Former President Donald Trump is wildly distorting new statistics on immigration and crime to attack Vice President Kamala Harris.
Trump falsely claimed Friday and Saturday that the statistics are specifically about criminal offenders who entered the US during the Biden-Harris administration; in reality, the figures are about offenders who entered the US over multiple decades, including during the Trump administration. And Trump falsely claimed that the statistics are specifically about people who are now living freely in the US; the figures actually include people who are currently in jails and prisons serving criminal sentences.
“Kamala should immediately cancel her News Conference because it was just revealed that 13,000 convicted murderers entered our Country during her three and a half year period as Border Czar,” Trump wrote in one post on Friday, the day Harris visited the southern border in Arizona. Harris “allowed almost 14,000 MURDERERS to freely and openly roam our Country,” Trump wrote in another Friday post. They “roam free to KILL AGAIN,” he wrote, escalating his rhetoric, on Saturday.
Facts First: Trump’s claims are false in two big ways. First, the statistics he was referring to are not specifically about people who entered the country during the Biden-Harris administration. Rather, those statistics are about noncitizens who entered the country under any administration, including Trump’s; were convicted of a crime at some point, usually in the US after their arrival; and are now living in the US while being listed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s “non-detained docket” — where some have been listed for years, including while Trump was president, because their country of citizenship won’t let the US deport them back there. Second, that ICE “non-detained” list includes people who are still serving jail and prison sentences for their crimes; they are on the list because they are not being held in immigration detention in particular.
The new statistics, released by ICE in a letter to a Republican congressman this week, said there were 425,431 total convicted criminals on the non-detained docket as of July 21, 2024, including 13,099 people with homicide convictions.
The statistics have been deployed by Trump and various Republican lawmakers and right-wing commentators as alarming evidence of Harris’ supposed mismanagement of immigration policy. But in addition to exaggerating her role on the file — she was never actually “border czar” — much of the chatter has inaccurately described what the statistics show.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, said in a Saturday email: “The data in this letter is being misinterpreted. The data goes back decades; it includes individuals who entered the country over the past 40 years or more, the vast majority of whose custody determination was made long before this Administration. It also includes many who are under the jurisdiction or currently incarcerated by federal, state or local law enforcement partners.”
It’s not clear how many of the 13,099 people with homicide convictions on ICE’s non-detained docket as of July 21 are currently incarcerated in jails and prisons. Regardless, John Sandweg, an attorney who served as acting director of ICE during the Obama administration, said in a Saturday interview that it is “100% false” to say all the homicide offenders on the non-detained docket entered the US during Harris’ vice presidency. Sandweg added: “These are individuals who undoubtedly entered the United States over a long period of time. … A lot of them have probably been on the list for 20 years, where the US has just been unable to deport.”
CNN could not immediately find public statistics on how many people with criminal convictions were on the non-detained docket during Trump’s presidency. But there are public statistics from just before and just after his presidency — and those statistics, which we’ll discuss later in this article, make clear that Trump, too, presided over a non-detained docket that included hundreds of thousands of people with criminal convictions.
Some of this can be attributed to the news media, especially Fox, which reported this hysterically without any of these details or context. Trump ran with it.
I thought I’d paw through the “sci-fi” section of my collection and share 25 of my favorites. Keep in mind that these are personalfavorites; I was careful not to title the post “Top 25 Sci-fi Movies of All Time” (there is no more surefire way to spark a virtual bare-knuckled fracas). Anyway, here are 25 off-world adventures awaiting you now…
Alien – Ridley Scott’s first (and best) entry in what has become a never-ending (albeit lucrative) franchise is the least bombastic and most character-driven of the series. This 1979 sci-fi thriller concerns the workaday crew of a space merchant vessel who are forced to deal with the, erm, complications that ensue after the discovery of an otherworldly stowaway on board. It’s a taut, nail-biting affair from start to finish, with outstanding production design. A top-notch cast helps: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerrit, John Hurt, Ian Holm, Yaphet Kotto, Veronica Cartwright, and Harry Dean Stanton.
Alphaville: A Strange Adventure of Lemmy Caution -The first time I saw this uniquely atmospheric (if coldly detached) 1965 Jean-Luc Godard film I said to myself “WTF did I just watch?” I shrugged it off and forgot about it for about a decade. Then, several years ago I picked up a newly restored Blu-ray reissue and watched it a second time. This time, I said to myself, “Oh. I think I got it.” Then, after pausing a beat “No. I don’t got it.” Now bound and determined, I watched it AGAIN several days later.
This time, by George…I think I got it: Godard’s film, with its mashup of science fiction, film noir, dystopian nightmare and existential despair is a pre-cursor to Blade Runner, Dark City and Death and the Compass (sometimes it takes me a while…but I eventually get there). The film stars American actor Eddie Constantine and Godard’s muse Anna Karina. Sans special effects or any specially constructed sets, Godard used contemporaneous Parisian locations (beautifully shot by Raoul Coutard, mostly at night) to great effect.
The Andromeda Strain – What’s the scariest monster? The one you cannot see. Robert Wise directs this 1971 sci-fi thriller, adapted from Michael Crichton’s best-seller by Nelson Gidding. A team of scientists race the clock to save the world from a deadly virus from outer space that replicates with alarming efficiency. The team is restricted to a hermetically sealed environment until they can figure a way to destroy the microbial intruder, making this a nail-biter from start to finish. With Arthur Hill, James Olson, Kate Reid, and David Wayne.
Another Earth – Writer-director Mike Cahill’s auspicious 2011 narrative feature debut concerns an M.I.T.-bound young woman (co-scripter Brit Marling) who makes a fateful decision to get behind the wheel after a few belts. The resultant tragedy kills two people, and leaves the life of the survivor, a music composer (William Mapother) in shambles. After serving prison time, the guilt-wracked young woman, determined to do penance, ingratiates herself into the widower’s life (he doesn’t realize who she is). Complications ensue.
Another Earth is a “sci-fi” film mostly in the academic sense; don’t expect to see CGI aliens in 3-D. Orbiting somewhere in proximity of Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris, its concerns are more metaphysical than astrophysical. And not unlike a Tarkovsky film, it demands your full and undivided attention.
Blade Runner – What truly defines “being human”? Philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre wrote that “existence precedes and rules essence”. One must assume that he was talking about human beings, because after all, he was one, offering his (“its”?) definition as to what “being human” is. Which begs this question: what sparks “existence”? To which people usually answer some “thing” or some “one”. Such questions and suppositions form the core of Blade Runner, which is based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
Ridley Scott’s 1982 sci-fi noir is set a dystopian near-future where the presence of commercially manufactured “replicants” (near-humans with specialized functions and a built-in 4-year life span) has become routine. The “blade runner” of note is Deckard (Harrison Ford), whose job is to hunt down and “retire” aberrant replicants.
Also in the cast: Sean Young, Rutger Hauer, M. Emmet Walsh, Edward James Olmos, Brion James and Daryl Hannah. The film’s amazing production design makes it one of cinema’s most immersive “speculative futures” this side of 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Computer Chess – In his off-kilter 2013 “80s retro” mockumentary, Andrew Bujalski achieves verisimilitude via a vintage B&W video camera (which makes it appear you’re watching events unfold on closed-circuit TV), and “documents” a weekend-long tournament where nerdy computer chess programmers from all over North America assemble once a year to match algorithmic prowess.
Not unlike a Christopher Guest satire, Bujalski throws a bevy of idiosyncratic characters together, shakes the jar, and then steps back to watch what happens. However, just when you think you’ve got the film sussed as a gentle satirical jab at computer geek culture, things start to get weird…then weirder. The most original sci-fi movie I’ve seen in a while. (Full review)
The Day the Earth Caught Fire – This cerebral mix of conspiracy a-go-go and sci-fi (from 1961) was written and directed by Val Guest. Simultaneous nuclear testing by the U.S. and Soviets triggers an alarmingly rapid shift in the Earth’s climate. As London’s weather turns more tropical by the hour, a Daily Express reporter (Peter Stenning) begins to suspect that the British government is not being 100% forthcoming on the possible fate of the world. Along the way, Stenning has some steamy scenes with his love interest (sexy Janet Munro). The film is more noteworthy for its smart, snappy patter than its run-of-the-mill f/x, but has a compelling narrative. Co-starring veteran scene-stealer Leo McKern.
Escape From New York – John Carpenter directed this 1981 action-thriller set in the dystopian near-future of 1997 (ah, those were the days). N.Y.C. has been converted into a penal colony. Air Force One has been downed by terrorists, but not before the POTUS (Donald Pleasence) bails in his escape pod, which lands in Manhattan, where he is kidnapped by “inmates”. The police commissioner (ever squint-eyed Lee van Cleef) enlists the help of Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell), a fellow war vet who is now one of America’s most notorious criminals.
Imaginative, darkly funny and entertaining, despite an obviously limited budget. Carpenter and co-writer Nick Castle even slip in a little subtext of Nixonian paranoia. Also with Ernest Borgnine, Adrienne Barbeau, Isaac Hayes (the Duke of N.Y.!), and Harry Dean Stanton (stealing all his scenes as “Brain”). Carpenter also composed (and played) the memorable theme song.
Fantastic Planet – Director Rene Laloux’s imaginative 1973 animated fantasy (originally La planete sauvage) is about a race of mini-humans called Oms, who live on a distant planet and have been enslaved (or viewed and treated as dangerous pests) for generations by big, brainy, blue aliens called the Draags. We follow the saga of Terr, an Om who has been adopted as a house pet by a Draag youngster. Equal parts Spartacus, Planet of the Apes, and that night in the dorm you took too many mushrooms, it’s at once unnerving and mind-blowing. Mushrooms not included.
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – The belated 2005 adaptation of satirist Douglas Adams’ classic sci-fi radio-to-book-to TV series made a few old school fans (like me) a little twitchy at first, but director Garth Jennings does an admirable job of condensing the story down to an entertaining feature length film. It’s the only “end of the world” scenario I know of where the human race buys it as the result of bureaucratic oversight (the Earth is to be “demolished” for construction of a hyperspace highway bypass; unfortunately, the requisite public notice is posted in an obscure basement-on a different planet).
Adams (who died in 2001) was credited as co-screenwriter (with Karey Kirkpatrick); but I wonder if he had final approval, as the wry “Britishness” of some of the key one liners from the original series have been dumbed down. Still, it’s a quite watchable affair, thanks to the enthusiastic cast, the imaginative special effects and (mostly) faithful adherence to the original ethos. I heartily recommend the original BBC series as well.
The Incredible Shrinking Man – Always remember, never mix your drinks. And, as we learn from Jack Arnold’s 1957 sci-fi classic, you should never mix radiation exposure with insecticide…because that will make you shrink, little by little, day by day. That’s what happens to Scott Carey (Grant Williams), much to the horror of his wife (Randy Stuart) and his stymied doctors.
Unique for its time in that it deals primarily with the emotional, rather than fantastical aspects of the hapless protagonist’s transformation. To be sure, the film has memorable set-pieces (particularly Scott’s chilling encounters with a spider and his own house cat), but there is more emphasis on how the dynamics of the couple’s relationship changes as Scott becomes more diminutive. The denouement presages the existential finale of The Quiet Earth.
In the fullness of time, some have gleaned sociopolitical subtext in Richard Matheson’s screenplay; or at least a subtle thumb in the eye of 1950s conformity. Matheson adapted from his novel. He also wrote the seminal zombie apocalypse thriller I Am Legend (adapted for the screen as The Last Man on Earth , The Omega Man and the eponymous 2007 film).
Last Night– A profoundly moving low-budget wonder from writer/director/star Don McKellar. The story intimately focuses on several Toronto residents and how they choose to spend (what they know to be) their final 6 hours. You may recognize McKellar from his work with director Atom Egoyan. He must have been taking notes, because McKellar employs a similar quiet, deliberate manner of drawing you straight into the emotional core of his characters.
Although generally somber in tone, there are plenty of wry touches (you know you’re watching a Canadian version of the Apocalypse when the #4 song on the “Top 500 of All Time” is by… Burton Cummings). The powerful denouement packs quite a wallop.
Fantastic ensemble work from Sandra Oh, Genevieve Bujold, Callum Keith Rennie and Tracy Wright. McKellar tosses fellow Canadian director David Cronenberg into the mix in a small role.
The Lathe of Heaven – Adapted from Ursula K. Le Guin’s classic novel by Roger Swaybill and Diane English, this film was produced by Thirteen/WNET-TV in New York and originally aired on PBS stations in 1979.
The story takes place in “near future” Portland, at a time when the Earth is suffering profound effects from global warming and pandemics are rampant (rather prescient, eh?) The film stars Bruce Davison as George Orr, a chronic insomniac who has become convinced that his nightly dreams are affecting reality. Depressed and sleep-deprived, he overdoses on medication and is forced by legal authorities to seek psychiatric help from Dr. William Haber (Kevin Conway), who specializes in experimental dream research.
When Dr. Haber realizes to his amazement that George is not delusional, and does in fact have the ability to literally change the world with his “affective dreams”, he begins to suggest reality-altering scenarios to his hypnotized patient. The good doctor’s motives are initially altruistic; but as George catches on that he is being used like a guinea pig, he rebels. A cat and mouse game of the subconscious ensues; every time Dr. Haber attempts to make his Utopian visions a reality, George finds a way to subvert the results.
The temptation to play God begins to consume Dr. Haber, and he feverishly begins to develop a technology that would make George’s participation superfluous. So begins a battle of wills between the two that could potentially rearrange the very fabric of reality. An intelligent and compelling story; one of the best “made-for-TV” sci-fi films ever produced.
Liquid Sky – Downtown 81 meets Invasion of the Body Snatchers in this deeply weird 1982 art-house sci-fi film. A diminutive, parasitic alien with a particular delectation for NYC club kids, models and performance artists lands on an East Village rooftop and starts mainlining off the limbic systems of junkies and sex addicts…right at the moment that they, you know…reach the maximum peak of pleasure center stimulation (the alien is a dopamine junkie?). Just don’t think about the science too hard.
The main attraction here is the inventive photography and the fascinatingly bizarre performance (or non-performance) by (co-screen writer) Anne Carlisle, who tackles two roles-a female fashion model who becomes the alien’s primary host, and a male model. Writer-director Slava Zsukerman also co-wrote the electronic music score.
Man Facing Southeast – Writer-director Eliseo Subiela’s drama is a deceptively simple tale of a mysterious mental patient (Hugo Soto) who no one on staff at the facility he is housed in can remember admitting. Yet, there he is; a soft-spoken yet oddly charismatic young man who claims to be an extra-terrestrial, sent to Earth to save humanity from themselves. He develops a complex relationship with the head psychiatrist (Lorenzo Quinteros) who becomes fascinated with his case.
While sold as a “sci-fi” tale, it’s hard to pigeonhole; the film is equal parts fable, family drama, and Christ allegory (think King of Hearts meets The Day the Earth Stood Still). Powerful and touching.
The Man Who Fell to Earth – If there was ever a film and a star that were made for each other, it was director Nicolas Roeg’s 1976 adaptation of Walter Tevis’ novel The Man Who Fell to Earth, and the late great David Bowie.
Several years after retiring his “Ziggy Stardust” persona, Bowie was coaxed back to the outer limits of the galaxy to play Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien from a drought-stricken planet who crash-lands on Earth. Gleaning Earth as a water source, Newton formulates a long-range plan for transporting the precious resource back to his home world. In the interim, he becomes an enigmatic hi-tech magnate. A one-of-a-kind film, with excellent supporting performances from Candy Clark, Rip Torn and Buck Henry.
The Omega Man – This 1971 Boris Sagal film was the second screen adaptation of Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel I Am Legend (the 1964 film The Last Man on Earth was the first, book-ended by I Am Legend in 2007). While all three adaptations have their strengths and weaknesses, I have a soft spot for this one (adapted by John William Corrington and Joyce H. Corrington), with ever-hammy Charlton Heston as a military scientist battling mutated albino plague victims in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles (the locale was switched to New York City for the 2007 Will Smith vehicle).
In the wake of a deadly pandemic attributed to biological warfare fallout from a Sino-Soviet war, Heston injects himself with an experimental vaccine that appears to work. However, the main threat to his health is not so much the virus, but the rabid lynch mob of pissed-off albino freaks who storm his heavily fortified apartment building every night, led by a messianic ex-TV news anchor (Anthony Zerbe, chewing scenery like a zombie Howard Beale). Rosalind Cash is a hoot as a ass-kicking babe in the Pam Grier mold.
Paprika – It’s no secret among fans of intelligent, adult sci-fi that some of the best genre films these days aren’t originating from Hollywood, but rather from the masters of Japanese anime. Films like Akira and Ghost in the Shell display a quality of writing and visual imagination that few live action productions can touch (well, post-Blade Runner).
One of the more adventurous anime directors was the late Satoshi Kon. In films like Perfect Blue, Millennium Actress and Tokyo Godfathers, Kon displayed a unique flair for coupling complex characterization with photo-realistic visual style; making me forget that I’m watching an anime.
In this 2007 entry, a team of scientists develops an interface device called the “DC mini” that facilitates the transference of dreams from one person to another. This dream machine is designed primarily for use by psychotherapists; it allows them to literally experience a patient’s dreams and take a closer look under the hood. In the wrong hands, however, this could become a very dangerous tool.
As you have likely guessed, “someone” has hacked into a DC mini and begun to wreak havoc with people’s minds. One by one, members of the research team are driven to suicidal behavior after the dreams of patients are fed into their subconscious without their knowledge (akin to someone slipping acid into the punch).
Things get more complicated when these waking dreams take sentient form and spread like a virus, forming a pervasive matrix that threatens to supplant “reality”. A homicide detective joins forces with one of the researchers, whose alter-ego, Paprika, is literally a “dream girl”, a sort of super-heroine of the subconscious. It’s a Disney-on-acid/ sci-fi murder mystery, featuring Kon’s most stunning use of color and imagery. A must-see for anime and sci-fi fans.
Planet of the Apes – The original 1968 version of The Planet of the Apes had a lot going for it. It was based on an acclaimed sci-fi novel by Pierre Boulle (whose semi-autobiographical debut, The Bridge on the RiverKwai, had been adapted into a blockbuster film). It was helmed by Franklin J. Schaffner (Patton, Papillon, The Boys from Brazil). It had an intelligent script by Michael Wilson and Rod Serling. And, of course, it had Charlton Heston, at his hammy apex (“God DAMN you ALL to HELL!!”).
Most notably, it opened the same month as Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey. Both Kubrick’s and Schaffner’s films not only blew minds but raised the bar on film-goers’ expectations for science-fiction movies; each was groundbreaking in its own way.
The Quiet Earth – In this 1985 New Zealand import, Bruno Lawrence (Smash Palace) delivers a mesmerizing performance, playing a scientist who may (or may not) have had a hand in a government research project mishap that has apparently wiped out everyone on Earth except him. The plot thickens when he discovers that there are at least two other survivors-a man and a woman. The three-character dynamic is reminiscent of a 1959 nuclear holocaust tale called TheWorld, the Flesh and the Devil, but it’s safe to say that the similarities end there. The haunting finale will give you something to mull over long after credits roll. Director Geoff Murphy (who adapted the screenplay from Craig Harrison’s eponymous novel) never topped this effort; although his 1992 film Freejack, with Mick Jagger as a time-traveling bounty hunter (yes…that happened), is worth a peek on a slow night.
Repo Man – This 1984 punk-rock/sci-fi black comedy version of Rebel without a Cause is actually one of the more coherent efforts from mercurial U.K. filmmaker Alex Cox. Emilio Estevez is suitably sullen as disenfranchised L.A. punk Otto, who stumbles into a gig as a “repo man” after losing his job, getting dumped by his girlfriend and deciding to disown his parents. As he is indoctrinated into the samurai-like “code” of the repo man by sage veteran Bud (Harry Dean Stanton, in another masterful deadpan performance) Otto begins to realize that he’s found his true calling.
A subplot involving a mentally fried government scientist on the run, driving around with a mysterious, glowing “whatsit” in the trunk is an obvious homage to Robert Aldrich’s 1955 noir, Kiss Me Deadly. Cox tosses a UFO conspiracy into the mix, and makes excellent use of L.A. locations (thanks in no small part to master cinematographer Robby Muller’s lens work). The fabulous soundtrack includes Iggy Pop, Black Flag, and The Circle Jerks.
Silent Running – In space, no one can hear you trimming the verge! Bruce Dern is an agrarian antihero in this 1972 sci-fi adventure, directed by legendary special effects wizard Douglas Trumbull. Produced around the time “ecology” was a buzzword, its message may seem a little heavy-handed today, but the film remains a cult favorite.
Dern plays the gardener on a commercial space freighter that houses several bio-domes, each dedicated to preserving a species of vegetation (in this bleak future, the Earth is barren of organic growth).
While it’s a 9 to 5 drudge gig to his blue-collar shipmates, Dern sees his cultivating duties as a sacred mission. When the interests of commerce demand the crew jettison the domes to make room for more lucrative cargo, Dern goes off his nut, eventually ending up alone with two salvaged bio-domes and a trio of droids (Huey, Dewey and Louie) who play Man Friday to his Robinson Crusoe. Joan Baez contributes two songs on the soundtrack.
Slaughterhouse-Five – Film adaptations of Kurt Vonnegut stories have a checkered history; from downright awful (Slapstick of Another Kind) or campy misfires (Breakfast of Champions) to passable time killers (Happy Birthday, Wanda June and Mother Night). For my money, your best bets are Jonathan Demme’s 1982 PBS American Playhouse short Who Am I This Time? and this 1974 feature film by director George Roy Hill.
Michael Sacks stars as milquetoast daydreamer Billy Pilgrim, a WW2 vet who weathers the devastating Allied firebombing of Dresden as a POW. After the war, he marries his sweetheart, fathers a son and daughter and settles into a comfortable middle-class life, making a living as an optometrist.
A standard all-American postwar scenario…except for the part where a UFO lands on his nice, manicured lawn and spirits him off to the planet Tralfamadore, after which he becomes permanently “unstuck” in time, i.e., begins living (and re-living) his life in random order. Great performances from Valerie Perrine and Ron Leibman. Stephen Geller adapted the script.
2001: A Space Odyssey – The mathematician/cryptologist I.J. Good (an Alan Turing associate) once famously postulated:
Let an ultra-intelligent machine be defined as a machine that can far surpass all the intellectual activities of any man…however clever. Since the design of machines is one of these intellectual activities, an ultra-intelligent machine could design even better machines; there would then unquestionably be an ‘intelligence explosion’, and the intelligence of man would be left far behind. Thus, the first ultra-intelligent machine is the last invention that man need ever make, provided that the machine is docile enough to tell us how to keep it under control.
Good raised this warning in 1965, about the same time director Stanley Kubrick and sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clarke were formulating the narrative that would evolve into both the novel and film versions of 2001: aSpace Odyssey. And it’s no coincidence that the “heavy” in 2001 was an ultra-intelligent machine that wreaks havoc once its human overseers lose “control” …Good was a consultant on the film.
Good was but one of the experts that Kubrick consulted, before and during production of this meticulously constructed masterpiece. Not only did he pick the brains of top futurists and NASA engineers, but enlisted some of the best primatologists, anthropologists, and uh, mimes of his day, to ensure that every detail, from the physicality of prehistoric humans living on the plains of Africa to the design of a moon base, passed with veracity. A true classic.
Zardoz – I suspect my inclusion of John Boorman’s 1974 spaced-out oddity will raise an eyebrow or two, but as I’ve admitted on more than one occasion-there’s no accounting for some people’s taste. Once you get past sniggering over star Sean Connery’s costume (a red loincloth/diaper accessorized by a double bandolier and thigh-high go-go boots), this is an imaginative fantasy-adventure for adults.
Set in the year 2293 (why not?), Boorman’s story centers on thuggish but natively intelligent Zed (Connery) who roams the wastelands of a post-apocalyptic Earth with his fellow “Brutals” killing and pillaging with impunity. This all-male club worships a “god” named Zardoz, who speaks to them via a large flying stone head, which occasionally touches down so they can fill it with stolen grain. In exchange, Zardoz spews out rifles like a giant Pez dispenser, while intoning his #1 tenet “The gun is good, the penis is evil.”
One day Zed manages to stow away in the head just before takeoff, and when it lands he finds himself in the invisible force-field protected “Vortex”, where the elite “Eternals” live a seemingly idyllic and Utopian life that is purely of the mind. Bemused and fascinated by this “specimen” from the outside world, one of the Eternals “adopts” Zed is as his Man Friday while his fate is being debated. But who is really studying who?
Boorman’s story takes some inspiration from HG Wells’ The Time Machine, as well as another classic fantasy that becomes apparent in the fullness of the narrative, but it still stands out from the pack for sheer weirdness. There are also parallels to A Boy and His Dog (another film I’ve seen an unhealthy number of times).
In a way the “Eternals”-what with their crystals, pyramids, and hippy-dippy philosophical musings, presage the New Age Movement. Also, they pass judgement on anyone in their collective suspected of having “negative thoughts” with a telepathic vote; if found guilty the accused is “aged” to drooling dotage and banished from the community (that’s social media in a nutshell).
Trump is getting angrier and angrier on the stump (in addition to his depraved lies and idiocy.)
Trump: But outside, we have thousands and thousands of people. 40 to 50,000 people at least out there.. It looked like when Lindbergh landed in New York., Do you remember that? Thousands of people.. they’re probably leaving and walking home pic.twitter.com/gFG8T4gq6T
And no there are not 50,000 outside and they aren’t inside because Harris won’t give them protection. Trump’s a billionaire. Why doesn’t he hire thousands of bodyguards to protect him?
And WTF is this?
Trump: Oh, there's a fly. Oh, I wonder where the fly came from. See, two years ago, I wouldn't have had a fly up here. You’re changing rapidly. We can’t take it any longer pic.twitter.com/ZiLoNJfuTQ
Trump on border bill: She said. I'm the one that talked them out. I wish I had that ability, that I was the one that said, don't vote for it. But I do have a certain say, but I would have never voted for that bill. It It would have allowed everybody to become a citizen. pic.twitter.com/fKlWvEpLui
Just like he did when he denied knowledge of #Project2025, Trump today in Michigan denied that he killed that strict BIPARTISAN BORDER BILL in January this year. Here is Trump’s own words where he famously said, “Blame it on me.” Watch 👇 pic.twitter.com/CZqHUeXzLb
Lindsey Graham: Everybody who says we should do something about border legislation, you're absolutely right but unfortunately, we didn't get there because Trump opposed the bipartisan border deal. I hate that pic.twitter.com/xWPhOwW9R8
He’s one rally away from calling Harris a dumb bitch in public:
Trump: Joe Biden became mentally impaired. Kamala was born that way. She was born that way. And if you think about it, only a mentally disabled person could have allowed this to happen to our country. pic.twitter.com/v6Yo6uINp5
Trump: "Disgusting illegal alien who was let into the United States by Kamala and her lax law– she, they, every one of my killer — we had the, she had the, he had the, he would've never been able to get in. She stopped every single one of them." pic.twitter.com/jP8D9vdIjR
Peter Wehner at The Atlantic (gift link) gives the full rundown on North Carolina Governor Mark Robinson and it’s just so … much. As he points out, most of this was known before he became Lt Gov., so apparently the Republicans of North Carolina think it’s all just fine:
Robinson, the Republican candidate for governor in North Carolina, has described himself as a “devout Christian.” But a recent CNN story reported that several years ago, he was a porn-site user who enjoyed watching transgender pornography (despite a history of an anti-transgender rhetoric), referred to himself as a “Black Nazi,” and supported the return of slavery. According to CNN, commenters on the website discussed whether to believe the story of a woman who said she was raped by her taxi driver while intoxicated. Robinson wrote in response, “And the moral of this story….. Don’t f**k a white b*tch!” Politicoreports that Robinson’s email address was also registered on Ashley Madison, a website for married people seeking affairs. (Robinson, the current lieutenant governor of North Carolina, has denied all of the claims.)
These allegations aren’t entirely shocking, because Robinson—a self-described “MAGA Republican”—has shown signs in the past of being a deeply troubled person. (My Atlantic colleague David Graham wrote a superb profile of Robinson in May.)
Regarding the dedication of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, in 2011, Robinson wrote, “Get that fucking commie bastard off the National Mall!” Robinson also has referred to the slain civil-rights champion as “worse than a maggot,” a “ho fucking, phony,” and a “huckster.” During the Obama presidency, Robinson wrote, “I’d take Hitler over any of the shit that’s in Washington right now!” He promoted the conspiracy theory claiming that Obama was born in Kenya. He referred to Michelle Obama as a man and Hillary Clinton as a “heifer.” He compared Nancy Pelosi to Hitler, Mao, Stalin, and Castro and mocked the near-fatal assault on her husband, Paul Pelosi. He is also an election denier, claiming that Joe Biden “stole the election.”
In 2017, Robinson wrote, “There is a REASON the liberal media fills the airwaves with programs about the NAZI and the ‘6 million Jews’ they murdered.” He has used demeaning language against Jews and gay people. He has cruelly mocked school-shooting survivors (“media prosti-tots”). And he supported a total ban on abortion, without exceptions for rape or incest, even though he admitted that he’d paid for an abortion in the past.
The reason I used the gift link is because he gives the same treatment to many of the GOP superstars at the top of the Party — a long list of miscreants almost as crazy and terrible as Robinson and you should read the whole thing to remind yourself just how deeply the rot runs.
The point is:
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY today isn’t incidentally grotesque; like the man who leads it, Donald Trump, it is grotesque at its core. It is the Island of Misfit Toys, though in this case there’s a maliciousness to the misfits, starting with Trump, that makes them uniquely dangerous to the republic. Since 2016, they have been at war with reality, delighting in their dime-store nihilism, creating “alternative facts” and tortured explanations to justify the lawlessness and moral depravity and derangement of their leader.
None of this is hidden; it is on display in neon lights, almost every hour of every day. No one who supports the Republican Party, who casts a vote for Trump and for his MAGA acolytes, can say they don’t know.
Tom lives in Asheville, North Carolina which is currently under water from Hurricane Helene. He told me yesterday that he didn’t have power or wifi and cell service was spotty so I assume that he will be out of commission for a while.
Keep a good thought for him and his neighbors. Asheville is a lovely city full of very cool people. This is a major disaster and it’s going to take a huge effort to recover.
I’m sure Tucker thinks he’s being funny. But I would guess that a good number of his audience, people who look up to him, think he’s endorsing this lunacy. Why else would he have her on his roadshow?
If you think Tucker Carlson’s political relevance has slipped since he was booted from Fox News last spring, then listen to the people who have lined up to see his live shows this month.
Ask those in Phoenix who braved 108 degrees to see him banter with Russell Brand,the comic actor turned podcaster who says he’s found Jesus.
Or the people in Hershey, Pa., who got drenched by rain whilewaiting to get into Carlson’s event with vice-presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio).
If anything, they say, Tucker has gotten stronger now that he’s on his own, loosed from the strictures (and paycheck) of corporate media and now sovereign of his own digital channel.
“I think he’s probably even more influential, actually,” said registered nurse Laura Kahler, 64, who was first to arrive at the Footprint Center in Phoenix — well, first after the VIPs who paid $1,600 for a pre-show meet-and-greet with Carlson.
Gilbert Rodriguez, a retired veteran, flew from Georgia to Phoenix to attend the Carlson show. “He’s a realist,” Rodriguez said. “He doesn’t run away from the truth. He’s not afraid to talk about things that people don’t want to talk about.”
One couple arrived to the Giant Center in Hershey at 3 p.m., four hours before showtime, to tailgate in the parking lot, just as they had for a Def Leppard and Journey concert a few months earlier. “I think initially maybe I didn’t like him,” said John Castrovinci, 58, “but then I think the more I watched him and listened, I found I agreed with a lot of the points he made.”z
[…]
While the Giant Center was mostly full, ticket prices dropped as the event neared, a trend that was chronicled thoroughly by journalists from PennLive.com, which reported that tickets that once ranged from $56 to $84 in price were now available for between $35 and $42 a few days before the show.
CNN personality Brian Stelter said on X last month that he removed some writing about Carlson for the paperback edition of his latest book on Fox because “he has lost a lot of his influence since last year.”
And even Carlson doesn’t seem to know what, exactly, he’s doing with this tour. Is he still a media personality? Is he a political activist? He certainly looked like one when he hobnobbed at the Republican National Convention with Trump, a man he once referred to as “a demonic force” in a text message (released as part of the defamation lawsuit filed against Fox by election-technology company Dominion).
“I don’t even know what I do for a living at this point,” he said Saturday night in Hershey.
Sure you do Tuck. It’s called “grifting” and your marks are all the sad, ignorant MAGA true believers who pay you money for this bullshit. But you know that.
TRUMP’S FOREIGN POLICY, like his views on everything else, is about loyalty to Trump. He prefers a dictator who likes him to a freely elected leader who doesn’t. As Trump put it at a rally on Monday: “I don’t like anybody that doesn’t like me.” That’s why Trump likes Vladimir Putin. He knows Putin is trying to help him recapture the White House.
On September 7, three days after the Justice Department exposed a Russian disinformation campaign designed to help Trump in this year’s election, Trump rebuked DOJ officials for the announcement. “They don’t look at China, and they don’t look at Iran,” he complained, falsely, at a rally in Wisconsin. “They look at Russia. I don’t know what it is with poor Russia.”
Trump made it clear that he appreciated Putin’s help. With a wry smile, he noted:
I don’t know if you saw the other day, he [Putin] endorsed Kamala. He endorsed Kamala. I was very, uh, offended by that. [Laughter in the crowd.] I wonder why he endorsed Kamala. No, he’s a chess player. “I endorse Kamala.” Should I be—Congressman, should I be upset about that? No, huh? Was it done with a smile, Ron? Was it done with a smile? I think it was done maybe with a smile.
It’s not great for Ukraine that Trump sees Putin as his friend. But until this week, Trump also seemed to have a soft spot for Zelensky. He often praised Zelensky for standing by him during the Ukraine impeachment, when Trump was accused of coercing Zelensky in a phone call. “He was very honorable,” Trump told podcaster Shawn Ryan a month ago. Trump went on:
I got to know Zelensky then, because they asked him at a news conference or something, “Did President Trump say anything that was threatening to you or bad?” . . . And he said: “Not at all.” He was very—he was a gentleman. “He called me to congratulate me.” Said it was a very normal call. Now, he could have grandstanded. I respect him for what he did. . . . He said [I] did nothing wrong. And that sort of ended it all. But he was very honorable.
Trump’s gratitude to Zelensky has influenced the way Trump talks about the Ukraine war. Earlier this month, Trump continued to say that he could work out a deal to end the war because he had a “good relationship with Zelensky,” in addition to having a good relationship with Putin.
Unfortunately, Trump’s idea of a good relationship was one-sided. In the interview with Ryan, as in other venues, he parroted pro-Russian talking points: that Russia was invincible, that its nukes were too scary to risk further hostilities, and that the United States was vulnerable because it had sent too much ammunition to Ukraine. On September 10, in his debate with Kamala Harris, Trump was asked: “Do you want Ukraine to win this war?” Twice, he refused to say yes.
In their embarrassing meeting yesterday Trump tried to go both ways:
Trump’s tariff obsession came up in conversation this morning and I realized that many people may not have seen this great documentary about Trump and trade. If you’re curious about why he is so stuck on it, this explains it:
As FRONTLINE and NPR explore in the new documentary Trump’s Trade War, Trump has taken an aggressive stance on trade for decades. He has pushed a tariff strategy since he first toyed with the idea of running for president in the late 1980s — a message that bore notable similarities to the one that helped propel his 2016 campaign.
As the film recounts, Trump’s ire was then directed at Japan’s trade practices.
“The fact is, you don’t have free trade. We think of it as free trade, but you right now don’t have free trade,” Trump said in a 1987 episode of Larry King Live that’s excerpted in Trump’s Trade War. “A lot of people are tired of watching the other countries ripping off the United States. This is a great country.” He shared similar sentiments in an interview with Oprah.
“He believed from the beginning that there’s really nothing worse than being laughed at,” Marc Fisher, author of Trump Revealed, tells FRONTLINE and NPR in the above scene from the documentary. “And he came to see the Japanese as laughing at the United States and taking advantage of the United States by stealing the jobs, by dumping product here.”
After the Japanese economy cratered, though, Trump would shift his focus to a rising economic power: China. The first time former advisor Steve Bannon came face to face with Trump, a significant amount of their meeting was spent discussing China, Bannon says in the film.
“He’s been a guy that’s watched Lou Dobbs for 30 or 40 years,” Bannon says, referring to the TV commentator who has long criticized free trade and globalization. “And the only thing he had formed as a world view was China.”
He watched Lou Dobbs and saw ships unloading Japanese cars and that was that.
That’s the Great Billionaire Businessman who knows more about the economy than anyone in the history of America.
You know he’s actually an imbecile and I know he’s actually an imbecile but a whole lot of people in this country are deluded that his gibberish is some kind of genius. Go figure.
While Trump has yet to commit to accepting the outcome of the presidential election, several of his supporters who attended rallies in Michigan Friday said they’re ready to do so even if he loses.
Jordan Walton, 24, of Warren, is a restaurant worker and Trump supporter who was too young to vote in 2016. In his first opportunity to participate in a presidential election, Walton backed the former president’s reelection bid in 2020. But unlike some Trump voters, he accepted Trump’s loss as legitimate that year.
“It sucks. But yeah, he lost,” Walton said before heading into the town hall event in Warren.
He said he expects a close election this time and would accept another Trump loss. “Ain’t going to be happy, but you know, it is what it is,” he said.
Walton plans to vote in person, but said Trump’s past railing against absentee voting hurt the Republican presidential candidate’s chances four years ago. “Well, I think he kind of screwed himself to be honest, because he wasn’t promoting among his voters vote-by-mail,” Walton said.
[…]
Thomas Van Overloop, a 19-year-old currently studying at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, said he wanted to make sure his first vote in a presidential election is cast at the polls, likening it to a rite of passage.
While Trump disputed, and continues to dispute, his 2020 electoral loss in Michigan, Van Overloop said he doesn’t plan on contending any election results, should Harris win the state.
“I wasn’t a big fan of (Jan. 6) and the stolen election thing,” he said. “I think we’ve got to look to the future instead of looking back.”
Standing across from a table urging Trump voters to request an absentee ballot, David Ortez, 28, of Northville, said he plans to vote in-person on Election Day because he likes “the vibes.” He said he likes going with other people in his life to go vote together, saying it feels like more of an “event” than absentee voting.
Ortez said he would accept another Trump loss and doesn’t think the election was stolen four years ago. He said he’s had conversations with other Trump supporters who disagree, but he said when that happens, he nods his head and tries to avoid an argument.
No matter who wins in what he expects will be a close presidential race, he said he hopes voters will accept the outcome and doesn’t want to see a repeat of Jan. 6. “No crazy s***. We don’t need that. We have too much nonsense in the world right now, and we don’t need more violence. That’s the last thing we need,” said Ortez, who works at a hospital.
While some Trump voters say they’re certain Trump’s 2020 loss was illegitimate, Lauren Marougy, 38, of Commerce Township, hasn’t made up her mind on the matter. “I don’t know, like I really don’t know. I think he won,” she said after a long pause. Marougy said it’d be sad if Trump really did win the 2020 election but didn’t end up in the White House. “I wouldn’t really want to believe that,” she said.
Marougy said she would accept a Trump loss in November. “I accepted it last time,” she said. “I mean, what can I do? I’m not going to like lose my mind over it.” She said she wouldn’t protest his loss, “Because it wouldn’t get me anywhere.”
I can’t imagine there’s going to be another January 6th even if Trump calls for one. They know it’s futile. And J6 was always motivated as much as a (lame) answer to the Women’s March, which naturally turned violent, as anything else. But this time I worry about some discrete militia types deciding to do a little terrorism instead of protest. Blow up a building or two, something along those lines. That would not surprise me at all. But a big protest in DC? I doubt it.
And I think a whole lot of the MAGA types will react the way those quoted above did. After year after year of listening to their Dear Leader lie and whine and complain, I would guess that many of them are tired of it. They’ll vote for him of course. And if he wins again they will feel vindicated. But if he loses, there’s a big part of them that will be resigned if not relieved. He’s exhausting for everyone.
In late January, caretakers at Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Australia were ecstatic when a king penguin chick successfully emerged from his shell. The baby, which they named Pesto, was the only king penguin born at the aquarium in the last two years. He weighed less than a pound.
They’ve since watched as the youngster grew—and kept growing. As of Wednesday, Pesto weighs a whopping 51.8 pounds, according to the aquarium.
His fame took off when the aquarium threw a gender reveal party (they can’t tell through a blood test.) Now he’s an internet superstar.
But why is Pesto such a big boy?
Caretakers chalk up his unusual size to a “hearty appetite”—he eats more than 25 fish a day—and good genes. His biological father, a king penguin named Blake, is one of the biggest and oldest penguins at the facility, weighing in at around 39 pounds, per New Atlas’ Bronwyn Thompson.
However, Pesto is being raised by a younger couple, Tango and Hudson, who have been taking good care of him, according to the aquarium. For reference, they both weigh just about 24 pounds. As Jacinta Early, the aquarium’s education supervisor, tells BBC News’ Tiffanie Turnbull, Pesto “eclipses” the pair, “which also makes him look comically large.”
Right now, Pesto is still covered in fuzzy brown down. But in the coming months, his baby feathers will be replaced by black, white and orange plumage.
“He’s going to start losing that really adorable baby fluff,” says Early to the Associated Press’ Rod McGuirk. “It might take him one to two months to really get rid of it. Then he’ll be nice and sleek and streamlined.”
Around the same time, he may also lose some weight. As he matures, he’ll likely settle in at closer to 33 pounds, per NPR. Still, Pesto will probably always be a “big boy,” Smale tells CNN’s Lilit Marcus.
“He’s already significantly taller than his dad,” she adds.
Apparently they usually weigh between 31 and 37 lbs. Wow. But they aren’t as big as the emperor penguins which can weight up to 100 lbs! What???
Luckily these birds are not on the endangered species list. In fact, their numbers are increasing. They are very, very cool.
