Category Archives: Politically Incorrect

It's on now.

After having a respectably full weekend roster of events in Wilmington for most of this year, the entertainment calendar has officially exploded. Big concerts at Live Oak Bank Pavilion and Greenfield Lake Amphitheater, for starters, plus smaller shows at the area's more intimate venues, breweries, bars and bottle shops.

In addition, all of the area's theatrical stages are full to bursting this week, and throw a very eventful April edition of the Fourth Friday Gallery Night art crawl on top of it all.

Read on for details on these and many other events happening in the Wilmington area this weekend.

ALL WEEKEND

At Thalian Hall's Ruth & Bucky Stein Studio Theatre: With Gen Z's well-documented and very necessary focus on mental health, right now is pretty much the perfect time for staging "Next to Normal," the Pulitzer-Prize-winning musical from 2010 about how one woman's struggle with repressed trauma impacts her entire family.

A rock musical about mental illness might not be the easiest sell, but this excellently staged show from Wilmington's BS Productions and Opera House Theatre Co. is a work of power, beauty and deep emotion that, under the direction of Cathy Street, expertly navigates the complex issues at hand (not to mention the complex vocal harmonies).

Heather Setzler turns in a strong performance as Diana, a woman who has perhaps lost herself as she tries to be a good wife to her relentlessly positive husband (Brent Schraff, excellent) and moody teenage kids (Leah Schraff and Maxwell Korn, both outstanding). An Act One rug pull sends the show into emotional overdrive, but the top-notch cast which includes J. Robert Raines as Diana's rock star doctor and Kellen Hanson as her daughter's caring boyfriend has the singing and acting chops to keep up.

It's essentially an intense family drama liberally salted with humor, with a new-musical style that isn't my personal favorite but which music director Chiaki Ito's band delivers with aplomb.

At times, the cozy studio theater struggles to contain the show's big sound, but Terry Collins' knockout set and Cole Marquis' warm, sometimes-dramatic lighting give the performers a strong visual backdrop. 7:30 p.m. April 27-29, 2 p.m. April 29-30. 910-632-2285.

At Brunswick Little Theatre: Nearly 80 years after making its debut and catapulting Tennessee Williams to fame, this sad but stirring 1944 drama still has the power to captivate.

The play is in good hands at Brunswick Little Theatre in Southport, where it runs through Sunday, with sensitive direction from Victor Gallo. A game cast is led by Carolyn Stringer in the larger-than-life role of Amanda Wingfield, matron of a fading, Depression-era St. Louis family whose fortunes are forever falling thanks to an anxiety-ridden adult daughter, Laura (Jamie Harwood), who can't face the world and a restless adult son, Tom (Josh Bailey), who just wants to escape.

Bailey gives Tom a sardonic world-weariness that's both appealing and tragic, Harwood brings a glittering fragility to the role of Laura and Steven Sullivan lets us see a little bit of the soul hiding beneath the salesmen-slick exterior of Jim, the "gentleman caller" Tom and Amanda finagle into their apartment to woo Laura.

As Amanda, Stringer hits high notes of hilarity on an arc toward sadness as we arrive at the play's devastating dnouement. An ending tweaked for maximum hopefulness isn't really warranted, but it's just the kind of baselessly positive spin that Amanda herself would probably approve of. 7:30 p.m. April 27 and 29, 3 p.m. April 29 and 30.

At DREAMS Center for Arts Education: Original play from Wilmington's Mouths of Babes Theatre Co. has been five years in the making. Built in part from newspaper reports of Wilmington's 1898 coup and massacre, interviews with locals on the legacy of 1898 are also woven into the play. Click here for a full review. 7:30 p.m. April 29 and 2 p.m. April 30.Tickets are $12-$15.

More: Wilmington theater 22 things to do in Wilmington this weekend: Your guide to can't-miss performances

At CFCC Wilson Center: Touring group brings its modern dance stylings to town as part of the Wilson Center's Move! performance series. Invertigo will perform "Formulae & Fairy Tales," a full-length work about World War II codebreaker Alan Turing that's ingeniously blended with the world of Turing's favorite film, Disneys "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." 7:30 p.m. April 27 and 4:30 p.m. April 28, tickets are $25. 910-362-7999.

At CFCC Wilson Center: Wilmington's City Ballet presents this classic piece, a balletic comedy about a small-town wedding that's thrown into chaos when a mysterious young woman appears. With a score performed by a live orchestra. 7 p.m. April 29 and 3 p.m. April 30, tickets are $30. 910-362-7999.

At UNCW's Mainstage Theatre: The University of North Carolina Wilmington's Department of Theatre presents this dark comedy by Mac Wellman about a dystopian, environmentally ravaged world of the future. A student cast of 11 under the direction of Dr. Paul Castagno goes for a vibe that's at once humorous and unsettling.8 p.m. April 27-29, 2 p.m. April 30. Tickets are $6-$15. 910-962-3500.

At CFCC Wilson Center's studio theater: Cape Fear Community College's Department of Fine and Performing Arts presents this historical comedy by Jessica Swale about the women's education and suffrage movement. Set in 1890s England, the story follows a cohort of the first women to attend university in the UK, and their fight to be taken seriously.7 p.m. April 27-29, tickets are $15. 910-362-7999.

At Dead Crow Comedy Room: Edgy New York comic whose style has been described as dark and politically incorrect has an impressive comedy resume that she'll bring to downtown Wilmington's top comedy club. Iapalucci has been featured on late-night talk shows (including Letterman) and on Netflix, and she's got the coveted New Faces of Comedy card from Montreal's esteemed Just for Laughs festival in her pocket. 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. April 28-29, tickets are $18 and $28.

Thirteen-year-old Wilmington actress Elle Graham plays a prominent role in this new movie, out in theaters nationwide and based on the 1970 coming-of-age novel by Judy Blume. Elle plays Nancy Wheeler, the best friend of the title character portrayed by newcomer Abby Ryder Fortson.

More: Wilmington people Wilmington child star of stage and screen has big role in new Judy Blume movie

FRIDAY

Downtown Wilmington: It's a very eventful month for the April installment of this gallery crawl.

At Acme Art on North Fifth Avenue, it's a memorial retrospective exhibit to honor the beloved Wilmington artist Mio Reynolds, who died March 11 at the age of 84. A native of Japan, Reynolds moved to Wilmington in 2006 and quickly caught the eyes (and hearts) of local art fans with her paintings inspired by music, literature and, especially, by other people, who she captured in portraits.

Elsewhere at Fourth Friday this month, "Harmonic Dichotomy" will feature Agnes Preston Brame's figurative work and Katie Antonazzo's abstracts at New Elements Gallery on North Front Street, and the Burgwin-Wright House at Third and Market streets will highlight still lifes, landscapes, abstractions and more from Baltimore artist Greg Stanley. 6-9 p.m. April 28. For a full list of participating galleries, go to ArtsWilmington.org.

At Bourgie Nights: Two top-notch songwriters will be featured at this downtown venue. Durham's Randy Bickford, aka Scivic Rivers, has a warm, darkly honeyed voice and a style that recalls such '70s troubadours as James Taylor.

Sardone has been a part of the Wilmington music scene, off and on, for more than 30 years, and he's an inventive guitarist with the ability to traverse multiple genres, from heavy metal to rockabilly with all stops between. Sardone's latest tunes have something of an '80s pop-rock vibe, and he's got a new EP, "Colors," coming out in July from Wilmington's Fort Lowell Records. 9 p.m. doors, 10 p.m. show April 28, $10 in advance, $15 day of show.

At Greenfield Lake Amphitheater: Longtime Indiana jam band returns to Wilmington for a concert filled with epic improvisation, a blend of musical styles and a few inspired, reworked covers such at The Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)." 6:30 p.m. April 28, tickets start at $49.

At Jengo's Playhouse: This powerful documentary from Jackie Olive, who made the film while an artist in residence at Wilmington's Cucalorus Film Festival, takes on the mysterious case of Lennon Lacy, a Bladenboro teenager who was found dead, hanging from a swingset, in 2014. His death was ruled a suicide, but family members (and others) suspect Lennon was murdered. The film goes on to explore the psychic toll that the long history of lynchings in the South have taken on the Black community. "Always in Season" played the Sundance festival in 2019 and has screened on PBS. 7:30 p.m. April 28, $10.

SATURDAY

At Kenan Auditorium: Longtime American blues and rock bandbrings it Boogie Your Spring Away Tour to the UNCW campus. Little Feat celebrated the 50th anniversary of its founding in 2021 and is probably best known for its 1973 hit "Dixie Chicken." 8 p.m. April 29, tickets start at $61.50.

At Greenfield Lake Amphitheater: North Carolina songwriting legendand piano pounder Ben Folds has about a million clever, well-crafted songs, including "Brick," "Rockin' the Suburbs" and the entire "Over the Hedge" soundtrack. New single "Exhausting Lover" from upcoming New West album "All That Matters" is vintage Folds: lush, funny, endlessly tuneful and a little bit mean. 7 p.m. April 29, tickets are $51.

At Live Oak Bank Pavilion: Mega-popular country singer and songwriter known for such hits as "Fancy Like" and "AA" brings his crowd-pleasing tunes to Wilmington's biggest venue. 6:30 p.m. April 29, tickets start at $35.

At Reggie's 42nd Street Tavern: Semi-annual celebration to honor the life and work of late, legendary Wilmington musician Kevin "Casual Cuz" Davis of the rap-metal band N.U. Deep. Acts on the bill include The Cuz'ins and the Justin Cody Fox Band. 4 p.m. April 29, $10 at the door, cash only.

At Thalian Hall: Given the recent furor over Republicans attempting to ban drag performances in North Carolina and elsewhere, this one-man show from comedian Mike Delamont feels particularly timely. Delamont's touring show has the comic playing God, literally, as he offers various explanations for the Almighty's decisions. 7:30 p.m. April 29, 910-632-2285.

At Bourgie Nights: Chicago act plays a fiery brand of traditional bluegrass that's gotten them featured on stages around the world as part of a U.S. State Department "musical ambassadors" program. Upcoming album "Lead and Iron" features such gems as the quick-picked, exquisitely harmonized "Little Flower." 8 p.m. doors, 9 p.m. show, April 29. $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

SUNDAY

At Thalian Hall: Annual multi-day film festival celebrating Jewish culture, religion and identity continues this weekend. Sunday screenings are "Nora's Will" (1 p.m.), about a man forced to attend to the funeral of his ex-wife, and "Dedication" (4 p.m.), pianistRoger Peltzman's one-man show about how his family was forced to flee the Nazis in Europe, and how Peltzman attempts to channel the musical spirit of a relative who perished in a concentration camp. 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. April 30, 910-632-2285. Screenings continue May 1 and 3.

At Greenfield Lake Yacht Club: UPDATE: Due to expected bad weather, this event has been postponed to May 7. Grand opening for new bar and venue from the team behind downtown's manna and Bourgie Nights. A stacked musical lineup features some of Wilmington's best musicians and songwriters including Jared Michael Cline (2 p.m.), Sean Thomas Gerard (3 p.m.), Asia Daye (4 p.m.), Fred Flynn (5 p.m.), The Jewell Brothers (6 p.m.) and Jesse Stockton (7 p.m.). 2 p.m. April 30, free.

At Ogden Park: UPDATE: Food Truck Rodeo scheduled for Sunday, April 30, has been rescheduled to June 11 due to anticipated bad weather. Annual gathering of area food trucks will feature live tunes and tons of good eats. Get there and get fed. Noon-5 p.m., free.

Original post:
Things to do in Wilmington NC this weekend April 27-30 - StarNewsOnline.com

On Fridays Real Time with Bill Maher, the host argued with his guest Daniel Bessner about race, crime, and poverty. Bessner is an International Studies professor at the University of Washington and a Contributing Editor at the socialist magazine Jacobin. (Full disclosure: Hes also a friend and occasional collaborator of mine.)

Maher said that most murders in Chicago are committed by young Black men killing other young Black men, and asked why Black celebrities arent speaking out about it. Maher and another guest, conservative-leaning economist Glenn Loury, insisted that Chicagos Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson isnt showing moral leadership by speaking out strongly enough about crime.

When Bessner argued that the key to a solution is a more equal distribution of material resources, Maher scoffed. Hasnt the United States already spent lots of money on the war on poverty over the decades? Throwing more money at the problem surely wont solve anything!

Maher has no idea what hes talking about.

The first topic Maher threw to the panel was about gun violence. He mentioned several incidents, including some in Chicago. Bessner suggested that, while some of the other incidents Maher mentioned might have other causes, trends in Chicagoa city thats been particularly afflicted by gang violencewere more linked to social conditions, socioeconomic conditions, the disbelief that there is anywhere to go in terms of improving your lot in society.

Maher immediately dismissed this. You sounds like the Mayor-Elect. Johnson, who recently won Chicagos Mayoral election, is a Chicago Teachers Union activist well to the left of outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot or his runoff opponent Paul Vallas. During the election, Johnson was constantly accused by conservatives and centrists of wanting to defund the police.

Its true that he made a few comments in 2020 that seemed to indicate support for a moderate interpretation of that sloganredirecting some funds currently spent on policing and incarceration to other public services such as community health services that could reduce crimes linked to mental illness.

In more recent years, hes shifted to a both/and perspective, touting both a plan to address the root causes of crime and violence by increasing funding for youth employment programs and expanding mental health services across the city, and a pledge to solve more crimes by adding 200 detectives to the Chicago police department.

The fact that he currently doesnt advocate any sort of budget cuts to the CPDquite the oppositedidnt stop either Lightfoot or Vallas of accusing Johnson of being soft on crime, and Maher repeated that accusation on Friday.

Maher brought up a recent speech where Johnson said that, while he didnt condone violence, he didnt think it was constructive to demonize youth who have been starved of opportunities in their own communities. Maher said that sounded to many people like the Mayor-Elect was making excuses for horrific behavior and Loury interjected that it sounded like that because thats exactly what he was doing.

Cook County commissioner and mayoral candidate Brandon Johnson campaigns a day ahead of the runoff election in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. April 3, 2023.

REUTERS/Jim Vondruska

This led to Maher and Loury agreeing that violent crime is fundamentally a question of moral values. Bessner said that he of course agreed that violence is morally wrong, but if youre going to approach it on the level of policy, you need to attack it at the level of socioeconomics, not culture.

Maher and Loury would have none of this. Instead, they suggested Johnson needs to show moral leadership by condemning the violence more strongly. Most confusingly, Maher also seemed to want moral leadership from random celebrities who share the skin color of the perpetrators and victims, arguing that since most murders in Chicago are a matter of young Black men killing other young Black men, Black celebrities should speak out more to condemn that violence. (I wonder if Maher thinks that somewhere in Chicago, theres a gang member who would stop shooting people tomorrow if only he knew that Chris Rock thinks that shooting people is wrong.)

Both Maher and Loury seemed to think that as things stand law enforcement in Chicagoand perhaps in the country in generalis going easy on criminals. And as Bessner kept bringing up economic factors, Maher dismissively said that the United States has already thrown vast sums of money into the war on poverty.

All of this made me wonder if Maher gets his news from an alternate dimension.

Its absurd to act as if the reason violent crime is so much worse in the United States than in comparably developed nations is that we simply arent throwing the book at criminals with enough force.

I agreelike everyone else does!that violent crime is morally wrong. And Im under no illusions that all crime (or even all violent crime) is caused by exclusively economic factors. Plenty of rich people engage in domestic violence, for example.

But its absurd to act as if the reason violent crime is so much worse in the United States than in comparably developed nations is that we simply arent throwing the book at criminals with enough force. We already have one of the very highest incarceration rates of any society in history. We certainly have a vastly higher incarceration rate, and a harsher system of policing and incarceration across the board, than many European nations that dont come anywhere close to having comparable rates of violent rime.

Focusing on Chicago in particular, Johnson didnt exactly ride into powerin an election, by the way, where he won the majority of the vote in the neighborhoods where street crime is the most seriouson a platform of legalizing murder. He wants to hire 200 more detectives. And the allegedly soft-on-crime Johnson isnt even Mayor yet. Brandon Johnson being too nuanced about the causes of crime is pretty clearly not Chicagos problem.

The evidence is pretty overwhelming that throwing money at the problem in the sense of distributing material resources more equitably throughout the population does dramatically alleviate the crime problem. Even modest increases in the minimum wage and the Earned Income Tax Credit have been shown to reduce recidivism, and theres evidence that increased access to healthcare lowers the crime ratenot exactly shocking given the role of drug abuse and mental health issues in many crimes.

Its true LBJ talked about a war on poverty well over 50 years ago and that some of the programs he created survived in the long term, but the idea that the US has been waging such a war since then is a bad joke.

Beyond that, common sense should tell Maher that its not a coincidence that the number of peopleof any racial or cultural backgroundwho grow up in affluent suburbs and join gangs hovers right around zero.

Its true that LBJ talked about a war on poverty well over 50 years ago and that some of the programs he created survived in the long term, but the idea that the US has been relentlessly waging such a war since then is a bad joke. What other President has even used that phrase? Around thirty years ago, Bill Clinton was saying the oppositethat the era of big government is over. And he followed through with draconian welfare reform that severely rolled back financial assistance to the poor.

That reform was never reversed, and the only major move in the opposite direction since thenBarack Obamas Affordable Care Act, which expanded access to healthcaremerely tinkered with Americas system of mostly private, for-profit healthcare. Even at its height, Americas welfare state was always a pale and stunted thing by global standardsand the absence of powerful labor unions and socialist political parties present in many other advanced nations has meant that theres been nothing to check skyrocketing economic inequality.

Theres a reason why a countries like Norway and Sweden can have both a far more humane and rehabilitation-based criminal justice system than the United States and a tiny fraction of our murder rate. As a glance at the bloody history of these nations will confirm, its not because their cultures are innately more peaceful.

The truth is that the only solution to this problem is precisely to throw money at it by creating a more materially equal society where citizens have their needs met and have a sense of hope about the future.

If you want to hear old jokes about Sarah Palin reheated and served up as jokes about Marjorie Taylor Greene, watch Bill Maher.

I used to be a regular viewer of Real Time and Mahers previous show Politically Incorrect. Fridays show was the perhaps the clearest demonstration Ive seen of the severe limits of Mahers progressivismat least on domestic policy issues.

Maher was popular with liberals during the 2000s when he gave voice to widespread anxieties about the Bush administration and the religious right. His relationship to that base has changed over the decades and these days some of his stances on the pandemic and the culture war have led many progressives to dislike him.

But the truth is that, as Ive written before, his politics havent changed in any significant way. Like other rich California liberals, hes always liked weed, supported gay rights (though he has been widely criticized for his transphobic rants), and thought conservative politicians were idiots. But that doesnt mean hes ever been a leftist in any deeper sense. If you want to hear old jokes about Sarah Palin reheated and served up as jokes about Marjorie Taylor Greene, watch Bill Maher. If you want to hear well-thought-out analysis of whats wrong with our society, thenat least on nights when Daniel Bessner isnt on Bills panelyoure better off changing the channel.

Link:
Bill Maher Is Clueless About Chicago, Guns, and Poverty - The Daily Beast

The R-rated comedy is making a comeback. Jennifer Lawrence's No Hard Feelings is shaping up to be one of the year's most promising comedies, while the Glen Powell-Sydney Sweeney rom-com Anyone But You is setting social media aflame. Overall, the R-rated comedy seems to be thriving after a few years of relative quietness.

The new millennium has been rather kind to this raunchy and hilarious sub-genre, producing some of the best and most memorable entries. From subversive romantic comedies to outlandish war movies, the 21st century has delivered countless incredible R-rated comedies, many of which are on their way to becoming modern classics.

Gene Stupnitski's 2019 comedy Good Boys follows a trio of 12-year-olds on a wild adventure. When Max gets invited to his first kissing party, he relies on his best friends for help. However, things go wrong when the drone they steal to spy on the girls next door gets lost, forcing them to go on a wild hunt to retrieve it before Max's dad finds out it's gone.

RELATED: 10 Modern Rom-Coms Destined To Become Classics

Although it has its fair share of gross-out humor, Godd Boys is a refreshing entry into the R-rated genre thanks to its set-up. A trio of talented actors, led by the reliably awesome Jacob Tremblay, make Good Boys an unforgettable and hilarious comedy with a surprisingly touching message at its center.

Jason Segel's breakout role came with 2008's Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which he also wrote. The film co-stars Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, and Russell Brand and follows a broken-hearted man who travels to Hawaii to recover from his recent breakup. However, things go south when he finds his ex there with her new boyfriend.

Raunchy and hysterical, Forgetting Sarah Marshall is a rom-com disguised as an R-rated comedy. Powered by Segel's vulnerable performance, which walks a fine line between self-pity and gumption, Forgetting Sarah Marshall subverts ideas about masculinity and romance, resulting in a refreshing yet still hilarious look into the complicated dynamics of love and sex.

Queen Latifah, Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Tiffany Haddish star in Malcolm D. Lee's 2017 comedy Girls Trip. The plot centers on four friends who seek to reconnect by going on a trip to the Essence Music Festival, where one will be a keynote speaker.

RELATED: The Best Comedies On Netflix Right Now

Girls Trip's sharp and ridiculously funny screenplay is further elevated by four stellar performances -- with Haddish's outlandish, unforgettable portrayal nearly stealing the whole thing. Moreover, the film is an insightful and heartwarming exploration of female friendship that never forgets to make audiences roll with laughter with plenty of sexual and gross-out jokes that always hit the mark.

Arguably the best war comedy of the 21st century, Tropic Thunder stars an impressive ensemble led by Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. The film follows a crew of pampered Hollywood actors who get dropped into an actual warzone while filming a war movie.

Inflammatory and daring, Tropic Thunder is a brilliant and often scathing satire of Hollywood and the filmmaking industry. Featuring a now-iconic Oscar-nominated performance from Downey Jr. and a scene-stealing turn from a nearly-unrecognizable Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder is funny, shocking, politically incorrect, and absolutely unforgettable.

Future Oscar-nominee Todd Phillips directed perennial Oscar-nominee Bradley Cooper alongside Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis in the chaotic 2009 comedy The Hangover. The plot concerns a group celebrating a bachelor party in Las Vegas who misplace the groom after a particularly wild night they do not recall.

The Hangover is a lawless, cameo-filled wild ride with enough flashes of brilliance to become an instant classic. With a clever screenplay, three stellar performances from its well-chosen leads, and a series of increasingly deranged vignettes that make the most of the film's haywire premise, The Hangover is a near-perfect R-rated romp.

Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe star in Shane Black's neo-noir comedy The Nice Guys. Set in 1977 Los Angeles, the story follows Holland March, an inept PI who joins a brutish enforcer, Jackson Healey, to investigate a young woman's disappearance.

Silly in tone but remarkably clever in storytelling, The Nice Guys is an edgy comedy strengthened by the delirious chemistry between its two leads. The film excels as a love letter to the 70s imbued with Black's trademark black wit to create a unique and endlessly rewatchable mystery that ranks as possibly the best noir comedy of the 21st century.

Few and increasingly rare are the superhero movies that dare to mix genres; the current landscape for comic book adaptations is bleak and homogenous, with few entries willing to take risks or think outside the box. Perhaps that's why 2016's Deadpool was such an overwhelming success.

Ryan Reynolds, in the role he was born to play, stars as the Merc with a Mouth, a mercenary turned vigilante after an experiment leaves him with mutant abilities but horrifically scared. Hysterical, profane, and willingly deranged, Deadpool is a port in a storm of by-the-book comic book adaptations. Propelled by Reynolds' tornado of chaos, the film is a groundbreaking, self-aware, and wickedly entertaining superhero movie that pulls no punches.

Paul Feig always brings out the best in Melissa McCarthy, and 2015's Spy is the perfect example. McCarthy plays Susan Cooper, a shy CIA analyst who becomes an unexpected agent pursuing the stone-cold Bulgarian arms dealer who killed her partner and exposed the agency's database.

RELATED: 10 Best Spy Comedies Of The 21st Century

Spy features a career-best performance from McCarthy, a wild and irreverent delight as the spirited Susan. Coupled with a ludicrous turn from Jason Statham and Rose Byrne's vicious scene-stealing work, Spy becomes an instant spy classic and one of the few R-rated comedies whose bite is far stronger than its already thunderous bark.

Judd Apatow cemented his place as the go-to comedic producer with the 2007 teen comedy Superbad. Jonah Hill and Michael Cera star as Seth and Evan, two high school seniors desperate to lose their virginity before graduation. Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays Fogell, their classmate who winds up having an adventure with two irresponsible police officers.

Awkward but hilarious and surprisingly touching, Superbad is one of the most accurate portrayals of adolescence in any teen movie. The film gave Hill and Cera their breakthrough roles while confirming Apatow as a singular comedic mind unafraid to push boundaries. Offering a clever yet funny look at friendship, Superbad is a classic coming-of-age flick that expertly balances raunchy comedy with earnestness, resulting in a triumphant comedy.

Kristen Wiig's game-changing 2011 comedy Bridesmaids launched a new era for R-rated comedies. The SNL alumni stars as Annie, a down-on-her-luck baker turned jewelry saleswoman whose life unravels after becoming Maid of Honor to her life-long best friend.

Bridesmaids is a work of comedic genius. Shrewd, self-aware, and full of brilliant humor, Bridesmaidsis the perfect marriage between comedy and gravitas, further elevated by an outstanding cast at the top of their game. Melissa McCarthy, in particular, shines in the film as the wild and wacky Megan. Bridesmaids' two Oscar nominations remain two of the most pleasantly out-of-the-box choices the Academy ever made, and the film more than earned them.

NEXT: The 25 Best Comedies Of All Time, Ranked

Link:
10 Best R-Rated Comedies of the 21st Century, Ranked - Collider

What do immigrants from advanced countries really think of Israel? Does it meet their expectations, and to what extent do the conflicts, protests, and new government affect their desire to continue living in Israel? On the occasion of Israel's 75th Independence Day, six immigrants who have integrated into the Israeli hi-tech world reveal how they truly feel about the country.

"I made Aliyah eight years ago, moving to Tel Aviv from New York City. Im originally from San Diego, California. I graduated from Boston University with a degree in Communications, Sociology and Gender Studies.

6 View gallery

Lauren Gumport

(Photo: Omer HaChohen)

My career: I began working in New York City in public relations at one of the top agencies in the U.S., called Ketchum. My clients were Fortune 500 brands including MasterCard and Nestle. When I moved to Israel I entered the hi-tech scene and soon realized that startups are seeking talent to take their brands to American consumers as its a huge market with massive revenue potential.

I began my career in Israel leading communications and PR at Playbuzz (now Ex.co). After three years, I left and went to Guesty, where I was the director of global communications. There I built and executed their global communications strategy. After three years at Guesty, I went to Faye where Im now VP of communications and brand, tasked with educating American consumers on the importance of smart travel insurance while also disrupting the old and boring reputation that travel insurance has gained in the U.S.

I gravitate to the warmth and passion that Israelis exude on a daily basis - both in personal life and in the workplace. Israelis may be the first to yell at you, but theyre also the first to help and protect you. Ive found that as an Olah, youre truly welcomed here with open arms and lifted up by other Olim and Israelis in general.

Is it more intense, more loud and less politically correct here? Yes. Is it also more honest, warm, and more comfortable culturally as a Jewish woman? Also, yes.

Eight years ago, I moved to Tel Aviv with one friend, a job, and not much else. I didn't have a bank account, a phone number, or an apartment.

"The cost of living in Tel Aviv is comparable to that of New York City if youre looking at rent and the cost of eating out and cocktails, for example. However, the quality of living I would say outdoes NYC by far"

It's emotional to look back on what happens when you listen to your gut and take a leap of faith. When you step out of your comfort zone and make an emotional decision rather than a strictly rational one.

Because for all of those Olim choosing to live here, we know it's more of an emotional choice rather than strictly rational. We're driven by the heart and soul, the honesty, the warmth (both in people and weather), the melting pot of cultures and the opportunities. Would it be easier to stay in America? Yes. Would it be more comfortable? Yes. But here we are - many of us - making this wildly beautiful (and somewhat bizarre) place that is so far ahead and at times so far behind, our home.

You cant apply an American mindset to Israeli work culture (or society for that matter). I see many arrive in Israel and start working in hi-tech, expecting annual title changes and promotions. Though common in America - especially if you work at a PR, advertising or marketing agency - thats simply not as common here. There are many times, especially at startups, less layers in work organizations meaning less opportunities for title changes."

Do you feel the difference in terms of pay and cost of living?"When you move to Israel, typically youll take a salary cut - its a completely different country and ecosystem. Thats just the reality. As are high taxes on your hi-tech salary. To be fair, the taxes in NYC and Silicon Valley are also high.

The cost of living in Tel Aviv is comparable to that of New York City if youre looking at rent and the cost of eating out and cocktails, for example. However, the quality of living I would say outdoes NYC by far. Living on the beach and the warm weather personally serve me better. To be able to wake up and walk down to the beach with my dog makes me a more productive and happier person.

You have the most innovative, disruptive brands being built for Americans in Israel - that in itself is incredibly impressive and exciting.

In terms of whats unique about the work culture, in comparison to that in America, I would say that the definition of 'professionalism' differs.

"At every Israeli company Ive worked at, the CEO, C-suite and management team are all available and approachable, and they eat lunch with everyone else"

In the U.S., its considered taboo to discuss politics, religion, rent and minute details of your personal life in the office. Not in Israel. In fact, its welcomed and Id say even expected. What I defined as 'politically incorrect office chat' in America is, in reality, the day-to-day work culture here. This idea takes some adjusting to. It requires you to understand what personal life details and opinions youre comfortable with sharing openly.

Based on this experience, Id say the ability to break past PC or surface-level work chat enables you to build stronger work relationships that translate to personal ones outside the office (but more on that later). And as far as titles go, theyre not as much of a 'thing' here. At every Israeli company Ive worked at, the CEO, C-suite and management team are all available and approachable, and they eat lunch with everyone else.

In addition, the personal is the professional. In Israel, especially in the hi-tech scene in Tel Aviv, many times your co-workers will become your friends outside the office. Speaking for myself, my best friends have come from my jobs but not at first.

As someone who worked in corporate America for years prior to moving here, speaking about my personal life at the office didnt come naturally. And empty statements like 'Great to see you, too, lets grab coffee sometime!' didnt help.

"Would I consider moving back to the U.S. if I got a better offer? Absolutely not. I love my job and my community here"

Whereas thats considered polite in the States, if you say something here, its important to mean it. If you join a social work culture, be prepared for those around you wanting to get to know you on a deeper, more personal level. If you arent open to that, you likely wont get far in Israel.

Based on experience, I can say that these deeper relationships make work more fun. From coffee to after-work drinks to work events, I actually want to hang with my co-workers. This dynamic can increase work satisfaction.

Would I consider moving back to the U.S. if I got a better offer? Absolutely not. I love my job and my community here.

Its a huge passion of mine to continue helping Olim talent make Aliyah and find and launch their careers in Israel. Bringing Jewish talent here is crucial to the future well-being of the country."

Made Aliyah after living in New York for six years. Born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Graduated from UC Berkeley with a major in Electrical Engineering & Computer Science in 2014. Before joining Aporia, he worked at Google AI where he led Google's artificial intelligence initiative, establishing innovative tools for evaluating and monitoring models in production, for including predictive models and was trusted with the visualization of embedded models. In addition, he also previously worked at IBM Watson.

"Although there is more cash in the U.S., in Israel we have free healthcare, better social and professional development opportunities in Israel. Israel's high-tech ecosystem is unique in comparison to the U.S. due to the high number of startups in various niche spaces and industries.

Everything is in close proximity and people are accessible and eager to collaborate. I've grabbed coffee with a number of industry leaders simply by way of a message whereas in the U.S. people are spread out and the distance creates friction.

"Seeing the people here in Israel being heavily involved in politics and making change when things arent 'working right' is incredibly invigorating"

Israel's tech scene is a lot more focused on research, innovation, and development with little emphasis on sales and marketing in comparison to the U.S. The level of leadership, experience, and professionalism due to the mandatory army service in Israel is also very unique to the culture.

Growing up in the U.S., social unrest is not uncommon. However, with that said, seeing the people here in Israel being heavily involved in politics and making change when things arent 'working right' is incredibly invigorating. And as we say here in Israel 'yihye beseder' (everything will be OK), especially with people fighting to ensure we remain a beacon for democracy and innovation.

I wouldn't want to return to the U.S. even if they offered me a higher salary. I didn't come to Israel to make more money. In fact, I took a notable pay cut in exchange for quality of life. I much prefer living by the beach, having access to the market for local foods, and being a proud citizen of the only Jewish state as opposed to having more cash in my bank account."

"My name is Jude Abraham (Yehudah Avraham). I was born in Sri Lanka, raised in New Zealand, and currently live in Kiryat HaSharon here in Israel. Im a husband to a wonderful Israeli woman and a father of three boys.

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Jude Abraham

(Photo: Courtesy of Similarweb)

Professionally, Im currently a content marketer at Similarweb, while remotely studying towards my EMBA at Quantic School of Business and Technology, all amidst the tsunami that is the AI revolution.

I made Aliyah in the summer of 2015 and completed my conversion in the spring of 2016. Prior to Aliyah, I lived in Auckland, New Zealand for 20 years. Both my parents, as well as my younger brother and most of my cousins still live there. I also have an elder brother in California, USA.

I grew up in an Evangelical Christian household. In this sense, I lucked out as my family, especially my father, were huge Zionists. We were very involved in Christian ministry going so far as to minister to other people all around New Zealand. My brothers and I were even in a gospel band performing at many churches and concerts.

However, my family and I eventually grew weary of the politics of Christian ministry and philosophically found inconsistencies between what Christians call the Old Testament (Tanakh) and the Christian New Testament. This led my family and I to adopt a Hebrew Roots belief. I call it Christianity with a Hebrew flavor.

A few years into this, I was working full-time at an Insurance company as a business analyst. However, I felt caged as I had studied marketing at university and didnt get to use any of my creativity. As New Zealand was a small country, finding a marketing role without experience was incredibly difficult. So, I thought of maybe doing some travel and getting this experience overseas as an intern. Traveling was a part of me as I had visited five continents by then.

"As Olim, we are fortunate to face the rather cultural and bureaucratic challenges of today, unlike the early immigrants of the nation who faced existential threats"

A part of the reason was that I was subconsciously looking for a home (without realizing it). Neither New Zealand or Sri Lanka ever felt like home to me. Israel seemed like the natural choice since not only was it the Startup Nation, it also deeply resonated with my belief at the time. Plus, in my religious mind, I thought I could learn a lot about the context of the scriptures I believed in. So I found a small startup in Tel Aviv who took me on as an intern.

The moment I landed in Israel, it just felt like home. Despite not knowing anyone, nor speaking the language. In my heart, it felt like a homecoming. I also really loved the vibe of Israelis who spoke from the heart without pretense. What you see is what you get with Israelis who wear their hearts on their sleeves. To me this was refreshing, especially coming from the Western World where people arent so unapologetically authentic. This is probably why I ended up marrying a Sabra.

I found working with Israelis to be very easy. Once you get over the fact that Israelis dont argue with the person so much as they do about the topic, you can get very far. Nothing is really personal. Everyone just wants the best possible outcome and people will passionately advocate for this. This is the high-tech worlds superpower and why we can build things much faster than our western counterparts.

During my visit here I learned more about Judaism which immediately resonated with me. I had my first seder, attended my first synagogue, and learned about the Talmud. As a Christian, I never knew a person could become a Jew through conversion, nor did I ever have someone question the veracity of Christianity as a religion.

After I finished my internship in Israel I went back to New Zealand with more than a tinge of sadness. If home is where the heart is, I guess I had left my heart in Israel.

"We are a passionate people who never lack conversation. There is no such thing as a boring Israeli"

When I went back to New Zealand, I began looking more into Judaism and even started studying Hebrew online. At some point, I was really struggling with the online Hebrew course and wanted to practice with a Hebrew speaker who maybe wanted to practice their English in return.

So I signed up for a pen pal website where I saw someone who had very similar interests to me. There were no real pictures, simply text. So we started talking and really hit it off from the get-go.

Letters turned into emails, emails turned into social media messages, and messages turned into WhatsApp and video calls. Before long, we realized we had deep feelings for each other. It was bizarre because I didnt even see a photo of her until six months later, but within the first week itself something inside me told me she was the one. Fortunately, she felt the same way.

So, as I was searching for answers, my pen pal just happened to be an observant Jew (dati leumi). She asked questions about my religion I never even considered, and was able to answer my questions with detailed explanations. Over time, I realized Judaism is the truth. And I couldnt live any other way.

I went so far as to get brit milah privately in New Zealand without my family knowing. However, as New Zealand did not have a beit din, I had two options: convert to Judaism in neighboring Australia or try my luck in Israel. To me, Israel was the clear choice.

So I quit my job, bought a ring, and flew here. I actually met my love for the very first time at the airport. We went through quite a journey with beit dins but I was eventually accepted, Baruch HaShem.

So why did I move to Israel? For love. Theres a phrase in the Gemara which says three precious gifts are given only by means of suffering: Torah, Eretz Yisrael, and the World-to-Come.

"As an employee, you feel more empowered to push the status quo. You are trusted to do your job and are not micromanaged. It is a culture of openness to ideas, opinions, and criticism"

The difficulties for me are part of the experience. As Olim, we are fortunate to face the rather cultural and bureaucratic challenges of today, unlike the early immigrants of the nation who faced existential threats.

The main difficulty I faced was the Israeli bureaucracy. I never actually received the typical Aliyah benefits of Olim. In some ways, this helped me appreciate everything more. I also feel very much for the average Israeli who must make do without any of this.

I always say, Olim should be grateful to Israelis. If it werent for the Israelis who choose to live and fight to be here, Diaspora Jews would never have an Israel to come home to.

If you want an interesting life, Israel is the place to be. Israeli society is peculiar. Everyone has an opinion on everything. We are a passionate people who never lack conversation. There is no such thing as a boring Israeli. The beauty of being a nation of opinionated people is that we somehow rarely, if ever, take things personally.

In the professional world, this makes every conversation result oriented as opposed to ego-oriented. People dont beat around the bush or sugarcoat the truth. They tell it like it is. The high-tech mentality is in a word: 'Tachles'.

In Israel, we celebrate initiative. We see the beauty in the attempt regardless of the end result. People can change careers well into their 30s, 40s, and 50s without anyone blinking an eye. We are solution finders as opposed to problem solvers. Original thinking is a way of life.

The truth is that I prefer working with Israelis over any other nationality. With Israelis, I know where everyone stands both personally and professionally. If someone disagrees with me they will say so and explain why. If a projects direction is off course people will speak up. If objectives and outcomes require changes, it is clearly communicated. I never have to guess what a person is thinking. Everyones expectations are clear.

Success is also celebrated and credit is given where it is due. People arent afraid to step up and own their mistakes. Society celebrates risk-takers and innovation is highly rewarded.

As an employee, you feel more empowered to push the status quo. You are trusted to do your job and are not micromanaged. It is a culture of openness to ideas, opinions, and criticism. We all want the best for families, communities, and workplaces. No ones ego is bigger than the greater good. I find this approach refreshing and inspiring.

"I feel much freer on both a personal and professional level here in Israel. I can be my authentic self and genuinely voice my thoughts"

Pretty much everything is different in Israel compared to where I grew up. The food is tastier (and far healthier), the people are much warmer, and the culture is so much more full of life.

People overseas can be nice on the surface, but thats where it often ends. Society there is more cold and apathetic. The downside of everything being overly democratized is that it leads to unnecessary inefficiency with no one taking responsibility. There are no real leaders. People are risk-averse because society is looking at every opportunity to pull them down.

In Israel, no one is going to give you the time of day if they dont like you. Even despite peoples differences, we are more likely to be there for each other. People are more willing to help you out whether or not they know you. We take responsibility for each other. No matter how small people think Israel is, it is even smaller. Everyone knows everyone. Every Jew is a brother or sister. I truly feel that I am part of a larger family. I never feel alone in Israel. Thats the beauty of being in a country which is your home. Youre surrounded by your kindred.

In Western countries, there is enormous pressure to conform and fit in. For example, in New Zealand, locals say it suffers from 'tall poppy syndrome' which means society is so narrow-minded that anyone who stands out is quickly put down. From the outside, youd think it is a liberal utopia, but the reality is people are only open to listening to you as long as you agree with them.

When I was overseas I generally kept quiet over my views and opinions because differences of opinion could easily turn into peoples egos being bruised and personal insults unnecessarily thrown. Youd rarely find people who sit on opposite sides of the political spectrum being your friends for long. Hence why people there sit on the fence and rarely express themselves as everyone is afraid of offending another or being labeled an extremist. You cant really be you when you feel like you have to constantly censor yourself.

I feel much freer on both a personal and professional level here in Israel. I can be my authentic self and genuinely voice my thoughts. Peoples views are more likely to be their own and not the dominant cultures echo chamber. Individuals are heard and their opinions considered for their rationale.

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Chily Fachler

(Photo: Courtesy of AppsFlyer)

"I am married with five kids, two of which are in the army, originally South Africa, emigrated from the UK where I had spent 22 years, in August 2020 in the heart of the COVID pandemic.

I have been in the world of IS for over 25 years, the past 15 in senior management roles mainly in the UK Retail industry, and for five years I was listed in the UKs CIO100 list.

Whilst the fundamentals of working in Israel are similar to working abroad, and there is the expected focus on efficiency, profit and growth, there are major differences in the way these fundamentals are perceived and prioritized and the working culture at play.

The high-tech focus on growth above all else, whilst this has been amended to some extent in the past few months, is like nothing I have experienced before. The pace at which things happen and decisions are taken, and the assertiveness of the business culture is unrelenting.

"The passion of everyone on both sides of the debate shows that the love for Israel as our home, our only home, is not dead"

The companies abroad tend to be more established, and the pace of business is much slower. Whilst this was initially a shock to me, I have enjoyed and embraced it and I cannot imagine working any other way.

In addition the focus on people, and providing our employees with a stimulating, exciting and positive work environment, which AppsFlyer is particularly passionate about, is not something I experienced in Europe, where the culture and the business policies and processes are more old school and less personal.

The particular differences between the UK and Israel could not be more far apart. One needs to look no further than the way people drive, queue, speak (shout) to each other. Israelis are totally out there and nobody ever seems to hold back. No does not mean no it means ask again or ask someone else. People are strong and ambitious and petrified to ever be labeled a sucker (frayer).

"The way people have come out to fight for this country and its democratic values however I feel is proof that Zionism is far from dead and maybe stronger than ever"

The UK was calmer, more polite, more civilized. The stark honesty that you seem to be confronted with every day in Israel can be quite refreshing coming from a country where arguably everyone holds back their true feelings however it is sometimes hard to deal with, especially when you are not used to it.

Having said that I would not want it any other way. The passion of everyone on both sides of the debate shows that the love for Israel as our home, our only home, is not dead.

Sometimes as new Olim, we feel like we are the only Zionists left as Israelis seem less passionately Zionistic and often for example talk of going abroad. The way people have come out to fight for this country and its democratic values however I feel is proof that Zionism is far from dead and maybe stronger than ever."

"I am 40 years old mother of 2 (a 5-year-old daughter and a 3-year-old son). Im originally from Los Angeles, California. My mother was originally from Israel, born in Ramat Gan. Her family left Israel when she was quite young and she always dreamed of returning.

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Tamar Eigler-Hirsh

(Photo: Topline Communications)

After I finished my Ph.D. studies, I came to Israel in the middle of the 2014 war, in order to complete my postdoctoral fellowship at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Soon after arriving to Israel I met my husband Amir, an Israeli and decided to make my Aliyah official in 2015. We live in Givat Shmuel.

At my company ProFuse Technology, we are developing biotechnological solutions to aid the cultivated meat industry enhance muscle creation and reduce prices.

"Life in the laboratory here is very much about teamwork. The people you work with become family, and therefore the work environment is more relaxed and informal"

Israeli society and industry I find to be quite different from American society. Mostly that in American society everything is so formal, very often true intentions are hidden. Here there is no time for formalities. It's all about getting to the point.

About the differences between the industry in the U.S. and Israel I can share that the U.S. and Israel are very different. Life in the laboratory here is very much about teamwork. The people you work with become family, and therefore the work environment is more relaxed and informal. And I find that this same style transitioned into the formation of our company. We are now 10 full-time employees, and are very much a small family.

In U.S. academia, I found the work environment to be quite competitive and threatening, and unpleasant. I think what is wonderful about Israel is that you are two degrees of separation from everyone. Everybody knows everybody, it is a small community. And that creates a feeling of connectedness. And also, we support each other, as we know that the importance for the survival of not just the state but the Jewish people in general.

Read the rest here:
Let's talk tachles: What do Olim truly think of Israel? - Ynetnews

Courtesy photo

Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina has announced the formation of an exploratory committee for his candidacy for president.

You may have noticed that Scott is Black. We may ask, in this woke age of ours, the extent to which this matters in his candidacy.

I think it does matter, which requires some explanation given that I am adamantly opposed to identity politics in all its shapes and forms.

Should Scott run and win, he will not be Americas first Black president. When Americas first Black president, Barack Obama, did run and win, it was widely viewed as a turning point in American history.

Many thought that, at last, the era of racial politics had come to an end. Now, the thinking went, that Americans showed that a Black man could run for and win the presidency, we would move on from our national obsession with race and move on to dealing with issues confronting the nation as they impact every citizen, regardless of race.

But it didnt happen.

The American people twice chose Obama as their president, and today, perhaps more than ever, racial awareness and politics permeate our day-to-day realities.

They permeate practically all political institutions, corporate boardrooms, athletics, universities, K-12 schools and our day-to-day marketplace.

And its why Scotts candidacy is so important and why his race matters.

Early in Obamas first term he traveled to Europe for a NATO meeting, and in the press conference after, he was asked by a reporter from the Financial Times if he believes in American exceptionalism.

For Obama to say yes would have been for him to state in this international forum that there is something unique and special about his country that sets it apart from and above others.

By standards of political correctness, a yes answer would have been most incorrect. Obamas finely tuned political skills immediately kicked in and he answered in a most politically correct way.

I believe in American exceptionalism, he said, just as the Brits believe in British exceptionalism, and the Greeks in Greek exceptionalism.

Americas first Black president is a very politically correct man. And its why his presidency changed nothing regarding racial realities in America.

Tim Scott is not a politically correct man, and it is why his potential presidency can change everything.

He does believe America is exceptional, and he is not afraid to say it. His recent book, America, A Redemption Story: Choosing Hope, Creating Unity, recounts what he has learned growing up poor, becoming a successful businessman and making his way to the U.S. Senate and now, maybe, the presidency.

His personal success story is not about government programs, but about perseverance and grit, only possible with faith and freedom.

Scott is pro-freedom, pro-private property, pro-personal responsibility and initiative and pro-life.

We must understand that the collapse of these core issues and principles, so vital to a genuinely free society, is threatening our nation both domestically and internationally.

As David McCormick and James Cunningham show in their new book, Superpower in Peril: A Battle Plan to Renew America, our collapsing culture is endangering national security, as the Army falls short of recruitment goals with more and more young Americans unwilling or unable to serve.

Tim Scott is Black man in America who knows that this is an exceptional country and that the exceptionalism is rooted in faith and freedom.

Scott understands that out future starts in the hearts and minds of every American citizen of every background and that our future does not start in Washington.

This vital message was lost in the presidency of our first Black president, and great damage was done.

So, Scotts race matters not for woke reasons but for anti-woke reasons.

This is a candidacy that can make all the difference where Barack Obama failed.

Star Parker is president of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education and host of the weekly television show Cure America with Star Parker.

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Parker: Tim Scott and American exceptionalism | News, Sports, Jobs - Daily Herald

Stop dissing Karens and Windsor, Ont. Distroscale

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This article left me with a sick feeling in my stomach and, for lack of a better word, feeling dissed.

Im a middle-aged woman with a blond bob haircut, to quote the article, named Karen. Im also a mother, wife, grief counsellor, educator and community volunteer.

This idea of a Karen or Karenisms has evolved into a negative ideology of middle-aged women perpetuated by the media. It seems discriminatory and I wonder how news agencies can run articles like this without giving any thought to the repercussions on readers especially on readers named Karen.

I wonder: When I introduce myself now and say my name is Karen, will others automatically think Im a bitch or that I feel entitled? Will these assumptions affect perceptions about me in my daily encounters? It isnt just Karens being angry at cashiers or demanding service. Why is Windsor, Ont., perceived like that; what are the underlying factors that created it?

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I am fortunate to have until now not experienced discrimination in my daily life as many others have. After reading this article however, I can only imagine what others in our society experience, on a much deeper level, when dealing with prejudice.

A concerned Karen in Trent Lakes, Ont.

I am the 90-year-old naval son of Rear Admiral Victor Brodeur who, during World War II, was Naval Member of the Canadian Joint Staff in Washington (September 1940 to September 1943) and then commanded Canadas Pacific Coast from September 1943 until the end of the war.

I wistfully recall an honest, hard-hitting WW II CBC Radio whose broadcasts informed, unified and strengthened Canadian resolve to the point that public support for the Canadian war effort was truly phenomenal, helping to create a Royal Canadian Navy that in only four years became the third largest of the Allied navies.

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That CBC richly deserved (and received) respect and accolades, both nationally and internationally, for its wartime and post-World War reporting. It was indeed providing an essential service; its journalism was second to none; and it fully deserved the commensurate government financial support.

That exalted status is no longer warranted!

Commencing in the late 1980s the very nature of reporting changed mightily. The distinguished Canadian journalist George Bain concluded in his 1994 book Gotcha!: How the Media Distort the News, Interpretative reporting has become more designed to affect peoples feelings about issues than their understanding. The purpose of investigative reporting has become less to find out than to denounce. The well-known pack instinct has gone from being expressed in mass attacks and feeding frenzies when scandal occurs to being a sort of systemic groupthink.

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Vice-Admiral (retd) Nigel Brodeur, Victoria, B.C.

I have had enough. Enough of scientists of politics sitting in their professorial armchairs, puffing their proverbial pipes, with their perfect 20/20 hindsight, criticizing scientists of actual science who were tasked with saving hundreds of millions of lives from the most deadly plague of our lifetime, which hit the world with hurricane ferocity. Real scientists who were looking in real time out their windows at a confounding illness that spread across the world in record time, at refrigerated trucks full of corpses and at hospitals turning away patients whose lungs were turning to glass.

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And the complaint about these scientists, who were literally risking their lives, is that they got the messaging wrong. About what? Well not about imprisoning people in quarantine facilities, not about welding doors to apartments shut but worse than all that, about telling people to wear masks. Horror of horrors! Imagine the temerity of asking people to take a precaution that every dental assistant and manicurist uses daily to stop the spread of germs.

So I ask the scientist of politics: have you already cured all of the illnesses infecting political life that you felt the need to add your 3,000 words to condemn this?

Morris Sosnovitch, Toronto

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If indeed there is a desire by the province to return schools to their basic function, education, then parents must show their support. One might argue that we got to where we are today by the concerted actions of a minority within society, and parents went along with it.

Part of the reason parents went along was that they just werent up to dealing with the tyranny of the minority if you didnt submit to what was happening you became an outlier. Parents went along to get along, and now find themselves in a situation where they regret it, and are looking for solutions.

The province appears to be signalling that it is ready to provide solutions and do battle with those would object to any changes. Lets hope parents get behind the province in an effort to return some sanity to an educational system that has clearly lost its way.

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Jeff Spooner, Kinburn, Ont.

Striking public service workers are sitting on a powder keg by demanding to be able to continue working remotely from their homes. Whats to prevent the federal government from sending their work overseas? They could probably get it done much cheaper. And better?

Patrick Delaney, Niagara Falls, Ont.

Public Service Alliance of Canada President Chris Aylward, right, and Alex Silas, centre, picket on Parliament Hill on April 26, 2023, as the strike by federal public servants continues. Photo by Jean Levac / Postmedia News

When a report commissioned by the chief public health officer of Canada reaches the controversial, if not utterly bizarre, conclusion that white supremacy, capitalism, colonialism, and racism are purportedly systemic drivers of negative health outcomes and climate change, scrutiny of the source of the data driving such findings is certainly in order. Not surprisingly, an examination of the study reveals a plethora of flaws and fallacies.

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Overall, the methodology that was used to generate the data set has recognizable limitations. Notably, the selected experts who participated in the exercise represent a veritable whos who of progressive groupthink which, from the get go, set the study up for irredeemable bias rather than objectivity. Incredibly, the reports authors unabashedly proclaim that participation in their project required only some understanding of the broad facets of public health and some understanding of climate change as a health issue as if some understanding confers expertise in matters this important.

The report fails to meet even minimal standards of scientific merit. It qualifies much more as an ideologically driven diatribe rather than a serious attempt to guide government policy.

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Lawrence Hart, Ancaster, Ont.

In 2006, then prime minister Stephen Harper diverted a plane he had flown on to Europe to evacuate Canadians from Lebanon.

Were not sure how many Canadians are still waiting to be evacuated from Sudan but as soon as we can find a parking spot Im sure Foreign Minister Mlanie Joly will convene a meeting of friendshores to do what every other country seems to be capable of doing.

Canada still has friendlies in Afghanistan waiting to be evacuated. Weve learned nothing. I hope everyone remembers these international debacles when the next election comes around and there is a much-needed evacuation of the Prime Ministers Office. Shameful and embarrassing.

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Larry Baswick, Stratford, Ont.

While successive governments deserve criticism for their abysmal leadership on defence, they are sadly responding to the will of voters who do not consider defence spending a priority, or believe it to be inherently un-Canadian.

The reasons for this are multi-faceted, with geography key, but a critical factor is the successful efforts by our intelligentsia and institutions since the 1960s to brand Canada as an internationalist, inherently non-military power, and global leader in peace, in order to distinguish us from the Americans and British.

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Like all nationalist myths, this contains both truth and fiction, but it nonetheless has convinced many Canadians that defence spending is akin to funding the Pentagons wars. While a well-funded Canadian military is an indispensable asset in preserving our sovereignty against our enemies and allies, convincing Canadians of this requires undoing years of well-intentioned, but misguided, nationalist propaganda. Good luck.

Rob Salegio, Calgary

The Canadian Armed Forces are undermanned, underfunded and under-appreciated, retired Lt.-Gen. Michel Maisonneuve wrote in an op-ed this week. Photo by Jeff McIntosh / The Canadian Press

So the Liberal government is giving Volkswagen $13 billion of taxpayers money. Didnt VW plead guilty to three criminal felony counts and pay a US$2.8-billion fine in 2017 because it cheated on emissions tests, then lied to consumers and government agencies about it?

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At least the Liberal government and Volkswagen are on the same page when it comes to ethical behaviour.

Bob Dawson, Sherwood Park, Alta.

Finally, a journalist who exposes the UNs despicable bias and irrational condemnations of the only democratic country in the Middle East Israel. In Terry Glavins excellent article though, he didnt go far enough with regards to UNRWA, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency. Not only has it weaponized the Arab refugees in its battle with Israel, keeping them in abominable conditions and refusing to resettle them, it is, in part, responsible for the surge of terrorism in Israel.

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UNRWAs influence in the Middle East is gigantic. It has a budget of US$1.6 billion, a staff of 29,000 and operates in six countries, overseeing hundreds of schools. Its teaching materials glorify terrorism, demonize Israel and incite genocidal antisemitism. Children as young as three are trained to be soldiers, to hate Israelis and Jews and hero worship terrorists.

Canada, the U.S. and the EU have given over $6 billion to the Palestinian Authority and UNRWA since 2008, with no prior conditions. UNRWA acts with impunity and has declared it has no intention of changing any of its policies.

The Canadian government condemns antisemitism, while funding the purveyors of the worst antisemitism in the world. Our government must suspend founding until UNRWA creates an educational system and social environment that promotes statesmanship rather than terrorism, peace rather than war.

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Doris Epstein, Board member, Canadian Institute for Jewish Research

There is a recent myth, based on the progressive idea that citizens can invent their own truth, that in a modern democracy people are always truthful.

To suggest otherwise is to be politically incorrect, or even hateful.

But from my reading of history, democracy would seem to work as it allows people to make mistakes: That people are fallible rather than infallible. Indeed, more usually, opinions are aligned to theories of one sort or another rather than definite knowledge. That said, politicians are fond of their theories, and with modern communication, political theories that suppress truth give power and influence to the idiotic, as well as the false.

Gordon Watson, Rocky Mountain House, Alta.

National Post and Financial Post welcome letters to the editor (150 words or fewer). Please include your name, address and daytime phone number. Email letters@nationalpost.com. Letters may be edited for length or clarity.

Were expanding and improving our NP Comment section to bring you more of the sharpest opinion writers in the English-speaking world, exclusively for subscribers. Subscribe now for unlimited access to all of our online-only NP Comment content.

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Letters: 'When I say my name is Karen, will others think I'm a b---h?' - National Post

A wives out mystery. John Shakespeare

And on the weekend, embattled celebrity chef, restaurateur and regular MasterChef guest Shannon Bennett held a big blowout at his Byron Bay compound.

Sources tell CBD no expense was spared, with Bennett even constructing a purpose-built stage for DJ duo-for-hire Peking Duk to perform. And it was very much a no women kind of event, so say those in the know.

According to the invitation, someone called Pat would be bringing his beef. And all beer would be donated by Asahi-owned brewers Balter. Sounds like a real fellas moment.

While CBD was keen for more details about what happens when the boys get together, Bennett didnt return our calls or texts.

At least it was all for a good cause, with partygoers required to make a $100 donation to the Healthy Minds Club, a non-profit mens health organisation based in the Northern Rivers.

Bennett has owned a swag of Melbourne eateries since founding his flagship restaurant Vue de monde in 2000. But he ceded control of his hospitality empire in 2020 when he sold his final stake in the Vue Group to the Singapore-based Far East Organisation, owned by billionaire real estate developer brothers Robert and Philip Ng.

Partying aside, it hasnt been a good month for Bennett.

This masthead revealed he had been the subject of restraining orders sought by his then-partner, former Neighbours star Madeleine West, in 2018 and 2020.

The existence of the court orders came to light earlier this month in a tangentially linked hearing at the Byron Bay Local Court, where West unsuccessfully challenged a restraining order filed against her on behalf of Bennetts father. West is appealing against the decision.

The State Library of Victorias annual fundraising push included an item that struck some CBD readers as unusual: a drive to digitise the Sun News Pictorial editions from 1922 and 1954.

The SOS: Save Our Stories digitisation drive aims to preserve and make accessible a historical Melbourne newspaper that for years printed intricate details of our city a project that might not strike many as controversial.

But it carries a slightly different complexion when considering who could chip in and foot the bill other than the general public: News Corp Australia and the Murdochs.

Sun News, of course, was previously owned by the Murdoch family and has subsequently been absorbed into the News Limited media conglomerate that owns Murdoch outlets the Herald Sun and Sky News.

The Sun is the most frequently requested historical resource by Victorians looking to piece together family trees and the like.

Rupert Murdochs media empire has had some other outlays to contend with this year. AP

The fundraising goal, $200,000, is a drop in the ocean for the Murdochs, especially when considering a few expensive outlays of late. Were thinking about the billion-dollar and the cost of Lachlan Murdochs new super-yacht.

Though a spokeswoman for the library wouldnt tell CBD whether it had approached one of the many Murdoch philanthropic organisations to chip in (who discloses money and who is approached is confidential), she said the library approaches the task of documenting history impartially.

State Library Victoria is the trusted keeper of Victorias history, and collects and digitises material without bias. The library exists to make information and knowledge freely accessible, the spokeswoman said.

The Sun News Pictorial is the most requested newspaper, by the Victorian public, to be digitised to Trove, where it will join The Age.

While the library has worked to digitise The Age newspaper editions prior to 1955, the publication has worked with other partners to produce a fuller collection: from the first edition of the paper in 1854 to more recent editions.

The Murdochs have extensive historic ties to the library. The father of Rupert, Keith Murdoch, has a gallery named after him, as well as the Keith Murdoch Oration, which has been delivered in the past by his grandson, Lachlan. Keith was also one of the longest-serving board members.

The Herald Sun has run a series of stories supporting the initiative. News Corp Australia was contacted but did not provide any on-the-record comment.

In this time of cost of living pressures for many, it would be a welcome gesture if the Murdochs or News Corp chipped in.

For months, the Coalition has tied itself in knots over what to do about an Indigenous Voice to parliament.

And despite Opposition Leader Peter Duttons edict that frontbenchers must not campaign for a Yes vote, theres still plenty of debate at a local branch level, where support for the Yes side is strong, even among Liberals.

Next week, the partys Rose Bay branch in NSW will host a debate featuring federal senator Andrew Bragg, a prominent proponent, up against barrister Louise Clegg and arch monarchist David Flint.

Clegg, who is married to shadow treasurer Angus Well Done Taylor, is opposed to the Albanese governments proposal, as is Flint, a former law professor.

High-profile legal figures who oppose the Voice are becoming increasingly scarce, with a group of prominent barristers putting out a joint statement on Wednesday supporting the proposed constitutional amendment.

They included former Australian Bar Association presidents Jennifer Batrouney, KC, Noel Hutley, SC, Dr Matt Collins, KC, Fiona McLeod, SC, Matthew Howard, SC, and Arthur Moses, SC, the latter of whom previously served as president of the Law Council of Australia.

Still, there are a few vocal lawyers on the No side, with Stuart Wood, KC, of Israel Folau fame, out attacking the politically correct NSW Bar Association for taking a position in favour of the Voice.

There might be currency in being politically incorrect as well.

The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the days most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. .

Read more:
Chef Shannons Byron Bay boys-only bash - The Age

Not so long ago, Salman Khan had reasoned why Hindi films were losing out to dubbed versions of South Indian hits. Taking a dig at content-oriented cinema and smart filmmaking as too cool and insisting that they didnt reflect the understanding of what people wanted, he had positioned himself as the friendly neighbourhood big brother or the Bhaijaan of the masses. But as his latest track record at the ticket window shows Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan being his second lowest opening in recent times with some loyalist surge over the weekend the masses have definitely become too cool for him.

For the first time, the man whom Bollywood trusted to generate hundreds of crores so that others could experiment, has lost his equity. And his brand of entertaining fables are anachronistic in a world where flipping jackets mid-air is not about magical realism but an insult to common intelligence. Worst, Khan needs to realise that with his stubborn swag, he has reduced his superhero status to that of a court jester, palatable only to his shrinking constituency.

Its not that Salman Khan didnt know his place to begin with. If anything, the son of scriptwriter Salim Khan, has scripted his career path by being sensible rather than ambitious. While Aamir Khan was for the classes, Salman chose to be with the masses, with Shah Rukh Khan comfortably straddling the bridge in between to complete the Khan trinity. With no pretence of being a great performer, Khan began by being the wide-eyed, next-door slacker, Prem, in Maine Pyar Kiya a loveable mothers son, all brawn on the outside but mush inside. His many projects with Rajshri Productions, which have patented the virtues of virginal love and the sanskaari Great Indian Family, made him the boy everybody wanted to fall in love with. But once SRK as Raja Sahay of Deewana (1992) showed how to wrest his destiny by the dint of conviction, it captured the sentiment of the entire post-liberalisation generation. The loverboy Salman was literally pushed out of his comfort zone.

So, he switched over to the easy sitcom comedic hero mould, mouthing politically incorrect jokes and indulging in the most unabashed silly humour. But it got the front benches rolling with laughter. He didnt mind multi-starrers either; his 1994 flick Andaz Apna Apna with Aamir Khan becoming a cult hit. And when David Dhawan was looking for someone in the post-Govinda era of comedies, that in its time, taught us to laugh out loud mindlessly, Salman stepped in with Judwaa, Biwi No 1 and No Entry. There was romance in Sanjay Leela Bhansalis Khamoshi and Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam but he lost out to stronger performances and storylines. It was also the time when he was struggling with his own bad boy image offscreen, be it the illegal hunting, the hit-and-run cases or the women in his life.

Just when everything seemed to be plunging hard, two things happened the blockbuster remakes of southern films, and Aamir Khan, who with Ghajini transcended his physical limitations by developing six-pack abs. It was then that Salman Khan, who had been beaten low, decided to hit back metaphorically in a quasi-Govinda and a quasi-Rajnikanth mould, blending the best of what had worked in both the north and south, a mofussil Robinhood who broke the law to ensure justice to the common man. This was a territory that neither Aamir, who had monopolised the character hero, or Shah Rukh, still a gossamer dream, fitted into or wanted. Post Wanted (2009) and Dabangg (2010), this single-screen approach paved the way for his Rs 100-crore entry ticket to superstardom. Since then, particularly between 2014 and 2017, films for Salman were about cracking the money-churning formula and being larger than life.

The problem was that he believed he was so larger than life that no other currency would matter. He was the genre. Bajrangi Bhaijaan, about a good natured Hanuman bhakts efforts to reunite people on both sides of the border, front-loaded with emotion and generous dollops of humour, was the perfect time to craft another persona. But Salman, who has helmed the reality TV show Bigg Boss for more than 16 seasons and made himself available to a cross-section of India, trying to be human in their hearts, believed he could still be the arbiter of popular choices, just like he was in his show. Or that its contestants, some of whom feature in his latest films, could bring their own fans to improve bottom lines. So out went the script and the directors, in came the egoism of his persona, some of which may have rescued his fortunes on Eid. However, being Salman is just not it.

What Salman needs to know is that the digital citizen of India has evolved faster than he could build his ageing muscles. With realistic stories from the hinterland and everyday protagonists, enacted by the likes of Rajkumar Rao and Ayushmann Khurrana, becoming big grossers themselves, middle India has been validated and doesnt need advocacy or a champion. It simply wont be patronised. Instagram has empowered everybody to be a stand-up comic for the world. Even in Hollywood, the success of the Avengers series has shown that a solo superhero cannot save the world. The superhero, in its evolutionary journey then, is collective humanity.

What does his multiverse mean for business? Spreading risks through franchises. SRK has got the first mover advantage with Pathaan, an avenger in a borderless world dominated by gaming consoles. Salman is expected to join as Tiger in this collective spy-verse, one among many instead of being the only one. In his latest film, he mouths a pungent cheesy line Matha phodi ka bohot shauq hai na tujhe? Woh kya kehte haibrainstorming. He needs to brainstorm, now. Unless he wants to be dismissed as a poor joke.

rinku.ghosh@expressindia.com

Link:
Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan: Why Salman Khans lone superhero formula doesnt work for the masses anymore - The Indian Express

It was like an unexpected slap across the face. Whapp! Thats what The Tucker Trump Show of April 2023 on FOX News felt like. Whatever I thought was going on in our universe, however I saw the world around me, gone! Blown apart. Sayonara. Whether it was what actually had happened in Afghanistan or what I imagined was the rapidly intensifying and pressing problem of the climate crisis, thanks to Tucker Carlson and his forget I ever said what I said about you, more than an hour-long interview ofactually listening toDonald Trump, well the two of them completely and utterly boggled the mind. Until I figured out what was happening.

Its important to know that pretty much everything about The Tucker Trump Show was about pretending: pretending that Tucker Carlson hadnt thoughtand hadnt said to his FOX-matesthat Donald Trump was a pretty terrible human being, and that, all the while he was saying nice things about Donald Trump on television, deep down, what he would never ever admit to his audience and the world, or say directly to Donald Trump, was that he hated him.

Its darn near impossible that Donald Trump had not seen all the reporting about the Dominion Voting Machine lawsuit against FOX News. I mean it had everything to do with his Stop The Steal delusion and the continuing lies his lawyers, Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell, spread about Dominion machines changing Trump votes to Biden votes. And if he truly had not read the transcripts Dominion provided, he surely saw the reporting in Forbes Magazine. After all, hadnt he spent all that time and energy trying to move up on Forbes list of the wealthiest men?

As long as I can remember, Forbes Magazine was the magazine of the wealthy, the conservatives, and the Republicans. Hadnt they used the tag-line Capitalist Tool! Forget the so-called liberal news outlets like The New York Times or The Washington Post, you could expect them to highlight the internal FOX News documents. But even Forbes put Tucker Carlson at the very top of their latest list: The Most Explosive Comments Fox News Stars Carlson, Ingraham, Hannity And Murdoch Made Off-Camera About Trump And The 2020 Election.

Forbes wrote:

Hundreds of pages ofcourt documentshave beenunsealedas part of Dominions defamation suit, which accuses Fox News of pushing fraud claims involving its voting machines after the 2020 election despite knowing those claims were false.Anchor Tucker Carlson, whos now coming under fire for downplaying the January 6 attacks, said in court filings the Dominion fraud claims were insane and absurd and said far-right attorney Sidney Powell, who pushed the claims, was poison, an unguided missile and dangerous as hell and he hope[s] shes punished.

Carlson also said he had to make the Trump Administration disavow Powells comments, calling her a nut, and said in a text message, Sidney Powell is lying and called her afking b-tch.

Carlson called former President Donald Trump a demonic force, a destroyer and said, What hes good at is destroying things Hes the undisputed world champion of that when an unknown person Carlson was texting with brought up the ex-presidents failed business ventures in January 2021. I hate him passionately, Carlson said about Trump, adding in a January 2021 text message (Emphasis added.)

And so, to get his hours worth of free primetime television on FOX News, all Donald Trump had to do was pretend he didnt know that Tucker Carlson despised himwith the added benefit of knowing how it must have pained Tucker to keep smiling as he appeared to agree with everything the former President said. Not a bad deal for someone running for President.

As for Tucker, the main thing he could not do was let on that he was aware that a good deal of what Donald Trump was saying was bat-shit crazy.

It was a little bit like watching two rattlesnakes trying as hard as they could to pretend they were really sweet bunny rabbits getting ready to help a bunch of poor kids celebrate Easter.

Lets start with Afghanistan. I thought I had a pretty good handle on what had happened there. To more effectively fight our mutual enemy, the Russian invaders, we began by arming the Mujahideen, an Afghani coalition of the Northern Alliance and tribal militias. After Russia withdrew in defeat, the Mujahideen fought amongst themselves, paving the way for the religiously fanatic Taliban to gain ascendancy. We then arrogantly believed we could bribe and/or coerce a variety of corrupt local, then national, officials to effectively fight the Taliban. While, at the same, we embarked on what we imagined was nation-building: trying to transform a rural, tribal-based agrarian economy that encompassed a thriving heroin trade into a modern Western-style democracywith rights for women. So much wasted money on a manufactured army that never matched the crazed militancy of the Taliban. So much American and Afghan blood, and sadly, after multiple failures over many, many years, we realized our time had comeabandoning the women and children and watching as the Taliban rushed back in to rule the land once more.

Unfortunately, theres now an ongoing political game amongst the two major political parties to assign blame for the debacle that was Americas ultimate acceptance of defeat and chaotic departure from the Afghan battlefield. But, the reality is, as factcheck.org explains: President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, were both eager to withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan and end what Biden referred to in his Aug. 16 speech as Americas longest war. (Emphasis added.)

But fact-checks be damned. Donald Trump used his Tucker time to amplify the claim he offered us on April 6, 2023 on his Truth Social account:

And so, Donald Trump offered Tucker Carlson his expanded version of what happened during the Afghanistan withdrawal. Whichno surprisebegins with Biden and the Democrats. Its never easy to transcribe these interviews without a mistake or two, but heres a very close approximation:

TRUMP: What theyre doing is weaponizing the system, and theres never been anything like it and its all disinformation, You see, the other day Afghanistan, uh one of the worst things Ive ever seen. I think the most embarrassing moment that this country has ever had frankly, the way we got out, not the getting out. (Emphasis added.)

Of course, nothing is ever simple in Trumpovia. Because Donald Trump quickly remembered what hes supposed to be against: Hes against the Deep States involvement overseas, against globalization, opposed to helping Ukraine, and he pretty much hates NATO. So, before he criticizes Biden for getting out of Afghanistan, its always necessary to clarify that getting out of Afghanistan is also what he wanted:

TRUMP:We had to get out. It was ridiculous to be there. And I had that so good, so tight, so tough. I spoke to the leader, Abdul. I said, Abdul, if you do anything, youre gonna get hit really hard. Literally, I, even he said

But so why why he goes why oh why do you send me a picture of my house?

I said you have to figure that one out Abdul.

Does anybody remember Ethel Merman? Or, for that matter, Irving Berlin? How about Annie Get Your Gun? Ethel Merman sang Donald Trumps song before he did:

Anything you can do, I can do better.I can do anything better than you.No you cant.Yes I can.No you cant.Yes I can.No you cant.Yes I can, yes I can.

TRUMP: But we didnt have one death in 18 months. He knew. Not one death, and then to see the way we got out. Like we were surrendering, taking the military out first, leaving $85 billion worth of equipment behind, giving up Bagram. I was going to keep Bagram. I was getting out, but not for Afghanistan. Its one hour away from where China makes its nuclear weapons. Its one of the biggest Air Force bases in the world. I think the biggest. With the runways that go 10,000 feet, I was keeping that because of China, not because of Afghanistan.And they left everything. They left at the, the dark of night, they left the lights on, they left the dogs, by the way, you know, the people, they left the dogs.

CARLSON:They left the dogs?

TRUMP:They left the dogs. Everyone, you know, the dog lovers. And you got a lot of them.I love dogs. You love dogs. But they left the dogs. People said, What, one of the first questions I got, what did they do with the dogs? Mostly German shepherds. They left them. What they did, the way they got out, was so horrible.

CARLSON:Okay.

TRUMP:Everybody knows, that was their plan. That had nothing to do with me.I was getting out too. We would have gotten out with strength and dignity.

(Emphasis added.)

So, Tucker Carlson, who once imagined himself a journalist, somehow managed to conveniently forget exactly what it was that Donald Trump certainly never wanted to remember. Tucker was just unable to remember that massively important part of our experience in Afghanistan: the Trump peace Agreement of February 29, 2020. Officially known as the Agreement for Bringing Peace to Afghanistan between the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan which is not recognized by the United States as a state and is known as the Taliban and the United States of America, it called for the complete withdrawal of American forces and a timeline for American forces to leave:

Yes, indeed, the United States, led by President Donald Trump, without even bothering to include our Afghan allies in the process, offered the Taliban a timetable for our withdrawal. And we agreed to withdraw completely from five of our military bases.

Oh, and what proved to be disastrous for the Biden withdrawal, President Trump agreed to release the most dangerous of Taliban prisoner: seasoned guerrilla fighters all the more motivated by their imprisonment to extract vengeance on their American occupiers and, of course, on the Afghan allies of the United States. Someonein the Trump White House Im guessingmade the brilliant decision to brand this prisoner release as a confidence building measure.

It turns out there were some substantial benefits that came as a result of Tucker Carlsons egregious journalistic malpractice. Yes, from his decision not to burden the former president with annoying facts. Because freed from any accountability or fact-checking, this free-range Trump offered up some fabulous gold-plated nuggets, breaking news stuff that we journalists can only dream about.

Lets first acknowledge the remarkable, They left the dogs!

I must admit I have often written about the Afghan War; about the corrupt Afghan politicians with their luxury estates in Kabul and vacation homes around the world; about the incompetent and untrustworthy police and army personnel who routinely extorted money from poor villagers; about the billions in American dollars that managed to magically disappear. But, shame on me, I never wrote about the dogs. I obviously missed their importance in the overall story of Americas war in Afghanistan: the brave German shepherds who never made it onto the giant transport planes rushing to take to the air. They obviously played a more important role in the Trump movie version of the Afghan War than the prisoners he released or the timetable and withdrawal he negotiateda deal that bound the Biden Administration.

I dont know if youve noticed, but, these days, youre likely to be bombarded by TV ads for Draft Kings, Caesars SportsBook, FanDuel, or BetMGM. Nowadays, you can bet on anything 24/7 in an instant. I wonder if Draft Kings offered the opportunity to bet on how much crow Tucker would have to eat.

It began with Tuckers intro:

Good evening and welcome to Tucker Carlson Tonight, a rare venture outside the studio for us coming to you from a wet and windy Palm Beach, Florida, right outside, across the water actually from Mar-a-Lago.

We spent the day there talking to former President Donald Trump. It was his first interview since he was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court exactly one week ago. The Republican front-runner for president arrested by a Democratic prosecutor on political grounds. Something like that has never happened. And we wanted to hear from the man who experienced it. The conversation went in a lot of different directions, heavily on foreign policy. An amazing, really an amazing conversation. Heres how it began. Mr. President, thank you for having us. (Emphasis added.)

Setting the tone, a willing Yes Man, so grateful to get that amazing, really amazing conversation. He is quickly rewarded with They left the dogs scoop. Now, in todays highly competitive TV news game, getting one scoop is amazing. Getting two scoops is incredible. Three, well, thats stupendous. Four, Ive not sure there are words for it.

Then there was Trump on Putin and Ukraine:

I think Putin, who would have never gone into Ukraine when I was there, would have never, I talk to him about it often, would have never, ever done that. When he saw that I wasnt there and he saw these fools, these stupid people, and think of that, the way they left Afghanistan and nobody was fired. I fired a lot of people because if they didnt do a good job at the farm, Id put some of them in. (Emphasis added.)

Could this be the beginning of a major-league FOX News comeback? Talk about patience, about biting your tongue. It couldnt have been easy as free-range Trump went on and on about how Putin would never have gone into Ukraine under his watch. When Tucker, of course, knew that Russia was, in fact, in Ukraine all during the time Donald Trump was in office.

Youve got to think someone in his administrationmaybe Rex Tillerson, his Secretary of State, or James Mattis, his Secretary of Defense, or maybe even Mike Pompeo at the CIAhad given the president a quick heads-up short history of Ukraine. Maybe before their 2018 meeting in Helsinki. Or at least before his perfect call with new President Zelenskyy when he tried to bribe Zelenskyy with the missiles Ukraine needed to fight the Russians in exchange for dirt on Hunter and Joe Biden.

Hopefully, someone had mentioned even in passing that Crimea was Ukraine, explaining what happened in 2014. Maybe to prove it, they showed him the entry in the Encyclopedia Britannica: heavily armed pro-Russian separatists seized government buildings inCrimeaand, with the support of Russian troops, declared independence from the central government inKiev.Russiaformally annexedCrimeain March 2014, a move that was broadly criticized in the West as a gross violation of international law.

But Tucker, by not reminding the former President about Crimea, well, he got himself even more scoops:

CARLSON:Let me ask, you talk[ed] to Putin about Ukraine, what did you say to him?

TRUMP:I could see that he loved it. And I said

CARLSON:He loved Ukraine.

TRUMP:He considers it to be a part of Russia.

CARLSON:Yeah.

TRUMP:I said, not when Im president. We had a very good relationship. He was, I mean, look, I was the worst thing that ever happened to him. I closed up his pipeline. You never heard the words Nord Stream 2 until I came along. Nord Stream 2 was their pipeline.(Emphasis added.)

Wow, who knew that Putin loved Ukraine? Imagine that! He loves the nation hes bombing to smithereens each and every day?

And did Tucker get Donald Trump to tell us that the United States had something to do with the explosion at the Nord Stream pipeline? If that wasnt enough, we learned that Donald Trump would have made some important deals, maybe for some minerals, if it wasnt for the Russia Russia Russia investigation:

And I had a great relationship with him, but it was very tough because they had a fake Russia investigation. And I told them, and he told me, he said, its very hard for us to deal, dont you think? I said, very hard. Because we have a fake investigation that turned out to be a fake for two years that went on. And we could have done very well with Russia. They have great minerals. They have great things that we want. We could have. And they need the money. And they need other things. But that interfered.

That was a terrible thing. And that was actually a treasonous thing to do. Those people should have been arrested. They made it up. They made up a problem with Russia that didnt exist. Now theyve all admitted it didnt exist. It was just onto the next one.

Well, if theres one thing Putin knows a lot about, its arresting people.

So, Tucker got Nord Stream, and then we learned Russia has minerals, and then maybe one of the biggest scoops of all: You know how these last few years so many in Washington, and of course all of the TV News commentators, have been debating which of the foreign nations poses the greatest threat to America with Russia and China, the two most powerful foes, at the top of the list, and the recent nuclear power, North Korea, coming up fast? Well, former President Trump knows something they dont:

I often saythey said to me the other day, one of your fellow journalists said, whos the biggest problem, sir? Is it China? Could it be Russia? Could it be North Korea?

No, I said the biggest problem is from within. Its these sick, radical people from within. (Emphasis added.)

Forget the foreigners. The dangers not over there, but here. We have the most to fear from the Americans. Not just any Americans but these sick, radical people. Meet The Press and Face The Nation, eat your heart out.

You have to give Tucker credit. Hes persistent. After a commercial break, he tried again to talk foreign policy:

CARLSON:[W]ere here to interview the former president and now the Republican front runner, Donald Trump. While the rest of us has spent the last two and a half years arguing about systemic racism and trans rights and other ephemera, other imaginary things, Americas position globally has eroded so fast it defies belief. But Donald Trump has noticed things have really changed since he left office

You said at the time when you were president that going to war with Russia, either hot war or cold war, would drive Russia into an alliance with China. That would displace us as the most powerful nation.

TRUMP:I did. But we have a bigger problem. The bigger problem is the weaponry. The weaponry today is so powerful. This isnt like Second World War, where we have army tanks running around shooting each other. This is weapons the likes of which the world has never seen before. They have them and we have them.

And China has them less, but within five years China will have equal to us. China, Im talkingabout nuclear. China has the beginnings of a very big, very powerful nuclear. Theyre short fiveyears, they had started much later. Russia and us are comparable. Massive power. Massive. And thats one of the things more than people understand.

CARLSON:More than people understand.

TRUMP:Yeah.

CARLSON:Were you surprised?

TRUMP:They understand the power. If you look at Hiroshima, Hiroshima, some people call it. If you look at Nagasaki, you look at those two events took place many many years ago. I multiply that power times 500. Thats what youre talking about. Where it actually melted the granite. You know granite is unmeltable by blow torches.

CARLSON: Yeah.

TRUMP:But the granite, if you look at the granite areas, its like water that got hardened like an ice skating rink. It melted the granite. If you look at that and you multiply it by times 500, thats what youre talking about.

When I listen to people talk about global warming, that the ocean will rise into thenext 300 years by one-eighth of an inch. And they talk about this as our problem.Our big problem is nuclear warming, when nobody even talks about it. The environmentalists talk about all this nonsense in many cases. (Emphasis added.)

This prompted yet another Trumpovian moment. Because, of course, now that hes running again, maybe there are a few Maga-ites who like nature, and birds and fish:

TRUMP:Look, Im an environmentalist also, I guess, in my own way, because Ive done a good job with the environment. But nobody talks about nuclear. The problem. The problem we have, the biggest problem we have in the whole world, its not global warming. Its nuclear warming.

And all it takes is one madman and youre going to have a problem the likes of which the world has never seen. And its only a matter of seconds. You dont have to wait two to three hundred years for it to happen.

CARLSON:So what youre saying is demonstrably true. Why is this not something our leaders talk about or the press talks about?

TRUMP:Because I dont think theyre smart. I dont think they get it. Putin got it. I would talk to him about it all the time. (Emphasis added.)

Kudos to Tucker. Committed to digging himself out of the I Hate The Demonic Trump Hole. No quibbling. No disruptive fact-checking. Not a hint that when it comes to global warming and the rising oceans, the former President might be off by a factor of 270 years and 10 to 12 inches:

Were you one of the lucky ones who watched as the former president of the United States spilled the beans on Nuclear warming? Wheres Draft Kings when you need them? Im betting none of you ever heard that expression before. Who knew so many of the worlds leading scientists have gotten the season wrong? Remember all that research about Nuclear Winter? No? Well, back to Britannica about what nuclear war could bring:

These fireballs would ignite huge uncontrolled fires (firestorms) over any and all cities and forests that were within range of them. Great plumes of smoke, soot, and dust would be sent aloft from these fires, lifted by their own heating to highaltitudeswhere they could drift for weeks before dropping back or being washed out of the atmosphere onto the ground. Several hundred million tons of this smoke and soot would be shepherded by strong west-to-east winds until they would form a uniform belt of particles encircling the Northern Hemisphere from 30 to 60 latitude. These thick black clouds could block out all but a fraction of the Suns light for a period as long as several weeks. Surface temperatures would plunge for a few weeks as a consequence, perhaps by as much as 11 to 22 C (20 to 40 F). The conditions of semidarkness, killing frosts, and subfreezing temperatures, combined with high doses of radiation from nuclear fallout, would interrupt plant photosynthesis and could thus destroy much of the Earths vegetation and animal life. The extreme cold, high radiation levels, and the widespread destruction of industrial, medical, and transportationinfrastructuresalong with food supplies and crops would trigger a massive death toll from starvation, exposure, and disease. A nuclear war could thus reduce the Earths human population to a fraction of its previous numbers.

Could it be that Donald Trump, whose company has been building hotels all over the world, saw something these brilliant scientists must have missed in Hiroshimayes, some people call it Hiroshima: I multiply that power times 500. Thats what youre talking about. Where it actually melted the granite. You know granite is unmeltable by blow torches. Melted granite. Bingo. Nuclear warming.

Still digging out of that hole, Tucker Carlson needs us to know that Donald Trump understood far more about foreign policy than those of us distracted by issues like racism and transgender rights:

CARLSON: We spent more than an hour with Donald Trump today and we were struck throughout the course of the conversation, how his grasp of foreign policy, this man who was supposedly stupid, his understanding of world affairs is so much more nuanced and sophisticated and pro-American than the moronic neocons currently in charge, it was remarkable

Lets send all our ammo to Ukraine. Zelenskyys like Churchill. Okay. Trump disagrees with that. And some of the stories he told us from his time as president were amazing. Trump and Chairman Xi having chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago. Thats the setup, heres the payoff. (Emphasis added.)

TRUMP:Were having dinner at Mar-a-Lago, and he wanted to be at Mar-a-Lago. We had a great weekend. But were having dessert now, beautiful chocolate cake. At Mar-a-Lago, he had his people. I had mine. He was telling me stories about China, the history of China. It was very amazing. Its got an amazing 5,000 years, amazing history.

And President Obama didnt go over the red line, and because of that, Russia took over Syria, and theres a whole big thing, right? You know that. Obama would have done what he said he was going to do because they were killing children. They were killing children with gas bombs by the hundreds, by the thousands in Syria.

And he said, If that happens again, and it happened a number of times and he stillnever went over the line. But I did. So I shot 57 missiles. Almost every one of them hit into a military area, which had a lot of planes, wiped out I got a lot of planes, also had Russian soldiers, by the way.

You know, they say I was so nice to Russia, right? I killed the pipeline. I sadly killed a lot of Russian soldiers, that 500 group, because they were doing things that they werent supposed to.

Nobody writes that, and I dont want them to write it. Im not proud of it, but we did that, as you know. But we shot approximately 57 missiles in

[Xi] had an incredible, Im not allowed to say it, because its very impolite and very politically incorrect. A beautiful, female interpreter. She was very beautiful. Today, if you say it, theyll say,This is terrible, youre not allowed to say that. But she was very professional. She spoke every word for him, very professional

But I said to him, a general came up and said, Do we do it now? I said, Yeah, you have to do it now. So I gave the order during dinner. Then I said, Well, do I tell him? Because theyre very closely associated with Syria. Do I tell him, Now? Or do I wait till he finds out after dinner? Because you have about 28 minutes before they hit.

So I said, President, weve just fired approximately 57 missiles into Syria, into a base. The missiles are on their way right now. He looked at me and goes, Repeat. Thats the only time hes ever said it. So I think he speaks English. The only word. He never said hello or goodbye. He only said, he only dealt through an interpreter. The only word I ever heard him say was repeat. Thats an unusual word.

Thats what we learned about China. But what about Russia:

TRUMP:Russia right now is making massive amounts of ammunition. Sounds simple, right? Theyre making massive beyond anything theyve ever made before. We dont have any ammunition. Weve given it to Ukraine. Were not prepared to fight. I rebuilt our military. New planes, new tanks, new everything. Theyve taken the military that Ive rebuilt and theyve given it all to Ukraine. I mean massive amounts. (Emphasis added.)

In case FOX viewers missed the importance of what The Trump/Tucker Conversation had accomplished, Tucker was kind enough to provide a re-cap the next night:

So the takeaway from the interview we did with Trump yesterday was whatever you think of his answers, the conversation was about real topics. It was not about global warming or systemic racism or trans rights. It was about nuclear war, the U.S. dollar and its strength against other currencies, our trade balance, the things that actually define a country. They told you he was crazy for all these years, but why is he the only one talking about these things? (Emphasis added.)

Why indeed? Lucky for us, Tucker still had more to offer. First, back to Nord Stream:

CARLSON:By the way, this administration just committed the single most profound act of environmental terrorism blowing up Western Europes natural gas pipeline and sending more CO2 into the atmosphere than has ever been emitted into the atmosphere. Huh, they wont admit that they did that, they did do it. We asked Donald Trump who he thinks did it. Well show you his response in just a moment

Well, it took more than a moment, because Tucker had additional guests, and FOX had additional commercials, but eventually heres what we learned:

CARLSON:So the destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline, the natural gas pipeline that carried, well, natural gas from east to Western Europe was the single most profound act of environmental terrorism in history. It released more deadly CO2 into the atmosphere. It was also an attack on our NATO allies. Our NATO allies were the beneficiaries of the natural gas pipeline. Germany, which is the core of European NATO, suffered.

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THE OTHER SIDE: They left the dogsThe Tucker Trump Show - theberkshireedge.com

While their show has been off the air for more than a decade, Kenny Hotz and Spencer Rice are, for the most part, up to their same old antics.

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The stars of the provocative and, at times, wildly offensive Canadian television hit Kenny vs. Spenny admit that while the show hasnt aged particularly well, theyre still playing the same old schtick Hotz continues to mercilessly mock and humiliate Rice for laughs, while Rice endures the dressing down for a paycheque.

For those who need a refresher, Kenny vs. Spenny centred around the pair, who were living as roommates in Toronto at the time. They would challenge each other to absurd and ridiculous competitions of the will. Whoever lost was subjected to mean-spirited humiliation as punishment.

Since the series wrapped in 2010, the comedic duo has been travelling off-and-on, bringing their live stage shows to audiences across North America. Now, theyre hitting the road on the East Coast of Canada with a live stand-up comedy special to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the show.

Global News sat down with the pair to discuss what fans can expect at a live show, how their comedy has changed over the years, the legacy of Kenny vs. Spenny and why they consider themselves to be uncancellable.

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(You can watch a video of the interview, above, but here is a snippet of the conversation.)

Global News: What does a live show look like? How does it differ from what you guys did on the show?Rice: Everyone wants us to compete but that would not work without the bells and whistles of a television production team. But its a very personal show, as weve known each other forever our fathers were friends and (Hotz) knows everything about me, unfortunately, and I know everything about him. And its really, fundamentally, just me trying to survive in a very hostile environment.

I dont like the fans, they dont like me, they love Kenny so thats what I deal with.

Hotz: I kind of disagree with the competitive aspect. I think were both instinctually competing to be more loved. Maybe not Spencer, so much, because I totally overpower him and push his buttons, but the show is about you spending a night with us as though we were spending a night together in your basement.

We basically try to do everything in our power to make the audience laugh. I throw Spencer under the bus, I make him angry, the audience laughs and the more the audience laughs, the angrier he gets with them. My job is to make the audience hate Spencer as much as he hates them and once that happens, it escalates into something extremely unique for a live comedy show.

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We have a very unique demographic and cult-ish group of fans who grew up with us. When we started comedy in Canada, the comedy was mostly politics based and there wasnt a lot of comedy outside that.

Rice: We dont do (former Ontario premier) Dalton McGuinty jokes, is what Kennys trying to say.

A lot of people watched the show when I was in a phase of my life where I was trying to do good trying to save the world, trying to be a good person and use our platform properly.

But when the live show came around, Kenny, quite amazingly with his memory, remembers before the television show, when I wasnt such a good guy I was actually a terrible person. So, he uses those stories to rile me up, so the audience gets to see a side of me that never made the show.

Hotz: I try to expose and eviscerate him on stage as being a monster, try to get him cancelled, try to use the #MeToo movement to help destroy him. But for this show, the 20th-anniversary show, Ive systematically gone into drives and old footage and pulled out the stuff I, frankly, cant even believe theyre letting us show. Its very, very abrasive content that didnt even clear the broadcasters at the time of the television show. Its insanely graphic and controversial.

Rice: Without my consultation, hes picked clips that make me look particularly bad, but the funny thing is that hes chosen clips of himself that make him look bad. Its a mish-mash of self-deprecation and male ego on full display.

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GN: You can look back on the television footage and see why broadcasters and streaming services would now be hesitant to syndicate the old episodes. Its so wildly inappropriate for todays standards, but it wasnt really like that at the time it aired.Rice: The content thats not appreciated anymore but it was at the time its frustrating for me, because Kennys sense of humour is a shock sense of humour which means he has to say things and wants to say things that are politically incorrect. But Ive known Kenny my whole life and hes not homophobic, hes not racist, hes none of those things that people think he is from seeing his character on the show.

Hotz: Of course Im not! My best friend is!

Rice: Yeah, yeah. Shut up, Kenny. But, yeah, Ive always asked myself, What should we do? Do we clean up the act? But, no. We dont. We do what weve always done, knowing in our hearts that were good people.

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Hotz: We continue to do the live show, we continue coming back, because we have a rabid group of international fans that wont let the show die. Weve tried to let it die.

People have to realize the show started at a time that the internet was just being born, it was the inception of social media. I mean, I started Kenny vs. Spenny on MySpace. Our studio claims that our show was one of the forefounders of YouTube-style comedy where you prank your friends and screw with your folks.

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We were some of the first to expose the fragility of the male ego, to expose just how stupid men are.

Rice: And were hot.

Hotz: Yes, we were very hot. I looked like George Clooney, now I look like George Clooney waiting for a kidney. Spencer looks like Slash married Salad Fingers.

Rice: The dynamic you see between us in the show and, now, in the live show, is very much how we are in real life.

Hotz: In reality, the competitions didnt matter as much as who we were as individuals and our dynamic. The show really juxtaposed happy vs. unhappy, or I care vs. I dont care Spenny cared, I didnt and its a show that glorified a cheater in a country where were all so kind and moral. Everyones lived vicariously through us because were just so sick of being polite.

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GN: What are you looking forward to on the East Coast?Hotz: Getting away from our families.

Rice: *making a claw gesture with both hands* Lobster.

Seriously, though, Im not going to kiss a fish, no matter what anybody says.

Hotz: Your wifes not coming?

Rice: Shut up, Kenny.

Hotz: I drove out there once to score some hash and now Ive been going there for many, many years. I love it out there.

Fans can catch Rice and Hotzs show, now on tour, in the following locations:April 27: Summerside, P.E.I., at the Harbourfront TheatreApril 28: Fredericton, N.B. at the Fredericton PlayhouseApril 29: Moncton, N.B. at the Tide & BoarApril 30: Saint John, N.B. at the Imperial TheatreMay 10: Halifax, N.S., at the Spatz TheatreMay 11: Truro, N.S., at the MacDonald RoomMay 12: St. Johns, N.L., at the Holy Heart TheatreMay 13: Corner Brook, N.L., at Marble Mountain Resort

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Full episodes of Kenny vs. Spenny are available on YouTube.

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Kenny vs. Spenny: Iconic Canadian frenemies prove some things never change - Global News