, with all those damn commercials, and I still enjoyed it.

INSIDE OUT (2015) – an emotionally honest film

13th (2016). Documentary about the 13TH Amendment

Hidden Figures (2016) – I wrote about it here

Black Panther (2018) – I wrote about it here

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018) – I mention this here

I am frequently reminded of a line from the 1991 film Grand Canyon, in which the Steve Martin character says: “That’s part of your problem: you haven’t seen enough movies. All of life’s riddles are answered in the movies.” I’m convinced there is some truth to that.

The song Only In America

Mann and Weil

An old blogger buddy included the song Only In America in his K-Chuck Radio post, Just wipe the vocals off, and we’ll take care of things.

One example of his: the backing tracks of California Dreamin’ by Barry McGuire and by The Mamas and The Papas are virtually identical. I had heard the McGuire version some years ago.

The Only In America story is somewhat more complicated. The great Brill Building songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil initially wrote the piece. As Songfacts noted:

“The song was written at a time before integration, and the lyrics were originally about racism. It had the following chorus:

Only in America, land of opportunity
Can they save a seat in the back of the bus just for me

Only in America, where they preach the Golden Rule
Will they start to march when my kids go to school”

To the best of my knowledge from the different tellings, this version was never recorded.

New lyrics

“The [new, additional] songwriters [producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller] changed [the lyrics] to be a satiric message of patriotism. The Drifters recorded the song with these new ‘patriotic’ lyrics but refused to release it because they did not believe that message.”

Only in America Can a guy from anywhere
Go to sleep a pauper and wake up a millionaire

Only in America Can a kid without a cent
Get a break and maybe grow up to be President

A 2008 article in the Long Beach Post offers a different explanation for why the Drifters didn’t release the tamer version.

“The song, with its gentle Latin rolling beat and percussion thump, could have been the next chart hit for the Drifters if Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler hadn’t pulled the recording. Wexler said that, in the light of race relations of that time, it would be unfeeling, unfair, and unfitting to have a black group release a song about America being the land of opportunity and suggest that an African-American could become its president.”

The song was recorded a few months later by Jay and the Americans, who Leiber and Stoller produced. It became a moderate hit, reaching #25 pop on the Billboard charts. I remember the Americans’ version then, and as a kid, I found it not credible.

In any case, The Drifters’ version appeared for the first time in the 1972 UK LP “Saturday Night At The Club.” The cut was conducted by Garry Sherman and recorded on April 12, 1963.

Lead singer

I’ve read in several sources that Rudy Lewis was the lead singer on The Drifters’ version. One of the YouTube videos of Only In America lists the group at the session as Billy Davis, Charlie Thomas, Eugene Pearson, Johnny Terry, and Lewis.

Marv Goldberg’s Later Drifters notes: “At their April 12 [1963] session, they recorded Only In America (led by Rudy), Rat Race (Rudy) [#71 pop], If You Don’t Come Back (Johnny Moore), and I’ll Take You Home (Johnny Moore).”

From a 2016 From The Vaults post: “Lewis is probably the most underrated of all the Drifters’ lead singers. He had the bad fortune to come in after Ben E. King redefined the group’s sound and never got the recognition that King did.” And King had had a series of solo hits.

Nevertheless, Lewis, who sang with the legendary gospel arranger Clara Ward, was the primary lead from 1961 to 1963 and had hits such as Some Kind Of Wonderful (#6 RB, #32 pop in 1961), Up On The Roof (#4 RB, #5 pop in 1963) and On Broadway (#7 RB, #9 pop in 1963). He died in 1964, at least in part from drug use, an early member of the 27 Club. He is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Here’s Jay & the Americans with Charlie Thomas’ Drifters performing Only in America live, obviously many years later.

My Jimmy Carter confessional

James Earl Carter at 100

The 39th president turns 100 today. So it’s time for my Jimmy Carter confessional. I never voted for James Earl Carter when he ran for president, either in the primaries or in the general elections in 1976 and 1980.

In 1976, I believe I voted for progressive Fred Harris in the primary.

I was wary of Carter. As this 2023 NYT article discusses, he was a “white politician from the South who once supported segregationist policies [who] eventually won the enduring support of Black voters.”

During the campaign, he debated President Gerald Ford in three televised debates, the first since the 1960 Kennedy-Nixon debates. During the middle event on October 6, Ford declared, “There is no Soviet domination of Eastern Europe, and there never will be under a Ford administration.” That hurt Jerry greatly.

But I was uncomfortable with Jimmy’s Playboy interview that autumn. As this 2023 Daily Kos piece noted, “The centerfold was not the topic of discussion [among the writer’s associates.]. It was the interview with Jimmy Carter. The ‘peanut farming hick’ and ‘goody two-shoes Sunday school teacher’ (their words, not mine) had actually admitted, in a national publication with a readership of millions, to having committed adultery in his heart. Many times in fact.” It may have made others take him less seriously, especially compared with the 45th president, who NEVER apologizes.

Ultimately, I was very disturbed by the weird machinations of the Carter people in New York, who kept Eugene McCarthy, the firebrand who ran against Lyndon Johnson in 1968, off the NYS primary ballot. He wouldn’t get the nomination; the primary challengers were Mo Udall, Henry Jackson, and Jerry Brown. Still, I was annoyed so much that in the general election, I voted for McCarthy as a write-in.

In office

Jimmy Carter’s Presidency is reflected by the National Archives’ description of something else that happened on this date. “Opened on October 1, 1986, the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library in Atlanta holds 27 million pages of records, half a million photographs, and hundreds of hours of film, audio, and video from the Carter administration. Records cover the wide-ranging topics of the administration including the energy crisis, SALT II, Panama Canal Treaty, Camp David Summit and the Camp David Accords, Deng Xiaoping’s visit to Washington, establishment of the Department of Education and the Department of Energy, Iran Hostage Crisis, and more. “

Ah, Iran hostage. The daily count of 52 Americans held for 444 days. The failed rescue mission.

“During his term, Jimmy Carter took 12 international trips and visited 25 countries. He was the first president to visit Nigeria (and sub-Saharan Africa) and Guadeloupe.”

A recent Associated Press story suggested that Carter’s real problem was that “he faced two barriers: the congressional leaders did not view him as one of them, and the national media approached him with a regional bias against the South. Long after leaving office, he still bemoaned the political cartoon published around his inauguration that depicted his family approaching the White House with his mother, Miss Lillian, chewing on a hayseed.”

1980

When the 1980 Democratic presidential primaries came, I didn’t vote for Jimmy Carter. Nor did I choose Ted Kennedy because I was afraid he would be assassinated like his brothers. Also, in an interview with Roger Mudd in 1979, EMK could not articulate why he wanted to be president. I probably wrote in Jerry Brown.

I certainly wasn’t going to vote for Reagan in the general election. He was terrible, but how effective could he be? As it turns out, big tax cuts for the rich, gutting unions, and ignoring AIDS. So awful, much worse than I had imagined. I didn’t vote for Carter or third-party candidate John Anderson. Instead, I voted for environmentalist Barry Commoner, who wrote the 1971 book The Closing Circle, which I had read. It would not be the last time I voted for a minor-party candidate.

Best ex-President ever

After licking his wounds, “Mr. Carter has championed humanitarian causes and engaged in conflict mediation through the non-partisan and non-profit Carter Center [founded in 1982]. He found sustained success working on issues like global democracy, human rights advocacy, and the eradication of disease. In 2002, his efforts were recognized with the Nobel Peace Prize. He was only the third U.S. President to be awarded this prize” at the time.

The former President and his late wife, Rosalynn, were well-known Habitat for Humanity volunteers. He also regularly taught Sunday school at his church.

Jimmy has defied expectations in his hospice care in Plains, GA, which he entered in February 2023. “Electing hospice care signals a person is nearing the end of life, where care focuses on comfort rather than continued treatment. One study found 93% of hospice patients pass away within six months.” He even attended the funeral of his wife, Rosalynn Carter, in November 2023.

Jimmy recovered in 2015 from a melanoma diagnosis that spread to his brain and liver.

Facts

The National Archives had some interesting facts, written a year ago and updated.

Jimmy Carter holds several interesting records as president. At 100, he is our longest-lived president… In 2012, he surpassed Herbert Hoover’s record for the longest-retired president. He and his wife Rosalynn had the longest presidential marriage at over 77 years.

Additionally, Carter holds many presidential firsts, including the first president born in a hospital. On October 1, 1924, he was born at the Wise Sanitarium, where his mother worked as a nurse. He’s also the only president to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis.

Jimmy Carter Stopped a Nuclear Reactor From Destroying Ottawa.

August rambling: the war on drugs

MAD magazine exhibit at Norman Rockwell Museum through October 27

**Alfred E. Neuman and Norman Rockwell, 2002;** **Cover illustration for Mad Art: A Visual Celebration of MAD Magazine and the Idiots Who Create It (Watson Guptill, 2002)** **Oil on canvas**
**MAD and all related elements ™ & © E.C. Publications. Courtesy of DC**

Nixon Started the War on Drugs. Privately, He Said Pot Was ‘Not Particularly Dangerous.’

California Sues ExxonMobil for Deceiving Public About Recycling Plastics

What’s 11,000 Times Dirtier Than a Toilet Seat?

Squirrel!

School Lunch: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

Hugh Taft-Morales: Racism and the Weight of History | The New York Society for Ethical Culture

I Want to Free My Mother’s Killer From Death Row

No, the world doesn’t hate America: It’s still the world’s dominant cultural power, and that’s ok

Why You Should Never Make a Major Purchase on Your Phone

Are you in the American middle class? Find out with the income calculator

10 Worst Things About The djt Presidency | Robert Reich

15 Best FREE Printable Books for Early Reading

Longtime anchor Jeff Glor and three correspondents exit CBS News in a cost-cutting move (msn.com)

What Is Jeopardy!’s Future? One day, I got a furious email from one of the show’s stars. It only got weirder from there.

“Track Meet”-starring Heather Graham for MoveOn.org (2010)

Did Frank Sinatra Really Perform at My Grandma’s High School?

Writing about vaudeville

Sciolist: A person who pretends to be knowledgeable and well-informed.

My former blog, in Polish.

MADness

“What, Me Worry” is on view at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, through October 27, 2024. There is also an online symposium, The Usual Gang of Idiots and Other Suspects:
MAD Magazine and American Humor, on October 18 and 19. MAD magazine on CBS Sunday Morning.

Dame Maggie Smith , grande dame of stage and screen, died at 89. I only saw her in the movies The Pride of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), Travels with My Aunt (1972), California Suite (1978), A Room With A View (1985), Sister Act 1 and 2 (1992, 1993), The First Wives’ Club (1996), seven Harry Potter films (2001-2011), Gosford Park (2001), The Best (and Second Best) Exotic Marigold Hotel (2011, 2015), Quartet (2012), Downton Abbey and A New Era (2019, 2022), and The Miracle Club (2023).

Now I Know: Like Two Ships Not-Quite-Passing In the Night and Why Isdied This Football Player Sitting in the Stands? and A Different Type of Mug Shot and The Problem With Food Allergies on Mars and A Slippery Way to Win a Football Game

MUSIC

Please note: all of the links in this and other posts worked when they were created. However, there’s a dispute between YouTube and SESAC (Society of European Stage Acts and Composers), a performance-rights organization similar to ASCAP and BMI. So, certain videos are blocked until the dispute is resolved.

Rebecca Jade Rewind: Music Through the Years

Oldest Surfer on the Beach – Jimmy Buffett

Dolly Dagger – Jimi Hendrix

Elegy by Jonathan Leshnoff.

That’s The Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be – Carly Simon

Coverville 1503: The Lynyrd Skynyrd Cover Story II and 1504: The Bruce Springsteen Cover Story IV

Polkamania! – Weird Al” Yankovic

Break It Up – Patti Smith

Spike Driver Blues – Mississippi John Hurt

Romanian Rhapsody No. 1 by Georges Enescu

Crystal Beach – Kim Deal

Titanic suite

Mutations – Nilüfer Yanya

Suite from True Lies by Brad Fiedel

Panic In Detroit-David Bowie

The Abyss, suite from the film’s score, by Alan Silvestri.

Highwayman – The Highwaymen –

Pleasant Valley Sunday (2024 Re-Mix) -Monkees

Revolution – MonaLisa Twins

Anyone Who Had A Heart – Shelby Lynne

Hit Me With Your Rhythm – Ian Dury and The Blockheads

Circles – Of Monsters and Men

Missing You – John Waite

Please Please Please – Sabrina Carpenter

Klingon Style (Star Trek Parody of PSY’s Gangnam Style)

Hank Green explains The Forgotten Viral Video that Could Never be Made Today. Bree Sharp’s David Duchovny

More DNC music

Nebraska — Firework – Katy Perry

Nevada — Mr. Brightside – the Killers, a rock band from Las Vegas

New Hampshire — Don’t Stop Believin’ – Journey

New Jersey — Born in the U.S.A. by the New Jersey native son Bruce Springsteen. The song has often been misread by politicians; it is not an enthusiastic celebration of American birthright but instead a conflicted protest song, with criticisms about the Vietnam War.

New Mexico — Confident – Demi Lovato; the New Mexico singer has performed at the Democratic National Convention in the past.

New York — Empire State of Mind, a duet by two New York artists — Alicia Keys and Jay-Z — that became the anthem for the New York Yankees’ 2009 World Series run.

North Carolina — Raise Up – Petey Pablo, a hip-hop artist from North Carolina.

North Dakota — Girl on Fire – Alicia Keys.

Northern Mariana Islands — Ain’t No Mountain High Enough, a Motown staple by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.

Ohio — Green Light – John Legend, the Ohio native scheduled to play a concert in Chicago after the convention’s proceedings on Tuesday night.

Oklahoma — Ain’t Going Down (Till the Sun Comes Up) -Garth Brooks, the Tulsa, Okla., country legend.

Oregon — Float On – Modest Mouse, a band born in Washington but now based in Portland, Ore.

Pennsylvania — Motownphilly by the Philadelphia group Boyz II Men, and Black and Yellow by the Pittsburgh rapper Wiz Khalifa, a staple at Pittsburgh Steelers games.

Puerto Rico — Despacito– Luis Fonsi; one of the biggest singles ever by a Puerto Rican artist.

Rhode Island — Shake It Off – Taylor Swift, who owns a home in Watch Hill, R.I.