Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Paul Krugman: Donald Trump Is Trying to Kill You (NY Times Column)
Trust the pork producers; fear the wind turbines.
Alexandra Petri: We definitely will replace the Affordable Care Act with something (Washington Post)
Be of good cheer! The GOP is the party of health care! The Justice Department is asking an appeals court to invalidate the entire Affordable Care Act, but don't worry, the GOP is going to be "the Party of Great HealthCare," and it is going to replace what currently exists (a health-care system) with something even better: the void; oblivion; the rush of wings of an enormous eagle departing, never to return!
Helaine Olen: What the Britax stroller saga tells us about Trump's approach to regulation (Washington Post)
That President Trump favors the interests of big business over regular people is no secret. He has done away with regulations meant to protect Americans at a wholesale clip. The Obama-era fiduciary standard, designed to protect retirement savers from the financial services industry? Gone. Net neutrality? Poof. Environmental protections big and small? On the scrap heap. And then his minions tackled infant safety. Talk about family values!
Mary Beard: Who should we ostracize? (TLS)
I strongly suspect that it is partly a nostalgic myth that political systems were once able to manage disagreement but now can't (witness Brexit).
Scott Tobias: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand: All Perfectly Normal" (Criterion)
It's the afternoon of February 8, 1964, and Ed Sullivan has assembled a gaggle of CBS ushers to talk about tomorrow night's show, featuring the four lads from Liverpool who call themselves the Beetles-strike that, the Beatles. He needs to warn the ushers. He has been to England. He has seen what the band can do to an audience. It's Elvis times four. "I want you to be prepared for excessive screaming, hysteria, hyperventilation, fainting, fits, seizures, spasmodic convulsions, even attempted suicides," he says. "All perfectly normal. It merely means these youngsters are enjoying themselves."
Andrew Pulver: Stanley Kubrick's best films - ranked! (The Guardian)
1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Jonathan Jones: "Swept away: the art and artefacts destroyed by the world's greatest museums" (The Guardian)
A sitar that once belonged to George Harrison was broken at the V&A - and this was far from the first time a gallery has had to make an awkward apology.
Mary Beard: Was Picasso a two-timer? (TLS)
Of course he was? So what
?
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Presenting
Michael Egan
took the day off.
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Reader Suggestion
Abigail Disney
Fascinating. This is a woman I'd like to have drinks with, and not just because she'd pick up the tab.
from Bruce
Anecdotes
Edgar White, a reporter, was once asked to interview Mark Twain on a certain subject. He went to Mr. Twain's hotel close to midnight, and was shown to Mr. Twain's room. Mr. Twain was in bed, reading and smoking. Unfortunately, Mr. Twain announced that he couldn't talk about the reporter's proposed topic, as a contract he had signed forbade it. Mr. White was understandably disappointed and said in that case he had nothing to write about. "I've been in that fix many and many a time," Mr. Twain said. "Now if I were the reporter and you were the man in bed I'd tell how, over the vigorous remonstrances of the clerk I'd come up here in the dead hour of the night and aroused you from a sound sleep to
." Mr. White interrupted to point out that that was not the truth - the clerk had politely shown him to the room and Mr. Twain had not been asleep. Mr. Twain sighed, then said, "If you're going to let a little thing like that stand in the way, I'm afraid I can't help you. Good night." Mr. White decided to write an article stating the absolute truth, just as it is related here. The newspaper ran his article under a big headline.
During his American tour of 1883-1884, Colonel James H. Mapleson took his opera company out West where in Sacramento, a San Francisco reporter wished to interview prima donna Adelina Patti. Colonel Mapleson tried to put off the reporter, but the reporter insisted on an interview, threatening, "I have come hundreds of miles to interview Patti, and see her I must. Refuse me, and I shall simply telegraph two lines to San Francisco that Patti has caught a severe cold in the mountains, and that [rival prima donna Etelka] Gerster's old throat complaint is coming on again. Do you understand me?" Understanding the damage to his profits that would occur if the San Francisco newspapers were to report that his leading prima donnas were not able to sing, Colonel Mapleson allowed the reporter to interview Ms. Patti.
During an actors' strike early in the 20th century, four famous theatrical producers decided to descend upon various newspaper editors in an attempt to get more favorable publicity for their side. At The New York Times, one of the producers told a newsboy that he wished to speak with the editor: "Will you be good enough to tell him that Mr. David Belasco, Mr. George Broadhurst, Mr. E. H. Sothern, and Mr. Harrison Grey Fiske wish to see him?" The newsboy asked, "All four of you? What do you want to do? Sing to him?"
Corey Ford was a stringer for The New York Timeswhile he was attending Columbia University; in fact, he kept himself very busy, even composing and sending in a football song to a contest at Columbia. One day, a Times editor called him up, wondering why he had not written an article on the winner of the football song contest. The editor ordered Mr. Ford to go interview the winner. Looking at his notes, the editor said, "Damn it, it's you." And that's how Mr. Ford found out that he had won the contest.
John Chapman was drama critic and drama editor for the New York Daily News, and he supported his staff. A PR person once tried to withhold press seats from Daily News caricaturist Sam Norkin because Mr. Norkin had not sketched his play, but Mr. Chapman informed the PR person that if he withheld Mr. Norkin's press seats, he would return his own opening night tickets. Since no play wants no notices, the PR person relented.
Mary Chase won a Pulitzer Prize for her comic play Harvey. Before marrying Bob Chase and becoming a playwright, Mary Coyle was a newspaper reporter for the Denver Post. Once, she arrived at a Denver home in which three of six family members had been killed in a drunken brawl, then introduced herself as a reporter to a bloodstained survivor. The man told her, "Go away. We've decided not to put anything about this in the papers."
Gene Fowler hardly ever fired anybody, but when he was working for the New YorkJournal, he did fire reporter Walter Davenport. Mr. Davenport had written that the grand marshal of a suffragette parade was riding a "dappled-gray" horse, but Mr. Fowler knew that the horse was pure white. However, Mr. Davenport got his job back when he explained that he was covering the parade from a bar that had a dirty, fly-specked window.
Early in his career, H. Allen Smith was a member of the Denver Press Club. In 1949, after his membership had been lapsed for 19 years, he returned to Denver and spent a pleasant afternoon at the Press Club. A friend of his, Lee Casey, even gave him a new membership card - it was dated 19 years ahead. "We love you and want to see you again," Mr. Casey explained, but only about once in 19 years."
Ray Humphreys was a star reporter for the Denver Post; in addition, he wrote Western stories in which he used the names of other reporters on the newspaper. In one Western story, the name of reporter H. Allen Smith was given to a comic character - an Englishman with a monocle who was totally out of place in the American West.
The writers of Jackie Gleason's series featuring him as blowhard Ralph Kramden wanted to call the series "The Beast," because they felt that Ralph was like an animal. However, Mr. Gleason felt that love was a major element of the show and underlay the arguments between Ralph and his wife Alice, so he insisted that it be called The Honeymooners.
At the United Press early in the 20th century, a sacred cow story - so-called because the big wheels had decreed it was to be given special treatment - was called a "moo." As the article was handed from person to person - from writer to editor to wire-filer - each person said "moo" to alert the next person to what kind of story it was.
A city editor once sent a reporter to interview a man, but the man refused to be interviewed and threatened to shoot any reporter who rang his doorbell again. The alarmed reporter called his editor with this news, but the editor gave him this order, "You go back and tell that fellow he can't intimidate me."
"Yours was not, in the beginning, a criminal nature, but circumstances changed it. At the age of nine you stole sugar. At the age of fifteen you stole money. At twenty you stole horses. At twenty-five you committed arson. At thirty, hardened in crime, you became an editor." - Mark Twain, "Lionising Murderers."
Harold Ross believed in separating the editorial staff and the advertising staff of The New Yorker - he put the departments in two separate buildings two blocks apart.
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© Copyright Bruce D. Bruce; All Rights Reserved
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Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
JD is on vacation.
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Should be back to what passes for normal tomorrow.
Rolling Stone's Newest Advice Columnist
David Crosby
Few people have been through more wild ups and downs in life than David Crosby. The legendary Byrds/CSNY singer/songwriter has survived five months in a Texas prison, drug and alcohol addiction, the sudden death of his girlfriend, a liver transplant, bitter breakups of his iconic bands, severe financial hardship and medical ailments like diabetes and hepatitis C. Somehow or another, at age 77, he's not only lived to tell these tales, but he's writing some of the best music of his career. In the past five years he's released four solo album that rank up there with his best works of the Sixties and Seventies. You can see him on tour later this year with his Sky Trails band, including a return visit to Woodstock 50 years after he played the original.
He's also adapted to the social media age better than any rock star in his generation. Since joining Twitter in 2011, Croz has Tweeted over 49,000 times, offering his thoughts on everything from the the 2020 election to how to quit drinking to Kanye West.
That mix of life experience, hard knocks, and brutal honesty makes him the perfect choice for his newest gig: Rolling Stone's advice columnist. His column, which we're calling Ask Croz, will make its debut in the June issue of Rolling Stone, and you can now submit questions.
Having trouble in your love life? Struggling to keep your drinking habit under control? Want to know how to make it in the music industry? Ask Croz! You can e-mail him at askcroz@rolllingstone.com or simply Tweet it out with the hashtag #AskCroz.
No question is too serious and no question is too ridiculous. Croz is down to field whatever matter is on your mind. Fire away.
David Crosby
Doing Well
Mick Jagger
Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger is recovering after a heart valve replacement procedure.
"Mick Jagger has successfully undergone treatment. He is doing very well and is expected to make a full recovery," a representative for Jagger said in a statement to CNN.
A source close to the band told CNN earlier this week that Jagger was being treated to replace a valve in his heart, but a representative for the singer declined to elaborate.
The Rolling Stones postponed their North American tour that was set to kick off on April 20 in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Mick Jagger
Postpones All 2019 Tour Dates
Ozzy Osbourne
The Prince of Darkness, Ozzy Osbourne, has had a streak of bad luck lately as he's been trying to finish his final global jaunt dubbed the No More Tears 2 Tour.
He had to postpone the original dates back in October because of an infection in his hand, which caused him to have immediate surgery and be hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles where he remained under a doctors care for several days. He did, however, manage to rally enough to kiss off 2018 and welcome 2019 with open arms during a special one-night-only Ozzfest at The Forum in Inglewood on Dec. 31.
Earlier this year, Osbourne then came down with a serious bout of pneumonia and had to postpone several more dates of the tour. On Thursday, Osbourne announced he'd have to postpone all the 2019 dates and restart the tour in May 2020. All of the dates have been rescheduled with the exception of the Hollywood Bowl date in Los Angeles, which was originally slated to happen July 29. That show will happen sometime in July 2020.
Osbourne fell recently at his home in Los Angeles and aggravated old injuries from his 2013 ATV accident that required him to undergo yet another surgery last month. He remains under a doctor's care in Los Angeles as he recovers, according to a press release issued by the Osbourne camp.
Ozzy Osbourne
Returning To "Saturday Night Live"
Adam Sandler
Adam Sandler is returning to "Saturday Night Live" and Studio 8H.
The "Happy Gilmore" star will host the show for the first time on May 4 along with musical guest Shawn Mendes, NBC announced Friday morning.
Sandler joined the "SNL" as a writer in 1990 and was in the cast from 1991-95. He was known for his many sketches paired opposite Chris Farley, as well as his "Weekend Update" character Opera Man and his festive tune "The Chanukah Song."
Sandler's latest comedy special, "100% Fresh," is currently available on Netflix and his next film, "Murder Mystery," premieres on the streaming platform later this year.
Shawn Mendes will return to "SNL" for his second appearance as musical guest. The Grammy Award-nominated singer-songwriter is currently headlining a worldwide stadium and arena tour.
Adam Sandler
Amazon Says It Was 'Justified'
Woody Allen
Amazon Studios has said it was "justified" in ending its film deal with Woody Allen, after the filmmaker sued the company.
Allen has accused the company of backing out of a film deal over what he says are "baseless" accusations that he molested his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow in 1992. The allegations resurfaced in light of the #MeToo movement.
The filmmaker says he deserves at least $68m in damages for Amazon Studios's refusal to distribute his completed movie A Rainy Day in New York, and its decision to abandon a four-picture production and distribution arrangement.
The distributor has alleged that the director's comments about the #MeToo movement "sabotaged" its attempts to promote his films.
Amazon Studios has asked a New York judge, in a response filed on Wednesday, to reject portions of the case, saying it entered a deal with Allen in August 2017, two months before the allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein first sparked the #MeToo movement.
Woody Allen
U.S. Strips Visa
ICC
The U.S. has revoked the visa of the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, weeks after warning it would take such an action against anyone from the ICC who is investigating allegations that U.S. personnel might have committed war crimes in Afghanistan.
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda's office confirmed the revocation and, citing the ICC's international mandate, said the prosecutor and her office will continue to pursue their duty "with utmost commitment and professionalism, without fear or favor."
Bensouda has asked the Hague-based court to open a full investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan, including any that might have been committed by Americans and Afghan government forces.
The U.S. is not a party to the treaty that created the international court. Instead of joining the organization when it was founded, the U.S. adopted the American Service-Members' Protection Act, which broadly prohibits the U.S. from facilitating any ICC investigation of U.S. or allied service personnel - and which blocks ICC staff from conducting such work inside the U.S.
While the U.S. claims its citizens and military personnel are outside of the ICC's jurisdiction, the court says Afghanistan is within its purview because the country ratified the Rome Statute, which established the court, in early 2003.
ICC
'Super Colliders'
Birds
Getting around in a city can be a lot more dangerous than wide open spaces, and that, it seems, is true for migratory birds as well, especially if they're in the habit of calling out to each other at night.
A new study has analysed the deaths of 70,000 songbirds that died after colliding with buildings in Cleveland and Chicago at night. The researchers' analysis spans a 40-year period, and found that species who communicate with each other using flight calls are most at risk.
It is, the researchers think, directly linked to how we light our cities.
Many bird species migrate at night, travelling long distances in the dark, using flight calls to communicate - to help navigate and orient themselves, to keep the flock together, and make group decisions.
Previous research has shown that artificial light is linked with an increase in flight calls in nocturnally migrating birds. Over cities, the birds call out to each other three times more often than over darker rural areas.
Birds
Lauds Jacinda Ardern
Dalai Lama
The Dalai Lama on Thursday praised New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern for her compassionate handling of a recent attack on two mosques by a gunman that left 50 Muslim worshippers dead in Christchurch.
The Tibetan spiritual leader said others could learn from her.
"I really admire the New Zealand prime minister. She is wonderful,'" he told reporters in the Indian capital, where he addressed a conference of educators and students.
He said the killing of worshippers in New Zealand was an example of what hatred can do to people.
"She really tried to tackle this problem through nonviolence, through compassion and through mutual respect. I really admire her. I think that's one living example."
Dalai Lama
Reopening Sociable 'Window'
MDMA
The key ingredient in the club drug ecstasy reopens a "window" from the brain's development during puberty where it craves social interaction, according to a new study.
Doctors have been studying the effects of MDMA (methylendioxymethamphetamine) to understand similarities between its effects and changes in the developing brain.
US researchers from Baltimore's Johns Hopkins University have now found that a single dose of the drug was enough to return adult mice which had lost this heightened interest in socialising, to this adolescent state for up to six weeks.
MDMA assisted therapy was recently given "breakthrough" status by the US government for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Some theories have suggested its benefits are down to MDMA's ability to help people re-evaluate memories and lessen fearful experiences.
MDMA
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