Monthly Archives: May 2017

A wading pool full of elephants…

A man attending the Phoenix Comicon last week was apprehended and found to be armed with four loaded (real) guns, (real) ammunition and a (real) knife. Police had received a tip after the man bragged on Facebook of his intention to (really) kill a number of (real) police officers.

The convention has now announced that henceforth, it shall ban all costume prop weapons, including swords, sabers and fake guns. As reported here, a lot of people are outraged, saying that those props are an integral part of their costumes. They will boycott, protest, demand refunds, etc., and take their light sabers elsewhere.

I don't have a lot of feeling about this matter but to those debating it, I'd like to toss out two points — one perhaps trivial, one not. We'll start with the trivial one…

1. Based on my own, non-scientific observations at conventions, I'd say more than 95% of the cosplayers and very nice and responsible and their cosplaying is fun and entertaining and sometimes beautiful. But a couple of percent of them are real pains and sometimes dangerous. A few of them think that if someone says, "Hey, can I get a photo of you?," they have an inalienable right to pose anywhere they want, blocking aisles, getting in others' way, swinging their swords or weaponry without worrying about who they might gouge or stick. It's been years since I've been to a con and not seen one of them stab someone — occasionally, me — or knock over a small child (I mean that literally) because nothing matters to them besides posing. If a serious injury to someone hasn't happened yet, it's only a matter of time…and it's relevant to this discussion.
2. Here's the non-trivial one: The man who apparently wanted to open fire on the premises with real ammo was only caught because he'd been reckless enough to post his mission on Facebook. If he hadn't, there might have been actual shots fired in that convention center. And if that had happened, the discussion about banning ray-guns and Star Wars scimitars would be a very different debate. Yeah, it's never happened but this close is too close.

Like I said, I don't really know what I would do if it were up to me. I think it's a shame for all the responsible cosplayers to have their acts diminished. It would be a bigger shame by an incalculable magnitude if someone got shot. I'm glad I don't have to decide what to do about this.

The last one of these was a while ago. In it, I told a story about a girl I knew back at Westwood Elementary School, a girl I'm calling Pauline Binder. You can read it here if you haven't read it already…but you don't have to. All you need to know is that Pauline was a girl who got picked-upon a lot — we might now call it "bullying" in some ways — and I even joined in on it for a while before I grew up a little, stopped, and got most of the other kids to stop. Pauline was most grateful.

Pauline and I had a certain rapport because we'd both been skipped ahead a couple of grades in school. This meant that we were both pointed at by others and identified as the youngest kids in our classes and probably the smartest. I don't think anyone but the two of us knew this but she was smarter than I was. Waaay smarter. She'd been skipped ahead because she'd demonstrated superiority to her classmates in English, Arithmetic, History and Foreign Languages.

With me, it was just English. I was skipped because I was proficient in that and only that. My skills in the other areas were probably average for my age…and that wasn't good enough when you were expected to be Class Brain and also when you'd missed certain grades.

She moved from Westwood Elementary to Emerson Junior High the same time as I did and then it was on to University High. We stayed friends, though with decreasing proximity. I didn't think much about it then but looking back, I think it had something to do with how the way boys and girls relate to one another changes in early teen years. When you're in single digits, age-wise, girls are just like boys with different interests…and maybe in most instances, they're not as strong or suited for rougher sports and games.

At least, that's what it was like when I was growing up. Maybe it's changed. Before my teen years, I probably had more female playmates than male. Where we lived, most of the kids my age happened to be girls. Since I wasn't that interested in sports, we got along fine. The main difference between the girls I knew at age 10 and the boys is that the girls were mostly curious to explore the differences in our respective anatomies. Sadly, when I hit the age when that would have begun to be real fun, they stopped suggesting it.

That was the age when we began to regard the opposite sex as The Opposite Sex, and we all had to begin dealing with our attraction (or lack of attraction) to its members and with those members' attaction (or lack of attraction) to us. I was still some years from dating but the girls around me at school were becoming potential dating candidates, and of course it mattered to me in a different way if they did or didn't like me.

It was 1967 or 1968 when a bad thing happened to Pauline. We were both 13 and since we'd skipped grades, at least a year younger than our classmates. I was starting to get along in a schoolyard flirtatious way with girls…not all girls, of course, but enough. My mind was crammed with jokes from TV shows, records and comic books and I could often summon one up at a propitious moment. I could also draw cartoons that were kinda impressive for my age.

One reason Pauline and I weren't close friends is that she didn't have any close friends. And one reason she didn't have any close friends is that she could be pretty obnoxious. To talk to her was to hear that you were wrong about this, wrong about that, wrong about everything. In class, she'd interrupt anyone — teachers, included — to point out the teensiest error.

She was also not diplomatic when she did this. In life, you need to learn how to correct someone without implying you think they're a blithering idiot. Pauline knew a lot but she sure didn't know how to do that.

And she was unattractive, which back in the sixties was maybe the worst thing you could be if you were a sixteen-year-old girl. Thinking back, I believe she could have been with a better choice of hairstyle, wardrobe, glasses and (especially) expression on her face. But the hair and wardrobe were drab, the glasses were huge, and she always looked like she was appalled at all the stupidity around her. I have no memories of her ever smiling, not even when I got the bullies to stop bullying her, and she had zero sense of humor.

In gym class back then, there was a lot of what the esteemed Mr. Trump has called "locker room talk." We were in our mid-teens, all or almost all virgins and very, very horny. One day, Neal Fordham was ticking off his list of the ten hottest girls on campus and he said, "I'd do any one of them in a flash." I made some smartass comment about how if he did "do" any of them, it would be over in a flash (ha ha) and added, "There isn't a woman alive under the age of 60 that you wouldn't 'do'" and that got a big laugh also from the guys around us.

Then one of them said, "Yeah, except Pauline Binder!" And he got a much bigger laugh than the two of mine put together.

I doubt Pauline ever heard that remark but I'm sure she was aware that no guy on campus was the least bit interested in her. I had been nicer to her than anyone else but as she got older, she got more strident in correcting others and she trapped in a circle of great viciousness: She was angrier and angrier than no one liked her…and no one liked her because she was always so damned angry.

One day, she decided to do something about it and, of course, this lady who was so very, very smart about so many things was absolutely wrong in what she did.

There was girl in our class named Cady who was a person of stunning beauty. She was cute. She was popular. She was at the very top of Neal Fordham's Top Ten List and everyone else's. In other words, she was the direct opposite of Pauline.

Cady had a very distinctive way of dressing which emphasized the key points of what sexist guys would call a "dynamite bod." That's them saying that, not me. One day, Pauline came to school dressed like Cady.

I guess she finally got fed up with everyone treating her as they did and she looked at Cady, who was everything she was not, and thought, "That's how to do it." I'm engaged in a lot of assuming here but I also assume I'm right. Cady was actually doing some modeling work at that age, including a bikinied layout in a surfing magazine that many a student raced to buy when we heard about it. Somewhere in storage, I may still have mine.

There was a clothed layout of her in some other magazine that had her dressed pretty much as she dressed for school. I assume — again with the assumptions! — that Pauline got a copy of it, then went to her mother or someone and said, "That's how I want to dress from now on." The first day back from Christmas vacation, that's how Pauline showed up for class: Dressed like Cady.

I'm not sure I can express to you how utterly, chillingly wrong this looked. First of all, it practically screamed, "I am desperate for someone to find me attractive!" Secondly, it looked like she was entering a Cady look-alike contest…but she didn't have the face or figure to go with the outfit. Imagine a grossly obese person becoming an Elvis impersonator. The outfit might be perfect but the person doesn't match the outfit.

Thirdly — and this was the worst of it — she still had that scowl on her face. She hadn't grasped that Cady's smile was a big part of her appeal. Pauline still looked like he was hating us for hating her.

Between second and third periods at Uni Hi, there was a little fifteen minute interval called Nutrition during which many students would grab a snack to tide them over until lunch. This day, no snacks were grabbed. This day, it spread all over campus: Come see Pauline Binder! You won't believe how ridiculous she looks!

She was in my second period class and we both stayed a bit after to talk to the teacher about something. As we went out into the corridor, there was a mob of students out there waiting for her, some shoving others aside to get a good look…and to laugh. They all howled with laughter and they were not laughing with Pauline. They were laughing at Pauline and telling her how stupid she was to dress like that. Some of them, having been the victims of her condescending corrections, were probably just giving back what she'd given them for years.

I cannot recall ever seeing another human being in so much non-physical pain. Pauline began crying and yelling and trembling and began screaming over and over, at no one in particular, "WHY DO YOU ALL HATE ME? WHY DO YOU ALL HATE ME?" One student, who couldn't have made things worse if he'd lobbed a brick at her face, yelled back, "Because you're an ugly, mean cunt!"

Around then, a teacher waded into the fray, waved for the taunting to cease, and put an arm around Pauline, who was sobbing uncontrollably and saying over and over, now in bewilderment instead of agony, "Why do they all hate me? Why do they all hate me?" It suddenly stopped being funny, not that it ever was to some of us.

The teacher led Pauline away. There was a moment of shocked silence in the corridor and someone — I wish it had been me — said to guy who'd yelled the "cunt" insult, "You've got to be real proud of yourself, asshole." And then the mob dissipated and we all headed for wherever we were supposed to be for third period.

I never saw Pauline again. I assume she transferred to another school, though now that I think of it, maybe they gave her some form of early graduation. She was certainly smart enough to not need another moment on that campus.

She was instantly forgotten. I'm still in touch with a number of my classmates from the sixties and some of them read this blog. When I wrote the earlier piece of Pauline, a few wrote to say they didn't remember her at all. But one lady who'd witnessed the scene that day in the hall recalled it vividly and wrote, "You have to write about that," which I'd already intended to do. I have just written about that.

I'm quite sure I learned as much from Pauline's bit of self-destruction as I did from all the attending of classes at that school. The lesson is not something as simple and banal as "Be Yourself" but I'll be darned if I can figure out what it is.

Here's the a cappella group Voctave with an impressive movie medley…

Hey, are you aware that a jury has been selected for the trial of Bill Cosby and that opening arguments are scheduled for June 5th? Doesn't it seem like a few decades ago that the allegation that Bill Cosby was drugging and raping women was the biggest news story in the country? Now instead, it's each day's new reason why Donald Trump would be impeached if he was a Democratic President.

It looked like trial of Cos would be another Trial of the Century — we seem to get one about every twenty years — but now, we all have more important things to think about. Besides, all the reporters are busy being body-slammed by angry candidates or fighting back in The War on the Media, which really isn't a War on the Media. It's more like a War Against People Who Tell You Things You Don't Want To Believe Are True. Everyone seems to be fine with reporters who confirm their fantasies. Here are some who may or may not confirm yours…

• It used to be that "tough guy" Republicans like Trump, Cruz and Huckabee said that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama could not possibly fight "Radical Islamic Terrorism" because they would not use that three-word phrase. That refusal proved they weren't serious, weren't strong enough, didn't understand the problem and were utterly unqualified for office. Well, guess what three-word phrase Trump no longer uses as president. William Saletan has more.
• Matt Yglesias explains why there's no possible way for Republicans to "fix" health care in a manner that would be acceptable to most voters.
• Paul Ryan says "We want everybody who doesn't get health care from either Medicare or Medicaid or from their job, about 11% of Americans, we want them, too, to get access to affordable health care." Jonathan Chait says that's a flat-out lie and notes that nothing Ryan has ever proposed would do that and his proposals would in fact take us in the opposite direction.
• Trump used to be utterly pro-choice. What changed him? I suspect it was a realization that the "pro-life" people could be mobilized to his advantage…and nothing else. As Bridgette Dunlap reports, his administration is doing all that it can to make it difficult and expensive for a woman to obtain a safe abortion. Trying to convince women not to have them hasn't worked so well so this is the new approach.

Frank Rich recently interviewed Stephen Colbert, who (you'll be shocked to hear) did not have nice things to say about Mr. Trump. You can read about them here.

I meant to post this a week or so ago, when it was exactly twenty-five years to the day that Johnny Carson did his final broadcast of The Tonight Show.

That last one was among the most-watched TV programs ever and yet a lot of people thought Johnny, when he signed off, was pointedly signing off from any future public appearances. A friend of mine used to insist, before I showed him the tape, that Johnny did not say the lines I've highlighted below…

And so it has come to this: I, uh… am one of the lucky people in the world; I found something I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it. I want to thank the people who've shared this stage with me for thirty years. Mr. Ed McMahon, Mr. Doc Severinsen, and you people watching. I can only tell you that it has been an honor and a privilege to come into your homes all these years and entertain you. And I hope when I find something that I want to do and I think you would like and come back, that you'll be as gracious in inviting me into your home as you have been. I bid you a very heartfelt good night.

But say them, he did…and not long after that night, he began looking for that "something I want to do" to the point of developing scripts for TV specials and a few other things. He kept deciding that each plan was a step down and/or a risk of his reputation. His producer Peter Lassally also once told me that Johnny was enjoying not being on TV…

He liked being able to read a book because he wanted to read it, not because its author was an upcoming guest. He liked being able to talk to people without them trying to impress him as potential guests. He liked being able to watch the news without having to constantly think, "What can I say about this in the monologue?"

Most of all, another of his associates told me, he liked that he was free to travel without the show anchoring him down to a schedule. Not long after his last broadcast, Johnny and his wife went to Europe with no itinerary. I believe they started in London and the idea behind the trip was "We'll stay here as long as we want and then we'll decide where to go next."  You can do that when you have his kind of money. That had not been possible when he had to be back behind the desk in two weeks. He also loved that his vacation was a vacation and he didn't have to keep talking to the office about the business of the show and whether he'd be doing Aunt Blabby on Tuesday of his return week or Wednesday.

Johnny, I suspect, had a healthier ego than most of the top comedians of his era. Some of them could not have coped with not being in front of an audience, not hearing applause. Maybe that had something to do with how secure is his place in television history. You rarely see an article about late night TV — or just longevity in show business — that does not operate on the premise that Johnny's is the track record against which all others must be measured.

And yet, there was a downside to that achievement: When he exited at age 66, there was no place to go. He was offered specials, movies, live performing venues…if he'd had an idea for a new show he wanted to do, networks would have said, "Whatever it is, we'll buy it." He couldn't come up with anything that wouldn't look like a step down and maybe a gamble of his reputation.

One of Carson's other producers, Fred DeCordova, once told me that Johnny was appalled at the last appearances of some of those great comics of his youth, Milton Berle and Groucho chief among them. He quoted Johnny as often saying of some older performer, "Someone should tell him it's time to get off the stage," and of course he did not book those folks any longer. Apparently, a couple of them — DeCordova only mentioned Berle by name — would call up often and ask, "Why haven't you had me on the show lately?"  They would not have taken kindly to a reply of "We're doing you a favor!"

Carson clearly did not want to turn into one of those guys…but leaving The Tonight Show at age 66, he also clearly had a long way to go before that was a danger. In fact, dying at age 79, he probably never got near it.

I often watch the Carson reruns on Antenna TV. Some of them, to be honest, are slow and boring, especially when guests try to be interesting as they talk about their new movie and Johnny pretends to be excited at what they're saying. Sometimes though, you see why the guy was on for so long and why his successors in the field all envy him. He was always in control. He was always interesting. And he knew how to make his guests look good.

Someone once said the measure of the man was not in when he had on a Don Rickles or a Robin Williams. It was when the guest wasn't much of a conversationalist…say, a musician who could be wonderful singing but not so wonderful talking. Or a "civilian" — that's what they called someone not in show business — who was booked because of some interesting experience or achievement. He was real good at keeping them on track and worth listening to. It's a skill most of those in the current crop lack.

As I watch those reruns, I can't help but note how many of his guests are deceased or not appearing much anymore. One reason I believe Johnny quit when he did was the realization that he'd soon be talking to a lot of new stars to whom he could in no way relate. I think of that when I see who Jimmy Fallon has on these days…or Colbert or any of the others. I can't imagine Johnny going to see their movies, listening to their music, being up on their careers…even speaking to them on the same plane of existence. It was probably very wise that he got out when he did…

…and very sad that he never found anything else to do during the thirteen years he had left on this planet. Maybe he couldn't have done something as memorable and important as The Tonight Show but he could have done something before he reached "time to get off the stage."  I hope it was because he really and truly enjoyed not appearing.

A prairie dog eating cheese…

Here's someone's list of 10 Disneyland Attractions That Don't Exist Anymore.

I have nothing particularly snarky to say so…

• Nate Silver parses the polls and tell us that, slowly but surely, Donald Trump's base is eroding. I still don't see that it will take a precipitous drop until his supporters find a new champion to get excited about.
• The Congressional Budget Office has released its analysis of the latest version of the American Health Care Act, aka Trumpcare. As Jordan Weissmann notes, it's about the same as the earlier version or maybe a tad worse. The point is that the promise to provide better health care for more people for less money is being broken on all three counts. So now Republicans have this problem: How do they take away the health insurance from millions of voters and allow rates to go way up on others without paying a political price for taking away the health insurance from millions of voters and allowing rates to go way up on others?
• Sarah Kliff has more on this. As does Ezra Klein.
• The math on Trump's proposed budget doesn't even add up on paper. Dozens of economists have pointed this out and as Jonathan Chait notes, the White House response is to just deny, deny, deny. It's like if when you were in grade school and the teacher told you that 7 plus 9 was not 18 and you tried to give her an argument about that.
• Last January, faced with potential conflict of interest charges and laws that govern a president's business interests, Trump's company promised to donate hotel profits from foreign governments to the U.S. Treasury. But as Adam K. Raymond reports, they've now decided that's too complicated to figure out so they're not going to do that. Imagine what Republicans could do with something like that if a Clinton reneged on such a promise.

Stephen Colbert has won the season in his time slot…officially the top show now in late night. I hope he sends Donald Trump a nice gift.

Did you see the opening to James Corden's primetime special the other night? Pretty good. I don't know if anyone has actually suggested it but he could be the guy who could revive variety shows in that day part. Then again, late night at CBS is doing pretty well thanks to America's growing dislike of the president so maybe they wouldn't want to muck with it…

I have seen grown men practically begin slapping each other, arguing over the merits of this guy who played James Bond versus that guy who played James Bond.  For a long time, my position was that Sean Connery was by far the best…and after that, it really didn't matter.  My reasons?  One was that he was my first, so naturally he formed my idea of what 007 should be like.  And secondly, I thought that he was simply in the best films, and the reasons they were the best were not all Sean Connery.

When folks ask me which of the many Bond films is my favorite, I usually say Goldfinger. Sometimes, I say that my favorite doesn't exist yet but soon will. One of these days, they'll be able to digitally remove George Lazenby from On Her Majesty's Secret Service and insert Sean Connery in his place.

But those were my opinions then, when all the films were fresher in my mind and not put to any serious test o' time.  I can't remember very much about most of them and now, when I do watch one of the old ones, all but the first few seem more like self-parody than they did upon earlier viewings.  A few months ago, I tried watching Diamonds Are Forever and I don't think it would have been that much sillier a film if they'd swapped out Connery as Bond for Sellers as Clouseau.

Roger Moore, who died the other day at the age of 89 was, of course, the longest-serving Bond.  A lot of articles written upon his passing have, like articles written before his passing, discussed how he changed Bond and his adventures.  I always had the impression that Moore didn't change Bond at all.  He just did what he was told to do.  If the films got more ridiculous, that was because the scripts got more ridiculous…and the direction went the same way.

But I thought he was fine in the films. The films weren't always fine but he was. And if what I read was true, the producers loved him because he was always "gettable." Until he simply got to be too old, they didn't have to worry who they'd get to play Bond in the next film and then worry about whether audiences would accept that person in the role.

I certainly accepted him, at least for a while. His last few turns in the role seem to have been made at a time when moviegoers were expecting their action heroes to do daring, impossible physical feats and Moore's Bond never seemed to be that kind of guy. When they cut from Moore to his stuntman, Bond suddenly moved differently and had unparalleled strength and agility.

We're all aware that when the star of the movie does some dangerous feat, that ain't him but it usually seems credible that his character could do that. If the star seemed like a physical kind of guy, the switch to a stuntman didn't seem jarring and your suspension of disbelief could remain suspended. In Moore's Bond films, especially A View to a Kill, the substitutions were just too obvious. (These days, of course, when the star does some dangerous feat, we no longer assume it's a stunt double. Now, we assume it's CGI. Which it probably is.)

In any case, I liked but did not love Roger Moore as James Bond. I also liked him in a lot of other films. He was a class act all the way. Heck, they could even put him into On Her Majesty's Secret Service and I'd still like it.

This is the time of year when I get deluged with free DVDs of TV shows and invitations to come to screenings and panel discussions about them, all in an effort to get me to vote for those shows to win Emmy Awards. This should not be confused with the time of year when I get deluged with free DVDs of movies and invitations to come to screenings and panel discussions about them, all in an effort to get me to vote for those movies to win Oscars. It is not in this world possible for me or anyone to watch even a quarter of the DVDs I receive, let alone attend any of the events.

Last night, my friend Shelly Goldstein and I went to see a promotional event boosting Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, a show I think is terrific. I will more likely vote for Last Week Tonight with John Oliver in that category but Ms. Bee's program is first-rate and also Emmy-worthy. She was there along with several of the show's writers and producers, most of whom talked a lot more than she did. Matter of fact, most of them sounded more like the star of the show than the star of the show.

She did say (in answer to a question that Shelly asked) that TBS, which airs Full Frontal, was a lot more lenient than Comedy Central was when she was a correspondent for The Daily Show with That Guy We All Wish Was Still Doing It. She didn't call it that. I do.

She also insisted, as did others on the stage, that their show is not Liberal or Feminist; that its point-of-view was actually "Radical Centrist." There were around a thousand people there and I'd be surprised if more than five bought that.

There were no tough questions asked by the moderator or audience since this was, after all, a promotional event. After the panel (which included clips), we all hiked downstairs where there was lots of free food and drink, as well as free Full Frontal t-shirts, almost all in Small or Medium. In spite of all that, I still think she and her show are clever, brave and generally excellent. And I'm still going to vote for John Oliver.

Let's say you followed my advice in the previous post and ordered tickets to see Misty Lee's magic show at the end of July. You're probably sitting there now wondering, "Gee, what am I going to do for amusement before then? I wish Mark Evanier would recommend some shows before those dates!" Okay, here you go…

First off, if you're anywhere near Solana Beach, which is somewhere near Del Mar and La Jolla, you have two chances to see Frank Ferrante do his stunning An Evening With Groucho show which I rave about incessantly on this blog. They're Monday, June 12 and Tuesday, June 13 at the North Coast Repertory Theater in, of course, Solana Beach. It's Frank somehow turning himself into the great comedian to the point of making you (almost) forget that ain't the Real Thing dancing and singing and ad-libbing his way across the stage. Here's a link to order tickets while you still can, which might not be for long because Groucho Frank has a habit of selling out.

And if you go see him, here's a dining tip: The North Coast Repertory Theater is in a mall and so is the Samurai Restaurant, where I often stop for great Japanese food while going to or from San Diego. Check the hours though because they close for a spell each day between lunch and dinner.

Then! Recently, I raved on here about Puppet Up!, which is an adult puppet show done by the Jim Henson people. The show is largely improvised with much audience involvement and it's ridiculously funny and — the night I saw it — rather dirty. They don't do it very often but they're doing two shows on June 17 and I guarantee you they'll sell out. I just bought tix for the early show from this page. You can, too.

Finally for now: I've also raved — and I don't do that much raving — about The Black Version, a very funny improv troupe that does a show every month or two. It's six-or-so black comedy performers who take a suggestion from the audience of a movie that starred mostly white folks and they then improv it into a musical starring all black folks. I forgot to write about it here but a few weeks ago, I saw them do their version of Interview with a Vampire, which guest-starred Wayne Brady and featured a Dracula-type who, at the suggestion of someone in the audience, was named Count Chocula.

Their next performance is July 8 at the Largo at the Coronet (that's what they call the place now) on La Cienega Boulevard near Beverly. I bought my tickets at this site and again, you can do the same thing.

There's also some sort of comic convention down in San Diego in July where we will celebrate the 100th anniversaries of the births of Jack Kirby and Will Eisner. More on that later. Right now, if you're thinking of attending any of the above events, you'd better get to clicking.

I have this great friend named Misty Lee, who's married to another great friend named Paul Dini. Paul writes TV shows and comic books, and Misty does everything else. She's a top voiceover performer and she has a perfume line and she conducts seances at the Magic Castle and if I ever have to have my other knee replaced, I may just let her do it because she either knows how to do that or could figure it out in the time my orthopedic surgeon would spend scrubbing-up.

Anyway, we're talking today about her stunning career as a magician. She's currently assembling a new show and if you live anywhere near North Hollywood, California, you're going to want to get tickets to see her debut it at the El Portal Theater on July 28, 29 and 30. Here's the first installment of an ongoing video diary about the making of this show. Misty is one of the best and brightest performers I know — and I know a lot of best and bright performers…

I'm thinking the way it works now is like this: Trump says something like "I've always loved tapioca pudding."  Then the folks in charge at The Daily Show, Stephen Colbert's program, Late Night with Seth Meyers and other places assign interns to go dig up all the video clips of Trump in the past saying, "Anyone who eats tapioca pudding is unfit for public office."  No one asks if he ever said something which contradicts what he currently says but they just assume he did.  And indeed, such footage is quickly located and aired.

To those who already think Trump is a man of zero integrity and a belief that reality is less important than whipping your supporters into a compliant frenzy, it's just one more bit of evidence that he's as horrible as he seems.  To those who cheer the guy, it's…well, some might try arguing or rationalizing by saying, "He said he's always loved it.  He didn't say he actually eats it."

Most though won't bother.  They want to believe they have a bold leader who always speaks his mind and they don't really care if it's so.  He can even do something Barack Obama did as long as he never admits it's what Obama did.  I'm going to stop getting frustrated that they won't change their opinions of our current Oval Office Occupant…and so should you.  These folks would sooner change their genders.  Here are some links…

• The very liberal Fred Kaplan explains why it's a mistake for Trump to do what he seems to be trying to do in the Middle East.
• The very conservative Daniel Larison explains why it's a mistake for Trump to do what he seems to be trying to do in the Middle East.
• And meanwhile, what's the deal with Trump's budget and all the things he's proposing to cut?  Dylan Matthews explains.
• As Jonathan Chait explains, the rationale behind these tax cuts is based on the premise that tax cuts will pay for themselves.  In the word of the noted Flying Squirrel named Rocky, "That trick never works."  But people who want to cut taxes for the rich will never stop claiming it can, no matter how many times it fails.
• And then Ed Kilgore explains that Trump's proposal will never pass Congress.  Some bad things will but not all of them and Trump is already rolling out the excuses why so much of his proposal won't even make it past other Republicans…
• …because even Conservatives like Todd Scribner think it would send things in the wrong direction for those who want a smaller, less intrusive government.

I haven't written anything about the awful, awful bombing outside the Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England because I can't think of anything to say beyond the obvious.  It's always chilling to think that someone who technically qualifies as a human being thought that killing innocent people — in this case, a lot of very young ones — would be a good thing to do.