Today is Wednesday, November 30, 2022. The insurrectionist at Mar-a-Lago must be shitting a brick since today marks the House committee receiving six years of his federal tax returns, ending a protracted battle to let the public know of Dumpf’s personal finances and to whom he owes money and has taken out loans from what foreign entity. Thus the House Ways and Means Committee has received volumes of Dumpf’s tax returns for six years.

This latest development in the continuing Dumpf saga is covered in a CNN Digital article by Katelyn Polantz entitled “House committee receives Donald Trump’s federal tax returns from IRS.”

Federal courts had determined the House could request six years of the former president’s returns, after the committee had asked for them in 2019 and again in 2021, according to public court records.

The handover had been on hold, until the Supreme Court declined last week to intervene. Several judges, including Republican appointees, have found the House had power to request the returns from the IRS.

Even having this information at their fingertips, it’s not expected that Democrats will review the tax returns at this session, and the documents are not expected to be immediately released to the public. Awww, too bad!

The committee, led by Democratic Rep. Richard Neal of Massachusetts, is not saying to CNN if Neal has possession of the Dumpf tax documents, saying the law strictly prohibits him from discussing the state of the returns. Earlier today, Neal also declined to say if the committee would release any of the returns publicly.

As the mystery deepens over what’s in Dumpf’s tax returns, it’s no mystery that what’s in the documents has been largely a mystery since he first ran for office.

During his 2016 campaign, Dumpf broke with presidential election norms and refused to produce his tax returns for public review, and they remained private after he took office.

Being under audit by the IRS does not preclude someone from releasing his or her tax returns publicly. But that hasn’t stopped the demagogue from using it as a defense against releasing his financial information.

The only thing Dumpf released in 2016 is a letter from his tax attorneys that confirmed he was under audit. But the letter also said the IRS finished reviewing Dumpf’s tax taxes from 2002 through 2008. And now that the audits were over, Dumpf still refused to release his tax returns from those years.

An expansive, far-reaching New York Times report in 2020 found that Dumpf paid no federal income taxes whatsoever in 10 out of 15 years beginning in 2000 because he reported losing significantly more than he made. This aversion to paying taxes puts the former worse president in the same league as deceased hotelier Leona Helmsley who was reported to say famously in her tax evasion trial, “We don’t pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes.” This scornful quote was identified with her for the rest of her life. She and her deceased husband Harry also burnished an image like the former president of being cheapskates despite having a net worth totaling over $1 billion. Reading over their profile on Google, I see that the couple also had the reputation – like Dumpf – for disputing payments to contractors and vendors. This is what Dumpf has done his entire life. Most probably, Dumpf has been channeling the arrogant Helmsleys for most of his life.

A historic move was made today by House Democrats as they chose Hakeem Jeffries of New York to succeed Nancy Pelosi as leader of the Democrats in the chamber next year. This decision made by Democrats behind closed doors today will make Jeffries the first Black person to lead one of the two major parties in either chamber of Congress. This latest development in who will lead the Democratic Party in the House was covered in an online CNN article by Daniella Diaz entitled “House Democrats pick Hakeem Jeffries to succeed Nancy Pelosi, the first Black lawmaker to lead a party in Congress.”

“Jeffries ran unopposed as leader, with Massachusetts Rep. Katherine Clark, current assistant speaker, running as whip and California Rep. Peter Aguilar, previously vice chair of the caucus, and was expected to win the spot to lead the House Democratic caucus.”

At just 52, Jeffries will represent a generational change from the current triumvirate of House Democratic leaders, who are three decades older than him. Pelosi was 82 years old when she announced her departure as Speaker last month. He became the chairman of the Democratic caucus in 2019, making him the youngest member serving in leadership.

The former speaker, who held her position for about two decades, blessed the new trio of leaders expected to succeed them in a statement when she announced she would step down and return to being a rank-and-file member in the new Congress. She gushed, “A new day is dawning – and I am confident that these new leaders will capably lead our Caucus and the Congress.”

In a statement after the torch was passed down to him by his caucus members, Jeffries praised the past leadership but said, “more must be done to combat inflation, defend our democracy, secure reproductive freedom, welcome new Americans, promote equal protection under the law, and improve public safety throughout this country.” The nation should extend its well wishes to the new Speaker of the House and wish him a very productive tenure in his new role.

The contrast between the two parties couldn’t be starker with the smooth transition to succeed Ms. Pelosi’s successor in New York’s Hakeem Jeffries who ran unopposed, while the other party – the cult party of Dumpf – is rife with dissension and conflict as the contest for speaker is problematic and unruly. The person hoping to become House Republican Speaker is weak, ineffective, cowardly, Dumpf supplicant Kevin McCarthy who is a terrible choice, to begin with, and is not guaranteed the spot, despite his clamoring for it. He is at risk for a humiliating and potentially career-ending defeat with just five weeks until the January 3 speaker election, as several members of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus are still publicly vowing to deny him crucial votes. Good riddance if he is denied the speakership!

As I promised yesterday, I wanted to provide an assessment of the film that I saw with Elliot on Tuesday in Manhattan – the movie called The Inspection. The film chronicles the experiences of a young, Black gay Marine recruit named Ellis French (Jeremy Pope). His experiences mirror what writer/director Elegance Bratton went through in his own life, which is to enlist as a Marine in 2005 and endure moments of terror and beatings by his own bunkmates after it’s learned that he’s gay. At the beginning, you might say that the film is cut from the same cloth as A Few Good Men and the first hour of Full Metal Jacket, two films that highlight basic training at boot camp and the insults that are lodged at the malleable recruits by vulgar, ball-busting drill sergeants.

This film is different from those earlier films in that it chronicles Bratton’s own experiences as a queer Black man who enters the Marines to both make something of himself and appease his traditional mother (here played uncompromisingly by Gabrielle Union) who doesn’t approve of her son’s homosexual lifestyle.

At one point in the beginning, we see the young protagonist living in a shelter with other men since his disapproving mother has turned him out after she learns that he’s gay in the period after 9/11, and the wrenching conversation he has with an older Black gay homeless man concerning why he’s enlisting in the Marines. Ellis tells the older gentleman that all of his friends are either dead or in jail and that he has no other prospects. That is the primary reason Ellis enlists at the age of 25.

When he finds himself at boot camp in South Carolina, Ellis is witness to the physical assaults, dehumanization, and taunts directed at him by his fellow recruits and the leadership entrusted to make “monsters” of the pliable recruits. Doing a great job of impersonating a stern, maniacal drill sergeant is Bokeem Woodbine as the platoon’s implacable molder of men. He gleefully says, “I will break you,” to the recruits as they hop off the bus and enter a new, terrifying world for the next three months.

There is one compassionate sergeant here played by Raul Castillo who Ellis misjudges as being queer. The two have a few tender scenes, which are few and far between. I particularly enjoyed Pope’s performance as the gritty Ellis French, aka Frenchie in boot camp. At times, Frenchie is incredibly vulnerable, yet also brave, and, strangely to himself, proud. He plays a character who is really at the end of his rope when he joins the Marines, living in a homeless shelter with nothing to lose, with his only meaningful relationship being with his mother who kicks him out when she finds out he is gay.

The film is hard to take, but delivers an uplifting denouement. You will be dazzled by Pope’s fine performance if you see the film.

This will be my last blog until Friday, possibly, since Elliot and I need to drive to Allentown, Pennsylvania, tomorrow to attend a memorial service for our good Easton friends “Jeff” and “Sandy” whose mother died at 91 on Thursday, November 24. The service for Sandy’s mother is Friday morning, and we decided to get a hotel room tomorrow night so that we wouldn’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn on Friday to drive to Pennsylvania. I hope to be back by late afternoon or early evening on Friday.

Have a good Thursday.

Stay safe and be well.