Producer is the latest face of an ongoing problem
There is a marvelous scene in my favorite movie, “Casablanca.” After a raid on Rick’s Cafe, Renault, the police captain (Claude Rains), confronts Rick (Humphrey Bogart) with the line, “I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!” A waiter then hands him his winnings for the evening.
The race to see who can denounce film producer Harvey Weinstein in the loudest and most despicable terms would be just as laughable if the situation were not so serious. Anyone in America who doesn’t know that the “casting couch” still operates in Hollywood (and Washington and corporate America) is sadly out of touch with American culture.
Does it really matter that it took ex-President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton five days to speak out about this? (Confusion reigns with the Democrats who took Mr. Weinstein’s campaign contributions — give the money back or donate it to charity?)
The focus has to remain on the ongoing problem of sexual harassment in any workplace. These scandals will periodically continue until there is real cultural progress. REBECCA DENOVA
South Side
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There appears to be a competition to aptly describe the persona of the man who happens to be 45th president of the United States. His own secretary of state chose the word “moron.” No less a conservative luminary than columnist George F. Will called him a “bloviating ignoramus.” Like other prolific efforts to characterize the buffoonery that constitutes Donald Trump, they are doomed to failure. They represent attempts at relieving frustration at being unable to abide or cope with a totally unique and discombobulating phenomenon: Mr. Trump has executed the ultimate con of actually becoming president of the United States.
Inauguration was the ultimate goal and validating factor for his particular form of egotism. And he luxuriates in the comfort of knowing he is on “top of the world” for four years. What he says and does, no matter how juvenile or unsavory, is “presidential.” He has no real interest in governing. He is reveling in a form of insouciant yo-yo playing since the game is already won.
But underlying it all is the fact that Mr. Trump not only has but is a “nuclear weapon.” And like Kim Jong Un and North Korea, he can’t be destroyed and is impervious to verbal attacks, however accurate. He can only be contained.
There remains only a patient resistance by principled and rational people, both within the corridors of power and those of us who had the common sense to recognize the perpetrating of a fraud. Prayer also might be a way of coping for those who believe in its efficacy. ROBERT JEDRZEJEWSKI
Tarentum
You can go to church and sing hymns and pray, but if you act with greed and prejudice, it means nothing. So it is with our national anthem and Pledge of Allegiance. You can stand and sing the national anthem, salute the flag and recite the pledge, but if you don’t act “with liberty and justice for all,” the words are meaningless.
This is why players are kneeling during the anthem. They are protesting against those who profess to be patriots, those who think singing the anthem makes them patriots, but who act with prejudice and hate. VERONICA KIRIN Reserve