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Decent Quality Since 1847

Tales of the Dodo

11/30/2023

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From the fine folks at The Dodo, this is the tale of a dog who runs out to greet his mailman every single day. They're now best buds.  But the story has an even more touching twist.
 
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Fun with Fact-Checking

11/30/2023

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Yesterday, there was a disheartening (or perhaps even disturbing) story about a fellow named Mark Fisher who was on Fox explaining that as co-founder of the Black Lives Matter branch in Rhode Island, they were endorsing Trump for president, adding that he felt “No one has done more for the Black community than President Trump.”
 
Needless-to-say, Fox played up their interview with Fisher, as did Trump, thanking BLM for their endorsement and posting the video of the interview.
 
Putting aside that I was hard-pressed to figure one thing that Trump had done for the Black community, other than praise   the anti-Semitic Kanye West, who has said he likes Hitler and loves the Nazis, it was nonetheless troubling to see even just one branch of Black Lives Matter endorse Trump, even a branch with probably fewer Black people than you’d find at a performance of the musical Legally Blonde.
 
But there was a twist to the story.  A twist that would impress even the most convoluted bag of pretzels.
 
It turned out that later in the day, the Rhode Island Black Lives Matter organization put out a statement.  They wrote that –
 
"In response to recent media coverage, we would like to clarify that Mark Fisher is not and has never been affiliated with our organization. The views expressed by Mr. Fisher in the referenced Fox News segment do not reflect the values or beliefs of BLM RH PAC."
 
In fact, Rhode Island BLM felt that this didn’t go far enough, and even felt it was important to release a second statement –
 
"We would like to emphasize that Mark Fisher claims association with Black Lives Matter Rhode Island, a non profit organization. Any statements or actions attributed to him should not be conflated with our organization."
 
So…yeah, as for a Black Lives Matter branch endorsing Trump…no, not so much.  And the idea was so anathema to BLM that they put out two denials.
 
As a result, Fox now has a double quandary.
 
The first is explaining to viewers why an organization Fox has long-positioned as being made up of nothing more than violent rioters is now one that they now say is worth admiring.
 
And the second is that, after promoting Mr. Fisher, having to do a mea culpa after the Rhode Island BLM has said the guy is not affiliated with them.  So, viewers could go back to hating the organization.
 
This is known as a Trust Issue.  Or in shorter terms -- oops.
 
And then there’s the Trump quandary, as well.  After all, he not only posted the interview video on his site, but also thanked BLM – a group he has vilified – for supposedly supporting him.
 
After all this, there is still some uncertainty about if Fisher was, in fact, involved with Rhode Island BLM at some point, and then resigned.  But the larger point is that given that the official BLM online account disclaims the comments by Mark Fisher and says he is not affiliated with them -- which he himself acknowledges is a letter -- then it's fair to say that the main, demonstrable point is that...Rhode Island Black Lives Matter has not endorsed Trump.  Period.
 
Egg meet face.
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More What's My Line?

11/29/2023

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This is fun, offbeat ‘Mystery Guest’ segment of What’s My Line? -- especially if you lived in the era or watch the Game Show Network. The contestants are Bud Collyer, Allen Ludden, Gene Rayburn and Ed McMahon, who were then all hosts of TV game shows produced by the Goodson-Todman company, which also produced What’s My Line?  But what makes it all the more fun is that one of the panelists is Mark Goodson.
 
If you want to jump to the “Mystery Guest” segment, it starts around the 17:15 mark.

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Today's Tweet

11/29/2023

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Day of the Hunter

11/29/2023

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A friend called me yesterday, bewildered by why Hunter Biden would ever agree to testify before the Republican-led House Oversight Committee.  His main point was that he’s heard Hunter speak and doesn’t feel he’s the brightest bulb in the box, and therefore would be bulldozed by Republicans on the committee.  "Why would he does this??" he kept asking.
 
Me, I think it was a masterstroke.  It wasn’t that he agreed to testify, but to testify in public.  First of all, that’s something he and his lawyers probably figured Republicans would never agree to, so he had nothing to lose.  But a lot to gain, by going on record that he not only would be happy to testify, but do it openly so that everyone could see what was said.  Meanwhile, Republicans – not agreeing to this – would look small and empty, seeming to almost even appear afraid of what he had to say, and this would take away their main talking about that he was refusing to testify.
 
But even if Republicans agreed to holding the hearing in public, he had next to nothing to lose.  After all, he’s already been investigated and indicted by the DOJ already, and those charges not only hold overwhelmingly more weight than a House hearing, but are for far less than Republicans want their base to believe.  And as such, he’s been interviewed by the Special Counsel already, as well, a far more serious, meaningful event than a House hearing, and so he knows what questions will be asked.  And knows what his answers are.  Will House Republicans badger him more and make speeches at him?  Sure.  But he has an easy answer for many of their harshest, conspiratorial questions – “No, that’s not true.” 
 
And if Republican committee members talk over him, “Claiming my time, Mr. Chairman,” and don’t let him finish – there are Democratic committee members on the committee, too, lest we forget, who will let him finish his statements, and help from the GOP position as empty and conspiratorial.
 
And that’s if Republicans agree to hold the hearing in public, which seems unlikely given how they were squealing all day like stuck pigs.  The funniest thing all day may have been when committee member Jason Smith (R-MO posted a tweet, "I welcome Hunter Biden finally agreeing to testify. It's long overdue for him to come clean in front of the American people” – and then realized that this was totally opposite the party line and a terrifying concept to his fellow Republicans…and so he deleted his tweet of welcome.

However, before being able to disappear, it was first captured and saved for all to see by Stephen Neukam, a reporter for The Messenger.

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Consider, after all, the horrified response from House Oversight chairman James Comer (R-K), who wrote, “Hunter Biden is trying to play by his own rules instead of following the rules required of everyone else.  That won’t stand with House Republicans.”

 
That won’t stand!  All he left out was the “Harrumph!!”  Unthinkable.  Testifying in public for the world to see.  How dare he!  The man who Republicans have wanted to have testify for the past year.  No, no, sire, that won’t stand.
But the best response in return came from Rep. Jamie Raskin the ranking Democrat on the committee. He released a statement that read –
 
“Let me get this straight,  After wailing and moaning for ten months about Hunter Biden and alluding to some vast unproven conspiracy, after sending Hunter Biden a subpoena to appear and testify, Chairman Comer and the Oversight Republicans now reject his offer to appear before the full Committee and the eyes of the world and to answer any questions they pose? What an epic humiliation for our colleagues and what a frank confession that they are simply not interested in the facts and have no confidence in their own case or the ability of their own Members to pursue it.”

Okay, "an epic humiliation."  That's a pretty good way to end...

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Doing It with Moxie

11/28/2023

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This is an absolutely wonderful, even joyous segment from the TV show Penn & Teller:  Fool Us, where magicians try to fool Penn & Teller with a trick, and if they do, they get an appearance at a Penn & Teller show.  What makes this so special is that the surprise magician is Penn’s daughter, Moxie Jillette. And not only did he have no idea that she’d  be performing, but he thought she was in Scotland with her mother, and she’d been fooling him as she prepared for her appearance. 

But it’s even better than that because he’s clearly shocked by her being there and being fooled that she’s not in Scotland – and further, it’s so clear how proud he is of her and adores her – and she him.  And equally clear how nervous she is – in fact, at one point you can see her hands shaking, which is never a good thing for a magician.  And lovely too is how clear it is how close Teller is to the family and to her.  And everything all together here is just absolutely wonderful. 

Whether she actually fool them, well, of course that’s a separate matter – but secondary to the joy of the piece.  But it’s nonetheless important, since it’s the point of the show and handled well by everyone.

I should add that I found another, longer video of this, but it's now private, and I can't embed it.  But this below is still the bulk of the appearance and wonderful. (Though the other version was longer, that extra length was mostly before she appeared on stage, and viewers got a bit of background on her efforts to make sure her dad didn't know what she was up to.)

Two things to add -- the first is that a brief passage in this shorter version is edited out after the trick when Penn & Teller go back to their chairs, Moxie is interviewed on stage and mentions that, as part of her preparation to convince her dad that she was not in town, she lied to him about her video camera being broken -- at which point, he looks up from his consultation with Teller and shouts, "Wait, your camera isn't broken?!!"  And the second is that, near the end, in order to promote another video, the person posting this superimposed that promotion over the middle of the screen, so you annoyingly miss a lot of the final reaction between father and daughter.  But use  your imagination and know that you'll likely be right.

But all that aside, this is almost entirely the full appearance.  And it's a joy.
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    Robert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. 

    Elisberg is a two-time recipient of the Lucille Ball Award for comedy screenwriting. He's written for film, TV, the stage, and two best-selling novels, is a regular columnist for the Writers Guild of America and was for
    the Huffington Post.  Among his other writing, he has a long-time column on technology (which he sometimes understands), and co-wrote a book on world travel.  As a lyricist, he is a member of ASCAP, and has contributed to numerous publications.

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