Unforgotten and White Lotus

It's definitely time for me to get back to radio and TV, for myself as well as those readers who have requested it.  I have just finished four seasons of Unforgotten and the first season of White Lotus.  I have stated my preference elsewhere for TV shows that are mostly the result of one or two creative people, to avoid the David Thomson question of who directed Ozark (there have been nine directors; Jason Bateman directed the most, 10):  Mike White wrote and directed all six episodes of this year's White Lotus, Chris Lang wrote and Andy Wilson directed all 24 episodes of Unforgotten (2015-2021).

Unforgotten is a rigorous British police procedural, beautifully written, directed and cast.  Cassie Stuart (played by Nicola Walker) and Sunny Khan (Sajeer Baskar) handle cases of recently discovered corpses that may have been murdered, most of them thirty years ago or more, one corpse per season of six episodes: a body buried in a concrete floor; a body dismembered, put in a suite case and thrown in a river; a school girl buried near a highway;  a headless and handless body found in a discarded refrigerator.  Each season is devoted to a meticulous inquiry into the dead person's life and death.  Cassie and Sunny work closely together, with the help of a team that knows how to research the lives and histories of the suspects, about half a dozen per season.  They quickly learn that everyone has their reasons, as Jean Renoir intelligently said, and some of the victims may indeed have deserved killing.  Though the basic formula of each season is the same and focuses on London there are many different characters and many parts of the British Isles explored.

White Lotus takes place at an expensive resort on an isolated island, accessible only by boat, in Hawaii (it was filmed on Maui).  The wealthy guests take their importance for granted, while the staff resents them and their condescension. The guests, well cast, include a family with a son and daughter and the daughter's friend, an older self-pitying woman who carries around her mother's ashes, a honeymooning couple where the mother of the groom shows up for a time.  The staff includes the manager, the woman who runs the spa and various locals, including Kai, a native islander who Olivia's friend Paula helps to rob a family as payback for the resort theft of native land.  The show works on many different levels, everyone being objects of satire and sympathy, as the tourists take their own privlege seriously while creator Mike White explores elements of age and race, colonialism and exploitation, all to an effective musical score by Cristobal Tapia de Veer, influenced by indigenous songs and instruments.

NYC Mayoral Debate May 13, 2021

 There was not a great of difference among the candidates in the NYC mayoral debate.  All the candidates are in favor of desegregation, limiting policing and using more mental-health professionals, more affordable housing, better public schools (including more teachers), supporting small businesses and encouraging the return of tourism to New York.  There were few precise suggestions about how to accomplish all these goals.  Everyone except Kathryn Garcia and Andrew Yang would do away with the single-test criterion for the specialized high schools, most would require teachers to be vaccinated but not teachers.  All agreed that safety, jobs and poverty were key concerns.  The candidates:

Andrew Yang:  attacked for his lack of government experience, says that a new vision is needed.

Eric Adams: former policeman, still in favor of limited stop-and-frisk.

Raymond McQuire: wall street executive, advocating free child care.

Scott Stringer:  NYC Comptroller, advocated two teachers in each classroom.

Maya Wiley:  Maya Wiley, lawyer and civil rights activist, wants a "new deal" for New York City.

Kathryn Garcia: was commissioner of Sanitation and head of NYC Housing Authority.  Knows how to get things done.

Shaun Donovan:  secretary of HUD under Obama, financed by his father.

Dianne Morales: experience with educational non-profits, wants to reduce police budget.

Trump/Biden Debate Oct. 22, 2020

 More of the same, though less bluster from Trump.  Some important points.

Trump doesn't realize that Americans are no longer afraid of "socialist medicine," as they have become aware of how effective it is in every other civilized country.  Trump also claims that 180 million Americans are happy with their health insurance.  This number has probably gone down, as many people have lost their jobs and therefore their insurance, but in any case I don't believe most people are "happy" with their insurance, with constant refusals to pay doctors -- in the hope that most people won't contest it and even if they do it might be sent to collection and harm one's credit -- along with high deductibles and co-pays.  In any case Biden wants to expand on Obamacare with a public option, not to switch to single-payer healthcare, though I hope personally that will eventually lead to single-payer.

No matter how many times Trump is debunked he still claims that Biden, via his son Hunter, is corrupt.  Trump has "forgotten" his own attempt to extort Ukraine by withholding aid until they prove wrongdoing on the part of the Bidens.  Meanwhile Trump continues to make money with the help of his presidency.

Trump continues to claim that "we are turning the corner on Covid-19," even though spikes continue everywhere, and not just in cities and states with Democratic mayors and governors.  And Trump continues to insist that schools open, even though many of those that have opened have had to close again because of the virus. 

Trump claims he has done more for Blacks than any other president, with the possible exception of Lincoln, as he continues his dog whistles to suburban women and others.  

Trump claims that a successful economy will "bring people together" while Biden says he will be president for everyone from every state, not just red or blue.

Harris/Pence "debate" Oct. 7, 2020

Pence showed skill at avoiding questions and making bland comments that everything is okay because of the current administration "unleashing" (his favorite word of the night) of everyone and everything, especially regulations.  He was essentially saying that leadership in the current pandemic was not required because of the administration's faith in the American people. Pence said, among other things, that Trump "reveres" our military, though he did not deny that Trump had called members of the military "suckers and losers."  He said that the president believes in insurance for those with pre-existing conditions, even thought the administration is trying to get the Affordable Care Act declared unconstitutional, and said that the administration had a better and cheaper version of healthcare, even though the president has been saying this for five years and no plan has ever been actually prepared.  And Pence said there was no way Trump could support white supremacy and anti-Semitism because he has Jewish grandchildren!  And, of course, Pence dodged the question of climate change, saying that there was bad forest management in California and that there are no more hurricanes than there were one hundred years ago.

Harris effectively emphasized foreign policy, saying that the current administration has "betrayed our friends and embraced our enemies" and healthcare, pointing out that the current administration wants to gut the Affordable Care act in the midst of a pandemic.  Harris also said that the Biden administration would not increase taxes on anyone earning under $400,000, though she could have explained more carefully how they were going to repeal the president's "tax cut" without affecting anyone other than the wealthy and corporations.  And as far as jobs go the current administration will end up with fewer jobs than they started with.  Harris also said that changes need to be made in our justice system while Pence said he "had trust" in it.

Harris kept her cool, getting somewhat amused by Pence's lies and evasions, though I might have preferred her to call him out more.

Biden/Trump Debate Sept. 29, 2020

 This so-called debate was a depressing performance: Trump could not stop interrupting with irrelevancies and moderator Chris Wallace couldn't do much to moderate things.  A couple of points:

1. Trump asserted he paid "millions of dollars" in federal taxes in 2016 and 2017 but still will not release his tax forms, even though his own IRS commissioner says that he can do so.

2. Trump suggested Biden is not "smart" because of his relationship with Delaware State, an historical Black college where Biden has received support.  It is unclear what Trump actually meant here -- Biden went to the University of Delaware -- but Trump has threatened to sue the University of Pennsylvania if they release transcripts of his own time there to anyone.

3. Trump went back again and again to asking about money given to Biden's son Hunter by the wife of the mayor of Moscow, as though that had anything to do with Joe Biden.  When Biden mentioned his late son Beau, who served in Iraq, Trump said he didn't know Beau but did know Hunter and asked about him once again, falsely claiming Hunter had received a dishonorable discharge from the army.

4.  Trump claimed Biden has received no endorsement from any law enforcement organizations  This is not surprising, since these organizations have a history of covering up for and supporting the worst behavior of police officers.

5. Biden accurately said the nation is "weaker, sicker, poorer, more violent and more divided" than it was before Trump became President.

Democratic Debate Feb. 19, 2020

The highlight of the Feb 19 debate was the stand-off between Sanders and Bloomberg, Bloomberg getting so frustrated by Sanders that he practically called Sanders a communist: "They had socialism in Russia only they called it communism."  As Sanders pointed out, we have socialism now but it is socialism for the rich.  And, of course, we have public schools and public libraries, socialism of a sort.  I think one of the reasons Sanders is doing so well is that he sticks by his positions both practically and theoretically, saying that health care is a right, while everyone else waffles on the issue, saying that millions are happy with their health insurance and we shouldn't take it away, though even if they are happy (which I doubt) they can't change jobs because they and their family need the health insurance.  Sanders continues to point out that there are thousands of bankruptcies every year due to health care costs even though those who go bankrupt have health insurance.  It is an unacceptable conflict of interest that the more insurance companies turn down routine claims the more they make in profits.

I would support any of the candidates on the stage except for Bloomberg, especially considering his contributions to the increasingly higher cost of living in New York City and his attitudes toward women and minorities.  All the candidates have positive and negative reasons why they can or can't beat Trump:  Biden stumbles, Klobuchar and Warren have to overcome misogyny (see Caroline Fraser's article in the March 12 issue of The New York Review of Books), Pete Buttigieg is relatively young and inexperienced, Sanders is a socialist, and so on.  I do think much has changed since McGovern ran against Nixon in 1972, but has it changed enough to replace a con man with a person of integrity.

State of the Union 2020

The President's state of the union address was, predictably, a dispiriting and depressing affair, full of dissembling and dubious assertions.  He also used incendiary language, referring not only to so-called "illegal aliens" but also to the horrors of public schools, which he referred to as "government" schools, presumably to demonize them compared to the private and religious schools he prefers to subsidize.  When the president lied he lied big, referring to an "ironclad" promise that he would never allow those with preexisting conditions to be denied insurance while his administration fights for exactly that in Congress and the courts, as well as fighting against providing any medical care for the uninsured.  He accuses the Democrats of planning to take away the health insurance of 180 million Americans who are "very happy" with their insurance (not true; I have never met anyone happy with their health insurance and its high deductibles, co-payments, and constant denial of benefits) while failing, of course, to mention that the replacement, a single-payer system, would be inclusive and effective.
And so it went, as a grinning Trump paused after almost every sentence to wait for applause, led by whack-a-mole popping up by vice-president Pence and the Republicans.  Ever the con man and showman the president filled the gallery with heroes, including the military and families who had members killed by immigrants, while the president bragged that he would never interfere with anyone's second amendment right to carry a gun, though some thought he went a little too far giving a medal to the homophobic and misogynistic Rush Limbaugh.

Incidentally, some have criticized me for not reporting on the last two Democratic debates, which I felt added nothing of substance that had not already been rehashed in the earlier debates.  I am hopeful that this week's debate will break some new ground, including discussion of how to encourage unions and what to do about foreign policy.  Meanwhile, on the latter subject, I recommend Jessica Mathews's article "Do the Democrats Have a Foreign Policy" in the Feb. 13th issue of The New York Review of Books and Adam Shatz's "The Death of Qasem Soleimani" and Patrick Cockburn's "Blundering into War" in the Jan. 23 London Review of Books.

Democratic Debate Nov. 20, 2019

Once again there were few differences among the candidates who made the cut; rather, it was a question of emphasis:

Tulsi Gabbard emphasized her objection to "regime-change wars."
Elizabeth Warren emphasized her wealth tax and all the things it would pay for.
Cory Booker emphasized housing and the problem of gentrification.
Amy Klobuchar emphasized her ability to win in red and purple states.
Pete Buttigieg emphasized his distance from Washington and its inability to accomplish anything.
Joe Biden emphasized his experience, especially as a member of the Obama administration.
Bernie Sanders emphasized his battle against "corporate interests."
Andrew Yang talked about his children and his proposal for family leave.
Tom Steyer continued to emphasize climate change.
Kamala Harris talked about the importance of black churches and labor unions.

With little policy differences among the candidates does it come down to who can defeat Trump, assuming Trump is still in office next year, or who can get a progressive agenda into law?  I am leaning to Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg and Yang.  They all show intelligence and the ability to analyze and think things through.

Democratic Debate Oct. 15, 2019

Again, there was little actual debate this time.  All twelve candidates support (among other things):

Impeaching Trump

Single-payer healthcare

Codifying the right to abortion

Making it easier to unionize

Subsidized childcare

Making college tuition-free and eliminating student debt

Stopping gun violence with background checks and eliminating assault weapons

Prosecuting purveyors of opioids.

Working with and supporting our allies around the world.

Of course there are differences about how to accomplish these things.  Warren and Sanders want single-payer healthcare with no private insurance while others, especially Pete Buttigieg, want to keep private insurance and offer a public option.  I recommend the article in the Oct. 21st issue of The Nation, "The Public Option is a Poison Pill" by David U. Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler, which details how private insurers have become expert at gaming the system and using their lobbying clout to undermine attempts to rein in their abuses.  This year private insurers will take in $252 billion more than they pay out, thanks in part to those of us who have repeatedly received claims returned stamped "claim denied" or "not in network."  Elizabeth Warren's suggestion of a wealth tax to help finance healthcare was met by Andrew Yang's claim that it was something tried by European nations and eventually repealed.  The reason it was repealed in several countries was because of the numerous exceptions the wealthy were able to achieve; it still exists in Norway, Spain and Switzerland.

Each candidate made a personal appeal, not so much on the issues as on their personality and experience.

Joe Biden played an instrumental role in the Obama administration.

Elizabeth Warren created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Bernie Sanders wrote the Medicare-for-all bill.

Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg are from the Midwest, crucial to beating Trump

Tom Steyer was among the first to urge impeachment.

Cory Booker has important urban experience.

Tulsi Gabbard was in the army for 16 years,

Julian Castro is an expert on housing.

Kamala Harris was a tough prosecutor.

Beto O'Rourke is from the red state of Texas.

Andrew Yang is a knowledgeable entrepreneur.

I would support any of them.  But who can defeat Donald Trump, whose re-election campaign is well under way?

Democratic Debate Sept. 12, 2019

It seems a little strange to call this a "debate," since there was very little difference among the candidates.  One slight difference is that, though everyone agrees on single-payer healthcare there are some differences about how exactly to get there.  Some candidates say that if one likes one's health insurance you should be able to keep it, for instance.  Warren, however, said "I don't know anyone who likes their health insurance" and I concur; anyone who "likes" their insurance usually means that it could be worse.  Those of us who have health insurance through an employer know about high deductibles, co-pays and many things not covered.  Private health insurance is something of a scam whereby the "insurer" charges as much as possible and pays out as little as possible, often denying coverage in order to increase their profits.  This is a clear conflict of interest and there are many, many stories of those who have had to file for bankruptcy because of their medical bills and most of those people have health insurance. As Sanders says, "healthcare is a right."

To distinguish themselves each of the candidates found some way to be unique.  Everyone said, "I am the only one on this stage who:

"served in the Obama administration"  Biden
"served in the armed forces" Buttigeg
"voted against the Iraq war" Sanders
"started a business and a non-profit" Yang
"lives in a black/brown neighborhood" Booker
"is a Senator running from the Midwest" Klobuchar
"has been a public schoolteacher" Warren
"is from Texas"  O'Rourke
"has served in the Cabinet" Castro
"has been an attorney general" Harris

I think any of these candidates would make a good President and, at the moment, my favorite is Warren; Biden is too befuddled and has too much for which to answer and Sanders is sometimes too strident in his repeated (and justified) denunciations of Wall Street and corporate interests.  Warren makes her positions clear in a forthright manner, including precise ways of financing single-payer healthcare and paid family leave.

Democratic Debates July 30 and 31, 2019

Can we call these presentations debates when there's such substantial agreement on the important issues:  climate change, immigration reform, single-payer healthcare?  On July 30 some candidates want to proceed quickly --especially in combatting climate change -- others want to proceed more slowly, in stages, some even advocating constitutional amendments to correct some of the more absurd Supreme Court decisions.  Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are the energetic elders, while Beto O'Rourke and Pete Buttigieg are youthful insurgents.  The other potential candidates are more cautious because, apparently, they think caution necessary in order to win.  Pete Buttigieg correctly says they will be called "socialists" no matter what they advocate; the only question in my mind is whether the fear of socialism can be stoked by name-calling in a population that seems quite comfortable with social security, Medicare and public schools.

In the July 31 debate it was Biden versus the crowd.  Everyone had a gimmick of one kind or another:  Biden wanted to build on what Obama had done, Yang wanted to give everyone $1000 a month (shades of Upton Sinclair), Inslee wanted to focus on climate change, Gillibrand on women's issues, Bennet on segregated schools, Gabbard (the only veteran on the stage) wants to stop the endless wars, De Blasio wants to "tax the hell out of the rich," Harris wants to stop predators (especially the one in the White House) as she did in California , Booker and Castro want to stop divisiveness   Generally there was little disagreement about issues such as healthcare and immigration, with different plans for getting to single-payer healthcare and citizenship for immigrants.  Biden stumbled a bit in defending his votes in the Senate and his role in the Obama administration while no one in the second debate offered the compelling progressive alternative that Sanders and Warren did in the first.

Democratic Debates June 26 and 27, 2019

My continuing complaint:  no mention of unions whatsoever.  A number of candidates made references to the current state of inequality and stagnant wages but no one mentioned one of the biggest reasons:  the decline of unions.  I think a minimum wage of $15 is fine but I don't think that takes the place of active unions that fight for their members and I would like suggestions about how to reinvigorate unions.

As for the candidates themselves there was little disagreement on the major issues:  single-payer healthcare (though there were various suggestions on the best way to get there), immigration (Sanders made the intelligent suggestion that we make a much greater effort to improve life in Central and South America) and a path to citizenship, major efforts to combat climate change, support our allies and avoid wars.

As for the individual candidates;  I think Biden stumbled considerably in attempts to defend his record on busing and his vote for the Iraq war (his touchy-feely campaigning and Anita Hill were not discussed).  For me the most articulate and intelligent candidates were Warren, Sanders, Harris and Buttigieg, who was even willing to admit "I couldn't get it done."  Sanders inveighed against Wall Street and the insurance companies but did not have many specific proposals while Warren had quite a few.  Gillibrand and Harris were the most articulate about family leave and subsidized daycare. Booker, de Blasio, and Castro were passionate about what they had done and what they could do and de Blasio was particularly articulate about speaking to the working class, as was Buttigieg about not forgetting those who do not go to college in the rush to eliminate college debt.

State of the Union 2019

The most absurd part of Trump's surreal and sleazy state of the union speech was his denunciation of socialism, "we will never be a socialist nation."  First of all, we already are:  Medicare (which was originally denounced by the medical community as "socialized medicine"), public schools. public libraries, social security, the post office, etc.  The major things we don't have that more "socialist" nations in Europe have are single-payer health care, free college education and childcare for working families.   The fear of socialism, of course, is less immediate now for Trump than the fear of immigrants, a subject on which Trump continues to dissemble, including stating that a wall in El Paso has stopped illegal immigration when the evidence shows otherwise.

Among other things that Trump did not mention was the separation of families at the border (though he did denounce abortion) and two things important to the working classes;  the shutdown of the government that deprived many workers of their paychecks, and unions, which were instrumental in raising wages until recently, when they have constantly been under attack by Trump and his allies. Otherwise the sotu was a typical Trump dog-and-pony show, including lauding WW II veterans and the Republican attendants popping up like "whack-a-moles" to applaud every absurd Trump assertion.

Stacey Adams's response to Trump was refreshing, pointing out that Trump mentioned nothing about the government shutdown, education, gun control, the burden Trump's trade wars have placed on American farmers, tearing families apart at the border, climate change, the affordable care act (which Trump claimed during his campaign to replace with something "better and cheaper" but has never made the slightest attempt to do), voter suppression and a respect for diversity.

Manifest

The one current network show I watch is NBC's "Manifest," a mixture of science fiction, police procedural and soap opera.  An airplane runs into some turbulence and when it lands it is five years later (the flight took three hours).  The show for a while was about a government conspiracy to kidnap and interrogate the passengers, then turned into a show about some of the passengers "seeing" the future and recently has brought in non-passengers who disappeared for periods of time, have miraculously survived and also have "callings," seeing the future.  One thing I like about the show is its unpredictability; too often I see a network show, like it and turn it on again only to find the plot exactly the same.  Perhaps most network TV watchers want that kind of predictability.

The various plot strands are woven carefully together by creator Jeff Rake and executive producer Robert Zemeckis (who directed the Back to the Future movies).  Josh Dallas plays Ben Stone, who returns from missing five years to find his wife with another man; his young son Cal, who was with him on the plane, has stayed the same age while Cal's twin sister Olive has aged five years.  Stone leads the inquiry to find out what has happened, as well is what is happening:  some of the plane passengers have died under mysterious circumstances. Next week is the final episode of the season and we'll see if the various plot elements continue to come together or further unravel.

Trump from the Oval Office, Jan. 8 2019

I know I haven't posted much on this blog recently, mostly because there's not enough good TV or radio to write about, e.g., I watched a couple of episodes of The Cool Kids -- the idea of a comedy about Shady Meadows retirement home sounded full of possibilities -- but the show, created by Charlie Day and Paul Fruchborn, spent more time on the inflated laugh track than on the dialogue.

Of course Donald Trump on TV last night was even more depressing:  he looked like a turtle that was trying to sneak back into his shell as he dispensed his distortions in an attempt to get his wall, as though his manhood somehow depended on it.  His most risible comments were how the wall would help African-Americans and Hispanics (unemployment is low now) and how it would stop drugs (most of which come in through airports or hidden in trucks and motorcars.) He even made a comparison with ex-Presidents living behind walls (not true) to protect their loved ones.  I found myself waiting to hear about the virtues of Hadrian's Wall, The Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall, until I remembered that Trump knows nothing about history and perhaps has never even heard of these walls.

Senators Pelosi and Schumer made brief responses to Trump's nonsense, suggesting (quite reasonably) that Trump open the government while talks continue and that we should not be governed by temper tantrums.  Trump is certainly no friend of the working classes who are suffering without their next paycheck and has contradicted himself,  suggesting that the furloughed workers are probably Democrats on the one hand (for which he has no evidence) and that, on the other hand, they support the shutdown!

Senate Judiciary Committee Hearings, Sept. 27 2018

I didn't expect to find the hearings with Ford and Kavanaugh to be so riveting.  They reminded me somewhat of the Hiss/Chambers hearings, when originally no one believed Chambers.  Ford, of course, was not the disreputable character Chambers was at the time but she is still a woman and everyone remembered how Anita Hill was treated. The hearings on Thursday were like a horrible/funny scene from a Dickens novel, though with real lives and careers at stake, as doddering old men with names like Crapo, Grassley and Flake handed over the questioning of Christine Blasey Ford to Arizona prosecutor Rachel Mitchell because of the fear of being labeled misogynistic, though they had no problem sucking up to nominee Brett Kavanaugh, a privileged white man. Kavanaugh played the victim of the Clintons and an orchestrated left-wing conspiracy in order to deflect attention from himself and his behavior.  Kavanaugh's performance was eerily similar to Clarence Thomas's deflection of Anita Hill's accusations as "a high-tech lynching" in 1991.

Kavanaugh dissembled left and right, from saying the drinking age was 18 in Maryland when he got drunk in high school (it was actually changed to 21 even before he even reached 18) and misleading Senators on what "the Devil's Triangle" was (he claimed it was a drinking game, though his friends said it referred to sexual activity; Democratic Senators did not follow up to ask the rules of this "drinking game.").  To me it seemed that Kavanaugh had been drinking during the hearing, as he was blustery and aggressive, even saying to one Senator, "Yes, I like beer; do you like beer, Senator?"   Kavanaugh even mocked Dr. Ford for attending Holton-Arms school while he had attended the more prestigious Georgetown Prep and Kavanaugh said constantly "I went to Yale" and therefore he had no time for drinking, though several of his classmates said they had seen him stumbling drunk.

 Dr. Ford's testimony was forthright and honest, even testifying to how the brain processes traumatic information (she is a psychologist).  She did not testify about what she thought of Kavanaugh being on the Supreme Court but about what happened, to the extent that she remembered the details of what was a traumatic experience.  Prosecutor Rachel Mitchell found no holes in her story.

A brief personal note:  Kavanaugh reminded me of some the privileged boys with whom I went to prep school, who thought it amusing to have sex with women who they thought socially and intellectually beneath them -- Ford's description of the laughter while she was being assaulted was chilling --and I will add that regardless of Kavanaugh's crude behavior in prep school and college he should not be on the Supreme Court for many other reasons, including his Roman Catholicism that causes him to define birth control methods as "abortion-inducing drugs."

Cynthia Nixon and Andrew Cuomo, Aug. 29 CBS

Few distinct differences emerged between the two Democratic opponents for governor on Wednesday night;  one debate for one hour was apparently not enough to get into details.  The only significant difference was that Nixon was in favor of giving public employees the right to strike and Cuomo was opposed.  I'm with Nixon on this one:  as she said, "workers don't want to strike" but they need to have the possibility of that ultimate weapon to ensure good-faith bargaining.

Cuomo and Nixon are both in favor of a single-payer health system; Nixon would start it in New York while Cuomo feels it should be national.

Both candidates think more should be done about homelessness and the cost of housing; specifics were lacking.

Both are in favor of legalizing marijuana.

Both are in favor of raising the minimum wage to $15.

Cuomo accepts contributions from corporation and Nixon does not; Cuomo needled Nixon because she herself is a corporation (common for actors, she said).

There was an absurd discussion about the naming of the Tappan Zee Bridge after Mario Cuomo when some (unidentified) people want to call it the Mario Cuomo Tappan Zee Bridge.

Nixon attacked Cuomo for tolerating corruption and only becoming more progressive when she prodded him; he attacked her for releasing her tax returns on a Friday (that one I didn't quite understand)..

Nixon blamed Cuomo for the problems with the New York subway system and Cuomo blamed De Blasio and the legislature.

In sum:  Cuomo came across as a pragmatic politician, Nixon as a progressive idealist not so different from Cuomo when he was younger.

Goliath and Occupied.

I have not watched much TV lately, except for an occasional baseball game (I usually listen to games on the radio, as televised games and their announcers are worse than ever) but I have enjoyed two shows on line:  Goliath on Amazon and Occupied on Netflix.

 "Occupied" is one of many shows that Netflix has purchased from foreign countries, from England, Spain, Australia and, in this case, Norway.  "Occupied" is from the mind and pen of Jo Nesbo, whose dark detective novels I have not much cared for, but this series shows a certain skill for TV narrative and is fascinating for its insight into the political conflicts of Norway.  In the show  Russia occupies Norway because Russia needs Norway's gas and oil and Norway has shut down its production for climate reasons.  Everyone wants to avoid a war that Norway could not win, so some cooperate and others resist;  Quisling's name is never mentioned but the Nazi occupation of Norway is not far from some people's minds, both in and out of the government.  People in Norway are in many ways like Americans but in many ways different; I live in Bay Ridge and every year there is a Norwegian Day parade. It is depressing to see how many colleges and secondary schools have ceased to require foreign languages and how more isolated some Americans are becoming.  "Occupied "effectively shows life in Norway in detail, including how the colder climate has influenced behavior there.

"Goliath" just showed its second season on Amazon.  I am not a binger but I do like to see one episode after another whenever I please, rather than having to wait a week for the next episode.  David E. Kelley, who wrote many of the first-season episodes, does not write for the second season but Lawrence Trilling, who had a major role in the superb Parenthood, is on the scene as writer and director and Clyde Phillips is the showrunner (Phillips's previous association with "Dexter" may be one of the reasons the new season is gorier than the first one).  Goliath has the subtle and cryptic Billy Bob Thornton as the lead, a character who drinks and womanizes but usually manages to figure things out.  Trilling and Phillips intelligently show the effect of Los Angeles history and locations on Thornton's life and lawyering.

The Americans.

   The Americans ran for six seasons on FX with showrunners Joe Weisberg, a former CIA agent, and Joel Fields.  It was a show about two Russian spies who embedded themselves in Washington D.C. during the Reagan administration, raising two children and running a travel agency as cover.  The show was successful on a number of levels, as a procedural about complex spy operations as well as a low-key essay on what it means to be a citizen of one country while living in another and undermining it.  I think one was sympathetic to Russian spies Elizabeth and Phillip (Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) because of the show's unusual point of view, i.e., America seen through Russian eyes.  I worked for "The Nation" in the 80's and in those days there was still a great deal of sympathy for Russia.  I even heard James Weinstein, editor of "In These Times", say that he sympathized with Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs if they were in fact guilty of spying because he would have done the same thing himself.   Who can say whether they really know who was truly in favor of peace?

 Elizabeth and Phillip killed at least a dozen people, most of them innocent, to protect and further their ends.  To them Reagan was as dangerous to the Russians as he seemed to think the Russians were to us and yet one felt torn when Elizabeth and Phillip recruited their own daughter Paige into spying, though their daughter choose to stay in America when her parents flee to Russia after being exposed by a neighbor who worked  for the FBI and thought Phillip was his friend.  The show was a successful period piece that dealt with the politics of the time while generously allowing the viewer to come to his own conclusions. 

The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling

Judd Apatow's HBO documentary about Garry Shandling takes four hours to demonstrate that Garry Shandling was not funny and neither is Judd Apatow, in person or in the movies he directed.  The biggest problem with most comedy today is how inward it is directed, how it avoids any relationship to the real world.  It is interesting that Shandling decided to go to Hollywood because of a few kind comments from George Carlin at a club in Arizona, since Carlin was the only heir that Lenny Bruce had, in his willingness to confront the absurdities of the world.  Shandling and Apatow and the rest of their ilk (Jerry Seinfeld, et al.) make jokes about themselves and about show business.  Shandling turned down offers to host late-night shows and instead did an unfunny parody of them on HBO -- The Larry Sanders Show -- complete with plenty of four-letter words, even though The Tonight Show and The Late Late Show themselves were already what Dwight Macdonald called "self-parodies: unconscious."

Shandling was restless, neurotic and insecure, still grieving about the death of his brother when they were children.  He could never commit to anything for very long and gradually grew more and more inward as he became interested in Zen Buddism.  He never married or had children and spent years building a house that was apparently never finished.  He mentored lots of other comedians but was quick to fire staff members that he perceived as disloyal.  In the final analysis his comedy was mostly unfunny self-pity.