Movies
The offshoring of conscience
by David Benjamin “We are going to have a long-term worker shortage. So, bringing back high-labor content products doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.” — Sen. Ron Johnson MADISON, Wis. — One of the capitalists myths punctured by the Covid-19 pandemic was the efficiency of the global supply chain, which allowed corporations to…
Read MoreAbominable masterpiece
by David Benjamin “The Negro race has had enough trouble, more than enough of its share of injustice, oppression, tragedy, suffering and sorrow. And because of the social progress which Negroes achieved in the face of these handicaps, it is best that The Birth of a Nation in its present form be withheld from public…
Read MoreThe old razzle dazzle
by David Benjamin “‘I think that livestreaming this attack gives me some motivation in the way that I know that some people will be cheering for me,’” ― Payton Gendron MADISON, Wis. — An unencrypted smartphone dialog intercepted by an undisclosed federal agency after white-panic gunman Payton Gendron murdered ten Black Americans at the Tops…
Read MoreDodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge
by David Benjamin “You could be walking around lucky, and not even know it.” — Jay Trotter (Richard Dreyfuss) Let It Ride MADISON, Wis. — As I left a little Cape Cod movie house after my first viewing of Breaking Away, I sensed (dimly) that I’d just seen one of my favorite flicks of all…
Read MoreJames Bond attacked by pigeons
by David Benjamin “Professor Henry Jones: ‘If only I could have been there with you.’ “Indiana Jones: ‘There were rats, Dad.’ “Prof. Jones: [Startled] ‘Rats?’” — Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade MADISON, Wis. — Picture this. James Bond slips out the window of the most luxurious hotel in, say, Monte Carlo. He clambers off…
Read MoreTarzan’s Twin Cities Adventure
by David Benjamin “In the colonial countries… the policeman and the soldier, by their immediate presence and their frequent and direct action maintain contact with the native and advise him by means of rifle butts and napalm not to budge. It is obvious here that the agents of government speak the language of pure force.”…
Read MoreA vast eggshell of iron and glass
by David Benjamin “I shall always identify Washington with that huge… towering bulge of pure white… [that] vast eggshell, built of iron and glass… a beauty and genuine success.” — Walt Whitman MADISON, Wis. — This week, on the feast of the Epiphany, we learned perhaps why Walt Whitman described the Capitol Dome as an…
Read MoreThe Unthinkables
The Unthinkables By David Benjamin “I’m gonna tell you something. Somebody messes with me, I’m gonna mess with with him.” —Al “Scarface” Capone “When people wrong you, go after those people, because it is a good feeling. And because other people will see you doing it. I always get even.” — Donny “Pink Eyes” Trump…
Read MoreOnly the white guys live forever
Only the white guys live forever By David Benjamin “We here have little chance for glory or advancement. While some of our brother officers are leading their well-publicized campaigns against the great Indian nations — the Sioux and the Cheyenne — we are asked to ward off the gnat stings and flea bites of a…
Read MoreMake America Gangland Again
Make America Gangland Again By David Benjamin “To me being a gangster was better than being president of the United States.” — Ray Liotta (Henry Hill) in Goodfellas (1990) PARIS — It’s a photo that’s been sticking in my memory — Donald Trump toddling along meekly beside North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, blessing the…
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