“It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon,”
—Trump via Tweet
Michael Flynn Pleaded Guilty To Lying About Russia Contact but will not serve time
Michael Flynn’s convoluted legal travails are now over. With this brazen, political pardon, Trump managed to keep at least one of his cronies out of jail. Attempts were made by the Bill Barr justice department to have the case dropped, which would have made an official pardon unnecessary, but those efforts did not come to fruition.
This pardon follows that of Trump’s friend and self-proclaimed “dirty-trickster” Roger Stone Jr., who had been facing down seven felonies, after the Mueller Inquiry led to charges against the outspoken and ultra-partisan Mr. Stone.
Stone had originally pleaded guilty, twice, to lying about a series of conversations with the ambassador of Russia.
Here are some others that Trump has already pardoned:
Date of Pardon
Name
Sentencing date
August 25, 2017
Joe Arpaio
October 5, 2017
March 9, 2018
Kristian Saucier
August 19, 2016
April 13, 2018
Lewis “Scooter” Libby
June 14, 2007
May 24, 2018
Jack Johnson
September 14, 1920
It is unlikely that he will try pardon himself, but with Trump, as anybody paying attention would know by now, anything is possible. Stay tuned
A spate of new titles are being added to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime and more
Because of COVID-19, 2020 will go down in history as one of the most unique years for movies. With theaters closed, blockbusters delayed, and dozens of highly anticipated films getting siphoned off to streaming services, there hasn’t been any major box office highs or prestigious content for the big screen. Given the state of the world, this reality will likely continue through December, robbing the holiday season of its traditional major releases.
Thank goodness we have a variety of streaming platforms and many new releases for the month of December and beyond for some much needed holiday entertainment.
Nevertheless, a handful of pictures are still pushing for late 2020 premieres. Not all hope is lost for a Christmas-time movie watching experience. Here are a few anticipated films that plan on coming out before the end of the year…
Happiest Season
Today, a new Christmas romantic comedy has dropped, “Happiness Season” just in time for the long 4 day Thanksgiving holiday. This film is a little unique in that the focus centers around two lesbian women. Kristen Stewart (in real life openly gay) plays Abby and Mackenzie Davis plays Harper, a happy couple, whose relationship is put to the test.
Diego Maradona
A look at the career of celebrated football player Diego Armando Maradona. On 5th July 1984, Diego Maradona arrived in Naples for a world-record fee. The world’s most celebrated football icon and the most passionate but dangerous city in Europe were a perfect match for each other. A documentary “Diego Maradona,” which was directed by Filmmaker Asif Kapadia and released in 2019, tweeted his disbelief that the larger-than-life figure had passed away
https://youtu.be/vDXon6NtO8o
Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions
Taylor Swift delighted fans everywhere with a seemingly out of the blue announcement of her latest project. The concert film will be available exclusively on Disney+ streaming platform. The intimate “Folklore: The Long Pond Studio Sessions” will premiere on Disney+ on Wednesday, Nov. 15 at midnight. The film was shot in September 2020 at the upstate New York studio, ‘The Long Pond’ alongside Swift’s co-producers Aaron Dessner (The National) and Jack Antonoff (Bleachers).
Hillbilly Elegy
Hillbilly Elegy, the movie based on the 2016 book, a memoir written by J.D. Vance that tells his story of the difficulties growing up with his drug-addicted mother in the small working-class town in the Appalachians. As rings true in the book, Vance’s character preserves through hardwork to ultimately take on a better path that leads to his acceptance into Yale.
Wonder Woman: 1984
Patty Jenkins’ sequel to 2017’s “Wonder Woman” was originally slated for a June release, but got perpetually pushed back because of the virus. Now, it is holding onto a Christmas Day theatrical debut. Gal Gadot returns as the titular heroin alongside Chris Pine and Kristen Wiig in this ninth installment to the DC Extended Universe.
Above: Photo “Coming 2 America”
Coming 2 America
After returning to host “Saturday Night Live” and starring in Netflix’s “Dolemite Is My Name,” legendary comedian Eddie Murphy effectively reentered the zeitgeist in 2019. Therefore, hopes were high for his late sequel to the 1988 classic, “Coming To America.” Although made for the theaters, this 2020 film will now be available exclusively on Amazon Prime starting December 18th.
Mank
A film historian’s film if there ever was one, the David Fincher-directed “Mank” stars Gary Oldman as real-life screenwriter, Herman J. Mankiewicz. Shot in black-and-white, the biopic focuses on Mankiewicz’s alcoholism and tumultuous experience writing “Citizen Kane” during Hollywood’s Golden Age. This Oscar-bait movie has already started its limited theatrical run, but will find a home on Netflix come December 4th.
Pixar’s last theatrical release was terribly timed. The critically acclaimed, but commercially underwhelming “Onward” hit theaters the same weekend that the pandemic heated up in America and moviegoers were urged to stay at home. This next Disney-Pixar outing will thus go directly to streaming via Disney+. Available on Christmas Day, “Soul” is the first Pixar feature not to have a big-screen premiere.
Midnight Sky
Netflix went all in for this George Clooney-directed science fiction adaptation. It’s a story about a man (played by Clooney) living on post-apocalyptic Earth and communicating with astronauts as they make their way back to the shambled planet. The film will stream on December 23rd and in this unique case, 2020 might actually add some timely relevance to the plot.
Above: Official Trailer of Free Guy / 20th Century Fox
Free Guy
Riding on the coattails of “Deadpool” and “Detective Pikachu,” Disney’s “Free Guy” is the latest action-comedy to star Ryan Reynolds as a happy-go-lucky protagonist. With a plot involving virtual reality, the movie puts an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances for some hilarious thrills. Carried over from 20th Century Fox and not based on any pre-existing IP, “Free Guy” is a bit of a gamble. We’ll find out if it pays off on when it hits theaters on the eleventh.
Another prospective theatrical release for December, Sony’s “Monster Hunter” plans to premiere on the 30th. Based off of the popular video game series of the same title, “Monster Hunter” promises a hybrid of war, science fiction, and fantasy delights. Director Paul W.S. Anderson has missed the mark with his video game adaptations before, but we cannot deny that huge spectacles projected on the big screen are something we’ve been deprived of this year, and therefore deeply crave.
This is going way, way, over the edge, what’s next?
Trump and his supporters continue to follow the rhetoric that the election was rigged, fraught with fraud (despite continued evidence to the contrary) and that Joe Bidenstole the election.
Trump’s retweets of Quaid’s posts come after GSA Emily Murphy informed Biden that the Trump administration is ready to formally allow the presidential transition to begin. Perhaps that set him off…
Trump, as per usual, took to Twitter, and decided to retweeted a total of 5 old tweets from Randy Quaid, who has been very vocal in calling for a total 2020 election recount / do-over.
Producer, director, writer, actor, Quaid does it all in Tweets from hell
Randy Quaid, a fervent Trump supporter, has made headlines not for this acting, but for his bizarre social media posts, two in particular that showcase his political ranting in the most theatrical way possible.
Oddly, since Quaid is an actor (or at least a retired one) it is hard to tell if he is serious or if this is some sort of “long con”. He comes across as far more than deranged, mad, totally off his rocker – almost like it’s scripted.
And, yet, this is what he is known for – one of his most famous roles is in “Independence Day” where he plays an alcoholic, wacko, ex-military, semi-retired pilot who commits hari-kari in an effort to save the planet from aliens.
Could it be that some sort of actor-related (or real?) PTSD is causing his brain to think that he is in some imaginary sequel to his Independence Day role? Or maybe Trump is also thinking he is living an extension of his glory days as the mogul on The Apprentice – well, the answer to that one is obviously, yes, but, it appears that the strangeness and sickness is just mounting up for the third act. what will that be?
Some parts of the video, are literally innocent (?), as he speaks gibberish with green and red strobe lights flashing upon a closeup of his face.
“Is this the way America goes? From George Washington to George Soros? From oceans white with foam to a socialist swamp. Is this the way America goes? Is this really our future? Wake up you sleeping giant, the lilliputians have tied you down with their fantastic dreams of icebergs melting into dinosaurs and train tracks stretching across the Pacific water…”
Trump, at the same time, said he was still not conceding
The first crack in Humpty-Trumpty’s fall is here. After more than two weeks since his victory in the electoral college was known, President-elect Joe Biden has been officially cleared to formally start his transition to the White House.
The General Services Administration, or GSA, has sent a letter and thereby formally acknowledged Biden as the apparent winner of the presidential election. This letter will allow him and his team to begin officially working on all aspects of the transition.
Non-concession concession, in a tweet, of course
“Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.”
Trump in Tweet on November 23rd, 2020
Trump, in a somewhat confused tweet, appears to concede, or at least accept that he can not block what is inevitable, and yet still clings to his “I believe we will prevail” line.
However the important part: “Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.” Was there for all to see in the second section of the tweet.
The president-elect cannot access federal transition funds or contact federal agencies to plan staffing, as per federal law, until the GSA recognizes him as the electoral winner.
Apparently this was all an off-the-cuff-tweet-scenario, as there were reports that various senior staff in the White House were unaware of this development, until having read the tweet themselves.
Many White House officials have said in confidence, according to reports, that they have been pushing for this next, important step, and only Rudy Giuliani was against moving forward.
“Today’s decision is a needed step to begin tackling the challenges facing our nation, including getting the pandemic under control and our economy back on track”
— Johannes Abraham, transition executive director for Biden / Harris, in a statement Monday
Until now the GSA has remained silent, thus limiting the President-elect from proceeding in some aspects of the transition. Now that the GSA has acknowledged formally via this letter, Biden‘s team will have access to more than $7 million of public funds.
…fight, and I believe we will prevail! Nevertheless, in the best interest of our Country, I am recommending that Emily and her team do what needs to be done with regard to initial protocols, and have told my team to do the same.
Mathematics and Philosophy meet in Fractal Pioneer’s Unique Career
Benoit Mandelbrot, the renowned French-American mathematician, died on October 14th, 2010 at the age of 85, and would have turned 96 today. To celebrate, Google published a doodle in his honor. An additional part of the celebration, Google launched an interactive “Explore” feature to allow users to view the endless patterns of the Mandelbrot set.
If you don’t know what a fractal is, simply put, it is a never-ending pattern. As defined by the Fractal Foundation: “They are infinitely complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales. They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in an ongoing feedback loop“. There are many examples of fractals in nature, in fact virtually all natural phenomena can be seen as being fractal based.
Mandelbrot is best known for fractal geometry, which is a term he coined in 1975 to describe a new branch of geometry that sought to explain of the irregular shapes and processes found within nature. His research has contributed valuable knowledge in many different fields including physics, medicine, geology, art and even finance.
Wide ranging influence continues to this day
His fractal theory have even found its way into pop culture, with graphical images created by his algorithm placed on t-shirts, posters, album covers, and even inspired a song called “Mandelbrot Set” by Jonathan Coulton and the text “The Colours of Infinity” by Arthur C. Clarke.
The mathematician won numerous awards, including the prestigious ‘Wolf Prize” in 1993 for Physics and even had a small asteroid named in his honor in 2000 called ’27500 Mandelbrot’.
Mandelbrot made significant contributions to the study of financial markets as a fractal based system that conforms to the concept that all of nature, and the entire universe, is also fractal based. A great body of overlapping work exists between the studies of the financial markets done by Mandelbrot himself as well as the way his fractal concepts figured into the work of Ralph Nelson Elliott and Robert Prechter of the ElliottWave.com.
The basis of Elliott’s theory is to describe price movements in financial markets as recurring, fractal wave patterns. This core insight was, in essence an outgrowth of the recognition that, when looking at various time frames in stock market charts, and therefore the human behavior that generated those patterns, the result is no different than looking at, for example, a sea coastline from various altitudes – which reveals a fractal.
The insight that produced this theory not only established and inspired the stock trading strategy based on the Elliott Wave Theory, but also more recently led to Robert Prechter’s Socionomic Theory. Socionomics is a new science using the benefits of Elliott Wave Theory in understanding not only finance and economics but also social behavior, popular culture and politics which can be seen as interpreting nature using fractal based concepts.
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Accepting defeat is obviously creating cognitive dissonance is this aberrant individual
For the second time in as many days, Trump spat-out a wannabe concession – first in a speech, correcting himself mid-sentence, and then in a tweet – or two tweets to be exact… This penchant for involuntary honesty is beginning to look like a symptom of pending mental collapse, indeed, many have called for activation of the 25th amendment to remove him from office due to mental incapacity.
Though in each case he “corrected” himself: on twitter, after first conceding by tweeting “He won”, clearly referring to President-elect Joe Biden and then deleting that tweet and adding “because the election was rigged”.
As Proud Boys throw a Stand Back & Stand By Pity Party in Washington, Trump drives through the procession on the way to golf & then tweets out the weakest concession in American History.
While in his speech he implied that there would soon be a new administration in town, then proceeded with the usual rants about voter fraud and tampering and so on. This behavior is, as has been the case throughout the past four years, either calculated or insane or some combination of both.
The speculation of his possible calculations would be amusing if not, once again, regarding a deadly serious subject and situation. He seems to be milking this bizarre refusal to concede by collecting donations, which are also being diverted to cover his campaign debts (with a disclaimer shown to donors indicating that anything under $8000 is fair game for him to divert) and also, as is his typical modus operandi, hanging ever-so-desperately onto the spotlight and dominating the news cycle.
Crazy like a fox or just an A**hole?
Beyond this he appears to be consolidating the bizarre 70 million plus “fans” for his next run (from prison?) in 2024, when he will be 78, approximately the age of President-elect Biden currently. And, as if that were not enough, he appears to be auditioning for the much-speculated future media empire – Fox-news-on-steroids that he has been rumored to be wanting to launch from exile.
All of that is, at least partially, true and yet there is very little sense to any of us paying attention, apart from the whole “he has the nuclear football thing”.
His niece Mary Trump warned us that he would act out to an extreme degree based on his inability to mentally process any kind of failure or loss (even though he has failed and lost almost continuously throughout his life, just maintained a state of denial during the process), ad yet it is hard to believe that it has gone on and come so far already.
Unless the idea of removing him using the 25th amendment is successful it appears that this will continue all the way to January 20th and will just get more and more insane along the way. Naturally anyone who is not equally delusional – potentially upwards of 100 million Biden voters and those that abstained from voting, is dreading this, the uncertainty and the disgusting show of contempt for our democracy and system of government.
In the end we will all be glad to survive his egomaniacal melt-down intact and begin the process of moving on from the four years that are worse than wasted by this sick, sad, malignant clown of an individual. Survive and begin to repair the damage they wrought.
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