Jill Lawrence: A Wasted Opportunity for Democrats (Creators Syndicate)
The pall that hangs over this election is misguided in many ways. The unemployment rate is 5.9 percent, a six-year low. Employers have added more than 10 million jobs in the last few years. The stock market has tripled since President Obama took office. For those who worry about government spending, the deficit has plunged to a projected $486 billion or 2.8 percent of the U.S. economy, down from $1.4 trillion and 9.8 percent in 2009 in the depths of the Great Recession.
Diane Ravitch: The Most Important Book of the Year: Bob Herbert's 'Losing Our Way' (Huffington Post)
Bob Herbert's new book Losing Our Way: An Intimate Portrait of a Troubled America is one of the most important, most compelling books that I have read in many years. For those of us who have felt that something has gone seriously wrong in our country, Herbert connects the dots. He provides a carefully documented, well-written account of what went wrong and why.
ECONOMISTS ARE PEOPLE TOO: A CHAT ABOUT MUSIC WITH PAUL KRUGMAN (Go Things Go)
Music is an indisputable component of a solid Friday night. For some of us, indie music + economics = a Friday night. In an obscure corner of a not-so-obscure website lies the overlap of the Venn diagram among economics, indie music and Friday nights. Ladies and gentlemen: Paul Krugman.
What actor appeared in more Hitchcock films than anyone other than Clare Greet (1871-1939) (who appeared in seven) and Hitchcock himself (whose cameos were a trademark)?
Commenting on the lack of sponsorship his show received, this performer quipped shortly after its demise, "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark." Who made this painfully astute observation?
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 - February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer and musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. He was widely noted for his soft, baritone voice, which he used to perform in big band and jazz genres.
Cole was one of the first African Americans to host a television variety show, The Nat King Cole Show, and has maintained worldwide popularity since his death from lung cancer in February 1965.
On November 5, 1956, The Nat King Cole Show debuted on NBC. The variety program was the first of its kind hosted by an African-American, which created controversy at the time. Beginning as a 15-minute pops show on Monday night, the program was expanded to a half hour in July 1957. Despite the efforts of NBC, as well as many of Cole's industry colleagues - many of whom, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Belafonte, Frankie Laine, Mel Tormé, Peggy Lee, Eartha Kitt, and backing vocal group The Cheerleaders worked for industry scale (or even for no pay) in order to help the show save money. The Nat King Cole Show was ultimately done in by lack of a national sponsorship. Companies such as Rheingold Beer assumed regional sponsorship of the show, but a national sponsor never appeared.
The last episode of The Nat King Cole Show aired December 17, 1957. Cole had survived for over a year, and it was he, not NBC, who ultimately decided to pull the plug on the show. Commenting on the lack of sponsorship his show received, Cole quipped shortly after its demise, "Madison Avenue is afraid of the dark."
Source
Alan J was first, and correct, with:
Nat King Cole
mj wrote:
I'm going with the cigarette smoking man
Rod Serling. Loved the Twilight Zone, even if the hole in the wall to
another reality episode kept me awake for a week. And I still couldn't
convince my parents to get me a dog.
Deborah responded:
This wasn't as obvious or easy to answer, so I was compelled to keep sleuthing. I believe Nat "King" Cole uttered those words. I guess I was too young to remember his failed show. That, or my parents were too racist to watch it. Or both.
Marian replied:
Nat King Cole
DJ Useo said:
How could I forget? It was Nat King Cole.
I've seen him in old black & white tv shows, & he was awesome.
MAM wrote:
Nat "King" Cole 1919 - 1965 ~ His show went off the air after 13 months, a casualty of skittish advertisers that worried they'd lose Southern consumers if their product was promoted on the show.
In the mail:
The mail gremlins at yahoo have been at it again, mucking with responses from Randall. The archived pages have been amended.
On Thursday Randall said:
Fearless Fosdick
was a recurring character
in the comic strip Li'l Abner
And, on Friday Randall replied:
Ha! Trick question, Marty
I'm betting that some folks are going to guess
Davy Jones from The Monkees
But those folks would be wrong.
Because David Robert Jones is none other than
Ziggy Stardust himself,
David Bowie
As you all know the untimely passing of Terry was unexpected, even by
him. We all knew he had cancer but we all thought he had some years
left. So some of us who have worked closely with him over the years are
scrambling around trying to figure out what to do. My job, among other
things, is to establish communications with the Bartcop community and
provide email lists and groups for those who might put something
together. Those who want to play an active roll in something coming from
this, or if you are one of Bart's pillars, should send an email to
active@bartcop.com.
Bart's final wish was to pay off the house mortgage for Mrs. Bart who is
overwhelmed and so very grateful for the support she has received.
Anyone wanting to make a donation can click on this the yellow donate
button on bartcop.com
But - I need you all to help keep this going. This note
isn't going to directly reach all of Bart's fans. So if you can repost
it on blogs and discussion boards so people can sign up then when we
figure out what's next we can let more people know. This list is just
over 600 but like to get it up to at least 10,000 pretty quick. So
here's the signup link for this email list.
( mailman.bartcop.com/listinfo/bartnews )
CBS starts the night with '60 Minutes', followed by a FRESH'Madam Secretary', then a FRESH'The Good Wife', followed by a FRESH'CSI: The Original One'.
NBC fills the night with LIVE'Sunday Night Football', then pads the left coast with local crap and maybe an old 'Dateline'.
ABC begins the night with a FRESH'America's Funniest Home Videos', followed by a FRESH'Once Upon A Time', then a FRESH'Resurrection', followed by a FRESH'Revenge'.
The CW offers a RERUN'Celebrity Name Game', followed by another RERUN'Celebrity Name Game', then an old 'Friends', followed by another old 'Friends', then 1 ½ hours of what passes for local news and other fluffery.
Faux has a FRESH'The Simpsons', followed by a FRESH'Brooklyn Nine-Nine', then a FRESH'Family Guy', followed by a FRESH'Mulaney'.
MY has an old 'How I Met Your Mother', followed by another old 'How I Met Your Mother', then an old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by another old 'Big Bang Theory', then still another old 'Big Bang Theory', followed by yet another old 'Big Bang Theory'.
AMC offers 'The Walking Dead', another 'The Walking Dead', followed by a FRESH'The Walking Dead', then a FRESH'Talking Dead'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities-Ep 1 - Stretched To The Limit NEW
[6:30AM] David Attenborough's Natural Curiosities-Ep 2 - A Curious Hoax? NEW
[7:00AM] Nature's Weirdest-Episode 7
[8:00AM] Nature's Weirdest-Episode 8
[9:00AM] Hidden Habitats-Ep 15 - Making Worlds
[9:30AM] Hidden Habitats-Ep 16 - The Secret To Their Success
[10:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares UK - Season 2 - Ep 5 - Sandgate
[11:00AM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 5 - Ep 11 - Spin-A-Yarn Steakhouse
[12:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 4 - Ep 9 - Capri
[1:00PM] Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares US - Season 2 - Ep 10 - Sante La Brea
[2:00PM] Top Gear - Season 15 - Episode 1
[3:00PM] Top Gear - Season 15 - Episode 2
[4:00PM] Top Gear: Season 15 Special-Season 15 - Top Gear: Season 15 Special
[5:30PM] Pitch Black
[8:00PM] The Chronicles of Riddick
[10:30PM] Pitch Black
[1:00AM] The Chronicles of Riddick
[3:30AM] Top Gear: Season 15 Special-Season 15 - Top Gear: Season 15 Special
[5:00AM] Top Gear - Season 15 - Episode 2 (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', followed by a FRESH'Real Housewives Of Atlanta', and another 'Real Housewives Of Atlanta'.
Comedy Central has the movie You Don't Mess With The Zohan', followed by the movie 'Hot Tub Time Machine', and 'Key & Peele'.
FX has the movie 'Just Go With It', followed by the movie 'The Five-Year Engagement'.
History has 'Ancient Aliens', another 'Ancient Aliens', still another 'Ancient Aliens', and 'Search For The Lost Giants'.
IFC -
[6:00AM] THE BIRTHDAY BOYS-SKEWERED!
[6:30AM] THE BIRTHDAY BOYS-ALL YOUR FAVORITES ARE BACK
[7:00AM] THE BIRTHDAY BOYS-GOING ALL THE WAY
[7:30AM] KUNG POW: ENTER THE FIST
[9:15AM] BATMAN-MARSHA, QUEEN OF DIAMONDS
[9:48AM] BATMAN-MARSHA'S SCHEME WITH DIAMONDS
[10:21AM] BATMAN-COME BACK, SHAME
[10:54AM] BATMAN-IT'S THE WAY YOU PLAY THE GAME
[11:27AM] BATMAN-THE PENGUIN'S NEST
[12:00PM] PORTLANDIA-FARM
[12:30PM] PORTLANDIA-MIXOLOGIST
[1:00PM] PORTLANDIA-SOFT OPENING
[1:30PM] PORTLANDIA-GETTING AWAY
[2:00PM] THE BIRTHDAY BOYS-FIRST LOOK AT SEASON TWO
[2:15PM] ROCKNROLLA
[4:45PM] JACKIE BROWN
[8:00PM] THE PUNISHER
[10:45PM] GAMER
[12:45AM] TWELVE MONKEYS
[3:45AM] GAMER
[5:45AM] COMEDY BANG! BANG!-AZIZ ANSARI (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00AM] The Thin Red Line
[9:30AM] Dirty Harry
[11:45AM] Magnum Force
[2:30PM] Courage Under Fire
[5:00PM] Dolores Claiborne
[7:45PM] Groundhog Day
[10:00PM] Tootsie
[12:30AM] Dolores Claiborne
[3:15AM] Courage Under Fire
[5:45AM] Love Lust-Love Lust & the Bikini (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Zodiac: Signs Of The Apocalypse', followed by the movie 'Poseidon'.
Peter Farrelly, and from left, Matt Damon, Bobby Farrelly and Ben Affleck are seen at the HBO Project Greenlight Filmmaker Showcase on Friday, Nov. 7, 2014 in Hollywood, Calif.
Photo by John Shearer
Forget surveillance: The real threat is not just an intrusion into personal privacy but government agencies with more power than the public, Edward Snowden said during a surprise interview Friday.
Surveillance is just "the mechanism of understanding," Snowden said.
"One of the most significant things that was not well understood about the events of last year was that it's not entirely about surveillance." said Snowden, who spoke via live stream to a conference on digital news and security held in Washington, D.C. The bespectacled former NSA contractor shot to international fame last year after revealing the government's bulk intelligence gathering practices.
What it's also about, he argued, is a shift in balance from traditional institutions such as the press and civic society to self-serving government bodies.
"We have seen a trend toward governments that are affording themselves, in secret, greater powers and more and more authority without the consent or awareness of the public," Snowden said.
George Brown, Ronald Bell, Dennis Thomas and Robert 'Kool' Bell of Kool and the Gang arrive during the 2014 Soul Train Awards at the Orleans Arena at The Orleans Hotel & Casino on Friday, Nov. 7, 2014 in Las Vegas, NV.
Photo by Omar Vega
For decades, 90-year-old Arnold Abbott has hauled pans filled with roast chicken and cheese-covered potatoes onto a south Florida beach park to feed hundreds of homeless people.
For his good deeds, Abbott finds himself facing up to two months in jail and hundreds of dollars in fines after new laws that restrict public feeding of the homeless went into effect in Fort Lauderdale earlier this year.
He was first cited last Sunday, along with two clergymen and a volunteer from his nonprofit, Love Thy Neighbor.
On Wednesday, several police cars waited for Abbott at a downtown Fort Lauderdale park, and officers pulled aside the frail man, clad in a white chef's coat, soon after the first plates were ready to be served.
The dispute highlights a debate between two schools of homeless rights activists: Those who argue that banning public feeding criminalizes the homeless, and others who say feeding and panhandling helps keep them on the street.
Photographers from Brown Brothers hauled their cameras from Ellis Island to Broadway to Yankee Stadium to snap pictures of street urchins and socialites, hardhats and mobsters, athletes and entertainers, capturing nearly every aspect of New York City life in the first six decades of the 20th century.
Now, the more than 1 million photographs and negatives the company compiled are up for sale.
While the collection includes tens of thousands of images of the Big Apple, the bulk of the photographs capture "every conceivable historical personality and event and place" across the U.S. and beyond from the turn of the previous century through the 1950s, said Eric Caren, a prominent historic documents collector who has been contracted to sell the collection.
Images of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire in 1911 and the sinking of the Titanic the following year are part of the collection. Celebrities and other headliners of the day are well-represented, from Mark Twain and the Wright Brothers to Teddy Roosevelt and Babe Ruth.
Stored in more than 7,000 boxes, most of the vintage prints have information written on the back in pencil, providing vital information on the date and subject of the photographs.
British actor Hugh Grant, left, and Austrian singer and Eurovision Song Contest winner Conchita Wurst chat during the German game show "Wetten Dass" or Bet it...? in Graz, Austria, Saturday Nov. 8, 2014.
Photo by Ronald Zak
The Weather Channel laid off 40 staffers Wednesday, a company spokesperson confirmed to TheWrap.
The network made the cuts citing a need to shift resources in a changing TV climate.
This round of layoffs takes place a month after another 40 employees were handed pink slips; mostly from the network's digital division. Wednesday's cuts come from the TV channel itself.
The network tells us there are no other layoffs expected. Two weeks ago, TWC made a major change to one of its signature programs, "AMHQ," replacing senior executive producer Scott Warren with former CNN showrunner Angie Massie.
The CIA on Friday good naturedly highlighted the inaccuracies in Oscar-winning Iran hostage drama "Argo," in a series of tweets to mark the anniversary of the 1979 crisis.
The 2012 film tells the story of a bold Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) operation to rescue six US diplomats trapped in the Canadian ambassador's residence in Tehran.
It is well known that the movie takes liberties with the facts, including a white-knuckle airport runway chase at the end, and the significant underplaying of Canada's role in resolving the crisis and rescuing the diplomats.
When "Argo" was released the Canadian ambassador, Ken Taylor -- who is now 80 years old -- made his views clear about regarding some aspects of the movie's accuracy.
"The movie's fun, it's thrilling, it's pertinent, it's timely," he told the Toronto Star. "But look, Canada was not merely standing around watching events take place. The CIA was a junior partner," he said.
Haley Joel Osment, left, and Abby Elliott, right, attend the New York premiere of "Sex Ed" at AMC Empire 25 on Friday, Nov. 7, 2014, in New York.
Photo by Andy Kropa
An earthquake swarm that began in a secluded northwest Nevada region this summer has grown more intense in recent days, increasing the chance of a large quake occurring, geology officials said.
The activity is centered just off the state's northwest border, some 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Lakeview, Oregon, and started July 12, the Nevada Seismological Laboratory said on Wednesday.
Over the past three months, the laboratory has recorded some 550 incidents of seismic activity of a magnitude of 2.0 or larger, while there have been three magnitude 4.0 or higher quakes since Oct. 30.
The current swarm resembles one that occurred in Reno, Nevada, in 2008 that shook the area over a two-month stretch with increasingly strong temblors leading to a magnitude 5 quake that caused moderate damage in the area, the Laboratory said.
Burlesque performer Honey Lulu performs during the "Vaudeville Variete" at the Imperial Club in Berlin early November 8, 2014.
Photo by Hannibal Hanschke
The foundation of America's nuclear arsenal is fractured, and the government has no clear plan to repair it.
The cracks appear not just in the military forces equipped with nuclear weapons but also in the civilian bureaucracy that controls them, justifies their cost, plans their future and is responsible for explaining a defense policy that says nuclear weapons are at once essential and excessive.
It's not clear that the government recognizes the full scope of the problem, which has wormed its way to the core of the nuclear weapons business without disturbing bureaucracies fixated on defending their own turf. Nor has it aroused the public, which may think nuclear weapons are relics of the past, if it thinks about them at all.
This is not mainly about the safety of today's weapons, although the Air Force's nuclear missile corps has suffered failures in discipline, training, morale and leadership over the past two years. Just last week the Air Force fired nuclear commanders at two of its three missile bases for misconduct and disciplined a third commander.
Rather, this is about a broader problem: The erosion of the government's ability to manage and sustain its nuclear "enterprise," the intricate network of machines, brains and organizations that enables America to call itself a nuclear superpower.
Contestants Marjan Vidakovic (L) and Armin Knapp pose before their appearance in the European World Beard Championship in Schluchsee, Germany, November 8, 2014.
Photo by Winifried Rothermel
Uganda's ruling party has drawn up new anti-gay legislation and could push it through parliament before the end of the year, rights activists said Saturday.
The move comes nearly a year after Ugandan MPs passed a bill that would have seen gays face up to life in prison, only to see the bill struck down by the constitutional court on a technicality.
According to a leaked copy of the new draft bill, MPs have instead focussed on outlawing the "promotion" of homosexuality -- something that activists said made it far more repressive and wide-reaching.
"People don't realise that the 'promotion' part of it will affect everybody," prominent gay rights activist Frank Mugisha told AFP.
"If newspapers report about homosexuality it could be seen as promotion. My Twitter account could be seen as promotion. All human rights groups that include LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights defence in their activities could be accused of promotion."
A human skull or "natita" is crowned with flowers and surrounded by offerings of coca leaves, flower petals and cigarettes, during the Natitas Festival, outside the Cementerio General chapel , in La Paz, Bolivia, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2014. Followers believe the skulls or natitas have miraculous powers, providing protection and granting favors that range from finding a job to helping their favorite soccer team win.
Photo by Juan Karita
U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are gathering at a moment of turbulence for them and the American church, as Pope Francis moves toward crafting new policies for carrying out his mission of mercy - a prospect that has conservative Catholics and some bishops in an uproar.
The assembly, which starts Monday in Baltimore, comes less than a month after Francis ended a dramatic Vatican meeting on how the church can more compassionately minister to Catholic families.
The gathering in Rome was only a prelude to a larger meeting next year which will more concretely advise Francis on church practice. Still, the open debate at the event, and the back and forth among bishops over welcoming gays and divorced Catholics who remarry, prompted stunning criticism from some U.S. bishops.
"Many of the U.S. bishops have been disoriented by what this new pope is saying and I don't see them really as embracing the pope's agenda," said John Thavis, a former Rome bureau chief for Catholic News Service. "To a large degree, the U.S. bishops have lost their bearings. I think up until now, they felt Rome had their back, and what they were saying - especially politically - would eventually be supported in Rome. They can't count on that now."
Cardinal Raymond Burke, the former St. Louis archbishop and leading voice for conservative Catholics, said the church "is like a ship without a rudder" under Francis. Burke made the comments before the pope demoted him from his position as head of the Vatican high court, a move he had anticipated.
The Catharina church in Eindhoven is lit in colours during the GLOW lights art festival in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, 08 November 2014.
Photo by Remko De Waal
You have reached the Home page of BartCop Entertainment.
Do you have something to say?
Anything that increased your blood pressure, or, even better, amused or entertained?
Do you have a great album no one's heard?
How about a favorite TV show, movie, book, play, cartoon, or legal amusement?
A popular artist that just plain pisses you off?
A box set the whole world should own?
Vile, filthy rumors about Republican hypocrites?
wrote:
took the day off.
is back to semi-retired.
