THE NEW YORKER: In early June, after the killing of George Floyd, when tens of thousands of mostly peaceful demonstrators assembled in cities across the country to protest police brutality, the Department of Homeland Security sent hundreds of its agents to patrol the crowds. They cleared space for a Presidential photo op in front of St. John’s Church, in Washington, D.C., by forcibly removing demonstrators, and in New York City they reportedly made at least one arrest at gunpoint. The legal rationale for their being on the scene was a statute from 2002 that gave them broad authority to […]
CINEMA: Imitation Of Life
FAMILY ROMANCE, LLC (directed by Werner Herzog, 89 minutes, USA, 2020) BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC Family Romance, LLC, which hit VOD last week, is the latest by Werner Herzog and has the director taking a fictional narrative that detours into documentary-like style vignettes. The film, which was shot in Japan with Japanese dialog, is inspired by a very real business where you can rent stand-in family members for funerals or weddings or various other life events. Family Romance, LLC focuses on Ishii Yuichi, who at the the start of the film is hired to play the long lost father […]
DEFUND THE SECRET POLICE: Q&A With Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner
BLOOMBERG NEWS: So you are prepared to prosecute federal law enforcement officials if they do in Philadelphia what they are doing in Portland? D.A. LARRY KRASNER: If we have clear probable cause for the commission of crimes, by anyone, including law enforcement, including federal law enforcement, we will prosecute that. We’re not going to tolerate any kidnappings and assaults going on in Philadelphia streets. We’re not going to tolerate showing up under the guise of making things safer and [instead] causing violence. BLOOMBERG NEWS: Is there precedent for this — local police arresting federal police? D.A. LARRY KRASNER: There […]
SUPPRESS THE VOTE: The Plot Against America
Illustration by VICTOR JUHASZ via Rolling Stone ROLLING STONE: On November 3rd, 1981, Lynette Monroe, who lived in northwest Trenton, headed out to her polling place. It was Election Day in New Jersey. When Monroe, a Democrat, arrived at the polling site, she was stopped outside by a member of a group called the National Ballot Security Task Force. Monroe was asked if she had her voter-registration card with her. She said she did not but that it didn’t matter — she was a registered voter. But the National Ballot Security Task Force members “turned her away, preventing her from […]
AMERICAN GHANDI: John Lewis Rest In Power
ESQUIRE: Congressman John Lewis (D-Georgia) is a Civil Rights icon and a Mt. Rushmore-worthy American hero. At the dawn of the Civil Rights Movement, Lewis marched fearlessly into the maws of the Jim Crow South, through angry, racist mobs and truncheon-wielding state troopers, armed with nothing more than the courage of the righteous and unconditional love in his heart. Lewis shed his own blood to shame this country into living up to its founding promise that “all men were created equal.” This remains a work in progress. At 76, he is the last man alive who spoke at the […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Can’t Happen Here?
It’s the middle of the night and out of the darkness on a quiet street in one of the nation’s major cities black SUVs with full-tinted windows screech to the curb. Out jump heavily armed stormtroopers in full camouflage field uniforms complete with gas masks and full facial coverings. Words are exchanged between the armed men and the civilians they have quickly detained on the sidewalk. Next thing you know the civilians are being led back to the SUVs and forcibly placed therein. The vehicles and their unwilling passengers quickly disappear into the night. Who were the detainees? Why […]
District Attorney Larry Krasner Announces Philly’s Zero Tolerance Policy For Trump’s Cosplay Gestapo
RELATED: Trump Threatens To Send More Stormtrooper Goon Squads To ‘Democrat Cities’ For Performative Law & Ordering
CINEMA: The Best Film Of 2020 So Far
BY DAN TABOR FILM CRITIC While we can all agree 2020 has been a pretty terrible year, the films that have come out thus far actually have actually been pretty good. Because Hollywood’s blockbusters have been sidelined until further notice, smaller, quirkier films — which would ordinarily be trampled under foot by the marketing juggernaut of Big Hollywood tentpoles and superhero franchises — have been given a chance to shine. Here’s my list of the best films released in the first half of 2020 and currently streaming. Hopefully these films will offer a welcome distraction in these dark and dire […]
LOST & FOUND: Art Blakey’s Just Coolin’
Blue Note Records has released Just Coolin’, a never-before-released studio album by Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers that was recorded on March 8, 1959 in Rudy Van Gelder’s living room studio in Hackensack, New Jersey. The session featured a short-lived line-up of The Jazz Messengers with drummer Art Blakey, trumpeter Lee Morgan, tenor saxophonist Hank Mobley, pianist Bobby Timmons, and bassist Jymie Merritt. The album is available now to stream, download, on CD, and all-analog 180g vinyl mastered by Kevin Gray. The session for Just Coolin’ finds The Jazz Messengers’ saxophone chair in transition. The band had last recorded […]
SH*T MY UNCLE SAYS: Put Your Mask On
A Trump supporter explains why he/she refuses to social distance or wear a mask: 1) It’s inconvenient, 2) It’s my Constitutional right not to (I don’t know where that came from, but I know I heard it somewhere), 3) I really don’t give a shit about anyone other than myself, 4) That includes my wife or husband and/or my girlfriend and/or my boyfriend, 5) That also includes all of my children (known or unknown), 6) It also includes my mother, 7) And my father, 8) And my grandmother, 9) And my grandfather, 10) It also includes all of my […]
Police Blinded Eight People In ONE Day At BLM Protests Around The Country & Then Lied About It
WASHINGTON POST: Protests erupted in cities across the country on May 30, the Saturday after George Floyd’s death in police custody in Minneapolis. As law enforcement officers moved to clear the streets, some fired what are called “less lethal” munitions.The Washington Post found that eight people lost vision in one eye after being struck by police projectiles, including lead pellets packed in cloth pouches that were fired from shotguns. They were among 12 people who were partially blinded by police during a week of national unrest. Of the eight who lost sight that day, six were protesters, one was a […]
WIRE FROM THE BUNKER: Meet Sandy Denny
BY JONATHAN HOULON This week’s Wire concerns the First Lady of British Folk, the late great Sandy Denny. At the outset of this series of Wires, I promised to focus on music of which you are likely unaware. I felt confident in this regard because I am cooler than you. But I should also point out that my ability to do these deep dives, as it were, is largely based on my privileged white male privilege (no, that is not redundant: I grew up in Rockville, Maryland). I have been blessed with enough leisure time and resources in my […]
INCOMING: Saint Nick Unplugged
IDIOT PRAYER: Nick Cave Alone at Alexandra Palace – Nick Cave performs solo at the piano in a film shot this June, at the iconic London venue. Join the global live streaming event on 23 July 2020.In this very special show, audiences around the world will see Cave play his songs in a rarely seen stripped back form. From early Bad Seeds and Grinderman, right through to the most recent Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds album, Ghosteen, Cave will perform over 20 songs from his extensive catalogue. The performance was filmed by award-winning Cinematographer Robbie Ryan (The Favourite, Marriage […]