Random Thoughts: The Lincoln Lawyer

Tweets from June, 2022:

• 2022-06-01: The Lincoln Lawyer (TV 2022): A David E. Kelley courtroom drama fit for 1980's network television. The cast of characters has all the usual stereotypes. The plot is full of as many holes as twists. Whodunnit? Everyone. Watch Goliath instead. C+
• 2022-06-02: In gun-crazy Texas, Gov Abbott's idea is a good way to get shot.
• 2022-06-03: We Feed People (2022): Ron Howard doc about chef Jose Andres and his nonprofit World Central Kitchen. His focus? Feeding people, not raising money. It turns out that running a restaurant kitchen is good training for managing natural disasters. Inspiring. Watch, then donate. B+
• 2022-06-05: Today's Trump fundraising email: "BRAND NEW TRUMP GOLF BALLS." My suspicions are immediately raised. Has he been selling used golf balls in the past?
• 2022-06-05: Do you know what would show they really mean it? Withholding some of those "Big $" from GOP politicians until they pass common sense gun regulations.

After the jump, more random thoughts.

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• 2022-06-06: RRR (2022): India. A patriotic historical drama, with Brits as the bad guys. An over-the-top action movie, violent and bloody. Frenzied Bollywood singing and dancing. What's not to like? (Brits excepted, but they can watch James Bond instead.) Best movie of 2022 so far. A-
• 2022-06-06: Green Bay Packers fans take satisfaction in knowing this can never happen to their franchise.
• 2022-06-06: This looks like "grooming" children for guns.
• 2022-06-06: Abuse of office.
• 2022-06-10: Don't blame me. I voted for Beto.
• 2022-06-10: Even Neil Gorsuch would indict Donald Trump.
• 2022-06-15: RISD news: "This year's preliminary STAAR results demonstrate RISD students are improving in most areas, in some cases substantially, and even approaching pre-pandemic performance levels from 2019." Great work, teachers, administrators and staff in the face of great resistance.
• 2022-06-17: The Texas GOP big tent is contracting. Are you a long time conservative who always vote GOP because you thought the Texas GOP was conservative? Think again. It's become a radical, anti-democracy political cult.
• 2022-06-17: According to Transparency USA, the Richardson ISD Families First PAC has spent $54,835 this election cycle. Yowza!!! That's on top of the $55,165 that Sherry Clemens has herself raised. That's a lot of money to buy a seat on the Richardson ISD Board of Trustees.
• 2022-06-20: Review: Behold the Dreamers: Immigrant from Cameroon builds a life in the Bronx. Wall Street banker faces ruin in the 2008 collapse. Their lives intersect in a quintessentially American story. Straightforward, simple prose, most authentic in the Cameroonian household. B+
• 2022-06-20: Texas GOP calls for gerrymandering how the governor is elected. The GOP won't stop until the system is completely rigged in their favor.
• 2022-06-21: Operation Mincemeat (2022): WWII drama about plot to deceive Germany about where Allies would invade southern Europe. Fact-based spy story is padded with a romantic angle. Too much time spent on planning the operation, too little on executing it. Still a good history lesson. B-
• 2022-06-23: Never let a good crisis go to waste." -- Winston Churchill
• 2022-06-24: Hustle (2022): NBA scout finds prospect in Spain (played by NBA player Juancho Hernangomez) but struggles to get him a chance at home. A traditional sports story, but this one is filled with cameos of real NBA stars playing themselves. Adam Sandler wins by playing it straight. B-
• 2022-06-24: Remember the way you feel today. Remember it November 8. Today happened because too many voters in 2016 were sidetracked with bogus complaints like, "But her emails."
• 2022-06-25: Quit blaming the Dems for not doing something. Last Sep, the Dem House passed a bill codifyng Roe. It's not law because the Dems don't control the Senate. It only looks like they do. There are two independents and two DINOs who sometimes vote Democratic but not when it matters.
• 2022-06-28: Obi-Wan Kenobi (TV 2022): The Mandalorian gave us baby Yoda. This series gives us cute little Princess Leia. Spoiler: Obi-Wan Kenobi spares Darth Vader in the big battle in Episode 6. To think he could have saved us from all those other movies. For fans only. C+
• 2022-06-28: GOP's use of the term "open borders" shows they are not sincere. We don't have "open borders." If we did, those migrants would not have needed to hide in a trailer. They were forced to because we have an inhumane immigration system in need of reform.
• 2022-06-28: A lot of companies are committing to pay travel costs for employees who have to travel to other states for abortions. Great. Also great would be if they commit to seriously restricting future investments in states that restrict abortion.
• 2022-06-28: Re: SCOTUS allowing coaches to lead prayer on football field. Parents already have to train their kids beware of "Stranger Danger." They shouldn't have to train their kids to beware of "Teacher Preacher."
• 2022-06-28: To extend the scary historical parallel, even though the Beer Hall Putsch was a failed coup d'etat by the Nazi leader in 1923, the Germans freely elected that same Nazi leader as Chancellor just a few years later.
• 2022-06-29: Unfortunately, too many of the people who want to break down the wall between church and state have started by breaking down the wall between church and hate.
• 2022-06-30: Supreme Court says Environmental Protection Agency can't protect the environment. Says power plants can pump greenhouse gases into the atmosphere until we all burn in hell as God intended.
• 2022-06-30: The Card Counter (2021): Mistitled. It's not about casino gambling. It's about Abu Ghraib and PTSD. It's about revenge and redemption. Oscar Isaac is the best thing in the movie but he's not served well by the script, which has all the major showdowns playing out off screen. C+
• 2022-06-30: According to D Magazine, "in 2020, children accounted for 146 gun deaths in Texas. Texas has the distinction of having more children die by gunshot than any other state." Gov. Abbott is probably pleased that we lead California.
• 2022-06-30: Beth van Duyne, Richardson's newest member of Congress (thanks for gerrymandering), introduced H.R. 8235 to slash the wages of construction workers. Her goal is to make new houses more affordable for people who don't work in construction.
• 2022-06-30: Why is it so hard for Congress and the States to change the Constitution, yet the Supreme Court can do it with just a 5-4 vote? Big oversight by the Founding Fathers. SCOTUS rulings should need to be confirmed by a Congressional supermajority vote.