An estimated 89 percent of Airbnb rentals charge separate cleaning fees, which average a little under $200 per stay. Professional cleaners charge about that much for a three bedroom home, and they almost always strip the bed, wash and replace the sheets, take out the trash, and even put away dishes. There’s a legitimate question as to whether these hosts are actually using that fee for actual cleaners or pocketing it. Even if they’re leaning on guests to reduce any hourly cleaning fee, it’s still a little underhanded.

“They will rob us of toilet paper, destroy our towels and linens, leave holes and dents in walls,” one Airbnb “host” lamented. “And now you are ALLOWING guests to come in and be slobs.”

If guests are stealing from you and vandalizing you property, you should simply leave a scathing review so they can’t do the same someplace else. Besides, not even the best cleaning service can help repair drywall. Still, unless you’re renting to the cast of Animal House, most guests don’t actively trash the place or even spend as much time there as they would if they were permanent residents. If you’re on vacation, after all, you try to spend most of your trip outside the rental, no matter how kooky the art is in the common area. If the average guest is a slob, just increase the cleaning fee rather than push those tasks onto people trying to make their early morning flight.

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I understand the original appeal of Airbnbs. When traveling, it’s sometimes nice to stay for a while in a neighborhood where normal people live than in a crowded city center. That’s how my wife and I picked places when we spent a few months in Europe in 2011 (though we used VRBO back then). However, it’s not great for the residents of those neighborhoods when so many homes effectively become unregulated hotels, barely skirting existing laws. Tourists on vacation aren’t always the best neighbors. They also rarely have a cup of sugar you can borrow. (I’d support a compromise that would permit more actual hotels in neighborhoods, especially if near a retail strip, as that would help local businesses. I often recommend the Cascada hotel in the Alberta Arts District to people visiting Portland.)

I confess that I’ve had my fill of short term rentals like Airbnbs. When I stay someplace that isn’t my own home, I appreciate a level of hospitality that Airbnbs simply don’t offer. I want a pleasant and responsive person at the front desk. I want an on-site staff that can deal with issues in my room as they arise, rather than my having to send emails into the ether. I like fresh towels every day and someone making my bed. Yes, I might have to pay a little extra, but it’s worth it to feel like I’m living with my mother again.

It’s also unclear how much of a cost savings Airbnbs offer relative to regulated hotels. The cleaning fees and service choices tend to make Airbnbs more expensive than hotels for short trips lasting one or two nights, and if you just need one room, traditional hotels are usually cheaper (plus you rack up points). This is particularly ironic because Airbnbs were originally all about home owners renting out a spare bedroom or their basement guest space. It was supposed to feel like staying at a friend’s house, except the friend was never around, never provided you actual hospitality, and charged you for the house cleaning when you left. In that scenario, you’d probably just stay at a hotel.

Many Americans have second homes, and renting them out is in its way less wasteful than the place staying empty, often for months. I know people who use home exchange programs, which offers an affordable way for families to travel, especially to cities like New York, where even a mid-range hotel in the off-season can run almost $300 a night. A home exchange also ensures that the house is occupied when families are away for a while. If the guests are polite and courteous, that’s better for the neighborhood than a deserted house.

However, greed and unrealistic ambitions have consumed Airbnbs. So often now, real estate agents will pitch a couple on a house that’s way past their budgets, but the agents will suggest the yuppie couple can offset this cost by renting out the “additional dwelling unit” on the premises. This is presented as if the ADU will just passively print money, but the reality is that it’s a time-consuming undertaking with its own significant ancillary costs. “You can afford this house only if you take a second job with unpredictable hours” would normally turn off prospective buyers, but too many people don’t seem to realize that “landlord” is a real occupation, one that requires specific skills to do well. Does polo shirt tech guy and his attorney spouse really want to leave their fancy dinner to come unclog a toilet?

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A mysterious masked Judge (Malachi Throne) is ruthlessly hunting down criminals in Gotham City, much to Batman’s (Kevin Conroy) growing concern. Showboating Councilman J. Carroll Carcoran (a delightfully sleazy Steven Weber) openly embraces the Judge and claims him as his own ruthless “champion.”

“My polls have shot up 10 points since endorsing you,” Carcoran tells the Judge. “I figure if Gordon can have his hero, why can't I have mine? You knock a few heads,
I go home with my hands clean. Everybody’s happy.”

The Judge targets the villain Two-Face (Richard Moll), who Batman manages to save from certain death. (The Judge was eerily familiar with Two-Face’s hideout.) Two-Face decides to off Carcoran to “send a message” to the Judge, and Carcoran begs for his weaselly life. He offers to pay him off with $100,000 in kickbacks he’s put in a slush fund, but Two-Face is unmoved and leaves his men behind to kill Carcoran. Once he’s gone, the Judge conveniently arrives but he’s not here to save his former accomplice. He’s about to serve judgement to the corrupt politician, and as much as we’d all enjoy seeing that, Batman shows up to do his hero thing. However, he’s learned something shocking about the Judge (SPOILER OBVIOUSLY): He’s really Two-Face or rather another personality former district attorney Harvey Dent created to punish wrongdoers, including himself.

The episode — and thus, the series — ends with Dent, wearing a straitjacket, in a cell at Arkham Asylum. His tortured mind hears the voice of the Judge, putting him on trial: “Order in the court. In the matter of the People v. Harvey Dent, how does the prisoner plead?” And it is a broken, but remorseful, Harvey Dent who answers, not Two-Face: “Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.”

Harvey Dent was once a good man and Bruce Wayne’s best friend, but Bruce was never able to save him from damnation. Now, all Batman can do is protect Gotham City from Two-Face’s unhinged violence. Harvey Dent remains a lost soul. It’s a true tragedy, all on Saturday morning.

Richard Moll is perhaps best known to Gen-Xers as the dimwitted but lovable bailiff Bull Shannon on Night Court, and he’s a wonderful example of Batman: The Animated Series voice director Andrea Romano’s inspired casting. She never took the obvious path, even if it might appear easier, which is how we were gifted with Ron Perlman as Matt Hagen/Clayface, Diane Pershing as Poison Ivy, John Glover as the Riddler, and of course Luke Skywalker himself Mark Hamill as the Joker. Moll’s dual performance as Dent and Two-Face are among the series’ best moments. He imbues the character(s) with vulnerability and humanity. (Watch below.)

My annual Simpsons Treehouse of Horror marathon is almost over. This morning, I’ll watch 2025’s entry, which didn’t leave much of an impression on me. That year’s bonus Treehouse of Horror episode, “Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes,” was more memorable and spookier, despite airing three days before Thanksgiving. The third segment is a riff on Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 that doesn’t go in the direction you might think. I’m always pleased when The Simpsons demonstrates it can still manage trenchant satire.

This morning, I’ll enjoy a Halloween mimosa while watching the 2026 Treehouse of Horror and “Judgment Day.” Traditions keep us going.

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Today is Halloween, which is also my 17th wedding anniversary. Meeting my bride turned out better for me than it did for the Frankenstein monster.

Time is running out for my Halloween subscription sale, which — another spoiler alert — will transition into my Thanksgiving subscription sale. Become a paid subscriber for 40 percent off the usual annual rate. That means you can help keep this newsletter in pumpkin-spice-flavored beverages for just $30 a year. (If you enjoy those beverages, please do so without guilt, as I support seasonal joy.)

Thanks to all who have upgraded to paid subscriber status recently. In lieu of cat photos like my friend at , I’m sharing photos of my seasonal decor.

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Monday, I wrote about the backlash to known scumbag Vivek Ramaswamy’s sleazy attack ad against Dr. Amy Acton, who I hope becomes Ohio’s next governor because unlike Ramaswamy, JD Vance, and Donald Trump, she’s an actual human being.

October 27 is the anniversary of the late Lara Parker’s birth, so author Laramie Dean joined me to honor her creation, the beloved if blackhearted Angelique Collins from the 1960s Dark Shadows TV series. Hop over to my YouTube channel and subscribe!

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Actor Walter Koenig, who played Ensign Pavel Chekov, on Star Trek died on Sunday. I reflected on the actor and the character’s legacy.

How do we respond to a political party that is so brazenly lawless and corrupt like the GOP and that openly wages war against half the nation (the one with us in it)?

We also lost Sir Patrick Stewart. Damn.

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That’s it for this week. See you on Monday for the last week of October!

A classically trained stage actor, Stewart gained international stardom in his late 40s when he was cast as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Now, it’s easy to take the series’s success for granted, but when it premiered in 1987, it could have easily fizzled out and vanished into obscurity, like so many attempts at capitalizing on Boomer nostalgia for the 1960s (e.g. The Munsters Today, The New Leave It To Beaver, as well as The Twilight Zone and Mission: Impossible reboots).

Star Trek: The Next Generation famously had a rocky start. Its first two seasons are, charitably speaking, uneven. Although, my wife and I have started rewatching the series as a family with our 12-year-old son, who was hooked from the start. Even at its lowest point in those early years, Stewart stood out as Jean-Luc Picard, who was French but maintained Stewart’s English accent. (The future is not Francophile.) Picard as a character is the ultimate counter argument to any current whining from the usual suspects that modern Star Trek has gotten too “woke.”

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Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the famed Enterprise, was a daring statement for American television in 1987. Picard wasn’t Rambo, Terminator, or even John McClane. (Although he nonetheless looked great in a speedo, if you remember the episode “Captain’s Holiday.”) He was educated (he read actual physical books), cultured (Picard shared Stewart’s love of theatre), a leader who resolved challenges through diplomacy rather than brute strength. (Picard was an archaeologist, as well, reinforcing that space travel was for him a way to expand his knowledge of other civilizations and cultures, not just subdue them.) As captain, Picard set an example that connected with and nurtured the best instincts of his crew.

Stewart made you believe, as Picard did, that humanity could “outgrow its infancy.” The trickster Q (John de Lancie) once joked that he visited the Enterprise simply to hear Picard’s speeches, but that’s why I tuned in every week. Picard was a role model who didn’t puff out his chest and try to prove himself through brute force. He constantly demonstrated the humility at the core of true wisdom. Even after a sinister alien race erased the Enterprise crew’s memory and tried to trick an amnesiac Picard to wipe out their enemies for them, he held firm: “I do not fire on defenseless people.” If he forgot everything else, Jean-Luc Picard remembered that. (Watch below.)

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Patrick Stewart did become a middle-aged action hero in a fashion when The Next Generation made the leap from TV to feature films. In 1996’s First Contact, Picard fights the Borg with guns blazing and not the phaser variety. Yet, there’s still vulnerability at the core of his performance.

“I will not sacrifice the Enterprise,” Picard tells Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodard), who’s compared him to the doomed Captain Ahab. “We've made too many compromises already; too many retreats. They invade our space and we fall back. They assimilate entire worlds and we fall back. Not again. The line must be drawn here! This far, no further! And I will make them pay for what they've done!”

The Borg had personally violated Picard, and his rage is understandable. However, Picard eventually realizes that revenge has clouded his judgment. He doesn’t just “kick ass.” (Watch below.)

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In 1998’s followup feature Star Trek: Insurrection, Picard remains a moral beacon. The supposedly noble Federation seriously considers forcibly relocating 600 people and plundering their planet’s resources. When Captain Picard (Patrick Stewart) protests, his superior stresses how they’re “only” moving 600 people.

“How many people does it take, Admiral, before it becomes wrong?” Picard demands. “A thousand? Fifty thousand? A million? How many people does it take, Admiral?”

In 1988’s “The Measure of a Man,” Picard passionately defends the android Data’s (Brent Spiner) rights as an individual — a “culture of one” — in 1988’s “The Measure of a Man, and in 1990’s “The Offspring,” he bravely risks his carer to prevent a Starfleet admiral from seizing custody of Data’s child: “There are times, sir, when men of good conscience cannot blindly follow orders. You acknowledge their sentience but ignore their personal liberties and freedom. Order a man to turn his child over to the state? Not while I am his captain.”

When cadet Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) hides the truth about a Starfleet Academy accident to avoid personal accountability, Picard confronts him in a heartrending scene.

“The first duty of every Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it’s scientific truth or historical truth or personal truth!” Picard says. “It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based, and if you can’t find it within yourself to stand up and tell the truth about what happened, you don’t deserve to wear that uniform.”

Watching this 35 years ago as a teenager, I was as devastated as Wesley, because nothing felt worse than letting down Picard.

Yet Stewart made Picard relatable to those of us stuck in a pre-warp reality. In 1993’s “Tapestry,” perhaps my favorite TNG episode, we learn that Picard struggles with regret. He believe he was too arrogant, too impulsive in his youth, and when Q offers him the chance to go back in time and “self-correct” what he considers irredeemable flaws, he does so without question. However, he returns to a present where he’s no longer captain of the Enterprise. He’s now a nondescript, unimpressive officer. He realizes that a life spent playing it safe is one where he never benefits from the lessons of youth. He begs Q send him back to repair the timeline, knowing that the result could mean his death. “I would rather die as the man I was ... than live the life I just saw.” Young Picard had gotten into a bar fight with some violent aliens, one of whom stabbed him through the heart (the reason why Picard has a fancy artificial one). Young Picard laughed in shock, but older Picard now laughs in gratitude for the life he’s regained. I can never watch Stewart in that scene without tearing up. (Watch below.)

Picard’s unyielding morality would form the foundation for the 2021 Star Trek: Picard series: Retired Admiral Picard has left Starfleet but not quietly. He resigned in protest because he believed the Federation abandoned its principles when it refused to rescue Romulan refugees and even banned all synthetic life based on the actions of a rogue few. Damn right that should feel like a searing commentary on current events.

In a 2017 interview, Stewart openly expressed his concerns about Donald Trump and presciently observed: “Everyone knows that sometimes a failing politician, what he needs is a war. I’m scared.” But Stewart never surrendered to the baser aspects of fear. In Star Trek: Picard’s first season finale, during one of his classic speeches, Picard warns that “fear is an incompetent teacher.” (Watch below.)

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Stewart’s final appearance will likely be in December’s Avengers: Doomsday, where he reprises his role as Charles Xavier, leader of the X-Men. It’s his second most well-known role — arguably his most well-known, depending on who you ask. Xavier in the comics was younger and not English, but Stewart was still dream casting in 2000’s X-Men (director redacted). Along with his friend Ian McKellan as Magneto, Stewart delivered a commanding performance, providing a necessary gravitas to the film.

Stewart was a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company, but he never treated his most famous roles in sci-fi and superhero media as “slumming” or just a hefty paycheck between stage performances. He was just as committed playing Macbeth, which I had the honor of witnessing in New York in 2008, as he was playing Picard and Professor X. Frankly, I thought the genre roles offered him the opportunity to bring the Bard’s philosophical explorations of the human condition to TV and film. A story with truly epic stakes brought out the best in Stewart.

Stewart was also a masterful comedic actor. For two decades, he voiced CIA Deputy Director Avery Bullock on Seth Macfarlane’s American Dad series, and he was consistently hilarious. Stewart’s guest appearance in Ricky Gervais’s Extras remains on the funniest bits I’ve ever seen. He also had scene-stealing comedic roles on Frasier and the 1995 movie Jeffrey, based on the Paul Rudnick play.

Patrick Stewart died after what his family described as “a brief and poignant journey” with Alzheimer’s disease and Lewy body dementia. He might have called this the “undiscovered country,” one that sought to silence that irreplaceable voice, even before his final bow.

Walter Koenig, who played Chekov on the original Star Trek, died on Sunday, but it’s not just been a terrible week for Star Trek fans. The world’s supply of joy and decency has diminished greatly, and if we’ve learned anything over the past decade, it’s that such precious resources are not so easily replenished.

We’ll miss you, Sir Patrick, but let’s remember what Picard said in 1994’s Star Trek: Generations:

Someone once told me that time was a predator that stalked us all our lives. But I rather believe than time is a companion who goes with us on the journey, and reminds us to cherish every moment because they'll never come again. What we leave behind is not as important how we lived. After all, Number One, we're only mortal.

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The latest example is at the State Department, where top officials have reportedly informed staff that the only candidates considered eligible for the mid-to-upper level foreign service roles are those who voted for Donald Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024. I’m still not sure that even Secretary of State Marco Rubio qualifies as a three-time Trump voter, but he can easily just lie. This isn’t about the truth, so much as an assertion of blind obedience.

According to the Washington Sun, the State Department also told candidates that “their campaign donation history would be examined and any donation to Democrats would be disqualifying.” It’s effectively MAGA Only at the State Department.

Yes, this is obviously illegal. The government’s workforce mostly includes permanent, career staff who are supposed to remain shielded from political interference as parties come in and out of power. That’s why federal law prohibits making personnel decisions based on political affiliation. Of course, federal law doesn’t mean much these days. The Supreme Court has granted Trump immunity for any so-called “official acts,” and Trump will just pardon everyone in his regime anyway, including himself in an erotically corrupt “self-pardon.”

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The longterm precedent set here is that only Republicans can reliably thrive in the State Department. It doesn’t matter if President Dream Democrat “restores norms,” as Joe Biden did during his single term. Sure, Republicans will feel free to donate to right-wing candidates and causes and even show up for work with Vance 2028 bumpers stickers on their car. The next Democratic president might even nominate an actual Republican as Secretary of State in a glowing demonstration of “bipartisanship.”

However, President Dream Democrat will eventually leave office, and because Republicans only get worse after an election loss, like already bad fish left out on the kitchen counter, the next President Nightmare Republican will just revert back to the previous “liberal purge” standard.

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Democrats want to reassure us that they’ll get to the bottom of this seemingly bottomless corruption. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Washington Sun, “The Committee has been following allegations that the Trump Administration is making political affiliation a factor in employment for some time now. These are critical national security positions and individuals should be chosen for their experience and ability, not their political loyalty. We are working with the House and other relevant committees to thoroughly investigate all such claims.”

The House is currently under MAGA control, so a “thorough investigation” seems unlikely as long as Mike Johnson is the speaker. Even after Democrats regain the majority, what would a “thorough investigation” even look like? Rubio — who every Senate Democrat voted to confirm — would probably just mock Democrats during a congressional hearing, if he even bothers to show up. (Republicans often ignored subpoenas from a Democratic-controlled House during Biden’s presidency.)

Once again, the looming question is how do we convince Republicans to stop all this — and by “convince,” I mean “force,” as persuasion involving basics appeals to decency is a sucker’s game when dealing with the current GOP. They’ve already set the precedent that under a Republican president, the federal government will openly torment Democratic-run states. Trump’s armed goons have occupied Democratic-run cities and executed citizens. Trump has also delayed and outright denied disaster relief to Democratic-led states, despite agency recommendations clearly showing that the states more than met the financial and damage thresholds. Back in July, Trump rejected $227 million in federal disaster relief requests from New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island following a major winter storm — overruling recommendations from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

On the campaign trail, Trump has threatened to withhold disaster aid from North Carolina if Democrat Roy Cooper wins the upcoming Senate election. He made the same threat about Georgia if Jon Ossoff wins re-election. (He claimed he was “joking,” like a gangster creating plausible deniability for his obvious blackmail.) He’s even denied disaster assistance for Colorado families impacted by the Aspen Acres and Gold Mountain fires, despite Gov. Jared Polis shamefully submitted to his threats.

President Dream Democrat will probably give a stirring speech at their inauguration about how the days of “politicizing disaster relief are over,” which would be true for as long as President Dream Democrat is in office. During that time, Republican-run states won’t have to worry about pacifying a sociopathic administration. Republican governors can call President Dream Democratic a “communist” or a “jihadist” and still receive their checks. That’s how a civilized society operate, where citizens don’t exist in fear of political retaliation and can freely exercise their First Amendment rights. But a society that’s civilized only when Democrats run the government is actually not civilized.

Biden appointed Merrick Garland as attorney general to restore the Department of Justice’s “independence” after Trump, and the Republican response was to smear Garland as a liberal partisan actor (a laughable lie given his actions and the fact that he’s probably a Republican himself). When Trump returned to power, he picked attorney generals — Pam Bondi and now Todd Blanche — who make Bill Barr seem objective.

Blanche doesn’t even hide the fact that he effectively serves as Trump’s personal attorney. During a recent interview, which was on video and everything, Blanche said, “There was this misperception that there’s this ‘separation’ and ‘independence’ between the Department of Justice and the White House and everybody likes to accuse me of not suffering from independence. I don’t. I work for President Trump.”

The next Democratic president should accept this precedent and appoint a junkyard dog prosecutor as attorney general who’ll go full Amos T. Akerman on MAGA (especially Elon Musk), but it’s unfortunately more likely that President Dream Democrat will overcorrect and we’ll end up with someone even more timid than Garland.

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Donald Trump’s approval rating is below 30 percent and falling. A tremendous Blue Wave could put Democrats back in control of the House and Senate, but it’s important to understand that most voters are rejecting Trump because his ego-driven stupidity tanked the economy. If Democrats flip Alaska, North Carolina, Ohio, Iowa, and Texas, it won’t be because voters believe Trump was unfair to California.

Well-meaning liberals will insist that Democrats shouldn’t “respond in kind,” as that would be petty revenge, but this ignores the increasingly hot war that MAGA America is waging. We have to neutralize the threat a rogue federal government poses. In the short term, I’d suggest making disaster relief a state-level matter, which ironically would benefit Democratic-run states, as they tend to be the ones with the most money. Trump has weaponized federalism, but he didn’t do so single-handedly. Republicans — yes, the voters, as well — have enabled it, looking the other way while Trump kicked Democratic-run states and cities in the teeth. That’s just not neighborly.

No one should desire an ongoing war with half the nation, nor should we relish in the suffering of fellow Americans, no matter how annoying they are. But in any war, a true “ceasefire” is only achievable when both sides believe a continued conflict would lead to their destruction. Right now, MAGA has no reason to surrender or even negotiate. That has to change or more people will suffer.

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The Monkees TV series debuted the same year as Star Trek and enjoyed more commercial success, so it’s perhaps not surprising that Trek would add a youthful character with more than a passing resemblance to the Monkees’ Davy Jones. The 31-year-old Koenig first appears in the season two Star Trek classic “Amok Time,” sporting a laughably obvious wig, one intended for a woman. Koenig’s own hairline was already receding but he was able to compensate with a comb over and eventually abandon the lady’s wig that made him look more like Harpo Marx than Davy Jones. Soon, Koenig was drawing fan mail that rivaled stars William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy.

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Pavel Chekov was more than just pandering to the “never trust anyone over 30” crowd. As the name clearly suggests, Chekov was Russian, and Star Trek was airing during the height of the Cold War, a period of escalating tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union. The world existed on a knife’s edge of total war, so Americans watched The Monkees and I Dream of Jeannie to put their minds off potential nuclear annihilation.

Koenig’s parents were Russian Jewish immigrants from the Soviet Union. (They’d shortened their surname from Königsberg to Koenig. Koenig’s father was a communist who ended up under the FBI’s microscope during the McCarthy era. A prevailing myth is that Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry added Ensign Chekov to the show and cast Koenig after the Soviet propaganda outlet Pravda criticized Star Trek for not depicting Russian characters. After all, the Soviets had sent the first man (Yuri Gagarin) and woman (Valentina Tereshkova) into space, and President John F. Kennedy’s aspirational goal of putting a(n American) man on the moon was driven by this geopolitical competition. An Enterprise with an American captain and no Russian crew members suggested that the U.S. had won the Space Race.

This is all nonsense, of course. Chekov was introduced because the show wanted someone young for the teens. However, Roddenberry did leverage the commercial motivation for Chekov’s inclusion to promote his own utopian vision of the future, one reflected in a speech Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) gives to Enterprise crew in the first season episode “The Corbomite Manuever.”

“Those of you who have served for long on this vessel have encountered alien lifeforms. You know the greatest danger facing us is ourselves, an irrational fear of the unknown. But there’s no such thing as the unknown, only things temporarily hidden, temporarily not understood. In most cases we have found that intelligence capable of a civilization is capable of understanding peaceful gestures. Surely a lifeform advanced enough for space travel is advanced enough to eventually understand our motives. All decks stand by.”

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Chekov represented a future where the Cold War had ended and tensions between America and Russia had significantly lessened. However, tensions still existed. Unlike later Trek series, Star Trek didn’t depict an Earth with a single unified government. Kirk was American and Chekov was very much Russian, even if Koenig’s accent was hilariously over-the-top (every obituary for the actor references “nuclear wessels”).

The Russia where Chekov grew up still practiced extreme propaganda. Chekov would often proudly declare — sometimes with a knowing wink but unusually in earnest — that a major invention or common aphorism originated in Russia. He even claimed that the Garden of Eden was located “just outside of Moscow.”

It was amusing to watch Chekov and Scotty (James Doohan) argue over their homeland’s alcohol of choice. When he sees Chekov drinking vodka, Scotty asks when he’s “gonna get off that milk diet, lad.” Dismissing vodka as mere “soda pop,” Scotty boasts that Scotch is a true “drink for a man.” Chekov jokes that “Scotch was created by a little old lady in Leningrad.” Our national and cultural differences still existed in the Star Trek future but we could enjoy a friendly laugh over them. (Watch below.)

When Roddenberry revived Star Trek in 1987 with The Next Generation, he added the Klingon Worf (Michael Dorn) to the Enterprise crew, revealing that the Federation had made peace with their longtime foes. Russians aren’t an imaginary species, though, so Chekov’s presence on the Enterprise bridge was a far bolder political statement.

Putting Chekov in perspective, imagine if Star Trek: Enterprise, which premiered right after 9/11, had introduced an openly Muslim officer in its second season. Typical with Trek of this era, Enterprise would address 9/11 only through metaphor.

My favorite Chekov moment from the original series is in the second season’s “The Deadly Years.” Spock, Kirk, McCoy (DeForest Kelley), Scotty, and Lt. Dead Lady Walking (Beverly Washburn) have all contracted a rapid aging disease. Chekov, who was a member of the landing party, is somehow immune to the effects, so he’s become McCoy and Dr. Fashion Show’s (Sarah Marshall) ongoing test subject. Rather than feeling relieved that he’s not shriveling up like his comrades, Chekov complains about the process to Sulu (George Takei), “Give some more blood, Chekov. The needle won't hurt, Chekov. Take off your shirt, Chekov. Roll over, Chekov. Breathe deeply, Chekov. Blood sample, Chekov. Marrow sample, Chekov. Skin sample, Chekov. If-if I live long enough, I'm going to run out of samples.”

“You’ll live,” Sulu tells him, and he retorts, “Oh, yes, I’ll live, but I won’t enjoy it.”

The true standout moment though is when the episode’s Idiot Admiral has relieved an elderly Kirk of duty and taken command of the Enterprise. For reasons the defy all logic, he insists on taking a shortcut through the Neutral Zone. The Romulans respond in predictably poor fashion and proceed to deliver whip to ass. The Idiot Admiral suggests they surrender and Chekov responds ruefully, “Sir, the Romulans do not take captives.” Koenig delivers the line with a matter-of-factness that barely masks his contempt for this fool. At the moment all hope seems lost, a rejuvenated Kirk arrives to save the day, and Chekov flashes a bright smile, expressing the thrill the audience feels in that moment.

Chekov plays a key role in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Although Koenig wasn’t on the series when Khan (Ricardo Montalban) appeared in the first season’s “Space Seed” (though fans debate whether Chekov was on the Enterprise, just not on the bridge yet), Chekov is the first to encounter Khan on what he wrongly believes to be Ceti Alpha VI. A vengeful Khan infects Chekov and the doomed Captain Terrell (Paul Winfield) with a mind-controlling space eel. The scene is gross and awesome. (Watch below.)

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With Walter Koenig’s passing, the only surviving original Star Trek regulars are now William Shatner and George Takei. Koenig and Takei were quite close, and Takei posted a moving tribute to his cast mate and friend on social media.

“My heart is heavy. Walter Koenig, our Ensign Pavel Chekov, passed away early today.

Walter and I met on the bridge of the Enterprise in the 1960s, and we stayed friends for nearly six decades. When Brad and I married in 2008, Walter stood beside us as our best man. Just last month, on Sept. 14, he turned 90, on the same day Brad and I celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary. I will always treasure that he and I shared that date.

Walter was more than Chekov. He was a writer, a teacher, a thoughtful man, and a loyal friend. To the fans who loved him for so many years, thank you. He loved you too. Rest well, my dear friend. Keep navigating a steady course.”

There were more tributes from Star Trek actors, crew, and fans across the franchise. Ensign Chekov reached the stars, but Walter Koenig touched our hearts.

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The witch (and sometimes vampire) of seemingly a thousand names was brought to devilish life by the late Lara Parker, aka Mary Lamar Rickey, who was born on October 27. Lara unfortunately passed away a few weeks shy of her birthday in 2023.

Angelique remains immortal, though, so we’ll always take this day to celebrate them both.

“We’re all on the same side, aren’t we? My side.”

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Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s approval rating in Ohio — a state he won by double digits in 2024 — is currently an unimpressive 42 percent. However, I think Ramaswamy is performing terribly because he’s a gross scumbag and everyone knows it. Politics isn’t always so simple but when it is, it’s because a candidate is a known scumbag.

Ramawsamy’s own favorability rating in Ohio is around minus 10 percent, which is low. Worse, according to CNN pollster Harry Enten, Ramaswamy’s net favorability rating among independents had sunk last week to minus 25 across the survey data he reviewed. That’s the the lowest mark for a Republican gubernatorial nominee in Ohio since 2000. In the 2022 election, independents were 29 percent of the electorate to Democrats’ 30 percent and Republicans’ 41 percent. Republican Gov. Mike DeWine won independents 62 to 37 percent, because regardless of what you might think of his politics, DeWine at least resembles a mammal. Even if Ramaswamy maxes out Republican voters, who continually demonstrate an immunity to shame, losing independents and tanking completely with Democrats is more than enough to cost him the race.

When a candidate is trailing in a state where their party normally dominates, the issue is specifically them. Something about you is so alienating it defeats partisan gravity. Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek is at least trying to address this problem in her re-election campaign, but Ramaswamy has abandoned any pretense of appealing to Ohio voters’ actual material concerns. He’s instead chose to make this election about character, which is a problem for him because he has none.

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Although polling clearly suggests that a majority of Ohio voters already believe that Ramaswamy is polluting the airwaves with negative ads, he seems to think that more negative ads can turn around the election for him. He’s not just going for your standard negative ads, either, but perhaps the most repulsive negative ad campaign in modern political history. (And this is a modern political history that includes Donald Trump.)

Last week, Ramaswamy’s campaign dropped $4 million on a grotesque ad campaign featuring a sick video of Dr. Amy Acton’s estranged mother telling voters that her daughter is a liar who “needs help” and shouldn’t be trusted. While it’s true that this woman physically gave birth to Dr. Acton, it feels like a stretch to describe her as a “mother.” Norma Bates had a better parental resume. Dr. Acton’s brother released a disgusted statement where he pointed out that in 1978, Mahoning County child welfare and court authorities removed him and his sister from their “mother’s” care after their stepfather, Cledith Arthur, was charged with sexually abusing a 12-year-old Acton. She and her brother were later placed in the custody of their biological father. This was almost 50 years ago, when a mother had to suck on the most epic level to lose custody of their kids. Women who fattened up kids in their gingerbread houses were usually able to keep their kids.

This is a terrible ad for many reasons, but Donna Stearns Arthur is hardly a credible character witness for a daughter she hasn’t seen in decades. Ramaswamy is shamelessly using a pathetic old woman to smear his opponent, and he didn’t even bother to do a basic background check on Arthur. They found the woman living with cats in her car in a church parking lot. Although too many liberals might reflexively think her wretched condition makes her somehow morally superior, Arthur was once convicted of animal neglect in Pennsylvania after she left several cats and a five-day-old kittens inside a locked car with the windows rolled up on a hot spring day. One of the kittens had died by the time authorities rescued them for the car, which had an interior temperature of 120 degrees. This is barbaric even for Tennessee.

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Ramaswamy’s ad was a failure, both morally and practically. It hasn’t swayed Dr. Acton’s supporters — quite the opposite — and it’s pushed some voters who were on the fence to her side. The ad campaign might even qualify as a perverse in-kind donation for Dr. Acton, who became the top fundraiser on ActBlue last week, the first Democratic candidate for governor to do so since April.

The Cleveland Plain Dealer reversed its previous neutral stance and endorsed Dr. Acton on Sunday. Even Republicans have expressed their contempt for this attack ad and Ramaswamy in particular. A Republican member of DeWine’s cabinet denounced the ad campaign prior to DeWine himself rebuking it, and Sen. John Husted, who’s running for re-election, told the Associated Press, “I would not have run that ad.” (Neither DeWine nor Husted have rescinded their endorsements of Ramaswamy.)

Predictably, of course, Vice President JD Vance insists he’s not in the business of declaring whether gross ads weaponizing childhood abuse is “appropriate.” Like the true sociopath he is, Vance suggested that elected Republicans should just have their consciences removed through the same outpatient procedure he used when he entered politics and focus on winning this race.

“Politics is a tough business,” Vance said, “and my message to my fellow elected Republicans is: if you actually believe in the things you say you believe in, stop whining about an advertisement and go win the race in 13 days.” Hardly the St. Crispin’s Day speech.

Vance might talk “tough” about politics, but he’s won just one election on his own and he significantly underperformed not just Gov. DeWine but every other Ohio Republican on the ballot in 2022, which was a bad year for Democrats. Unlike Vance, Ramaswamy is running as an unrepentant asshole without the benefit of partisan tailwinds.

It’s understandable why Vance is so focused on Ramaswamy — his brother in slime —winning the governor’s election. The Senate seat Vance vacated in 2025 might flip to Democrat Sherrod Brown, who’s staging a comeback after losing his own seat in 2024. If Democrats sweep both races, it would be a delightful middle finger to Vance. This isn’t just pettiness, either. Vance’s former Senate seat would help Democrats regain the majority, and imagine Vance trying to launch a presidential campaign in 2028 when the governor of his home state, once considered reliably red, is now a Democrat. (Vance has grossly smeared Dr. Acton as a drunk on the campaign trail, so I doubt she’ll appear in public with him even on a dare.)

Vance might have to just “imagine” a presidential race, as well. After claiming in an interview that Trump would endorse him if he decides to run, Vance had to just stand there in the Oval Office with that constipated look on his face as Trump dismissed the idea: “He’s a very talented person and a very good person, but literally, I don’t think we’ve ever talked about it.”

Trump himself formally announced his last presidential campaign on November 15, 2022, just after the midterms. This was earlier than everyone else because Trump was desperate to avoid prison. Still, if Vance is serious about a 2028 run. he should have had conversations with his boss by now. (Fortunately for Democrats, Trump is a sadistic psychopath who will enjoy pitting Vance against every other candidate who might want the nomination.)

We should never assume that a Republican candidate sucks so much that they’ll lose an election, but Ramaswamy is so odious and Vance’s defense of him so repugnant that his potential loss could prove the most satisfying midterm result.

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My favorite (often quoted) line from “Mmmm … Homer” is once again the headline. It’s also become my mantra in middle-age but without the self-cannibalism. (Watch below.)

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There are two Simpsons Halloween specials this year. The first aired last Sunday and is a full-length story called “The Revengening.” The animation is less than inspired, but it’s worth checking out for a fun meta twist that was somehow kept under wraps until it aired. (I won’t spoil it here for those who haven’t watched.)

This Sunday’s Simpsons is the traditional Treehouse of Horror format. As a Gen-Xer who was alive and conscious when the first Treehouse of Horror aired, I obviously have a special affection for the 1990s installments, but recent years have offered their share of classics. In addition to “Mmmm … Homer,” there’s 2002’s “Death Tome” with a great performance from the underrated Yeardley Smith. (Watch below.)

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Time is running out for my Halloween subscription sale, which — another spoiler alert — will transition into my Thanksgiving subscription sale. Become a paid subscriber for 40 percent off the usual annual rate. That means you can help keep this newsletter in pumpkin-spice-flavored beverages for just $30 a year. (If you enjoy those beverages, please do so without guilt, as I support seasonal joy.) Thanks to all who have upgraded to paid subscriber status recently. In lieu of cat photos like my friend at , I’m sharing photos of my seasonal decor.

When leaving for school the other day, my son remarked, “I thought we only did murders inside the building?” (Yes, he’s a fan of the Hulu series.)

The living room bar with pumpkins, skulls, and guests hanging around.

When your anniversary is on Halloween, you end up receiving an inordinate amount of skeleton couple-themed gifts.

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Monday, I wrote about the escalating “Hulk Smash!” sentiment in modern politics.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin suggested that the rule of law should apply to Donald Trump’s stooges, and youn people should think twice about working for criminal enterprises. This greatly offended the usual corrupt suspects.

It seems like some people enjoy working from home, as long as home includes a barista and powerful wi-fi. No one wants to be a shut-in, I guess.

Yes, it’s time for my fourth annual Halloween spectacular with my friend and fellow Dark Shadows fan, author Laramie Dean. We chat about his new book, There’s No Such Thing As a School for Witches, which comes out on November 24 and is available for pre-order.

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That’s it for this week. See you on Monday for the last week of October!

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Yglesias even admits this was an opinion without actual facts to support its conclusion, but people did respond as if he could pass a law forcing everyone out of their sweatpants and back into the office.

I haven’t worked full-time in an office since 2011. I don’t particularly miss the experience. I’m a writer, so arguably I’ve always been inclined to work better in solitude. Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Daniel Pierson pointed out what he considers major downsides with remote work: “It is bad for new hires and people in the early stages of their careers. Every senior person who wants to work remote 5 days a week benefitted from this kind of workplace osmosis.”

However, all the suggested professional development and mental health benefits of working in an office are somewhat beside the point, as that rarely matters to employers when making business decisions. Remote work is an interesting example of technological advances producing what many workers consider a true benefit and companies are seemingly needlessly resisting it in ways they never have for technological advances that aren't beneficial to workers. When companies have “rightsized” staff (sending work overseas) or eliminated staff thanks to the latest “Labor Saver 9000,” you would’ve been laughed at if brought up the same arguments I’ve seen for having workers in the office.

The pandemic accelerated remote work outside employers’ control. Many had already committed to costly leases for office space that they couldn’t afford to leave empty. If employers had been able to set their own timeline for remote work, they would eagerly embrace the benefits — specifically shifting the cost of overhead to their staff. You have to buy the office supplies (and extra toilet paper) and find space in your home to work. Since the pandemic, more people are renting or buying home with dedicated office space (what we once called a “guest room” or even just the kids’ room).

During covid, many professionals started working from home and continued doing so after the lockdowns ended. People started viewing it as a benefit, but while they enjoyed the lack of office drama — especially the coworker who reheated fish in the microwave — they missed the personal interaction. And it turns out people don’t really enjoy working from home all the time, like some content producing Miss Havisham.

Self-described entrepreneur Andrew Yeung lamented on social media last week, “Finding a coffee shop in NYC where you can actually sit & work for 3 hours without getting side-eyed is HARD.”

He went on in defiance of our many side eyes:

What I need:

- Outlets
- Wifi that works
- A real chair
- No "no laptops" sign taped to the door

Where are ppl actually going? Spot & neighborhood.

Yeung and many others in his feed were annoyed when people suggested he instead visit a coworking space, which his fellow “entrepreneurs” started years ago to fill this need. These places are designed for people who are working for an extended period, not just hanging out for a while, so there are outlets a plenty, reliable high-powered wi-fi, and ergonomic chairs.

I am typing these words from a local coffee shop myself, as I do like to get out of the house on occasion, but I never stay longer than it takes to drink a single oversized cup of coffee. I also enjoy the coffee here. Yeung wanting to camp out for three hours is probably why many spots have started putting up “no laptops” signs.

It’s possible that Yeung would actually buy at least one coffee drink per hour (maybe even a pastry treat). If so, he should also include “clean restroom” in his hierarchy of coffee shop needs. However, this is rarely what happens in practice: Melissa Petro wrote in a 2021 Business Insider article, “Before COVID, I was a regular at my local coffee shop, where — for less than $5 a day — I could sit down at the table I’d secretly designated as mine, slap on a pair of headphones, and dig into my work, oblivious to the flow around me.” Petro was also seemingly oblivious to coffee shops stay in business.

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One problem I’d noticed is that laptop campers would arrive fairly early in the day. They’d take a table intended for two if not more people. This would create an opportunity cost issue when casual patrons arrived later and couldn’t find a place to sit. Also, after a while, the entire vibe of the coffee shop started to scream “office,” which the very environment people go to coffee shops to escape. Once, someone had a Zoom conference call next to me … without headphones. People online have defended this as no different from friends having a spirited conversation at the table next to you, which is not really how anything works. I confess that I were inclined to eavesdrop, I’d probably find someone sharing details about a bad date more entertaining than a lengthy discussion about TPS reports.

People seemed genuinely surprised at the negative response to Andrew Yeung’s request. Someone posted on Threads, “Apparently it’s now bad to do work in a coffee shop. Wasn’t that like 90% of the marketing for coffee shops?”

Not really — coffee shops were marketed as a community space, where people could unwind and even socialize. Back in the 1990s, everyone at my local coffee shop would read the newspaper or a book. It was a second living room (or just the first one, considering how most of us lived in New York). That’s very different from an environment where strangers have their faces glued to their laptop screens and aren’t even enjoying the barista’s music selection. A Starbucks commercial from back in the day depicted just one guy typing on his laptop. Yes, Starbucks might have originally encouraged patrons to hang out for extended periods, but the intended vibe was more Central Perk than Severance.

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As laptop camping became more commonplace, many cafes and bakeries started imposing restrictions. Some outright eliminated wi-fi and banned laptops and tablets entirely, which perhaps not surprisingly resulted in increased sales. The Bearded Baker in Edinburgh banned laptops after their very small cafe was monopolized by three customers — in the loosest sense of the term — who camped out all day on their laptops and spent just seven euros.

I’m middle-aged enough to recall the pre-internet, pre-laptop era, when people working in a coffee shop were usually writers or college professors grading papers (or posers scribbling on blank paper and pretending they were one of the two). Working in coffee shops has long been romanticized. Hemingway supposedly spent his days writing in Paris’s Café de Flore on the Left Bank, surrounded by fellow artistes enjoying the bohemian life. This was of course mostly fantasy. Hemingway’s broke ass could barely afford a cup of hot water at most Parisian cafes. He was able to charm some charity from the cafe owners at times, but today, it’s the coffee shop owners who could use that charity, not “entrepreneurs” with $2,000 laptops.

Real estate is expensive, and many business owners post covid realized that they could sell just as much coffee in a much smaller space or even a food truck without having to offer room for remote work

I would love if more outright remote working spaces were available. They wouldn’t all have to resemble sterile offices. They could offer comfortable chairs and tasty beverages, but their intention would remain clear. You could even reserve private meeting rooms for Zoom calls.

Most existing coworking spaces offer a “hot desk” for around $100 to $300 a month. Conversely, even the cheapest beverage and a tip at a coffee shop would run you at least $5. On a hourly basis, the coworking space is actually less expensive, so any resistance to this business model might suggest that laptop campers want to enjoy pleasant accommodations outside the home but not for more than the cost of a cup of coffee.

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Republicans have predictably twisted her words out of all recognizable context and falsely claimed (the mainstream media euphemism for “lied their asses off”) that Slotkin wanted to baselessly prosecute Trump officials so that young people would be too afraid to work for his criminal administration.

Here’s what Slotkin actually said at the University of Chicago last Tuesday:

“We do have to have accountability for the unbelievable corruption that we are living under right now. But you can’t just make that your whole personality, right? So you have to pick signature cases and you have to go after people and projects that are just super egregious. So everyone knows the East Wing of the White House, right? People feel that in a way that’s different from a nameless contract at the Pentagon, or whatever.

Pick those signature cases and go hard on accountability. Not just Trump, right? Because, of course, there will be moments of “Let’s go after Trump himself.” As someone who voted to impeach him twice, he’s still there, right?

But the people around Donald Trump who are doing his bidding and enabling this have no such immunity. They have no immunity the way the president does. And to me, he couldn’t do any of this stuff, without all of those people saluting and supporting it. So you go after the people who do his bidding.”

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Soren Dayton, director of the American Governance Policy team at the Foundation for American Innovation, complained, “I am sorry. Democrats ran that play during Biden. Look where it got them. This is both morally and politically bankrupt. Just win elections.”

This is both ahistorical and stupid, and I’m not sorry. The Biden administration didn’t aggressively pursue corrupt Trump officials from his first term, and to the extent that the Department of Justice got around to prosecuting bad actors, it was completely justified because they had actually broken the law. Witness tampering, obstruction of justice, and trying to overturn a presidential election are far more serious offenses than creative seashell decoration.

The “just win elections” argument is annoying because Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, and the MAGA movement only grew more toxic over the next four years, until voters were so pissed about inflation that they willingly let Trump return to the White House to torment us all. Diseased maniac Stephen Miller was further empowered, and American citizens were gunned down in Minneapolis city streets. Not only should Miller face legal accountability in 2029, but so should the ICE agents who executed Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

Anyone who’s paid attention since 2021 should appreciate that the rule of law shouldn’t exist at the whim of an easily distracted electorate. Even if Republicans suffer devastating midterm losses, it won’t have anything to do with Trump’s mounting criminal offenses but his ego-driven stupidity that tanked the economy.

After all, a major reason Trump failed to overturn the 2020 election and remain in power against the people’s will is that key Republican officials refused to break the law for him. We’d like to believe that was an admirable moral stand for democracy, but it’s certainly wiser and safer to conclude that Republicans officials didn’t enable Trump’s coup because they wanted to avoid serious legal consequences, including prison. If we ignore obvious crimes and instead focus on winning the next election, we only encourage more lawless behavior whenever Republicans regain power. Elon Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency” operated illegally and unconstitutionally, despite rebukes from federal judges. Careers were ruined, and people died. That’s more than just an “oopsie.”

Republican Rep. Dan Bacon, who’s retiring but still has time to churn out right-wing talking points, lamented, “Both sides are resorting to Lawfare and it is bad for democracy. There’s no place for it in the U.S.” Honestly, “both sides” has become the rhetorical refuge of the craven and desperate.

Prosecuting people who break the law — consistently and flagrantly in the Trump regime’s case — is not “Lawfare.” It is the criminal justice system, which is a necessary part of civilization, despite what some San Francisco prosecutors might’ve suggested during the crazier days of 2021. Trump ordering thugs with law degrees to “whack” his political enemies and threaten an elected official with deportation is actual “lawfare.” This is only complicated if your next paycheck depends on Rupert Murdoch’s good will.

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Elissa Slotkin was herself a target of actual “lawfare” when the sitting president ordered the Department of Justice and FBI to manufacture a sham prosecution of Slotkin, her fellow senator Mark Kelly, and Democratic House Reps. Jason Crow, Maggie Goodlander, Chris Deluzio, and Chrissy Houlahan, for “seditious conspiracy” because they released a video informing armed forces members that they have an obligation to the Constitution and not the mad MAGA king. This is a fairly white bread caucus, so the attempted prosecution demonstrates the lengths Trump will go to silence his critics. There’s no room for patriotism in Trump’s regime.

Fortunately, a federal grand jury recognized the Congress members’ First Amendment rights and declined to indict, but the lawyers involved in this potential railroading should definitely face sanctions and disbarment.

Sen. Mike Lee, a crawling smear of slime, condemned Slotkin on social media for his MAGA masters to see: “It is absolutely disgraceful to threaten young Americans for participating in politics and serving their country.” Slotkin told her putative colleague, “Spare me the pearl-clutching — especially from Republican Members of Congress and online MAGA grifters who have cheered President Trump’s weaponization of the government against those he doesn’t like, as recently as last week.”

Slotkin is a non-revolutionary liberal. She brands herself a “get shit done” Democrat, but she appreciates that it’s impossible to “get shit done” in the creeping shadow of fascism.

“America must be a place where the rule of law still matters,” Slotkin wrote on Sunday. “Those laws should apply to everyone equally. If you have aided in the corrupt use of U.S. taxpayer dollars to benefit the President or his family, or you have violated the law in order to carry out guidance from the President, you should be held accountable. And given how rampant that corruption appears to the average American, people looking to work for his Administration should realize that while the Supreme Court has granted the President immunity, it has not done the same for those who do illegal things at his behest.”

No, Slotkin doesn’t support “lawfare,” but she does believe the law should serve as a deterrent, especially for those who Trump’s seemingly unaccountable presidency has emboldened. Don’t forget that there are people serving Trump who believe they’re smarter than he is — obviously, that’s not hard. They believe they can avoid self-destructive tariffs and failed wars, while looting the government and persecuting their enemies. Even if they lose the next election, they can just walk away. Slotkin, for her part, won’t let that happen.

MAGA “attorney” Mike Davis suggested that Slotkin be shot for her remarks. Not backing down, the senator responded, “This shouldn’t be controversial: if you aid in stealing taxpayer money or directing it to enrich President Trump or his family, then you should be held accountable for that crime. That’s what I said, and I stand by it.

And if you use the justice system for frivolous lawsuits used to intimidate and jail your political opponents, you should be held accountable for that via your bar status. No abuse of power and not violating the law? Then we have no problem.”

Considering the rampant abuse of power and law violations in the Trump administration, a lot of people will have a problem with Slotkin — deservedly so.

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The joke here is that when Dr. David Banner gets angry, Bill Bixby returns to his trailer and is replaced by the significantly larger and stronger Lou Ferringo, who’s covered in green body paint and caveman prosthetics because they didn’t have CGI in those days. (He’s also “David Banner” on the TV show and not “Bruce Banner” like in the comics for a combination of reasons that are all ridiculous.) The Hulk is powerful but incapable of reason, which makes him extremely dangerous. It can seem that most of our modern politics is an extended Hulk out, although Dr. Banner’s essential good nature put life-saving restraints on the Hulk’s rage.

Banner’s doomed love interest Dr. Elaina Marks (Susan Sullivan) reassures him at one point that he’s not a homicidal monster, even when green and Lou Ferrigno. “It’s the same thing as if someone is under hypnosis,” she explains. “Unless they are a potential killer, you cannot hypnotize them and make them kill. Now this creature is an outgrowth of David Banner. It’s his primitive emotions run wild. It may be undisciplined, it may tear the hell out of a pressure chamber. But it won’t kill because David Banner won’t kill.”

This is true in the Marvel movies, as well, as the Hulk is only a true threat when external influences seek to weaponize his rage for their own nefarious ends. In 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) hexes Dr. Bruce Banner and turns the Hulk loose on Johannesburg, South Africa (it’s not racially motivated, that’s just where they are at the moment), and in 2026’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day, Jean Grey (Sadie Sink) mentally manipulates Dr. Banner’s “Smart Hulk” form until she loses control over him and inadvertently releases the “Savage Hulk.” (Banner doesn’t have a great history with redheads.) Rage is the engine driving most modern politics these days, and it’s usually someone safely behind the scenes steering the wheel.

If MAGA or Trumpism is one extended, nightmarish “Hulk out,” there is not much evidence of any successful internal moderating influence. It’s actually the reverse — MAGA’s “Hulkish-ness” is corrupting. Vice President JD Vance, who once correctly identified Donald Trump’s monstrous nature, now openly relishes in MAGA’s unrestrained dark side. He is more like the villainous Dell Frye (Harry Townes) in the 1981 Incredible Hulk episode “The First.” Banner learns that there was another Hulk decades before him. Dr. Henry Clive had used gamma radiation to cure Frye of a blood infection, but instead created a true Frankenstein’s monster. Frye, in his Hulk form, had murdered a local farmer who’d bullied him. He craved strength and power so he could lord it over those he believed had wronged him. Trump’s administration is filled with Dell Fryes: JD Vance, Stephen Miller, and Pete Hegseth are all small men who are so weak inside they think might alone can make them strong.

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Of course, MAGA “Hulk outs” are especially dangerous because they command genuine power and strength through numbers. There are many contrasting “Hulk outs” nowadays that boast the same mindless rage but without the brute force.

In 1994’s Incredible Hulk No. 425, Bruce Banner’s “Smart Hulk” persona is so afraid of losing control and reverting to savagery that he unconsciously creates a “mental block” so that when he becomes too enraged, he transforms into his powerless human form, but with what passes for the savage Hulk’s mental state. He’s reduced to a scrawny Bruce Banner shouting maniacally about “smashing” and “destroying” his enemies. It’s both laughable and pathetic. Although “Savage Banner” still sees himself as the massively powerful green behemoth, in reality, his rampages are mostly just irritating to his enemies, and he only ends up hurting himself. The “Savage Hulk” tosses around tanks and sends soldiers fleeing. The “Savage Banner” just winds up institutionalized and wearing a straitjacket.

I’ve noticed far too many people behaving like “Savage Banner.” Their preferred position has the support of a fraction of the electorate but they proceed as if they represent an overwhelming majority. When you operate as if you see only Lou Ferrigno in the mirror, you can end up on the losing end of almost every fight. During a social media thread about ways to encourage more people to ride public transit post-covid, someone declared that “more people will ride public transit once we’ve taken away all the cars!” Someone else declared on Bluesky that people who hold a position in opposition to their own would “violently radicalize them.” Another online activist boasted that they would “concede nothing” even if in the minority. These are true “Banner Smash!” moments.

Dr. Banner’s true strength in the comics and TV/movies was always his intelligence. We should try to keep our cool and reason through our problems even if we have the masses behind us. But when we don’t, it’s especially important that we don’t succumb to rage. Political Hulk outs are rarely productive.

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Reinforcing his point was the fact that many people don’t realize The Simpsons was even a spin-off, and most didn’t recall its original home on The Tracey Ullman Show, a sketch comedy show that was the Fox network’s second original primetime series. It first aired Sunday night on April 5, 1987 after the premiere of Married … with Children. Yes, I was there, watching on my grandmother’s black-and-white TV. A whole new fourth network was exciting.

People mentioned other popular series with unlikely homes, such as The Andy Griffith Show (The Danny Thomas Show), Mork & Mindy (Happy Days), or Family Matters (Perfect Strangers), but I think people still remember Happy Days and Perfect Strangers .. or at least the latter’s theme song. The Simpsons sketches were never intended as a backdoor pilot, and while they were such a hit that the network ordered a full-length pilot, the 1989 Christmas episode “Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire,” what stands out is how little they have to do with The Tracey Ullman Show. (The network promo claimed that the special would “change the face of television forever,” a prediction that exceeded even marketing hyperbole’s expectations.)

The Tracey Ullman Show producers wanted animated shorts to use as transitions between the live-action sketches. Ullman — a vocal virtuoso — famously didn’t perform in The Simpsons sketches, as she was already spending hours in makeup for her main sketches. Thus, cast member Julie Kavner played Marge Simpson, and it’s impossible to imagine anyone else in the role.

I have a clear memory of that first Tracey Ullman Show, probably because Fox aired it and the Married … with Children pilot three times in a row. The second sketch — not counting the juggler (no, really) — is a bit called “High Hopes,” which features Dan Castellaneta and Julie Kavner as a hapless married couple. It proved very prescient casting. The first Simpsons short, “Good Night,” would air two weeks later on April 19, 1987, but “Homer” and “Marge” have been on Fox since the very beginning. (Watch below.)

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The Tracey Ullman Show was a critical favorite, and it was the first Fox series to win an Emmy. However, although Ullman played several recurring characters (single Brit Kay, awkward teen Francesca, lounge singer Angel Tish), it was The Simpsons that proved the breakthrough pop cultural phenomenon, one that best defined the upstart Fox Network. Still, we don’t get The Simpsons without Tracey Ullman. James L. Brooks, who had a deal with Fox, developed the show for Ullman after seeing a compilation tape of her character work. Ullman discovered the unknown Castellaneta at Chicago’s Second City. (Kavner was perhaps the biggest name at the time, having played Valerie Harper’s awkward younger sister on The Mary Tyler Moore Show spin-off Rhoda.)

The Simpsons shorts were vastly different from what The Simpsons would eventually become. Castellaneta in particular transformed a Walter Matthau-inspired angry Dad parody into one of the most enduring characters in TV history. He deserves a lifetime achievement award simply for interpreting the stage direction “annoyed grunt” into an immortal expression that even my well-educated Gen-X wife will shout when frustrated.

The Simpsons would eventually encounter their crudely drawn 1989 incarnations in the 25th Treehouse of Horror from 2014. When The Simpsons kill each other, is it homicide or suicide? These are the questions are good Simpsons Halloween special inspires.

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It’s the Halloween season, so if you haven’t already, you should take advantage of my 40 percent off sale for paid subscriptions. That’s just $30 a year. Thanks to all who have upgraded to paid subscriber status recently. Instead of cat photos, I’m sharing my seasonal decor.

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This week, I wrote about actor Glen Powell’s choice to avoid making public political declarations and thus avoiding the inevitable backlash from all sides. Depending on your point of view, he’s either a coward or a professional exercising the better part of career valor.

However, Will & Grace actor Debra Messing, who endorsed Republican Bill Blakeman for New York governor, has not followed Powell’s example. My friend joined me to discuss.

I suggest that maybe socialists should consider diversifying their beliefs, so socialism as an economic principle is not lumped in with every whackadoodle position in existence.

My fellow Batman fan stopped by to chat about the Knightfall animated movie adaptation and billionaire vigilantes.

Oh, 25 years ago, Smallville debuted on the WB. A month after 9/11, the Superman prequel series lifted my spirits, even in Clark Kent couldn’t fly yet.

That’s it for this week. See you on Monday.

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“I think in reality what it actually means in the American context is you want to replace American workers with foreigners workers, and you want boys to play in girls' sports,” Vance said.

However, when liberal pundits and publications challenged Vance’s remarks, they weren’t entirely honest, either. They narrowly defined socialism in economic terms. Some folks online quoted John Lennon, who said in a 1980 Playboy interview, “I think people should get their false teeth and their health looked after, all the rest of it.” They neglected to include the rest of the quote: “But apart from that, I worked for money and I wanted to be rich. So what the hell — if that's a paradox, then I'm a socialist. But I am not anything. What I used to be is guilty about money. That's why I lost it, either by giving it away or by allowing myself to be screwed by so-called managers.” (Lennon’s net worth when he died was around $100 to $200 million.)

In fairness, when Republicans defend the MAGA movement strictly on economic terms — i.e. the classic tax breaks for rich people, liberals rightly point out that MAGA is much more than that, most of it bad. The Never Trump conservatives who voted for McCain and Romney didn’t reject MAGA because of its lousy right-wing economic principles.

Liberal defenders of socialism will primarily focus on health care, because that’s its most popular policy position. However, socialism as a political force in America encompasses far more than health care or even basic economy theory. So, obviously, Vance will define American socialism by what he considers its less popular policy positions on immigration and trans right (thus, his offensively framed “boys playing in girls’ sports”).

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Democratic Socialists of America Co-chair Megan Romer received bipartisan rebuke this summer when she obligingly expressed opinions in interviews that were, putting it charitably, well outside the political mainstream. Unlike Zohran Mamdani or Abdul El-Sayed, she didn’t stick to an affordability message. She told Fox News that she believed in “open borders,” defunding the Pentagon, and abolishing prisons. She told The New Yorker’s David Remnick that the Hamas terrorist attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, was “largely inevitable” (violence is never “inevitable,” but always a choice) and said she would’ve attended a pro-Hamas rally in New York.

I’m not venturing down the rabbit hole to examine Romer’s positions in further detail, because I haven’t taken the necessary mind-altering potions. My larger point is that Romer and the DSA overall have indelibly linked socialism with a sweeping far-left ideology. The left will often argue that modern socialism is no different from FDR’s New Deal or LBJ’s Great Society, but both of those presidents believed in prisons, law enforcement, and, well, western civilization. President Roosevelt openly waged a war on crime starting in 1933. He didn’t give criminals a Great Depression-era hall pass. President Johnson signed the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) bill in 1968, which sent billions of federal dollars directly to state and local police forces and prisons.

Romer told Remnick that the safest communities are “not communities with cops on every corner. It’s communities that have good schools, good jobs, good park systems, good recreation for their teenagers, things like that. Those are the safe communities.” This remains a hard argument to make when you look closely at Democratic-run cities with high income tax rates, such as Seattle, and junkies are relieving themselves in the park where kids used to play. (Also, Cornell is a good school with good recreation for their teenage students, whose material needs are fully met, and I would not necessarily describe a Cornell fraternity house as a “safe community.”)

Socialism could use more Democrats like FDR and LBJ. Not surprisingly, many on the left will dismiss FDR as a racist and blame LBJ for mass incarceration. These debates are worth having, though, but it would mean that those who support socialist economic policies should feel free to disagree on other key issues.

Troy Jackson, the Democratic Senate nominee from Maine, once held socially conservative views on abortion, gun rights, and LGBTQ rights. He’s shifted left on all those issues, which he attributes to personal growth, but that’s also the best way to get elected as a Democrat in Maine. At least he didn’t go MAGA.

Center-left writers Ezra Klein and Matthew Yglesias have argued that Democrats could win elections in “red” states if they embraced conservative views on social issues — specifically trans rights, guns, and abortion — and more liberal views on economic policy. Klein suggested in 2025 that an anti-abortion Democrat would have a better chance of winning a Senate race in Kansas and Ohio. A year later, Klein was proven wrong: Democrat Adam Hamilton, senior pastor of the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, supports abortion rights and is leading in polls against Republican Roger Marshall. Democrat Sherrod Brown is making a comeback in Ohio and has not drastically modified his positions on social issues. Pro-choice Democrat Amy Acton is leading Vivek Ramaswamy in the Ohio gubernatorial polls, and all JD Vance can do is grossly suggest that she’s a drunk.

Republicans might’ve hoped to saddle mainstream Democrats with the views of DSA Democrats, but perhaps candidates like Adam Hamilton, Sherrod Brown, Amy Acton, and Josh Turek in Iowa benefit from the comparison. Sure, they’re what Fox News would’ve once called a “radical socialist” but they believe in prisons, immigration laws, and seasonal holidays.

During her failed Wisconsin gubernatorial campaign, DSA candidate Francesca Hong gained the most blowback for her anti-Thanksgiving position: “Cancel Thanksgiving,” she’d once posted on social media. “Should have done this in 1621.” Democratic nominee David Crowley later stated in an interview that he enjoyed Thanksgiving, as most normal people do. It’s convenient that Crowley could distinguish himself from Hong on a basic “pro-turkey” platform. There is probably room for a candidate who has socialist economic positions but supports Thanksgiving and Halloween (Hong wrote in 2019: “I don’t allow myself to work Halloween weekend or the day of. I would actually ask every single person in costume to leave.” That’s when she lost me.)

The left will often point out that voters overwhelmingly support certain socialist economic policies when polled individually. Perhaps then it’s beneficial not to anchor those positions with unrelated ones that are far less popular. Not every socialist has to embrace land acknowledgements or think that a white woman should lose her job because she wore cornrows in public. I do think there is a winning coalition for socialists who believe public spaces shouldn’t be open-air drug dens, criminals should be prosecuted, and popular holidays should be celebrated. Stranger things have happened.

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Messing had previously endorsed Gov. Kathy Hochul and even supported Cynthia Nixon’s 2018 primary campaign for New York governor. She’s justified her Blakeman endorsement with concerns for “public safety,” which are not consistent with actual data. (Crime is steadily decreasing in New York.)

It’s easy to dismiss Messing as another has-been actor who’s gone MAGA, but considering that politics is an additive enterprise, it’s worth unpacking what’s happening, as well as acknowledging the growing tension within the party over Israel/Gaza.

Kaivan Shroff is a media and culture expert, attorney, and television commentator. He appears on CNN, Fox News, NBC, NewsNation & more. A Harvard, Yale and Brown graduate, he advises the Institute for Education and has written for HuffPost, The Hill & many others. He hosts the extremely enjoyable Extremely Reasonable podcast.

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“Over time, I realized that politics divide people,” Powell told Esquire. “People trying to prove their point — for me, it’s the worst version of a conversation. I genuinely do not like the discourse. It’s not as healthy as it once was. [Engaging in politics] is not presently possible. I applaud people for jumping into those things and fighting for what they believe in. If I were a political person, I would be talking about it. For me, my calling is elsewhere.”

(Powell’s “calling” apparently includes pretending he’s sleeping with Sydney Sweeney, both on and off screen, which admittedly is not terrible as “callings” go, especially if they went Method.)

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Powell was dismissed online as a moral coward, who was either hiding his MAGA views for the benefit of his career or too afraid to give his we’re sure highly informed opinion on Gaza, also for the benefit of his career. It’s as if the professional actor, who gets to share physical space with Sydney Sweeney, is prioritizing his career over political punditry.

During a time of rising fascism, Americans should take a stand, but maybe it’s OK to do so privately. I wonder if celebrities public declaring their political opinions — usually in slogan form — is the best method of “stand taking.” It recalls the simpler times when Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon would advocate for liberal causes when presenting an Academy Award. This did actually make a difference? (Watch below.)

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Someone suggested on social media that Glen Powell “not talking is cowardly and shows your privilege and how don’t care because you won’t be [affected as a rich white man.] However, the reality is that talking politics all the time is itself the privileged position. Most average Americans don’t live and breathe politics. They don’t have the time. Frankly, the growing political obsession, fueled by a 24-hour news cycle, has proven a detriment for many people. Elderly people were probably mentally healthier when they spent all day watching daytime soaps or game shows, not mainlining Fox News.

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Last year, in a New York Times interview called “Jennifer Lawrence Regrets Everything She’s Ever Said Or Done,” Lawrence said she regretted speaking out politically during Donald Trump’s first nightmare term and wasn’t sure she she should do so again.

“I don’t really know if I should,” Lawrence told the Times. “The first Trump administration was so wild and just how can we let this stand? I felt like I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off. But as we’ve learned, election after election, celebrities do not make a difference whatsoever on who people vote for. So then what am I doing? I’m just sharing my opinion on something that’s going to add fuel to a fire that’s ripping the country apart. We are so divided.”

Immediately after Trump’s first presidential victory, Lawrence, then 26, wrote an op-ed for Vice Broadly, where she lamented, “Is this the stark reality? It doesn’t matter how hard you work or how qualified you are, at the end of the day, if you’re not a man? Is that what we just learned. This country was founded on immigration and today the only people that feel safe, that their rights are recognized and respected are white men.”

She ended with a call-to-action: “Do not let this defeat you—let this enrage you! Let it motivate you! Let this be the fire you didn’t have before. If you are an immigrant, if you are a person of color, if you are LGBTQ+, if you are a woman—don’t be afraid, be loud!”

A decade later, Lawrence is afraid she might’ve been too loud. She told the Times that she doesn’t “want to start turning people off to films and to art that could change consciousness or change the world because they don’t like my political opinions.”

Simple commercial consideration is not the only reason celebrities might want to keep their political opinions private. Separating their “public face” from their personal life, thus preserving a certain mystique, was once common among celebrities. It’s why many refused to do interviews or played a palatable version of themselves when they did appear on a talk show. After all, Tom Cruise didn’t benefit anyone, especially his career, when he started talking publicly about his crazy cult beliefs rather than maintaining his facade as a normal human being. Back in 2005, when he was supposed to promote his mediocre War of the Worlds movie, he instead threw down with Today show host Matt Lauer over psychiatry and Brooke Shields’ post-partum depression, which he infamously claimed could be cured with “vitamins.” (Watch below.)

Celebrities don’t risk losing just half of their audience when expressing political opinions. Modern politics has become more cannibalistic than the Donner Party. Susan Sarandon, who campaigned for Bernie Sanders, was an outspoken critic of Hillary Clinton in 2016 and made stupid remarks about how a Trump presidency might help “bring the revolution.” Many Democrats are still convinced somehow that the star of Stepmom personally cost Clinton the Electoral College. I saw a post online where someone claimed that Sarandon’s misguided political opinions meant they could no longer enjoy Thelma & Louise and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. (Presumably, the poster had never seen or didn’t care for Bull Durham or White Palace, the latter is a sleeper classic I recommend.)

If after watching the White Palace trailer (“Say please!”), all you can think about is Sarandon’s privileged political advocacy, perhaps we’ve lost something significant. It’s not like she killed anyone … or worse, which would justify extending her the O.J. Simpson and Bill Cosby treatment. Yet, Sarandon claims she’s paid a professional price for her public views, specifically her pro-Palestinian position.

Sarandon’s longtime talent agency UTA dropped her in 2023 after she made some tone-deaf remarks at a rally just one month after the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel. “There are a lot of people afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country.” She said this out loud and everything, but I don’t think that’s the only reason she’s lost work. She turned 80 this month, and Hollywood doesn’t believe it’s financially viable to remind audiences that women exist who are over 60.

“I’ve still had movies taken away recently because there are agencies that are telling people not to hire me still,” Sarandon told reporters in September. “But that’s the power structure. I think [among] people, certainly internationally, I feel welcome.”

Traditionally, a celebrity’s job is to avoid scandal, not court controversy. Besides, when pro-Palestinian protesters are protesting New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, celebrities might rightly conclude that there’s no pleasing anyone. When it comes to their specific relationship with politics, more celebrities might start imitating Peggy Drayton from Silk Stockings and politely insist, “We’re just good friends.”

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The first segment is titled “Hex and the City,” a reference to the very 1990s series Sex and the City, which somehow radicalized annoying men against brunch. Homer (Dan Castellaneta) offends an ethnic stereotype fortune teller who places a horrible curse on him that turns Marge into a Sasquatch, Lisa into a horse, and Bart into a rubber-necked monstrosity, who drowns himself in his morning cereal while a leprechaun dances on his corpse. These Halloween specials could get dark.

One of my favorite bits is when Homer rushes into the fortune teller’s shop with a balloon that he clearly stole from a child and boasts, “The perfect crime!” before adding sheepishly, “Marge, I have to be in court next Tuesday.” (Watch below.)

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“House of Whacks” is an atypically strong second Treehouse of Horror segment that predicts the dangers of AI. The Simpsons remodel their home into a futuristic “Ultrahouse” under the control of sentient machine with the voice of then-current James Bond Pierce Brosnan. (The late Matthew Perry from Friends cameos as a potential voice for the “Ultrahouse.”) “Trusting every aspect of our lives to a giant computer was the smartest thing we ever did!” Homer declares before “Pierce” tries to kill him because it has fallen in love with Marge. The evil computer lures Homer to his apparent death with the tempting smell of “unexplained bacon.” (Watch below.)

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The final segment, “Wiz Kids,” is a spoof of Harry Potter … the books, not the film series, as the first one would have its U.S. release a few weeks later. No one knew the names Daniel Radcliffe or Emma Watson (well, aside from their families). No one knew about Harry Potter creator J.K. Rowling’s disturbing bigotry, either. There was no social media so she just kept quiet and cashed her checks. It was a simpler time.

Nine years later, Daniel Radcliffe would guest star in the Treehouse of Horror segment, “Tweenlight,” a spoof of the Twilight movies, which were not in fact a spoof of anything. They were being serious.

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It’s the Halloween season, so if you haven’t already, you should take advantage of my 40 percent off sale for paid subscriptions. That’s just $30 a year. Thanks to all who have upgraded to paid subscriber status recently. Instead of cat photos, I’m sharing my seasonal decor.

This week, I wrote about Republican Christine Drazan’s concerning lead in the polls for Oregon’s gubernatorial election. Meanwhile, the Portland Public School district is broke and considering closing schools. Yeah, I’m worried about Tina Kotek.

In Texas, though, there might be some good news in the Senate and gubernatorial races. This was an unofficial sequel to Monday’s piece.

Musician Tony Morello just couldn’t bring himself to vote for Kamala Harris over Donald Trump, so I unpack the political nihilism that leads people to think the two parties are the same.

It’s fall, so I’m thinking about the 1998 classic You’ve Got Mail.

That’s it for this week. See you on Monday.

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Cafe Lalo unfortunately closed in 2020 — at first “temporarily” and then officially in 2022. There’s some sad irony in this, as the cafe gained fame when it was featured in Nora Ephron’s 1998 romantic comedy You’ve Got Mail, a film whose plot centered on the inevitable death of a local business.

Meg Ryan is Kathleen Kelly, the owner of an independent children’s bookstore she inherited from her mother. It’s called The Shop Around The Corner, a reference to the 1940 film of the same name starring Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan, which I presume Kathleen has never seen because it shares the same plot as You’ve Got Mail. Stewart and Sullavan’s characters are employees at the same gift shop who can’t stand each other but don’t realize they’re falling in love as anonymous pen pals. The modern twist is that Kathleen is chatting online as “Shopgirl” with someone named “NY152,” who’s actually Joe Fox (Tom Hanks), whose family runs the corporate book chain that’s putting Kathleen’s little shop out of business. “Shopgirl” and “NY152” met in an AOL chat room, because people used AOL back then. Sadly, I’ve had to explain to people much younger than myself the background behind the film’s title: “You’ve Got Mail” was what you’d hear when you signed on AOL and, well, had mail. “Shopgirl” explains the thrill of that notification in a message to “NY152”: “I go online, and my breath catches in my chest until I hear three little words: You've got mail. I hear nothing. Not even a sound on the streets of New York, just the beat of my own heart. I have mail, from you.”

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Kathleen has a boyfriend, by the way. They’re practically living together in her charming Upper West Side apartment, and she’s having an affair. The film opens with stuffy Frank (Greg Kinnear) decrying modern technology and warning Kathleen, “You think this machine (her computer) your friend but it’s not!” He’s a liberal newspaper columnist, so the internet is about to ruin him personally and professionally. As soon as he leaves, Kathleen scampers off to her computer to check for messages from “NY152.”

You’ve Got Mail establishes its leading lady as cheating on her perfectly nice boyfriend within the first scene. You’d think this was gritty film noir, not a bubbly romantic comedy. This might put off modern audiences, but back in the 1990s, most people didn’t consider the internet “real.” And, in fairness, “Shopgirl” and “NY152’s” relationship isn’t based in reality. They know nothing about each other. (Joe also has a serious girlfriend, played by the wonderful Parker Posey, who he derisively describes as someone who “makes coffee nervous.”) Back in the late 20th Century, there were no online video chats or even easy access to digital photos. You didn’t know how the other person looked or sounded, and despite the refrain that you were connecting with the “real person” inside, we see that Kathleen and Joe work hard at presenting a certain image of themselves online. It’s all a fantasy, sort of emotional pornography.

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Kathleen isn’t just a cheater. She’s also a hypocrite, as she’s seen buying coffee at Starbuck’s, which I wasn’t even doing yet as a New Yorker in 1998. Starbuck’s, you might recall, is a major corporate coffee chain that put local independent coffee shops out of business the same way Fox Books does to The Shop Around The Corner, by seizing prime real estate and undercutting competitor prices. The first Starbucks in New York was on Broadway and 87th and didn’t open until 1994. There’s no way that lifelong Upper West Sider Kathleen didn’t patronize other coffee shops before Starbucks arrived, but she was seduced by the venti cappuccino.

When Kathleen and Joe actually meet in real life, unaware they are “Shopgirl” and “NY152,” there is an immediate attraction. It just all goes to hell once Kathleen learns that Joe is the Joe Fox from Fox Books. There are obvious allusions to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, but Kathleen doesn’t judge Joe prematurely. He is the dreaded corporate titan who gleefully crushes independent booksellers.

Unlike Mr. Darcy, Joe’s problem isn’t excessive pride. No, he’s a coward and a liar. He hides his identity from Kathleen when they first meet at her store and then later when he learns she’s “Shopgirl.” The online daters agree to meet in person at Cafe Lalo, which was on the street where writer/director Nora Ephron once lived. This is when the film falls apart for me. In The Shop Around The Corner, Jimmy Stewart’s character also learns the truth but Joe is far more manipulative. He plays on Kathleen’s insecurities, knowing she is waiting to meet someone who’s seemingly stood her up. The last thing anyone wants in that situation is to talk to someone they dislike, but Joe practically delights in her discomfort and obvious humiliation.

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Joe continues to toy with Kathleen, competing with his own “NY152” persona until she miraculously falls in love with him. Admittedly, he is Tom Hanks, who’s hard not to love. Still, Joe’s character arc should’ve involved learning that lying is wrong, but that doesn’t happen.

I think Ephron’s point is that love is about more than superficial commonalities. Kathleen and Frank are perfect for each other on paper, but their relationship is passionless. (Frank is also pretentious and self-important.) Joe and Kathleen have a genuine rapport, even if they don’t like the same things. Kathleen states with certainty that she could never be with someone who owned a boat, but Joe has a boat! Joe says he could never be with someone who likes Joni Mitchell, but Kathleen loves Joni because she has “two ears and a heart.” Reading an online dating profile from the period, someone could easily dismiss “boat owner” or “Joni lover” and miss out on a meaningful connection. Joe laments that if he “hadn’t been Fox Books,” they would have hit it off immediately, but that’s the problem — you can’t build a relationship divorced from who you truly are. Yes, people try all the time but those relationships usually end in divorce.

“Shopgirl” and “NY152” finally meet in person, and Kathleen doesn’t mind that he was Joe Fox all along. “I wanted it to be you,” she says through tears, and then they kiss. This should not have worked. Can you imagine their New York Times “Vows” feature? (I suppose it would’ve just been a description of this movie.)

Fox Books putting The Shop Around The Corner out of business ultimately works out in Kathleen’s benefit. It forces her to put the past behind her and escape the trap of nostalgia. She was running the bookstore in tribute to her late mother, but she wasn’t sure it was what she wanted out of her life. When she tries to discuss this with Frank, he talks past her, while going on about the manual typewriter he’d just purchased. He loves her because she runs a bookstore. Like that typewriter, she’s another symbol of his crusade against modernity.

It’s true, also, that The Shop Around The Corner would have eventually folded even without Fox Books. Even if her loyal customers were willing to pay more money for the same books, Kathleen would have struggled to keep up with the rising rent on her prime Upper West Side location, and her staff would have revolted because she couldn’t offer a “living wage” for New York.

Fox Books was an obvious expy for Barnes & Noble, which were all over New York at the time. Although Amazon killed most brick-and-mortar bookstores, Barnes & Noble managed to survive and announced plans this year to open 60 new stores. CEO James Daunt has suggested he’d allow the sale of AI-written books Barnes & Noble long as they “[don’t] pretend to be something else and [aren’t] ripping off somebody else.” The obvious You’ve Got Mail sequel would involve Joe and Kathleen’s son embracing AI books to his parents’ horror.

I remain fond of You’ve Got Mail because it reminds me of 1990s New York, particularly my first neighborhood, whose streets and sounds I can still recall in vivid detail. The movie at least endures as its own curious cultural artifact, even if Cafe Lalo is no longer there for that late night cappuccino and cheesecake.

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Morello has openly protested the Trump regime, including hosting an anti-Trump music fest where he had “Fuck ICE” on his guitar, but he apparently couldn’t bring himself to vote for the person who could’ve prevented a second Trump presidency. When asked during a Rolling Stone interview if he’d voted for Harris, Morello said, “I certainly did not … Did not. I couldn’t do it.”

His reasons were, somewhat predictably, Harris’s position on Gaza, which was objectively better than Donald Trump’s, and his overall contempt for the “corporate controlled, money controlled electoral system,” which is sort of the one we have. I personally live in reality and thus vote in that reality’s America.

Left-wing activist Jordan Uhl argued on social media that Tom Morello not voting for Kamala Harris doesn’t really matter because Morello lives in California, a state Harris won anyway.

“How about you explain how Tom Morello leaving President blank in a state where Harris won by 3.2 million votes had any impact?” Uhl wrote. “How would Tom Morello voting for Harris in California made a difference here?”

It actually did make a difference, as Harris’s performance in California was the worst for a Democratic candidate since 2004, the last time that a Democratic presidential nominee didn’t at least win the popular vote. Harris lost the Electoral College because she narrowly lost the vital swing states, but Trump was able to thump his chest and claim a mandate from his slim popular vote margin. (This also had far too many Democrats cowering.) So, Democrats running up the score in solid-blue states does matter very much.

Uhl is also defending Morello’s choice from a practical position, but Morello makes clear that he abstained for supposed moral reasons. Thus, he likely would have refused to vote for Harris even if he lived in Michigan. Yet, not voting for Harris to stop Trump is in no way morally defensible. The devastation and death Trump has caused is undeniable and not at all shocking. The only moral action was voting for Harris, who was hardly the “lesser evil.” It’s not like you had to choose between Donald Trump and temporarily lucid Sarah Palin.

Morello insists that Democrats are the true problem because they apparently aren’t morally pure enough. However, America is (still) a democracy and Democrats need votes from more than just those who rage against the machine. Compromise is a necessary function of living in an adult society. Besides, we’re choosing elected officials not Jesus.

I don’t support “vote shaming” people who didn’t support Harris. That’s not constructive, either. But I do caution against a political nihilism that insists Democrats are no better or even different than Republicans and that the entire electoral system is irredeemably corrupt. This only benefits Republicans.

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Prior to the 1996 presidential election, comedian George Carlin admitted that he didn’t vote or otherwise involve himself in politics, which he considered pointless.

“Two reasons I don’t vote. First of all, it’s meaningless. This country was bought and sold and paid for a long time ago. This shit they shuffle around every four years? It doesn’t mean a fucking thing.

And secondly, I don’t vote because I believe if you vote you have no right to complain. People like to twist that around, I know. They say, ‘Well, if you don’t vote you have no right to complain.’ But where’s the logic in that?

If you vote and you elect dishonest, incompetent people and they get into office and screw everything up, well, you are responsible for what they have done. You caused the problem. You voted them in. You have no right to complain.

I, on the other hand … who did not vote…who did not vote…who, in fact, did not even leave the house on Election Day, am in no way responsible for what these people have done and have every right to complain as loud as I want about the mess you created that I had nothing to do with.

So, I know that a little later on this year you’re gunna have another one of those really swell presidential elections that you like so much. You enjoy yourselves; it’ll be a lot of fun. I’m sure as soon as the election is over your country will improve immediately.

As for me, I’ll be home on that day, doing essentially the same thing as you. The only difference is, when I get finished masturbating, I’m gonna have a little something to show for it, folks.”

I enjoy Carlin’s work, but this perspective — “I can complain because I didn’t vote” — is not sophisticated. It’s juvenile, which is why hip college kids always repeat it.

On October 27 1996, a week before the presidential election Carlin skipped, The Simpsons aired its seventh Halloween special featuring the classic political satire “Citizen Kang.”

Alien conquerers Kang (Harry Shearer) and Kodos (Dan Castellaneta) randomly abduct Homer Simpson (Castellaneta) and explain their diabolical plot to replace America’s leader and thus rule the world. Homer points out that current President Bill Clinton is running for re-election and Americans might possibly replace him with his Republican opponent, Bob Dole. (This requires more suspension of disbelief than the aliens who speak English, as Clinton had maintained a comfortable 15- to-17-point lead over Dole in the polls for months. Americans were less politically polarized and insane back then.)

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Kang and Kodos decide to cover their bases and abduct both Dole (Shearer) and Clinton (the late Phil Hartman). They have no trouble offering up nonsensical political platitudes for their supporters. Kang, posing as Dole, vows, “The politics of failure have failed. We need to make them work again.” Kodos, prosing as Clinton, tells rally goers, “My fellow Americans. As a young boy, I dreamed of being a baseball. But tonight I say, we must move forward, not backward; upward, not forward; and always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom!”

“Citizen Kang” seemingly embraces much of Carlin’s political nihilism. Kodos, posing as Dole, tells hack journalist Kent Brockman, “It makes no difference which one of us you vote for. Either way, your species is doomed! Doomed!” which Brockman cluelessly describes as a “refreshing frank response.” (Yes, that’s eerily close to how the real world media covers Trump.)

Homer frees the real Clinton and Dole but accidentally kills them because he’s Homer. When he exposes Kang and Kodos’s true alien forms to the public, they insist it’s too late to stop them: “It’s true. We are aliens, but what are you going to do about it? It’s a two-party system, you have to vote for one of us!” Someone in the crowd suggests voting for a third-party candidate, one who’s not a bloodthirsty alien menace, but Kang mocks this idea, “Go ahead! Throw your vote away!”

Thus, Americans willingly elect Kang (The Simpsons really thought Dole had a shot) and end up enslaved. Homer smugly tells a complaining Marge (Julie Kavner), “Don’t blame me! I voted for Kodos.” This was a reference to a common right-wing expression after Clinton was first elected in 1992: “Don’t blame me! I voted for Bush” showed up on bumper stickers, buttons, and T-shirts. Of course, the punchline for “Citizen Kang” is that Homer actually believes voting for Kodos would’ve made a difference. He still doesn’t understand that the aliens offered a false choice and their positions were truly interchangeable. That isn’t the case with the Democratic Party, even at their worst. If you want to stop MAGA, you’ll have to vote for Democrats (or non-MAGA independents in red states). Not voting isn’t the sophisticated choice. It’s nihilistic. Refusing to support Harris in 2024 or the inevitably imperfect Democratic nominee in 2028 isn’t believing in a better tomorrow. It’s refusing to help create one.

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