We were reliably told that attacks against the courts were attacks against our very institutions, and therefore on Democracy™ itself. That is, unless you are a Democrat appearing on a Regime Media Sunday political affairs show and attacking a majority-conservative Supreme Court. In which case, fire at will. Figuratively, hopefully. WATCH as CBS’s Robert Costa, filling in for Margaret Brennan on deFace The Nation, enables Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) as he attacks the Court, accusing it of “threatening democracy” without any sort of pushback or followup: ROBERT COSTA: Finally here, Senator, President Biden this week is going to make a push on the Supreme Court to reform the Supreme Court. What's really possible there? What's realistic? Give us your real view about whether this can happen this year in a bipartisan way? CHUCK SCHUMER: Of course. Yes. Well, first, let's start off. The Supreme Court is a morass. First, it's an ethical morass. The idea that wealthy individuals, many of them right-wing, can both have -- pay for cases before the Court and at the same time give justices gifts or trips is outrageous. And, frankly, Chief Justice Roberts isn't doing enough to curb it. But it's a morass in even a worse way. This is a MAGA right-wing court. It's already taken the right away, the right to choose. It could very well go further on that. I fear it will. It's siding with the wealthiest of individuals and the powerful interests over the average working family. And it even threatens democracy when it says that a president can get immunity even for certain acts in the presidency. So this Court is just a morass, both ethically and substantively.  COSTA: Thank you, Senator Schumer, we appreciate your time and Face The Nation will be back in one minute. Stay with us. Costa meekly waved Schumer through as he launched broad bribery accusations against the Court, and instigated the next potential attempted assassination of a Supreme Court justice. Costa tossed to commercial rather than checking Schumer for his incendiary language. Has the temperature been sufficiently lowered to everyone’s satisfaction yet? It is worth noting that Schumer did not face significant accountability for his original threats against the Supreme Court, which ended up with an aborted attempt against Justice Brett Kavanaugh: In which Chuck Schumer threatens TWO sitting Associate Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States. pic.twitter.com/pA3mryeVK2 — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) March 4, 2020 Over at CNN, we saw more of the same from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) who went on State of the Union to champion all manner of court-packing and related schemes and to smear the Court as a threat to democracy: PACKAHONTAS: Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) openly calls for packing the Supreme Court, in the name of saving Democracy™. No pushback from Jake Tapper. pic.twitter.com/1OImshMfaf — Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) July 28, 2024 There was also no followup or pushback from host Jake Tapper. Shocker. Let this serve as a reminder that all the talk about “defending democracy” really means “defending our regime”, especially from courts that refuse to enable the left’s continued hollowing out of our institutions in pursuit of total power. Aided and abetted, of course, by a willing Regime Media.  

“Show, don’t tell.” It’s the hallmark of an effective writer, especially of fiction.Over the past ten years, television has become unwatchable. It isn’t just the woke shibboleths hamfistedly thrust into dialogue where they have no natural place, nor the casting gymnastics meant to accommodate Hollywood’s boilerplate racial and gender creed — though those things do remain.'A Family Affair' is surprisingly self-aware for a movie about people in Hollywood written and produced by people in Hollywood. Each character’s narcissism is a punchline at some point or another. No, I’m talking about the fact that just about every show you could stream right now includes truly gratuitous sex scenes. For instance: "Outlander" had come highly recommended on account of an interesting storyline. Imagine my shock when the first season concluded with a gay rape scene, complete with blood and full frontal nudity.When did everything become 1998 HBO but without the barely redeeming quality of interesting writing? Gratuitous sex scenes are a great example of telling rather than showing, despite the fact that they show everything. The artless, sense-degrading spectacle of heaving haunches leaves little room for our imagination and much less for our humanity, instead activating our most lizardlike impulses, narrowing and lowering the mind. This is the exact opposite of what good art is meant to do.Porn kills romance. Against all odds, it seems some writers are waking up to this fact. One recent release on Netflix surprised me by the wholesomeness with which it told a story that was nonetheless sophisticated and aimed at adults. Directed by veteran helmer Richard LaGravenese, "A Family Affair" stars Zac Efron (36) as vain and vacuous action movie star Chris Cole and Joey King as Zara, his long-suffering personal assistant. Zara is a zoomer who hopes to get ahead in the movie business, but for now finds herself stuck in a busy yet low-status role. When Efron’s character comes to her home to apologize for some misbehavior, he finds her mother instead, writer and widow Brooke, played by Nicole Kidman (57). They hit it off sweetly and sincerely — not in the hackneyed cougar-meets-prey way you might imagine. Zara, naturally, opposes the relationship — both for its inherent awkwardness (for her, at least) and for the damage it could to her career prospects. Mostly predictable hijinks, misunderstandings, fights, and reconciliations follow.The movie is cute, and it doesn’t indulge the explicit sexual imagery or messaging I’ve just mentioned, at least not to the degree that so many movies now do as a matter of course. Brooke and Chris, caught in the moment of their chemistry, do rush into bed, but when their dalliance is intercepted by Zara, the cliche “it was just sex” is betrayed and turned on its head by their clearly burgeoning mutual love, which turns out to be sincere, against all odds.It’s also surprisingly self-aware for a movie about people in Hollywood written and produced by people in Hollywood. Each character’s narcissism is a punchline at some point or another. After Cole says something that mildly contradicts current gender orthodoxy, he worries aloud to Zara that it will get him "canceled." The moment as Efron plays it is candid, self-effacing, and surprisingly funny.Another pleasant surprise: that a breezy romantic comedy could handle grief with delicacy and concision. Kidman’s character was widowed by a man who wanted a divorce, and their daughter lionizes him in retrospect. The fear, anguish, and mixed feelings that the situation brings up are written and acted with impressive subtlety.If the only vacation destination you get to this year is your couch, you could do worse than to let this pleasant summer breeze of a romantic comedy take you away.

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In the summer of 1303, while King Edward I of England was campaigning in Scotland, news arrived of a major theft: tens of thousands of pounds worth of silver and gold had been stolen from the royal treasury. This theft took place in the Pix chamber at Westminster Abbey, considered one of the most secure rooms in England at the time. The chamber, originally part of a Benedictine monastery, had been walled off and repurposed as a treasury in the 13th century, housing significant royal regalia and precious items. Edward I was a Strong and Formidable King Whose Presence Once Caused A Man to Die of Fright! Stealing History: 10 of the Most Tragic Artifact Thefts in History King Edward I, also known as Edward Longshanks, had been focused on military campaigns in Scotland, leaving the governance of Westminster in the hands of less reliable officials. This absence led to a decline in security and oversight. John Cich, the Keeper of the Castle at Westminster, and his assistant William, were noted for their negligence and disreputable behavior. Read moreSection: GeneralVideosHistoryRead Later 

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