Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly and her new home, NBC, are under fire this week for an interview set to air this Sunday with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Jones has questioned whether the killing of 26 people in 2012 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax. Many argue that giving Jones… Continue reading Should Megyn Kelly’s interview with Alex Jones be pulled?
It was on this day in 1949 that George Orwell’s seminal work, Nineteen Eighty-Four, was first published.
Generations of readers have looked upon 1984 as a dystopian cautionary tale. However, with the elevation of Emperor Trump it feels more like a How To manual.
One doesn’t have to press too many buttons on the Googalizer Machine to find pundits comparing the current regime in the Oval Office with the events in the book. Here’s just a small sample:
Orwell’s “1984” and Trump’s America
Revisiting Orwell’s ‘1984’ in Trump’s America
How ‘1984’ can decode Trump’s first 100 days
Welcome to dystopia – George Orwell experts on Donald Trump
George Orwell’s ‘1984’ is a best-seller again. Here’s why it resonates now
1984 Isn’t the Only Book Enjoying a Revival
Orwell named the book by reversing the last 2 digits of the year in which it was written, giving the year 1984 a resonance it would not have had otherwise. According to the WikiWackyWoo, Nineteen Eighty-Four had been published in 65 different languages by 1989, more than any other English language book.
It’s also a book whose time has come, and gone, and come again.
Everything old is new again.
The Not Now Silly Newsroom
will occasionally republish
stories that originated elsewhere.
“Wonder Woman” and the film’s star, Gal Gadot, have been delivered a taste of the lasso of truth as they’ve entered into non-stop war leading up to the film’s box office debut. After its arrival, many potential viewers are in opposition of the Amazonian warrior’s tale primarily due to Gadot’s nationality. On Friday, June 2, Fox… Continue reading Gal Gadot’s Nationality Is Why ‘Wonder Woman’ Is Being Boycotted
Let’s get something straight off the top: There is no more vile a word in the English language than “nigger”. Full stop.
However, let’s agree — at the very least — that it is a word.
If it’s a word, then you might want to consider that there are just certain times when its use is appropriate and no other word will do. Otherwise, I have a number of objectionable words that maybe we can talk about banning.
I’m a writer. I’m in love with words and language. I hate euphemisms. This awful construct our society has created, “The N-Word”, is an affront to the English language. It takes one of its ugliest words and masks it inside a Disney-friendly jumble of letters. It should come with a happy face.
I’ve wanted to write this essay for a good long time and have pitched it to nearly every editor I’ve had for almost 2 decades. Many years ago I merely told an editor the title of this article (which I had already been writing in my head). We were on the phone, but they blinked so hard I could hear it. After giving them the rough outline, I was told, basically, “Good luck with that.”
Every editor since has said pretty much the same thing.
It’s also worth noting that “The N-Word” is a verbal construct. In print, instead, it’s often rendered as ni**er. Oddly enough, another word rendered this way is fa**ot. It’s like we have a Phony War on the Letter G.
Here’s what triggered the original though in my head so many years ago:
I was watching CNN back in the day when Fox “News” had not yet divided the nation. It had a rainbow panel of people on to talk with the editor of a magazine called “Hebe”, by Jews, for Jews. Her contention was that they were reclaiming the word, much like Queer. It was a very interesting and thoughtful discussion during which I heard the words “spick”, “kike”, “wop”, “chink”, and a few other horrible racial epithets, but all used correctly and within context.
Yet, there was one jarring note in this multicultural discussion.
Whenever anyone on the panel came to a certain word, they stuttered and then said, “The N-Word”. Not a single one of them had a problem with the list of words above. As a young Jew Boy who was called “kike” while I was growing up, I was — somehow — offended and — yes — a little envious of that. Why do only Blacks get their most hated word censored?
On Friday Bill Maher shocked people on the left and the right (who defend racist Ted Nugent) because he made a joke with the word “nigger” in it. I’m not going to defend the joke for two reasons:
In humour, timing is everything. Maher couldn’t have timed his riposte worse considering the political climate of the country right now.
I’ve written about issues of race for years. Was I offended by Maher? No. But, it doesn’t matter whether I was or not because I don’t get to decide what offends other people. Other people get to decide that. Like the NYTs Wesley Morris, who doesn’t seem terribly offended either, calling it something “for the basket labeled ‘Life’s too short.'” Answering his own question in What Was Bill Maher’s Big Mistake?, he writes [emphasis mine]:
[I]ntention is tricky in comedy. Mr. Sasse said something that was, on its face, unsavory. You don’t need much of an imagination to envision Chris Rock, Larry Wilmore or Wanda Sykes taking a whack at that line. ABC’s sitcom “black-ish” exists, partly, to satirize these sorts of conversational bloopers.
But Bill Maher isn’t Chris Rock. He’s not on “black-ish.” He’s a 61-year-old white man who would never get a pass for jesting about slavery or the N-word. (His track record inspires too much doubt to give any benefit.) That’s a license reserved, arguably, for Louis C.K., or Sarah Silverman in her performance-art prime — white comedians who have really grappled with what it means to flirt with racially inflammatory language and ideas, what it means for the flirtation to fail. Mr. Maher’s approach to television doesn’t necessitate that kind of rehearsed rumination. The appeal of “Real Time” is its on-the-spot discourse, its anti-rehearsal. That looseness can tip easily into blurting, flatulence and worse.
The insult to injury here involves the conflation of Mr. Maher’s transgression and the umbrage he feigned at being asked to work in the fields. As my sister might say: Oh, he fancy now. For a long time, black people have deployed slavery-derived hierarchies as a social and psycho-political sorting mechanism. A house assignment might have won a slave less arduous work but more suspicion and contempt from her counterparts in the fields. No one self-identifies as a house Negro — unless that person is making a joke. And even then that person probably shouldn’t be Bill Maher.
C’mon, Mr. Morris. A funny joke would still be a funny joke, no matter who says it. However, sometimes race adds a frisson to a joke that can make us all uncomfortable.
Take Lenny Bruce, please.
I discovered Lenny Bruce in my teenage years through Frank Zappa, who released The Berkeley Concert in 1971 on his Bizarre label. The concert was recorded in 1965 and Bruce had been dead 5 years by the time the record was released. I read his autobiography, How To Talk Dirty and Influence People and began collecting some of the earlier vinyl, which was really hard to find. Lenny Bruce didn’t sell a lot of records. Therefore, there weren’t a lot of Bruce records pressed.
I’m not trying to turn this into a treatise on comedy. To remind you, I’m writing about the word “nigger”. Lenny Bruce had more than one routine in which he invoked the word, but this one stuck with me over the years as an undeniable truth, delivered almost as if it were a Jazz riff:
Imagine that. If “nigger didn’t mean anything anymore, then you could never make some six-year-old black kid cry because somebody called him a nigger at school.” Lenny Bruce paid dearly for creating the world in which George Carlin and Louis C.K. could thrive:
Still, despite Bill Maher making the news this week, I was still on the fence about whether I would ever actually finish this post I began researching decades ago. However, a recent incident made my decision for me:
As I was Lyfting yesterday, I picked up 4 young men in Fort Lauderdale who were going some 35 miles to Sumerset Academy, a charter school down in Pembrook Pines. [Don’t get me started about Charter Schools, but clearly their parents felt they were getting a better education than anywhere else in the Public School System.] When these lads got in they did so with their music playing. I closed my music down, saying, “We got too much music happening.
“Crank it up,” I added. I let them plug in their bass heavy Bluetooth speaker and we drove down US-27 with the music cranked.
Now, I’m from Detroit and never heard the word “nigger” as many times as I did during this drive.
I couldn’t help but think that there are some people who do not consider the word toxic at all. There are some people who only consider it offensive when certain people use it. Here’s when I consider it offensive: When it’s used to offend.
On a related note, I told this story on my facebookery last week:
Had 2 Black gents in their 20s in the car when Al Jolson came on.
They were talking and showed no recognition whatsoever. So I interrupted and asked them, “Have either of you 2 gents heard of Al Jolson?”
After they both said “NO” I gave them an entire History Lesson on Blackface and Minstrel Shows. They were shocked.
They were more shocked to learn that there were Black men who blacked their faces so they could perform in Minstrel Shows.
Then I blew their minds when I explained that the original Whites who performed in blackface were imitating the Black folks’ Cake Walks, which in itself was a parody of White High Society that Black folks were lampooning.
It’s the vast circle of life.
Over the years I’ve bookmarked dozens of articles that avoid using the appropriate word, thereby softening these despicable sentiments. As I was in the process of proofreading this article, prior to hitting the PUBLISH button, I came across another ripped from the latest headlines:
Flint official resigns after
he’s caught on tape blaming
‘f*cking n*****s’ for water crisis
Oh, fer f*ck’s sake!
With the frightening emergence of NeoNazis (hiding behind the euphemism alt-right), we need RESIST the enabler in the White House, not get hung up over a word when used correctly.
On this day 45 years ago The Guess Who set up their equipment on the stage in Seattle, Washington, and performed the music that would eventually be released as “Live at the Paramount.
At this point the band consisted of Burton Cummings, Kurt Winter, Don McDougall, Jim Kale, and Garry Peterson. Randy Bachman left the group almost 2 years to the day earlier, following a show at the Fillmore East on May 16.
According to Ultimate Classic Rock:
The band’s classic lineup wouldn’t reunite for more than a decade and Bachman and Cummings would never write another song together.
Even without their founding guitarist and main songwriter, the Guess Who continued to have success in the early ’70s. The band brought on guitarists Greg Leskiw and Kurt Winter, who took the role of Cummings’ new writing partner. The Guess Who still landed hits on the charts (including “Share the Land,” “Bus Rider” and “Clap for the Wolfman”), albeit to diminishing returns. As hitmakers, the Guess Who were eventually eclipsed by their former bandmate.
In 1971, Bachman formed Brave Belt, which morphed into Bachman-Turner Overdrive.
And in 1974, with “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet,” another one of Bachman’s bands topped the charts.
Live at the Paramount would be Jim Kale’s last with the band.
Please read Me and Jim Kale, about an ill-fated trip to Sudbury Arena.
The original LP consisted of 7 tracks and clocked in at 48:32. For the 2000 CD re-release the music was remixed and padded out with another 6 tunes from the same night, bringing it in at just over an hour 15. ENJOY!!!
Crank it up and CanCon Corner!!!
When it’s Monday Musical Appreciation time, I consult several Day in Musical History sites, choose a topic, and write the post — all before most of my readers are awake.
I take pride in choosing a topic that morning, researching it, choosing tunes and pics that best illustrate that research, and then writing it up. It makes me feel like I’m back in the Citytv Newsroom and given an assignment to write. I like the pressure of it.
All of that is preface to say: I couldn’t choose a single event, person, or band today. Any one of the following could sustain its own stand-alone post. Additionally, the more I researched the date, the more I began to see points of synchronicity. That’s when I decided to wrap it all up in one big bow.
The following all occurred on May 1st:
On this day in 1956 Johnny Cash released “I Walk The Line”, his most recognizable tune. Thirteen years later — when he was a big star with his own tee vee show — he hosted Bob Dylan who sang 2 tunes and then a duet with Johnny Cash on “Girl From the North Country”, a song originally on the LP The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. The duet became the lead off track of Dylan’s Nashville Skyline LP.
On a personal note: This televised performance happened on my birthday and was my entry into Country music. If Dylan could cozy up to Johnny Cash, maybe there is something I was missing. I went out and bought the relatively recent Johnny Cash At Folsom Prison, which I fell in love with. I’ve been a Johnny Cash fan ever since.
BONUS DYLAN:
Elvis was already an up-and-comer when, on this date in 1957, he appeared on the cover of the first issue of 16 Magazine. Many magazine covers would follow.
Ten years later, to the day, he wed 21-year old Priscilla Beaulieu — who he had met while in the Army almost 8 years earlier — in his suite at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. He was 11 years her senior.
The next year, on the same day, Elvis would release “Speedway”, the soundtrack album his latest boring movie of the same name, despite the appearance of Nancy Sinatra. The LP never went any higher than #82 on the Billboard LP charts.
Elvis would only make 4 more movies, none any better.
On this date in 1962, The Beatles began a month long stand at The Star Club, Hamburg, Germany. The Beatles have always pointed to the pressure of having to MAK SHOW under the relentless pressure of playing set after set, night after night, as when they solidified as a band. Listen to how tight they were before Beatlemania struck.
After they hit it big, The Beatles were offered money for licensing rights to everything from Beatles’ Wigs to lunchboxes. On this day in 1964, manager Brian Epstein accepted $140,000 from a bubble gum company to have their pictures inserted into the packages sold in ‘Merka.
Two years later, on this date in 1966, The Beatles gave their last last British at Empire Pool in Wembley, appearing as New Musical Express poll winners. Their performance consisted of “I Feel Fine”, “Nowhere Man”, “Day Tripper”, “If I Needed Someone”, and “I’m Down”.
Who else appeared on this bill? If you were lucky enough to have gotten a ticket, you would have seen The Spencer Davis Group, The Fortunes, Herman’s Hermits, Roy Orbison, The Rolling Stones, The Seekers, The Small Faces, Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, The Who and The Yardbirds.
1968 Paul McCartney and John Lennon watch Bill Haley play Royal Albert Hall in London.
Other items I would have included had I wanted to turn this post into an epic:
In 1930: Little Walter was born.
In 1955 Chuck Berry was signed to Chess Records.
In 1965 Spike Jones dies.
In 1967, Carl Wilson, of The Beach Boys’ is arrested by the F.B.I. for draft evasion.
In 1969, Jimi Hendrix was arrested at Toronto International Airport for drugs and was released on $10,000 bail.
May 1st was an epic day in music.
On this day in 1955: Pérez Prado had a #1 hit with “Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White”.
While almost no one knows his name today, or the name of his biggest hit, this tune is immediately recognizable.
As the Wiki is quick to tell us:
Dámaso Pérez Prado (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈpeɾes ˈpɾaðo]; December 11, 1916 – September 14, 1989) was a Cuban bandleader, singer, organist, pianist and composer, who also made brief appearances in films. He is often referred to as the King of the Mambo.[1][2] He became known and professionally billed as Pérez Prado, his paternal and maternal surnames respectively.
Crank it up and D A N C E ! ! !
The tune was used as a them for the Jane Russell movie Underwater! in which producer Howard Hugues had her running around in a bathing suit for almost the entire move:
A Wiki page about the song itself says:
“Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White” or “Cerezo Rosa” or “Ciliegi Rosa” or “Gummy Mambo”, is the English version of “Cerisiers Roses et Pommiers Blancs”, a popular song with music by Louiguy written in 1950. French lyrics to the song by Jacques Larue and English lyrics by Mack David both exist,[1] and recordings of both have been quite popular. However, Perez Prado‘s recording of the song as an instrumental with his orchestra featuring trumpeter Billy Regis,[1] whose trumpet sound would slide down and up before the melody would resume, was the most popular version in 1955, reaching number one for 10 weeks on the Billboard chart. It became a gold record. Perez had first covered this title for the movie Underwater! (1955), where Jane Russell can be seen dancing to the song.[1] Billboard ranked this version as the No. 1 song of 1955.[2] The most popular vocal version in the U.S. was by Alan Dale, reaching No. 14 on the chart in 1955.[3]
I never even knew the tune had lyrics.
The dumbing down of ‘Merka — followed by the election of Emperor Trump — could not have happened without the Fox “News” Channel’s mendacity, which I’ve been exposing for the last 8 years.
That’s one of the reasons why I watch nearly 28 hours of Fox & Friends every week. It’s the table-setter for an entire day at Fox, releasing hot air-filled memes to see what floats and what sinks.
The other reason is because it’s also a very funny show, if you call 4 hours a day of Reich Wing propaganda funny. And, I do.
Let’s face it: Comedy is subjective, but this daily sitcom trope is HIGH-LARRY-US to me. First, the set up: People only need to be moderately well-informed to see right through the Foxy Friends Daily Dose of Bullshit. Now the punchline: Their brain-dead audience eats it up like it was Percocet. They don’t even know they’re being fed fake news because they are too stupid to care that FAIR & BALANCED is just the beginning of the lies.
That also explains why, when I heard that Fox & Friends Weekend was going to be broadcasting live segments from Benny’s on the Beach in Lake Worth (an hour up the road), I knew I had to be there.
Fox & Friends loves to send one of its people to a diner somewhere in real ‘Merka to show real ‘Merkins endorsing the phony version of real ‘Merka Fox “News” has been feeding it for 2 decades.
You never hear any anti-Trump, or anti-Fox viewpoints at these diners. I decided I would go and be one. Small tangent: There was a time in my life (as a News Writer at Citytv for a decade) that I appeared on tee vee every single day. I wanted to see if I could get on tee vee again and test the 7 second delay at Fox. More importantly, I wanted to see what kind of audience Fox & Friends attracts.
This wouldn’t be the first time I went out of my way to meet a Fox “News” personality. A number of years back I spent most of the day at a book signing, which resulted in the dystopian The Day I Shook Hands With Glenn Beck. Almost exactly 2 years ago I bumped into Campaign Carl Cameron at the Little Marco presidential campaign kickoff. We laughed and laughed and laughed as I introduced myself to him.
When I went to sleep last night I was looking forward to a road trip to Lake Worth first thing in the morning. I had yet to take The Grey Ghost, my new official car of the Not Now Silly Newsroom, on the highway. This seemed like a good time of day to see what she could do. However, when I woke up it was pouring and I almost decided not to go. I’m glad I changed my mind.
The weather only seemed to get worse as I approached Lake Worth.
It was raining hard when I pulled into a parking space and run out to the ticket machine. It doesn’t take bills. I don’t have coins, so I commiserate with the woman getting her ticket and ask her if she can make change for a few bills. She quickly charges my parking onto her credit card and says it’s Sunday and that’s her Godly deed for the day.
I knew I was in Trump Country.The first thing I saw was this crazy car, which I took pictures of from every conceivable angle. As I was doing this I saw Gene Huber getting ready to do a video with some earnest Trumpite [see pic above] when Huber realizes that he’s being posed in front of that monstrosity of a car. He absolutely refuses to allow it as a backdrop, so they have to set up another shot and it’s still pissing down rain.
I knew that Ed Henry was doing these live segments, but I didn’t realize that this event doubled as a book signing until I got there. Henry’s recently published a book about Jackie Robinson called 42 FAITH. The publisher’s page says it’s about “Jackie Robinson, Branch Rickey, and the hidden hand of God that changed history”. That God! Always changing history. Inside the flyleaf it says “God, Baseball, and the decision that integrated the major leagues”. I wish I knew about God’s cameo appearance in the book before I plunked down $20 on it.
I found Ed upstairs when I arrived, doing a very brisk business autographing books (after pocketing $20) and taking selfies with anyone who asked. And a lot of people asked. He was gracious and didn’t turn anyone away. Including me when I asked moments later.
Suddenly a waitress dropped a plate of food right in front of me and Ed Henry sat down to tuck in. I didn’t realize I’d get this close to him this quickly. Seizing the opportunity, I handed him my business card, told him I was his channel’s nemesis, and then asked if he’d take a pic with me. He didn’t hesitate and we took two quick pics together as I explained how long I’ve been writing Fox “News” criticism.
Then I left him alone to eat his breakfast as other people crowded around. I heard someone say that the next live pop would be downstairs, so I went to the Tiki Bar to wait. Having already outed myself as a Fox “News” critic, I knew I had little hope that he’d interview me, so I set myself up opposite the tee vee camera, so it couldn’t miss me, seeing as how I was wearing one of my wildest t-shirts.
A woman asked me if Laura Ingraham was still here. I said I didn’t realize she had been, the woman told me she rushed from home to meet her because she saw her on her tee vee.
Another woman asked me to sign her petition against Sanctuary Cities. I saw her working the crowd before she got to me. People didn’t even read what they were signing. They snatched that pen and clipboard as if that very act would rid the country of immigrants and signed away. When she thrust the clipboard at me I said that I couldn’t sign it anyway because I’m not a citizen. She said that didn’t matter at all, proving how little she knows about the Constitution. Then I added that I’m in favour of Sanctuary Cities.
“Don’t you want people to follow the law? Don’t you want the cities to follow the law?”
As I was about to tell her that a detainer from ICE was not an official arrest warrant and there was no obligation on the part of cities to comply, she moved on to the next signatory.
The wind and rain started to pick up. The Tiki Bar had open sides. Because I had perched myself on the outside wall, to get above everybody else, I was now getting soaked. From my catbird seat I watched the PA hype up the crowd, telling them she wanted a huge round of applause when they go to air. She got them to practice and seemed satisfied that they’d applaud on cue like trained seals.
Gene Huber worked the room, too. People treated him like a Rock Star, approaching and taking selfies with him.
When Ed finished his breakfast he came downstairs and worked the room taking more selfies with people. Then he did a live teaser from the middle of the room and the crowd got to appear enthusiastic.
Then Ed Henry did something that took him down a peg in my book. He yelled “How many here voted for Donald Trump?” The crowd went nuts. Then he asked, “Did anybody vote for Hillary?” There was silence for a beat until a spontaneous chant of “LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP! LOCK HER UP!” started slowly and then picked up steam.
Before Henry did his next live segment from the middle of the room in front of the bar, one of his handlers got people with Trump signs and flags to stand behind the bar. They were totally in the way of Benny’s staff, who could no longer serve through and over the bar. But they didn’t seem to mind. Then this same guy moved to the front to see what else he could do to arrange the shot and Henry yelled, “No staging.”
“Too late,” I yelled back.
This next segment included Gene Huber, a man who tended bar at Trump’s wedding to Melania, and a father and son duo, who I couldn’t hear at all, so I have no idea why they were there. After the segment ended the crowd spontaneously started shouting YEW ESS EH!!! YEW ESS EH!!! YEW ESS EH!!! YEW ESS EH!!! YEW ESS EH!!! YEW ESS EH!!! YEW ESS EH!!! YEW ESS EH!!! YEW ESS EH!!! YEW ESS EH!!!
I shut off my camera before it broke.
Then something rather fortuitous happened.
After this segment ended Ed Henry set up his Book Stand right next to where I was sitting on the wall. I was able to take dozens of candid pics of him signing books and taking selfies with everyone, gracious to everyone who approached. A number of people came up to him that he obviously knew. These people all looked like they had oodles of money. There’s just a South Florida matron look that one comes to recognize.
As he was signing books, I’d lean over and fill him in a little more about my background. As I was leaving and shaking his hand, I said, “In 8 years of writing Fox “News” criticism, I’ve never written about you.”
“That’s good.”
On the drive home I realized I lied. I actually wrote about how he had been suspended from Fox for an extramarital affair and again when he returned to the air.
However, I plan to read Ed Henry’s book and give it the same attention I did to James Rosen’s lying book that covered for Roger Ailes’ and Richard Nixon’s treason during the 1968 election. Oddly enough, it’s not all that different than what Emperor Trump has been accused of.
Top Cat is one of the many cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera, just like Tom & Jerry and The Flintstones, covered elsewhere in these pages.
Top Cat launched a year after The Flintstones debuted and, just like it, Top Cat was not a Saturday morning cartoon. It was originally broadcast on ABC at 8:30PM Wednesdays, sandwiched between The Steve Allen Show and Hawaiian Eye. Its competition was The Joey Bishop Show on NBC and Checkmate on CBS.
Top Cat had 2 major influences along with a host of minor ones. I’ll let the WikiWackyWoo tell you all about that:
Top Cat and his gang were inspired by the East Side Kids, characters from a series of popular 1940s ‘B’ movies, but their more immediate roots lay in The Phil Silvers Show, a late-1950s military comedy whose lead character (Sergeant Bilko, played by Silvers) was a crafty con-man. Maurice Gosfield, who played Private Duane Doberman in The Phil Silvers Show, provided the voice for Benny the Ball in Top Cat, and Benny’s rotund appearance was based on Gosfield’s. Additionally, Arnold Stang‘s vocal characterisation of the lead character, the eponymous Top Cat, was based on an impression of Phil Silvers‘ voice.
Other influences include the movie Guys and Dolls, in which actor Stubby Kaye played a short, stout, streetwise gambler: a virtual Benny the Ball prototype. Lastly, an unlikely contender (as it also came from Hanna Barbera) was the character Hokey Wolf on The Huckleberry Hound Show, whose segment also paralleled The Phil Silvers Show.[2][3]
It’s time for a Top Cat Sing-A-Long.
C’mon, you know all the words.
Top Cat and his gang (like Sgt. Bilko before them) had one money-making scheme after another. They have to avoid Officer Dibble, who is always trying to shut down their scams and rid Hoagy Alley of Top Cat and his gang of grafters once and for all. Rinse and repeat.
Of course, I just loved Top Cat because it was a cartoon and I was merely a 10-year old kid. Little did I suspect there was a much deeper meaning:
Animation historian Christopher P. Lehman says that the series can be seen as social commentary. The cats may represent disenfranchised people confined to living in a poor environment. Top Cat’s get-rich- quick schemes are efforts to escape to a better life. The gang faces a human police officer who frustrates their efforts and keeps them trapped in the alley.[5] This enforcement of the social order by police ensures that the cats will not escape their current living conditions.[5]
Just like the alley outside Trump Tower. But, I digress.
Top Cat was only in prime time for a year. It moved to Saturday mornings, where it played in perpetual reruns for years. In 1988 a full-length made-for-TV cartoon, Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats, which was a remake of the earlier “Missing Heir” and “Golden Fleecing” episodes of the original series. Arnold Stang and Marvin Kaplan (who died last year) reprised their roles from the classic Top Cat. Then came 2011’s Top Cat: The Movie, followed by the CGI effort Top Cat Begins, which was a prequel to the original series. Neither of which did I know about until just now.
It was the original series that captured my attention. Enjoy this Making Of documentary:
I think we can all agree, no matter what side of the political spectrum, that everything Emperor Trump learned about communication, he learned from Twitter.
And, he learned it well:
On Twitter some profiles have words to the effect of “A retweet is not an endorsement”.
I get that. I share stuff all the time I don’t condone. I share it because it’s funny, absurd, hateful, or demonstrative of Reich Wing idiocy. I would hate for people to think I signed onto any of that.
However, I’m not the Twitter President. Everything Emperor Trump retweets is an endorsement of the idea contained therein, unless he specifically debunks it. He doesn’t. SAD!
So, for him to say that he gave no opinion, but read it somewhere or heard it on the Fox “”News” Channel, and is just repeating it is totally DISINGENUOUS!!! It’s laughable on its face. Here’s what he told TIME Magazine:
Q: But I grant you some of those. But you would agree also that some of the things you have said haven’t been true. You say that Ted Cruz’s father was with Lee Harvey Oswald.
A: Well that was in a newspaper. No, no, I like Ted Cruz, he’s a friend of mine. But that was in the newspaper. I wasn’t, I didn’t say that. I was referring to a newspaper. A Ted Cruz article referred to a newspaper story with, had a picture of Ted Cruz, his father, and Lee Harvey Oswald, having breakfast.
Q: That gets close to the heart…
A: Why do you say that I have to apologize? I’m just quoting the newspaper, just like I quoted the judge the other day, Judge Napolitano, I quoted Judge Napolitano, just like I quoted Bret Baier, I mean Bret Baier mentioned the word wiretap. Now he can now deny it, or whatever he is doing, you know. But I watched Bret Baier, and he used that term. I have a lot of respect for Judge Napolitano, and he said that three sources have told him things that would make me right. I don’t know where he has gone with it since then. But I’m quoting highly respected people from highly respected television networks.
Q: But traditionally people in your position in the Oval Office have not said things unless they can verify they are true.
A: Well, I’m not, well, I think, I’m not saying, I’m quoting, Michael, I’m quoting highly respected people and sources from major television networks.
This is not just laughable and disingenuous. It’s also reckless. Emperor Trump knows full well his BRAIN DEAD supporters will believe anything he spews on his Twitter feed. He also knows they will never even see the truth because they only watch the Fox “News” Channel.
