There’s nothing we can put on this site that’s better than a Katie McCollow film review:

1. Barr V Coronavirus: More than 2,000 former Department of Justice officials have called on Attorney General William Barr to resign. We now have 1,875 confirmed deaths from the coronavirus, including the hospital director in Wuhan. Who will reach 2,500 first?
2. Dark Towers: Deutsche Bank helped finance the Third Reich and it’s now helping to finance the Trump presidency. This new book by New York Times finance editor David Enrich goes a long way toward explaining the connection between the Trumps, Russian oligarchs and Putin. DB is why you may never see the president’s financial statements. And why were they the only bank doing business with him for two decades? Perhaps because a Russian bank was floating their loans. And who would be behind THAT bank, propping up the Donald? Take a guess.
3. Shake And Bake: A wild finish in the Daytona 500 yields Denny Hamlin his second consecutive checkered flag and nearly kills Ryan Newman.

4. “Every Single Guy Over There Needs A Beating”: (and the married guys, too). That’s Atlanta Braves outfielder Nick Markakis’ thoughts about the justice that Houston should have coming to it. Think you might have misjudged your ruling, King Solom, um, Rob Manfred? Nick for commish!

5. Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador: That’s the name of the president of Mexico. We didn’t know it, either, but then we’re not running for president of a neighboring country, now are we, Amy Klobuchar and Tom Steyer? Worse, you do this during a Telemundo appearance? Ouch, babe.

1. Free Solo: Winner of the Best Documentary Oscar. You wanna see a real-life Spiderman without CGI? Alex Honnold is your man.
2. The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs: Five, or is it six, vignettes taken from the Old West and made by the Coen Brothers.
3. Black Panther: Needed a little editing in the last third, we thought. The Lion King meets, well, I dunno.
4. Roma: Okay, granted, I was bored to tears. But I was watching on my laptop. Visually stunning, but this is a little like a master chef preparing a beautiful dish with just a 2-ounce piece of beef. There’s a lot of incredible style going on here, but as to the story? Meh.
5. Bohemian Rhapsody: A star is born. Then he gets a little crazy with the free love and partying. Then he plays a redemptive Live Aid set at Wembley.

*****

6. A Star Is Born: Winner of the La La Land memorial “Well, The First Half Hour Was Really Good” award. But then it fell off. As soon as this fourth version of the same film was in the can, someone in Hollywood felt the urge to make a fifth incarnation of Little Women. It’s a race.

Never saw: “Crazy Rich Asians,” “Greenbook,” “Leave No Trace,” or “A Quiet Place.” Never saw but would like to: “First Man.”

The final laps of Monday’s Daytona 500 were predictably insane. Ryan Newman went from leading the pack less than five seconds away from the finish line to being flipped over and crossing the finish line fourth and on his hood.

Denny Hamlin, in the white FedEx car, won for the second consecutive year, this time by less than 1/100th of a second. Newman was seriously hurt but is in stable condition.

Hearing that 2,000-plus former Department of Justice officials are calling for Attorney General William Barr to resign, well, that sends a message. Barr is, after all, the titular head of the DOJ.

Hearing how Barr is basically serving Trump’s needs, doing his bidding, helping him manufacture villains where none exist (e.g., giving Rudy Giuliani a direct pipeline to bring forth his “findings” about Ukraine to the DOJ… do other private citizens enjoy this privilege?). Helping him to exonerate or at least lessen the sentence of actual villains (e.g. Roger Stone). Knowing that Trump has the power to pardon most anyone.

Meanwhile, what happens if the Supreme Court orders President Trump to turn over his tax records? What happens if any federal court finds against Trump? Particularly with Bill Barr and the Senate in his corner? As Bill Maher so astutely observed on HBO’s “Real Time” two weeks ago, this has become the United States of “Make Me.”

So what if the Supreme Court orders Trump to turn over his tax records. Make me. So what if a court rules that Barr’s actions are illegitimate? Make me stop. We now live in a banana republic where only power matters. And there’s nothing that can be done about it… or is there?

To my mind, there is really one choice here, and it’s much easier for me, a non-career government official, to suggest it than it would be for a government official to carry it out. But that choice is easy: resign en masse.

It’s one thing for 2,000 former DOJ officials to call for Barr’s resignation. It’s quite another for 2,000 current DOJ staffers to resign in protest. In fact, all government workers should resign in protest as long as Donald Trump and William Barr continue to ignore the rule of law. You can drain the swamp only so much. But without any water at all, everything dies.

Trump and his gangsters are now in charge of what was once the greatest power, and democracy, on Earth. They are now looting it in broad daylight. And while the Daytona-attending MAGA fans are cool with that, most career government employees are not. And while they are simply trying to do their jobs, provide for their families, serve the United States and eventually collect their pensions, their service at this time is helping Trump run the U.S. government. Run it into the ground, but run it anyway.

It would be a game-changing moment if, at the very least, the entire Dept. of Justice called out sick tomorrow. And the next day. And the day after that. Until William Barr handed in his resignation. This is doable. And this needs to happen. Immediately.