Fulton County Mugshots w/captions No. 9

Mugshot No. 9: 

Racketeering and trying 

to influence witnesses.

Fulton County Mugshots w/captions No. 8

 

Mugshot No. 8: 

12 charges: Racketeering, solicitation of 

oath violation by a public officer 

and plenty more.

Fulton County Mugshots w/captions No. 7

Mugshot No. 7: 

As a publicist, I know a damn good 

  book cover picture when I see one.  

Fulton County Mugshots w/captions No. 6

Mugshot No. 6:

Legal advice from Hell. 

 

'The Harder They Come' Sneak Preview

Jimmy Cliff as Ivan.

One autumn day in 1973, some 18 months into my job as manager of Richmond's Biograph Theatre, one of my bosses in D.C., David Levy, asked me to look at a new movie to evaluate its potential. From time to time he did that for various reasons. In this case he had a new 35mm print of “The Harder They Come” (1972) shipped to me, via Clark Transfer.

Note: "The Harder They Come": Color. 120 minutes. Directed by Perry Henzell; Cast: Jimmy Cliff, Janet Bartley, Carl Bradshaw. In this Jamaican production, Cliff plays Ivan, a pop star/criminal on the lam. The music of Cliff, The Maytals, The Melodians and Desmond Dekker is featured.

In the after-hours we occasionally had screenings of films we came by, one way or another. For instance, being in the same city as three universities meant access to 16mm films that could be borrowed briefly. Usually on short notice, the word would go out to friends that we would be watching a particular movie at a certain time.

These gatherings were essentially impromptu movie parties. Once it was 1940s and '50s boxing films from a private collection. The Beatles' then out-of-release "Magical Mystery Tour" (1967) in 16mm was the centerpiece to another one of those parties. Such watch parties happened more often in the Biograph's early days

Although I don’t remember any moments, in particular, from that private screening of “The Harder They Come," I do recall the gist of my telephone conversation with Levy the next day. After telling him how much I liked the Jamaican movie and its music, he asked me how I would promote it.

Well, I was ready for that question, as I had smoked it over thoroughly with Dave DeWitt (my collaborator in making Biograph radio spots) and a few friends after the screening. Consequently, I told Levy we ought to have a free, open-to-the-public-on-short-notice, sneak preview of the movie. Most importantly, we should use WGOE exclusively to promote the screening, since its engaging music made this film a natural for radio.

Because Levy liked the comedic radio campaigns for the Biograph's midnight shows that DeWitt and I had produced over the last year, he went for the idea right away. DeWitt was easily the best radio production guy I have known.

Note: In the early-'70s, long before the era of giant corporations owning hundreds of stations, a locally-programmed daytime radio station with a weak signal played a significant role in what success was enjoyed at the Biograph. For a few years we had an especially good business arrangement with WGOE-AM, the station that then owned the hippie market in Richmond.

Subsequently, on a November Friday morning the DJs at WGOE began reading announcements of a free showing of “The Harder They Come” that would take place at the Biograph that afternoon at 3 p.m. Then they would play a soundtrack cut by Jimmy Cliff, the film’s star. This pattern was continued maybe three times per hour, leading up to the time of the event. Since we presented it as a "WGOE-presents sneak preview," the announcements cost the Biograph nothing.

Of course, reggae music was being heard in Richmond before our free screening, but it was still mostly on the periphery of popular culture on the East Coast. As I recall, some 300 people showed up that day and the movie was extremely well received.

In a couple of previous runs in other markets, “The Harder They Come” had been handled as an underground movie. As it was shot in 16mm and blown up to 35mm for its American distribution, it had a grainy, documentary look. Upon hearing about the test-audience's approval, Levy got excited and decided to book it to run as a first-run feature, rather than as a midnight only show.

Later on Levy became a sub-distributor for “The Harder They Come.” He told me that when he rented it to theaters in other cities within his region, he advised them to use the same radio-promoted, free-preview tactic.

While it didn’t set any records for attendance at the Biograph, “The Harder They Come” did fairly well and returned to play several more dates, both at regular hours and as a midnight show.

As it happened, in late-1973, watching a then-virtually unknown, low-budget Jamaican film -- after operating hours -- with a small group of co-workers and friends had seemed somewhat exotic that night. Of course, on that occasion, we had no idea how popular reggae music was about to become ... in some part because of that movie's influence.

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Fulton County Mugshots w/captions No. 5

Mugshot No. 5:

The fake electors scheme 

architect wants swift justice.

 

Court Dates for Trump (so far)

Trump's RICO expression.

On Monday, Aug. 28, 2023, in Washington, D.C., it's expected that U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan will set the date for what many observers are calling the most significant criminal trial in American history. That trial will consider the Justice Department's case against Donald Trump, to do with alleged actions he deliberately took to overturn the last presidential election results in several states.

However, since the former president is also a defendant in other cases, both criminal and civil, Chutkan is going to have to find a hole in Trump's crowded calendar for court ordered appearances. 

Highlights of Trump's upcoming ordeals in various courts are listed below: 

• Trial date set in New York City: Oct. 2, 2023. This is the business fraud civil lawsuit filed by New York Attorney General Tish James. Financial mismanagement and malfeasance by Trump's company are alleged.
• Trial date set in Atlanta: Oct. 23, 2023. At this writing, this case, Kenneth Chesebro's, will be the first of the RICO cases Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis will present. Other members of the RICO 19 group that Willis charged on Aug. 14 may also try to separate their cases from Trump's request for a trial date in 2026. So there's no telling how many defendants will eventually follow Chesebro to ask for a swift trial. 

• Meanwhile, in D.C., Special Counsel Jack Smith has asked Chutkan for a Jan. 2, 2024, trial date. That, while Trump's attorneys filed a request to begin his D.C. trial sometime in April of 2026. (At this desk, it's not known whether Chutkan appreciated the snicker imbedded in Trump's request. Don't forget, the judge has already warned Trump that if he continues making “inflammatory” cracks about the case she might have to accelerate the process.)

• Trial date set in NYC: Jan. 15, 2024. E. Jean Carroll won $5 million from a jury in a defamation civil lawsuit against Trump earlier this year. Afterward, Trump kept on talking trash about Carroll, so here we go again. Meanwhile, on the primary calendar, the Iowa caucus' process will also happen on Jan, 15, 2024. 
• Trial date set in NYC: Jan. 29, 2024. Trump faces yet another civil trial that targets his notorious business practices. This federal lawsuit accuses Trump himself and his company of fraud.              
• Trial date (proposed by Willis) in Atlanta: Mar, 4, 2024. The second RICO trial (for the defendants who want to slow-walk it) is still in flux.
• Trial date in NYC: March 25, 2024. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has charged Trump with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records connected to Trump’s efforts to conceal his extramarital affair with a porn star.
• Trial date in Fort Pierce, Fla: May 20, 2024. Smith has charged Trump with hording national security papers at Mar-a-Lago, plus eight additional charges to do with Trump's alleged efforts to obstruct the government's legit efforts to recover those classified materials.

Thus, I'm predicting Chutkan will pick a trial date sometime in February of 2024. Stay tuned... 

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Fulton County Mugshots w/captions No. 4

Mugshot No. 4:

Beyond the fringe. Beyond the 

crazy zone. Beyond the pale.

Fulton County Mugshots w/captions No. 3

Mugshot No. 3:

"Breakin' rocks in the hot sun

I fought the law and..."

Fulton County Mugshots w/captions No. 2

Mugshot No. 2:
A look his
wives have seen.

 

Fulton County Mugshots w/captions

Mugshot No. 1:
Lost Soul.

 

A Confluence of Evils

We've all known people who seem to hate government at all levels -- local, state and federal. The government they hate the most is the one that most recently made them angry. 

Of course, the majority of the government-haters probably aren't all that dangerous (I hope!). Unfortunately, some of them are stockpiling weapons of war and getting more dangerous every day. Some are loners. Some are members of bad boys groups. 

And, we've all encountered people who crave power. Some of them are merely tyrants who operate within their own sphere of influence. They simply take pleasure from bending people to their will. Others must have political power, Rather than hate government they covet access to the levers of power governments possess.

In their travels in the past those two antiestablishment factions weren't usually answering to the same boss. However, for the time being, it appears they are and MAGA cult leader Donald Trump is directing this confluence of evils. 

No one knows how long Trump can keep those two different camps harnessed and cooperating under the Republican banner. Meanwhile, we already know some foot soldiers in those two camps are crazy as hell and they're "standing by," awaiting the signal from Boss Trump. 

However, given election trends over the last five years, Trump's lieutenants must have deduced that winning a majority of the votes in most fair elections in the future is going to be out of reach. Nonetheless, using money, propaganda and the threat of force to create fear, they mean to seize control of those aforementioned governmental levers of power. ASAP. 

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Words and art by F.T. Rea.

The Coldest Warrior

Note: The piece below this note is an OpEd I wrote for Richmond.com 24 years ago; did the Nixon illustration back then, too. The piece was published to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Nixon's 1974 resignation. So the anniversaries mentioned in the first graf date from 1999.

*

August 9, 1999: August is usually a slow month for news, especially political news. So we are spoon-fed anniversaries to contemplate: Hiroshima’s 54th; Woodstock’s 30th; it was 25 years ago that Pres. Richard M. Nixon took the fall. The entire culture shifted gears the day Nixon threw in the towel.

The brilliant strategist, the awkward sleuth, the proud father, and the coldest of warriors had left the building. August 9, 1974 was a day to hoist one for his enemies, many of whom must have enjoyed his twisting in the wind of Watergate’s storm. It was the saddest of days for his staunch supporters, whose numbers were still legion.

Either way, Richard Nixon’s departure from D.C. left a peculiar void that no personality has since filled in anything close to the same way. For the first time since his earliest commie-baiting days, in the late-‘40s, Dick Nixon suddenly had no clout. 

Upon Nixon's departure, concern for social causes went out of style for a lot of young Americans. It was time to party. Soon what remained of the causes and accouterments of the ‘60s was packed into cardboard boxes to be tossed out, or stored in basements.

Watergate revelations killed off the Nixon administration’s chance of instituting national health insurance. On top of that, many people have forgotten that he was also rather liberal on environmental matters, at least compared to the science-doubting Republicans who have followed. Although he was a hawk, Nixon was moderate on some of the social issues.

Nixon's opening to China and efforts toward détente with the Soviets are often cited as evidence of his ability to maneuver deftly in the realm of foreign affairs. No doubt, that was his main focus. Still, at the bottom line, Nixon is remembered chiefly as the president who was driven from office. And for good reason.

Nixon’s nefarious strategy for securing power divided this country like nothing since the Civil War. Due to his fear of hippies and left-wing campus movements, Nixon looked at ex-Beatle John Lennon and instead of a sarcastic musician, in his view Nixon saw a raw power to galvanize a generation’s anti-establishment sentiments. Fearful of that imagined potential, the sneaky Nixon administration did everything it could to hound Lennon out of the country.

Nixon deliberately drove a wedge between fathers and sons. To rally support for his prosecution of the Vietnam War, he sought to expand the division between World War II era parents and their baby boomer offspring. The families that never recovered from that time's bitterness were just more collateral damage.

However, Nixon’s true legacy is that since his paranoia-driven scandal, the best young people have no longer felt drawn into public service. Since Watergate the citizens who’ve gravitated toward politics for a career have not had the intellect, the sense of purpose, or the strength of character of their predecessors. We can thank Tricky Dick for all that and more.

So weep not for the sad, crazy Nixon of August, 1974. He did far more harm to America than whatever good he intended.

Some commentators have suggested that he changed over that period, even mellowed. Don't buy it. The rest of us changed a lot more than he did. On top of that, Nixon had 20 years to come clean and clear the air. But he didn’t do it. He didn't even come close. In the two decades of his so-called “rehabilitation,” before his death in 1994, Nixon just kept on being Nixon.

So, spare me the soft-focus view of the Nixon White House years. Tricky Dick's humiliating downfall should be a lesson to us all -- he surely got what he deserved.

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