from Bruce
Anecdotes
Death
• A gunfight was once averted because of money. During the Alaskan gold rush, a man named Jack McCloud lost all his money in a poker game at Tex Rickard’s Great Northern, a bar and gambling place. Feeling cheated, he challenged Mr. Rickard to a gunfight. Mr. Rickard checked the condition of his gun, then thought about his net worth. If he lost the gunfight, he would lose his life and $300,000. If he won the gunfight, Mr. McCloud would lose only his life. After thinking it over, Mr. Rickard ordered a friend, “Tell Jack I can’t afford it. Here I am, worth three hundred thousand, and he’s broke. I won’t stack that up against nothing. It ain’t business.”
• When Sam Kinison died, lots of comedians showed up at his funeral and talked about him. Richard Belzer emceed, and Pauly Shore talked about how Sam used to be his babysitter. Comedian (and Sam’s best friend) Carl Labove had been with Sam when he died, and he spoke — but briefly, as he started to cry. Mr. Belzer helped him from the podium and led him to a chair, but suddenly Mr. Labove broke away from Mr. Belzer, ran back to the podium, and announced, “By the way, I’ll be at Iggy’s all week! Two shows Friday, three Saturday!” I’m sure that Sam would have loved it.
• As a young ballet dancer in the Soviet Union, Natalia Makarova had an especially difficult time dancing the Czar-maiden in Cesar Pugni’s Humpbacked Horse. Once, just before the last variation, she became hysterical off-stage because of the difficulty of the role, and started shouting, “I won’t go back onstage for anything! You want me dead!” She then grabbed a handrail and held on. Natalia Dudinskaya and Seva Ukhov somehow pulled her off the handrail and pushed her onto the stage, where she finished the dance. Later, Ms. Makarova became a world-class ballerina.
• Country music singer Willie Nelson has a lot of respect for Dr. Red Duke, but since mortals are in fact mortal, even the best doctors will have some patients — especially old patients — die. Dr. Duke took care of Willie’s mother before she died, and he took care of Willie’s father-in-law before he died, so Mr. Nelson joked, “If you don’t quit losing them, I’m going to quit sending them to you.” Dr. Duke smiled and said, “Willie, you’re just going to have to get them to me earlier.”
• King Louis XI condemned to death the champion archer of France, John de Roche, but he gave him a chance to win his freedom by making a difficult shot. Mr. de Roche thought about the offer for a moment, then said, “Sire, under these conditions I am liable to miss and ruin my reputation.” He preferred definitely losing his head to the guillotine to possibly losing his reputation.
• Jan Murray was a funny comedian, but he was a klutz around the house. Whenever anything went wrong with the electrical wiring or plumbing, Mrs. Murray fixed it. When his friend the comedian Buddy Hackett’s father died, Jan telephoned Buddy to give his condolences and to find out about the funeral. Ever the comedian, Buddy joked, “Don’t come. You’ll fall in the hole.”
• After Oscar Wilde was released from prison after serving two years, he went to Paris, where he saw a palm reader. She looked at his palm, inspected the line that indicated how long he would live, and then said, “By your line of life you died two years ago. I cannot explain the fact except by supposing that since then you have been living on the line of your imagination.”
• While fashion designer Pauline Trigère was dining in a restaurant, a man approached her to tell her that his mother, one of her longtime customers, had been buried in one of her creations. Ms. Trigère told her dining companions, “You see! With a Trigère you can go anywhere!”
• Donald Ogden Stewart once told a harrowing story to a society lady about how his sloop had been capsized and he had to struggle for his life and was in danger of drowning near the Clews’ house — at this point the society lady interrupted by asking, “How are the Clews?”
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***
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Presenting
Michael Egan
has returned to semi-retired status.
In memory.
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION
BANDCAMP MUSIC
BRUCE'S RECOMMENDATION OF BANDCAMP MUSIC
Track: "Nothing But Trouble"
Single: This is a one-sided single.
Artist: Kid Gulliver
Artist Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Record Company: Red on Red Records
Record Company Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Info:
Boston-based power pop, with clever lyrics, catchy songs and tight harmonies, female fronted
Simone Berk- vocals
David Armillotti- guitar
Andy Excuse- bass
Mark Enet- drums
kidgulliver.com
kidgulliver1@bandcamp.com
Price: $1 (USD) for one-sided single
Genre: Power Pop
Links:
“Nothing But Trouble”
Kid Gulliver on Bandcamp
Kid Gulliver on YouTube
Red on Red Records on Bandcamp
Red on Red Records on YouTube
Sugar Snow (Simone’s other band)
Other Links:
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Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
Stephen Suggests
Twofer
New Venture
Michael Egan
Bonus Links
Jeannie the Teed-Off Temp
Reader Comment
Current Events
From Axios:
Justice Clarence Thomas told an audience in Dallas yesterday that trust inside the Supreme Court has been irrevocably broken by the "tremendously bad" leak of a draft opinion on abortion, Axios' Jacob Knutson writes from audio posted by Reason Magazine
* "You begin to look over your shoulder. It's like kind of an infidelity that you can explain ... but you can't undo," Thomas, a fierce opponent of Roe v. Wade, told his former law clerk. John Yoo, at a conference of conservative and libertarian groups.
Linda's response--Then resign and slink away. You never should have been appointed, and you've done more than enough damage!
Linda >^..^<
We are all only temporarily able bodied.
Thanks, Linda!
that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Way too effing hot.
Plans To Step Down
Judy Woodruff
Judy Woodruff says she’ll be stepping down as anchor of PBS’ nightly “NewsHour” program at the end of the year.
Woodruff, 75, said she will report longer pieces for “NewsHour” and do other projects and specials for public television, at least through the 2024 presidential election.
She was part of the “NewsHour” rotating anchor team from 2009 until 2013, when she and Gwen Ifill were named co-anchors of the program. Since Ifill’s death in 2016, Woodruff has been the show’s sole anchor.
Plans for her replacement will be announced in the fall, a PBS spokesperson said Saturday.
Judy Woodruff
Exploring Live Streaming
Netflix
Netflix is going live for the first time.
It plans to roll out the capability, which Netflix confirmed was in the early stages of development, for its swathe of unscripted shows and stand-up specials.
It would mean that Netflix would be able to use it for live voting for competition series and talent contests such as its upcoming dance competition series Dance 100 from The Circle producer Studio Lambert.
Similarly, it could use it if it decides to bring back its Netflix Is A Joke festival. The live comedy event featured around 300 stand-up performances across LA including Dave Chappelle, Larry David and Pete Davidson. Many of the shows were being filmed with plans to air around 12 of them on the service. In future, it could potentially air shows live, albeit with a few seconds delay in case things get saucy.
Netflix
Welcome Baskets
CNN
CNN accidentally sent welcome baskets to employees who were laid off after the CNN+ streaming service shuttered.
The paid streaming subscription service launched on March 29 and announced it was shutting down on April 21, Insider previously reported.
A week later, hundreds of laid-off staffers received welcome gifts, some of which had encouraging notes attached, according to the Wall Street Journal.
"This is an incredible time to be part of CNN," one note said, per WSJ. "Build relationships and take time to connect with colleagues and learn so that you make the most of your time here."
CNN told WSJ the baskets – which included branded gear, pens, headphones, and a popcorn maker – were sent by mistake.
CNN
To Stand Trial
Chrisley
A federal trial for reality television stars Todd and Julie Chrisley on charges including bank fraud and tax evasion is set to start Monday in Atlanta.
The trial is getting underway just days after E! announced that it is moving forward with a new dating series, “Love Limo,” hosted by Todd Chrisley and weeks after the announcement that reality shows “Chrisley Knows Best” and “Growing Up Chrisley” have been renewed on USA Network and E!, respectively.
The Chrisleys were initially indicted in August 2019 and a new indictment was filed in February of this year. Prosecutors allege that the couple submitted fake documents to banks when applying for loans. Julie Chrisley also submitted a false credit report and fake bank statements when trying to rent a house in California, and then the couple refused to pay rent a few months after they started using the home, the indictment says.
The Chrisleys also used a film production company they controlled to hide income to keep the IRS from collecting unpaid taxes owed by Todd Chrisley, prosecutors say.
Both Chrisleys are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, five counts of bank fraud, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of tax fraud. Julie Chrisley is also charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of obstruction of justice.
Chrisley
Prevalence Of White Supremacists
Law Enforcement
A Reuters investigation on May 6 indicates that a significant number of U.S. police instructors have ties to a constellation of armed right-wing militias and white supremacist hate groups, a report that adds to a fast-growing body of evidence showing a deadly threat inside U.S. police departments.
The analysis found that some of the instructional information presented by police trainers was explicitly racist, and that some instructors endorsed and interacted with white supremacist criminal groups such as the Proud Boys.
The investigation adds to mounting academic research, government audits and news reporting that demonstrates the pervasiveness of white supremacy in U.S. law enforcement, and a continuing series of incidents documenting the presence of extremist groups and views among law enforcement.
More and more, the evidence suggests the “white supremacist infiltration of law enforcement” that the FBI warned about back in 2006 is getting worse. And it points to a desperate need for policies – departmental and legislative – to prohibit people who engage in racist conduct or join white supremacist groups from becoming police officers or remaining on the force.
The analysis by Reuters found at least 15 self-identified law enforcement trainers and dozens of retired instructors listed in a database of members of the Oath Keepers, one of several violent anti-government groups that led the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Law Enforcement
Medical Journal Warns
The Lancet
One of the world’s oldest and most well-known medical journals published an editorial on Thursday warning that if the U.S. Supreme Court were to confirm Justice Samuel Alito’s draft opinion to overturn Roe v. Wade, “women will die.”
“The fact is that if the U.S. Supreme Court confirms its draft decision, women will die,” the Lancet said in its editorial. “The Justices who vote to strike down Roe will not succeed in ending abortion, they will only succeed in ending safe abortion. Alito and his supporters will have women's blood on their hands.”
The 199-year-old journal argues that Alito’s “shocking, inhuman, and irrational” draft opinion “utterly fails to consider the health of women today who seek abortion.”
In the United States, the Lancet notes, Black women have an unintended pregnancy rate double that of non-Hispanic white women and a maternal mortality rate almost three times higher than for white women.
“These sharp racial and class disparities need urgent solutions, not more legal barriers,” the editorial said.
The Lancet
‘Pallets and Pallets’
Hannity
Fox News’ Rupert's handpuppet Sean Hannity shared photos that falsely claimed to show “pallets and pallets” of baby formula at the southern border that were reserved for “illegal immigrants,” which CNN quickly debunked, calling the “Fox and Friends” segment an “illuminating example” in “outrage creation.”
Florida Rep. Kat Cammack joined the Fox News host on Friday to talk about the national shortage of baby formula. She’s among several Republicans who have decried President Joe Biden over his decision to provide baby formula to migrant infants. Cammack has been on several Fox shows to
Unfortunately for them, the photos are incredibly misleading — and pretty much downright false. According to CNN Business managing editor Alex Koppelman — who authored a report on the matter for the Reliable Sources newsletter — the packages contain powdered milk, not baby formula.
“The photo Hannity pointed to, and the one that followed it, showed boxes and boxes clearly labeled NIDO,” the report, titled “Outrage Creation,” read. “As anyone at Fox could have discovered with about a minute’s worth of fact-checking, NIDO is not baby formula; it is powdered milk. As its maker, Nestlé, specifically notes: ‘NIDO® products are only intended for children ages 1 year and older.’”
Hannity
Alabama Shipwreck
Clotilda
Keys to the past and the future of a community descended from enslaved Africans lie in a river bottom on Alabama’s Gulf Coast, where the remains of the last known U.S. slave ship rest a few miles from what’s left of the village built by the newly freed people after the Civil War.
Work performed this month will help answer a question residents of the area called Africatown USA are anxious to resolve: Can remnants of the slave ship Clotilda be retrieved from the water to both fill out details about their heritage and to serve as an attraction that might revitalize the place their ancestors built after emancipation?
A crew hired by the Alabama Historical Commission, working over 10 days ending Thursday, took fallen trees off the submerged remains of the ship, scooped muck out of the hull and retrieved displaced pieces to see what’s left of the Clotilda, which is described as the most intact slave ship ever found. The work will help determine what, if anything, can be done with the wreckage in years ahead.
The Clotilda was the last ship known to transport African captives to the American South for enslavement. It departed Mobile decades after Congress outlawed the slave trade, on a clandestine trip funded by Timothy Meaher, whose descendants still own millions of dollars worth of land around Mobile.
The Clotilda’s captain, William Foster, transferred his cargo of women, men and children off the ship once it arrived in Mobile and set fire to the vessel to hide evidence of the illegal journey. But most of Clotilda didn’t catch fire, and as much as three-quarters of the ship remains in the Mobile River, which empties into Mobile Bay.
Clotilda
Woody Harrelson Opens WeHo Cannabis Dispensary
The Woods
Actor and cannabis legalization activist Woody Harrelson opened a new business in West Hollywood, California, on Friday, May 13: a legal cannabis dispensary that will also include a consumption lounge located in a backyard garden.
Harrelson’s new venture, The Woods, debuted with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by the mayor of West Hollywood, Lauren Meister and the head of the city’s chamber of commerce, Genevieve Morrill. “Hopefully we’ve added more beauty and more good times here. Hopefully, we can make the West Hollywood Citizens a little bit higher,” said Harrelson to a crowd assembled outside The Woods, where at least one onlooker was lighting up. “It’s the greatest day that I’ve had in a long time.”
The Woods is one of what are expected to be up to 16 cannabis consumption lounges (according to Eater LA) in West Hollywood. The city of around 35,000 is becoming a haven for weed businesses in general and consumption lounges in particular, and a group of cannabis businesspeople have come together to promote and brand West Hollywood as a tourist destination called Emerald Village.
Harrelson — whose partners in The Woods include Bill Maher, Schoos, Michael Berman (CEO of Schoos Design), and Jay Handal and Devon Wheeler (founders of dispensary chain Erba) — praised the city of West Hollywood for its embrace of consumption lounges.
Harrelson is hardly the only Hollywood player in the legal cannabis space. According to the Los Angeles Times, two other consumption lounges are in the works in West Hollywood, one backed by Jay-Z and another with Patricia Arquette as an investor. The crowd of stars that has started their own weed brands includes Seth Rogen, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Willie Nelson, Wiz Khalifa and Melissa Etheridge.
The Woods
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