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B.Franklin

@simpleniceness.bsky.social
265 followers 571 following 848 posts

Creating "a more perfect union" shouldn't be this dysfunctional and it certainly can't be found in the past ... in the grave-clothes of imperfect leaders and citizens who were apt to state, "The beatings will continue until morale improves."

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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 03/07/2026
Or a Prince lyric
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
“One dollar”
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
this … times MDCCLXXVI
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Whatever megalomaniac building projects has started should be immediately removed and land cleaned up at Trump’s personal expense: East Wing, reflecting pool, the arch, etc, etc.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Perhaps Lincoln was the least qualified candidate to win POTUS … and yet Harris through great dismissiveness and misogynistic propaganda was bemoaned as unqualified by GOP/FOX. Also, POTUS shouldn’t be viewed as political messiah — exec branch is more than one person.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
After reading Churchill’s “While England Slept” explaining how all MPs in general election ran a doves, contrariwise, post-9/11 DEMs voted as hawks … cynically calculating they could blame Bush for a failure or running as “patriot” if war was a success.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 24/05/2026
Novels and movies are filled with such examples, too. I think there’s a theory that older gens are nostalgic for the “ideal” years when they were tweens as the “best” times — utter poppycock.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
The Clockwork Orange is correct twice a day
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 22/05/2026
CSA reparations
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 16/05/2026
Iwo Jima Crow
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Equal parts: bad faith + bad actors + bad intentions is one a helluva cocktail
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Droit du seigneur
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Medical emergency: EMTs were required to go onto the pitch with defibrillators to resuscitate Sisyphus … not surreal or tragic, more like the absurdity of a futile home record.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Nice touch … additional military fruit salad on the back of his uniform
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Yes, I remember the Oscar Peterson interview — excellent. I’ll check out Hendrix clip … not as vivid in memory.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
To be fair, I’m more of an ass than he is
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I find Cavett to be an ass … here’s my favorite interview… shows Welles at his best/worst, insightful but seeking/needing approval youtu.be/smMa38CZCSU?...
youtu.be
Orson Welles and Peter O'Toole on Hamlet
YouTube video by Text und Bühne
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
You need more than luck in Shanghai
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I saw Metropolis as a double feature with Blade Runner at the Brattle Theater in Harvard Sq c. 1988
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
I suspect Hearst was more incensed about how the "Marion Davies" character was portrayed ... Welles thought Mank/Houseman's use of "Rosebud" was tawdry ... at least that's what he said later. But he said a lot of things, because he grew up being required to say interesting things of go to bed.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Orson Welles went to Brazil in 1942 to shoot a documentary as part of a U.S. government "Good Neighbor Policy" initiative to strengthen ties with Latin America during World War II.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Second sentence was referring to Magnificent Ambersons
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
It’s amazing how many movies he made between Asphalt Jungle and The Killing … 25 in 5 years … nuts!
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Credit goes to Heston to force the studio to allow Welles to direct … but his performance as a Mexican rivals Wayne’s Genghis Khan. The malevolent hubris of execs cutting out the first few reels and chopping/reshooting scenes is horrific… but Welles also skipped town for Brazil during editing.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Have you read this? warfarehistorynetwork.com/article/ster...
warfarehistorynetwork.com
Sterling Hayden, Hollywood Actor, Viking Hero of the OSS
Never fully adjusting to Hollywood, actor Sterling Hayden served with distinction as a clandestine operative for the OSS during World War II.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Chimes at Midnight and Othello are worthy watches. CaM battle scene was fantastic for being on limite budget … but one can argue he just leveraged Kurosawa
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 07/05/2026
Yeah, some interesting visuals though but all in all a bust.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
F for Fake is great
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Geo III is the third longest reigning British monarch and perhaps the best educated and knowledgeable in spite of his mental health issues. He didn’t suffer Charles I fate, nor did CAN/AUS feel oppressed. Granted colonialism remains a worldly blight … on par with papal misdeeds, etc.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
US flag is a EIC ripoff … we have always been a company/profit first country with Enlightenment flourishes. Basically white elites began to see they could start their own MLM scheme.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
My understanding: King Geo III was no tyrant; he was a constitutional monarch who didn’t veto a single parliamentary act. It was easier to blame the colonial grievances on him. GB was in huge debt and EIC (too big to fail) was near bankruptcy. Then GW bumbled into 7yr war.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
“Knight without Armour” has a Scarlet Pimpernel romantic take of a Brit saving a Russian Countess … all the while Red/White armies are mowing down “accused” traitors with machine guns (off screen)
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
Loved Welch as judge in “Anatomy of a Murder”. Have you seen clip of Cohn and Vidal 1977 interview? youtu.be/HsXsmi_oyWg?...
youtu.be
Roy Cohn & Gore Vidal 1977
YouTube video by PangeaTruth
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
My dad clerked for the 9th Circuit in the 50s when lots of effort went into Communism/Socialist cases… I find it quite telling that it seems like zero effort went into rooting out fascist/nazi supporters from 30s onward. Recently reading Le Carré and Fleming books that are riddled w/ them. Thoughts?
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
GOP also wants more skilled and less college-educated men. They also like the idea of child labor. It’s a coin flip decision between what comes first: their obsession with the End Times or their squandering of all human potential and natural resources.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
“Highest male” as in drunk/drugged and/or übermensch?!
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
I had an idea for TV series “Mayberry after Sundown” where folksy church-going white citizens by day in a small southern town turn into lynch-mob domestic terrorists by night … also perfect to market as first-person shooter video game
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Living in the US is like Gilligan’s Island … what should have been a three-hour tour has turned into a serialized abandonment of serious solutions to real problems… and each episode concludes with another clownish act of ineptitude.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Or … Sheriff Taylor leaves town and hands Barney Fife the key to guns/ammo and all Gomer is capable of doing is shouting “citizen’s arrest!” when an empowered Barney starts enforcing the law by shooting first and arresting after.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
What springs to mind was driving past wealthy communities of white Christians who celebrated Christmas by hanging wreaths on their subdivision’s closed security gates.
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
File Under: Russian to a Conclusion
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 26/04/2026
I think it was right out of Greek theater ... deus ex machina ... because WH (and God?) knew the event was going to be a horrible and cringy shit show
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
(weird-ass post-modern) fascism groove thang Heaven 17
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 05/04/2026
h/t @therickwilson.bsky.social
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Say her name, "Siri"
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Say her name, "Siri"!
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
Reminds me of Yogi Berra's quip about a popular restaurant, "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
The Industrial Military Complex is a zero-sum, one-eyed monster
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
It’s relevant that post begins with ‘BREAKING’
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B.Franklin @simpleniceness.bsky.social · 31/03/2026
The Trump International House of Ill-repute (Frederick), slumlords (Fred), and “grab them by the …” Cons
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