Entertainment Overnight -- In Memoriam

Dec. 5, 2012, one day short of his 92nd birthday.

Dave Brubeck, Jazz Musician, Dies at 91

Entertainment Overnight -- Voices

Terrific voices.

Entertainment Overnight -- Your Wednesday Forecast, Kansas City

I laughed, I cried.

Great Breaking News Out Of North Dakota Today--For Now

Yes, great news:

Army Corps of Engineers Denies Dakota Access Pipeline Route

Mind you, it's temporary. It's great news but it's temporary:

The Army Corps of Engineers has told the Oceti tribe that it will halt work on the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline in order to conduct an environmental impact study, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe announced.

We're just a bit over a month away from having a new president installed in the White House, of course, first.  Second, there's the fact that, actually, the president-elect has a financial interest in seeing the pipeline go forward.

Trump Owns Stake In Hotly Disputed 

$3.8 Billion Oil Pipeline

So, no surprise.

Trump stands with Big Oil, backs the Dakota Access pipeline

So sure, it's a win for today. It's good news. I just don't think it's permanent. I expect this pipeline will go forward.

The American History Precious Few Know--Or Want To Recognize

There is a fantastic, very brief article, column, really, in The New York Times today, telling of yet more American history that, again, so few Americans know or even want to acknowledge or recognize. And it's very recent American history, at that.

As the column shows, it's still not just relevant to today but extremely so.

The Horror of Lynchings Lives On

The time when African-Americans were publicly hanged, burned and dismembered for insisting on their rights or for merely talking back to whites is nearer in history than many Americans understand. The horror of these crimes still weighs heavily on black communities in the South, where lynching memories are often vivid. The anguish is made worse by the realization that some of the killers are still alive and may never be prosecuted.

Consider Walton County, Ga., where the Justice Department is investigating the infamous Moore’s Ford Bridge lynching of 1946, in which a white mob tied up four black citizens — one of them pregnant — and shot them more than 60 times at close range. The killers were never brought to justice. The crime resurfaced three years ago when a white man in his 50s said in an interview with the N.A.A.C.P. that he had grown up hearing adults talking about the killings and that some of those responsible were still alive. He also said that the local police had ignored evidence that he had given them.

The Moore’s Ford Bridge case, often described as the last mass lynching in country, stands out for its wanton brutality and for the fact that one of its victims was George Dorsey, a World War II Army veteran who had recently returned to Georgia after serving five years in the Pacific. A study released last month by the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization that has been researching racial terror lynchings for several years, finds that black military veterans were disproportionately singled out for assault because Southerners viewed them as a particular threat to white supremacy.

This report adds to “Lynching in America,” a sweeping study of racial terror released by the organization last year. That study was based on a lengthy review of local newspapers, court records and historical archives as well as interviews with local historians, survivors and victims’ descendants. In the end, researchers counted 4,075 lynchings — about 800 more than have shown up in previous surveys. That so many killings were missing from the historical record illustrates the extent to which lynchings — sometimes carried out before hundreds of spectators — have been erased from public discourse.

The report about black veterans argues persuasively that former soldiers like Mr. Dorsey were targeted for assault because black men in uniform challenged the white supremacists’ idea of black inferiority and were seen as potential leaders in insurrections. Southern states reacted to this fear during the 19th century by making it a crime for African-Americans to own firearms.

Newspapers fanned the flames of hatred through sensational stories that portrayed black veterans as participants in a national “race war.” Local elected officials often worked hand in hand with the mobs, giving the public advance notice of these killings. By the time of the Moore’s Ford Bridge lynching, the report says, thousands of black veterans had been attacked, and many either narrowly escaped or were put to death by mobs.

Understanding the persecution that black veterans suffered from the Civil War period through World War II is crucial to understanding the nightmare of terror that extended to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as well as the racism that pervades the country today. This report is especially relevant given that white supremacist groups with roots in the Jim Crow era have recently come marching out of shadows, emboldened by the poisonous rhetoric deployed in the Trump campaign.

The report is also especially relevant because an entire political party--the Republican Party, as we know--is still, to this day, using very "Jim Crow"-like laws like voter ID laws, to disenfranchise Americans, Black and poor Americans.  They also used ending the still-necessary Voting Rights Act as well as gerrymandering, all so it can put and keep votes in "their column."

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, the racism in this nation is till not just here but pervasive and extremely so.

Links:

The ghosts and terror of America's 'last mass lynching'

The Moore's Ford Lynching (July 1946)

Moore's Ford Bridge Lynchings: FBI May Have Suspects, 70 Years Later

7 Historical Postcards Celebrating Lynchings In America

Musarium: Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America

Bill Moyers Journal . Legacy of Lynching | PBS

The lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, 1930

A New, Lighthearted Approach To Global Warming

I saw an ad in  The New York Times today for this organization, Save Our Snowmen. It told of a video one could see if you go to their site. So I did. Here it is.


And sure, it's cute and maybe amusing but I wonder if that's what we really need to help gain awareness of global warming and climate change. That is, do we need "cute" to help people pay attention and wake up to what we're doing as people, across the planet?

I guess if it adds people to the cause, it serves a good purpose.

It was followed on YouTube by one the Zurich Insurance also made.



Enjoy your Sunday, y'all and think happy thoughts.

GO CHIEFS!!

Even Glenn Beck Agrees About Trump

Yes, even Right Wing, ugliness- and ignorance spewing Glenn Beck agrees and admits that none other than Donald J. Trump, president-elect (I still shudder), is potentially scary and even dangerous.

Glenn Beck Is Sorry About All That

Quoting:

"I think he could be one of the most dangerous presidents to ever come into the Oval Office."

It's a good, if brief interview and article and it's certainly nice to see and hear some contrition and thought, introspection and even regret from anywhere, let alone a Right Winger like Mr. Beck. It's just that it's too late. Donald Trump is, God help us, President-elect.

Quote of the Day -- God Help Us

Entertainment Overnight -- Favorites

All of that individual style, all of that long gone period.







What a time. 

And we had so much in front of us.

Entertainment Overnight -- Moonlight

America, How Did You Do This?

We all, the world, for that matter, gave you far more credit than this.

Most Dangerous Nation In The World?

There is a terrific article out today over on TomDispatch. It's all about America--what we've been doing for some time, across the globe, what we're capable of and what we may yet do.

The Most Dangerous Country on Earth

It ain't Russia, kids.

The article poses the possibility of whether we, the United States, are, very likely and literally, the most dangerous nation in the world.

Honestly, no hyperbole, I think it's unquestionable.

Given our "yooge" army, our military and all our weapons and what we spend on what we call "defense" alone, that can be argued. Then, when you add in how many nations in the world we have military bases in? Over 700? All interfering in other nations' internal affairs?

Oh, yeah.

We think ourselves the most peaceful, peace-loving people in the world, sure. Standing up for peace and justice and fairness and right and equality. Sure we do.

But the truth? What we actually do? What we've done? What we're doing?

Read the article.

As it states, we just had the head of our own "..leading domestic investigative outfit...", the FBI, interfere in our own national election for our president.

Karma is most surely a bitch, isn't it?

And then, consider these facts. First, we spend more, as a nation, on what we call defense, than any other nation and in huge numbers.

Secondly, we supply more arms to the world than any other.



After repeatedly interfering in other nation's elections, at times assassinating one here or there and just "taking others out", our own investigative unit guides our own election.

The irony is virtually dripping.

You can go way back, at least decades, into what America has done in other nation's affairs or you can go to far more recent history with the Republican Party's and George W. Bush's very chosen war in Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein. And then there's all over the Middle East, of course, and Southern and Central America.

So, yeah, America, get over yourself. Look around. You are the biggest threat to world peace in the world.

And you have been for some time.

And you have no intention of stopping.

Quote of the Day -- Timely Proof

"To succeed in life, you need two things: ignorance and confidence."

--Mark Twain

Missouri, Coal and Pollution HIstory

On this day, November 28, 1939, in our own St. Louis, Missouri.

This is how soon, how quickly we forget how dirty, how black and foul our air was here in the US, let alone Missouri before government stepped in, by necessity.

Nov. 28 1939: The day 'Black Tuesday' rolled into St. Louis

A bit from the article:

ST. LOUIS • City dwellers woke up on Nov. 28, 1939, in a thick fog of acrid coal smoke. Suburbanites heading to work saw a low dome of darkness covering neighborhoods east of Kingshighway.

In a streetcar downtown at 8 a.m., a commuter told the driver, "Let me off at 13th and Washington - if you can find it." Motorists drove slowly with headlights on. Streetlights, still on, made ghostly glows.

The day became infamous as Black Tuesday, the worst of many smoke-choked days in what was to be St. Louis' smokiest cold-weather season. The city already was known for the nation's filthiest air, worse even than Pittsburgh's.

The reason was the area's reliance on cheap, dirty, high-sulfur "soft" coal dug from the hills and hollows across the Mississippi River in Illinois. St. Louis' first anti-smoke ordinance dated to 1867. But as the city grew in population and industry, the smoke kept getting worse.

In 1936, after years of civic debate, city aldermen required homes and businesses to install mechanical stokers in furnaces or burn "washed" local coal.

Let's learn from the past.

And move forward. Not backward.

Links:  1939 St. Louis smog - Wikipedia

A look back • 1939 'Black Tuesday' - St. Louis Post-Dispatch

1939 St. Louis Smog - Smog and it's Health Effects

November 28, 1939: Black Tuesday In St. Louis

Entertainment Overnight -- Happy Birthday, Tina

You truly are simply the best.



And this was always a favorite.



Have a great weekend, y'all.

We Join Less, Get On Technology More

The future holds very little socializing, I think. At least in person. I believe we will be a nation, if not most of the industrialized world, of people looking down, into our phones, mostly, and laptops, secondarily.

First, what we're doing.

Bowling Alone: America's Declining Social Capital

Fewer American Workers Join Labor Unions

The military's real problem: Fewer Americans are joining

Younger Generations Less Likely to Join Boy Scouts

Masons, other service groups fight membership declines

Moose, Elk Joining The Endangered

NASCAR Is In Trouble And Nobody Wants To Talk About It

There are a lot of reasons for the NFL's ratings slide

So long, televised football: Millennials are so over you

Americans becoming less religious, especially young 

U.S. Public Becoming Less Religious | Pew Research Center

And now, for the problems...

People Spend Too Much Time on Smartphones

U.S. Young Adults Admit Too Much Time on Cell Phones

Britons spend more time on tech than asleep, study suggests

Putnam, "The Strange Disappearance of Civic America."

Amount of Time Spent Playing Video Games Influences Kids' Behavior

When Tech Is a Problem Child

How parents fight back against their kids’ obsession with smartphones and social media.

Doesn't seem like it portends good things for us, as a people, as a society, as a nation. A not very united states.

Speaking Truth To Power

From the US House of Representatives, Rep. Ruben Gallego on the person that is Donald J. Trump, who he is, what he stands for, what he's said and what he supports.



Let's not forget all that he is and more than that, let's not forget who we are and who and what we have always said what we are about and/or to what we aspire--the "better angels of our nature", I would hope and always thought.

Then there's this from Jon Stewart.



Finally, there's this, from some time ago and David Letterman.



Let's be and stay better than Donald Trump.

Entertainment Overnight -- Holiday Edition

Quote of the Day, of the Year

And It's Nearly Over

A twist on "A Christmas Carol"

Holidays With the Chiefs!

Our own Kansas City Chiefs made a "top ten" list yesterday and in none other than the New York Times.

The 10 Most Important N.F.L. Games

It seems not only is it one of the top ten most important games left in the season but it's also going to be a big Christmas gift for all us fans. What they had to say:

There are six weeks remaining in the N.F.L. season, and more than 90 games to come. Some will be crucial, and some will be 60 minutes of garbage time. But which are which?

Thanks to The Upshot’s Playoff Simulator at nytimes.com, The New York Times can quantify that.

Every game counts in the standings, but some are much more likely to affect the playoffs than others. A game like the Jets at the Patriots on Christmas Eve does not look too important: The Patriots are a lock to make the postseason, and the Jets are a huge long shot. The Browns at the Steelers on Jan. 1 might turn out to matter a lot to Pittsburgh, but it will not affect Cleveland’s playoff chances, which are zero.

But a handful of games are likely to be crucial for the playoff hopes of both teams. These are the biggest games left this year, according to The Upshot’s simulator.

9. Broncos at Chiefs, Dec. 25

The Raiders, the Chiefs and the Broncos are in a dogfight for the A.F.C. West, as well as wild-card consolation prizes. Of all the games left on their schedules, this ranks as the most important, although the Chiefs at the Broncos on Dec. 4 is 11th on the list.

GO CHIEFS!

In the meantime, happy Thanksgiving to all. Here's hoping for more great wins this season.

In Thanksgiving

We return thanks to our mother, the earth,

which sustains us.

We return thanks to the rivers and streams,

which supply us with water.

We return thanks to all herbs,

which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.

We return thanks to the moon and stars,

which have given to us their light when the sun was gone.

We return thanks to the sun,

that has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye.

Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,

in Whom is embodied all goodness,

and Who directs all things for the good of Her children.

--Iroquois

Happy Fibonacci Day!!

Yes sir! And ma'am!  Happy Fibonacci Day!

What is Fibonacci Day you ask?

And no, it's not an Italian noodle.

Here you are, ladies and gentlemen---

Fibonacci Day - 23rd Nov, 2016

November 23 is celebrated as Fibonacci day because when the date is written in the mm/dd format (11/23), the digits in the date form a Fibonacci sequence: 1,1,2,3. AFibonacci sequence is a series of numbers where a number is the sum of the two numbers before it. For example: 1, 1, 2, 3...is a Fibonacci sequence.

So git on out there and have a great fibonacci day!

And you're welcome!

(Another) Open Letter To Trump Supporters

Dear Trump Supporters,

Understand, for the next four years, minimum, you will get no respect from the rest of America. You'll get respect as a human being and you should be treated decently otherwise, of course, sure, certainly, but as a voter? As a citizen of our/these United States?

You voted for and probably do still support Donald "The Man-Child" Trump. You got us in this mess.

Your candidate, your President is going to be lampooned nearly or virtually, if not actually, mercilessly and he will deserve every jab. Like him, you shouldn't be all fragile about it. In fact, you should be prepared for it. If this reaches even one of you and you get it and understand and accept it, it will have done some good.

Horrible as this man will be for the nation, the political satire is going to be easy but magnificent.

Thanks for nothing,

The Rest of Thinking, Educated, Responsible America.

Links:

Trump’s chief of staff ‘not going to rule out’ a Muslim registry

Energized By Trump's Win, White Nationalists Gather To 'Change The World'

Alveda King Praises Jeff Sessions By Comparing Him To George Wallace

Steve Bannon: 'Darkness is good' for political power

President Trump --- Shudder

At least, if we're going to have four years of President Donald Trump--and it looks as though we are--at least give us four years, also, of Alec Baldwin playing him, mocking him for all those 4 years, also. 

Please, if there's a God and Heaven, at least give us that.

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

“Religions are different roads converging to the same point. What does it matter that we take different road, so long as we reach the same goal. Wherein is the cause for quarreling?”

―Mahatma Gandhi

Link:  List of religions and spiritual traditions

An Open Letter To Those Who Voted For Trump (Guest Post)

From the Los Angeles Times.

Dear Person Whose Voice Was Heard:

Well, you got your way. The people have spoken. And your guy won. I mean, he won by attracting support from well below half of those who actually voted — long live the electoral college — but still. A win is a win. No shutting down of a freeway in protest is gonna change that. So congratulations.

I have never been more wrong in my life than I was in predicting this election. I didn't think there was a chance in holy heck that Donald Trump could actually become president of the United States. Life will surprise you, though rarely like this.

It will probably come as little shock that I'm pretty upset about this whole thing. Actually, crushingly depressed is a better way to describe it. You know, I'm one of those arrogant liberal elites blinded inside my blue bubble who likes my presidents classy and competent. Crazy, right?

But I digress.

My purpose of this letter is merely to give you a heads up as to what exactly you have voted for here in going with your gut rather than your rational mind. To my mind, you have sided with unvarnished stupidity and hatred.

You've chosen a man who applied for a demanding job he knew nothing about and had never served in political office. Go back to when you were 16 working your first gig at Carl's Jr. and recall all of the mistakes you made. Now magnify that times 50 million in terms of pressure and difficulty and with the entire world watching. It's on-the-job training with the country serving as your shake machine.

Another thing you did is vote into office a person who flaunts without an ounce of self-awareness or irony the most buffoonish, disgusting trappings of American consumption and conspicuous wealth, a man who believes everything can be made exquisite if encrusted in solid gold. The world's enduring image of America is now Richie Rich.

While you can feel secure in the knowledge that you voted in lock-step with the evangelical community, it seems the purportedly devout have profoundly lowered their standards in backing a xenophobic, homophobic, misogynistic, racist, fear-mongering, hate-spewing serial violator of women. But hey, nobody's perfect, right?

The thing is, you too knew all of this stuff and voted for Trump anyway. You rationalized it with every fiber of your being. You figured the media had it out for him and did everything it could to make him look bad. Plus, all of those women who accused him of sexual harassment and worse were making it up, weren't they?

Your guy may have said he could grab females by the you-know-where, but come on, can't a guy joke around? Anyone who objected was just being politically correct, which in this case meant overly supportive of diplomacy and decency.

You voted for a guy who promised to build walls rather than bridges and launch immigration squads to cleanse the United States of imaginary Muslim terrorists. Because there are already too many foreigners here anyhow, right? And they're taking our jobs, dammit!

So let's again just be clear about what you've elected: A middle-school bully with no respect for humanity or tolerance for anyone who isn't white. You chose to conveniently, willfully ignore — or perhaps applaud — Trump's belief that it's virtuous to use loopholes to avoid paying taxes and even more righteous to entirely shield your returns from public view.

Your choice for president was transparent in his embrace of a fascist dictator named Vladimir Putin and supportive of Putin's influence on the election through hacking and leaks. And here is another news flash: If you're working class, your hero has no use for you. In fact, he thinks you're a sucker.

You know what you've done? You've rolled the dice and endangered all of the social progress we've made in this country over the past 50 years. Congratulations.

Sore loser? Oh you bet I'm a sore loser. The sorest loser ever. So let's get a few things straight:

I'm not interested in unifying for the good of the country any more than you were for President Obama.

I don't want to hear your complaints when your revolution flops on arrival, given how you've chosen the worst imaginable man to lead it.

Don't ask me to heal, accept, embrace, reassess or chill. It's you who screwed up. It isn't my responsibility to cushion the blow.

Good luck. We're all going to need it.

Ray

--------

RAY RICHMOND has covered Hollywood and the entertainment business since 1984. He can be reached via email at ray@rayrichco.com and Twitter at @MeGoodWriter.

Copyright © 2016, Glendale News-Press

Hallelujah

Enjoy your Sunday, y'all.

Happy National Absurdity Day