Mea Culpa

A big mea culpa. It turns out that the video I posted this morning from Stephen Colbert that was from a Russian TV newscast, while a real newscast, was in fact a sketch.  It turns out that the news footage was real, but the translation was all fake, done by Colbert's team.

Much thanks goes to Peter Breiner who informed me of this.  (Sharp readers will recognize Mr. Breiner as the eminent conductor-pianist-composer-and much more who has made two of my favorite Christmas CDs, Christmas Goes Baroque and its sequel.)  He wrote to say that "The original newscast is about a Canadian marijuana plantation guarded by black bears," while adding that "the under titles are complete fabrication."  Knowing that he has a varied background and was born in the former Czechoslovakia, I asked if he knew this because he speaks Russia and was able to translate the audio, or if he had read about the piece somewhere.  He replied back, "I speak fluent Russian."  So, okay, speaking fluent Russian helps.

I've deleted the original piece.  I do my best to be as accurate as possible, and this failed miserable.  If there's any question, I usually do some checking first, and I let the ball slip here.  But happily, thanks to Mr. Breiner, I was able to correct things.  I just don't want to spread information that false -- not just on general principle but also because the real news about the Trump administration is so horrific all on its own.

Okay, so while I've deleted the article I wrote, that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to enjoy the Colbert comedy sketch now that you know it's a comedy sketch.  And I get to be mortified that I foolishly believed it (because, alas, in today's world, I found it believable...)  and posted it without idiotically checking first.  But thank God for creating the Delete key.  Here's the joke --