Thursday, July 05, 2018

Scott Pruitt is out and other Thursday Thoughts







The #LiarInChief says that Mr. Pruitt did an outstanding job.  Is he referred to the number of investigations into Pruitt's alleged unethical behavior during his tenure as EPA Administrator?  CNN recently reported that there were 14 federal investigations into Pruitt and his actions at the EPA; and that was before they broke a story alleging that Pruitt's calendars were altered in an attempt to hide "secret" meetings he was involved with.

The New York Times reported that an aide to Pruitt was fired for refusing to alter his calendar after EPA lawyers advised her that doing that could be illegal.  They also reported that she was paid six weeks of severance, which might also be illegal.

The Washington Post reported that Pruitt asked an aide to find his wife a job with a salary of at least $200,000 annually.  They also reported that he emailed the head of Chick-Fil-A to try to get a franchise for his wife.

You can read the details of other allegations against Pruitt here.  If this is what the #MoronInChief considers a great job, I'd hate to see what he considers a poor performance.

Except that what Trump considers the great job is damaging the environment, possibly for decades; in support of business interests.  He had the agency wipe its website of climate-change related content.  He directed that the agency shelve vehicle-emissions standards and sought to reverse the Obama Administration's efforts to turn to "clean" power.

This is NOT winning.

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Scarlett Johansson told critics of her being cast as Dante "Tex" Gill to contact the reps for Felicity Huffman, Jared Leto and Jeffrey Tambor.  All three earned rave reviews for portraying transgendered people in film and television.  Gill was born Lois Jean Gill and lived as a man.

Two years ago, ScarJo faced similar backlash when she was cast as the titular character in Ghost in the Shell. Considering the character originated as an Asian woman in it original manga incarnation, this was called "whitewashing" and a few less-easily printed terms.  ScarJo gave a solid performance but the film delivered mediocre results at best in terms of box office performance.

Now ScarJo is being asked to portray a transman and the backlash is worse than before.  Transpeople argue that no cis gender actor can truly understand their lives, and therefore cannot give a truly accurate portrayal of them.  Considering that transpeople don't get cast very often as cis gender characters, why not give them first crack as portraying transgendered characters.  Or real transgendered people in biopics like this one, titled "Rub & Tug."

There could be an argument if ScarJo were a guarantee of stellar box office receipts, but that isn't the case.  Aside from 2014's Lucy, she hasn't been the lead actress in a big hit in recent years.  Yes, she is part of ensemble casts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe where big money is made, but it isn't because of her.  She's just one piece of that puzzle.  So the argument that she can open a film isn't in play here.

Can a transperson do a better job of playing a transperson on the screen?  Almost certainly.  Will people go to see that movie?  That's a tougher question.  But it is worth trying.

* * *

There are always two sides to every story.

Kino Martinez grabbed a MAGA hat off of a teen's head in a Texas Whataburger and threw a soft-drink in the teen's face.  That is not in dispute.



He lost his job.  He claims he was provoked by what the teens were saying prior to his grabbing the hat and throwing the drink.



If the teens were saying what he claims they were saying, it would certainly be upsetting.  There is one anonymous witness who backs up Martinez's claims regarding the statements made by the teens. But those racist remarks don't justify what Martinez did.

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Random Ponderings:

When David Foster marries Katharine McPhee it will be his fifth marriage.  He'll tie Eva Gabor, Dennis Hopper, Billy Bob Thorton and Joan Collins.  He'd need to get to six marriages to tie Eva's sister Magda.  But he'd need to get to nine to tie the current record-holder for most celebrity marriages, their sister Zsa-Zsa.  Here's hoping that for Mr. Foster, fifth time is a charm.

I don't know if an agent firing a client is patriotic, but I can understand why the agent for James Woods made the choice he made.

The Lakers believe that people in Lonzo Ball's circle leaked out the news of the torn meniscus in his left knee, in order to reduce his value in any potential trade.  That's what several outlets are reporting anyway.  It doesn't make sense to me.  Any team involved in a trade would have insisted on a physical, which he would have failed.  Then again, are the Lakers looking to reduce the drama for the upcoming LeBron James era?  That I believe.

Joseph Munno is the principal of Rochester, NY's University Preparatory Charter School for Young Men.  He has some explaining to do after he forbade the first African-American valedictorian in the school's history from delivering his valedictory address.

I leave you with a few celebrity July 4th tweets:

















posted by me at 9:53 PM