Jeffrey Wells

“Dogma Lives Loudly Within You”

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The general presumption is that Amy Coney Barrett, a staunchly Catholic “originalist” conservative in the Antonin Scalia mode, is likely to be Trump’s nominee to fill the Supreme Court seat of the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. If Trump was smart he’d pick a moderate rightie, but of course…

Barrett is currently serving on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, lives in South Bend (hello, Mayor Pete!), is married with seven kids (five natural, two adopted), has a thin voice and tiny beady eyes. And the more I read about her the scarier she becomes.

An assessment by Slate‘s Mark Joseph Stern, posted today: “Faced with two plausible readings of a law, fact, or precedent, Barrett always seems to choose the harsher, stingier interpretation.

“Can job applicants sue employers whose policies have a disproportionately deleterious impact on older people? Barrett said no. Should courts halt the deportation of an immigrant who faced torture at home? Barrett said no. Should they protect refugees denied asylum on the basis of xenophobic prejudice? Barrett said no. Should they shield prisoners from unjustified violence by correctional officers? Barrett said no. Should minors be allowed to terminate a pregnancy without telling their parents if a judge has found that they’re mature enough to make the decision? Barrett said no. Should women be permitted to obtain an abortion upon discovering a severe fetal abnormality? Barrett said no.

“There is no question that, if confirmed, Barrett would cast the fifth vote to either hollow out Roe v. Wade or overturn it altogether. Similarly, there is no doubt that Barrett would dramatically expand the Second Amendment, invalidating gun control measures around the country. It’s quite possible, perhaps even likely, that within a year of her confirmation, Americans will be forbidden from terminating a pregnancy in 21 states—but permitted to purchase assault weapons and carry firearms in public in every state.

“Abortion and guns, however, are just the beginning. Barrett’s confirmation would heighten the odds that the Supreme Court will eradicate the entire Affordable Care Act in 2021, stripping health insurance from more than 20 million people. Red states challenged the law after Congress zeroed out the penalty for those who forgo health insurance in 2017, a frivolous challenge that nonetheless found support among conservative judges in the lower courts.”

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Academy Standards, Diversity, Virtue-Signalling

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“Diversity is important, but it’s not the only thing that’s important. It’s also important that we don’t wind up with artists guided less by a creative vision and more by a to–do list. We are talking about a world in which if you want to make the next Schindlers List, the first thing you’ll need to do is give a racial breakdown of all your employees. Does anyone see the irony in that?”

Good Humor

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The NYFF20 poster was designed by John Waters. Easily the coolest Covid-era film festival poster so far. Hats off to Eugene Hernandez.

Sunset Strip Drive-In Experience

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Last night’s open-air screening of Kiss The Ground happened on an upper-level parking lot behind West Hollywood’s Andaz Hotel. It was Hollywood Elsewhere’s first invitational Hollywood screening in six and a half months, and quite the emotional thing. It felt a bit awkward at first, but we all got used to it and loosened up. Thanks to the Allison Jackson Company and 42West (AnnaLee Paolo, Susan Ciccone), who co-hosted. Technical issues abounded but it was all cool. The FM radio band playing the soundtrack kept switching back and forth between 97.7 and 98something. The parking lot power went out twice. The focus and light levels were fine but the aspect ratio was wrong (it should have been 1.85 but they showed a horizontally squeezed 1.37 image.). And then our car battery, drained by listening to the radio without the engine on, began to flash a power warning. I called AAA and 20 minutes later a guy gave us a jump. But it was all good. Awesome to be with people again in a social setting.


Kiss The Ground director Rebecca Tickell.

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Oh, Dear God…

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Beloved Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is gone, and with her any chance of at least a semblance of moderate temperance on the court. I was praying so hard that she would hold on for another five months or so, or until Joe Biden‘s hoped-for inauguration on 1.20.21 along with a distinct possibility that the balance of Congressional power in the Senate might tip in favor of sensible liberal allegiance.

Ginsburg’s death means that another Trump stooge will almost certainly fill her seat. With Ginsburg on the Supreme Court, the bench was split between four liberals (herself, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan), four rabid conservatives (Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh), and the occasionally sensible if right-leaning, Citizen’s United-supporting Chief Justice John Roberts.

Now the Supreme Court will be six-to-three in favor of conservatives. The ballgame is more or less officially over for many years to come with three Trump friendlies on the bench.

Vox: “Justice Ginsburg died believing that Trump is an ‘aberration.’ Her death ensures that he won’t be.”

I recall reading about an alleged discussion between President Obama and Justice Ginsberg, apparently beginning in 2014 or thereabouts, in which Ginsburg might have retired before the end of Obama’s second term and thereby allowed him to nominate a moderate liberal replacement before his term ran out. Ginsberg’s response was essentially “no way, I’m good, forward march.”

Then came Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s refusal to allow confirmation hearings on Obama nominee Merrick Garland in 2016.

Judicially speaking the rights of the Democratic majority in this country and particularly women, anti-corporatists and people of color are now going to be under severe strain for the next 10 to 15 years, at least. The pooch is really screwed.

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Soil Will Save Us

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Last night I saw Josh and Rebecca Tickell‘s Kiss The Ground (Netflix, 9.22), which basically suggests…actually persuades that the only sensible way to save our poisoned planet is to turn to Mother Earth for nourishment, and more specifically to regenerate topsoil by returning as much compost and shit as possible back into the ground — cowshit, steer shit, pigshit, even human shit.

Soil is nothing without natural ingredients, and modern farming techniques (including the use chemical plant-growth additives) only seem to make things worse in the long run.

The technical term is “regenerative agriculture,” which also means increasing biodiversity (which means rotating crops, right?), keeping the soil dark and rich, figuring out ways to improve water supply, enhancing ecosystem services, etc.

The film is based on Josh’s same-titled 2017 book.

The only thing I didn’t feel wonderful about (although I didn’t exactly mind this) are the generic lefty celebrities who appear on-camera to advocate for regenerative farming, etc. I completely agree with the program, but something in me goes “watch it” when Woody Harrelson turns up as the narrator of anything, or when Patricia Arquette, Ian Sommerhalder and Gisele Bündchen are shown strolling around an organic farm and hanging with the employees and whatnot. I wish that that the Tickells had managed to persuade…I don’t know, Arnold Schwarzenegger or someone with a libertarian or green Republican background to make an appearance.

I’m just a West Hollywood guy who lives for column-writing, rumble-hogging, aggressively fast wifi and movies (Bluray + streaming) on my 65-inch HDR Sony 4K, but I understand and support what Kiss The Ground is saying. It makes sense, I mean. Everyone should see it and think about how they live and what they can do, etc.

To be perfectly honest if I were living and working on an organic farm I would draw the line at pooping in buckets and dumping the contents into a hole. I’m sorry but I’m a Nancy Boy at heart and I need my fresh-smelling, deodorized, ultra-antiseptic, Aqua Velva powder room atmosphere to keep body and soul together.

I have no objection if others wish to use the bucket-and-bury approach to building up soil nutrients, but don’t ask me to go there. Please.

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Joe Rogan Dropped The Ball…

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…when he said Joe Biden‘s cognitive issues are worrisome enough to make Rogan want to vote for Donald Trump. Biden is an old guy with some of the usual characteristics**, but he was totally fine during last night’s town hall with Anderson Cooper. His answers were lucid and comprehensive, and he never had a stumbling moment. And he nailed it when he answered a question about health care and veteran benefits, and particularly when he mentioned Trump’s characterization of people who’ve served in the military. I’ve said this before, but I was wrong to call him “Droolin’ Joe” or “Doddering Joe” during the Democratic primaries. I apologize for doing so.

** Are you gonna tell me Trump doesn’t suffer from old-guy issues?

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A Certain Time and Place

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I’ve now watched last night’s all-star Fast Times at Ridgemont High virtual table read. I’m glad Dane Cook successfully produced a fund-raiser for the Sean Penn-fronted CORE and REFORM Alliance (on behalf of efforts to fight COVID-19), and that Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, Julia Roberts, Ray Liotta, Morgan Freeman, John Legend, Henry Golding, Matthew McConaughey, Shia Lebouf, Jimmy Kimmel and others agreed to participate. The gang didn’t read the whole 1982 film (directed by Amy Heckerling, written by Cameron Crowe) but selected highlights. Four million-plus viewers, $135K raised as of this morning, etc.

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Termite Brain

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It was reported yesterday that Twitter has gently disciplined the obviously unhinged Kanye West for some misbehavior on Wednesday night. The principal offense was West posting the phone number of a Forbes editor and urging followers to call him to protest music ownership issues regarding black artists. The penalty was a nickle-and-dime 12-hour Twitter ban, which isn’t even a wrist slap — more like a raised eyebrow.

Twitter didn’t explicitly convey problems with West posting a video of a Grammy award placed inside a toilet with an unseen party (presumably West) peeing on it, but I were Jack Dorsey I would have totally booted his scrambled-brain ass off Twitter for doing that, and I don’t mean for 12 hours.

West also posted a conspiracy theory about how the music industry had killed Prince and Michael Jackson. “We used to diss Michael Jackson the media made us call him crazy…then they killed him,” West tweeted the night before last. “Let’s get it big, bro…you and Michael passed so we can live,” he said in another tweet that featured a photo of Prince.

The man obviously needs help, but because he’s Kanye West he’ll just be indulged and high-fived and even applauded for the cray-cray. Sure.

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