FAM 17: Is The Republican Budget In Crisis?

Trumps Staggering Corruption | Anora Review | Who's The Boss

Hey all!

Apologies again for breaking my 16-week publishing streak. I had been working on a pretty lengthy Rule of Law update type essay. I had all my notes, research, and a near-finished version all in one doc before I lost it all in a not at all my dog ate my homework computer meltdown.

I save stuff religiously, and honestly, I couldn’t bring myself to try to replicate it right now. I have a feeling we’ll be going through some addition Rule of Law/Constitution stuff, so I’m sure the thoughts aren’t gone for long.

Corruption On An Epic Scale

Instead, I posted an almost equally long essay/overview/article on Trump’s corruption. I’ve gotten some really nice complements on it. I think more than I ever have. Because the subject matter is so utterly depressing, I tried to inject some dark humor and gratuitous attacks on Trump to make it manageable. I saved some of the self-serving responses:

You can read the whole thing here or wait for the serialized version as I cut it up and dig a bit deeper on each facet.

Hot Takes: House Republican Are In Deep Shit | RFK Swims In It

Since I started this thing, I’ve said that Trump and Republicans in Congress we’re going to face a world of pain when they got to their budget.

Well, here we are.

The BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL failed in the Republican-led House Budget Committee — killed primarily by conservatives who don’t want to blow up the deficit by $5 trillion. Some of them would rather go further in what will be deeply unpopular cuts to everything — but especially safety net programs that disproportionately hurts core MAGA folks in real ways.

House Republicans have been an abject failure since they took over in 2022. These infighting dim wits couldn’t name a Post Office if they tried.

On the other side of the “entitlement” cutting deficit hawks you have 10-20 Rs from Biden AND Harris winning districts who can see a bigger tsunami than 2018 coming when things like Meals on Wheels are taken away from family members.

And yet, none of these “moderate” Rs can do a damn thing. If they buck the system they will be primaried by Trump and Musk, and they will lose. That’s what happens when you let a cult germinate and you play dumb.

They will pass a Reconciliation Bill — in part because it will be filled with so much individual earmarks, perks, district giveaways, and outrageous shit as to be a suicide pact.

The only question is just how historically bad is the bill? It will be terrible, it will hurt people, and it will hurt them. Not to the degree of what they do to real people — but it will seal the deal for 2026.

If that election is a real thing.

POLI•RANT: RFK Is An Absolute Moron

Just a reminder that this level of RFK bizarre craziness would have never been a thing until a decade or so ago. No president in their right mind before Donald Trump would have ever nominated this loon.

RFK shit for brains rant here.

Culture Club: Anora Bares All | Springsteen Is All American | Trip-Pop Mix

REVIEW: Anora

The first thing I pondered before writing this review was what other stripper movies I had seen. The second thought was wondering if stripper is still something you say. Or sex worker. I did a quick search on movies and saw both. I’m sticking with stripper.

So, on the prior stripper movies I’ve seen you have two bad and one good.

On the bad side there is of course Showgirls the absolute camp classic that I really need to watch again. It’s so damn terrible and and both peak Paul Verhoeven and 90s — even if it came out in 1995.

The other is Striptease with Demi Moore. I don’t need to see that again. I think it made some attempt to be serious — but everyone in the world at the time knew that it was 95% about seeing Demi Moore naked. Something, something, she whips off a bejeweled bra, the end.

On the good side was Hustlers from 2019. Yes, Jo-Lo and crew were hot, but the film had a great look and an interesting heist hook. And it captured both the thrill and sadness that I imagine is prevalent in that world.

All three movies kind of mirror my limited real-life experience with strippers and strip clubs: Mildly titillating (sorry) tinged with sadness, and then quickly forgotten.

Anora is in a different category all together.

It’s just audacious in how much it packs in — both in genre-bending and tone and emotion. It’s a dark comedy, but one that you’re not quite sure you should laugh because something could go seriously wrong at any minute. It’s a Cinderella story with a naïve and forlorn underbelly.

Sean Baker wrote (and directs) a movie that is just always tipping on a tightrope with all these balls in the air. And he just nails it. You want to watch this movie while you’re watching it. You want to see what’s coming next, even if you think you know. And not in a plot twist kind of way — just enjoying the surprise of the next scene and how it’s all held together.

And make no mistake, this movie could only succeed with a lead actress who could keep all those emotional balls in the air, because Anora is about Anora. And damn does Mikey Madison kill it. I guarantee you that I’ve never written the term tour de force, but here we are.

Where writing and acting intersect here I don’t know. But, as someone who has tried his hand at trying to do good character arcs in screenplays I don’t think I could write the complexity of this performance. Yes, there’s a traditional character arc of sorts, but the beauty of the writing/performance is how it throws that convention away.

Madison as Anora is an amalgamation of her life — not a simple hero’s journey to be tracked. She’s everything, everywhere, all at once. Tough. Smart. Tender. Violent. Naïve. Funny. Stupid. It all works together and it always feels completely real. It’s one of the best performances I’ve seen in years.

I’ve never liked movie reviews that spend most of their words rewriting the plot. Trailers already give away too much. But, beyond the fact that Anora is a stripper — I’ve revealed no plot here.

Because this wasn’t a big movie at all. And if you know nothing about it, keep it that way, and just go enjoy the ride.

Bruce Springsteen & The American Dream

While not as personally politically active in the early half of his career, there’s never been any question which side of the aisle Bruce Springsteen has always stood.

His music is filled with characters on the bitter edges of the American Dream — where shuttered factories have left holes in the hearts of towns even less broken than the people left behind. Then there’s this nugget from Badlands:

“Poor man wanna be rich
Rich man wanna be king
And a king ain't satisfied
'Til he rules everything”

He played the famous No Nukes benefit concert in 1979 and being against nuclear weapons was portrayed a lefty pacifist stance. But, after he broke into superstar status with Born in the USA the politics was mainly still relegated for the characters in his songs.

Even when Ronald Regan started hilariously using the title track at campaign rallies in his 1984 re-election campaign I don’t remember Bruce making a big deal about it — other than pointing out that the song was about guy on the edge sent to Vietnam who comes home and can’t get a job in a refinery. Not exactly a rah-rah America story. Even the chorus wasn’t meant to be patriotic.

I may be wrong, but I don’t think Springsteen came out for a presidential candidate until John Kerry in 2004. In fact, he was part of the Vote For Change tour that fall along with Michael Stipe of REM and John Fogerty. I saw that concert in Detroit (My first Bruce show was the Born in the USA tour at the Pontiac Silverdome) and it was really cool. A highlight for me was Stipe and Bruce duetting on Man on the Moon. There’s video of it on the internets.

That opened the floodgates and Bruce has been on the campaign trail for every Dem since. He’s never been a fan of Trump and his distain has only become more vocal and pointed.

But, nothing (to date) tops what he had to say opening another leg of his tour in Manchester, England. It’s spot on, and pulls no punches. He released a high-quality compilation of his thoughts on the state of America under the Trump Regime, so Bruce ain’t playing:

Apparently, Trump didn’t like the comments Bruce made. The end of this sounds like a threat to me. Go for it, Don.

Watch This Doc

Speaking of Bruce, I recently watched his Road Diary documentary on his return to touring in 2024. I put it on by myself almost just to have in the background and ended up being completely engrossed. It’s really top-notch — how he chose the songs and constructed the show, the rehearsal process, the fan experience, and big chunks of show from Bruce and the now giant E-Street Band. It’s on Hulu and well-worth watching even if you’re a casual fan.

Tuesday Music Mix: Trip Pop

I currently have 924 Spotify playlists. My guess is that probably 300 of them are actual albums. The rest of them are my personal mixes. I do artist mixes, random seasonal mixes, and then themes that pop in my head. And trust me, even though I try to cull them on occasion, lots of those themes are junk. Who knows what’s way down there.

Two mixes that I’ve been keeping near the top are a chill mix and what became this. The chill one is kind of a laid-back, electronica, acoustic, jazzy thing. This one is more up tempo. Does trip or pop even describe this? I don’t know. My main though was something a little spacy/trippy in the music.

There’s a lot of The Weekend in there because I think there’s always something interesting in his mixes. And SZA has great music and a voice that I find enthralling — there’s just something haunting in her voice.

But, Billie Eilish is really represented because I think she does what I think this genre/style is better than anyone out there that I’m privy to. And while I’m not discounting Billie at all, I think her brother Finneas is much more responsible for the production and that’s what I’m drawn to more than anything else. It’s pristine, quirky, complex, and just great with headphones.

Gummy it up and enjoy!