Dunno. This "take" seems pretty reasonable. Besides, it turns out, as fun as it was to mock that ad, a poll found that it didn't actually offend or alienate audiences as much as the Twitter reaction seemed to suggest, i.e., Internet pile-on orgies are not always predictive of actual public opinion.

Because he connected with a passionately and hideously bigoted minority of his own party, and the majority of conservatives who never preferred him nonetheless supported him against Hillary Clinton.

Amusingly he tried to do Dirty Sexy Money afterward, with Peter Krauzuh.

It's not stupidity. It's a belief that Dred Scott was correct, because there is a national culture, represented by whiteness, and that people who are unable or unwilling to conform to that national culture, through ethnicity or belief, do not belong here and never did.

Yeah. I can remember waaay back in 2012 when Bill Clinton's keynote DNC speech praised George W. Bush for PEPFAR.

Hot Take: there's nothing wrong with a hostage situation as a metaphor for love. That's exactly what Almodovar's Atame is, and it works.

Your friendly reminder that on February 17, 2009, Obama signed the stimulus bill.

Is it really news that Beyonce's sister wants Beyoncé to win?

It came out right before a little movie we all know called Dark City, which took the world by storm and spawned several sequels all based on a similar premise to the Matrix. So the Matrix has remained a cult classic while Dark City became a cultural touchstone.

Counterpoint: most white people are not interested in equal rights. They are interested in pursuing policies that adversely affect minorities but come with a gloss of being "equal" and non-discriminatory. Most white people, if asked, are cynical toward efforts to enforce anti-discrimination laws in housing, education,…

If Martin Luther King Jr. himself rose from the grave, dusted off his funeral suit, and knocked on the Senate door tonight, Mitch would cite a rule to prevent his speaking. And every Republican would support it.

Yes, THE LEFT of the 60s was so peaceful. In Chicago, the had the Days of Yoga.

Yeah. It's kind of funny to think of Gibson as the anti-apartheid cop in 1989, but then, part of the subtext of LW2 is that America isn't racist at all, unlike those awful South Africans. So Gibson gets to be the white cop fighting foreign racists in the totally anti-racist USA.

In fact, they DID have that subplot. He was supposed to have a romance with Julianne Moore's character (which explains why they got such a standout actress for a small part). They cut it because it compromised his character.

There's also no romance, sexual tension, or even really any domestic scenes. There's barely any screen-time for women at all. What's not there seems to be as responsible for calling it "action" as what is there. You could imagine a more conventional thriller (and worse movie) that spends time with Ford as a doctor and…

So lots of carnage, then?

Right? There's even a genre for this type of movie — thriller! Thrillers can have big set-pieces, too, but no one mistakes them for action movies. The only real traditional action here is the at the beginning and end. Other scenes, while great, are not really "action scenes."

The original definition of neoliberal is pretty lost to the new left cultural definition, i.e., people who associate with urban-centered elites and consume/promote essentially centrist entertainment as a substitute for advancing actual left-wing economic policies.

Yes, "responsible." He is, possibly, responsible for killing his girlfriend. That's pretty bad! And also doesn't do violence to the word "responsible." Can we not pretend that wrestlers were responsible for what kids did in their basements and backyards?

Okay I don't usually say "neoliberal" but this is pretty peak neoliberal.