An Open Letter To Ron DeSantis From The Lincoln Project
May 24, 2023 – The following is an open letter to Ron DeSantis from the Lincoln Project regarding his announcement that he's running for President:
Dear Ron,
Congratulations on entering the 2024 Presidential primary process. Running for President is a life-altering event that will challenge your mental and physical abilities to the utmost.
But first, let's cut to the chase: you're going to get absolutely destroyed. Your awkwardness, disdain for people, and general disgust with the process, won't help while you're shaking countless hands in distant diners or standing in the middle of a fair posing for pictures with a butter cow.
You think you are owed a win, but you've never been attacked like Trump will wreck you. Your height, your recent and sudden weight loss, your terrible political judgment, the bad advice from domineering advisors, will all be fair game to Trump. He's going to go through you like fingers through pudding. You're too weak and afraid of Trump and his MAGA cult members to fight him to win.
It was a brilliant move to announce on Twitter so you don't have to talk to real people or answer real questions. It's just you and Elon Musk – a South African who believes that the radical right deserves their own space to scream racist tropes, promote political violence, and push a bizarre culture war. It won't re-energize your already failing campaign with its fleeing donors and falling poll numbers, but it was worth a shot!
We've been following your career for a while now, and we think we know you pretty well. We're comfortable calling you an unAmerican poseur who wraps himself in the flag and military imagery to hide the fact that he's nothing more than a wannabe despot who governs as a bully. Patriots don't ban textbooks, destroy individual rights, and attack companies that don't agree with his policies.
But there's no reason this can't be fun! We're sure going to love watching you crash and burn.
Sincerely,
Your Friends At The Lincoln Project
The Lincoln Project is a leading pro-democracy organization in the United States — dedicated to the preservation, protection, and defense of democracy.
There is no time for living room activism. Every day must be spent asking ourselves if we're doing our part, if we're doing enough to ensure that the grand idea called America continues.
Scorsese, DiCaprio tell how Cannes hit 'Killers of the Flower Moon'
Scorsese, DiCaprio tell how Cannes hit 'Killers of the Flower Moon' switched gears
By Peter Sblendorio New York Daily News
Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio experienced the ultimate plot twist while making their new film, "Killers of the Flower Moon."
The writer-director Scorsese originally enlisted DiCaprio to portray an FBI agent investigating a string of murders among Oklahoma's Osage Nation tribe, but as the project developed, he recast the Oscar winner.
DiCaprio with now stars as Ernest Burkhart, whose marriage is central to the film that premiered to rave reviews Saturday at the Cannes Film Festival in France.
"This story, much like the Tulsa massacre, has been something that people have started to learn about and started to understand is part of culture, part of our history," DiCaprio, 48, told reporters Sunday.
"After the screenplay, from almost an anthropological perspective — Marty was there every day — we were talking to the community, trying to hear the real stories and trying to incorporate the truth."
The film is set during the 1920s and centers on the manipulation and killings of oil-rich Osage Native Americans. Lily Gladstone plays Mollie, an Osage woman who married Burkhart, and Robert De Niro (photo with DiCaprio and Scorsese) portrays William Hale, a man in the middle of the extortion.
"I said, 'I think the audience is ahead of us," Scorsese, 80, said Sunday. "They know it's not a whodunit. It's a who-didn't-do-it."
The film received a nine-minute standing ovation after Saturday's premiere and is due out in U.S. theaters and on Apple TV+ this October.
"Early on, I asked Mr. Scorsese, 'How are you going to approach the story?' " Osage Nation Chief Standing Bear said.
"He said I'm going to tell a story about trust, trust between Mollie and Ernest, trust between the outside world and the Osage, and the betrayal of those trusts. My people suffered greatly, and to this very day those effects are with us. But I can say on behalf of the Osage, Marty Scorsese and his team have restored trust, and we know that trust will not be betrayed."
The film marks the latest collaboration between Scorsese and DiCaprio, whose other titles together include "The Departed," "Shutter Island" and "The Wolf of Wall Street." It's also the latest team-up for Scorsese and De Niro, whose movies together include "Taxi Driver," "Raging Bull," "Goodfellas," "Casino" and "The Irishman."
"Killers of the Flower Moon" is one of numerous high-profile projects at this year's Cannes Film Festival. "Indiana Jones and the Dial of the Destiny" premiered Thursday; Wes Anderson's "Asteroid City," Pixar's "Elemental" and The Weeknd's HBO series "The Idol" debut this week.
A NASA software engineer for more than 20 years (retired), Egyptology hobbyist and ARCE-NC board of directors member for more than 25 years, former reporter and copy editor for the Kansas City Star and Louisville Courier-Journal. I favor open source development, Linux, network neutrality, medical care as a right and not a privilege, the ACLU, freedom of religion, separation of church and state, and freedom of speech, among other things.
