20 Comments
Oct 29, 2023Liked by Sonny Bunch

I made it thru one

and half episodes of Fall of House of Usher. Just didn’t grab me. Usually I give a series 3 or 4 episodes. Maybe I will go back to it based on assignment. Mainly didn’t like or hate any of the characters enough to invest time or emotion in it. Is it worth it? Can I still withdraw passing if I skip this assignment? Will it be on the final.

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It is absolutely not a series for everyone; it's basically "American Horror Story: Poe." Very Ryan Murphy-esque.

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Nov 12, 2023Liked by Sonny Bunch

So I went and finished it. Glad I did. Good payoff.

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😎 I was wanting to like it. Reminded me of Umbrella Academy meets Vincent Price classic horror. Or “classic.” I will give it another shot.

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Um. What art, books, and culture section of The Bulwark+?

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Oct 28, 2023·edited Oct 28, 2023

Hi Sonny,

From the podcast I learned that you are a pro-national defense neocon. Thank God!

I would LOVE to hear a debate between you and Tim about the consequences of the U.S. having allowed Saddam to rebuild his atomic bombs. It's totally relevant in today's world.

I remember reading articles by Steve Hayes saying that Saddam's own records showed that he was using his money to directly lead the entire panoply of Islamist terrorist groups around the world, for example by paying the families of Palestinian suicide bombers in Israel and by funding attacks on U.S. troops around the world.

If Saddam had managed to purchase nuclear fissile material from, say Pakistan, and rebuild his atomic bombs, he could have handed the atomic bombs to groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. I'd like to know from Tim (because I admire him greatly and everyone at The Bulwark), what his rationale was for leaving Saddam in place, thereby allowing him to rebuild his nukes, knowing that Saddam easily could have passed them on to terrorist groups around the world, at which point presumably civilization itself, quite literally, would have come to an end.

Given that Iran is on the cusp of getting nukes and is directly acting to exterminate Israel from the map as we speak, I do think it's high time to revisit the Iraq-era question about whether the U.S. should act to protect the world or rather should it sit back (avoiding endless wars) and wait until those wars have landed directly on to U.S. soil or effectively are doing so in terms of their impact on American GDP, unemployment rates, and other ways our enemies can hurt us.

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ha, see, this is why I don't like getting into politics in this newsletter; suffice to say, I was ... not a fan of the Iran deal the Obama team made, and have been reminded of how much I disliked the policies so many of Obama's FP people last week (guys like Vietor, Rhodes, etc.). But I don't want to turn this forum into a relitigation of Iraq!

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Oct 28, 2023Liked by Sonny Bunch, The Bulwark

I'm already laughing at title. Lol Because New Orleans..... pheww has a wide spectrum of charm as well as "sweaty". You often walk through the charm to get to the sweaty and vice versa... 😃....also thank God we got our bonus check and I can unpause things like my Bulwark+ membership and not feel guilty about spending and not feel guilty about listening while not supporting. I'm sure the authors would say something charitable about it but, "no it's ok" or whatever. I appreciate the work and want to at least do this much. It's already been a rough year and The Bulwark helps to not lose sanity.

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Oct 27, 2023Liked by Sonny Bunch

Although I had tickets Wednesday night, I was sadly unable to attend. Thank you, though, Mr.Bunch, for enjoying my town and (sorta) getting it.

Please return!

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I'm in North Louisiana and it had to be at the time I just couldn't justify spending money and going out for entertainment. I really hope now that Tim is down there more events will naturally follow.

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Me too!

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It was fun! I imagine I’ll make my way back before too long. It’s such a quick flight.

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Thanks for the paean to NOLA- a great place for movies, or anything cultural.

If I may, I'd like to put in a quick plug for "Once Inside a Time", by godfrey reggio (of Koyannisqatsi fame). A bit too long for a short, too short for a feature. It might provide some vision of how people on this side of the aisle think, if anyone's interested.

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Oct 27, 2023Liked by Sonny Bunch

Just wrapped up Fall of the House of Usher this week, and in the spirit of topical Halloween costumes, our family theme this year is Edgar Allen Poe!

My 2nd life is going to be modeled around being BillT

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For the record: it's because I want to be a fitness influencer with a billionaire heiress wife... not just for the sex stuff🤣

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Also utterly baffled by the criticism of Fraser's performance. I think it also works nicely in contrast with John Lithgow's — how Lithgow is very calm, rational, and plain-spoken, while Fraser plays his character as someone who immediately clocks that Ernest can be bullied, and acts accordingly.

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It’s bizarre!

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RemovedOct 27, 2023Liked by Sonny Bunch
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Oct 28, 2023Liked by Sonny Bunch

On one hand, I don't like this world where every person and group tells me their opinion. On the other hand, it's pretty easy to say, "We are against kids being targets for militants" without saying anything else.

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