What? Fox's 'Chicago' (Naperville) Diner Segment Was A Set Up?
They really just can't stop themselves from lying about Chicago.
Last week, Fox and Friends sent reporter Gianno Caldwell to a totally random Chicago diner to see how some totally random customers there were feeling about the recently inaugurated Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Except it wasn't a Chicago diner, it was a Naperville diner an hour outside of the City of Chicago. I am but a transplant here, but one thing I can tell you is that Chicagoans are very particular about who gets to say they are from Chicago and it is not people who live in the Chicago suburbs. It's not like Massachusetts where everyone in Massachusetts and sometimes the surrounding states just says they're from Boston when talking to people outside of New England.
This time, however, the outrage was totally valid, because Naperville is literally an hour away. They had to go an hour outside of the city of Chicago to find a diner where they could talk to people, despite the fact that the city of Chicago is in fact replete with diners.
By sheer coincidence, Gianno Caldwell found some diners from actual Chicago!
\u201cBreakfast with \u2018Friends\u2019: Gianno Caldwell talks new Chicago mayor with diners\nGianno Caldwell asks diners their reaction to Brandon Johnson being sworn in as Chicago Mayor. Segment: https://t.co/SdXTNtrDfj\u201d— Gianno Caldwell (@Gianno Caldwell) 1684269319
Also by sheer coincidence, the person he spoke to was Lavondale “Big Dale” Glass, the assistant director of violence prevention for Project H.O.O.D., a non-profit that endorsed Johnson's opponent, Paul Vallas, in the last election. The other man sitting with him was Andre Smith, the C.E.O of Chicago Against Violence. Smith had been involved directly with the Vallas campaign, but Glass had not.
When asked what he thought of Johnson, Glass said "I think it’s a fluke, I don’t think he’s gonna do any better than Lori Lightfoot, I have no confidence in him, he’s already coming in the gate saying the wrong thing. Like uh, we had to leave the South Side to go to the North Side, thinking that my son would be safe there and he still was murdered. So I don’t see anything turning better from Brandon Johnson."
The clip, unsurprisingly, lit up more than a few Chicagoans, who are all very sick and tired of Fox News trying to drag our city as some den of violence when there are 19 other cities with higher crime rates than ours, many of them in red states. No one was too happy either about the visit to a Naperville diner when people in Naperville do not vote in Chicago elections and in fact have their own damn mayor.
Caldwell defended this online by saying that people from Chicago who voted in the last election were in the diner with him. Because who wouldn't go to a random Naperville diner and just assume that several people from Chicago had driven an hour outside of the city just to get breakfast at Rosies' Home Cooking and would be there that morning? Surely this was just as good of a plan as going to one of the many, many diners in the city — about 9 in my own neighborhood that I can think of off the top of my head.
\u201cPeople from Chicago, who voted in the last Chicago election, were in the restaurant and on air with me.\u201d— Gianno Caldwell (@Gianno Caldwell) 1684271684
Except it wasn't by sheer coincidence. Not even remotely. The men have since told Chicago-based news site The TRiiBEthat they were asked to be there and were not told they were going to be asked about Mayor Johnson, but rather that they were going to be discussing the problem of violence and the murder of Glass's son Keion in a shooting in the neighborhood of Avondale. The questions about Johnson came as a complete surprise.
In interviews with The TRiiBE, both Glass and Smith said they were surprised by Caldwell’s question about Johnson. “I was upset that he asked me that question,” Glass told The TRiiBE. “And it kind of caught me off guard, because I’m still upset about my son.” He added, “I don’t think anything will change, about any of the politicians, him or Vallas.”
Glass repeatedly emphasized that he didn’t oppose Johnson, but was skeptical of elected officials’ ability to solve violence at the street level.
“Don’t take me up to be like I’m against Brandon Johnson,” Glass told The TRiiBE. “He’s a Black man; I hope he does well. Make sure you put that in” this story. “We’re gonna wait and give him a chance.” He reiterated that he doesn’t have faith in politicians.
I also tend to find it better to err on the side of not having faith in politicians and then being pleasantly surprised when they do something good. I'm also very happy that Brandon Johnson is our mayor. Two things can be true!
It's very clear what Caldwell was trying to do here. He was trying to make it look as though Black people from the South Side had wanted Vallas and felt like Brandon Johnson was going to make things worse. Of course, if they really believed that, they would have gone to a diner in Bronzeville or somewhere. They didn't.
This is not the first time in recent history that Fox has lied about Chicago in order to further their weird anti-Chicago agenda. They do it all the time. Just recently, they ran a whole segment claiming that a "luxury hotel" was turning away "American citizens" in order to house refugees, when in fact the city had just placed several refugees at a hotel that has been closed for two years and won't open for another month.
If you are so inclined, some pretty cool Chicago folks were so inspired by the segment that they designed some pretty cool "Shut The Fuck Up About Chicago" t-shirts and you can buy them here and here if you like.
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Wonkette Movie Night: My Man Godfrey
'Prosperity is just around the corner.' ' Yeah, it's been there a long time. I wish I knew which corner.'
Hi Movie Night fans!
Tonight we are watching My Man Godfrey from 1936. Starring Carole Lombard and William Powell, directed by Gregory La Cava. It was the first movie to be nominated in all four Academy Award acting categories(the first year supporting roles were included) and not be nominated for Best Picture.
Available for free w/ads on YouTube(colorized), Tubi, Pluto TV, Sling TV, The Roku Channel(colorized), Prime(colorized) and The Internet Archives.
Got your popcorn? Enjoy!
Movie info can always be found here.
Happy Cher's Birthday To All Who Celebrate!
LEGEND.
Today is Cher's 77th birthday, and if you spend any time around here on the weekends, you have probably picked up on the fact that I LOVE HER. Like I have seen Moonstruck 47,000 times and currently have Burlesque on in the background as I am typing this. You know that X-Files episode where a bunch of townsfolk are scared of a Frankenstein-type guy with two faces and it turns out he's a super nice fella who is super into Cher, and then Mulder and Scully take them all to a Cher concert? I cry everytime, because of how very relatable it is.
So, instead of writing an actual article for our end-of-the-day post, I am just going to post some good Cher videos.
Here is the time she played all of the parts in West Side Story, which is a fun game that we all played as children, except for how sometimes it was also Gypsy.
Cher - West Side Story (Official Video)www.youtube.com
Honestly, this is exactly the kind of shit I would do if I were famous and had my own show, which is probably why I am not famous and do not have my own show. But Cher can do it, because of how she is Cher and she does what she wants, and fuck you if you don't like it. She do camp, she can do serious drama, and she can wear absolutely bananas outfits to the Academy Awards ...
Fashion Oscars GIF by The Academy AwardsGiphy
Because, again, she is Cher andshe does what she wants.
She can also sing a Beatles medley with Tina Turner and ... Kate Smith? Like the "God Bless America" lady, Kate Smith? I think? Seems a little weird in light of all of the very racist songs she sang. But whatever, let us just enjoy the Cher and Tina Turner of it all, and maybe that's not even the same Kate Smith I am thinking of.
Cher - Beatles Medley (with Tina Turner, Kate Smith) (The Cher Show, 04/27/1975)www.youtube.com
Here she is singing Fernando in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again!, which is a jam.
Cher - Fernando (Official Video) [HD] with Andy Garcia - Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again Soundtrackwww.youtube.com
I especially like this medley of songs she and Bette Midler sang about me.
Cher - Trashy Ladies Medley (with Bette Midler) (The Cher Show, 02/12/1975)www.youtube.com
And, of course, the greatest moment in cinema history ...
Moonstruck (6/11) Movie CLIP - A Wolf Without a Foot (1987) HDwww.youtube.com
You thought I was gonna go with the slap, but no, I surprised you. You are welcome!
OPEN THREAD!
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Disney Turns Its Billion Dollar Florida Investment Back Into This Pumpkin
Bibbidy bobbidy BOO.
In March of 2023, the Walt Disney Company and Florida's bigoted governor managed to make the Rule Against Perpetuities trend on Twitter. For one shining moment, lawyers could trot out this relic of property law arcana to explain how Mickey Mouse had just spanked Ron DeSantis via a contract tied to the grandchildren of Britannia's newly coronated king. It was a glorious time!
It seems impossible to top that insanity, although Governor Ron DeSantis is laboring under the delusion that he can win the 2024 Republican presidential primary by finding ways to be even more odious than Donald Trump, so ... who knows? But, this week there were two funny developments in the ongoing fucktussle between DeSantis and The Mouse.
Yesterday Disney announced that it was scrapping plans to build a $1 billion office complex in Orlando that would have relocated some 2,000 employees from Southern California, including much of the Imagineering department, which designs theme park attractions. The New York Times, which first reported the story, suggests that the reversal is a result of some combination of two factors: 1) Florida's unstable business environment, where the governor threatens to build a state prison next to an amusement park as retribution for protected First Amendment speech he does not like; and 2) un-retired CEO Bob Iger's efforts to walk back changes made by interregnum CEO Bob Chapek.
DeSantis's press people responded with their usual grace and aplomb, snarking, "Given the company’s financial straits, falling market cap, and declining stock price, it is unsurprising that they would restructure their business operations and cancel unsuccessful ventures.”
So far, so hilarious. But there is also action this week on the legal front in the war launched by Ron DeSanctimonious in 2022 after Chapek had the nerve to offer tepid criticism of Florida's vile "Don't Say Gay" law banning mention of the existence of LGBTQ people in schools and launching a wave of censorship upon fear of litigation.
Last year, after the above mild rebuke, DeSantis noisily promised to get rid of the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a 50-year-old charter entity which allowed the Magic Kingdom to operate as its own inland empire. But the Mouse heard the clomping of DeSantis's white waders a mile off — mostly because DeSantis spent a year shouting into every microphone in the state that he was definitely, 100 percent, yessireebob doing it to punish Disney for its First Amendment-protected speech. So on February 8, at a publicly announced and live-streamed meeting, the Reedy Creek Board signed that "Princess Contract" (our term, not theirs) devolving the bulk of its powers to the Walt Disney Company and depriving the anti-LGBTQ goons DeSantis was nominating the right to hold Belle and Ariel hostage if they didn't lift the skirt of every kid wearing a dress in Cinderella's castle to check for pumpkins.
On February 27, as promised, DeSantis signed HB 9B, dissolving the Reedy Creek District and replacing it with the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District (CFTOD). And on March 8, a mere four weeks after it had been enacted, the CFTOD Board discovered the Princess Contract and hit the roof.
DeSantis vowed revenge, and got to work with the Legislature to show Mickey who's boss, making sure again to tell everyone he was retaliating against the company for its speech — SO SMRT! Meanwhile the CFTOD Board met on April 26 and voted to cancel the Princess Contract on grounds that it was unlegal, and an hour later Disney challenged HB 9B in federal court, claiming violations of the Contracts Clause, Due Process, and the First Amendment and citing the eleventy-million times that DeSantis and his legislative pals had helpfully admitted that they were taking revenge on Disney for politically protected speech.
On May 1, the CFTOD Board filed its own suit against Disney seeking to get the Princess Contract thrown out, but in state court, because they're crafty like that. And then on May 5, DeSantis and the derp squad passed SB 1604 declaring the Princess Contract null and void — again, accompanied by vociferous affirmation that they really, truly were retaliating against the company for mean words about the governor and his hate laws.
On May 8, Disney amended its federal complaint to add a challenge to SB 1604. The next day, the CFTOD Board amended its state complaint ... sort of.
On May 9, CFTOD filed an amended complaint in this suit that only corrected its signature block. Despite Senate Bill 1604 being signed into law four days prior—the law giving CFTOD the precise relief it requests here—CFTOD added no mention of the law in its amended complaint.
That would be some ice cold lawsnark to cleanse the palate before the righteous smackdown to come in Disney's motion to dismiss the state complaint. Because, as Disney's very good lawyers pointed out, SB 1604 rendered the Princess Contract "void and unenforceable by unequivocal legislative fiat," or at least purported to, making the entire lawsuit moot:
That legislation renders Plaintiff’s complaint moot because it makes any order this Court could issue—in either party’s favor—legally irrelevant. If the Court rejects the board’s claims on their merits and agrees with Disney that the contracts complied with any procedural and substantive requirements of state law, the board would still be prohibited from complying with them under the new state statute. For the same reason, even if the Court found merit in the board’s objections to the contracts, any order to that effect would be pointless because the contracts would already be void under the new state statute. In short, any declaration about the contracts’ enforceability, voidness, or validity—either way—would be an advisory opinion with no real-world consequence. Trial courts in Florida are forbidden from issuing advisory opinions, and this case should be dismissed.
In plain English, there's nothing left for the court to decide, because the CFTOD's lawyers were too stupid to amend their complaint to add SB 1604. And even if they do race into the courthouse this afternoon and fix that omission, under Florida's "principle of priority," state courts are required to refrain from adjudicating claims when the same issue and parties are before another tribunal. So even if Florida Ninth Judicial Circuit Judge Margaret Schreiber decides that the state case is somehow not moot thanks to DeSantis's dumb law, she's probably going to have to dismiss it because the issue is already pending before federal Judge Mark Walker in the Northern District of Florida. Well-played, Ron!
In summary and in conclusion, Ron DeSantis, the great white hope of the never Trump Republicans, has once again set a mousetrap and stuck his dick in it.
[NYT / Disney Motion to Dismiss]
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