Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Betsey McCaughey: Where Are the Sanctuaries for Newborns? (Creators Syndicate)
The newborn boy abandoned in a nativity display at a New York City church last week lucked out. His mother bought towels at a 99 Cents Only Store to keep him warm, and then left him in the manger to be found. But many abandoned babies aren't so lucky. Every year, hundreds are dumped in the trash, left to die in the cold, or killed by panicked new mothers.
Ted Rall: "More American Fascism: Trump's Bigotry Relies on Legal and Historical Precedents" (Creators Syndicate)
George Stephanopoulos, ABC News: "You're increasingly being compared to Hitler. Does that give you any pause at all?" Donald Trump: "Because what I'm doing is no different than what FDR [did]. FDR's solution for Germans, Italians, Japanese many years ago. This is a president who was highly respected by all. He did the same thing - if you look at what he was doing it was far worse."
Jamie Stiehm: "Patti Davis: A New Novel Helps Bury Old Wounds" (Creators Syndicate)
Her life now, more artist than rebel, is on a Santa Monica street under pine trees, where Patti Davis wrote a luminous new novel that seems to break like a wave, reporting ahead of the news.
John Cheese: 5 Easy Steps That Crush Any Problem Life Throws At You (Cracked)
If you're anything like me, you probably handle problems by panicking and screaming obscenities until you black out.
?
How Not to Die: 9 Questions for Michael Greger, MD (Blue Zones)
If you were to nominate three super foods, what would they be and why?
Sweet potatoes (extra credit if they're purple inside); a dark green leafy cruciferous vegetable, such as kale or collard greens; and a legume, probably lentils if I had to choose just one.
Dr. Michael Greger: Turning the Clock Back 14 Years (YouTube)
Don't smoke. Eat plants. Exercise. Avoid being obese.
Bim Adewunmi: "Crush of the week: Bruce Willis" (The Guardian)
I watched Moonlighting at the precise point in puberty when undying love could be cemented.
Joey Ryan's Penis Has Strength! (Rated R; YouTube)
Funny.
David Bruce's Amazon Author Page
David Bruce's Smashwords Page
David Bruce's Blog
David Bruce's Lulu Storefront
David Bruce's Apple iBookstore
David Bruce has over 80 Kindle books on Amazon.com.
wrote:
answered:
has returned to semi-retired status.
Reader Suggestion
Michelle in AZ
from Marc Perkel
Patriot Act
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
Climate Deniers' Anthem | Climate Truth
WOO, WOO!
"MR. TRUMP MAKES IT EVEN PLAINER."
WE'RE GETTING CLOSER.
"JIHADI TED"!
FUCK THE SAUDIS!
"…IN THIS SPACE OF LOVING BLACKNESS"
"I WOULD PRAY TO GOD TO DELIVER US. BUT UNFORTUNATELY, I DON'T BELIEVE IN HIM."
THE CRIMINAL CAPITALIST GOES DOWN!
REPUBLICAN FASCISM.
WHAT A BONEHEAD!
WTF?
ANOTHER STEP FORWARD.
FEEL THE BERN!
Visit JD's site - Kitty Litter Music
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Sunny and warm.
Needles T-rump For 'Air Force One'
Harrison Ford
Footage of actor Harrison Ford reacting to praise by Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump for his patriotic performance in the film "Air Force One" has gone viral.
In the 1997 flick, Ford plays a US president who stands up to terrorists after they hijack his flight.
"I love Harrison Ford -- and not just because he rents my properties. He stood up for America," the billionaire real estate mogul and GOP presidential frontrunner recently told The New York Times of Ford's character.
In an interview Wednesday with Australia's "Studio 10" morning show, a semiserious Ford shot back.
"It's a movie. Donald, it was a movie!" Ford said, looking straight into the camera with a slight smile on his face.
Harrison Ford
Record Kickstarter
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Last night, the Kickstarter hoping to
bring back cult TV hit Mystery Science Theater 3000 wrapped its campaign, and it was a predictable smash, earning $5.76 million. Combining that with the $425,000 the creators say they've raised through other channels, the total funding for the revival has passed $6 million. The creators have now pledged to shoot 14 new episodes next year, including a holiday special, although it's unclear how the episodes will be distributed.
The project's one more example of how nostalgia pays in crowdfunding campaigns, whether in gaming, film, or in this case, a TV show that's a loving lampooning of B movies. As Recode notes, the campaign appears to now hold the title for most funding ever given to a video project, just edging out the $5.7 million earned by the Veronica Mars movie project.
There will be at least a couple changes from the original, however, as comedians Felicia Day and Patton Oswalt have signed up to work on the project
Mystery Science Theater 3000
Back To Universal
DreamWorks
DreamWorks Studios, the film company co-founded by Steven Spielberg, has struck a deal for a $200 million equity investment by entertainment company Participant Media, and will shift to Universal Pictures for distribution before the end of the year, Variety reported, citing sources familiar with the situation.
The final details of the deal are still being worked out, but is expected to be wrapped up within days, Variety reported.
Participant Media was founded in 2004 by billionaire and former eBay Inc President Jeff Skoll.
DreamWorks had turned to Disney late in 2008 when Universal balked at its demand for more upfront money and fees from Universal's TV distribution pact with HBO, a source close to the matter had told Reuters. (http://reut.rs/21Uk3jf)
DreamWorks
TV Station Loses Debate Sponsorship
WMUR
Democrats have dropped a New Hampshire television station as a debate sponsor over an ongoing disagreement between union workers and management.
The Democratic National Committee and the New Hampshire Democratic Party said Friday they will not include WMUR-TV as a sponsor of the Dec. 19 debate and will bar its talent from participating because the station has been unwilling to schedule contract negotiations between its parent company and production department workers.
"The right for workers to form and organize a union is a key principle of the Democratic Party, and is key to ensuring the economic safety of the American people by protecting their rights and benefits," said DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz and New Hampshire Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley.
The candidates also have weighed in. Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders asked station officials this fall to reach a contract before the debate, and Martin O'Malley called on candidates to stop advertising on WMUR until negotiations begin.
The dispute goes back to April, when staff directors and production technicians unionized and began bargaining for raises and retirement plans. The union also represents photographers and satellite truck operators, and members had threatened to stage a picket line around the debate site.
WMUR
"Disgrace To His Country"
T-rump
A prominent Saudi billionaire who hoovered up Donald Trump's assets when the presidential hopeful ran into cashflow problems in the 1990s has labelled the controversial candidate a disgrace to his country.
Alwaleed bin Talal owns a yacht once called the Trump Princess, which he bought in the early 90s after it was ceded to creditors and renamed the Kingdom 5KR. A few years later he took a stake in the Plaza hotel, once one of Trump's favourite hotels.
In an apparent response to Trump's widely condemned plan to bar Muslims from entering the United States - slammed by critics ranging from his own party leadership to boxing legend Muhammad Ali - Alwaleed called on Trump to drop out of the running to become Republican candidate for president.
"You are a disgrace not only to the GOP [the Republican Party] but to all America. Withdraw from the US presidential race as you will never win," Alwaleed wrote on his Twitter account, which, with more than 4 million followers, is almost as popular as Trump's.
Trump's attacks on Muslims have already caused a business backlash in the Middle East, which his company just a few months ago had flagged as a key growth market.
T-rump
Budget Crisis
Oklahoma
Even as Oklahoma's economy was roaring thanks to an oil boom, Sarah Dougherty watched in disbelief as the Tulsa elementary school her children attend expanded class sizes and eliminated teachers because costly tax cuts and incentives ate up much of the surplus revenue.
Republican Gov. Mary Fallin and the GOP-led Legislature pushed through the latest cut, a quarter-point reduction in the top income tax rate, two years ago when $100-a-barrel crude buoyed the state's coffers. While the average tax filer will save only about $85 a year under the cut taking effect Jan. 1, it comes at a $147 million price tag to the state.
"It's insanity land," Dougherty said. "It's demoralizing to live here and see that education is not a priority. These are our children and these are our neighbors. They need to make some changes."
Besides the drop in per-pupil spending, the Tourism Department hiked fees at some state parks and state buildings fell further into disrepair.
"We didn't create the proper tax structure to protect us from this type of boom-and-bust cycle," said Rep. Scott Inman, D-Del City. "The Republican-led Legislature just randomly cut different taxes thinking we'd benefit from it."
Oklahoma
T-rump's Name, Image Removed
Dubai
The image and name of American presidential hopeful Donald Trump were gone Friday from parts of a golf course and housing development under construction in Dubai amid the uproar over his comments about banning Muslims from traveling to the United States.
The disappearance of at least some Trump branding from the multi-billion-dollar development on the outskirts of Dubai comes as concerns over his comments grow in the Middle East, a region in which the businessman long has sought money-making opportunities.
On Friday, a prominent advertising billboard showing Trump golfing that had stood at the Akoya development, where the housing and one of the golf courses is being built, was gone. All that remained of it was the board's brown wooden background. Another billboard declaring the development "The Beverly Hills of Dubai" still stood nearby.
Trump's name also appeared to have been pulled off one sign greeting visitors to the complex. The sign, outside a sales office at the site, originally had Trump's name in lettering on a stone wall. But on Friday the letters were littering the ground in front of it.
Dubai
$10 Million
Diamonds
Up to $10 million in diamonds have been reported stolen from a New York jeweler who left them in an unlocked safe, police said on Friday.
The jeweler, Jonathan Birnbaum, reported the diamonds missing from his Manhattan business on Thursday, according to police.
Birnbaum kept the safe unlocked to allow easier access to other gems. The diamonds are worth between $5 million and $10 million.
The diamonds could have been taken anytime between Nov. 24, when he put the precious stones inside the safe, and Tuesday, when he first noticed them missing, police said.
J Birnbaum Inc is located on 47th Street in Manhattan, the heart of the city's diamond district. It specializes in high-end diamonds and has created jewelry worn on red carpets from the Oscars to the Emmys, according to its website.
Diamonds
Runs Amok
Mysterious Buffalo Herd
A mysterious buffalo herd numbering almost 100 has appeared in the Canadian prairie province of Saskatchewan, officials said Friday, 150 years after they were hunted to the brink of extinction.
Police issued a warning to drivers to watch out for the large animals on local highways, while officials in the town of Tisdale, Saskatchewan, 300 kilometers (185 miles) north of the provincial capital Regina, try to sort out what to do with the beasts.
Spokespeople for the police and the town said they have no idea where the animals came from, and it remains unclear if they are domesticated or wild.
There have been a few near misses but no crashes, so far, and one animal rammed a vehicle. The herd has also pushed through fences into barnyards.
A spokesperson for the town said their poundkeeper is considering corralling and relocating the animals, but nobody is sure where to send them if they do manage to round them up.
Mysterious Buffalo Herd
In Memory
Marjorie Lord
Marjorie Lord, who starred as the cheery and supportive wife Kathy Williams on the showbiz-centered hit sitcom Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show, has died. She was 97.
Lord, who joined the comedy in 1957 near the end of its fourth season and stayed through its finish in April 1964, died of natural causes Nov. 28 at her home in Beverly Hills, the Los Angeles Times reported.
She was active during the early days of live TV and guest-starred on such shows as The Lone Ranger, The Adventures of Kit Carson, Ramar of the Jungle and Hopalong Cassidy.
After her 14-year marriage to John Archer ended in divorce in 1955, she starred in the play Anniversary Waltz, produced by Randolph Hale, who in 1958 would became her second husband. Danny Thomas and producer Sheldon Leonard saw her in the play in Los Angeles and signed her to play a nurse for four weeks on Make Room for Daddy. It took just one episode for them to realize they had the next Mrs. Williams.
Lord and Hale opened and ran Valley Music Theater in L.A., but that business went under and he died of lung cancer in 1974.
She was married to L.A. banker Harry Volk, who helped found many cultural institutions in town, including the Music Center, from 1976 until his death in 2000.
Marjorie Lord
In Memory
Rose Siggins
Rose Siggins, the actress who played Legless Suzi on FX's American Horror Story: Freak Show, died Saturday morning in Denver, Co., The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. She was 43.
Siggins' manager, James Mullen, told THR of Siggins' passing and also made an announcement early Saturday on a Go Fund Me page that has been set up for the actress' children. "I'm sad to report that Rose has passed away this morning around 7:30am. All funds raised will now be directed to final expenses and the continuing support of her children," he wrote.
The actress, who did not have legs, appeared as herself on multiple programs, including Ripley's Believe It or Not and Extraordinary People, before her season on Ryan Murphy's AHS as Legless Suzi. According to her IMDb page, Siggins was also filming documentary Schlitzie: One of Us, slated for release in 2016.
Fans were made aware of Siggins declining health Friday through a post on the Rose Siggins Trust page. Mullen told fans: "Rose Siggins is why we're here - an infinitely strong woman who isn't strong enough this time. She, Luke, and Shelby need our help through this tough time. Rose is currently in the hospital and the outlook on her current health is grim. All funds raised will be used for the care of her children Luke and Shelby now. Once a path for care is set it will then be used for recovery, medical, and any other related expenses."
She is survived by her children Luke and Shelby.
Rose Siggins
| CURRENT MOON lunar phases |
