Caligula

Much of the media coverage of Trump's final SOTU last night was focused on Trumpy-the-Clown's spat with Pelosi-- she didn't call him "His Majesty" when she introduced him; he refused to shake her hand; his thugs dragged one of Pelosi's guests (Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was killed in a 2018 GOP-NRA school shooting) out of the chamber; she ripped up his speech-- instead of on all the lies that the speech was built on.

American politics is always big on ‘firsts’. The proverbial political debut is often more important than one’s actual policies.
–JFK was the first Catholic POTUS
–Ronald Reagan the first Hollywood actor POTUS
–Barack Obama the first black POTUS
–Donald Trump is the first reality TV/apolitical POTUS
Indeed, the main thrust of Hillary Clinton’s campaign was that she would be the first female POTUS. Since that wasn’t enough to convince most voters, this is a ‘first’ that is still very much up for grabs.

Didn’t have enough time to properly, fully eulogise concerning the brilliant British film, stage and TV actor John Hurt, who passed away a few days ago after a struggle with pancreatic cancer. There would be a lot to say about Hurt, whose rich, varied career included any number of memorable or stellar performances. But my […]