HISTORY DOES REPEAT ITSELF

If you are a true patriot, a news junkie, interested in "America First", a student of American History or about 80 years old, you should understand the importance of Rachel Maddow's podcast titled "ULTRA".  Listen to it here. 

WHEN ALL SENSE IS LOST, IT'S TIME TO LAUGH

 

MEET A MASS MURDERER IN TRAINING

AP Top News
U.S. News

California man avoids prison after 2021 attack on tortoise

Michelangelo, the 70-year-old African tortoise and San Jose preschool pet, wanders around at ARCHVET Animal Hospital in San Jose, Calif., Sunday, Jan. 31, 2021, following surgery the day before after being beaten and stabbed by an assailant. On Friday, Dec. 16, 2022, a judge sentenced the assailant to two years of probation and mandatory mental health and substance abuse treatment, according to The San Jose Mercury News. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group via AP)

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A Northern California man avoided prison time Friday after he drunkenly trespassed at a preschool last year and attacked a pet tortoise named Michelangelo, The San Jose Mercury News reported.

The 42-year-old man was also linked to other break-ins at the East San Jose school, and stole thousands of dollars of items in the days before and after the attack on Michelangelo, a decades-old African sulcata, in January 2021.

The school's owner discovered Michelangelo bleeding last year after the attack, impaled in the shell with 6-inch (15-centimeter) shards from a wooden garden gate post. The man had also shoved a rake handle between the animal’s head and leg and broke flood lamps and put the shattered glass on the tortoise’s back, The Mercury News reported.

A judge sentenced the man Friday to two years of probation and mandatory mental health and substance abuse treatment. He had pleaded no contest to charges of animal abuse, commercial burglary and vandalism earlier this year, the newspaper reported.

The man is now also banned from having any animals for 10 years. His public defender said his client’s behavior against the tortoise was the result of excessive intoxication, rather than animal cruelty, the newspaper wrote.

The preschool did not return the newspaper's request for comment Friday.

BARBARA WALTERS (SEPT 1929 - DEC 2022)

When I thought about it, I knew in my gut that Barbara Walters was getting on in age but -- like most of you -- I was still both surprised and saddened to read of her passing on Dec 30th at age 93. 

It recalled memories from ~40 yrs ago when I was directing  "20/20" -- before Barbara arrived on the scene to share hosting duties with the gentlemanly Hugh Downs. That was after she was hired away from NBC News at the princely sum of $1,000,000 (unheard of) to anchor the ABC evening news with Harry Reasoner. That didn't go well. So 20/20 inherited Barbara; the Queen Bee arrived and life changed.

 

New office arrangements had to be made, bla, bla, bla and so forth and so on & Hugh had to make a few adjustments.

 

I had the "pleasure" of working with Ms. Walters a few times during my time on "20/20" but the one I remember most was her interview with Richard Nixon. Nixon had agreed to an interview, but only if it was live. He didn't want anyone editing his words. No problem for me as I had come off of Good Morning America and was used to going live but the "20/20" staff was not as sanguine about the idea. Naturally tensions were higher as "20/20" was really a recorded magazine type program.

 

A separate area of our set was arranged for the one-on-one interview, lighting and camera shots were set. We timed moving cameras from the "20/20" positions to the interview area; no need for more cameras (cameras were made to move, after all). And so 20/20 went on the air, live with Hugh at the anchor spot; Barbara & Tricky Dickey nowhere in sight. The change over occurred during a commercial break (usually 60 seconds, maybe 120 seconds; I don't remember) but everything worked smoothly & everyone was in position, lit, miked and ready to go.

 

Now we all know Barbara had this knack of asking pointed questions, sweetly but pointed....like a javelin to the heart. Barbara to Monica Lewinsky: 'What do you think you will tell your children? Lewinsky: That mommie made a big mistake.' You get the idea. So, in the back of my brain, I wondered what Barbara was going to do with Nixon.

 

Demanding that an interview go live is a two edged sword much like a taped interview but different. A taped interview is honed down by a producer, frequently overseen by a lawyer. That could be good or bad. On the other hand, a live event airs.....well.... live with few controls. Remember Geraldo Rivera's prime time hunt for Al Capone's safe?

 

As usual, Barbara had done her meticulous research and the interview started off pleasantly enough. Nixon was stiff..... as usual... and a bit arrogant... as usual.... and Barbara asked some good but relatively innocuous policy questions (for her) to soften him up, to make him feel like he had this but you just knew that Watergate had to come up. But when? 

 

By the first commercial break, the questions became more personal and that trend continued through the 2nd break. By the final segment, Nixon was somewhat uncomfortable, fidgety & a bit  argumentative but Barbara smoothed the waters.

 

But at 58:00 minutes into the 58:30 minute interview, she pounced. Barbara: "Are you sorry you didn't burn the tapes?" … "If  you had it to do all over again, you would have burned them?" Nixon: "Yes". And so the interview and the hour-long program ended. Guess what everyone remembers? Boom! Talk about a mike drop. That was the magic of Barbara Walters.

 

Link to Nixon Interview