Law and Order: SVU Reviews N

 This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

“I Deserve Some Loving, Too” Season 21. See this for a summary.       

The main political aspect of this is an investigator for the US Citizenship and Immigration Services abusing his position to coerce women involved with Green Card marriages into sleeping with him. I like to think it’s a comment on TRUMP’S USCIS, especially since the guy starts talking at one point about how immigration is an “invasion” of people who will take public services, food, and jobs from native-born Americans. The ADA says that instead of the immigrants getting the American dream, they get a nightmare.

There’s a few minor aspects worth mentioning:

1. Towards the beginning there’s a near-riot in response to SVU arresting a Black man for groping on the subway. They move on from it pretty quickly, and he IS guilty, so it doesn’t bother me.
2. Although this kind of undermines sympathy for immigrants, it turns out that one marriage the USCIS supervisor was messing with is fake- the man is gay.
3. One character says that after 9/11 Muslims feel ashamed of being muslim- it’s not because of what Al-Qaeda did, but how America responded to 9/11.

“Swimming with the Sharks” Season 21. See this for a summary.

There’s one thing worth mentioning. The white female character played by the main guest star is in a relationship with a black woman. I realize that nowadays inter-racial relationships are more accepted than they were 20 years ago, but it still seemed worth mentioning.

“Eternal Relief from Pain” Season 21. See this for a summary.

There are two political notes:

1. The apparently Arab-American supervisor of the SVU ADA (a recurring character) says that the main defendant’s father would never have let her marry his white son.

2. The new female SVU detective might be bisexual, although at the risk of getting too sexual for this blog, she might just like fooling around with other women (it’s my theory that a lot of straight women are like that but they don’t want a girlfriend or to even go on a date with another woman. Also the character is, I think, Arab-American, I just can’t remember for sure.

“Solving for the Unknowns” Season 21 See this for a plot summary.

I’m pretty sure at this point that Kat, the new female detective, is identified as bi-sexual. In some ways it’s no more important than the appearance of other LGB characters but I’d say it IS more important. In an average season, between the detectives and the ADAs there’s about 6 main characters, and there’s been 21 seasons. I think that about 15% of NYC is gay or bi-sexual and although there is I’m sure some conflict in real life between that community and the NYPD, it’s still nice that they are now a part of the show in a solid way, every episode, contributing to the team of detectives and ADAs chasing down sex criminals and kidnappers, wife-beaters, and child abusers. Also, although I don’t think that Kat is Muslim, she is Arab-American.

“The Things we Have to Lose” See this for a summary. 

There’s two minor notes:

1. A gay witness.
2. A man transitioning towards being a woman works as a prostitute and is close with the detective Kat.

Roseanne Reviews N

 This is a set of reviews of Roseanne episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I will focus only on the political aspects and will mention what percent of lines spoken by non-family members are spoken by people of color.

“Santa Claus” Episode 12, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne and Jackie are the new Santa and Mrs. Claus at Rodbell's; while on duty, Roseanne meets Darlene's new friend Karen...and Karen's son. She is resentful that Darlene refused to open up to her but has shared her writing with Karen.”

Out of about 25 lines by non-family members none are by people of color.

There are two sort of political things.

1) Darlene’s grown-up friend is a Star Trek fan. Nothing is said about the politics of ST, but it IS a very political franchise, as I explain here.                             

2) Darlene comes out as an atheist.

“Bingo” Episode 13, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “Crystal, Roseanne, Bonnie, Anne Marie, and Jackie attend bingo for their girl's night out, while Becky and Darlene look after Little Ed. Roseanne wins a game and quickly becomes addicted, which sparks a fight with Crystal. But Crystal's real story is that she is pregnant again and already feels overwhelmed raising Little Ed and her teenage son while Ed is often away on business.”

An unpopular character makes a stupid but not really offensive comment about Indian casinos. He was acting like the idiot that he is. He’s not a role model like most characters are.

Out of about 45 lines by non-family members, about 1/4 were by a person of color.

“The Bowling Show” Episode 14, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “Dan and Arnie struggle to bring their bowling team out of last place, while Roseanne feels shut out of Jackie and Nancy's new friendship. Darlene meets Mark's brother, David for the first time (although he is referred to as Kevin in this episode).”

Out of about 55 lines by non-family members, about 10% are by people of color.

“Less is More” Episode 16, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne's doctor recommends she get a breast reduction to reduce stress on her back. She agrees in spite of a nightmare (featuring a cameo appearance by Neil Patrick Harris as Doogie Howser, MD), in which her breasts are accidentally enlarged to gigantic proportions.

Out of about 30 lines by non-family members, about 20% are by people of color.

“Breaking Up Is Hard To Do” Episode 17, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “When Becky breaks up with Mark, Roseanne and Dan can finally relax.”

I think this is the first time we hear that Darelene is a vegetarian. Although I eat vegetarian and some vegan meals, I’m an omnivore and eat a fair amount of meat. For whatever it’s worth, I occasionally think of becoming a vegetarian (and if I did I wouldn’t eat eggs) but I don’t think I will and I will certainly never become a vegan. I’ve heard that there’s an environmental argument in favor of vegetables over meat because the latter requires more water to produce. I responded to that by cutting back a little on how much meat I consume and replacing it with vegetables.

Out of about 20 lines by a non-family member, none were by people of color.

Two New Poems: "Mass Incarceration" and "Iraq"

 I wrote two new poems. For more about my poetry, see this. Both of these are based on songs I don't like.

You can see all the poems by clicking on the "lyrics" label at the bottom.

“Mass Incarceration” based on “Justice” by Skrewdriver. Original lyrics are here.

1. This is about the mass incarceration of Blacks in America. It was the result of “law and order” laws like the 1994 Crime Bill and racist cops, DAs, judges, witnesses, jurors, and the poverty that prevents many black people from getting a good lawyer instead of an over-worked, underfunded public defender. I am not saying that all cops, judgers, jurors, etc. are racist, but many of them are
2. I am not a fan of the kind of gangs that are based in communities of color, but I know that in the past there was a lot of guilt-by-association involved with how law enforcement decide who to arrest. Also, in the movie “Set It Off” a working-class black bank-teller is suspected of being the inside-woman in a robbery because she sort of knows one of the robbers.
3. I think this has changed in the last 10-20 years, but for a long time crack convictions came with a longer sentence than cocaine convictions, and to a large extent cocaine was more popular with whites than blacks and crack was more popular with blacks than whites.
4. I can’t remember the figures and they varied over time, but Blacks were much more likely to be in prison than whites were. Blacks were more likely to be in prison than in college. The rate of incarceration for blacks was very high and America’s general rate of incarceration is very high compared to other countries, maybe all of them, I can’t remember.
5. 44% of this version is me, 56% is the original.

6. I give this poem 2 stars out of 5.

Their knees feel weak as they’re dragged from the court


Convicted because of with whom they consort


One by one, the judge locks them all away


Trumped up charges is the game the DA plays
 


Chorus:


Call that justice, well it just ain't fair,


How much longer before we care


Call that justice from a racist judge


The cop’s testimony was a total fudge

 

Stripped in a cell, they’re shackled in chains


Lost all their dignity, but trying to keep sane


A longer sentence if you happen to be black


their excuse is that instead of coke it was crack


(Repeat Chorus)


Call this a democracy and “the land of free”


They say there’s equality and meritocracy 


Here's the reality, a racist state


Warehousing Black people behind prison gates

**********

“Iraq” based on “They Stand Alone” by No Remorse. Original lyrics are here.

1. This is about the occupation of Iraq.
2. I think another reason for invading Iraq is that it provided multiple opportunities to give money to corporations. Besides arms contractors and those doing privatized work for the military (security, laundry, food, interrogations, etc.), corporations getting money for reconstruction spent about half of what they got doing actual reconstruction (often a contractor would keep half and give the rest to a subcontractor and sometimes THAT corporation would keep half and give the rest to another subcontractor).
3. Black gold is another term for oil.
4. There was a lot of corruption in the Iraqi government.
5. Haliburton was a company that Dick Cheney had been a leader of before he became VP. It got a lot of US Gov’t contracts to do stuff in Iraq.
6. Laos was bombed as part of the Vietnam War.
7. Although the original is supportive of the Palestinians and sometimes fascists are anti-intervention, this is basically in conflict with what the authors of the original lyrics believe because a lot of American Nazi skinheads joined the US military during the Occupation of Iraq and volunteered to go there and because I think that a lot of white supremacists and fascists in America were pro-war during the Vietnam War.
8. 59% of this version is me, and 41% is the original.

9. I give this poem 2 stars out of 5.

A tank rolls out on the sun bright sand.
Gunfire's heard in an occupied land.
People run, scared for their lives
The sounds of death, sounds of screaming wives

chorus
US Army man, you must go.
Your humvees and your CEOs
Iraqis you must make a stand.
You must work to free your land

A nation, full of black gold
In the minds of American oil companies, it’s already sold
Propped up by pillars, of corruption and graft
An occupation supported by ground attack aircraft

Millions for Haliburton, while Iraqis die.
World-wide news media frequently ask why.
Headquarters of Satan, in the Bush White House
It's an imperialist project, just like the bombing of Laos

Law and Order: SVU Reviews M

This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

 

“The Burden of Our Choices” Season 21. Summary is here.

This is more about abortion than it is about a sex crime (in this case sexual abuse of a minor by her step-father). Until the end all of the pro-lifers are more concerned about the girl having an abortion than they are concerned about the abuse that resulted in the pregnancy. One refers to abortion as a “modern-day genocide” which should be seen as an insult to those who have seen their population almost wiped about. There’s the tiniest bit of dissent but in general the main characters are pro-choice.

One says that money is a factor, that women with money can get abortions easier than women without. And that’s true in multiple ways. First, it’s usually not a free procedure and there is great opposition among pro-lifers to using federal money to pay for abortions. Second, in many states only a minority of counties have an abortion provider and that means women have to travel, some times great distances, to get an abortion. And some states have a waiting period which means spending days in whatever city they have to travel to for the abortion. Poor women can’t afford the gas money and motel room needed.

The 13-yo rape victim (and that’s another thing, the pro-lifers in this episode are the sort who don’t make an exception for rape) tries to kill herself. In the Republic of Ireland, abortion is about 99% illegal. In the 1990s there was at least one court case that decided that if the woman is suicidal and that’s certified by two psychiatrists, she can have an abortion. In 2002 a referendum almost over-turned that by constitutional amendment but it was narrowly defeated. Although Sinn Fein was more or less pro-life, they believed in making several exceptions and the woman being suicidal was one of them and they not only called for a NO vote, they joined a coalition for that purpose with the Green Party, the Labour Party, and a feminist organization.

“At Midnight in Manhattan” Season 21. Summary is here.

A big chunk of this is about transphobia.

“Murdered at a Bad Address” Season 21. Summary is here.

This is about clearing an innocent man who spent 16 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Although it’s not clear, I think that when the detective who originally investigated and arrested the man is interviewed by SVU, he refers to the wrongly convicted as PRs and I think that means Puerto Ricans (both of them have Spanish last names). An SVU detective suggests a class and racial dimension to the original investigation, hence the episode title (they lived in the housing project the murders took place in).

The Queens Assistant DA who gets the wrongly convicted man (his alleged accomplice died shortly before SVU started investigating) out of prison is a gay man. So are/were the two wrongly convicted men and the homophobia of our society kept them from explaining that they were having sex with each other when the rape/double murder took place- they probably could have gotten out of the rape charge and therefore the murder charge as well just by telling the truth about their sexual orientation.

“Counselor, it’s Chinatown” Season 21. Summary is here.

There’s one bit that pro-immigrant. When they raid a massage parlor that involves sex-work, they offer the women working there help with immigration.


“The Longest Night of Rain” Season 21 See this for a summary.

This is about a cop who was raped by a superior in the NYPD.

Trump's Loss and COVID-19

Below is first what I submitted to CNN when they asked people to respond to Biden's win, and below that is another note about Trump and COVID-19. The first one hasn't been edited by me since I submitted it to CNN.

1. I'm really glad. I had a lot of anxiety about it, which won't completely leave until Trump either concedes or it's clear that he's isolated and alone. But Trump is worse than George W. Bush and Bush was worse than his Dad and most republicans. In addition to everything else, Trump has been a disaster in relation to the pandemic. He would actually make fun of people for wearing masks. We have suffered disproportionate to our numbers as a nation. At the end of May we had lost 100,000 people. At the same time, at that point Israel had lost just 284 people- in America, 30 times bigger, that's 8,520 people. As much as I dislike Netanyahu, if he were our President in the early months of the pandemic, we would have lost 8,520 people instead of 100,000. I'm sure something similar can be said about the time since late May. He predicted a pandemic while Trump was calling it a media hoax, he was putting his foot down about social distancing while Trump was prematurely talking about re-opening. I write at greater length about this at- https://theblackandthegreen2.blogspot.com/2020/04/trump-netanyahu-and-covid-19-coronavirus.html     But the main thing is that we had a horrible President when we needed, more than ever, a good one, and now (what will hopefully be) the final months of COVID-19 will be more bearable and less anxiety producing if we have a President who encourages mask-wearing, who doesn't seek political favors in exchange for desperately-needed medical supplies, who doesn't push us too far as far as re-opening, who will allow the scientists and doctors to develop a vaccine that is safe and effective without political interference, etc.

2. Somewhere in my COVID-19 posts I need to put something. I am a very strong believer in masks and I also respect Dr. Fauci. Trump likes to point out that in the very early weeks of COVID-19 Dr. Fauci opposed the idea of encouraging the general public to wear masks. Dr. Fauci's main or only argument was that there weren't enough masks for medical personnel AND the general public. Now, in hindsight and maybe for some people at the time, opposing mask use by the general public was a stupid mistake. There would have been fewer deaths in the Spring if we had all been wearing masks. I understand that medical personnel were a priority, but this is another example of Trump failing to use the Defense Production Act like a sledgehammer. We could have had enough masks in early March if he had. I don't know how Netanyahu did on this question, but Trump failed. Before he started making fun of people for wearing a mask, at one point in April or May he made some half-hearted suggestion that people "might" want to wear a scarf over their mouth and nose. And he seems to think that masks are primarily for the benefit of the wearer, when it's for the people around them. He also doesn't understand that you should wear a mask when no one's around but there's a decent chance someone will come up to you unexpectedly, instead of just when there ARE people around you. We all forget sometimes to wear a mask when we go out, but if you plan on putting one on when you leave the house instead of just when someone unexpectedly comes up to you outside, it’ll work out better.

An Example of Irish-American Anti-Racism

For about 10 years now I have been linking from this blog to a group called the Irish American Unity Conference. I was vaguely or fairly familiar with them about 20-23 years ago when I believe they were a moderate version of Irish Northern Aid, who were basically supporters of Sinn Fein and the IRA. Now they seem to primarily support SF. Although their links list contains nothing radical that isn’t also Irish (i.e. SF’s web-site), they surprised me when I found a June statement in response to Black Lives Matter activism that was taking place at the time. I am reproducing their statement below but you can find it here.

“We, the Officers of the Irish American Unity Conference, express our outrage at the ongoing, deep-seated, brutal racism that is destroying the fabric of our country. We condemn in particular the recent cold-blooded murders of African-American fellow citizens, including children, in Minnesota, Georgia, Texas, Florida, New York City, Cleveland, Chicago, Baltimore, East St. Louis, and Louisville. We stand in solidarity with our African-American sisters and brothers not only in this time of crisis but at all times. There are disturbing parallels between America’s racism and the state-sponsored political and religious discrimination and violence imposed for over eight hundred years on native Irish people in the north of Ireland. It is not a coincidence that the Northern Ireland Civil Rights movement took its inspiration and strategies from the Civil Rights movement in the United States to fight for justice and an end to oppression. We are painfully aware that recent racist events in this country are not an anomaly or aberration, but rather are a continuation of the violence perpetrated against people of color for hundreds of years, often state-sanctioned, to intimidate and deny equal citizenship to a significant segment of our society. We declare our resolve that the United States must once and for all acknowledge and stop its endemic racism or fail its founding principles of equality and justice for all. None of us can be silent, for if we are not part of the solution then we are part of the problem."

Peter Kissel, President


George Trainor, Vice-President


Kevin Barry, Treasurer


Sarah McAuliffe-Bellin, Secretary

********

It’s really good. Although it’s common for SF supporters to refer to how Black Americans inspired the N. Ireland Civil Rights Movement and we get something out of that, it’s still worth pointing out that every time it’s mentioned, there’s potential for it to get some racist or semi-racist Irish-Americans who care about N. Ireland to change their thinking about race. And this statement goes well beyond simply mentioning the two Civil Rights Movements. I have occasionally suggested to SF members and leaders that they should be in solidarity more with people of color in America and although I have no reason to believe it’s connected to my work, I’m really glad to see that the leadership of the IAUC have done that.

My blog is largely dedicated to the intersection of N. Ireland and fighting racism in America. One of the top three individuals who represent that intersection (along with Bernadette Devlin-McAliskey and Angela Y. Davis) is Bill Fletcher Jr. Bill is a long-time advocate for Justice and Equality on a range of topics. He has held MANY positions, some very senior, in America’s Labor Movement. From about 1995 to about 2001 he was Assistant to the President of the AFL-CIO (John Sweeney). Starting in 2001 he was, for a small number of years, a National Co- Chair of the Black Radical Congress, a coalition of Black people and organizations on the broad Left in America. For about two years starting in 2001 he was the President of TransAfrica Forum. An example of his Irish Republican activity is here.

After reading the IAUC statement he commented on the similarities between British Imperialism in Ireland and white supremacy in America: “When the English conquered Ireland they instituted a racial-colonial domination over the indigenous population.  They, in fact, constructed a settler state, the legacy of which is Northern Ireland.  The English introduced this system when they invaded the Western Hemisphere, constructed racial slavery for Africans and succeeded in beginning the expulsion of the First Nations."

The posts on my blog that are at least partly about that intersection, what some call “the black and the green,” are here.

Law and Order: SVU Reviews L

 This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

“Info Wars” Season 19. Wikipedia summary is: “The Special Victims Unit is called to a brutal crime scene after a violent protest in the city results in a controversial, right-wing female pundit (Rhea Seehorn) getting viciously sexually assaulted. However, with many people in the crowd during the protest, the squad has a hard time catching the victim's assailants. When the case is taken to trial, Barba and Benson fight with each other after struggling to keep their political opinions about the case quiet, which leaves the squad clashing over sides in the case and raises tension between the detectives and Barba.”

The title is taken from one of the web-sites associated with Alex Jones, although it’s not clear if the survivor is supposed to be a female version of Jones or is she’s supposed to be like Ann Coulter. She is at least more right-wing than left-wing and attracts people who I believe are supposed to mirror the Proud Boys (see this). She also attracts counter-protestors including Antifa. Although there is some dissent, for the most part the main characters don’t like her very much.

“Send in the Clowns” Season 19. Wikipedia summary is: “The Special Victims Unit is called in to investigate the disappearance of a teenage prodigy (Mallory Bechtel) during a spring break trip. The prime suspect is a butcher (Eric Tabach) who was seen leaving a club in a clown mask with the girl and she was last known to have been at his apartment. However, the case becomes extremely difficult to close. When the detectives try to find her body at a dump, they find that the dump has been emptied. Stone tries to get justice for the girl and lock up the butcher as the chances of the girl being alive become extremely slim. However, towards the end, the case takes a shocking twist and the detectives discover that the real culprit is someone they least suspected. Stone reveals to Benson that he moved to New York to take care of his sister who is mentally ill in a home upstate.”

At the beginning we are reminded that Finn’s son is gay. Also, while he’s Black, his husband is Latino. It’s not as significant as inter-racial relationships where one person is white, but it’s still inter-racial and what I would call multi-cultural- more multi-cultural than a German-American and an Irish-American. And there IS some conflict between Blacks on one hand and Latina/os and Chicana/os on the other hand.

“Service” Season 19.Wikipedia summary is: “When a female escort (Morgan Taylor Campbell) is found sexually assaulted and brutally beaten, the Special Victims Unit is called in to investigate. They soon discover that she was in a sleazy hotel with three soldiers from the military. However, the case becomes complicated when one soldier (Marquise Vilson) refuses to talk and another (Jack DiFalco) confesses to the crime, even though it is clear that he is lying. Eventually, when the real rapist is found and the DNA comes in, the case takes an extremely shocking twist and a huge sacrifice is made by one of the soldiers who has been hiding a secret from the world for a very long time. Meanwhile, Rollins' unprofessional work on the case leads to her revealing a secret from her recent romantic life, having taken the case too personally.”

One of the suspects, one of the two who is completely innocent, is a transgendered man in the US Army. He’s convinced to testify against his guilty colleague even though it will involve outing himself. Although it’s not critical of the military, it IS critical of Trump’s transphobic policy about transgendered people in the military. Also, the man is Black.

“Remember Me” and "Remember Me, Too” two parter. Season 19. Wikipedia summaries are:

“The Special Victims Unit is called in after a woman takes a man hostage, the incident being live streamed on a phone he left behind. While police search for the woman and the man, who now appears to be the woman's rapist, Benson enters the apartment where the two are located and is herself taken hostage. Benson then becomes a witness to unfolding events. The hostage situation takes a twist when Benson discovers that the man being held was actually a vicious pimp and kidnapper who abducted the woman a while ago and held her captive. As the hostage siege gets more dangerous, Benson tries to put it to a stop before lives are lost.”
 

“As the situation comes to a resolution, the Special Victims Unit investigates the chain of events which led to the hostage siege. After the detectives start doubting the kidnapping and hostage victim's testimony, an extremely dangerous criminal network is discovered by the Special Victims Unit, which is prepared to do anything needed for justice, leading to the squad investigating the criminal network. Whilst investigating, Stone's sister is abducted by the criminal network in an extremely brutal shooting at the psychiatric hospital where she lives. The detectives frantically search for her, ending tragically for Stone, his sister, and the detectives involved.”

(I often don’t read the wikipedia summaries but I read this one and it’s wrong about something. He wasn’t a pimp and he didn’t kidnap her. He was a “coyote” and helped some Mexican women get from Mexico to NYC)

This is kind of about immigration. First, there’s one moment when a detective makes it clear that SVU is not Immigration.

Second, there’s the role of the coyote. I have always gotten the impression that most or maybe all of those who, in exchange for money, help people cross the border are bad, and a political friend who is very familiar with the immigration issue has confirmed that for me. Although Joe Biden is pro-immigrant, when Trump, in the second debate, attacked coyotes, Biden didn’t say anything positive about them. But I wouldn’t be surprised if anti-immigrant people like to say that pro-immigrant people LIKE coyotes. Since they are bad, it would be good for the anti-immigrant argument. But Law & Order: SVU, a very pro-immigrant show, used this show to demonize coyotes (at no point is anything positive said about them). I doubt that many pro-immigrant people like coyotes and most of those who do probably just need to be educated briefly.

“Down Low In Hell’s Kitchen” Season 21. See this for an episode summary.

This is only sort of about homophobia. it turns out that the serial predator of closeted black gay men is closeted himself, and in other ways it’s a little muddled. But it features two scenes with the gay son of the Black detective and it seems that Benson’s supervisor is a gay black man. Which brings up the most substantial thing. It’s not the first time the show has focused on homophobia in the Black community. And although I get this mostly from this show, I get the impression that it IS a bigger problem in the Black community than it is in the white community. I think that might be because of the strength of homophobic churches, but I’m not real sure about that.

Trump, Masks and Conspiracy Theories

Two miscellaneous thoughts about Trump. The first about masks and the second one about right-wing conspiracies.

 1. First, Trump has said (three times with large audiences) that a recent CDC study found that 85% of people who wear a mask get COVID-19. I’m going to rely primarily on a CNN article to refute that and add a couple things. First, the CNN article is here. Second of all, this shows that trump, like many Americans, still doesn’t get it- a mask isn’t supposed to offer more than partial protection to the wearer. It protects people around the wearer in case they are pre-symptomatic  or asymptomatic- in case they have COVID-19 and don’t know it. You can still  get it with a mask because the mask doesn’t protect your eyes, but the only way for the virus to get out is through your noes and mouth (well you also sort of have to worry about your hands as well to some degree). Third, I can only imagine how much damage he did tossing around that fake information. Bearing in mind what CNN says about its accuracy, he must have strengthened the resolve of mask skeptics like a steel beam placed in their spine. I mean, if 85% of mask wearers get COVID-19, who in the world would wear a mask?

2. In the NBC Trump Town Hall that partly replaced the second debate, Trump was asked to reject a popular conspiracy theory. Referred to as QAnon, it is basically saying that Democrats are part of a satanic conspiracy based on pedophilia. I’m not sure how connected it is to the Pizzagate conspiracy theory or if it is separate. Pizzagate resulted in an incident of armed violence and QAnon could, too. Pedophilia (a sexual attraction by adults or adolescents towards pre-pubescent children) is a serious problem. And Trump refuses to say this conspiracy theory is nonsense. Instead he says that all he knows about them is that they’re against pedophilia and apparently that makes it okay. He also emphasizes that he only RE-tweets QAnon stuff. But A) he has the FBI and the rest of the intelligence community at his fingertips- he knows that QAnon is slanderous, politically-motivated nonsense, B) Who ISN’T against Pedophilia? and C) when you retweet something you are, to one degree or another, endorsing it.

The Electoral College and the Election of the President

There’s a ballot initiative on the ballot in Colorado that takes aim at how the Electoral College works. It’s called Proposition 113 and it would do the following: it commits CO to an alliance of states that have taken a similar position and when that alliance represents so much electoral power that it’s Electoral College members could elect the President, CO’s electors will vote in the EC for whichever candidate won the popular vote even if that candidate didn’t win CO.

I don’t like how America places someone in the White House. In 2000 and 2016 that person did not win the popular vote, and look at how many people have been placed on the Supreme Court partly by the two Republicans I am talking about- George W. Bush and Donald Trump. If Trumps wins the EC, he’ll again do so without winning the Popular Vote (although that would be the least of our constitutional problems if he wins  the EC).

At one level, we should simply put in the White House whoever wins the popular vote. But A) there are other problems with the EC and B) I have heard one argument about what Prop. 113 would do that prompted me to vote against it.

First, that argument is that if the EC were abolished and the popular vote placed a candidate in the White House, there would be recounts (possibly recount after recount) in all 50 states after the election. It seems quite possible it might take weeks to stop the recounts after they’ve become excessive- it might be what happened in FL in 2000 but 51+ recounts instead of just one (I am not sure how many others there were, but I’m pretty sure that only one made it to the SCOTUS).

There are 1-2 reforms of the EC that would satisfy me and which would help us avoid that possible nightmare scenario and still have more respect for the intent of the voters.

The first one is not the one I feel strongly about. It’s doing half of what Maine and Nebraska do where there are two EC votes that reflect the majority of the state overall and one vote per Congressional District that goes the way each District goes. I like the second part, about the districts. It could be called proportional representation compared to what happens when ALL the Electoral Votes of a state (with more than one District) go to the same candidate.

The important part is that all the states need to shed the two extra EC votes they get because they have two senators. These two extra Senate-based votes create a small but false and undesirable degree of equality between the big states and the small states. California should have 53 times the power in the EC that Wyoming has (CA has 53 Districts, and WY has one). As it is right now, CA has a little more than 18 times more power in the EC, but it has 69 times the population.

I’ve read some good sources that say Gore actually WON Florida in 2000 when all the votes are counted. But let’s say he lost FL fair and square. Someone did the math and if it weren’t for these two additional votes that every state gets, if all they got were just based on Congressional Districts, he could have lost FL by a landslide and still won the EC. To one extent or another, depending on how you define a small state (I draw the line at them having more than 9 congressional districts) about half of the the small states are reliably conservative, and a minority are reliably liberal, and a few are battleground states, although those numbers could change.

Right now, if these Senate-based votes were eliminated 220 Electoral Votes would be needed to win the election. Although I’m open minded that they may be biased with polling information, I like following the polls and the averages of the polls on the web-site Real Clear Politics, a site that is generally leans to the right. If you strip away two from each of the numbers they use, the total EC votes that Biden would have locked down in the Solid Democrat, Likely Democrat, and Leans Democrat states would be 185. Right now, 10/13/20, Biden is doing very well in WI (8 Votes), MI (14), PA (18) and NV (4). Looking at just those four states, Biden has two instead of just one path to victory (WI could be replaced by NV and Biden could still win; the way things are actually set up, MI, PA and NV wouldn’t be enough).

In general, shedding those Senate-based votes makes it easier for the Dems for the foreseeable future. And even when that ceases to be the case with shifting political trends, it would just be more (small-d) democratic if the EC were without those Senate-based votes.

I don’t feel strongly about the first reform I described (that NE and ME do). And I don’t think that Prop. 113 is horrible. But I think that getting rid of those Senate-based votes is incredibly important. One reason I bring this up is that it also exposes how messed up the Senate is- as i’ve said elsewhere, the Senate needs to be reformed. I think that each senator should get a number of votes equal to the number of Districts in their state, and that number should be used for everything in the Senate, including committee votes.

Proud Boys and Nazi Skinheads

Some of this is at this point widely-known but one part of it isn’t. After Trump’s endorsement of the Proud Boys (which he has kind of walked back) in the first presidential debate, a lot is known about the Proud Boys. A fair amount of background is available here and here.

They’re militant white supremacists but don’t appear to be skinheads. I had gotten the impression that the skinhead population had declined in recent years but was still surprised that there were reports of Antifa fighting the Proud Boys but nothing about them fighting Nazi skinheads. When I read stuff about Trump coddling the Proud Boys I thought it would be better if he were coddling Nazi skinheads because it would be easier to attack him over that.

I recently read a CNN article which said that they wear Fred Perry shirts. The thing is, skinheads, including Nazi skinheads, wear Fred Perry shirts. There seemed to be some connection between the Proud Boys and Nazi skinheads. When I brought this to the attention of several political friends, one of them (Dave Anderson, a columnist for the Boulder Weekly) responded and provided links to the following two stories:

1) Proud Boys and skinheads: MLS faces an incursion from the far-right.

2) Far-right skinheads join Proud Boys in assaulting protesters in New York City following Gavin McInnes event.

They indicate that there ARE connections between the Proud Boys and Nazi skinheads, something that I don’t think has been mentioned by the mainstream media in America.

Another aspect of this is, when did the GOP start believing that political differences should be settled with violence? In my experience they have believed that for a long time.

In 2005 when the Ward Churchill scandal broke, I went a protest at CU-Boulder in support of him. I was wearing an anti-Columbus shirt and a College Republican said that he loves Columbus. I explained about the genocide on Hispanola (when Columbus was governor of the island that is now made up of Haiti and the Dominican Republic at least 99% of the indigenous population was killed) and he said that when he moved into a new apartment he killed off the indigenous population of spiders. Instead of continuing to be patient and explaining how offensive that was, I called him a motherfucker. He asked if I wanted to fight and speculated that I don't believe fighting solves anything- he said it does solve things. I stood next to him but looked straight ahead silently until he was silent for 1-3 minutes and then I left.

Also, in 2003 right before a big anti-war rally I organized, I bumped into three college republicans who were going around covering up the flyers for the rally with their pro-war flyers. When I confronted them about that, one of them, who I think was Iraqi, said he wanted to beat me up. After a short confrontation we parted company.

Law and Order: SVU Reviews K

This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

“Real Fake News” Season 18. Wikipedia summary is: “The SVU squad is asked by a US Representative (James Waterston) to debunk sexual assault rumors currently against him, but it takes a surprising twist when they are led to something much more deplorable. Things eventually become extremely personal when Benson and Rollins are targeted by a news website of questionable validity, with pictures of them and their children spreading false rumors about the nature of their families. Both detectives become infuriated and upset, vowing to stop the website and the man running it.”

This is inspired by the popular right-wing conspiracy theory “Pizzagate” which alleges that Democratic Party officials are connected to an underage teenage sex ring. The episode illustrates how ridiculous a theory it is as the detectives investigate the restaurant and find nothing incriminating. The person pushing the theory is without ethics or integrity. It ends with a US Congressperson being killed by a follower of the theory.

“Conversion” Season 18. Wikipedia summary is: “A church group from Indiana visits New York and reports to the Special Victims Unit that one of their members was sexually assaulted by another member. When the rapist (Casey Cott) is found, he claims it was curative intercourse to cure the girl of her homosexuality and that he was saving her soul. The detectives investigate and must decide whether the rapist is sincere in his beliefs or if something else happened to cause him to attack the victim. They end up finding out that the rapist is hiding a secret.”

This is a very anti-homophobic episode. The rapist hides behind his religion as a defense and the detectives say that that doesn’t matter, that it’s still rape. Which reminds me of something I’ve been wanting to say for years. A lot of people who oppose homophobia tie the bigotry of their opponents to the religion of the homophobes. This is flawed because A) there are religious people who oppose homophobia and B) there are homophobic atheists. I think the approach should be to say something like: “your religion doesn’t matter, your bigotry is the problem” and then explain what I just said in the previous sentence. I also think it would be easier to convince someone to abandon their bigotry than it would be to convince them to abandon their religion. And for many people, religion is a good thing. It makes it easier for me to deal with my mom’s death.

This next review is of a two-parter. The first part is called “American Dream” and the second is called “Sanctuary.” The wikipedia summaries are:

“An extremely brutal hate crime is committed against a Muslim family who owns a restaurant, resulting in two deaths. The detectives investigate, but things become extremely complicated when a crucial witness is suddenly and unexpectedly deported back to his own country. This forces Barba to drop the charges, causing extreme tension, anger, and violence between communities on opposing sides of the case.”

and

“The Special Victims Unit continues to investigate the hate crime against the Muslim family who were viciously assaulted in their restaurant. When their main suspect in the crime is released from custody, Benson and Barba become caught between the Muslim family and the suspect's family, both seeking justice for their loved ones. Protests in the streets start to turn extremely violent and Benson is faced with a tough decision that she has never had to make before in her entire career in order to make an arrest and get justice.”

Bigotry and immigration are the main themes here.

1. An inter-racial couple are witnesses. I know that’s more common and more widely accepted than it was 20 years ago, but it’s still worth noting.
2. At one point a suspect suggests that Donald Trump is right about Mexican immigrants and rape.
3. A suspect’s wife complains that nobody cares about straight white people who aren’t transgendered.
4. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid a pro-immigrant protest. That’s pretty lame. It’s like police raiding a protest against police brutality.
5. A crucial witness is a gay Syrian whose is in the country illegally. First, it’s significant that he’s a gay muslim- you don’t hear about them very often. Second, he is certain that if he’s deported back to Syria or a refugee camp he’ll be killed because he’s gay (that’s another thing you don’t hear much about, homophobia among Muslims). Shortly after he’s picked up by ICE at the pro-immigrant protest he’s deported. Not only does SVU lose a crucial witness thanks to Trump’s anti-immigrant agenda, it’s as damning of our immigration system as the execution of an innocent person would be damning of the death penalty.

“No Good Reason” season 19. Wikipedia summary is: “The Special Victims Unit is called in to investigate the sudden disappearance of a high school student (Brighton Sharbino). They soon discover that she was the victim of a nasty cyberbullying attack from her fellow peers and best friend (Madison Pettis). When she is finally found, she claims that she was raped by three boys from her school at a party, one being one of her best friends. The case goes well until the victim becomes reluctant to testify due to hatred and bullying from her peers and Benson must convince her to be brave. Meanwhile, Sheila Porter attempts to challenge Benson's parenting skills as a mother, which infuriates Benson.”

The survivor tells SVU that there was underage marijuana smoking and SVU says they don’t care- either much or at all (I can’t remember for sure and I’m not going to watch the episode again now, but in at least one other episode they ignore illegal marijuana use by survivors).

Roseanne Reviews M

This is a set of reviews of Roseanne episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I will focus only on the political aspects and will mention what percent of lines spoken by non-family members are spoken by people of color.

“Vegas” Episode 7 Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “Arnie and Nancy invite Roseanne and Dan to their Las Vegas wedding. Roseanne and Dan have a fight when she feels neglected and pulls him out of a lucky craps game.”

Out of about 60 lines by non-family members, none are spoken by people of color.

“Vegas, Vegas” Episode 8, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne is upset that Dan would rather play craps than spend a romantic night together. She and Nancy get drunk and walk into a Wayne Newton impersonator performance, unaware she is heckling the real Wayne Newton who is making a surprise on-stage appearance. After Arnie and Nancy's wedding, they offer Dan and Roseanne the chance to renew their vows.”

Out of about 60 lines by non-family members, none are spoken by people of color.

“Stressed to Kill” Episode 9, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne resumes smoking to cope with her stressful life—then tries to hide the renewed habit from her family. Roseanne is thrilled when Darlene gets a B on a school report until she learns that Becky actually wrote it for her.”

There is some anti-Columbus stuff. Darlene says that he was a slave trader. I’ll be honest I’m not real familiar with that part of how horrible he was, but I’ve heard it elsewhere from a good source so it’s probably true. She also said that he slaughtered thousands of people. Although I’m not sure if it was thousands or tens of thousands, I DO know for sure that while he was governor of Hispanola (the island now made up of Haiti and the Dominican Republic) at least 99% of the indigenous population was killed.

Although she ends up letting Becky write a politically moderate essay about it for her history class assignment, and this takes place at the height of her anti-social phase, I believe that what Darlene says about Columbus is the view of the show because in a later episode, the show offers a very critical view of Thanksgiving.

Out of about 15 lines by non-family members, about 10% are by people of color.


“Thanksgiving ’91” Episode 10, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “During Thanksgiving dinner, Roseanne and Jackie discover their father has been having an affair for 20 years that their mother has known about. Darlene hides out in her room and refuses to open up to anyone except Nana Mary.”

Darlene says: “I opt not to celebrate the exploitation of Indians by a group of religious fanatics.”

This isn’t the later episode I was referring to in the review above. That later episode doesn’t involve DARLENE criticizing Thanksgiving. So, independent of Darlene’s anti-social depressed phase, the show is critical of what happened to American Indians. There’s at least three episodes with that message.

“Kansas City, Here We Come” Episode 11, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “Jackie and Roseanne head to Kansas City to meet their father's mistress. Dan goes to beat up Becky's boss for being grossly disrespectful to her, but finds that Mark has beaten him to it.”

Out of about 20 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.

Law and Order: SVU Reviews J

This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

“Making a Rapist” Season 18. Wikipedia summary is: “When a DNA rape kit is tested 16 years later, the man originally convicted of the crime, Sean Roberts (Henry Thomas), is released from prison. He befriends the victim and her daughter (Alexis Collins), being invited to the daughter's wedding. One month after Roberts' release, the daughter is found raped and murdered with evidence pointing to him. Meanwhile, Fin Tutuola is accused of framing Roberts as payback for tarnishing his arrest record, having been the original arresting officer. Vice President Joe Biden makes a cameo appearance in the cold open.”

Biden’s cameo is worth noting. He’s a pretty good Dem, what I would call a moderate liberal (see this for my thoughts on the word “liberal”). I am going to vote for him in the fairly solid Dem state of Colorado. As I wrote in most of a post here, I think he might be guilty of sexually assaulting Tara Reade. I’m going to vote for him anyway because A) CO is not too far from being a swing state (and I would like him to do well in the popular vote), B) he might be innocent, and C) even if he's guilty, he is still better than Trump in every way, including when it comes to sexual assault, (Trump has been accused of assaulting several women and has even bragged about it).

“Broken Rhymes” Season 18. Wikipedia summary is: “After a transgender individual (Sabel Gonzales) is assaulted in a public bathroom, SVU questions the CEO of a record label (Wyclef Jean) who may be linked to the assault. The case is initially believed to be a hate crime, but things take a twist when the prime suspect reveals his connection to the victim and several people are found brutally murdered. With the victim's life on the line, things eventually become very intense for both the detectives and the suspects.”

This is about transphobia. It is almost the first time I have touched on that on this blog and I need to get some things off my chest. Until about 5-10 years ago I frequently laughed at the the relatively harmless but still offensive jokes about transgender people that pepper popular culture in this country. In 2001, while helping to lead a coalition of student groups that were helping faculty and staff at the University of Colorado get domestic partner benefits, I didn’t value the importance of getting CU to offer equality to transgender staff and faculty. That was influenced by the fact that we (the coalition) were not steering events- we were formed the day before the Regents started discussing a measure to add sexual orientation to CU’s non-discrimination policy and were scrambling to organize support for that on the CU-Boulder campus. Some of our partners in the student LGBTQ community attacked me over this but it was partly a misunderstanding and partly, in hind-sight, that I simply didn’t value that issue very much- a third element is that we probably couldn’t have gotten the Regent who sponsored the measure to add the TQ in LGBTQ to his measure and if we had, it probably would have failed. To some extent the broad movement for LGBTQ equality had to decide if the LGB had to wait for equality until the TQ was also going to be included. As embarrassed as I am by my past failure as an ally to reject transphobia, I also don’t think that the LGB should wait. Supporting the measure the Regents were discussing was the right thing to do.

In early 2002 I started to educate myself. I learned that the unemployment rate for transgender people was something like 80%. Sometime around 2010 I learned, from this TV show, more about how much lethal violence there is directed towards transgender people. Around 2010 or 2015 I started to become sensitive to to transphobia in popular culture. In 2003 I included pro-transgender language in a political statement for the group Students for Justice in N. Ireland but I probably did a bad job of it and left out certain words or something. In the last 10 years I have had a few acquaintances who are transgender and once spoke out against a mildly anti-transgender statement.

“Chasing Theo” Season 18. Wikipedia summary is: “A six-year-old boy is abducted from his bedroom after his mother (Rachelle Lefevre) throws a wild party with drugs involved. The case brings forward several suspects and the detectives are led to multiple locations and tip-offs. The case becomes distressing for Rollins and Benson, both mothers. As hours go by, the squad becomes desperate to find the boy, which makes the mother and her ex-girlfriend fret. Meanwhile, Benson breaks up with Tucker after several days of thinking, breaking both her and Tucker's hearts.”

The child’s mother is a woman who is a white lesbian dating an Asian-American woman.

“No Surrender” season 18. Wikipedia summary is: “Fin revisits his military roots when a fellow Army Ranger (Sarah Booth) is the victim of sexual assault and does not handle it well. SVU is soon called in to assist and it is revealed that the woman was sexually assaulted after a party she threw. The case becomes difficult when the victim refuses to cooperate and Olivia and Fin become convinced that the rapist is someone against her being a Ranger, but the rapist turns out to be someone unexpected after a secret is revealed.”

This is partly about women in the military. Although I’m not a fan of the US military (I almost always politically object to the missions they’re given and I think there is a casual attitude about civilian death) I also believe that in at least two cases the US military did a good thing (the Civil War and World War II), and that they’re capable of doing the right thing, and that there are a lot of good people in the US military. With that in mind, I am concerned about equality for women in the military. I think that they should have it and that means integrating them fully into all units of the Army and Marines. I don’t know how many women will meet the physical requirements that the men have to in order to be, for example, in the infantry, but those who do should be made to feel welcome.

Roseanne Reviews L

This is a set of reviews of Roseanne episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I will focus only on the political aspects and will mention what percent of lines spoken by non-family members are spoken by people of color.

“Scenes From a Barbecue” Episode 24, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “The Conners hold a Mother's Day barbecue at which feisty Nana Mary exerts her motherhood muscle on Bev, surprising Roseanne and Jackie with how alike their relationships are.”

Out of about 40 lines by non-family members, about 50% were by people of color.

“The Pied Piper of Lanford” Episode 25, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne and Dan ponder opening a motorcycle shop with their friend, Ziggy. Ziggy gets cold feet at the last minute but leaves behind a generous token of gratitude: $20,000. Brad Garrett appears in this episode.”

Out of about 55 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.

“Why Jackie Becomes a Trucker” Epiosde 3 Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “Jackie is horrified to wake up in bed with Arnie after a drunken fling. Roseanne tries endlessly to return DJ's new dog to its owner. Dan and his pals discover Leon's gay when they invite him to their poker game. Jackie decides to start a new career as a professional truck driver.”

First, out of about 50 lines by non-family members, about 30% are by people of color.

Second, although I have decided to not offer notes about gay characters like the note I just made above about people of color, I am going to occasionally comment on their presence on the show. In this episode Leon plays poker with Dan and his friends and lets them know that he’s gay when they assume he's straight. Their response is positive but of course a bit flawed. One guy says that he knows a gay man in Chicago and asks Leon if he knows the man.

“Tolerate Thy Neighbor” Episode 5, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne witnesses the Bowmans' possessions being donated to what she believes is charity while the Bowmans are out-of-town. Kathy Bowman is furious that Roseanne watched without realizing the house was being robbed. Bob Hope makes a cameo appearance during the end credits of this episode.”

There’s a lot of pro-LGB stuff in this episode. Leon’s boyfriend shows up at his work and Roseanne encourages Leon to let him stay at home while Leon’s mom visits- usually the boyfriend leaves when that happens. Jackie says that if she were gay she would tell her parents.

Out of about 55-60 lines by non-family members, about 10% are by a person of color.

“Trick me up, trick me down” Episode 6, Season 4. Wikipedia summary is: “When Dan and Roseanne play a gruesome Halloween prank on Kathy Bowman, Roseanne is worried that Kathy will get revenge. Her fears turned out to be for naught as Kathy wants nothing to do with Roseanne and her childish pranks. At the lodge's Halloween party, Jackie discovers that the moose she has been flirting with is Booker, her former boyfriend.”

Out of about 60 lines by non-family members, about 15% were by people of color.

Law and Order SVU Reviews I

This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

(Now that I’m getting into some of the episodes that involve the character John Munch, I’m going to ignore most of his political statements)

“Street Revenge” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “A string of rapes in West Soho inspires a group of vigilantes to organize against both neighborhood crime and the NYPD. While a reporter (Gavin Lee) takes every opportunity to publicly criticize police efforts, the squad struggles to find a lead in the case until one of the vigilantes (Hani Furstenberg) is attacked and another (Keir O'Donnell) claims to be in love with her. As Cragen and Benson fight for control over the investigation, Amaro becomes sidetracked with his wife's involvement with a man from her unit in Iraq.”

There’s a critical reference to the NYPD’s old policy of “Stop and Frisk,” a policy of frequently searching people on the street that resulted in Black and Latino people being searched disproportionately, which lead to it being declared unconstitutional and stopped. There’s also a weak statement against the murderer of Trayvon Martin, the Black teenager killed in Florida 2012 by a white man. It's a weak statement because it didn’t say anything about the racial nature of the crime. But it’s still better than nothing.

“Father Dearest” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “Benson and Amaro investigate the disappearance of a teenaged girl named Cate Avery (Shannon Maree Walsh) after her young brother (Jake Katzman) calls 9-1-1. While Tutuola and Rollins look into a possible abduction, they discover the girl had been searching for her biological father, an anonymous sperm donor (Eric Close). The investigation takes a startling turn when a suspect (James Van Der Beek) is found to be targeting several young, vulnerable women, all with the same personal connection. The returning Dr. Huang (BD Wong) must delve into the suspect's past to save the other women in similar situations.”

Although it might have been mentioned in an earlier episode, this is the first I remember hearing that the character Dr. Huang (an FBI forensic psychiatrist who was a main character seasons 4-12 and who showed up here and there before season 4 and since season 12) is gay. The actor is gay, but I must have missed this when I first watched this episode about 10 years ago. It’s pretty significant that such a high profile character is gay.

“Learning Curve” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “As Tutuola's son Ken (Ernest Waddell) seeks out Munch's help to tell his father that he is getting married, his fiancé (Miguel Govea) is brutally assaulted by a local street gang. He becomes the latest in a string of recent hate crimes against gay men, and before SVU can make an arrest, a school teacher (Tony Hale) is similarly brutalized even though he does not fit the pattern. As the detectives search for a connection, they learn that he was dismissed from an elite private school for having an inappropriate relationship with a student (Dylan Minnette). In trying to help Cabot make her case, they quickly realize that the facts do not add up and that another teacher (Jane Adams) may hold the clues to what really happened.”

This episode is largely about homophobia.

“Strange Beauty” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “While off-duty, Rollins spots a young woman (Morgan Lynch) screaming in the back of a moving taxi. The unit quickly identifies the victim as a rebellious teenager, estranged from her family and experimenting in the world of tattoos and self-mutilation. The case takes an unexpected turn when Dr. Warner presents the detectives with a cleanly severed leg, reminiscent of a similar finding in an old unsolved case. The detectives are drawn into the psychological elements of self-mutilation and ritual amputation as they investigate two brothers (David Eigenberg and Patrick Fischler) and a one-legged acquaintance of theirs (Britt Lower) in order to link the cases and find the missing woman.”

One of the suspects, the innocent one, is a gay man

“Terrorized” season 18. Wikipedia summary is: “When Lt. Benson finds a boy alone in Central Park, he draws a gun on her. The SVU team finds the boy's parents as they execute a planned terrorist attack at the park. When the father is killed by police in a shootout in Central Park during an event, the boy's mother (Natia Dune) says that she was forced to carry out the attack, as she was raped and beaten for five years by the father and his brother. Benson and Barba are at odds over the mother's claims, with Benson pushing for leniency. Meanwhile, a distraught Deputy Chief Dodds accuses Benson of getting his son killed. “

At one point a building super says something anti-immigrant and Finn says something critical of that comment.

Roseanne Reviews K

This is a set of reviews of Roseanne episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I will focus only on the political aspects and will mention what percent of lines spoken by non-family members are spoken by people of color.

“Valentine’s Day” Episode 17, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne anticipates a special Valentine's Day gift from Dan; Darlene is disappointed when her crush instead invites Becky to a school dance. First appearance of Martin Mull as Leon, Roseanne's new boss, and Bonnie Sheridan as Bonnie, the new waitress at the diner.”

Of about 30 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.

“Communicable Theater” Episode 18, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is “Roseanne lends more than moral support when Jackie lands a part in the community-theater presentation of “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Jackie finds herself unprepared when she has to step in for the sick lead actress.”

Of about 25 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.

“Vegas Interruptus” Episode 19, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “A snowstorm threatens Roseanne and Dan's trip to Las Vegas, Nevada, but saves Roseanne's job.”

Out of about 50 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.

“Troubles with the Rubbles” Episode 21, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne meets her new neighbors, Kathy and Jerry Bowman and their young son, Todd. Kathy is snobby and aloof to Roseanne, while Jerry and Dan hit it off, and D.J. and Todd become fast friends. After a particularly nasty argument with Kathy, Roseanne has to eat some crow for D.J.'s sake.”

Out of about 35-40 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.

“Dances With Darlene” episode 23, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “When Darlene is invited to the school dance, Roseanne brings home fancy dresses for her to try on, annoying Darlene. Meanwhile, it is evaluation time at work for Roseanne and Bonnie, but the inspector seems more interested in seducing Leon. Roseanne and Bonnie learn that Leon is gay when his boyfriend stops by the restaurant.”

In this episode we learn that Leon is gay. Although during his first several appearances he and Roseanne are definitely in conflict, he is not a “bad guy” and eventually becomes close to Roseanne and her family. This was around 1991 and was a pretty big step forward for efforts to oppose homophobia.

Out of about 25-30 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.

Law and Order SVU Reviews H

This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

(Now that I’m getting into some of the episodes that involve the character John Munch, I’m going to ignore most of his political statements)

“Scorched Earth” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “The detectives of the Special Victims Unit are called to the scene when a hotel maid (Anika Noni Rose) reports being assaulted by an Italian diplomat (Franco Nero). Bureau Chief ADA Cutter and ADA Cabot prosecute the high-profile case, which quickly grows more complicated as the maid's credibility is publicly questioned. Detective Amanda Rollins joins the Manhattan SVU from Atlanta, while Detective Benson struggles to cope with the fall-out from the shooting in the precinct.

Inspired by the New York v. Strauss-Kahn case.”

There’s a lot of stuff about the Sudan that I’m going to ignore because I don’t know which conflict it’s about and I’m no longer familiar at all with any of them. There is some good class stuff. The rapist says about the charges against him: “on the word of a maid?” and Finn says “my grandmother was a maid.”

“Personal Fouls” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “As a long time coach (Dan Lauria) is inducted to the Metro Basketball Hall of Fame by former students, an ex-player (Aaron Tveit) accuses the coach of sexually abusing him as a child. Detective Nick Amaro transfers into the SVU squad from narcotics and is thrown onto the case. The detectives interview former players but no one admits to abuse, forcing Detectives Benson and Tutuola to dig deeper into the coach's most successful player (Mehcad Brooks) and his manager (Heavy D).”

There’s one significant anti-homophobic statement by Finn and Rollins (Finn mentions that his son is gay and is the bravest man he knows for being out), with Finn saying that it’s still a big problem in the Black and Latino communities. I’m not sure why it is worse in those communities but I’ve gotten that impression before. I think it might be the strength of homophobic churches in such communities.

“Official Story” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “The CEO (John Doman) of a private military contractor is confronted by Occupy Wall Street protesters and later found drugged and sexually assaulted in a park. Benson and Amaro begin their investigation, but find the victim unwilling to cooperate. A much larger crime and conspiracy in Iraq is unveiled when the SVU squad and the new Executive ADA, David Haden (Harry Connick, Jr.), learn that the attack was retribution by a father (Holt McCallany) for the rape of his daughter (Megan Ketch). Meanwhile, Benson begins to develop feelings for Haden as they work the case.”

This is an episode where a corporation becomes the bad guy, and even better, it’s one taking over military functions from the military, something that I oppose. It’s responsible for a horrible crime and and is referred to as being “above the law” and commits serious crimes in its efforts to cover-up its original crime.

“Child’s Welfare” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “Benson's half-brother Simon Marsden (Michael Weston) turns up in New York after a five-year absence and says that Child Services is threatening to take his children away from him. Benson asks defense attorney Bayard Ellis to represent her brother, but the seemingly simple case turns into a disaster for Ellis and his client. As Olivia tries to balance her personal life, the unit lands a case where a homeless couple finds a newborn baby abandoned near a hospital. Munch, Tutuola, Amaro and Rollins follow the evidence to a shocking discovery: a couple (Danielle Straastkad and Graham Anderson) abducting women and imprisoning them so they can give birth to girls, while abandoning boy babies.”

The part of the episode about Benson’s half-brother is anti-racist because he’s married to a black woman (and is the step-father of her son and the father of her daughter) and that plays a role in his problems. His problems with social services begin when he is stopped for a traffic issue and the police officer learns that he has a joint on him, and there’s a pattern of non-white people getting treated more harshly in that situation than white people are. There’s also a judge with a similar attitude. There’s even talk by a civil rights attorney about a class-action lawsuit in relation to part of this.

“Justice Denied” Season 13. Wikipedia summary is: “A rape victim (Cynthia LaForte) is brought to the hospital after a harrowing hours-long ordeal, and Benson recognizes the suspect's M.O. from a case she solved eight years ago. The jailed suspect (Guillermo Diaz) confessed to Benson after a tough interrogation in 2004, but has been claiming his innocence ever since his conviction. The SVU is forced to reopen Benson's old case to determine if they are dealing with a copycat or a case of wrongful imprisonment. Re-interviewing a past victim (Samantha Soule) reveals that she may have been raped by someone else, causing Benson's detective work to be challenged and scrutinized. Olivia's personal relationship with Haden is also placed in jeopardy when Bayard Ellis gets involved with the case.”

It turns out that the man originally convicted IS innocent. It’s an important episode because it shows that even good detectives like the characters on this show can get innocent people prosecuted and convicted. On the other hand, it wasn’t done intentionally and I’m sure that sometimes that happens, but of course with a TV show like this there’s no way that Benson would do that. It reminds me of the John Grisham book “The Confession” about a man wrongfully convicted and executed based on a confession that was gotten after several hours of questionable interrogation techniques. Apparently the police can lie to people they’re interrogating. Although I’ve heard of worse, that seems very questionable, if not just wrong- it seems like the goal is to manipulate someone into a confession based on nothing but the suspect allegedly having motive instead of sorting out the facts and determining guilt (in this episode they did have other evidence, but in the Grisham book all they had was an alleged motive). At the very least I would say it should be done sparingly and there should be publicly-known criteria for when it can be done. In the Grisham book it was wrong. I wonder how often rich people with a team of high quality lawyers are wrongfully convicted? I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the time when someone is wrongfully convicted they have a public defender.

Roseanne Reviews J

This is a set of reviews of Roseanne episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I will focus only on the political aspects and will mention what percent of lines spoken by non-family members are spoken by people of color.

(After the episode review of “The Wedding” below, I will stop considering Crystal a non-family member)

“Bird is the Word” Episode 7, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Becky is suspended for allegedly making an obscene gesture in her class photo, earning her popularity at school, but making Roseanne angry that she has to visit the principal. Dan has plans for Becky's suspension.”

Out of about 40 lines by non-family members, about 35% are by people of color.

“Dream Lover” Episode 10, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “When Dan starts dreaming about the woman who works at the mall hardware store, Roseanne feels threatened. She decides to meet the woman.”

Out of about 25 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.

“The Courtship of Eddie, Dan’s Father” Episode 13, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “It is Ed Conner's turn to favor the family with a surprise visit, resulting in a short-lived truce with Dan that ends when he announces that he and Crystal are planning to marry.”

Out of about 30 lines by non-family members none are by people of color.

“The Wedding” Episode 14, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Dan struggles to accept the unlikely pairing of Ed and Crystal, especially when Crystal announces that she is pregnant. Dan refuses to attend their wedding.”

Out of about 55 lines by non-family members, about 5-10% are by a person of color.

“Home-EC” Episode 16, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne is upset that Darlene's home-economics class only invited fathers to discuss their careers. She visits the class to talk about being a working mother, then takes the students on a field trip to the supermarket, followed by them preparing a meal at the Conner home. Meanwhile Dan is helping DJ's bullying problem but it turns out DJ hired a bodyguard to defend him.”

It recognizes the WORK done by housewives as valuable, as valuable as that done by the spouse who works outside the home. That's important.

Out of about 50 lines by non-family members, about 10-20% are by people of color.

Law and Order: SVU Reviews G

This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

(Now that I’m getting into some of the episodes that involve the character John Munch, I’m going to ignore most of his political statements)

“Hate” Season 5. Wikipedia summary is: “The team find themselves threading on a thin line when a man (Reynaldo Rosales) murders two Arabs (plus a third while in custody) and claims his genes and biology enforced the hatred and violence in him. However, Detectives Benson and Stabler discover a different reason for his Islamophobia and are determined to discredit his claims of genetic predisposition to violence.”

I’m not going to say anything about the psychology involved, but this is a pretty good episode about hatred. One thing it touches on is the racist theory that that the “others” are getting all the economic opportunities. It does suggest a theory that hate crimes laws could be used on, for example, black people that kill KKK members. I think that’s ridiculous, it’s completely different than the other way around. I think hate crime laws are a good idea. Hateful violence is more terroristic towards the community targeted than violence in general and is certainly closers to being genocidal, which is a special crime and deserves special laws (if we’re talking about murder or attempted murder, you could say it’s inching towards being genocidal).

“Ritual” Season 5. Wikipedia summary is: “A young boy is killed in a ritualistic manner which Fin identifies as that of Santeria and the detectives question the leader (Barry Shabaka Henley) of a local chapter. Their attention turns elsewhere, however when they learn that the victim was one of many slave children smuggled from Nigeria.”

This has a little to say about modern-day slavery. As far as I can tell it happens outside the world of SEX slavery trafficking, which is the kind of trafficking that the detectives found when they found the killer. It’s very similar to the kind we’ve studied in history books- slaves are separated from their family members and it seems that there is no schooling of slaves who are children, possibly in part to keep them from rebelling. it also appears in this episode to be racial, although there’s at least one other SVU episode about slavery and that one focuses on a different kind, where a white woman is brought to America by a single individual and not a network of criminals. At the end the highest member of the network they get their hands on is a Nigerian and I think it would have been better and perhaps even more realistic if it had been a white American.

“Lowdown” Season 5. Wikipedia summary is: “A prosecutor (Dean Strange) is found dead with HIV in his system. Suspicion points to another attorney (Michael Beach) who was secretly in a sexual relationship with his co-worker. Casey Novak puts her job on the line and involves the suspect's wife (Bethany Butler) to get a confession.”

This episode is about homophobia, especially in the Black community.

“Criminal” Season 5. Wikipedia summary is: “A criminology professor (James McDaniel), who served a sentence for killing a woman when he was 19, is among the suspects in a graduate student's rape and murder. His daughter (Zoe Saldana) says he is a good man, but Captain Cragen, the arresting officer in the original crime, refuses to believe that he has been rehabilitated. After a false conviction, the SVU realizes that the real perpetrator is another student (Joe Towne) who killed out of jealousy.”

This is about the wrongful conviction of a Black man. On one hand, it doesn’t say anything about the role  that racism must play in many such convictions because it was the SVU that arrested and charged him and the SVU ADA who prosecuted him. They could have and should have said something about that. On the other hand, it was an honest mistake and I imagine that even when racism does play a role it’s often still something close to that- it’s not a conspiracy, it’s just how this society is- including not just many of the police and some ADAs and judges, but many witnesses and jurors as well.

Roseannne Reviews I

This is a set of reviews of Roseanne episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I will focus only on the political aspects and will mention what percent of lines spoken by non-family members are spoken by people of color.

(After the episode review of “The Wedding” below, I will stop considering Crystal a non-family member)

“Like A Virgin” Episode 3, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne and Dan think it is time to talk to Becky about birth control, then later catch Darlene making out on their couch.”

Out of about 15 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.

“Like A New Job” Episode 4, season 3, Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne quits her hair-salon job for a waitress job at the luncheonette in Rodbell's Department Store. Becky and Darlene fight over their room yet again. After Dan sends Darlene to live in the basement, Roseanne has trouble letting Dan resolve disputes between the kids.”

Out of about 20 lines by non-family members, about 2/3 are by a person of color.

“Goodbye Mr. Right.” Episode 5, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Becky and Darlene think DJ's a psycho when they find his under-the-bed secret stash of dismembered dolls; Jackie is injured in the line of duty and Gary gives her an ultimatum.”

Out of about 40-45 lines by non-family members, about 5% are by people of color.

“Becky, Beds, and Boys” Episode 6 Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne and Dan shop for a new mattress. Becky starts dating Mark, a rebellious teen who Dan and Roseanne dislike. First appearance of Glenn Quinn as Mark.

Out of about 15-20 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.

“Trick Or Treat” Episode 7, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne dresses as a male trucker for Halloween and mingles with some guys at the Lobo Lounge. Dan is upset because DJ wants to be a witch for Halloween.”

Out of about 60 lines by non-family members, about 5% are by people of color.

Law and Order: SVU Reviews F

This is a set of reviews of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I’ll often do no more than make brief notes about an episode, although occasionally I’ll go deeper. Also, often there are dissenting main characters on almost any political issue, but you can usually tell what the general position of the show is. All the rest of the reviews are available by clicking on the l&osvu label at the bottom.

(Now that I’m getting into some of the episodes that involve the character John Munch, I’m going to ignore most of his political statements)

“Nocturne” Season 1. Wikipedia summary is: “After a pharmacy turns over some disturbing photos of a young boy, Benson and Stabler arrest a piano teacher (Kent Broadhurst) for child molestation. After the boy claims to have seen other pictures of young boys at the teacher's house, the detectives get a warrant and discover a series of videos that document the life of a young boy named Evan (Wilson Jermaine Heredia). Believing he can make or break their case, the team searches for him, only to realize that his testimony may not help at all because Evan is scarred far more deeply than they realized.”

One of the detectives at one point distinguishes between homosexuality and pedophilia. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the American College of Pediatricians, which doesn’t make that distinction, is a much smaller group than the American College of Pediatrics, which is anti-homophobic. The former has a membership in the low hundreds and the latter had a membership around 67,000 around 2019.

“Manic” Season 5. Wikipedia summary is: “Detectives Benson and Stabler learn that an alleged victim (Rory Culkin) of a school shooting that claimed two lives, was in fact the perpetrator. After learning about the boy's psychiatric problems from his mother (Mare Winningham), the squad realizes that a major pharmaceutical company is also responsible. “

There are a few things about health care insurers and HMOs denying therapy and generally getting in the way of people’s health. This turns into one of the episodes where a business is the bad guy- it’s a drug company that irresponsibly mailed out samples of an anti—depressant without a doctor’s supervision of the patients. It was a pretty messed up marketing scheme and got two kids killed.

“Coerced” Season 5. Wikipedia summary is: “A homeless and schizophrenic man (Leland Orser), desperate to see his son (Spencer List), kidnaps a different boy (Dylan Bluestone) from his bed at night. After being attacked by the man, Detective Stabler begins to contemplate the factors that caused him to snap. This investigation exposes further crimes at an adult group home.”

This is slightly about class gaps in the mental health care system, where some of the lowest income patients are treated by institutions that are corrupt and treat them poorly. I’m not sure how common that sort of thing is and it might have more to do with corruption than with class. The mental health center I get my treatment at wouldn’t do anything comparable to what is talked about in this episode and treats low income people and homeless people. But I know that some homeless and low-income mentally ill people can’t get benefits like SSI and SSDI (that are run by Social Security) and some of them probably end up in places like the group home illustrated in the episode.

“Choice” Season 5. Wikipedia summary: “A man (Rick Aiello) is arrested for attacking his pregnant wife (Josie Bissett) in protest of her drinking during pregnancy. Detective Benson finds out that she also overindulged in alcohol while pregnant with an earlier child (Katherine Roberts). The wife is taken to family court by her husband, who accuses her of endangering the fetus by putting it at risk of developing fetal alcohol syndrome.”

There’s some good pro-choice stuff in here. In fact, to a large degree it’s more about abortion than it is about rape.

“Abomination” Season 5. Wikipedia summary is: “The homosexual poster-boy of a sexual re-education group is found murdered. After a local fundamentalist is cleared, the detectives turn their attention to the victim's thesis about the failure of sexual re-education groups. An opposing professor (George Segal) is found who has a dysfunctional relationship with his son (Jonathan Tucker).”

This is about homophobia and specifically “conversion therapy,” the idea that gay people can become straight through prayer and therapy. It reminds me of a movie called “Boy Erased” which is a true story about a young man who tries to complete such a program. It’s a fairly brutal program and doesn’t work and at the end of the movie we learn that the head of the program is now married to another man. It’s a great movie and illustrates what’s wrong with conversion therapy and like I said, it’s a true story.

Roseanne Reviews H

This is a set of reviews of Roseanne episodes. My general thoughts about that show are here. I will focus only on the political aspects and will mention what percent of lines spoken by non-family members are spoken by people of color.

“Fender Bender” Episode 21 Season 2. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne is rear-ended by Mrs. Wellman, injuring her neck, and must rest for awhile. When Mrs. Wellman does not apologize, Roseanne considers suing her.”

There is definitely a class dimension to this and although it doesn’t seem like a crushing defeat, it’s about the rich winning. Roseanne gives up on the idea of suing Mrs. Wellman when the latter asks if Roseanne has a good lawyer. Roseanne knows that Mrs. Wellman, as a rich person, has a good lawyer and that she and Dan don’t have a good lawyer. There’s also the issue of respect. Mrs. Wellman doesn’t apologize after the accident because her lawyer advised her it would be admitting guilt. But, when Roseanne considers responding to that lack of respect by suing her, Mrs. Wellman, as I said, wins.

There’s about 65-70 lines by non-family members and only about 10% are by people of color.

“April Fool’s Day” Episode 22, Season 2. Wikipedia summary is: “It is tax season and Roseanne and Dan contemplate how to make the process easier. Dan eventually stresses out when he is unable to complete the tax form. Roseanne tries her hand but they end up traveling to the IRS office.”

This is kind of mixed. There’s a lot of non-partisan criticism of the tax system. There’s one very brief apparent suggestion for a flat tax. But there is also a part where Roseanne talks for about half a minute about how rich people pay less tax than the working and middle-classes because they have accountants and tax lawyers that can identify the loop-holes in the tax code.

There’s about 40 lines by non-family members and about 20% are by people of color.

“Happy Birthday” Episode 24, season 2. Wikipedia summary is: “Roseanne, though only turning 37, feels she has hit a dead-end in her life. Always wanting to be a writer, Roseanne makes a wish on this birthday that she had more time to write. Dan and the kids surprise Roseanne with her own writing studio in the basement and leave her alone so she can write. Unfortunately, Roseanne is hit with a severe case of writer's block.”

Out of about 25 lines by non-family members, about 20% are by people of color.

“The Test” Episode 1, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Set in the middle of a hot summer day Dan is reluctant to give Becky driving lessons. Meanwhile, the whole family awaits the results of a more serious test being taken by Roseanne.”

There’s a very brief argument about abortion, with Jackie taking a pro-choice position and Crystal taking the pro-life position. Roseanne appears neutral but later in the series  expresses a pro-choice position at least once. As I have said elsewhere on this blog, my thoughts about abortion are:

“I’m pro-choice for the following reasons: I don’t know whether or not the fetus is alive but I am sure that A) women should control their own bodies, B) without the right to choose they can’t have full equality, and C) if men could also get pregnant there would be a massive pro-choice majority in this country.”

“Friends and Relatives” Episode 2, Season 3. Wikipedia summary is: “Dan lends Arnie $1,500 to buy Nancy an engagement ring. He instead spends it on her breast implants. When Dan falls behind on the bills, Jackie wants to lend him money, but he refuses because she is a relative. DJ starts peeping on his sisters.”

Out of about 15-20 lines by non-family members, none are by people of color.