My plan tonight was to write an awesome post about the GOP’s $1.5 trillion tax-cut of 2017, and how, contrary to what we were promised at the time, they didn’t “pay for themselves” by driving increased corporate investment, but instead pushed the federal deficit to a record-breaking $747.1 billion. None of this, of course, is a surprise to those of us who actually read the report of the Congressional Budget Office, which projected that the Trump tax cuts would end up costing us trillions of dollars. But, once again, the Republicans fooled enough people into supporting their untenable tax give-aways to the rich by promising that, if we just slashed corporate tax rates, the beneficent corporate entities of America would pass along the windfall to their employees in the form of bonuses, and invest mightily in their U.S. operations, bring jobs back from oversees. As it turns out, though, the bonuses never materialized, the corporations just used the money to buy back their own stock, and, as a result, the non-wealthy among us didn’t see much, if any, benefit. In fact, we saw the opposite, as the deficit rose, giving Republicans the justification they needed to go after the social welfare programs that may of us depend on… But, then, I started reading about the Rudy Ray Moore biopic that’s being developed by Netflix. And, now, I’d really rather spend what’s left of this day thinking about Moore’s devastatingly effective style of kung fu.
Here, if you’ve yet to see it, is the trailer for Dolemite Is My Name, starring Eddie Murphy as Rudy Ray Moore.
And here, so you can compare, is the trailer for the 1975 blacksploitation classic Dolomite.
If I were a better blogger, I’d try to figure out a way to tie these two things together somehow — maybe suggesting a Dolomite reboot in which our protagonist pimp heads to Washington to take on the likes of Trump administration Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who promised in 2017 that the administration’s tax plan would not only “pay for itself,” but “cut down the deficits by a trillion dollars” — but that’s way too much work, and I’d much rather just lay here in bed and listen to Moore’s first XXX Dolomite comedy album Eat Out More Often, which paved the way for his film career. I will, however, leave you with the following, in case anyone really wants to keep talking about tax cuts and deficits when the subject of Dolomite is on the table.
The U.S. budget deficit grew to $866.8 billion in the first 10 months of the new fiscal year, a 27% increase from the same period one year earlier.https://t.co/Jr9uXz43Mr
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) August 12, 2019
Oh, and here’s the studio’s synopsis of the new Dolomite film, for those of you who don’t already know Moore’s incredible origin story.
Stung by a string of showbiz failures, floundering comedian Rudy Ray Moore (Murphy) has an epiphany that turns him into a word-of-mouth sensation: step onstage as someone else. Borrowing from the street mythology of 1970s Los Angeles, Moore assumes the persona of Dolemite, a pimp with a cane and an arsenal of obscene fables. However, his ambitions exceed selling bootleg records deemed too racy for mainstream radio stations to play. Moore convinces a social justice-minded dramatist (Keegan-Michael Key) to write his alter ego a film, incorporating kung fu, car chases, and Lady Reed (Da’Vine Joy Randolph), an ex-backup singer who becomes his unexpected comedic foil. Despite clashing with his pretentious director, D’Urville Martin (Wesley Snipes), and countless production hurdles at their studio in the dilapidated Dunbar Hotel, Moore’s Dolemite becomes a runaway box office smash and a defining movie of the Blaxploitation era.
One last thing.. Back in about ’94, I had Rudy Ray Moore’s phone number. I want to say that I got it from my friend Russ Forster, but I’m not 100% sure. What I am certain of, though, is that, for quite a few years, I carried around a scrap of paper that said “Rudy Ray Moore” on it, followed by a phone number. And I know I must have dialed it at least once, but I don’t recall having ever spoken with the legendary man. I’m not sure why I wasn’t more persistent. Maybe I was intimidated.
Oh, and the U.S. budget deficit has jumped by 23.1% just the last year alone. If this were happening under a Democratic president, conservatives would be rioting in the streets. Instead, though, there’s not a peep. One wonders why that is… Why is it that deficits only matter when Democrats are in office, and Democrats seem to be the only ones who can bring down deficits?
Sorry. One very last thing… How great would a buddy cop movie staring Dolomite and Tony Clifton have been?
