Phil Dyess-Nugent

53 years after federal troops were sent to desegregate the University of Mississsippi,Mississippi has sent National Guard troops to help Donald Troop remind the people of Washington,D.C. who’s boss. Not to diss Martin Luther King, Jr.,but this might be one way to chart the moral arc of the universe.

Joel DeMott, Whose Documentary Was Rejected by PBS, Dies at 78

Pour one out and crank up some Bob Seger. But not “Against the Wind”, that song blows.

Ronnie Rondell, Stuntman Set on Fire for Pink Floyd Cover, Dies at 88

R.I.P., guy on fire on greatest album cover of the ‘70s.

Friday: “I’m going to use my unparalleled negotiating skills to end this terrible war in Ukraine.”

Monday: “I don’t know why you’re asking me about a war in Ukraine. I don’t know anything about ending a war in Ukraine. But here’s what my dear friend Vlad told me about voting machines.”

77 million people voted for a president who solicited Vladimir Putin’s advice on how to run our elections.

R.I.P.

I mean, Bari Weis is in her back yard celebrating his diplomatic kung fu supremacy by building a 30-foot heroic statue of Trump out of Necco wafers even as we speak.

Incidentally, I’ve seen a couple of people say that even devoted MAGA meatheads won’t be able to find a way to spin Trump’s summit as yet another decisive win for the big guy. After all this time, there are still smart folks who don’t understand how this rock-stupid cult-worshipper thing works.

Today in “Objectively the Single Funniest Thing That Has Ever Happened and Will Ever Happen in the History of the World”.

New Orleans mayor indicted over allegations of trying to hide relationship with bodyguard A federal grand jury has indicted New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell after a long corruption investigation.

Apparently this is the first a sitting New Orleans mayor has been indicted. I would’ve lost that bar bet.

Treats have been proffered, we watched BENJI together, and I have sung several choruses of the theme song I wrote for him early in our acquaintance, the one that rhymes his name with “never lame-ish.”

Finney got a lot of love on his birthday yesterday, so this morning, I’m trying to dote a little on Hamish, seen here setting aside his volume of T. S. Eliot to ask Martin Sheen if he doubts the efficacy of his methods.

That’s his serious face. It doesn’t always show but he’s got a real Max von Sydow side to him.

Happy third birthday, Finney

I personally am very happy for all the people who have dug up the pieces they sold ten to fifteen years ago about how the way of life shown in THE SIMPSONS is no longer attainable and sold them again after changing “The Simpsons” to “King of the Hill”.

But next year for sure, Dean Cain.

Remembering the Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest — a contest for bad writing For four decades, an English professor at San Jose State University has run a fiction contest for a single opening sentence to "the worst of all possible novels." He has decided to retire the contest.

R.I.P. The Bulwer-Lytton Contest

My new favorite thing in the world, gleaned from Sam Adams's Slate review of the new ALIEN series: "The one Alien movie to omit Weyland-Yutani is the Joss Whedon–penned Alien: Resurrection, whose special edition reveals that the company has been bought out by Walmart."

Trump talks about deals like somebody who’s never seen one happen but considers himself an expert because he knew a guy who did this great impression of Marlon Brando saying “I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse” in some gangster movie that Trump has never seen but he’s heard great things.

Oh look, it’s Mr. “Elect me President, I always make the best deals.”

Also on board: John Heard, star of BETWEEN THE LINES, CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER, CUTTER’S WAY, AFTER HOURS, and an Emmy nominee for his recurring role in the first season of THE SOPRANOS. Heard died in 2017. I still have PTSD from seeing so many headlines referring to him as “HOME ALONE Actor”.

Now Playing: LAW & ORDER, “Doubles”, which transposes Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan to the tennis circuit. Special Guest Thug: a thirtyish Holt McCallany, in his “I like ‘em big and stupid” phase.

Leave it to me to find an excuse to feel bad about not liking Nazis and not getting most of my news from Theo Von.

The difference between Me Then and Me Now is that 35 years ago, I thought I felt isolated and alienated from the culture because I was edgy, and now I think I feel isolated and alienated from the culture because I’m old.

Now Playing: STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS. A dude in sickbay is crediting a medical "miracle" to the combined efforts of "Spock's brain, M'Benga's research, and Chapel’s genetic expertise." There should be a trigger warning on any of these shows where somebody says the words "Spock's brain."

Now Playing: SOUTH PARK. I would have been tempted to go with the meme picture of a hairless Vance with a brain-dead smirk. I suppose that what separates amateur wiseasses like me from the nuanced professional satirists.

YouTube video by DJY0gi Eddie Palmieri - Palmas

R.I.P. Eddie Palmieri

Now Playing: THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS. Featuring Bruce Altman, in one of his rare no-eyeglasses performances.

Spicey was perceived to have lost his MAGA manly-man bona fides for the sin of having been played by a girl.

I stared at this for close to twenty seconds thinking, “Why would they draw Jeffrey Combs looking so butt-ugly?”