Blog - Elisberg Industries

We're #60!

6/23/2017

I received a note yesterday from the founder of Feedspot, which among other things has a site called "Top 100 Funny Blogs," and was informed that Elisberg Industries had made the list. Certainly curious, I checked out the list and it turns out that Elisberg Industries clocked in at #60.

(Actually, the correct title is "Top 100 Funny Blogs on the Planet." I left out the qualifier since it seemed inappropriate for me to promote myself to that level when my own awareness of the field didn't reach that far. But for all I know, the Feedspot folks themselves have agents scouring Kazakhstan, Djibouti and elsewhere around the globe, including under the sea.)

While not quite at the level of the Kennedy Center Honors, the Feedspot collection seems at the very least to have several sites on their list that I've heard of, although any collection of funny sites that doesn't include Mark Evanier's News From Me has some explaining to do. (I let the fellow who contacted me know about it so that he can correct the error of his ways. I also told him to check out Ken Levine's blog, which I recommend to folks here, as well. (Ken is the Emmy-winning writer of Cheers, Frasier, M*A*S*H and a great deal more, including being a professional baseball announcer -- really.) Most are totally unknown to me, but then the rest of the planet can say the same thing when they get to #60.

Indeed, beyond the question of taste, how they even tracked me down is perhaps the biggest bewilderment. After all, as their list shows, this site's popularity on the Alexa ranking puts Elisberg Industries 2,927,429 on the most-visited sites. Really. (Though "most-visited" seems a contradiction in terms.) And that's just on the Internet, where it ranks on the planet is another matter entirely.

Mind you, given all that I've been writing about the hell that is Trump and other politics, as well as technology, sports and dystopian philosophy (okay, maybe not the latter, I'll have to check the archives), I suspect the humor of these pages falls through the cracks on occasion, but it's always there in the Founders Manual, and if it's good enough for Feedspot, who am I to complain?

(Feedspot, by the way, is an RSS content reader, and has a lot of "best of" collections, and accumulated news, and that's about all you need to know -- and I can't add a whole lot more.)

If you'd like to see the full list, and figure out how Elisberg Industries somehow came to their attention, you can check it out here.

In the meantime, at least for the time being I've chosen to include their badge in the sidebar on the right. It's colorful and adds some class to the section, which isn't difficult. But also, for all I know an investor from some Fortune 500 company will see it and offer to buy out the site, while allowing me to continue being in charge and write whatever I want. Hey, you never know. Though you can make a good guess....

Last Week Tonight A Few Nights Later

6/23/2017

You may have read about John Oliver being sued (along with HBO and Time-Warner) by the very litigious Bob Murray of Murray Energy over a long segment that the comedian did on the coal industry.

Good news for you! We have it here below.

Among the issues that Mr. Murray sued were Last Week Tonight's "intentionally, falsely, and outrageously" erroneous claims that Murray had no evidence that an earthquake caused a mining disaster, and that the show ignored other evidence and used quotes out of context. It should be noted that the evidence Oliver does present is a U.S. government study that says an earthquake did not cause the mine collapse.

The show also presents an outrageously funny story on how Murray Energy was founded -- a story that the company insists is not true...though the story comes from Murray himself, and Oliver repeatedly says he too does not believe the story.

The suit contends, as well, that the show presented "meticulously planned" and "ruthless character assassination" for financial gain and to hurt his mining company.

Watching the segment, these appear to be massive hurdles to prove, though no doubt they'll provide their side or the argument. But given that Oliver and Company knew going in that Murray was highly litigious (as the host explains) and that they had even received a "cease and desist" letter before airing the piece, I suspect they were incredibly careful to get their i's dotted and t's very-well crossed, and vet the thing through corporate lawyers and then re-vet it.

Besides which, it would seem they made it more difficult to prove damages to the business and Mr. Murray himself since they sued only days after the piece appeared. Add to that the burden that, as much as Last Week Tonight presents material in a news-story way, at heart they are a satiric comedy show which, while it doesn't let them off the hook at all, does provide a much, much much higher bar to prove damage, especially against a public figure -- which Mr. Murray is through his many TV and public appearances.

HBO has released a statement standing by the program. After watching the piece, it's easy to see why.

And not only is it very strong, it's also extremely funny. And in the best tradition of Last Week Tonight, do be sure to stick around and watch to the very end.

Puppet Up! Encore

6/22/2017

The other day when writing about going to the Muppet organization's Puppet Up! improv event, I forgot to mention my favorite ad lib --

One of the Muppets that they use is a hot dog. (In fact, they sell it in the courtyard beforehand.) There was one improv sketch with four of these hot dog Muppets – one was a maid, another a doctor, one a cowboy, and the last just like this hot dog below. At one point in the sketch when things were getting loopy, this fourth hot dog started looking around at the other three, seeming to be a bit lost, and then suddenly jumped in, “Hey, I didn’t realize we were supposed to wear costumes.”

And hey, as long as we have Puppet Up! on the table, here's another video from the folks. This is a less-intimate environment than at their home studio, but takes place at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival. (As such, it's a well-produced video, so you get a good sense of the experience, seeing the performers in action, but also the results on the big monitor.) It's all enjoyable -- and that's Brian Henson, Jim Henson's son, in the first sketch, performing as the warthog -- but the second improv sketch that begins about at the 3:10 mark is particularly fun, especially for this very appreciative Aussie audience.

Today's Headline

6/22/2017

From this afternoon's Huffington Post. A front page headline reads: "Cosby Team Announces 'Assault Education' Tour."

Good Lord, I hope it's not a "How to" seminar...

In the News

6/22/2017

Thus far, four Republicans senators have said "No" to the TrumpCare bill in its current version -- Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Ted Cruz and Ron Johnson, although for different reasons. There is no word yet from Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Rob Portman, who had been reported on the fence -- or any others, for that matter.

Sen. Paul (R-KY) said they weren't trying to kill the bill, but hoping there could be changes that would make the bill something they'd support.

There are several problems with that. The first is that the four who've thus far said "No," did so for different reasons, as I noted, so that makes fixing it far more of a challenge. Also, the easiest way to pass the bill would be before the House to vote on the Senate bill and approve it, as is -- but with so many changes required in the Senate bill for these four (and it's four just to begin with...) to accept it, that will make House passage of the exact same bill far less likely. And that means Reconciliation would be required, which is a big challenge on such a delicate bill trying to please so many different views.

And all this is before the Congressional Budget Office has weighed in to "score" the bill for its cost and how many Americans will lose health coverage.

And before the public chimes in with its reaction -- that has a starting point of only 17% of the public likes the House version of the TrumpCare bill.

Oh, Really?

6/22/2017

One of the fun sketches that Saturday Night Live would occasionally run in the past, when Seth Meyers and Amy Poehler hosted "Weekend Update" was their "Really!?! with Seth and Amy" segment. Well, as it happens the other night, Amy Poehler was a guest on Meyers' Late Night show, and to the wild and enthusiastic delight of the audience, they brought it back.

Well-Worth Reading

6/21/2017

We're heading back to the Al Franken Well today, but no videos here. Instead, it's for a couple of wonderful first-person stories by my pal Mark Evanier about the two times he briefly met Franken before he was yet planning to run for the Senate. You can read it here.

...And Now, The Big Finish

6/21/2017

Last week, the Senior class president Peter Butera of Wyoming Area Secondary Center in Exeter, Pennsylvania, went off-script as he gave his Commencement Address (he was also the Valedictorian). When he began to criticize the school administration, however, his microphone was cut, and he was escorted off the stage.

Which brings us again to the Law of Unintended Consequences.

The school administration didn't want the speech heard by those few in attendance. What happened, though, is that Jimmy Kimmel not only brought the 18-year-old onto his TV show last night, which shined a massive Kleig light of attention on the event -- but also gave him a national platform to complete his speech! Far, far beyond those few in attendance.

One quibble: at one point, Kimmel asks the young man what his grade point average was. Butera starts to explain that his school doesn't use traditional letter grades, which brings Kimmel quickly jumping in with a joke about the student trying to weasle out of answer. Unfortunately, he didn't realize that no Valedictorian would try to weasle out of anything about his grades and, more to the point, when making his joke he doesn't hear Butera explaining that instead the school uses a 100-point scale for grading, and he was about to give his score on that level, when Kimmel cut him off. I'm going to make a wild guess -- given that he was Valedictorian -- that his grade score was very high.

That aside, as you'll hear, his speech -- including what he hadn't been allowed to say -- is awfully thoughtful and good.

Unhealthy Thoughts

6/21/2017

I have no idea if the GOP will be able to pass their "health care" bill. It still seems dicey in the Senate which can't have as few as three defections, and then they have to reconcile the two bills with the even-more partisan House, which has an especially-conservative bill.

But after the two "wins" yesterday in special elections, I suspect Republicans will now feel emboldened that they still have this mandate with the country behind them and so will continue to play Thelma & Louise and drive cheeringly off the cliff.

(Let's quickly recap. Forget that Trump lost the popular vote by three million, though that's the starting point. The more pressing realities are two-fold. First, that the House "health care" bill only has a 17% approval. And second, as good as it is to "win" two congressional elections, a) both were in incredibly safe Republican districts which remarkably lost TWENTY POINTS in each, in just a mere seven months, and b) even had the Democrats won both, the already-big GOP House majority would have bee completely safe. So, celebrating these wins as importantly meaningful and continuing to drive recklessly because all's well is living in a Fool's Paradise, with a cliff up ahead.)

But lets say they do pass a bill, and their representatives all cheer the passage with another group hug and photo at the White House, high-fiving one another in joyous, giddy celebration. The reality, however, that they will then have to face is two-fold: The first is that what the public knows of the Republican plan is so problematic that it has only a monumentally horrific 17% approval. And secondly, the very next day after it becomes law, Republicans will immediately have to live with it as THEIR agenda. Giving literal meaning to the phrase, "The law of unintended consequences."

The thing is, even if it doesn't pass, Republicans still have to live with this. This is a bill that just a paltry 17% of Americans like -- and whether or not it passes, the GOP will have to defend it. Will have to explain to the public why they thought something so deeply disliked was a good thing.

And keep in mind, too, that that meager 17% approval comes before people are affected by it and have their health care coverage cut or lost entirely. And if that overlaps with any of the 17% who today are all for the law (many, perhaps, merely because it was "Obamacare," Obama's law...) -- something that seems likely -- even that horribly low number could drop.

As the phrase goes: Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

Georgia on My Mind

6/20/2017

I've been boggled by nearly all the coverage of the Georgia 6th Special Election for Congress. Mind you, I completely understand why both sides want to win. And why the optics of winning are so especially important.

What I don't understand is why the coverage is focusing almost entirely on those optics rather than the underlying reality.

Make no mistake, winning is the point of any race, and the goal. But this isn't like the Senate where a single seat can make a huge difference towards changing the majority power. Republicans still hold a large lead in the House, and this one election won't change that.

The optics say -- "If Democrat Jon Ossoff wins, that shows that Republicans are in serious trouble because they can't hold onto a deeply Republican seat. But if Republican Karen Handel wins, it shows that the anger against Republicans because of Trump isn't that bad, and they're okay."

Horse-pucky. The Republicans have already lost this race, and it's VERY BAD for them.

The Georgia 6th District is not a toss-up district. It's a heavily Republican District. By all reason, this should be a shoe-in for Republicans. They've held the seat for almost 40 years. And not just held it but by landslide margins. Only seven months ago, they won this very seat by TWENTY-THREE POINTS!

Read that again -- 23 points. (Republican Tom Price got 61.6% and Democrat Rodney Stooksbury only received 38.4%. Out of the 310,000 votes cast, Republicans got 72,000 more than Democrats.)

And in the final polls, Democrat Jon Ossoff was ahead.

And analysts think that it matters if Democrats win this race??? A race that doesn't come even close to changing party leadership in the House??? The Democrats have cut the margin by by 23 points! That's the reality. All we're down to today is "Get Out the Vote." Nothing more.

If Republicans happen to do a better job today getting out the vote and take blessed comfort from that, then they are living in a Fool's Paradise, and they deserve being run over by the bulldozer headed their way as they whistle a happy tune strolling obliviously down the highway.

Before Trump took office, the Georgia 6th was never a race that Democrats were planning on targeting in 2018. They didn't stand a chance of winning it. Winning it?? Good heavens, they lost it only 220 days ago by 23 points. And now, that 23 point safety net is completely gone!

Yes, I know that results also show that Trump only won the district by a few percentage points. But as much as he is driving the reactions, Trump is not running in this election -- the voters of the Georgia 6 are deciding on who they want to represent them. Jon Ossoff or Karen Handel. Who they want to be responsible for their personal issues and concerns. Whose office they can call when they haven't received their Social Security check or have bad mail service. Republicans should be thrilled that Donald Trump isn't actually on the ballot -- given that the only squeaked in seven months ago -- if he wasn't, a tsunami would like wash over the land.

As it is, things are bad enough for Republicans in the Georgia 6th. They lost a TWENTY-THREE POINT cushion in only seven months. And whatever the final results are today, that cushion loss doesn't change. It's gone. And that is horrific news for the Republican Party all over. Whether they view the results that way or not.