This Date in History - November 7

Happy birthday and post-Election Day, Peter Brady.  Let's look at this date and see all the people that got elected today in the past.

335:  ATHANASIUS IS BANISHED TO TRIER ON THE CHARGE THAT HE PREVENTED A GRAIN FLEET FROM SAILING TO CONSTANTINOPLE.

Okay, the electoral history doesn't start quite yet.  Back then, you changed out leaders by killing them,

680:  THE SIXTH ECUMENICAL COUNCIL COMMENCES IN CONSTANTINOPLE.

I can't believe I typed "Constantinople" twice already.

1619:  ELIZABETH OF SCOTLAND AND ENGLAND IS CROWNED QUEEN OF BOHEMIA.

Since Constantinople was unavailable....

1775:  JOHN MURRAY, THE ROYAL GOVERNOR OF THE COLONY OF VIRGINIA, STARTS THE FIRST MASS EMANCIPATION OF SLAVES IN NORTH AMERICA BY ISSUING LORD DUNMORE'S OFFER OF EMANCIPATION. 

That's a lot of typing just to say, "Chains are off.  Go!"

1786:  THE OLDEST MUSICAL ORGANIZATION IN THE UNITED STATES IS FOUNDED AS THE STOUGHTON MUSICAL SOCIETY.

And, gee, I thought the oldest was the Lennon Sisters.

1811:  THE BATTLE OF TIPPECANOE IS FOUGHT IN INDIANA.

And Tyler, too?

1837:  IN ALTON, ILLINOIS, ABOLITIONIST PRINTER ELIJAH P. LOVEJOY IS SHOT DEAD BY A MOB WHILE ATTEMPTING TO PROTECT HIS PRINT SHOP.

#OccupyAlton.

1861:  IN BELMONT, MISSOURI, UNION FORCES LED BY GENERAL ULYSSES S. GRANT OVERRUN A CONFEDERATE CAMP BUT ARE THEN FORCED TO RETREAT WHEN CONFEDERATE REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE.

And so the Civil War starts to kick into overdrive.

1874:  A CARTOON BY THOMAS NAST IN HARPER'S WEEKLY IS CONSIDERED THE FIRST IMPORTANT USE OF AN ELEPHANT AS A SYMBOL FOR THE UNITED STATES REPUBLICAN PARTY.

So when does the jackass first used for the Democrats?  Oh, wait, Joe Biden hasn't been born yet.

1893:  WOMEN IN THE US STATE OF COLORADO ARE GRANTED THE RIGHT TO VOTE.

Except it's probably too damn cold to go to the polling place.

1907:  JESUS GARCIA SAVES THE ENTIRE TOWN OF NACOZARI DE GARCIA, SONORA BY DRIVING A BURNING TRAIN FULL OF DYNAMITE SIX KILOMETERS AWAY BEFORE IT CAN EXPLORE.

Sounds like the logline for a new Stallone movie.

1908:  BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID ARE KILLED IN BOLIVIA.

"Raindrops keep falling on....OUCH!!"

1913:  WRITER ALBERT CAMUS IS BORN.

I love his soap.

1916:  JEANNETTE RANKIN IS THE FIRST WOMAN ELECTED TO THE US CONGRESS.

Okay, we're gonna need to build a ladies room.

1918:  EVANGELIST BILLY GRAHAM IS BORN.

The original Cracker.

1918:  THE 1918 INFLUENZA EPIDEMIC SPREADS TO SAMOA, KILLING 7,542. 

Poor Samoa.  Who's gonna buy all those Girl Scout cookies?

1921:  THE NATIONAL FASCIST PARTY COMES INTO EXISTENCE. 

Those who want to make a Republican joke, please form a line on the right.  Those who want to make a Democrat joke, please form a line on the left.

1922:  MUSICIAN AL HIRT IS BORN.

His best tune?  "The Theme to the Green Hornet."

1933:  FIORELLO LAGUARDIA IS ELECTED THE 99TH MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY. 

My grandfather used to read the comics to me.  But he was never elected NYC Mayor.

1938:  BASEBALL STAR JIM KAAT IS BORN.

Out of the bag.

1940:  IN TACOMA, WASHINGTON, THE TACOMA NARROWS BRIDGE COLLAPSES IN A WINDSTORM, FOUR MONTHS AFTER THE BRIDGE'S COMPLETION.

That's the last time we use papier mache instead of cement.

1943:  SINGER JONI MITCHELL IS BORN.

Dirty hippie.

1944:  PRESIDENT FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT ELECTED FOR A RECORD FOURTH TERM.

Yo, Franklin, it ain't a Civil Service job.  Give somebody else a chance.

1957:  ACTOR CHRISTOPHER KNIGHT IS BORN.

I wonder if he finally made it past puberty.

1962:  ELEANOR ROOSEVELT DIES.

Damn, she was ugly.

1967:  CARL B. STOKES IS ELECTED AS MAYOR OF CLEVELAND, OHIO, BECOMING THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN MAYOR OF A MAJOR CITY.

Back then, we still said he was Black.

1967:  US PRESIDENT LYNDON B. JOHNSON ESTABLISHES THE CORPORATION FOR PUBLIC BROADCASTING.

Julia Child and Big Bird thank you.

1978:  BOXER GENE TUNNEY  DIES.

The last time he forgot to duck.

1980:  ACTOR STEVE MCQUEEN DIES.

This last escape was really, really great.

1983:  A BOMB EXPLODES INSIDE THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL.  NO PEOPLE ARE HARMED.

Although lots of long lunches were cancelled.

1989:  DAVID DINKINS BECOMES THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN TO BE ELECTED MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY.

A big idiot.  This is a black day in NYC history.  No pun intended.

1991:  MAGIC JOHNSON ANNOUNCES THAT HE IS INFECTED WITH HIV AND RETIRES FROM THE NBA.

Over twenty years later, he is one of the Dodgers owners, so this was no death sentence.

1992:  ACTOR JACK KELLY DIES.

The Maverick brother nobody remembers.

2000:  HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON IS ELECTED TO THE US SENATE, BECOMING THE FIRST FORMER FIRST LADY TO WIN PUBLIC OFFICE.

And plans to be President by 2009.  Oh, wait,....   And then plans to be President in 2017.  Oh, wait...

2000:  GEORGE W. BUSH "DEFEATS" AL GORE TO BECOME US PRESIDENT.

Proof positive that the simple task of conducting a democratic election can get fucked up in this country.

2001:  SABENA, THE NATIONAL AIRLINE OF BELGUIM, GOES BANKRUPT.

Wasn't that the teenage witch?

2004:  ACTOR HOWARD KEEL DIES.

Clayton Farlow on Dallas! 

2006:  BASEBALL PITCHER JOHNNY SAIN DIES.

...and two days of rain.

2011:  BOXER JOE FRAZIER DIES.

Not the same guy who once managed the Mets.

2016:  JANET RENO DIES.

Divorced...from life.

2017:  BASEBALL PITCHER ROY HALLADAY DIES IN A PLANE CRASH.

His best John Denver impersonation.

Dinner last night:  Chinese beef with glazed carrots and Brussels sprouts.

It's Election Day and....

Dinner last night:  Travel day....airline snacks.

Monday Morning Video Laugh - November 5, 2018

It's Election Day Eve.  Let's get those reporters out in the field.

Dinner last night:  Leftover sausage and peppers.

The Sunday Memory Drawer - My Election Day in the Journalistic Bunker

No, I never worked for CNN.  Thank God.  I mean, if you want to be a journalist, you couldn't possibly work there on Election Day or any other day.

Yet, there was one Election Day I did "report."  At one point in my college radio career, I made a brief and ultimately doomed attempt at being a news reporter out in the field.  This was back in the day when technology had not yet taken hold of the industry.  There were no satellite dishes on top of trucks or elaborate hand-held cameras.  

Nope, we had a tape recorder.  A pencil.  And you hoped that you had plenty of dimes to call in your story from the nearest phone booth.

This was the case at Fordham University's WFUV-FM, 90.7, 50,000 watts broadcasting from Keating Hall on the Bronx campus.

I had yet to figure out exactly what I was really good at in the broadcasting world.  I had tried doing play-by-play sports.  Those airchecks are now contained in a book called "How Not to Do Play-By-Play Sports."  I hated the sound of my voice but folks at the radio station convinced me that I didn't sound that bad so I did get to do some air work on the evening news which aired every night at 530PM.

"Tonight, temperatures should drop into the 40s with a 20 percent chance of some rain."

Invariably, I would stumble and the temperatures would drop into the 20s with a 40 percent chance of some grain.  I had yet to develop the muscles that connected my mouth to my brain.  But, there were folks in charge at the station that kept encouraging me, which likely discouraged most of the WFUV listening audience.  One of my earliest supporters there was an assistant news director named George Latimer and people residing in Westchester, New York know he has enjoyed a long, long career as a politician in that county.  If people realized he was the one who gave me my first start in broadcasting, he just might lose his current bid for re-election.

Nevertheless, there was one Election night where the new station news director had some really ambitious plans.  Just like the journalists for famous all-news radio outlets in town like WCBS-AM and WINS-AM, WFUV reporters would fan out across the city covering that evening's electoral contests.  Well, fan out across the Bronx.   Since there were so many different places to cover, we needed a lot of staff that night.  And that's how even I wound up with a field assignment.

I would be stationed in the campaign headquarters and hopeful victory party for then Bronx County Borough President Robert Abrams.  I got lucky.  His campaign was housed about two blocks away from the campus.  On top of the building where you could find the Sears Department Store on the corner of Fordham Road and Webster Avenue.

So, I would be ready for this challenge.  And scared as shit.  But, I would be at least look professional.  I got into the blue double-breasted blazer that I wore to church service every Sunday.  I hitched up a tie.  Okay, my grandmother tied it for me.  And off I went.  Gabe Pressman Jr..

I was entrusted with one of the station's Sony tape recorders.  The assignment was reasonably simple.  I would hang out at the Abrams headquarters.  When there was news, like his expected re-election, I would record my thoughts and then find a telephone.  I'd call the studio engineer and then play my report.  A few minutes later, they would run it on the air.  Of course, there was also the chance that I might phone in and, if it was really big news, they would put me on the air live.

Live.

Gasp.

I'd deal with that dilemma later.  I secretly prayed that Robert Abrams' re-election headquarters was the dullest place in all of New York City that night.

They had cleared press credentials for me, so I was easily and eagerly ushered into a meeting room just above the home appliance department at Sears.  The room was full of supporters and campaign workers.  I was mesmerized by the hustle and bustle of it all.  And amazed by the amount of food that was laid out for all.

And bowls of sangria.

Now, Fordham journalism professors had lectured all of us would-be Roger Mudds that you didn't go out in the field to enjoy free food.  That was no issue for me this night.  I was not hungry.

But I sure was hot.  It was an unusually warm and muggy November night.  I could have reason to go on the air at a moment's notice. 

Live.

Gasp.

My throat started to constrict.  There was a dryness that only Peter O'Toole had endured while making "Lawrence of Arabia."  I needed liquid.

Just a little sangria.

That did the trick.  I felt better.

Meanwhile, it sure was dull being at the campaign headquarters of a landslide winner.  Nothing much was happening.  As soon as they would confirm his victory, I would write up a quick summary on my note pad, record it on the Sony cassette recorder, and phone it in.  All I had to do was wait.  And sweat.

And just a little more sangria.

It would be another two hours before anything meaningful happened.  Which amounted to a full 120 minutes of...

Just a little more sangria.

Finally, victory for Abrams was proclaimed.  His supporters were jubilant.

I was snockered.

And ready to go on the air. 

Suddenly, I had no clue what I was doing.   I wrote up some sort of summary that passed as breaking news.  And then looked for a phone booth.  Ages before cell phones, the only one I could find was in a deserted hallway.  Next to a window with a fire escape. 

This would be my office.  As unfocused and shitfaced as I was.

Of course, sitting on the window sill and trying to juggle the microphone of the tape recorder, I looked like Jerry Lewis trying to carry luggage in "The Bellboy."  Naturally, something would be dropped at some point.

And that's when my notepad fell out the window.

Uh, oh.

I would have to call the studio and do it live.  

Gasp.

And hiccup.

I remember little of what I said on the air that night.  The memory of it all disappearing in a sangria haze.  But, I do recall the anchor back at the studio was pretty annoying asking me a lot of questions.   What the hell does he think I am?  A reporter?

"So, Len, you're at Robert Abrams' headquarters and he was victorious tonight?"

I screamed my response.

"ROBERT ABRAMS!!!!   YEAH!!!!!!!!!!"

That would be my mantra the entire two minutes I was on the air.  Which was mercifully cut short by a telephone operator.

"Please deposit forty cents for the next three minutes."

I didn't have another forty cents.  And, for that, the New York City radio audience was rescued from the clutches of one inept and inebriated college journalist.

I would move onto other things at WFUV.  The very next morning.

Dinner last night:  Sausage, peppers, and onions at Carlo's.

Classic TV Commercial of the Month - November 2018

With Election Day upon us, let's hope the phony fake news campaign ads stop soon.   Remember this gem that sunk Barry Goldwater?

Dinner last night:  Pizza.

The Mugs of November - Special Election Day Edition

 John Edwards.   Slimeball.

 Remember this Congressman?

 That scumbag from Chicago Rod Blagojevich.

 Clinton Adviser Sidney Blumenthal.

Needs no introduction.

 The Watergate Lord of the Rings trilogy...John Mitchell.

 John Ehrlichman.

 H.R. Haldeman.

Texas' finest Rick Perry.

We can dream, can't we?

Dinner last night:  Shrimp and chicken gumbo at the Cheesecake Factory.

Morons of the Month - November 2018

November 1.   Why wait to nominate our monthly morons?   Even though we will elect a whole bunch of new ones next Tuesday.

The genesis of this post was a drive I took back from Dodger Stadium during one of the latest post season games.   We chose to take surface streets home and this takes you through parts of Los Angeles better left undriven.

The photo above captures the scenery perfectly.   Rows and rows of homeless tents.  The resulting garbage lining the streets and curbs.   It looked very much like photos I used to see of the Great Depression back in the 1920s.

Sadly, California has become a shit hole.   Yes, I know this is a Trumpism but it fits.  I also realize that this is a common sight amongst most urban areas in 2018.   But, since I live in Los Angeles, I will focus on the dodos who run this place.  Take, for instance...

The rich frat boy LA Mayor Eric Garcetti.   Most people say he has been largely a failure because...well...see photo above for one example.   He largely doesn't deal with poverty because he has no clue what it is.   He went to Harvard-Westlake where the annual tuition is probably close to two million dollars.  Plus his dad was equally incompetent, based on his stellar work getting murderer OJ Simpson convicted.

So, with bums lining the downtown area and spreading the typhus disease, where is His Honor?   Well, not in town on the weekends.  He is in states far away stumping for candidates of the upcoming Blue Wave.  Plus he has Presidential aspirations, too.

God help us.

Then there's the California senator Kamala Harris.   She's equally appalled by the homeless condition in the Golden State.   So much so that she, too, has been spending her days all over the country pushing the aforementioned Blue Wave.

Oh, and she has Presidential aspirations, too.

God help us V.2.

Of course, the degradation of California pretty much came under the watchful eye of Governor Jerry "Moonbeam" Brown.   Think about those hordes of homeless people and please think about what political party has pretty much controlled the state all these years.   Yep, the same one that has wrecked New York and Chicago as well.  

Now, a blog piece on incompetent California politicians would not be complete without perennial moron Representative Maxine Waters.  Impeach Trump!  Impeach Trump!  Impeach Trump!  She is stomping all over the United States with this chant.  Meanwhile, her Congressional district here (where she does not live, by the way) is a dump.   And her office is well known for profiling those calling in for help.   It is a well-known fact that Waters' staff pretty much ignores you if your last name ends with a vowel or a "Z."  Check out You Tube for some hilarious videos of citizens calling into Maxine's office for assistance.  This old bitch is a disgrace.

But so are all the politicians in America.  Those elected and those still to be installed into office.   Look around you.  It's not just Los Angeles and California that are dying.

The four murderers above are just one example of why your state and country is going down for the fourth flush.

Dinner last night:  Bratwurst at the Tap House in Tuckahoe.