By Bonnie Fishman / San Francisco Bay Area “What’s up, Doc?” has been an amusing phrase in our American vernacular since 1940 when it was first introduced by Bugs Bunny of Looney Tunes cartoons, as voiced by the famous Mel Blanc.  We immediately form an image in our heads of Bugs standing with one hand on his hip, noisily chewing a carrot. Carrot you say? We have carrots!  This year, my husband Bob decided to plant carrots in his garden for the first time. So to live it up a little, he bought seeds for festive rainbow carrots, which come in a variety of colors: orange, white, and red. Rainbow carrots are now readily available in grocery stores as well as at farmer’s markets. Lucky us, we have them in our front yard! Our grandsons, Emet and Jonas,  (ages 8 and 5) came to visit us from Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago during the height of the  growing season. Bob let them each pick some carrots. Watching their faces after they pulled them out of the ground was priceless. Almost like, “So that’s where they come from!” I think it’s a great learning experience for kids actually to see where and how their food grows. Carrots are considered a “super food” because they are a great source of vitamins and minerals (beta-carotene, Vitamin A, Vitamin K1, potassium, and antioxidants) as well as fiber. They are also particularly good for eye health. Carrots are great for snacking because they are low in calories, easy to carry around, and–I don’t know about you– that crunch is really satisfying. Here’s a tidbit that I learned a few years back. “Baby carrots” that you buy in bags are actually not as advertised. In fact, they are manufactured from large carrots. First they’re cut into two-inch pieces and then run through a tumbler to smooth the edges. But there are real baby carrots, immature carrots that taste particularly sweet. One nice feature, though, about the packaged baby carrots is that they are peeled and user-friendly right out of the bag. Carrots have been a tried-and-true vegetable the world over for centuries. They are the basis for many soups, stews, and salads. Carrots are one of three vegetables diced small, along with onions and celery, that the French call “mirepoix”. The mirepoix is usually cooked in butter or oil over low heat to soften but not change the color. I always have carrots on hand.  They last a long time in the fridge as well. For years, carrots were considered mundane and you’d rarely see them on high-end menus. But they are making a real resurgence now, with interesting global preparations using different spices and cooking techniques! Because of our family’s bumper carrot crop this season, I have been coming up lately with creative ways to cook them.  Back in the ’70s and ’80s, if carrots were served at a restaurant, they usually came boiled or steamed or sautéed. Plain and simple. Despite the great color carrots brought to the plate, the flavor was lackluster. Let’s change that today with a wonderful Moroccan-style recipe. This versatile side dish can be served hot, warm, or cold. It pairs well with plain roast meats, chicken or fish. It can be a great addition to a buffet where several side dishes are featured. This will be the veggie that everyone comes back for! I hope you enjoy this preparation as much as I do. Let us know here at The Insider what you think of these colorful carrots and let us all ask together, ‘What’s up, Doc?” Moroccan Carrot Salad with Raisins and Sesame Seeds Yield: 8 servings 2 lb. rainbow carrots 1 tsp. coarse salt 3/4 tsp. Sriracha hot sauce 1/2 tsp. cumin 1/2 tsp. coriander 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika 3 Tbsp. olive oil 2 Tbsp. lemon juice 1 lg. celery stalk, diced fine 2 garlic cloves, minced 1/4 c. raisins 1/4 c. fresh mint, chopped 3 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds Peel carrots. Cut evenly into 1/4” rounds. Bring a 4-qt. pot of salted water to a boil. Boil the carrots for about 8 minutes, until they are tender. Drain in a large colander. Do not rinse with cold water. Put carrots in a large bowl. While they are still warm, season with the coarse salt, hot sauce, and spices. Stir in the olive oil and lemon juice. Add the remaining ingredients. Serve warm or at room temperature. Can be made ahead and stored cold. Remove from the fridge at least an hour before serving. Bonnie Fishman attended the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London. Later, she owned and operated Bonnie’s Patisserie in Southfield, Mich. and Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She has taught cooking for over 35 years and created hundreds of recipes. She is now living in Northern California.

By Andy Borowitz June 29, 2022 PALM BEACH (The Borowitz Report)—In his latest denunciation of the former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony to the January 6th committee, Donald J. Trump has denied ever knowing ketchup. “This business about me using ketchup is a lie, and Wacko Cassidy knows it,” Trump wrote on his social network, Truth Social. “I have never worked with ketchup, and I don’t know ketchup.” “Ketchup is for losers,” he added. Trump issued a list of his favorite condiments, notably omitting any mention of the popular tomato-based sauce. “I’ve used mustard, I’ve used mayonnaise, and at times I’ve used A-1 stake [sic] sauce,” he wrote. “Using ketchup is a disgrace, and it should never be allowed to happen in our country.”

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 90 By Laurence Lerman / New York City From its earliest years, the popular cinema has shaped the public’s understanding and perceptions about abortion, and that will no doubt continue now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned by the Supreme Court. Although the landmark 1973 legal decision was on the books for nearly 50 years, there have continued to be restrictions placed on segments of the population when it comes to obtaining abortions—young women, poor women, and women of color, in particular. The recent American dramas Never Rarely Sometimes Always (2020), Unpregnant (2020) and Saint Frances (2019), all depict less affluent protagonists coming up against obstacles when seeking to get abortions. And those are only three films from the past couple of years—there isn’t time or space to cover the numerous television shows and streaming productions that are out there on the subject. While the cinema of the past half-century has often tackled abortion within a wide range of genres—consider the satire Citizen Ruth (1996), the romantic comedy Obvious Child (2014) and the French thriller Happening (2021), to name a few—it’s the movies from the earliest days prior to Roe v. Wade that painted portraits of abortion that are probably the most terrifying. I’m referring to the early decades of commercial cinema and the first years of the Motion Picture Production Code, the infamous self-censorship set of “moral guidelines” that was adopted in 1930 and strongly enforced by the industry from 1934 through the mid-1950s. The Code (also known as The Hays Code after Will Hays, the then-president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America trade association) regulated how sex, crime, religion, drugs, alcohol, obscenity and a number of other topics should be portrayed in the movies. On the subject of abortion, the Code stated that it was “not a proper subject for theatrical motion pictures.” Later on, in 1956, the amended Code stated, "The subject of abortion shall be discouraged, shall never be more than suggested, and when referred to shall be condemned. It must never be treated lightly, or made the subject of comedy. Abortion shall never be shown explicitly or by inference, and a story must not indicate that an abortion has been performed, the word 'abortion' shall not be used.” (Though the Code was only enforced through the mid-1950s, it dragged on until 1968, when it was replaced with the MPAA rating system that it still in place more than 50 years later.) The Code was largely created by Catholic layman Martin Quigley, editor of the high-profile trade publication Motion Picture Herald, and the Jesuit priest father Daniel E. Lord, and overseen by PR veteran Joseph I. Breen, a prominent Catholic layman. But even before the rigid Code went into effect, there were a number of films, mostly made by the low-budget, independent B-movie studios of Hollywood’s “Poverty Row” sector, that came out blazing regarding the issue of abortion. The first of these was the 1916 silent drama Where Are My Children? Where Are My Children? was co-written and co-directed by Lois Weber, one of the era’s most prolific actresses and filmmakers, along with her husband Phillips Smalley. Along with D.W. Griffith, Weber was known as one of the country’s first auteur filmmakers in that she was involved in all aspects of production along with injecting her own personal ideas and philosophy into her material, much of which concerned the social issues of the day. The film revolves around a district attorney (Tyrone Power, Sr.) prosecuting a progressive a physician who wants to teach the poor about birth control and who has been arrested for distributing “indecent” literature on birth control. The attorney is also involved in the case of a doctor who performs illegal abortions, and he learns that a number of society people, including his socialite wife Edith (portrayed by Power’s real-life wife Helen Riaume), have used the doctor’s services for their own illegal abortions Inspired by the 1914 obscenity case of birth-control activist and sex educator Margaret Sanger, the film contains discussions in defense of eugenics while taking a firm stance against abortion, particularly for those upscale citizens who would produce “perfect” children. It suggests that abortion is inherently harmful to those who have one, both physically and mentally. The film ends with the diagnosis that the district attorney’s wife, who was secretly obtaining abortions so that pregnancy and children wouldn’t interfere with her lifestyle, can no longer have children because her body has been damaged by her choices. And as the years pass, the couple must contend with a lonely childless life filled with longing for the family they might have had. Oy! Filmmakers Weber and Smalley returned to the subject again a year later with 1917’s The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, which follows the life of a doctor’s wife, a birth-control advocate, who campaigns for sex education and careful family planning, leading to her arrest. Now classified as a “lost film,” this unofficial sequel to Where Are My Children? echoed Weber’s anti-abortion opinions on the issue. But it floundered commercially, unlike its predecessor, which was widely viewed across the country and decades later selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 1993 or being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.” And I think that warrants another “Oy.” Then there’s 1928’s sensationalistic The Road to Ruin, made toward the end of the silent era, and then remade as a sound picture in 1934. It was based on a story by Willis Kent, a prolific, low-budget filmmaker who went on also to produce the 1934 version, followed by a slew of other exploitation titles including Cocaine Fiends (1935) and Mad Youth (1940). Both films follow the tragic trajectory of a teenage girl—named Sally in the 1928 version; Ann in 1934), whose life is led astray by drugs and sex and then destroyed by an illegal abortion. The preaching is none-too-subtle, with the biblical quote “The wages of sin is death” flickering in flames above Sally’s bed in the 1928 rendition. It was around the time of the release of the second version of The Road to Ruin that the Motion Picture Production Code kicked in. Though the film was boycotted by the Catholic Church in some cities, it was cleared by local censors after some cuts. Like many exploitation titles from early indie filmmakers, it fed the public’s prurient appetite for taboo topics if it were packaged with a lesson of morality and a warning on such societal issues as drug abuse, sexual promiscuity, birth control and abortion. A clear tone was set in these early films that tackled the issue of abortion, women who had abortions would generally go on to have unhappy endings, whereas those who considered getting abortions and then decided against them had more positive outcomes. As the Hollywood studios and independent sector produced their content under the eye of the Code for the next two decades, moviegoers and, later, TV watchers, became more sophisticated and began to grasp how the personal views of content creators permeated their popular entertainments. And though they may have been unaware of it at first—and some might still be—the words and images and their accompanying power that viewers absorbed could and would shape their opinions and linger. As for me, my first brush with the issue came with seeing Robert Mulligan’s 1963 drama-romance Love with the Proper Stranger as a young teenager in the mid-1970s. A disturbing scene at the midway point depicts Macy’s salesgirl Natalie Wood’s attempt to get a dangerous backroom abortion after learning she’s pregnant following a one-night stand with musician Steve McQueen. It was an unnerving sequence that stuck with me for years, even as I reasoned that there must be other ways to cope with situations that arise with people who are just trying to live their lives. Other ways. Safe ways. Legal ways. Love with the Proper Stranger put the image in my mind and in my case, it helped me begin formulating my own opinion on the issue. But I also began to realize that a movie can never tell you the whole story. Neither can a strongly worded article or a heated debate with a loved one or an emotional story regarding a friend of a friend. They can inform you, yes, but the decision is all yours. Laurence Lerman is a film journalist, former editor of Video Business--Variety's DVD trade publication--and husband to The Insider's own Gwen Cooper. Over the course of his career he has conducted one-on-one interviews with just about every major director working today, including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Kathryn Bigelow, Ridley Scott, Walter Hill, Spike Lee, and Werner Herzog, among numerous others. Once James Cameron specifically requested an interview with Laurence by name, which his wife still likes to brag about. Most recently, he is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online review site DiscDish.com.

By John Rolfe / Red Hook, N.Y. Singer/songwriter John Ondrasik (aka Five for Fighting) wrote a great song called “What Kind of World Do You Want?” that warns, “Be careful what you wish for. History starts now.” For starters, I want a world (and a country) where a lot fewer people see things in stark either-or terms and more recognize that our problems are the result of many factors, not a few scapegoats. I want a world where uncomfortable and inconvenient facts are accepted, “truth” and “reality” are not our own simply to make up as we wish, and compromise is valued. By “compromise,” I don’t mean watering down an idea or proposal until it is ineffective. I mean taking the best parts of each idea, argument or position to create something that is as strong as possible. That said, I used to be an independent voter who leaned liberal on social issues, but I have voted for Republicans I thought were reasonable. I can’t anymore. This year, I became a registered Democrat. The Donald Trump-dominated GOP and “modern” conservatives drove me to it. My parents were Eisenhower Republicans and I grew up during a time (the 1960s and ’70s) when the GOP was the party of staid traditional values, moderation, and personal responsibility. Now it’s a horrifying cauldron of counterproductive extremism, brazen lying and Machiavellian hypocrisy. I marvel (not in a good way) at a party that fights so long and hard to make sure every fertilized egg is delivered into this world, then does so little to ensure the care and safety of these supposedly precious lives. Programs like paid family leave and child-care credits are seen by the GOP as unearned “entitlements,” if not full-blown tyrannical socialism. Even in the best of times, I’ve had a hard time embracing the GOP. During my lifetime, the conservatives who dominate it have opposed numerous things I thought were only fair and necessary: the civil-rights movement, desegregation, holidays honoring Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Emancipation Day (Juneteenth), equal rights for women and the LGBTQ community, safe working conditions, consumer and environmental protection, helping the poor, affordable universal health care, gun control that can help reduce the carnage, social programs that meet real needs unmet by private enterprise, honest racial dialogue and understanding, and efforts to ensure public health. “The most distressing characteristic of the current Republican Party is cowardice,” former GOP strategist Stuart Stevens wrote in his 2020 book It Was All a Lie: How the Republican Party Became Donald Trump. “The base price of admission is willingness to accept that an unstable, pathological liar leads it and pretend otherwise. This means the party demands dishonesty as a trait of membership — unless you are a rare sociopath who defends pathological lying. They do exist. The vast majority of Republican elected officials know Donald Trump is unfit to be president and pretend otherwise.” I’ve been trying to understand conservatism by reading books such as The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Sarah Palin by political scientist Corey Robin, and Wrath: America Enraged by right-wing anthropologist Peter W. Wood. I’ve learned about its roots in the French Revolution where the terms “left” and “right” were born. (In the National Assembly, supporters of the king sat to the president's right with supporters of the revolution on his left.) While it champions the wealthy and the status quo even if it is full of grievous injustices to other citizens, conservatism feels like a cold, stiff philosophy that runs counter to nature’s natural tendency for constant change. As it is, I dislike ideology and dogma because it boxes me in as if insisting I always use a hammer even when a job calls for screwdriver or a saw. The things conservatives are calling for these days are likely to make serious problems worse, but an “Our way or the highway” attitude prevails. For example, it defies common sense that Republican-led states such Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and West Virginia that have some of the nation’s highest infant mortality, maternal mortality, and poverty rates would be so determined to ban abortions with few or no exceptions. I’m sorry, but private charities and adoption agencies will not be able to competently handle the coming wave of unwanted, neglected children. It defies common sense that access to guns would be made easier for all by the Supreme Court and Republican-led states when America is awash in anger, mental health issues, and violence committed with firearms. I don’t see how that violence and suicide rates won’t increase. The more available something is, the more inclined people are to use it. It is said that conservatives long for a past that never existed and often base their policies on old laws and beliefs that no longer apply to modern times. The majority decision to overturn Roe v. Wade included Justice Samuel Alito’s opinion that the right to abortion is not “deeply rooted” in our nation’s history. “Roe’s failure even to note the overwhelming consensus of state laws in effect in 1868 is striking,” he wrote. News flash: America is vastly different now than it was in 1868, when women couldn’t even vote. It was also easier to view abortion as an egregious crime during times when life expectancy and population were low and every available person was needed. But now? In a world struggling to feed seven billion people? In a wealthy country where too many children go to school hungry? That the party and its conservative-dominated Supreme Court would even consider outlawing contraception is ridiculous and flies in the face of the GOP claim that it is the party of freedom. But it doesn’t stop there. Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in his concurrence in the decision to overturn Roe that “in future cases, we should reconsider all of this court’s substantive due process precedents,” including 1965’s Griswold v. Connecticut (contraception), 2003’s Lawrence v. Texas (same-sex intimacy), and 2015’s Obergefell v. Hodges (same-sex marriage). “Because any substantive due process decision is ‘demonstrably erroneous,’ … we have a duty to ‘correct the error’ established in those precedents.” This kind of thinking is blind allegiance to ideology, regardless of the social havoc and suffering that will result. Recently retired Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer lamented — in his dissent of the court’s recent ruling in the gun law case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen — the “rigid, history-only approach” of the court’s conservative majority when it should be thinking in terms of current factors and situations. A fierce defense of absolute gun rights would be fine if America was still as it was in 1791. Another great example is the court’s June 30 decision limiting the power of the Environmental Protection Agency. If ever we needed a coordinated, consistent national effort to combat manmade climate change — the way we needed (but didn’t get) an effective national effort to combat Covid — it is now. But no, it is going to be left up to each state. We know how that will go. Returning to a strict states’ rights approach may be in keeping with conservative principles, but in our current condition of dysfunctional polarization and dire environmental degradation, it only adds to our existential peril. Another great peril is gerrymandering, partisan intrusion into the election process, and the drive to give state legislatures and courts the right to determine the ultimate outcome of voting . The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case that could bestow that right and result in a creeping coup that succeeds where the Jan. 6 insurrection failed. In states where 2020 election deniers are gaining influence, there’s no saying if our votes (unless they are Republican) will really matter. I feel certain that if the GOP takes back the House, Senate and presidency (especially with Donald Trump), it will lock itself in power with the Electoral College and Supreme Court acting as a bulwark that ultimately prevents Democrats from ever regaining any significant national authority. You can see it happening already in states like Wisconsin, where the state’s supreme court has approved yet another move by the Republican legislature to limit the Democratic governor’s power. Meanwhile, we have the GOP’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, working to “return” us to halcyon days (for mainly wealthy, heterosexual, Christian white people) but it is proving to be a monstrous assault on our country’s stated ideals and democracy. The GOP’s MAGA wing sees violence and destruction of federal property as an outrage when committed at Black Lives Matter protests, but defensible and excusable when used to illegally overturn an election result it doesn’t like. It defends its sacred Constitution by defying it, and supports cops until they, like the U.S. Capitol Police on Jan. 6, enforce laws that obstruct MAGA’s goals. That so many people and the Republican Party feel Donald Trump is still a viable presidential candidate after all that happened before, during and after that horrific day, fills me with dread. As I see America falling apart in its increasingly dangerous division, I’m trying to envision the country that MAGA Republicans want. I see hints of it in the Texas GOP’s platform, which includes possibly seceding in order to create a separate, purely conservative nation. Missouri Rep. Josh Hawley’s vision of positive (for his party) polarization in America is worrisome to say the least. “More and more red states, they’re going to become more red, and purple states are going to become red, and the blue states are going to get a lot bluer,” Hawley said to reporters on June 24. “I would look for Republicans, as a result of this in time, to extend their strength in the Electoral College. And that’s very good news for those of us who want to see Republican presidents elected, that want to see a Supreme Court that remains conservative.” So, what would the GOP agenda add up to? I see a country of everyone for themselves where the dollar reigns supreme while individuals, companies, and religious institutions have more freedom to neglect or prey on the vulnerable. Conservatives complain about paying taxes to help people they don’t like or feel are undeserving, and government intrusion on their lives. But we wouldn’t need so many costly social programs and laws, regulations, and mandates if enough citizens and corporations acted out of concern for others and the overall well-being of local and national communities. Maximum personal responsibility and freedom are perfectly fine until too many people stop giving a rat’s caboose about others, especially those who are different. That’s where we are now. Even with all of this horror on the horizon, there are still Republicans I like, such as Governors Phil Scott (Vermont), Larry Hogan (Maryland), and Charlie Baker (Massachusetts), who manage to stay clear of Trumpian madness and actually govern responsibly. Dutchess County Executive Marc Molinaro, who is running for Congress in New York’s Hudson Valley (where I live), is a thoughtful man who has championed the cause of special-needs individuals. Though I disagree with many of their policy positions, I admire Representatives Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger for courageously standing up to their party and thoroughly investigating the attempt to overturn the 2020 election, even though it will almost surely cost them their political careers. But I can’t vote for any sensible Republicans because I fear they will ultimately be forced to go along with the extreme and often detached-from-reality dictates of the Trumpian/MAGA wing of the party. Until that specter and the threat it poses has passed, I will vote only for Democrats, even though I have my reservations about all politicians. Those gripes won’t change until big money is removed from politics and the focus of government turns to genuinely promoting the best interests of all citizens. For now, though, Democrats are the lesser of two evils … by a very, very wide margin. John Rolfe is a former senior editor for Sports Illustrated for Kids, a longtime columnist for the Poughkeepsie Journal/USA Today Network, and author of The Goose in the Bathroom: Stirring Tales of Family Life. His school bus drivin’ blog “Hellions, Mayhem and Brake Failure” is parked on his website Celestialchuckle.com (https://celestialchuckle.com) with the meter running.

By Andy Borowitz June 27, 2022 WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Millions of American women and girls have declared themselves corporations in order to force the United States Supreme Court to grant them rights as people, legal observers have reported. Attorneys across the nation indicated that they have been swamped by requests from clients seeking to incorporate as soon as possible. “The Supreme Court decided in 2010 that corporations are people, so all we want is to be treated like corporations, ” Carol Foyler, who now goes by the corporate name FoylerCo L.L.C., said. The decision by millions of women to incorporate sent shock waves through the Court’s conservative majority, who reportedly scoured the Constitution in vain for a means to circumvent the ingenious tactic. Even the normally taciturn Clarence Thomas was moved to issue a rare public statement. “It’s a sad day in America when the nation’s highest court is forced to treat women like people,” he wrote.

By Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. At press time today on Tuesday, June 28, all hell broke loose. At a sudden, newly scheduled January 6 House committee hearing, surprise witness Cassidy Hutchinson testified to Donald Trump’s out-of-control determination not only to incite the attack on the Capitol, but to lead it. Hutchinson, former top aide to Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, calmly and with poise testified to Trump’s demands that metal detectors be taken down so that his armed followers could attend his January 6 rally without the Secret Service disarming them. Trump said that he didn’t care that they had weapons because they weren’t there to hurt him. Hutchinson also told of the former president’s physical attack on his Secret Service agents when, for his safety, they refused to let him lead the armed mob to the Capitol. Not to mention the apparently more common unstable presidential tantrums, thrown dishes, and ketchup dripping down walls. These revelations are so dramatic—and so incriminating—that, in the moment, they could overshadow the revelations from the hearings preceding them last week. But it is important to understand the manipulations by which Trump and his minions tried to overthrow the government—the ones that failed, leading him to take even more extreme measures, including the threat to Vice President Mike Pence’s life, and the lives of those in Congress. These were set out masterfully by the committee last Tuesday and Thursday, as detailed below. That scheme was to have swing states send fake Trump electoral slates to Vice President Mike Pence, who would then count them, thereby installing Trump as president. Or—if that werenot possible—at least to create a battle in the joint session of Congress over competing Trump and Biden slates, thus causing sufficient chaos so that the electoral vote count for Biden could not be completed on January 6. This would have delayed the transition of power and left room for Trump to retain control of the government indefinitely. As MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow reasoned in analyzing last week’s hearings, everything else Trump and his minions did was geared toward getting that plot to work. The Plot and DOJ’s Resistance The key to the scheme’s success was creating fake electoral slates in numerous states and persuading those states’ officials to substitute them for the Biden electoral slates. In this nefarious endeavor, Trump targeted every level of government from top to bottom—from the vice president down to local election workers. As revealed by the committee’s evidence, he worked with and directed the Republican National Committee and others to organize the effort. Trump also tried every which way to get the Justice Department (DOJ) to legitimize his lies—including repeated attempts to get the DOJ to call the election corrupt, to appoint a special counsel to investigate alleged election fraud and, finally, to send a letter to Georgia and five other state legislatures urging them to consider altering their election results. The DOJ draft letter to Georgia claimed that the DOJ’s investigations had “identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states, including the state of Georgia.” It also said: “In light of these developments, the department recommends that the Georgia General Assembly should convene in special session” and consider approving a new slate of electors. The letter suggested that a separate (fake) slate of electors supporting Trump had already been transmitted to Washington, D.C. Having determined that there was no fraud—not to mention that the Justice Department had no legal authority to intrude on the states’ determinations—the DOJ refused to send the letter. Because Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen refused to do his bidding, Trump attempted to replace him with an obscure DOJ Civil Division attorney, Jeffrey Clark, who was willing to send the illegal letter out to the states. As Committee Chairman Bennie Thompson put it, this would have “put the full weight of the Justice Department behind the effort to overturn the election.” Trump’s effort to put Clark in charge of the Justice Department came to a head on Sunday, January 3, 2021, two days before the January 6 attack, when all the President’s other avenues for stopping the ceremonial count for Biden had been foiled. If Trump had succeeded in putting Clark in charge on January 3, and the letter had been sent, it could have been used as official justification for the attempted political coup planned for two days later. But the leaders of the DOJ—then Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen and Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard Donoghue—scurried to meet with Trump that Sunday. Rosen got White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows to set up the meeting, which also included Steve Engel, Assistant Attorney General for the Office of Legal Counsel in the Trump Administration, and White House Counsel Pat Cipollone. Before the meeting, Donoghue set up a conference call with assistant attorneys general (AAGs), explained the situation, and all those in the meeting agreed that if Rosen was fired, they would resign en masse. At the meeting, both Donoghue and Engel told Trump to his face that if he fired Rosen in favor of Clark—who had no skills or experience appropriate to the role of attorney general, and who would put Trump’s illegal plan in play—they would, to a person, resign. Moreover, all the AAGs would resign, and many or most of the U.S. attorneys could well follow suit. They said that this would be bad both for Trump and the nation. It did not appear that concern for the nation would move Trump, but Steve Engel of the Office of Legal Counsel, told the President that if he did this, the big story in the media would not be the contents of the letter but the fact that they all resigned. Therefore, Trump decided not to fire Rosen and install Clark in his place after all. (On the morning of the June 23 hearing, at which these facts were aired, DOJ law enforcement, pursuant to its own criminal investigation, conducted a search of Clark’s home, and confiscated electronic records.) Based on their in-person testimony under oath before the committee, Rosen, Donoghue, and Engel—all appointed to their positions under the Trump Administration—were instrumental in stopping this part of Trump’s plot. Their testimony before the January 6 committee on June 23 was also devastating to Trump in another important way. Committee manager of the day, Illinois Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, asked Donoghue, who had made notes of the meeting, how Trump responded to Rosen’s refusal to change the outcome of the election. Donoghue reported that Trump said, “that’s not what I’m asking you to do. What I’m just asking you to do is say it was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the Republican Congressmen.” Donoghue said this was an exact quote. To which congressmen was Trump was referring? Who was in league with him? Could they have been Louie Gohmert, Andy Biggs, Paul Gosar, Matt Gaetz, and Mo Brooks, and Scott Perry, among others—who acted as Trump’s fraud propagandists and instigators of violence, and who later asked his administration for pardons? But leave that question for now. What did Trump do after his attempt to install Clark was thwarted? He pulled two innocent local election workers, Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, and her mother, Ruby Freeman, out of obscurity and into harm’s way by repeatedly claiming that they were responsible for thousands of fake votes being counted for Biden in Georgia. Trump called them out by name—repeating Freeman’s name 18 times in one speech. In addition, Trump’s tipsy henchman, Rudy Giuliani, went down to Georgia, appearing before the Georgia legislature to show them a video he claimed was proof, but which actually showed only appropriate election activities. This persecution of Moss and Freeman appears to have been Trump’s Hail Mary attempt to produce propaganda to justify the January 6 attack. No Good Deed Goes Unpunished Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger’s refusal to capitulate to Trump’s attempt to get him to “find” 11,780 votes is, at this point, well known. Raffensperger testified to the committee that his department investigated every single allegation raised and there was nothing substantial there: “They said that there was over 66,000 underage voters. We found that there was actually zero…They said that there was 2,423 nonregistered voters. There were zero. They said that there was 2,056 felons…We identified less than 74 or less that were actually still on a felony sentence. Every single allegation we checked, we ran down the rabbit trail to make sure that our numbers were accurate.” When Raffensperger refused to go along with the utterly false fraud claims, Trump—who had power over the Justice Department—threatened Raffensperger with possible prosecution, saying: “the ballots are corrupt and you're going to find that they are — which is totally illegal…it's more illegal for you than it is for them. Because you know what they did and you're not reporting it. That's a — you know, that's a criminal — that's a criminal offense. And you know, you can't let that happen. That's — that's a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. And that's a big risk.” Raffensperger nevertheless stood firm. The punishment for his faithfulness to the law was getting his email and cell phone doxed. He testified that his wife received texts containing “sexualized attacks which were disgusting.” Raffensperger added, “They started going after her I think just to probably put pressure on me. Why don’t you just quit, walk away…and then some people broke into my daughter-in-law’s home and my son has passed and she’s a widow and has two kids. And so we’re very concerned about her safety also.” Rusty Bowers, Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives told the committee of Rudy Giuliani’s attempts to persuade him that, based on the administration’s fraud allegations, he should get the Arizona legislature to substitute Trump slates for Biden slates: “He would say, aren't we all Republicans here? I — I would think we would get a better reception. I mean, I would think you would listen a little more open to my suggestions, that we're all Republicans.” When Bowers repeatedly asked to be provided the evidence of fraud—specific names and how they voted—Giuliani claimed the proof would be provided, but it never was. Instead, in one of the many conversations in which Bowers raised his lack of legal authority to do what Giuliani was asking, Giuliani said “just do it and let the court sort it out.” When Bowers did not comply, he was targeted by the Trumpists and apparently still is. Bowers said that, at home, they fear Saturdays because “various groups come by and they have had video panel trucks with videos of me proclaiming me to be a pedophile and a pervert and a corrupt politician and blaring loudspeakers in my neighborhood and leaving literature both on my property, and — but arguing and threatening with neighbors and with myself.” One person with three bars on his chest (a symbol of the Three Percenters anti-government militia), wearing a pistol, was vocally threatening his neighbor. In addition, Bowers noted, his daughter, who was gravely ill, was upset by what was happening outside. But Bowers stood firm. Rep. Adam Schiff asked, given all the pressure, “Why did you feel, either in the absence of that evidence or with it, what they were asking you to do would violate your oath to the Constitution?” Bowers replied, “…it is a tenet of my faith that the Constitution is divinely inspired, of my most basic foundational beliefs. And so, for me to do that because somebody just asked me to is foreign to my very being. I — I will not do it.” At the end of his testimony, at Adam Schiff’s invitation, Bowers read a passage from his journal: It is painful to have friends who have been such a help to me turn on me with such rancor. I may in the eyes of men not hold correct opinions or act according to their vision or convictions, but I do not take this current situation in a light manner, a fearful manner, or a vengeful manner. I do not want to be a winner by cheating. I will not play with laws I swore allegiance to. With any contrived desire towards deflection of my deep foundational desire to follow God's will as I believe He led my conscience to embrace. How else will I ever approach Him in the wilderness of life? Knowing that I ask this guidance only to show myself a coward in defending the course He let me take — He led me to take. Most who saw this—including myself—were, in that moment, touched by the statement of this man who apparently was led by his conscience, and seemingly steered by a pure sense of right and wrong in the midst of the current great corruption. Unfortunately, after the hearing, Bowers entirely erased this impression. Despite the depth of the corruption he faced and stood against, despite the destruction of American democracy Trump’s demands, if met, would have wrought, Bowers told AP: “If [Trump] is the nominee, if he was up against Biden, I’d vote for him again. Simply because what he did the first time, before Covid, was so good for the country. In my view it was great.” This is equivalent to saying, if one lived in Germany in the 1930s: Hitler is a fascist monster who has destroyed German democracy—but I’m for him because he makes the trains run on time. After that sort of compromise, I can’t help—with disappointment—see Bowers as just another rationalizing hypocrite, albeit of a slightly different stripe. Trump’s attempts to subvert and destroy democracy are of the utmost importance to the nation. Nevertheless, in my view, the lowest, most vile act Trump and his minions committed was accusing Georgia election workers Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and her mother, Ruby Freeman—ordinary, anonymous private citizens—of crimes they never committed in order to further his plot. He brought Trumpist rage down on them with no more consideration of the effect it would have on their lives than if they had been ants underfoot. Trump used surveillance video of the vote count at the location where Moss and her mother had worked to falsely accuse them of processing “suitcases” full of fake ballots for Biden after most poll workers and election observers left. Trump’s henchman, Giuliani then posted about it on social media and the lie went out to millions of viewers. There was no suitcase. There were only properly secured bins. In the video, Moss and her mother were merely doing their jobs. But they were harassed and put in danger to the point that, based on FBI advice, Freeman had to leave her home for two months. Two days before January 6, two people supposedly working for Trump ally Kanye West, came to Freeman’s house saying that people were going to come for her, and they had come to help. They claimed time was of the essence because in 48 hours something was going to happen to her, but if she “confessed” to processing fake ballots, someone important could help her. If not, she’d be arrested and sent to jail. Fortunately, Freeman had the presence of mind to make them hold this conversation at the local police station, where it was, in part, filmed. But what was going to happen in 48 hours? The January 6 rally and invasion of the Capitol. And given the failure of his other efforts, what would Trump have considered essential to success? A confession that there had been election fraud in Georgia. Moss testified in person to the ruinous effect on their lives. But her mother’s video testimony was the most chilling. Ruby Freeman said: There is nowhere I feel safe. Nowhere. Do you know how it feels to have the President of the United States to target you? The President of the United States is supposed to represent every American, not to target one. But he targeted me, Lady Ruby a small business owner, a mother, a proud American citizen who stands up to help Fulton County run an election in the middle of the pandemic. As Adam Schiff then warned, “If the most powerful person in the world can bring the full weight of the Presidency down on an ordinary citizen who is merely doing her job with a lie as big and heavy as a mountain, who among us is safe?...Our democracy held because courageous people like those you heard from today put their oath to the Constitution above their loyalty to one man or to one party…The system held, but barely. And the question remains, will it hold again?... That we have lived in a democracy for more than 200 years does not mean we shall do so tomorrow.” Fascism is on the march. It will not yield. Whatever ultimately comes out of the House hearings and the Department of Justice investigations—if DOJ’s ever come to fruition—these revelations are just the beginning of the fight to keep our democracy. But at least the battle has finally been joined. Political columnist Jessie Seigel had a long career as a government attorney in which she honed her analytic skills. She has also twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the Washington, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her fiction, and has been a finalist for a number of literary awards. In addition, Seigel is an associate editor at the Potomac Review, a reviewer for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and a dabbler in political cartoons at Daily Kos. Of this balance in her work between the analytic and the imaginative, Seigel jokes, “I guess my right and left brains are well-balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at The Adventurous Writer, https://www.jessieseigel.com.

By Jessie Seigel / Washington, D.C. SO. On Friday, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Abortion rights are to be determined state by state, and nearly half the states already have or will soon pass laws that make abortion a crime. Been raped? Have the baby. Are you an 11-year-old victim of incest? Have the baby. Is the fetus dead in your womb or missing a head? Take your pregnancy to term. Could taking the fetus to term result in your death? Have the baby. Have you had a miscarriage? Your misery is not enough. Let’s have the police investigate whether you induced it. And if you have a high-risk pregnancy that goes badly, let’s investigate the hell out of your doctor as well. Did you travel from your anti-abortion state to one where abortion is legal? You’re now a fugitive—and so is anyone who helped you leave the state. Have the baby. And if anyone—doctor or nurse– helps you abort? Prison for them; maybe for life. Have the baby. And if you just want to take the morning-after pill because bringing a fetus to term will wreck your life? If some states have their way, too bad for you. Have the baby. Mission accomplished. Women are put back in their place as second-class citizens. They no longer have rightful control over their own bodies. Men apparently suffering from vagina-envy–who can’t have babies, so have a psychological need to control those who can—have won. But wait. The misogynists are not done. As House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after the court’s decision was issued, “The Republicans are plotting a nationwide ban. They cannot be allowed to have a majority in the Congress to do that. But that’s their goal.” And as MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow pointed out, if the Supreme Court takes a fetal personhood case, that could be a vehicle for the court to establish a nationwide ban. Welcome to judicial dictatorship. What can be done? Personally, I think women should pull a Lysistrata. Refuse to have sex with any men until their rights to bodily integrity are restored. Currently, protesters have taken to the streets all over the country. But this court’s majority doesn’t care a fig about public opinion. Voters may well heed Nancy Pelosi’s warning and vote in the fall to give the country a Democratic majority—especially in the Senate—that cannot be stymied by the filibuster. But even if the misogynist bastards are voted out, this Supreme Court can still knock down any law protecting women’s rights that a Democratic Congress passes. In fact, this court, which does not even try to disguise its hypocritical sophistry, has shown a contempt for legal reasoning. It is moved by political agendas alone. And this extends far beyond the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Only one day before its decision to preserve the life of undeveloped fetuses, the Court reversed a 111-year-old precedent by striking down the right of states to make laws protecting its citizens from guns. That’s logical. Have that baby, send it to school, and let it be killed the old-fashioned way, by an AR-15 rifle or a concealed handgun. After all, gun manufacturers need to make their bucks. As for erosion of constitutional rights, Roe is only the beginning. In his decision, Justice Thomas wrote: "In future cases, we should reconsider all of this Court's substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell." Thomas went even further, writing that the court, after overruling those particular decisions, should eliminate “substantive due process” altogether. Griswold v. Connecticut declared that married couples had a right to contraception. It became the basis for the right to contraception for all couples a few years later. Lawrence v. Texas invalidated sodomy laws and made same-sexual activity legal across the country. Obergefell v. Hodges established the right of gay couples to marry. So, next on the chopping block is contraception. I guess couples are supposed to go back to the old Vatican-approved rhythm method—or maybe Thomas would like to ban that as well and have the police barge into your bedroom to assess how you’re “doing it.” Oddly, in vitro fertilization—a method to help couples bring children into the world—is also under threat. Apparently, Thomas would only sanction so-called natural methods of procreation. And if you’re gay? Back into the closet with you! But okay, Justice Thomas. Let’s give you what you want. Let’s reconsider all substantive due process precedents. Let’s start with Loving v. Virginia, which established the right to marry a person of a different race. We’ll do that just for you. For you and Ginni. Let’s eviscerate that precedent, invalidate your marriage, and send you both to prison into the bargain. Unless, of course, you and Ginni land there first for trying to overthrow a democratic election. And if, like Justice Alito, Thomas is for gutting rights not based in the history of the nation, then let’s start with reestablishing slavery—not for everyone. Just for him. Because, given his actions on the court, he doesn’t even amount to three-fifths of a human being. (It would take more than a century to fathom Thomas’s warped, self-hating psyche.) As Rachel Maddow opined in the wake of the court’s decision: “The conservatives have the power on this court, and they will now wield it however they want, to achieve whatever outcomes they want, to change the country however they want without restriction — and you must do what they say.” What Maddow has described is judicial dictatorship. And that is another leg of the fascism that must now be fought. Political columnist Jessie Seigel had a long career as a government attorney in which she honed her analytic skills. She has also twice received an Artist’s Fellowship from the Washington, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities for her fiction, and has been a finalist for a number of literary awards. In addition, Seigel is an associate editor at the Potomac Review, a reviewer for The Washington Independent Review of Books, and a dabbler in political cartoons at Daily Kos. Of this balance in her work between the analytic and the imaginative, Seigel jokes, “I guess my right and left brains are well-balanced.” More on and from Seigel can be found at The Adventurous Writer, https://www.jessieseigel.com.

By Emmy Serviss / Boston I was so careful. I was SO careful. I was SO careful, but I wasn’t careful enough. After two years of complying with the lockdown, wearing my mask, getting vaccinated, getting boosted, washing my hands and being as responsible an adult as I could possibly be during a pandemic…. I finally fell victim to Covid. I’m trying really hard not to blame myself. With the especially contagious Omicron variant, I knew it was unlikely that I could avoid getting sick forever. But I guess there was still a small part of me that thought I could be one of the lucky few to avoid it entirely. But alas, here we are. The worst part of catching Covid now is that I caught it while traveling 3,000 miles from where I live. I was supposed to be spending a week in Seattle with fellow comedians, enjoying our first in-person conference since 2019. I got to enjoy a couple days in Seattle with friends, but then spent the rest of the time quarantined in my hotel room. I keep trying to tell myself if it had to happen, and if it HAD to happen while I was traveling, at least the timing managed to work out in my favor. I had two days to see friends I haven’t seen in three years and to meet friends I had only known virtually. I got to perform with my Boston teammates and teach my sketch workshop. And even though it was cut short, I did get two days’ worth of photos and videos and participate in lots of silly bits with my very silly friends. Thankfully, the venue where all of the performances took place required masks always be worn while indoors, and participants needed a negative PCR test to be able to perform. Many attendees also brought at-home tests, so we were constantly testing to ensure we always had updated information on everyone’s health. The downside is that apparently the PCR test isn’t foolproof. I took my first PCR test on Wednesday, and it was negative, so I was cleared to perform. The next day we got word of the first positive Covid test among the attendees. I felt fine, but signed up for an additional PCR test anyway, just to be careful. My second PCR test came back negative, so I thought I was in the clear. But alas, here we are. Also, for the record, at a conference with probably over 100 people attending, there were only about 10 of us who contracted Covid. Those of us who tested positive reached out to organizers to let them know, and then we quarantined immediately. Zero infections would have been preferable, but I’m relieved we kept the spread moderately contained. On Friday June 24, the world was stunned by the appalling decision of the Supreme Court, and try as I might, I couldn’t focus on comedy. So, I spent most of the day in my hotel room processing my emotions and writing a response to the Roe v. Wade article I wrote for The Insider last week. I felt a little guilty for being antisocial that day, but I knew I needed some quiet time. I was also starting to feel a little run down, but I attributed it to jet lag, overstimulation, irregular sleep and a rollercoaster of emotions. Turns out my seclusion on Friday was a good move, because as the day went on, I felt crummier and crummier. I finally took an at-home test, and sure enough, it came back positive almost immediately. I was both not surprised and extremely upset at the PCR test not confirming it sooner. If I hadn’t inadvertently quarantined early, I might have unknowingly exposed more of my friends. My first day of quarantine, I didn’t start feeling out of sorts until later in the afternoon. By the end of the day, I was feeling really run-down and had a slight tickle in my throat. My second day of quarantine was the worst. I had body aches, chills, congestion, probably a low-grade fever and a slight cough. I spent most of the day sleeping. A friend of mine recently had Covid so he offered to bring me coffee and get some supplies from the local grocery store. I had plans to visit the Museum of Pop Culture, visit the Chihuly Gardens, attend the final performances of the conference, and rock out at a ‘90s grunge themed after-party. Instead, I tossed and turned fitfully, and then indulged in a Law & Order: SVU marathon. The third day of quarantine wasn’t as bad as the previous day. Way fewer body aches and chills, and I didn’t spend as much time sleeping. And apparently GrubHub delivers to hotels, so I was able to get food sent to my room contact-free! I started writing notes to document my sickness, though it really wasn’t that interesting. · Slept 3 hours · Woke up and coughed a bit · Drank nasty hotel room coffee · Finished Season 2 of Stranger Things · Slept some more I’m definitely not complaining, though. I am very thankful that this has been a mostly boring experience. To date, I haven’t lost my senses of taste or smell so here’s hoping I avoided that symptom! Today, my fourth day of quarantine, is when boredom really started to kick in. Other than some fatigue and a slight cough, I feel mostly fine. The hotel room suddenly seems infinitely smaller than it did yesterday. And now I’m painfully aware of all the things I missed out on and the people I didn’t get to hug goodbye, as they headed back to their home cities. However, I’m VERY thankful that the quarantine period is no longer 10 days, because the idea of getting stuck in Seattle is not very appealing. (I mean, it’s a lovely city, but I have things to do in Boston.) As luck would have it, my flight home to Boston is a red-eye, so I’ll just squeak in the fifth day of quarantine before being able to head home. While this has not been the trip that I envisioned, I still have to consider myself lucky. I’m lucky I got to see friends and perform before I got Covid. I’m lucky I’m vaccinated and boosted so my symptoms are mostly mild. I'm lucky that I trusted myself and took an at-home test. I’m lucky that I’m able to quarantine safely to avoid the spread. I'm lucky that after a few more days of rest at home, I’ll be fine. Two years ago, I may not have been this lucky. It’s possible even just a year ago, I may not have been this lucky. We’ve come a long way in the last two years, but we’re not out of the woods yet. Hopefully we’ll reach a point where we can get our yearly flu shot, pneumonia shot and Covid shot. But until then, keep wearing masks, get boosted and be safe. Hopefully during my next trip to Seattle, I’ll get to spend more of it in the actual city. But alas, here we are. Emmy Serviss is a Boston-based writer, actor and video editor. Once it is safe to return to live theater, you can find her performing with ComedySportz Boston and the sketch group SUZZY. When not on the stage, Emmy enjoys indulging in her new pandemic hobbies, laughing way too loudly and counting the days until Halloween.

By Andy Borowitz June 28, 2022 WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Disputing Cassidy Hutchinson’s testimony before the January 6th committee, Donald J. Trump claimed that ketchup would never have wound up dripping down the Oval Office wall if Rudy Giuliani had not ducked. “Lyin’ Cassidy said that I threw my lunch at the wall,” Trump wrote on his social network, Truth Social. “I actually threw it at Rudy Giuliani, and he ducked.” “It was a perfect throw,” he boasted. Trump said that, had the former New York mayor not ducked, “ketchup would have been dripping down Rudy’s head like his hair die [sic] does.” Trump expressed some surprise that Giuliani was able to evade the flying lunch. “When you consider how bombed he was, the guy had incredible reflexes,” the former President observed.

By Bonnie Fishman / San Francisco Bay Area “Those who deny freedom to others deserve it not for themselves.” —President Abraham Lincoln One of America’s favorite holidays is almost upon us. What does it mean to you? Is it an historic look at how this country came to be? Is it new worries about losing our freedom in this unusual geopolitical climate, when our Constitution is contested at every turn? Will freedom ring on? Do most of us ponder these scary thoughts or are we celebrating a national holiday because we don’t need to go to work and can take an extended vacation without using up precious time off? Alas, I think the latter is the more common path. I, too, have been guilty of glorying in time off from work and slowing down for the summer instead of focusing on the amazing freedoms we Americans have. When I owned my two shops in the Detroit area, Bonnie’s Patisserie and then Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering, July 4th meant rest after two solid months of catering for Mother’s Day, graduations, Father’s Day and weddings. My staff and I were beat. So I closed a few extra days around the Fourth for R&R. What that meant to me was several days at our Northern Michigan lake cabin. Our family of four plus dogs would make our usual 2 ½ hour drive to West Branch. West Branch, a town of 2,500 mostly farm people, happens to have a splendid fireworks display. When I was a kid, it was held at the county club golf course. In more recent decades, the township officials began having them in open fields just on the outskirts of town. It was very exciting for all of us, weaving through the dirt roads, finding the perfect spot to lay out our blankets, slather on bug repellent, and set up our snacks. The warm, humid air was so thick that you couldn’t tell the difference between the air and your skin. The smell of the vegetation, the pine trees surrounding us, the singed sparklers, and the bug spray was unmistakably a Michigan summer night. Throw in the hand-to-hand combat with the mosquitos and you’ve nailed it! This will be an unusual 4th of July for my son Ben and his family as they will be celebrating our American holiday in Bosnia. Yes, you heard me, Bosnia. Truth be told, when I reread that sentence, never in my life would I have imagined that phrase coming out of my mouth. Who goes there anyway?? Ben is a filmmaker and is directing a movie in Bosnia, Slovakia, Croatia, and Hungary. Because of the strong unions (DGA and SAG-AFTRA) they are entitled to have their holiday off wherever they are, which happens to be Bosnia. I doubt they’ll be dining on grilled hot dogs and watermelon! I love the buildup before the July 4th holiday. Businesses and store fronts are draped in stars and stripes bunting. The retail shops display red, white, and blue products ranging from tableware to home decor. There are sparkler and firework stands dotting the rural roads. People begin to gather their standard fare for their barbecues and picnics. I’m going in a different direction with my meal plan for this freedom day. Instead of a dinner barbecue, I’m hosting a red, white, and blue brunch. Feed ’em and street ’em, get on with your day at the beach, laying in a hammock, or a round of afternoon golf. What I love about my Breakfast Bread Pudding with Blueberry Sauce is that it’s a festive brunch entrée with some variation possibilities. Also, you make it the night before and pop it in the oven about an hour before your guests arrive. I’m baking it with seasonal strawberries and toasted pecans topped with fresh blueberries in Vermont maple syrup. What could be bad? Feel free to substitute different fruits in the casserole or in the syrup. I hope this July 4th finds you and yours healthy, happy, and free. Let us know here at The Insider what you plan to do (and cook!) to celebrate our liberties. Breakfast Bread Pudding with Blueberry Sauce Yield: 10-12 servings 2 baguettes (long enough to cut 24 1” thick slices) 6 lg. eggs 3 c. whole milk 3/4 c. packed golden brown sugar, divided 1 tsp. vanilla 1/2 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg 2 oz. unsalted butter 1 c. chopped pecans, toasted 2 c. sliced strawberries 1 c. fresh blueberries (@ 6 oz.) Blueberry Sauce: 1 c. blueberries 1/2 c. pure maple syrup 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice Spray a 9”x13” glass or ceramic casserole with pan release. Arrange the 24 1” thick bread slices in one layer in baking dish.  In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, 1/2 cup brown sugar, vanilla, and nutmeg.  Pour mixture evenly over the bread.  Cover, chill, until all the liquid is absorbed by the bread, at least 8 hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 400°. In a small saucepan, melt together the butter and remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar.  Swirl pan until butter and sugar have melted together. Sprinkle pecans, blueberries, and strawberries all over the top of the bread.  Drizzle on brown sugar mixture.  Bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes or until set. Make the sauce while the pudding is baking:  In a small saucepan, cook blueberries and maple syrup over moderate heat until berries burst, about 3 minutes.  Stir in lemon juice.  Serve blueberry sauce separately. Bonnie Fishman attended the Cordon Bleu Cookery School in London. Later, she owned and operated Bonnie’s Patisserie in Southfield, Mich. and Bonnie’s Kitchen and Catering in Bloomfield Hills, Mich. She has taught cooking for over 35 years and created hundreds of recipes. She is now living in Northern California.

One film journalist’s stream-of-consciousness cinematic journey through the pandemic, Part 89 By Laurence Lerman / New York City As the summer moves forward , Reel Streaming is excited to present a preview of the most alluring films set for release in July. Just as it’s been for the past couple of months, July’s schedule is an extremely robust one, unlike that of July 2021, when Covid’s Delta variant was rearing its none-too-attractive head. Are the days of major films skipping theaters and going straight to digital and streaming release behind us? It’s beginning to look that way at this point, but we’ll have to see what our health officials have to say about the possibility of variants or other Covid complications. May and June saw the rollout of a trio of worldwide blockbusters in the form of Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, Top Gun: Maverick and, most recently, Jurassic Park Dominion. Meanwhile, the just-released Elvis is making some noise at the domestic box office, just as it has with a number of excited critics. Baz Luhrmann's rockin' bio-pic attained its studio projection on its opening weekend, ringing up $32 million at the domestic box office. There’s a healthy cross section of choices coming to theaters and streaming platforms in July—biggies, not-so-biggies, documentaries and a handful of international entries. Let’s take a look at 10 of them! Sniper: The White Raven (July 1) Made prior to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February, this Ukranian war drama is based on the true story of a Russian attack in the Dunbas region in 2014. Directed by first-time filmmaker Marian Bushan , the film centers on Mykola, an eccentric Ukranian pacifist whose world collapses when his wife is killed during the military incursion. Mykola snaps into action, enlists in the army and earns a coveted spot as a sniper, vowing revenge against his Russian attackers. Due to the war, the film couldn’t be released in its home territory in February as originally planned. The Forgiven (July 1) Enjoying a lavish weekend party in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, a wealthy London couple (Ralph Fiennes and Jessica Chastain) are involved in a tragic accident resulting in the death of a local teenage boy, setting off a tension-filled culture clash between the local Muslims and Western visitors. The unsettling drama is written and directed by John Michael McDonagh, older brother of playwright and director Martin. Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (July 1) Approved for production by the noted singer-songwriter before his death in 2016, this feature-length doc examines Cohen’s life and career via testimonials, performance footage and recordings, archival materials and a particularly close examination of his best-known song, 1984’s “Hallelujah.” Thor: Love and Thunder (July 8) Chris Hemsworth returns in the fourth cinematic outing of the Marvel Comics Universe’s beloved golden-haired, hammer-swinging Norse God of Thunder. This time around, Thor takes on an intergalactic killer known as Gorr the Butcher (Christian Bale) with the help of his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who has somehow inherited his powers along with the ability to wield his magical mallet. Trippy. Taika Waititi, who helmed the previous Thor entry, directs. Both Sides of the Blade (July 8) In this contemporary romantic drama directed by France’s wonderful Claire Denis, Juliette Binoche and Vincent Linon are a couple whose decade-long relationship becomes strained when Binoche’s character finds herself overwhelmed by feelings for a past partner (Grégoire Colin) after encountering him on the street one day. Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel (July 8) On the eve of the Chelsea Hotel’s reopening to the public as a fashionable luxury hotel, the documentary Dreaming Walls explores the bohemian origins and legacy of the famed hotel, a symbol of culture and counterculture and a haven for artists, writers and intellectuals like Dylan Thomas, Patti Smith, Thomas Wolfe, the superstars of Andy Warhol’s Factory and many more. The film also looks at the Chelsea’s longtime residents who continue to call the hotel their home. Where The Crawdads Sing (July 15) Daisy Edgar-Jones stars in the big-screen adaptation of Delia Owens’ 2018 hit debut novel. The story concerns a young woman who raised herself in the dangerous marshlands of North Carolina. Just as she begins to reconnect with the surrounding community, she becomes the main suspect in a brutal murder. As the case unfolds, the many secrets that lay hidden in the marshlands begin to surface. Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris (July 15) The always-game Leslie Manville stars as a widowed cleaning woman in 1950s London who falls madly in love with a couture Dior dress and heads off to Paris to secure one for herself. Based on the 1958 Paul Gallico novel by the same name, the comedy-drama co-stars Isabelle Huppert and Jason Isaacs and features costumes by awarding-winning Jenny Beavan, who recently picked up a third Oscar for her work on last year’s Cruella. Nope (July 22) Distributor Universal Pictures has been very tight-lipped about the plot of this latest chiller by writer/director Jordan Peele, who rode a wave of critical acclaim and solid box office returns with his previous two horror-fueled mysteries, 2017’s Get Out and 2019’s Us. What we do know is that Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer and Steven Yeun star as residents of a California gulch who make a terrifying discovery. It could be something extraterrestrial-ish, by the looks of the trailer. Vengeance (July 29) B.J. Novak wrote, directs and stars in this darkly comic thriller about a fish-out-of-water New York City journalist and podcaster who travels to West Texas to investigate the death of a woman he knew. Issa Rae, J. Smith-Cameron and Ashton Kutcher co-star. Laurence Lerman is a film journalist, former editor of Video Business--Variety's DVD trade publication--and husband to The Insider's own Gwen Cooper. Over the course of his career he has conducted one-on-one interviews with just about every major director working today, including Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, Clint Eastwood, Kathryn Bigelow, Ridley Scott, Walter Hill, Spike Lee, and Werner Herzog, among numerous others. Once James Cameron specifically requested an interview with Laurence by name, which his wife still likes to brag about. Most recently, he is the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the online review site DiscDish.com.