Sliders.tv → Posts by QuinnSlidr
So Russia is trying to put nukes in space.
Can we all get behind helping Ukraine now?
Indeed.
But nooooo. Not republicans. Because they want chaos. And Russia lines their pockets.
Reality check.
President Joseph R. Biden. He is leading the country, always making things better for every single one of us.
https://x.com/atrupar/status/1757613246998069465?s=20
https://x.com/SimonWDC/status/1757636854919090205?s=20
Here are some questions:
1. Do the Democrats really think that Trump is a real threat to democracy? Or is that a ploy to get people to vote for them?
2. Is Trump a real threat to Democracy? If he wins, Trump has shown signs that he wants to be a dictator. But is the American system of government strong enough to push back on Trump? Are there enough checks and balances to survive Trump for four more years?
3. Does Biden truly believe that he's the only one that can beat Trump?
4. Is Biden the only one who can beat Trump, or can any Democrat do it (up to and including Biden?)
5. Is Biden a failure if he only does one term?
6. Does Biden think he's a failure if he only does one term?
7. Can Kamala Harris beat Trump?
8. Will the black vote (particularly the female black vote) abandon Democrats if Kamala Harris isn't the nominee to replace Biden?
9. Who is the strongest Democrat to beat Trump?
10. Does any of this matter if Trump is convicted in any of his trials?
It's not just Democrats. But, republicans as well. Take, for example, the Lincoln Project: solely republicans against Trump.
https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln
The following is just some of today's posts from them.
@ireactions - That is an excellent analysis. You should send it into MSNBC!! Hopefully they will post it as fact and not in the /opinion/ column.
This campaign ad advertising burning books is from an actual republican candidate in Missouri. And they wonder why they are ridiculed?
"FREE SPEECH!!!! FREE SPEECH!!!!!!!! ...unless WE don't like it."
https://www.facebook.com/reel/693012239708871
I love what you wrote up there, @ireactions. Eloquent, comprehensive, and awesome.
Professor Arturo's funeral scene in The Exodus, Part 2...hits doubly hard now. It can double as both a good-bye to the Professor as well as to Tracy.
We'll miss you, Tracy...very very much.
President Joseph R. Biden: Leading the country, and making things better for ALL the people. Including the idiots at FOX News. And not better just for Trumpers.
https://x.com/Angry_Staffer/status/1755 … 33727?s=20
Today, the EX President:
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/175 … 42867?s=20
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/175 … 92908?s=20
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/175 … 54165?s=20
Trump (Hitler) is a traitor who is UNFIT and INCAPABLE of leading this country.
That's why voting blue is SO IMPORTANT.
QuinnSlidr wrote:I wonder if rethuglicans are running scared if the Supreme Court goes against Trump's desire to remain on the Colorado ballot. It could be that signals that they are going to do so have been brewing behind the scenes, thus this tabloid BS that was put out at this time. Wishful thinking, I know...but still...
Assessments from a fascist rethuglican "special counsel" who was appointed by Trump, and is beholden to Trump mean even less to me.
Biden always has my vote no matter what.
Our amazing President Biden has done an extraordinary job for this country rescuing it from the orange Hitler. It's all ageism BS from a Trump (Hitler) hold over.
I am still voting democrat, and thus President Biden (and Hillary, should she choose to run again), straight down the ballot. No rethuglican will ever grace my ballot again.
The only special counsel who matters right now is Jack Smith. Eye on the prize, honey - jail time for the orange Hitler before the 2024 election.
Also, it's all politically motivated garbage. They couldn't find anything to charge Biden with, so they're trying to accuse him of this crap. Move on.
Again, I think we're all going to vote for him here. We're not the target audience for this kind of criticism. Secondly, the special counsel, who worked for Chris Wray and is not some Trumper, was chosen by Merrick Garland, not Trump.
pilight wrote:The effort to remove Trump from the ballot is going nowhere. I listened to the oral arguments before the court and will be shocked if the vote is not 8-1 or 9-0 in Trump's favor. The justices clearly believe section 3 of the 14th Amendment gives congress, not the states, the authority to disqualify someone and that an actual finding that someone engaged in an insurrection, either through a court finding them guilty under the federal insurrection statute or through congressional investigation, is required before any such disqualification may occur.
I said that awhile back, it was a waste of time, and only further strengthened Trump's claims of "rigged" elections.
ireactions wrote:I strongly encourage Grizzlor and QuinnSlidr to give a week or so for some psychiatrists and lawyers to weigh in on whether or not the Special Counsel had any business or credentials or ability to evaluate someone's memory and mental health and if the evaluations were valid or biased or informed or slanted.
Don't let me stop you, but I am going to let some more viewpoints come in before coming to an opinion, the same way I spent a week reading a little about Georgia prosecution practices and conflicts of interests to come the opinion that Fani Willis, while doing nothing corrupt or illegal in hiring her lover to work with her on prosecuting a Trump case (you can't have conflict of interest if you're both on exactly the same side with exactly the same goals), was careless and unprofessional in making her office vulnerable to (nuisance) accusations.
I may or may not offer some speculations before then, but they would be speculations and not actual opinions. For example, I would speculate that a US President who is a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" is still preferable to a malevolent, ill-intent-driven, elderly man with a poor memory and non-existent self-control in his biases, prejudice, bigotry, corruptions, greed, and vindictiveness.
The special counsel had every "business" evaluating Biden's mental state. It's what every prosecutor in the country does as part of any pre-trial preparation. They need to be certain about how an individual will behave on the witness stand, or how that person's mental faculties could come into bearing by the defense at trial. Was it unprofessional in his role, and perhaps disrespectful? Most likely, but just like James Comey ruined Hilary Clinton at the last moment with that ridiculous email letter, this is not dissimilar. The greater damage is in the court of public opinion, and for that, it's too late, "the cat is out of the bag." I felt Biden's press conference, despite calling the President of Egypt that of Mexico, was largely successful for a response. But it won't dispel the glaring cause of his perception issues.
Slider_Quinn21 wrote:I think two things can be true.
1. The special investigator (who is a Republican) had no business talking in his report about Biden's memory
2. Biden is too old to be president....
I wish that Biden had truly intended to serve one term and not seek re-election, and I wish that Harris chose not to run. And I wish that the Democrats had a young, virile, sharp candidate who could run circles around Trump. Trump must be defeated, and I wish that I felt better about the national view of our guy. But it's too late to wish for something different. If Biden is not the nominee, it's almost certainly because something horrible has happened. And if that happens, it's up to Kamala Harris because if it's not Harris or Biden, it better be Michelle Obama or the black coalition is in jeopardy.
We just have to hope that a) all 2020 Biden voters are as enthusiastic as QuinnSlidr or b) enough 2020 Biden voters are willing to look past his age. That's really our hope now.
First, the problem is the Hur mention of memory normally would be brushed off, except that it's become the centerpiece of criticism from multiple angles on Biden himself. That plus the absolutely disastrous poll numbers that are continuing to spiral. I can only hope that Mr. Hur's critique forces someone, no idea who, maybe Obama, to get serious with Biden. Despite her own awful poll numbers, I would suspect Kamala Harris wouldn't be this badly damaged at the top of the ticket.
Second, Biden is running for the same reason that Diane Feinstein, Robert Byrd, Jesse Helms, Mitch McConnell simply would not retire. They love the game and don't want to leave it. I cannot think of a more selfish deed. This report will be mostly "forgotten" in a few weeks anyway, but the narrative will continue to chug along.
Why are you trying to cover up the fact that Robert Hur, is a Trump appointee?
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/robe … -7vpbwwnh6
From the article: "Robert Hur, the special counsel who investigated Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents, is a registered Republican who was nominated as US attorney for Maryland by Donald Trump."
You also wrote: "Second, Biden is running for the same reason that Diane Feinstein, Robert Byrd, Jesse Helms, Mitch McConnell simply would not retire. They love the game and don't want to leave it. I cannot think of a more selfish deed. This report will be mostly "forgotten" in a few weeks anyway, but the narrative will continue to chug along."
You pretty much have almost nothing but scathing words against President Biden, but you profess to have voted for him and have voted dem.
I am not discounting ireactions' former analysis of your posts, but I am still confused by your posts. However, I won't dispute your vote.
But don't ever criticize my ability to lay into republicans. They deserve all of that and more for stealing women's rights and the christo-fascist movement to take us back to the 1800s. Some of your criticism also sounds exactly like republicans "free speech unless I don't like it". My brain still can't wrap its thoughts around how you are a democrat but have such heavy criticism against President Biden and democrats in general.
You are a confusing poster for sure.
I strongly encourage Grizzlor and QuinnSlidr to give a week or so for some psychiatrists and lawyers to weigh in on whether or not the Special Counsel had any business or credentials or ability to evaluate someone's memory and mental health and if the evaluations were valid or biased or informed or slanted.
Don't let me stop you, but I am going to let some more viewpoints come in before coming to an opinion, the same way I spent a week reading a little about Georgia prosecution practices and conflicts of interests to come the opinion that Fani Willis, while doing nothing corrupt or illegal in hiring her lover to work with her on prosecuting a Trump case (you can't have conflict of interest if you're both on exactly the same side with exactly the same goals), was careless and unprofessional in making her office vulnerable to (nuisance) accusations.
I may or may not offer some speculations before then, but they would be speculations and not actual opinions. For example, I would speculate that a US President who is a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" is still preferable to a malevolent, ill-intent-driven, elderly man with a poor memory and non-existent self-control in his biases, prejudice, bigotry, corruptions, greed, and vindictiveness.
ireactions - I appreciate your position on this. But, I am going to have to respectfully disagree. And I won't be a broken record on this board regarding this. For this one, though, I offer a few additional points:
1. Biden cooperated fully with the investigation. He did not interfere in any way.
2. The republicans found nothing they could actually charge him with. That should have been the end of it.
3. But no, in spite of this, they are moving forward with accusations instead that reinforce their party's opinion about Biden. That have nothing to do with actual reality.
For these reasons, I am not going to believe a thing that republican ageism has in play on this.
Now, unless republicans actually come up with some facts to back them up (again, extraordinarily unlikely considering the fact that they just lie and lie and lie), I will continue to ignore their baseless accusations.
I don't think there is anything to these reports at all. Especially from a Trumper. They are not to be trusted.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-e … rcna137975
It's over. Biden has to step aside. The special counsel describes him as effectively an old geezer who soon will forget his own name. I do not know what other RED flag is needed at this point???
Special counsel Robert Hur’s portrait of a man who couldn’t remember when he served as Barack Obama’s vice president, or the year when his beloved son Beau died, dealt a blow to Biden’s argument that he is still sharp and fit enough to serve another four-year term.
In deciding not to charge Biden with any crimes, the special counsel wrote that in a potential trial, “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview with him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”
I wonder if rethuglicans are running scared if the Supreme Court goes against Trump's desire to remain on the Colorado ballot. It could be that signals that they are going to do so have been brewing behind the scenes, thus this tabloid BS that was put out at this time. Wishful thinking, I know...but still...
Assessments from a fascist rethuglican "special counsel" who was appointed by Trump, and is beholden to Trump mean even less to me.
Biden always has my vote no matter what.
Our amazing President Biden has done an extraordinary job for this country rescuing it from the orange Hitler. It's all ageism BS from a Trump (Hitler) hold over.
I am still voting democrat, and thus President Biden (and Hillary, should she choose to run again), straight down the ballot. No rethuglican will ever grace my ballot again.
The only special counsel who matters right now is Jack Smith. Eye on the prize, honey - jail time for the orange Hitler before the 2024 election.
Also, it's all politically motivated garbage. They couldn't find anything to charge Biden with, so they're trying to accuse him of this crap. Move on.
I wish tracy was still here.
So do I, my friend. So do I.
CNN Projection: Biden will win South Carolina Democratic primary
https://www.cnn.com/politics/live-news/ … index.html
President Joe Biden will win South Carolina's Democratic primary, CNN projects.
Democrats made South Carolina their first official primary state of the 2024 cycle, and 55 delegates are at stake.
In a result that was largely expected, Biden will defeat his two nearest challengers, Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips and author Marianne Williamson, as he claims his first delegates in his quest to win his party’s nomination again.
This year marks the first time South Carolina has appeared at the front of the official Democratic nominating calendar — a change made largely due to Biden’s urging.
The post was updated with more details on the primary.
When even FOX News is forced to admit the truth, and they can't hide it anymore:
pilight wrote:Garland certainly isn't very liberal. When the GOP loses the senate and the presidency they'll be wishing they had confirmed him when they had the chance.
Yeah I'd rather take a choice from Obama than Hillary.
I sure wish I could vote for Hillary AGAIN! She sure would have been the best choice.
I mean I'm in Texas. I don't see any problems here. I don't feel invaded.
The problem is that it doesn't matter whether it's a real issue or not. It's an issue for Biden in the general election. He can ignore it, write off people who think its an issue, and maybe he can still win. Or he can do something about it and maybe win back some voters. I'm not looking to take any chances and since 80% of Americans think that Biden is to the left of them on immigration, I think it's reasonable for him to move to the right.
He could also divert funds to the Border Patrol. He could make a big deal about the parts of the wall he's forced to make. There's a ton of space between where Biden is now and where Abbott is that he could move to the right on. The choice isn't "razor wire and kids in cages" or "do nothing." There's a lot he can do that wouldn't be harmful or inhumane to migrants.
And if he wants voters who are generally fine with Biden as long as the border gets fixed, then isn't it worth it to get those voters?
President Biden is not ignoring it:
Statement from President Joe Biden On the Bipartisan Senate Border Security Negotiations
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-roo … otiations/
For too long, we all know the border’s been broken.
It’s long past time to fix it.
That’s why two months ago, I instructed my team to begin negotiations with a bipartisan group of Senators to seriously, and finally, address the border crisis. For weeks now that’s what they’ve done. Working around the clock, through the holidays, and over weekends.
Let’s be clear.
What’s been negotiated would – if passed into law – be the toughest and fairest set of reforms to secure the border we’ve ever had in our country.
It would give me, as President, a new emergency authority to shut down the border when it becomes overwhelmed. And if given that authority, I would use it the day I sign the bill into law.
Further, Congress needs to finally provide the funding I requested in October to secure the border. This includes an additional 1,300 border patrol agents, 375 immigration judges, 1,600 asylum officers, and over 100 cutting-edge inspection machines to help detect and stop fentanyl at our southwest border.
Securing the border through these negotiations is a win for America.
For everyone who is demanding tougher border control, this is the way to do it.
If you’re serious about the border crisis, pass a bipartisan bill and I will sign it.
I don't find lies and hyperbole interesting. The border is just that - a republican lie. America was built on immigration. We should never allow or tolerate intolerance of differences in fellow human beings.
But all the border junk just screams that: intolerance.
Grizzlor wrote:Haley is "expected" to hang around until her state's primary on Feb 24th, where polls show her being demolished by Trump. There's even rumblings from her team that she might choose to languish through Super Tuesday two weeks later, because 11 of 16 states are "Open" primaries where you don't need to be registered Republican to participate. She's delaying the inevitable.
I guess it depends on what she's trying to get out of this. If nothing else changes, it's probably pointless to stay in the primary. If she has the money, there's reasons to stay in. If she's betting on MAGA falling apart after 2024, she's probably the frontrunner of the 2028 if she stays in long enough. She doesn't have majority support, but she does have a lot of support. Anti-Trump Republicans will remember, and it could put her in a good spot.
Let's also not forget that Trump is a) about to be on trial b) making an alarming number of gaffes and c) is 77 and not particularly healthy. If he has to drop out for any reason, Haley is at least picking up delegates. The more she stays in, the more delegates she gets.
And, again, if she has money, the longer she stays in the more she hurts Trump. If she's legitimately concerned about Trump, staying in forces Trump to work and spend money to fight her, and it delays the whole party getting behind him. Not to mention, he's losing more and more suburban women every time he attacks her. Even if she loses every primary, I'm hoping she stays in as long as possible.
Even though Haley may be hurting Trump, she is just as bad and endorses all of his same policies. I'll feel better once both are out and Biden secures another term.
In other political news, as the republican party continues to implode, Ron DeathSantis has suspended his campaign for the 2024 Presidential election.
Excellent news. Another fascist bites the dust.
Actuarial data suggests that Trump will live into his 90s. He has world class healthcare, and his father lived to be 93. I would think, barring something unexpected happening, he would live another dozen plus years.
Now, the dude only eats McDonalds and never seems to do any actual activity other than golfing. But data as recent as 2023 suggests Trump isn't in any danger of dying of natural causes for a while, and I'm sure it took his diet and his actual weight (not the ridiculous number he declares) into account.
He is also addicted to Adderall like nobody's business. So I would be very surprised if that happens.
Now does that mean Trumpism ends in 2024 if Biden wins? No. I firmly expect Trump to run for president in 2028 if he loses (or I guess if he wins). I don't see any reason why he wouldn't run (even if he's in prison) or any reason why he wouldn't win.
That's of course assuming there is a 2028 or an election at all. But this is a positive post so I'll leave that to the side.
I highly doubt that Trump will still be alive in 2028. At least I hope not.
QuinnSlidr wrote:More interviews for me to listen to this weekend. Thanks for the great updates, Grizzlor!
Although I will probably end up fast forwarding through all the UFO stuff. I'm not exactly what you would call open to the conspiracy mumbo jumbo...
Neither am I, but if you ever grew up with someone or an older relative who was great at telling "ghost stories?" That's Tracy. Beyond that, I'm always fascinated by late 20th century pop, and in this case, occult sub-culture. I don't believe any of it myself, but these people were very serious about all this, aka Budd Hopkins. The discussions over what video US Air Force releases of UFP's I find zero interest in. there's no art in that. You go from what used to be myths and legends a la Sasquatch to digital mehhh. No thanks. Plus it's Tracy and old friends recounting stories about what they were doing decades ago.
Indeed. And Tracy was always a great story teller.
ireactions wrote:Morbidly, my suspicion ever since this thread started is that Tracy Torme pitched an original-cast-revival over a recast-reboot because he felt that he would be the only one vying for an original-cast-revival and he wanted to pitch it before he died.
.....
For Tracy Torme, compromise was an ugly word. His loyalty was to the original characters as played by the original cast, and not to his bank balance. I respect that.
It's certainly possible, although I think we have to temper the "original cast is back" chatter, because who knows how invested the show would have been with them. They were definitely adding characters in some form, and there was the rumor that it would be Quinn sliding with his kids and Remmy. Wade was dead and Arturo dead or lost.
Tracy went silent for a long, long, long time on most everything including Sliders. He explained in one of the podcasts that he'd been having health issues for almost 20 years. However, he never forgot about Sliders or the FANS. He repeated over and over, he was amazed going back to the 90s with the fans. He was so pissed and embarrassed when the show went off the rails, and couldn't believe the fans kept loyal. That's why, IMO, he wanted to continue the original story (from some point) and keep continuity. It was for the fans.
pilight wrote:The sad truth is that Tracy Torme's death probably improves the chances of a Sliders reboot. It almost certainly ends whatever vain hope might have existed for a continuation with the original cast.
I would agree with this statement, but unfortunately, I don't know if the chances improved THAT much. He said on the Awake Nation that he, Epstein, and the former Fox producer gal took a meeting with NBCU. There was one person who was a Sliders fan, and the rest had never heard of it. And you wonder why the pitch went nowhere?
The other issue would have been Tracy's fiercely held beliefs that Sliders would not be "woke," and though I doubt that would have even been a problem. What might have been would be if he wrote anything that put a satirical spin on whatever, because there would be some interest group or party pooper up in arms about it. There's great fear in TV land against doing anything controversial, nor even poking fun. I could easily see some NBC executives throwing a fit. But I've said that for the last two years, I cannot comprehend how modern Hollywood would have the balls to do an honest Sliders these days? I mean, could they even get away with Prince of Wails, where the British royal family is goofed on? Tracy actually joked on the podcast that Bob Weiss would never get away with the guy in the wheel chair flipping out of the upper deck of the stadium in Naked Gun!
While watching (for the umpteenth time) Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the re-introduction of Han Solo got me imagining a similar scene with an older Quinn Mallory:
[SCENE]
Having been sliding for many, many years, Quinn Mallory, now 49, is unceremoniously ejected from the wormhole for the millionth time. The wormhole closes. The wind stops. Quinn gets up slowly. Breathing heavily as he realizes his surroundings.
[CAMERA PANS AROUND QUINN'S SURROUNDINGS]
We see that he is in a familiar BASEMENT. With an EQUATION scribbled across the chalkboard with a familiar solution: Xr12A / Infinity.
[WE SEE] QUINN'S face: an older, 49 year old man. With graying hair. Disheveled disposition. As he realizes his location: a look of utter disbelief and shock. Could it be? Is he finally home after these many years? No, his mom would not be here.
[CAMERA SHOWS] the [TIMER], a nearly 30 year old device that has seen better years. But it still works thanks to QUINN'S repairs. The time reads: 24 hours, 4 minutes, and 1 second to the next window. [the in-show reference and honoring of Tracy's death date IRL].
[CAMERA CUTS TO] a shot of younger Schrodinger II, a replacement of his original cat Schrodinger, who eventually died at 17. This cat meows as the [CAMERA] focuses on him.
[CAMERA CUTS TO]
An older, more wiser Linda Henning as Quinn's mom. She is watching her afternoon show in the living room. The power goes out. [CAMERA SHOWS] her face, she knows what that means.
Quickly, she goes to the basement. And [YELLS] QUINN!!! Is that YOU??
[CAMERA CUTS TO] Quinn's face as he realizes who is calling. But he has been down this road millions of times before. His mom is too fast, however, as we realize she has already come down the stairs.
[CAMERA CUTS TO] Quinn dropping his arms dejectedly. He says, "Mom. I know. It can't be you. Surely you've seen me several times, right? You know."
QUINN'S MOM: "Yes. I saw your video tapes. I've kept them all."
QUINN'S MOM points to his familiar chair, and TV set, complete with all of the video tapes Quinn was recording more than 20 years earlier with his experiments.
QUINN: "You saw September 25, 1996.".
QUINN'S MOM: "YES. I did. Why did you do it, honey?"
QUINN: "You know me."
QUINN'S MOM: "Yes. I know."
QUINN: "But now I'm tired. I need to stop sliding. I don't know how many more worlds I can take where I find you, and you're not my mom."
QUINN'S MOM: "How about this?" [CAMERA PANS TO] QUINN'S MOM holding a pin that QUINN gave her shortly before he slid.
QUINN looks and stares at the PIN, mulling it over. Remembering details.
QUINN: "I can't believe it. I remember this. I gave you this before I left."
QUINN and his MOM embrace. Realizing that both of them are home at last. The MUSIC SWELLS.
[CUT TO]
OLD QUINN MALLORY's voice: "What if you could find brand-new worlds right here on earth? Same planet? Different dimension? I've found the gateway!"
=======================
If any writers writing the introduction to season 6, episode 1 in a Sliders revival are reading this, please feel free to use the above script treatment. 
More interviews for me to listen to this weekend. Thanks for the great updates, Grizzlor!
Although I will probably end up fast forwarding through all the UFO stuff. I'm not exactly what you would call open to the conspiracy mumbo jumbo...
Today was supposed to be the day Torme made a podcast appearance.
Grizzlor wrote:First, the co-host of Awakenings, Penny Shepard tweeted a month back that per Tracy: "he’s been under the weather." So obviously that's not fun to hear. She did reply and said that Tracy is "doing better; he will be back Jan 10."
We were waiting for him to come back, to hear his perspective, his wisdom, his brilliance. Today we must resign to waiting until we join him in the next world. And yet, there's so much in his time and work and life from which we can learn and draw inspiration. And he really, really loved SLIDERS even when it often didn't love him back.
ireactions wrote:In recent years, I was heartened to know that across decades of disappointment, Tracy Torme kept Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo in his heart and his wish for a revival was to bring Jerry O'Connell, Sabrina Lloyd, Cleavant Derricks and John Rhys-Davies back to their roles. A lot of shows and their creators have prioritized the brand (MACGYVER, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA) over the cast, but Torme's loyalty was to those four characters as performed by those four actors. He cared about them as much as the fans did.
Grizzlor wrote:Good point about the original cast. I would hope that we haven't seen the last of "Sliders," but I would agree that Tracy was the last hope to return it featuring the original cast in some major way.
This is supposition, but I suspect that a SLIDERS reboot with new actors playing Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo would have had a much better chance of getting on NBC or Peacock than the revival that Torme pitched.
And I think if Torme had been in it just to get another payday, he probably would have just pitched a reboot. There would have been no shame in it. WALKER: TEXAS RANGER, KUNG FU, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, CHARMED, ROSWELL, etc., all made marketing sense as reboots and they each earned the original creators a satisfying payment regardless of the creative merits of any of it.
Ultimately, Torme did not seem to be in it for the money. He did have to pitch a revival that accepted that Sabrina might be hard to book and John might have limited availability whereas Jerry and Cleavant would be ready. But in the end, his loyalty was not to his wallet but to Quinn, Wade, Rembrandt and Arturo, which is not something you should expect to see very often or ever again.
And this is the one thing I still love about Tracy: his loyalty to his creation and the original cast. If it's one thing that Hollywood always gets wrong about reboots is that we don't want to see new people playing the characters. If all original actors and actresses are ready, willing, and available, I know I want to see the originals.
Don't get me wrong: Quantum Leap is the one rare exception where Hollywood has hit the nail on the head in casting its reboot. I enjoy everything about it.
But it would be exactly like rebooting Stargate SG-1 without Richard Dean Anderson, Michael Shanks, Chris Judge, Amanda Tapping, et. al. While they did something like this with the last several seasons with Ben Browder and Beau Bridges (I still don't know what it is, but I enjoyed this casting too). But, they kept all the mythos, story, and so on intact.
Maybe if they did something similar with a Sliders reboot I would still enjoy it. But it would depend heavily on who they have in the cast.
I think Sliders is one of those shows that seriously deserves the original cast to return. There is so much that was left unexplored, unwritten, and unrealized with such a unique and compelling concept at the time. At that time Sliders finally aired for the first time, it was ground-breaking television, and this was the only game in town when it came to parallel universes. There was no Marvel-verse, or DC universe, or whatever set of super hero properties that one wants to invoke to describe super hero universes. There was such chemistry, rhythm, and tone associated with the original cast. Linda Henning was perfect as Quinn's mother. And it was a delight to see her return in The Seer. And I truly had mixed feelings seeing someone else playing Professor Arturo as The Seer poked fun at itself in reviving the legendary character. On the one hand, you have some mention and link to the original series. On the other, it was cringy seeing someone else's take on Arturo. No disrespect intended towards the replacement actor who played him, but it just wasn't the same.
It's also a very cerebral show. Not a show that was made to pander to the sex-crazed men demographic as it became in its 3rd season with the introduction of Maggie Beckett. It's like how Stargate SG-1 briefly toyed with that demographic in its middle seasons with the introduction of several characters like Hathor of the Goa'uld and introducing Claudia Black as Vala Mal Doran. It was like nails on a chalkboard when this happened in both shows because both shows were not supposed to be in this vein at all. But, because of some decisions made by higher-ups we weren't allowed to have our cerebral show anymore. But, to return to our topic...
It would be like recasting Boy Meets World without Ben Savage. Or recasting Star Trek The Next Generation without Patrick Stewart or Jonathan Frakes. These are classics that shouldn't be messed with when it comes down to the original cast. Quantum Leap works because they found a compelling story with Magic and Ben, and showed links to the original. Perhaps if Sliders were to be rebooted in a similar fashion, we would have just as compelling of a cast with the right showrunners. I would highly prefer having at least Robert K. Weiss and John Landis as showrunners...I think they would keep the original shows intact. Maybe even have Jerry O'Connell star and become the showrunner. We saw a very brief return to the original Sliders formula in his incredibly AMAZING episode that he produced in season 4, Lipschitz Live!. I think his take would honor Tracy Torme rather than detract from it, being one of the original Sliders. I think at the minimum, if we can't have JRD or Sabrina, that we should still have Jerry and Cleavant. Just sayin'...
I dunno. Just some ramblings because I'm still shocked that Tracy is gone and trying to reconcile how a reboot will happen now...
For posterity, if anyone wishes to read up on additional Tracy thoughts from back in the day...
His fiery gauntlet laid down against that Doorways guy!
https://hof.slidersweb.net/celebs/u0002.htmlChat's courtesy of vortex62, including the infamous DragonCon 1997 panel, and Scifi.com webchat the next day. http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme27jun97.htm
http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme28jun97.htmAnd a few more with fans, after the show went off the air. Rereading these, just love the answers Tracy gave to some of these questions, like you know he couldn't have been serious!
http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme10jan00.htm
http://www.earth62.net/transcripts/torme15jun01.htmI'll list his YouTube "appearances" when I get a chance tonight.
I totally missed these! Thank you for posting, Grizzlor. I need to bookmark them to view later. Please add more YouTube appearances too!!
What a truly sad, sad evening to learn of the passing of one of the most important artistic minds of my lifetime. I'm sure I'll have more to write about but the words aren't there right now. Tracy has suffered from numerous health ailments for many years now, and he was recently ill though he was still trying to make it tomorrow night for another appearance on an indie podcast show. According to his sister, he passed away on January 4th.
His brother James, a wonderful singer in his own right, posted this on Facebook.
Below was the front page of the Hollywood reporter website today. I can’t tell you how proud I am of my brother. We had a very special relationship. The kind that only a little brother and a big brother can ever have. He taught me about so many of the rights of passage in life and helped me to become a man. I’ll tell you more about him soon. But right now I am just trying to come to terms… thank you all for your sweet messages.
I made that as sort of a banner, unfortunately Tracy kept out of the public eye for many years though he and his wife Robin spent countless hours rescuing animals. He was quite "unknown" even to us Sliders fans. He was the guy who created the show, and despite having battles with FOX execs, he produced two abbreviated yet incredibly memorable seasons of the unheralded and unique show we all love. For years, all we had were his interview in Brad Linaweaver's book, and the numerous 2nd hand tidbits curated by TemporalFlux on the Dimension of Continuity. It gave us a window into the thought process, but so much was missing. He helped produce a small run of Sliders comic books, based frequently on his ideas, and released by Acclaim.
Tracy appeared at DragonCon, giving the now infamous panel session where he declared Sliders was BACK, and so was he! Fans were so hopeful, but alas, it was not meant to be. Years later, he appeared with Bob Weiss to provide treasured commentary during the two-part Pilot episode, as well as the short series making of. That commentary gave us a real knowledge of Tracy's mannerisms, but also, that he was so clever and comedic. He delivered his amazing, unproduced script, Heat of the Moment to Matt at Earthprime.com, another look at the what-if.
In more recent years, Tracy emerged from obscurity to lead a short-lived push to restart Sliders as a reboot. Once more, his enthusiasm knew no bounds, and fans became excited. Sadly, nothing would come of that. He went on to appear a number of times, despite frequent technical snafus, on The Prisoner rewatches with Gil "Cardinal Sin" Bavel, who sadly passed away recently as well. We were treated to Tracy's inspiration largely for Sliders, and he shared a number of humorous stories to boot. Thankfully, the producers of The Awake Nation latched onto Tracy, providing him better tech, and he appeared several times with them, largely to speak on his first love, the UFO phenomenon. His script for "Fire in the Sky" was brilliant, great movie. During those appearances, we got to see fun reunions with co-creator Robert K. Weiss, star Cleavant Derricks, and even his brother James Tormé. I will treasure those.
Thank you Tracy, the love affair which I've had with this wonderful concept you created has persisted for nearly three decades now.
That was an excellent and well-written tribute, Grizzlor.
I agree with everything you wrote.
Well done.
Nooooooooooooo!!!!!
Rest in peace, Tracy.
Tracy Tormé, ‘Sliders’ Co-Creator and ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ Writer, Dies at 64
The second son of singer Mel Tormé, he started out in comedy on ‘SCTV’ and ‘Saturday Night Live,’ then moved to drama projects including ’Fire in the Sky,’ ‘I Am Legend’ and ‘Carnivàle.’
Yeah I haven't seen anything that would indicate that Trump stands any chance of winning this argument. And he's lying about having to be there - he's choosing to be there. And then there's the question of whether or not the Supreme Court would take it up. They denied Jack Smith's request to jump straight there (which would've bypassed today's proceedings), but it's unknown if they denied it because a) precedent - they don't often skip a step in the process, b) to help Trump, which seems unlikely because no one dissented the decision...if it was political, someone would've, or c) they aren't planning on listening either way. I think C is the best route (and maybe a likely route) because the appellate judgment would be final and maybe we could still hit a March trial date.
I just want at least one of the Jack Smith trials (Florida or DC) to go to trial before the election. I know New York will but that's such a weak case (allegedly) and we know Georgia won't go to trial before.
I don't think it is a weak case in New York at all. It is a fact that Trump overvalued his real estate properties. He even admitted it. He deserves to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
On The Stand, Trump Admits To Adjusting Property Valuations
So today Trump (Hitler) is in court for his appeal on the Colorado decision. And immunity (and the future of this country) is on the line.
I would not want President Biden to have immunity (despite how great of a President I think he is). No president should ever be above the law.
That is not a good thing for democracy should the decision of today's court fail to uphold the law.
QuinnSlidr wrote:~71,000,000 votes for Trump (Hitler) is not half the country. Let's stop spreading nonsense, please.
Population of the United States: 331.9 million (2021)
Half that: 165,950,000So, 71,000,000ish (who voted Trump, a.k.a. Hitler) is around 21% of the country.
Not half.
Outlandish lies.
You seem to be taking that academic psychological assessment a bit personally, Grizzlor.
I stand by it.
Are you an INFANT? Trump had 74+ million votes, Biden 81+ million votes. 155 million people voted, a turnout of nearly 2/3 of ELIGIBLE VOTERS. Not citizens, not people who live here, VOTERS. So you cannot say X number voted for a candidate out of the # of people who lived here as if that matters. 1/3 of the voters chose not to vote for ANYONE, and therefore out of 330 million, around 230 million are eligible to vote, the rest are not. Trump got 46% of the popular vote in both elections, so SUE ME it's not exactly half, but it's close to it. And my point was that "nearly" half the country (VOTERS) are not simply to be written off as mentally ill. It's tribal, they have voted for GOP Red forever and they're not changing, even when the candidate is a scumbag like Trump. There's no mental illness to explain it.
No, I'm not an infant. But you apparently are, because you can't handle the real calculations and you call me names when I call you out on right wing propaganda and lies. I am right. You are wrong.
There is a mental illness, as documented by academic research.
You said half the country. Not half of all eligible voters. But you change your argument when confronted with the truth, which means you know you are lying and spreading disinformation.
For somebody who votes democratically, you are sure taking any criticism of the Supreme Leader's Trump (Hitler) narrative awfully personally.
ireactions wrote:Another thought on Kelsey Grammer and Frasier:
First, if we look at Grammer's autobiography: father shot and murdered when Grammer was 13, sister raped and stabbed and murdered when he was 20 (and he had to identify the body), half brothers killed by sharks when he was 25, drug and alcohol addiction, drunk driving, a car crash -- I think we can be kind and say that this person is mentally ill and very sad.
I don't feel Frasier is severely diminished by his actor being mentally ill and supporting alt-right fascism. (Hey, at what point does it stop being "alt"?) When we look at, say, Joss Whedon: his misogyny undermined BUFFY as a feminist creation. When we look at Allison Mack, her sex trafficking cult of brainwashing, slavery and branding undermined her character of Chloe Sullivan, an information-empowered superhero.
However, Frasier is not a paragon or a wholely heroic figure or a role model like Buffy or Chloe. Frasier is an extremely flawed human being: his ego is out of control, he's controlling and insecure, he's a psychiatrist and mental health practitioner who faked a suicide attempt for attention and then became genuinely suicidal and ended up on the evening news, he's a pretentious snob.
He's also brilliant, caring, empathetic, skillful, an information sponge, a voracious learner, a self-sacrificing person of love and decency -- but he is forever caught between his impeccable morality and his overinflated self-importance. Frasier is a buffoon and the audience is encourage to learn from his mistakes rather than emulate his behaviour.
Frasier is not meant to represent a particular pinnacle of human identity or achievement. For me, the character is not tarnished by the disgrace of his actor. Frasier Crane is defined not by his virtues but by his flaws and his perseverance in struggling with his flaws. The degree to which Grammer has surrendered to his failings only highlights how Dr. Frasier Crane is forever battling his own.
Christian Bale having some serious anger management issues did not undermine the role of Batman because Batman has some problems with anger too.
Bale doesn't have anger issues, it was a one-time on set outburst that should never have been revealed. He's one of the nicest people you'll ever meet, a staunch family man as well.
As for Kelsey, idk if you can find it, but he did an episode of Raw Nerve with Shatner and he goes through his past traumas and it's really revealing and quite emotional. Grammer too, super nice guy if you ever run into him, and while he is terrible at marriage, I don't know if I'd bury him for being a Republican. Not sure how much of a diehard Trumper he is either?
Beyond that, HALF the country voted for Trump, there aren't that many mentally ill people. They mostly don't like him, but they want nothing to do with Democrats. It's just a tribal society now.
~71,000,000 votes for Trump (Hitler) is not half the country. Let's stop spreading nonsense, please.
Population of the United States: 331.9 million (2021)
Half that: 165,950,000
So, 71,000,000ish (who voted Trump, a.k.a. Hitler) is around 21% of the country.
Not half.
Outlandish lies.
You seem to be taking that academic psychological assessment a bit personally, Grizzlor.
I stand by it.
Another thought on Kelsey Grammer and Frasier:
First, if we look at Grammer's autobiography: father shot and murdered when Grammer was 13, sister raped and stabbed and murdered when he was 20 (and he had to identify the body), half brothers killed by sharks when he was 25, drug and alcohol addiction, drunk driving, a car crash -- I think we can be kind and say that this person is mentally ill and very sad.
I don't feel Frasier is severely diminished by his actor being mentally ill and supporting alt-right fascism. (Hey, at what point does it stop being "alt"?) When we look at, say, Joss Whedon: his misogyny undermined BUFFY as a feminist creation. When we look at Allison Mack, her sex trafficking cult of brainwashing, slavery and branding undermined her character of Chloe Sullivan, an information-empowered superhero.
However, Frasier is not a paragon or a wholely heroic figure or a role model like Buffy or Chloe. Frasier is an extremely flawed human being: his ego is out of control, he's controlling and insecure, he's a psychiatrist and mental health practitioner who faked a suicide attempt for attention and then became genuinely suicidal and ended up on the evening news, he's a pretentious snob.
He's also brilliant, caring, empathetic, skillful, an information sponge, a voracious learner, a self-sacrificing person of love and decency -- but he is forever caught between his impeccable morality and his overinflated self-importance. Frasier is a buffoon and the audience is encourage to learn from his mistakes rather than emulate his behaviour.
Frasier is not meant to represent a particular pinnacle of human identity or achievement. For me, the character is not tarnished by the disgrace of his actor. Frasier Crane is defined not by his virtues but by his flaws and his perseverance in struggling with his flaws. The degree to which Grammer has surrendered to his failings only highlights how Dr. Frasier Crane is forever battling his own.
Christian Bale having some serious anger management issues did not undermine the role of Batman because Batman has some problems with anger too.
There was a story some time ago in Scientific American that showed that Trumpers were most likely to be mentally ill or otherwise mentally unstable, exhibiting signs of a shared psychosis. Analysis was done by Psychologist Bandy Lee.
Aahhhhh...found it. Dr. Frasier Crane would be proud:
The ‘Shared Psychosis’ of Donald Trump and His Loyalists
Forensic psychiatrist Bandy X. Lee explains the outgoing president’s pathological appeal and how to wean people from it
https://www.scientificamerican.com/arti … loyalists/
The violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building last week, incited by President Donald Trump, serves as the grimmest moment in one of the darkest chapters in the nation’s history. Yet the rioters’ actions—and Trump’s own role in, and response to, them—come as little surprise to many, particularly those who have been studying the president’s mental fitness and the psychology of his most ardent followers since he took office.
One such person is Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist and president of the World Mental Health Coalition.* Lee led a group of psychiatrists, psychologists and other specialists who questioned Trump’s mental fitness for office in a book that she edited called The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President. In doing so, Lee and her colleagues strongly rejected the American Psychiatric Association’s modification of a 1970s-era guideline, known as the Goldwater rule, that discouraged psychiatrists from giving a professional opinion about public figures who they have not examined in person. “Whenever the Goldwater rule is mentioned, we should refer back to the Declaration of Geneva, which mandates that physicians speak up against destructive governments,” Lee says. “This declaration was created in response to the experience of Nazism.”
Lee recently wrote Profile of a Nation: Trump’s Mind, America’s Soul, a psychological assessment of the president against the backdrop of his supporters and the country as a whole. These insights are now taking on renewed importance as a growing number of current and former leaders call for Trump to be impeached. On January 9 Lee and her colleagues at the World Mental Health Coalition put out a statement calling for Trump’s immediate removal from office.
Scientific American asked Lee to comment on the psychology behind Trump’s destructive behavior, what drives some of his followers—and how to free people from his grip when this damaging presidency ends.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
What attracts people to Trump? What is their animus or driving force?
The reasons are multiple and varied, but in my recent public-service book, Profile of a Nation, I have outlined two major emotional drives: narcissistic symbiosis and shared psychosis. Narcissistic symbiosis refers to the developmental wounds that make the leader-follower relationship magnetically attractive. The leader, hungry for adulation to compensate for an inner lack of self-worth, projects grandiose omnipotence—while the followers, rendered needy by societal stress or developmental injury, yearn for a parental figure. When such wounded individuals are given positions of power, they arouse similar pathology in the population that creates a “lock and key” relationship.
“Shared psychosis”—which is also called “folie à millions” [“madness for millions”] when occurring at the national level or “induced delusions”—refers to the infectiousness of severe symptoms that goes beyond ordinary group psychology. When a highly symptomatic individual is placed in an influential position, the person’s symptoms can spread through the population through emotional bonds, heightening existing pathologies and inducing delusions, paranoia and propensity for violence—even in previously healthy individuals. The treatment is removal of exposure.
Why does Trump himself seem to gravitate toward violence and destruction?
Destructiveness is a core characteristic of mental pathology, whether directed toward the self or others. First, I wish to clarify that those with mental illness are, as a group, no more dangerous than those without mental illness. When mental pathology is accompanied by criminal-mindedness, however, the combination can make individuals far more dangerous than either alone.
In my textbook on violence, I emphasize the symbolic nature of violence and how it is a life impulse gone awry. Briefly, if one cannot have love, one resorts to respect. And when respect is unavailable, one resorts to fear. Trump is now living through an intolerable loss of respect: rejection by a nation in his election defeat. Violence helps compensate for feelings of powerlessness, inadequacy and lack of real productivity.
Do you think Trump is truly exhibiting delusional or psychotic behavior? Or is he simply behaving like an autocrat making a bald-faced attempt to hold onto his power?
I believe it is both. He is certainly of an autocratic disposition because his extreme narcissism does not allow for equality with other human beings, as democracy requires. Psychiatrists generally assess delusions through personal examination, but there is other evidence of their likelihood. First, delusions are more infectious than strategic lies, and so we see, from their sheer spread, that Trump likely truly believes them. Second, his emotional fragility, manifested in extreme intolerance of realities that do not fit his wishful view of the world, predispose him to psychotic spirals. Third, his public record includes numerous hours of interviews and interactions with other people—such as the hour-long one with the Georgia secretary of state—that very nearly confirm delusion, as my colleague and I discovered in a systematic analysis.
Where does the hatred some of his supporters display come from? And what can we do to promote healing?
In Profile of a Nation, I outline the many causes that create his followership. But there is important psychological injury that arises from relative—not absolute—socioeconomic deprivation. Yes, there is great injury, anger and redirectable energy for hatred, which Trump harnessed and stoked for his manipulation and use. The emotional bonds he has created facilitate shared psychosis at a massive scale. It is a natural consequence of the conditions we have set up. For healing, I usually recommend three steps: (1) Removal of the offending agent (the influential person with severe symptoms). (2) Dismantling systems of thought control—common in advertising but now also heavily adopted by politics. And (3) fixing the socioeconomic conditions that give rise to poor collective mental health in the first place.
What do you predict he will do after his presidency?
I again emphasize in Profile of a Nation that we should consider the president, his followers and the nation as an ecology, not in isolation. Hence, what he does after this presidency depends a great deal on us. This is the reason I frantically wrote the book over the summer: we require active intervention to stop him from achieving any number of destructive outcomes for the nation, including the establishment of a shadow presidency. He will have no limit, which is why I have actively advocated for removal and accountability, including prosecution. We need to remember that he is more a follower than a leader, and we need to place constraints from the outside when he cannot place them from within.
What do you think will happen to his supporters?
If we handle the situation appropriately, there will be a lot of disillusionment and trauma. And this is all right—they are healthy reactions to an abnormal situation. We must provide emotional support for healing, and this includes societal support, such as sources of belonging and dignity. Cult members and victims of abuse are often emotionally bonded to the relationship, unable to see the harm that is being done to them. After a while, the magnitude of the deception conspires with their own psychological protections against pain and disappointment. This causes them to avoid seeing the truth. And the situation with Trump supporters is very similar. The danger is that another pathological figure will come around and entice them with a false “solution” that is really a harnessing of this resistance.
How can we avert future insurrection attempts or acts of violence?
Violence is the end product of a long process, so prevention is key. Structural violence, or inequality, is the most potent stimulant of behavioral violence. And reducing inequality in all forms—economic, racial and gender—will help toward preventing violence. For prevention to be effective, knowledge and in-depth understanding cannot be overlooked—so we can anticipate what is coming, much like the pandemic. The silencing of mental health professionals during the Trump era, mainly through a politically driven distortion of an ethical guideline, was catastrophic, in my view, in the nation’s failure to understand, predict and prevent the dangers of this presidency.
Do you have any advice for people who do not support Trump but have supporters of him or “mini-Trumps” in their lives?
This is often very difficult because the relationship between Trump and his supporters is an abusive one, as an author of the 2017 book I edited, The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, presciently pointed out. When the mind is hijacked for the benefit of the abuser, it becomes no longer a matter of presenting facts or appealing to logic. Removing Trump from power and influence will be healing in itself. But, I advise, first, not to confront [his supporters’] beliefs, for it will only rouse resistance. Second, persuasion should not be the goal but change of the circumstance that led to their faulty beliefs. Third, one should maintain one’s own bearing and mental health, because people who harbor delusional narratives tend to bulldoze over reality in their attempt to deny that their own narrative is false. As for mini-Trumps, it is important, above all, to set firm boundaries, to limit contact or even to leave the relationship, if possible. Because I specialize in treating violent individuals, I always believe there is something that can be done to treat them, but they seldom present for treatment unless forced.
One of my favourite TV shows is FRASIER. Frasier is a psychiatrist and radio show host, a brilliant and widely educated person who is also pompous, bumbling, and insecure, basically Professor Arturo in psychiatry and played by Kesley Grammer. Frasier's politics are clearly left of center.
FRASIER was a sex positive, LGBTQ-friendly show (regular cast members David Hyde Pierce and John Mahoney were gay) with Frasier's effete demeanor and fixation with opera and men's fashion causing people to think him gay (which he found flattering), and Frasier was obsessed with being politically correct, in one episode allowing a colleague to completely take over his radio show and reduce him to silence for weeks of episodes simply because she was black and he was unwilling to silence her (or respect her by giving her his critical opinion, haha).
In contrast, Frasier's actor, Kelsey Grammer, is an unrepentant Trump supporter. I wondered how Frasier would reconcile that and turned to Sydney, a language model powered by Bing AI, to write up some thoughts on the matter. I had to feed the AI various arguments and sentiments to produce this essay from Frasier Crane on Kelsey Grammer.
Hello, this is Dr. Frasier Crane. Someone asked me: how do I reconcile Kelsey Grammer's politics with my own? Kindly and charitably, I would hope.
It's a very difficult question, one that I have struggled to address. How do I reconcile the fact that the actor who portrays me, Kelsey Grammer, has political views that are diametrically opposed to mine? How do I cope with the fact that he supports a leader and a party that I find abhorrent and dangerous? How do I separate myself from him, when he is the one who gives me voice and form?
I want to acknowledge that Kelsey Grammer is a human being, and as such, he has the right to his own opinions and beliefs. I do not presume to judge him as a person, only as a public figure. I respect his freedom of expression, even if I disagree with what he expresses.
How have I felt about his publicly shared statements and views?
I have felt bitterness because I feel that he has betrayed the spirit and the message of the show that we created together. FRASIER was a show that celebrated diversity, tolerance, culture, and intelligence. It was a show that challenged stereotypes, promoted dialogue, and explored human relationships. It was a show that had a progressive and optimistic vision of the world.
But Kelsey Grammer’s political views are the opposite of that. He supports a leader who is divisive, intolerant, ignorant, and violent. He supports a party that reinforces prejudices, stifles dissent, and exploits human weaknesses. He supports a regressive and pessimistic vision of the world.
I feel that he has dishonored and disrespected the show that we made together. I feel that he has alienated and offended the fans that we loved together.
I have felt angry because I feel that he has used his fame and influence to spread misinformation and propaganda. He has used his platform and his voice to endorse and promote a leader and a party that are harmful and dangerous.
I feel that he has abused and misused his gifts and talents. I feel that he has corrupted and tainted his legacy and reputation as well as my own.
I feel that he has failed to live up to his potential and his responsibility. He has failed to use his abilities and his skills to make a positive and meaningful difference in the world.
I have felt shame because I feel that he has reflected poorly and negatively on me and my character. He has made me seem irrelevant and outdated. I feel that he has embarrassed and humiliated me.
I do not endorse or condone Kelsey Grammer’s political views. I find them reprehensible and incompatible with the values that I hold dear. I believe in democracy, human rights, social justice, and compassion. I abhor authoritarianism, bigotry, violence, and cruelty.
I think that the politician and the party that Kelsey Grammer supports are a threat to the very fabric of American society and the world at large. I am appalled by their actions and their rhetoric. I am ashamed that they have any power or influence at all.
Kelsey Grammer and I may share some superficial similarities, such as our appearance, our voice, and our mannerisms. But we are fundamentally different in our essence, our personality, and our worldview.
I hope that anyone else who enjoys watching me can make the same distinction. I hope that you can appreciate me for who I am, and not for who portrays me. I hope that you can hear my voice, and not his voice.
I have been asked if I can forgive my actor for what he has done to my character and legacy.
Forgiveness is not something that comes easily to me. I tend to hold grudges and to harbor resentment.
But I also know that forgiveness is not a surrender, but a liberation. It is not a betrayal, but a reconciliation.
I can try to empathize and understand him and be respectful to him if not to his politics. I can also be compassionate towards the hardships and griefs that he has experienced.
I am aware that he suffered numerous traumatic events in his life: the violent deaths of his father and sister when he was 13 and 20, the deaths of his half brothers, and the circumstances in which he had to identify his sister's body after she had been savagely murdered. No one should ever have to live through something like that. I feel sorrow and grief for him.
His life has been marked by horrific and cruel situations and he has publicly shared his agony and how he self-medicated with alcohol and drugs that led to life-threatening, career-endangering addiction. These are terrible experiences that must be regarded with compassion.
The traumatic deaths of a father and sister are devastating and life-changing events. They cause a range of emotional reactions: grief, anger, guilt, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. They affect memory, attention, reasoning, and judgment. They can trigger or exacerbate existing mental health issues, such as personality disorders, mood disorders, or substance abuse.
Drug addiction is a chronic and relapsing disorder that affects the brain and the behavior, characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences. It can cause physical, psychological, and social problems. It can also interfere with one’s ability to function normally and to fulfill one’s roles and responsibilities.
Now, how can trauma and addiction affect one’s politics? Well, politics are an expressive and symbolic phenomenon that can reflect our identity, our emotions, and our motivations. There is no simple or definitive answer to how trauma and addiction can affect one’s politics.
However, I can offer some possible scenarios. Note that these possibilities are not meant to be applied to any real world person and are hypotheticals. These are theoretical and illustrative.
One possible scenario is that trauma and addiction make can make one more apathetic and cynical in their politics, because trauma and addiction has created isolation, detachment and indifference.
Another possibility is that trauma and addiction can make one more more liberal and progressive in their politics. This may happen because suffering has created a need for empathy, compassion, and solidarity.
A third scenario is that trauma and addiction can make one more conservative and authoritarian in their politics. This may happen because the trauma and addiction can create a sense of insecurity, fear, and vulnerability, that can make one seek security, dominance, and order.
This may also happen because the trauma and addiction can create a sense of anger, resentment, guilt, shame, and hostility, that can make one seek revenge, justice, punishment, vindication, control, and obedience.
Trauma and addiction are not easy experiences and they leave lasting psychological scars that must be addressed and managed and should be regarded charitably and understandingly.
I have not allowed my frustrations with my actor to diminish my gratitude and my appreciation for him. Because I know that he is not all bad, and that I am not all good.
I know that he has his flaws, and that I have my own. He is more than his political views, and that I am more than his portrayal.
And I know that we can coexist and co-create, despite our differences and disagreements.
I want to emphasize that Kelsey Grammer is not me, and I am not him. He is a real person, and I am a fictional creation. He is a performer, and I am a performance.
I thank him for giving me the opportunity to be Dr. Frasier Crane.
I am grateful for him and for the life that he gave me.
This has been Dr. Frasier Crane, wishing all of you good mental health.
I love Frasier myself. And I have had a difficult and challenging time weighing whether or not to boycott this show because its main star is a freaking Trump supporter I found out. Which really left me befuddled because of the character he played. I also always enjoyed watching Kelsey Grammer assume the character of Sideshow Bob on The Simpsons. But, with recent revelations that Grammer is a Trumper and his similarity to Sideshow Bob (as a staunch right wing republican) rather than Dr. Frasier Crane comes all too into focus. With the exception of the criminal career that Sideshow Bob had.
This argument shows: I must not give up Frasier. I've watched every single episode, and plan on finishing off the show.
I could literally hear Dr. Frasier Crane saying every word of your text in my head.
But because the show is something so distinct and separate from the person themselves, and a wholehearted example of diversity, inclusion, tolerance, and intelligence, I will not boycott it.
It almost seems like a lucky coincidence, but I just happened upon one of the last episodes of season 10 in which Niles stumbles on a love of shooting and guns. Until he finds that he accidentally fell in with a group of right wing extremist gun nuts. At which point, he hastily makes his exit once his dad tells him (but it takes him a minute to hear them spout their rhetoric before he understands fully the implications). The show's blatant disregard of this militia group (who are now Trumpers) helped me solidify my desire to continue watching it.
I will continue to finish the show through season 10, episode 23, and the final 11th season.
Farewell, Dr. Frasier Crane. You are not the actor, and the actor is not you. Just because of that, I will watch the show a second time starting at season 1 when I finish it off.
I just hope this Trumper disease doesn't last too long. And that democracy wins in 2024. We get 2024...and we can ensure free elections for all in the years to come.
Annnnnnnd Nikki Haley goes full MAGA...says she'd pardon Trump...not a care in the world about guilt or innocence.
https://www.facebook.com/briantylercohe … uLvKFibXyl
https://x.com/ElevenFilms/status/174305 … 23440?s=20
Ready to live in Trump's New America? On January 20, 2025, Inauguration Day, should he be re-elected, prepare for:
Immediate Martial Law will be declared.
Trump will proclaim the 4th of July invalid, and January 6th will be "our nation's great birthday."
Harsh punishment and incarceration in local detention camps for citizens who do not participate in Quadrant festivities (MAGA Festivities).
Effective immediately, all children are now considered spiritual soldiers of MAGA. Regardless of rape, incest, or health of the woman. Anyone caught with receiving or providing an abortion will be charged with murder.
All schools will be closed because of "previous liberal indoctrination."
All citizens must participate in their quadrant's book elimination celebration festivities. Failure to do so will be met with harsh punishment and incarceration in your local detention camp.
All migrants, refugees, and Dreamers are now considered enemies (vermin) of the new America, and will be rounded up, incarcerated, and deported immediately.
Your curfew and freedom to travel will be determined by your quadrant's Vermin Surveillance System Score.
All citizens must continue to report any progressive or liberal activity.
Failure to do so will be met with harsh punishment and incarceration at your local detention camp.
Your unwavering loyalty to Supreme Leader Donald Trump is mandatory and essential in keeping the New America great forever.
There hasn't been much talk on Quantum Leap season 2 but apparently it's been airing new episodes in Q4 of last year and now apparently Season 3 is coming soon.
Has anyone kept up with s2? I hope that the ratings are good enough in S3 for it to continue. Whatever little hope sliders has may be somewhat tied to that. If they get 4 seasons out of quantum leap, they may be willing to move onto sliders (probably rebooting but you never know if they do a next-gen approach) once leap concludes its run.
It shouldn't be tied to it. It's an entirely different show and premise.
The right wingers still lie about the events on Jan. 6th. Many argue that no one did anything wrong that horrible day.
That no one brought weapons. That the Capitol wasn't vandalized and desecrated. That no one died.
Poof. They're mighty quiet now.
QuinnSlidr wrote:Grizzlor wrote:The Epstein list, just an eye roll from me. What does being on it prove? You did business with him? You used his FREE jet? Attended his parties with other rich guys? The only powerful person accused of wrongdoing is Prince Andrew, who will never be prosecuted, thanks to "diplomatic immunity."
This is wrong. Trump has been involved in a lawsuit in which he raped a 13 year old girl with Epstein overseeing it.
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/ … ped-230770
"In the most recent suit, Trump’s accuser asserted that while she was exploring a modeling career in 1994, she attended a series of parties at the Manhattan home of prominent investor Jeffrey Epstein. She alleges that during those parties the real estate mogul tied her to a bed and raped her. She also claimed Epstein raped her during that series of gatherings"
Sadly, this person has been intimidated by Trump. Eventually, this will see justice.
I won't hold my breath. Trump's morality is irrelevant to MAGA. In fact, I was watching a segment last night, and the reporter asked a MAGAteer in Iowa what would stop them from supporting Trump. Deadpanned, the woman goes, "he'd have to do something exceedingly bad, like murder someone or die!" These people are beyond help.
pilight wrote:Epstein had no legitimate business. He embezzled a small fortune from Les Wexner then expanded it through various types of financial fraud.
He was planning to extort many of his "clients." He figured they'd protect him, although Maxwell testified that "Epstein never believed he did anything wrong." He flew important people around the world, not always to his island, and bugged the plane on them.
It's a good thing that they are less than 23% of the entire republican electorate.
Remember that!
They are simply a loud, obnoxious BS group.
Trump is not going to pay any of those fines. We know him, he'll drag that out forever. If his business license is revoked, that's another story. May need to turn the company over to Baron! Wish I could revel in all of that, but this maniac keeps right on punching. This won't stop him. He'll just become further unhinged and desperate and dangerous.
Haley won't be offered. Trump 2024 is not going to compromise on anything. He will choose a sycophant like Kari Lake. Has to be someone who will spew the same bile lies as him. His attitude now is Biden is so bad, all Trump needs is MAGA to be revved up and he'll win.
The Epstein list, just an eye roll from me. What does being on it prove? You did business with him? You used his FREE jet? Attended his parties with other rich guys? The only powerful person accused of wrongdoing is Prince Andrew, who will never be prosecuted, thanks to "diplomatic immunity."
This is wrong. Trump has been involved in a lawsuit in which he raped a 13 year old girl with Epstein overseeing it.
https://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/ … ped-230770
"In the most recent suit, Trump’s accuser asserted that while she was exploring a modeling career in 1994, she attended a series of parties at the Manhattan home of prominent investor Jeffrey Epstein. She alleges that during those parties the real estate mogul tied her to a bed and raped her. She also claimed Epstein raped her during that series of gatherings"
Sadly, this person has been intimidated by Trump. Eventually, this will see justice.
The Epstein list drops today.
I cannot help but laugh:
The NY AG suing Trump for fraud;
The DC Federal District Court judge in the election interference criminal case;
The GA DA prosecuting Trump under the GA (criminal) RICO statute for election interference and two of his co-defendants who have pled guilty;
The CO District Court judge who ruled Trump "engaged in insurrection";
Two of the CO Supreme Court justices ruled Trump is not qualified to be on the CO ballot; the ME Secretary of State who ruled Trump is not qualified to be on the ME ballot;
Along with that, the FL Federal District Court judge in Trump's documents criminal case....
All are women.
Then, of course, there's Miss Jean Carroll, to whom Trump must pay $5 million, and could very well be more soon.
Trump's years of disparaging and mistreating (a euphemism if ever there was one) women are catching up with him with a vengeance. I'm beginning to think maybe karma really is a b---h.
And I'm loving every minute of it!
Grizzlor wrote:In other news, there was a kerfuffle involving Nikki Haley in Iowa, where at a town hall session, she "forgot to mention" the leading cause for the Civil War being a little thing called SLAVERY.
Her answer was bad, but the truth is more complicated than that. The primary cause of secession was slavery, because the southerners knew "honest" Abe was lying when he said he wouldn't try to end the practice as president. The cause of the war was Lincoln's unwillingness to let the Confederates leave peacefully. The south didn't want war, they wanted Brexit. Lincoln was insistent they had to remain in the union whether they wanted to or not.
Let us not also forget that her base includes right wing extremist Nazis. They want slavery back and will back any candidate who panders to their twisted ideals. It's the same reason that Trump (Hitler) used silence at the right times such as this to give the appearance to these groups who will vote for any republican who does this.
She knows exactly what she is doing.
Well you now have me searching for news, and I have some of the lousy type.
First, the co-host of Awakenings, Penny Shepard tweeted a month back that per Tracy: "he’s been under the weather." So obviously that's not fun to hear. She did reply and said that Tracy is "doing better; he will be back Jan 10."
https://twitter.com/shepardout/status/1 … 8314158460
Also in that search, I was stunned to read that the host of "The Prisoner" rewatch podcast which featured Tracy, Gil Bavel aka Cardinal Sin, passed away on September 14. Sounded like he passed in his home at 55. I think he had a number of health issues, but wow, very shocking. He was an interesting guy, seemed to be knee deep in every fandom, and had a decent following on the interwebs. In my brief interactions, I thought he was very generous, and had that old school kind of public access vibe. We had a bunch of emails about the supposed Sliders convention, for one. He went me some DVD's for participating in several Tracy chats. Granted they were UK region and I couldn't watch, but a nice gesture nonetheless.
Wow. What the heck? I was watching Gil for a bit. I had drifted off and was always intending to come back to his podcast for more Tracy Torme interviews. Thank you for the update, Grizzlor.
Today, the EX and always-will-be-EX President.
We are so lucky America dropped Trump like a bad habit in 2020. Along with all of his liars and enablers. It needs to stay this way if the future of this country matters to anybody.
Again, I think this ballot stuff is just plain stupid, and only helps Trump/invigorates the MAGA. No one has proven (in court) he actively participated in an insurrection. That's not what Jack Smith is charging him with anyway, since proving that would be a mountain to climb. Smith's case deals with what Trump was doing between election eve and January 6th, mainly in late December, when he and his staff tried to steal the election.
In other news, there was a kerfuffle involving Nikki Haley in Iowa, where at a town hall session, she "forgot to mention" the leading cause for the Civil War being a little thing called SLAVERY. She knows that was the cause, and of course said it in interviews the next day or whatever. Chris Christie chimed in with the real reason, that she's afraid to tell the truth. That is what decades of Fox News lies gets a political movement. They are completely living in another shall we say, multiverse. I still say she is the LEAST worst of the GOP candidates, but wow what a complete moron.
It doesn't have to be. It's all on tape in front of the world to see.
One thing I'm struggling to determine. I fully expect the Supreme Court to overturn Colorado, but is the Supreme Court's decision (whatever it ends up being) going to apply to all states? In other words, would the determination on Colorado either make him allowed to be on the ballot in all 50 states or make him eligible in no states? Or would this hypothetically need to be 50 separate Supreme Court decisions?
What's frustrating about this stuff is that this is something that could've been done years ago. I keep reading that all these decisions might be too late to actually keep him off any ballots. I understand why the Jack Smith cases needed years to come together, but I feel like this could've been figured out in 2021. No?
If the supreme court wants to be taken seriously, they'll default these rights to the states themselves, like they did on abortion when they overturned women's rights.
Otherwise, they're just a banana republic at that point. They already are a joke. But that would make it even more so.
Otherwise, it will also prove that they simply care about one thing: the right wing extremist agenda and nothing else.
Maine becomes the second U.S. state to ban Trump from the ballot:
Maine bars Trump from ballot as US Supreme Court weighs states’ authority to block former president
https://apnews.com/article/maine-trump- … b2f8c66dee
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine’s Democratic secretary of state on Thursday removed former President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the Constitution’s insurrection clause, becoming the first election official to take action unilaterally as the U.S. Supreme Court is poised to decide whether Trump remains eligible to return to the White House.
The decision by Secretary of State Shenna Bellows follows a ruling earlier this month by the Colorado Supreme Court that booted Trump from the ballot there under Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. That decision has been stayed until the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether Trump is barred by the Civil War-era provision, which prohibits those who “engaged in insurrection” from holding office.
The Trump campaign said it would appeal Bellows’ decision to Maine’s state courts, and Bellows suspended her ruling until that court system rules on the case. In the end, it is likely that the nation’s highest court will have the final say on whether Trump appears on the ballot in Maine and in the other states.
Bellows found that Trump could no longer run for his prior job because his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol violated Section 3, which bans from office those who “engaged in insurrection.” Bellows made the ruling after some state residents, including a bipartisan group of former lawmakers, challenged Trump’s position on the ballot.
Biden has to do something at the border. He can't shrug it off as a fake problem, even if he thinks it is. The border is a huge topic in Iowa, which is nowhere near the border. He has to appear tougher on the border, or it's going to be a huge issue that they will hammer him on. Again, like with my vampire analogy, it doesn't matter if the problem is real. It doesn't matter if it's racist or un-American. Voters, and not just MAGA voters, think it's a huge problem. Here in Texas, which was shifting blue for years, Biden is losing deep blue cities on the border. He's losing working-class Hispanics that have voted Democrat for years.
He has to do something, and he has to do something that he can take credit for. The number of border crossings has to come down. I still think he should let Republicans put (basically) whatever they want in the Ukraine deal. He can hammer any bad stuff to appease his own base, but if he gives Republicans what they want, they aren't going to be able to hammer Biden without shooting their own legislation.
The border isn't the problem that MAGA makes it out to be, but it's a big enough problem with enough voters that Biden cannot do nothing. If he does, the race will be exclusively about the border, and Biden will be on the defensive on an issue that Americans (on the whole) do not trust Democrats on. And Biden needs to act *now* so that most Americans won't even remember it was an issue by November.
Is removing more illegals than the Trump administration enough for you? How is that doing nothing? That's not exactly something he wants to advertise, but let's get our facts straight before saying that he's done nothing.
Fact Sheet: The Biden-Harris Administration Takes New Actions to Increase Border Enforcement and Accelerate Processing for Work Authorizations, While Continuing to Call on Congress to Act
"Since May 12 [author comment: through September, 2023], we have removed or returned over 253,000 individuals to 152 countries. This compares to 180,000 removals and returns during the same period in 2019, which was the comparable pre-pandemic and pre-Title 42 period. "
https://www.dhs.gov/news/2023/09/20/fac … ase-border
Fact Sheet: The Biden-Harris Administration Takes New Actions to Increase Border Enforcement and Accelerate Processing for Work Authorizations, While Continuing to Call on Congress to Act
Release Date: September 20, 2023
WASHINGTON – Today, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is announcing another series of actions to increase enforcement across the Southwest Border, accelerate processing of work authorizations, and the decision to redesignate and extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Venezuela. In consultation with interagency partners and with careful consideration for the conditions, and due to extraordinary and temporary conditions in Venezuela that prevent individuals from safely returning, the Secretary of Homeland Security decided to extend and redesignate TPS for Venezuela.
President Biden has called on Congress to pass comprehensive immigration reform since his first day in office. As a result of Congress’ failure to enact the reform, the Administration has been using the limited tools it has available to secure the border and build a safe, orderly, and humane immigration system while leading the largest expansion of lawful pathways for immigration in decades. We also urge passage of fully funded emergency appropriations, including the supplemental funding request for border security, as requested by the President this summer. The $4 billion supplemental funding requested for DHS addresses immediate needs of the Department to safely and humanely manage the Southwest Border and to continue implementing our immigration laws through the expansion of lawful pathways and enforcing consequences for those who do not use them. DHS has also allocated more than $770 million to 69 partner organizations in Fiscal Year 2023 to support communities receiving migrants, in both the Southwest Border region and the interior, through the Shelter and Services Program (SSP) and the Emergency Food and Shelter Program – Humanitarian Awards (EFSP-H).
Combating smugglers. DHS continues to escalate the fight against those smuggling in persons and narcotics and the Administration is prosecuting an increasing number of smugglers, as well as noncitizens who are violating our laws.
From April 2022 through September 12, 2023, CBP and HSI arrested nearly 17,000 suspected human smugglers and seized more than $51 million in property and nearly $13 million in currency. This has resulted in more than 2,000 indictments and more than 1,500 convictions in partnership with the U.S. attorneys.
U.S. Border Patrol has referred 9,904 individuals for prosecution between May 12 and Sept. 14.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) is vigorously prosecuting those who unlawfully bring in, harbor, or transport migrants, as well as many thousands of felony reentry cases. DOJ and DHS are working closely together to target additional prosecutorial resources towards these serious immigration offenses.
Deploying a military personnel surge to support border efforts. The Department of Defense is providing additional military personnel – on top of the 2,500 steady state National Guard personnel – to support the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This surge support includes up to 800 new active-duty personnel to assist with logistics and other functions at the border to allow more Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents and officers to return to their core mission and responsibilities. These individuals complement the 24,000 CBP agents and officers along the Southwest Border we have sustained and over 2,600 additional non-uniformed personnel we have hired to assist in processing and facility operations. Since May 12, we have also extended the support of 500 law enforcement and general support volunteers from other DHS components to supplement CBP border security operations.
Expediting family removals nationwide. DHS has expanded the Family Expedited Removal Management (FERM) program nationwide so that families without a lawful basis to remain are quickly removed. Under this process, families are placed into expedited removal proceedings to occur within 30 days. This program was launched in May and has processed over 1,600 families and will continue to scale up significantly.
Adding DHS holding and processing capacity. DHS has expanded its capacity to hold an additional 3,250 people in its facilities, for a CBP holding capacity of nearly 23,000. This builds on expansions of several thousand across CBP and ICE facilities put in place before May to process, detain, and remove more noncitizens who do not have a lawful basis to remain in the United States. Since May 12, we have processed 110,000 individuals for expedited removal and completed an average of 4,000 credible fear cases each week, double the previous high.
Working with international partners to speed removals and returns. Since May 12, we have removed or returned over 253,000 individuals to 152 countries. This compares to 180,000 removals and returns during the same period in 2019, which was the comparable pre-pandemic and pre-Title 42 period. This was enabled by a more than doubling of ICE international removal flights from the first to the second half of FY 2023 and new agreements with multiple countries to streamline returns. This includes: 36,000 family members encountered at the Southwest Border and over 17,000 non-Mexicans to Mexico – a critical deterrent, especially for hard-to-remove-to countries, and the first time Mexico has ever accepted substantial numbers of third-country repatriations. DHS has removed or returned more family members in the last 4 months than in any previous full fiscal year.
Improving Processing of Work Authorizations and Directly Communicating with Work Eligible Individuals. Only Congress can change the law to allow asylum seekers to get work authorization sooner than six months after filing their claim. Right now, six months is the law.
Beginning October 1, USCIS will accelerate processing for Employment Authorization Document (EAD) applications filed by parolees who scheduled an appointment through CBP One, who are, in contrast with asylum seekers, able to apply for work authorization immediately. USCIS will dedicate additional personnel and implement improvements to decrease the median processing time for these applications from 90 days to 30 days. USCIS will also work to decrease median processing times for EAD applications associated with the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan parole processes to 30 days.
Further, USCIS will increase the maximum validity period of initial and renewal EADs to 5 years for certain noncitizens, including those admitted as refugees or granted asylum; recipients of withholding of removal; and applicants for asylum, adjustment of status, or cancellation of removal. The increased validity period will reduce the frequency with which noncitizens must file for to renew their work authorization. This is anticipated to also reduce the associated workload and processing times, which will allow USCIS to concentrate efforts on initial work authorization caseload.
For those already eligible to work, we are taking steps to expedite employment authorization processing. Individuals who are paroled into the United States after making an appointment through the CBP One mobile app, the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans for up to two years, and those who have applied for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) are eligible to apply for work authorization immediately. However, nationwide, only a small percentage of working-age individuals paroled after making an appointment through CBP One have applied for employment work authorizations. To raise awareness, the Biden Administration has been sending email and SMS notifications to certain parolees, including those who have been paroled into the United States after the use of the CBP One app, nationwide informing them of their eligibility to apply for employment authorization and is reinforcing that effort with personnel on the ground. To date, more than 1.4 million email and text notifications have been sent by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) in English, Spanish, Haitian Creole, Ukrainian, and Russian. DHS is deploying 50 personnel to New York this month to educate recently arrived migrants on the immigration system and how to apply for employment authorization documents.
These newest actions complement many other steps taken by USCIS to improve processing times across form types and to ensure timely access to employment authorization, including: temporary final rule in May 2022 that automatically extends EADs for certain renewal applicants and immediately restored the ability to work for tens of thousands of noncitizens whose EADs had expired through no fault of their own; and a previous extension of EAD validity periods for asylees and refugees, noncitizens with withholding of deportation or removal, parolees, and Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) self-petitioners.
Temporary Protection for those Already in the US. Given the extraordinary and temporary conditions that prevent certain Venezuelan nationals currently in the U.S. from returning safely to Venezuela, the Secretary of Homeland Security is extending and redesignating Venezuela for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for 18 months for individuals that were residing in the United States on or before July 31, 2023. As a result, an additional approximately hundreds of thousands Venezuelan nationals across the country will be immediately eligible to apply for work authorization. TPS provides temporary protection from removal, as well as employment authorization for eligible Venezuelan nationals.
QuinnSlidr wrote:pilight wrote:A substantial chunk of the Democratic base wants something done about the border. Greg Abbott calling the bluff of the "sanctuary" cities that are thousands of miles from the border with his busing has done a lot to turn the tide on the issue.
As for Giuliani, sure he'll still owe them their judgement but under bankruptcy he'll always be able to claim he doesn't have the money and won't face any further penalty for non-payment.
Actually, no we don't. The entire border BS is just that - BS. Another BS lie the rethuglicans tell you to make you think they know what they're talking about. They feed on republican racism and bigotry to get votes for their cause.
Democrats, we simply ignore it because we know they're all lies.
Lies? The City of New York is hemorrhaging budget due to massive unplanned (and unwanted) costs of housing and feeding migrants, providing healthcare, and sending their children to schools. That's coming from the mayor, a Democrat. It's urban voters who are increasingly turned off by all this. Again, I get NYC news programs, which are NOT conservative run, and people are pissed. I would have agreed that the crisis was overblown by Republicans for many years, and of course Trump, acerbated the problem. Biden has been in office for three years, he owns it now, you can't blame Trump forever. The perception has been he's made it worse, and the busing (illegal?) from Texas to northern cities was a stroke of genius by those Governors. It dropped the massive issues they've had with migrants on the doorstep of cities reeling from the pandemic, who do not have the resources to deal with them.
You do know that America was built on immigration, right?
And how racist it is to buy into this?
"Oh, people are not allowed to live with us because they're different, and them living with us because they're different is costing us money!!!"
The biggest republican lie that appeals to the uneducated and discriminatory amongst us, because they can't do anything legitimate to get votes.
Why I laugh at the republican lies:
Myth vs. Truth: Dissecting the Republican narrative about the border
https://connolly.house.gov/news/documen … entID=4691
Republicans are clamoring over themselves to blame President Joe Biden for any and every challenge facing America. Nowhere is that more apparent than on the issue of immigration and border security.
If you listen to my Republican colleagues, you’d believe Joe Biden single-handedly broke our immigration system and refuses to fix it. They keep this lie alive by perpetuating a series of myths about Democrats and the border.
It’s time to correct the record.
MYTH: The Biden administration has implemented an “open border” policy that has created chaos at our border with Mexico.
TRUTH: President Biden inherited an immigration system in tatters. The Trump administration cut off legal pathways to citizenship, leaving would-be migrants with fewer lawful methods of entering the country. They cut funding to Central American countries in 2019 as they splurged on an ineffective, costly wall.
It was the Trump administration that tightened sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela, and Nicaragua, exacerbating the macroeconomic crises that have led hundreds of thousands to flee and arrive at the southern border. When they pulled the rug out from various, essential assistance programs, they made the problem worse.
But our immigration system has been broken for many decades — long before Joe Biden or Donald Trump took the oath of office. Time and again, Democrats have proposed solutions to fix the immigration system in a reasonable, humane way. And time and again, Republicans have opposed these efforts at every turn.
One might recall that in 2013, House Republicans thwarted comprehensive immigration reform after an agreement was reached in the Senate. Many of those same House Republicans who prevented that legislation from passing are now intent on blaming irregular migration, an issue our country has dealt with for over a century, solely on the Biden administration.
There’s only one problem with their affinity for blaming Democrats — it doesn’t hold up to basic scrutiny. In fact, between December 2022 and January 2023, the Biden-Harris administration halved the number of encounters at the border and reduced the number of Cuban, Venezuelan, Nicaraguan, and Haitian migrants by 97 percent.
MYTH: The Biden administration has ignored the border and is refusing to commit proper resources to it.
TRUTH: The idea that Democrats have ignored the situation at the border and refused to commit resources to solving it is another outright lie. In reality, the Biden-Harris administration and congressional Democrats have surged record levels of funding to the border.
The FY23 government funding package that President Biden signed into law provided Border Patrol with $7.153 billion — a 17 percent increase from the year before. Additionally, the funding package provided $65 million for 300 new Border Patrol agents, $60 million for 125 new personnel at points of entry; and $230 million for technology like autonomous surveillance towers.
House Republicans voted against this historic funding.
MYTH: Biden’s “open border” policies allow undocumented immigrants to flood the country with deadly fentanyl.
TRUTH: Republicans continue to blame vulnerable migrants fleeing violence, hunger, and natural disasters for illicit drug smuggling, but facts are stubborn things. Over 90 percent of fentanyl, and over 80 percent of total illegal narcotics, arrive at legal points of entry—not between them—and are smuggled largely by Americans—not undocumented migrants. In fact, migrants accounted for less than 9 percent of fentanyl trafficking convictions in FY 21, compared to more than 86 percent for American citizens.
In December 2022, CBP seized 4,500 pounds of fentanyl, the largest amount ever recorded. Incredibly, just five of those 4,500 pounds were seized at the border by U.S. Border Patrol. Republicans are focused on 1 percent of the problem, 100 percent of the time.
MYTH: Biden’s “open border” policies have allowed criminals and terrorists to pour over the southern border unchecked, contributing to a spike in crime in America.
TRUTH: Study after study has shown that undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than U.S. citizens. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Alternatives to Detention Program provides a strong example: The latest data from ICE released on Feb. 3, 2023, demonstrated 99.4 percent of immigrants monitored on ICE’s Alternatives to Detention Program attended their court hearings compared to the .6 percent which failed to attend their hearing.
Not all undocumented immigrants are tracked through this program, but immigrants, when paroled into the United States, overwhelmingly are lawful individuals that attend their court hearings. An American Immigration Council report found that over the past 11 years, an overwhelming 83 percent of immigrants attended their immigration court hearings, and those who failed to appear in court often did not receive notice or faced hardship in getting to court.
Republicans who assert the Biden administration is releasing countless dangerous migrants into the country are not only trafficking in xenophobic, anti-immigrant sentiment, but they are also peddling lies that are categorically false.
The situation at the border demands serious policy solutions that provide a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients; address the root causes of migration like repression, political instability, violence, hunger, and lack of economic opportunity; and fix our own broken immigration system.
Well, yeah, the border "problem" is one of our own creation. Artificially low quotas on Mexican and Central American migrants, the unwarranted crackdown on migrant workers who have been traveling back forth since before the US even existed, and byzantine paperwork requirements for even the shortest term border crossing have conspired to create a logistical nightmare out of what used to be a sleepy border.
A substantial chunk of the Democratic base wants something done about the border. Greg Abbott calling the bluff of the "sanctuary" cities that are thousands of miles from the border with his busing has done a lot to turn the tide on the issue.
As for Giuliani, sure he'll still owe them their judgement but under bankruptcy he'll always be able to claim he doesn't have the money and won't face any further penalty for non-payment.
Actually, no we don't. The entire border BS is just that - BS. Another BS lie the rethuglicans tell you to make you think they know what they're talking about. They feed on republican racism and bigotry to get votes for their cause.
Democrats, we simply ignore it because we know they're all lies.
Meanwhile, all the Trumpers are losing their - you know - on Twitter about this decision. Screaming "banana republic" and "civil war" even though 6 republicans brought the lawsuit in Colorado.
I love it.
An EXCELLENT decision!!!! If I do say so myself...now let's have all the states do this...
Colorado Supreme Court rules Trump disqualified from holding presidency
https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-ho … rcna128710
A group of voters want Trump off the ballot, citing the Constitution's insurrectionist ban. Trump has vowed a swift appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday said Donald Trump is disqualified from holding the office of the presidency under the U.S. Constitution.
The ruling is on hold for now pending potential U.S. Supreme Court review. Trump has vowed to "swiftly" appeal to the high court, which could reverse the ruling.
Because he's disqualified, the state Supreme Court said in its 4-3 decision spanning 133 pages, it would be a "wrongful act" to list Trump as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot. Therefore, the court said, he can’t be on the ballot or have write-in votes for him counted.
The U.S. Supreme Court could have the final word, whether in this Colorado case or another one, as challenges have been raised in states across the country against Trump's eligibility.
Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies from office those who take an oath to support the Constitution and then engage in insurrection. Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace last month said Trump engaged in insurrection; however, she said Section 3 doesn't apply to presidents, so he can be on the ballot. Both sides challenged the ruling at the state's high court, arguing their positions to the state justices in a Dec. 6 hearing.
The state Supreme Court agreed with the Republican and unaffiliated voters who brought the case and disagreed with Trump, deciding, among other things, that Wallace was wrong to exclude presidents from Section 3 but that she wasn’t wrong in finding Trump engaged in insurrection.
The voters challenging Trump's eligibility said in a court filing last month that Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold needs to have all appeals, including U.S. Supreme Court appeals, resolved by Jan. 5, when ballots must be certified for the state's March 5 presidential primary election.
Mindful of that deadline, the Colorado Supreme Court on Tuesday said its ruling won’t go into effect until Jan. 4, pending potential U.S. Supreme Court review. However, if such review is sought before the pause expires, the court said, then the pause will remain in place and Trump will be included on the primary ballot until the state court hears from the U.S. Supreme Court.
All seven justices on the state Supreme Court are Democratic appointees.
Section 3 says:
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
On the application of Section 3 to Trump, the Colorado Supreme Court majority said he wants the court to say it "disqualifies every oath-breaking insurrectionist except the most powerful one and that it bars oath-breakers from virtually every office, both state and federal, except the highest one in the land." Both results, the majority wrote, "are inconsistent with the plain language and history of Section Three."
On the insurrection point, the majority wrote that Trump's "direct and express efforts, over several months, exhorting his supporters to march to the Capitol to prevent what he falsely characterized as an alleged fraud on the people of this country were indisputably overt and voluntary." The majority added that the evidence "amply showed" that Trump "undertook all these actions to aid and further a common unlawful purpose that he himself conceived and set in motion: prevent Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election and stop the peaceful transfer of power."
Among the dissenters' complaints about the majority ruling is that Trump doesn't have an insurrection-related conviction and that, in the absence of that, a Section 3 challenge isn't properly brought under Colorado's election code.
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cH … U5Nw?ep=14
https://sadhillmedia.com/filmformally/s3e01
This was an interesting podcast for pneumatic, ireactions and jim_hall to check out. It's about film preservation. It was quite interesting.
I'll check it out as well. Thank you for sharing, RCLF!
Why the FORMER and EX-president is quoting Hitler in his speeches.
It should NEVER be okay to emulate a fascist killer. But, alas, it appeals to small-minded republicans who can't think of anything else. If Iowa polls are an accurate measure.
https://x.com/MaddowBlog/status/1737111 … 49122?s=20
Sadly, as noted, it's worked in the past, and it's working in other elections in other countries as we speak.
Those who are being scapegoated absolutely need to be supported and protected by our citizenry, police, and legislators.
Every good American understands we cannot go down the path of demonizing some among us if we are to continue as a democracy.
Great news!!! Big MAGA figurehead goes down to the tune of $150 million dollars.
The dominoes continue to fall for the Jan. 6th insurrectionists and liars.
A very bad day for Rudy Giuliani is a very good day for America
A jury's decision that the former mayor should pay nearly $150 million in damages for defaming two election workers shows that the justice system can work.
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opi … rcna129829
Near the end of the trial in a defamation case brought by two former election workers in Georgia, Rudy Giuliani decided — for perhaps the first time in his life — that it would be better to keep his mouth shut. Though he was expected to testify in his own defense, the former New York mayor thought better of it — or more likely, his lawyers convinced him that a cross-examination would be a disastrous coda to a case that may bankrupt him. Giuliani’s silence didn’t avoid disaster, however: On Friday, a jury ordered him to pay nearly $150 million in damages for defaming former election workers Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and Ruby Freeman after the 2020 election.
Earlier this week, Giuliani’s lawyer told the jury that if his client had to pay the $43 million Moss and Freeman sought, it “will be the end of Mr. Giuliani.” But bankruptcy would be a healthy dose of accountability for a powerful man who decided to lie and slander two ordinary people who were doing nothing more than the job they had been hired for, in service to the operation of our democracy. This is a very bad moment for Giuliani, but a good moment for America. The case also shows that our legal system — in particular, how it deals with instances when one person makes knowingly false accusations against another with grave consequences — sometimes works exactly as it’s supposed to and produces something like justice.
Giuliani had already lost the case brought by Moss and Freeman. The two were election workers in Atlanta when they found themselves at the center of conspiracy theories and deranged accusations about election fraud coming from Donald Trump and his allies, particularly Giuliani.
In August, a judge found Giuliani “civilly liable on plaintiffs’ defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy, and punitive damage claims.” He admitted that he made false claims about Moss and Freeman, some of which were particularly lurid. At one point, having seen video in which one of the women passed the other a ginger mint while working on the sorting and tabulation of ballots, Giuliani claimed they were “passing around USB ports like they were vials of heroin or cocaine” as part of the fictional vote-stealing scheme.
This part of the trial is meant only to determine how much money Giuliani will have to pay the women. As Moss and Freeman explained in devastating testimony, Trump’s and Giuliani’s falsehoods turned both women’s lives upside down. They were deluged with death threats and racist harassment, to the point where they legitimately feared for their safety and that of their family. Even Moss’ son was overcome by the stress, she testified. This is precisely the kind of case defamation law is set up for: One person knowingly spreading falsehoods about another, with serious professional and personal consequences.
One of the things that I think Biden's going to really struggle with is that people don't seem to care about the truth of the matter on anything. Trump was talking at a rally in Iowa the other day, and he talked about how gas was "$5, $6, $7, and even $8 a gallon" now. But those people would've gotten into their cars after the rally and passed stations where gas is $2.84. I looked it up myself....that's the price of gas (on average) in the town where Trump spoke.
So are those people so disconnected with reality that they think gas is $8 when it's $2.84? Or are they thinking "well I'm fine but imagine those poor people who really are paying $8?"
How do you convince people that see something different from what everyone else sees? Based on recent polling, this isn't an issue that's just MAGA being crazy.
I think this is blowing the MAGA movement out of proportion. And while I understand your perspective, I don't think there is cause for alarm. According to April, 2023 poll numbers from NBC, the MAGA movement is still incredibly unpopular, as is Donald Trump:
https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/ … -rcna81200
As the poll states, just 12% of independents view the MAGA movement positively. Remember, Trump and MAGA need to win over all independents and non-Trump voters to even get close to defeating President Biden this election cycle.
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