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Saturday, October 22, 2016




October 22, 2016


News and Views


THE RIGHT TO CHALLENGE AN ELECTION


http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mike-pence-donald-trump-and-i-reserve-right-to-legal-challenge-of-election-results/

Mike Pence: Trump and I reserve right to challenge "questionable" election results
By REENA FLORES CBS NEWS
October 21, 2016, 1:52 PM



After days of telling reporters that the GOP ticket would respect the results of the Nov. 8 election, Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence added a caveat: he and Donald Trump would “reserve the right” to legally challenge “questionable” outcome.

“The American people deserve a fair and honest election, and Donald Trump and I intend to see that they get it,” Pence said at a rally in Reno, Nevada Thursday.

“As Donald Trump said earlier today in Ohio, of course we will accept a clear election result,” he went on. “But we also reserve the right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of questionable results.”

In another rally that same day -- this time in Albuquerque, New Mexico -- Pence repeated the line, adding that they intend to ensure that “justice has been done.”

The right to challenge the results, the Indiana governor said, has been “a tradition of other candidates in the past.”

When Pence continued with a lengthy exposition on how voter fraud was real (an unsubstantiated claim that CBS News has fact-checked before), the New Mexico crowd went wild, chanting out “Voter ID!”

Several days ago, however, Pence wasn’t quite so eager to fall in line with his running mate’s refusal to accept the election results.

In a Sunday interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation,” the Indiana Republican had this to say about Trump’s views: “We’ll respect the outcome of this election,” he said. “Look, let me be very clear. Donald Trump said in the first debate that we’ll respect the will of the American people in this election. The peaceful transfer of power is a hallmark of American history. And, and elections get really tough.”

Trump, for his part, continued Thursday to stoke dissent at his Delaware, Ohio rally.

“I would like to promise and pledge to all of my voters and supporters, and to all of the people of the United States, that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election -- if I win,” Trump said.

Pointing to the 2000 presidential election and the battle between Al Gore and George W. Bush, he said, “in effect, I’m being asked to waive centuries of legal precedent designed to protect voters.”



http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2016/10/20/donald-trump-al-gore-2000-election-outcome/92477932/

2000 vs. 2016: Why Gore then is different than Trump now
Rick Hampson , USA TODAY 11:04 a.m. EDT October 21, 2016


Donald Trump’s refusal to say he'll accept the result of an election he claims is rigged comes 16 years after a presidential election crisis whose conclusion upheld something Trump now questions — the integrity of American democracy.

Trump’s stance has evoked memories of Bush v. Gore and the Florida vote recount, which until now seemed as messy as a national U.S. election could get.

That election is infamous for hanging chads, butterfly ballots and the photo of a judge, glasses on forehead, squinting uncertainly at a ballot. It didn’t end until 37 days after Election Day. Jeff Greenfield, who covered the recount for CNN, called it “a blend of The Federalist Papers and Celebrity Death Match.’’

RELATED:
USA TODAY -- Election officials fear untrained poll watchers
USA TODAY -- Trump: I'll accept the election results — 'if I win'

Some Trump surrogates claim their man’s reservations about this election are no different than Democratic nominee Al Gore’s in 2000, when an automatic Florida recount left him just several hundred votes shy of Republican George W. Bush in a state whose electoral votes would decide the presidency.

Likening Trump to Gore is nonsense, lawyers, journalists and scholars who argued, covered or studied Bush v. Gore said Thursday. They said 2000 and 2016 have many differences and one big similarity: their significance for the legitimacy of the winner and the system.

Differences between then and now:

Election 2000 was about how to count ballots, not widespread voter fraud, as Trump contends will happen this year

“I don’t recall anyone ever alleging fraud,’’ says Mac Stipanovich, a GOP lobbyist who advised Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris. “It was all mechanical and legal issues.’’

John Hardin Young, a trial lawyer who was on a team of Democratic election lawyers (he’s portrayed in the HBO movie Recount) agreed: “That case wasn’t about what happened on Election Day,’’ he said, but rather “an antiquated voting system” that should have been replaced years earlier.

One result of the case: Tens of millions of federal dollars to help states update their voting machinery.

SCREEN SHOT OF THE “BUTTERFLY BALLOT" -- An official ballot for the general election in Palm Beach County, Fla., is shown Nov. 7, 2000. The close proximity of the holes and the numbering system for the candidates caused some confusion for voters. (Photo: James Prichard, AP)

Election 2000 ended in a dead heat; this one looks more and more like a blowout.

"The flaws that exist in all elections only matter when the results are close,’’ said George Terwilliger, who led Bush’s legal team during the recount and later became acting U.S. attorney general. “This is not shaping up to be close."

That’s an understatement, said Larry Sabato, a University of Virginia political analyst who wrote a book on the recount, Overtime!: “The odds of Trump getting that close to Clinton in the popular vote are so long you can’t fit the number on your page.’’

Terrance Jones, a salesman at a store in Orlando, Fla., watches a bank of televisions as George W. Bush comments on the recount of Florida ballots in this Nov. 8, 2000, file photo. (Photo: Joe Burbank, AP)

Election 2000 occurred in a time of what Greenfield called “national rest,’’ and involved two relative moderates who didn’t arouse strong emotions among most voters — a contrast to this year.

The Cold War was over. The economy was booming. The tech bust, homeland terrorism and the Great Recession were all in the future.

Sabato says after waiting for more than a month, Americans just wanted it to end: “They were more exhausted than anything else. We were out of time. It was almost Christmas!’’

Danna Neely, of Lakeland, Fla., dressed as George W. Bush, left, playfully chokes Terra Frie, also of Lakeland, Fla., dressed as Al Gore, during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers game against the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 12, 2000, in Tampa, Fla. (Photo: Steve Nesius, AP)

Election 2000 could have precipitated a constitutional standoff, but the loser conceded and everyone moved on.

The denouement reinforced both parties’ stakes in the status quo: The Republicans' because that was how they’d come to power; the Democrats’ because their concession was worth nothing if it didn’t reflect a belief that democracy was bigger than any one election.

After the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 on Dec. 12 that it was time to stop counting ballots, Gore said, “I spoke with George W. Bush and congratulated him on becoming the 43rd president of the United States.’’ He said he’d called “to offer my concession and accept my responsibility, which I will discharge unconditionally, to honor the new president-elect and to do everything possible to help him bring Americans together.’’

Bush, speaking later at the Texas capitol in Austin, matched Gore’s tone: “I was not elected to serve one party, but to serve one nation. … The president of the United States is the president of every single American, of every race and background.’’

Police separate the supporters of George W. Bush, left, and the supporters of Al Gore, right, in front of the Supreme Court on Dec. 1, 2000. (Photo: Pat Benic, AP)

Contrast them with Trump in Wednesday’s presidential debate, when asked if he’d accept the election result: "I will look at it at the time,’’ he replied, citing the "corrupt media" and claiming that millions of people are registered to vote who shouldn't be and that Clinton "shouldn't be allowed to run" for president "based on what she did with emails and so many other things."

On Thursday, he made a joke of it: “I would like to promise …. that I will totally accept the results of this great and historic presidential election — if I win.”

Some Democrats and Republicans who worked in the 2000 recount battle weren’t amused.

Young, the Democratic lawyer: “What Gore did in 2000 was gracious; what Trump’s doing now is silliness. He’s acting like a spoiled child.’’

Stipanovich, the GOP operative: “Gore did the right thing. … This is classic Trump, throwing stuff against the wall to see what’ll stick.’’

They disagreed on Trump’s potential damage.

“On Nov. 9, Trump will have lost and the nation will go on,’’ Young said. But he noted an impact on less resilient democracies around the world: “Whenever a dictator knows he’s going to lose, the first thing he does is challenge the election. It’s the only thing left.’’

Stipanovich was less sanguine: “This does lasting damage to our democracy. … It makes it more difficult for there to be compromise in government, and sooner or later someone is going to strike out at a system he says is rigged.’’

But Trump has his own precedents. Not every Democrat in 2000 accepted the election’s legitimacy.

This Nov. 8, 2000, file photo shows the Orlando Sentinel's election night headlines. (Photo: Peter Cosgrove, AP)

The New Republic called the Supreme Court ruling a “judicial putsch’’ (or coup). Writing in The Nation, prosecutor-author Vincent Bugliosi said the five-justice majority was “criminal’’ and should be jailed. Terry McAuliffe, who would soon chair the Democratic National Committee, said, “Let us never forget it. Al Gore won that election.’’

In that sense, 2000 and 2016 both evidence a growing tendency to view a rival party’s presidency as illegitimate.

Jack Rakove, one of the nation’s foremost constitutional historians, is co-editor of The Unfinished Election of 2000. “The last three presidents have suffered from either legitimacy crises or challenges to their legitimacy,’’ he said. ”The net effect has been a set of repeated attacks on the validity of presidential authority.’’

Bush was elected while losing the popular vote. Bill Clinton was also elected with less than half of the vote. Barack Obama was dogged by unfounded accusations (including from Trump) that he was not born in the nation and not a citizen.

Rakove was not optimistic about what comes next, saying that, if elected, Hillary Clinton “will be exposed to her own set of de-legitimating attacks. So if one assumes that we all have a common interest in the effective exercise of presidential power, especially when Congress is so incompetent, these are all depressing developments.’’

The good news is that if the nation can recover from Bush v. Gore, it can recover from Trump v. Clinton.

Al Gore pauses after reading a brief statement in Nashville, Tenn., on Nov. 8, 2000, on the recount in Florida as running mate Joe Lieberman looks on. (Photo: Doug Mills, AP)

In 2000, Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Florida Democrat, called the high court’s decision a “stain on democracy. … The legitimacy of any president where the votes are left uncounted is automatically a consideration.’’

But, he added, Bush would be the president, “and if the Middle East explodes tomorrow, we will rally round him as we would around Al Gore.’’

Nine months later there was an explosion, though not the Middle East. And there was no question about Bush’s legitimacy.

During the long recount, Sabato recalled, “some people were asking, ‘Do we need a president?’ On that day,’’ he said of Sept. 11, 2001, “we recognized why we do.’’


RELATED:

USA TODAY -- Election flashback quizzes: 10 ways to distract yourself from the 2016 race
USA TODAY -- Elections 2016 | USA TODAY Network



http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-third-presidential-why-trump-s-refusal-to-say-he-accepts-1476950526-htmlstory.html

OCT. 20, 2016, 1:11 A.M.
Trump’s refusal to say he would accept the election result is different from the 2000 Bush vs. Gore recount

Seema Mehta


The headline of Wednesday night’s debate was when Donald Trump refused to say he would accept the election’s outcome. Critics of the GOP nominee, including members of his own party, said it was further evidence Trump was upending a bedrock of American democracy: the peaceful transfer of power.

But Trump’s supporters hit back, pointing to the recount in the 2000 contest between George W. Bush and Al Gore.

Follow
Olivia Nuzzi @Olivianuzzi
Kellyanne Conway in the spin room deflects from Trump's statements about accepting the outcome by talking about Al Gore.
11:12 PM - 19 Oct 2016
59 59 Retweets 207 207 likes
View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

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Trump the Hill @TrumpTheHill
When #MSM in panic over Trump wanting legit election results: #TrumpWon. Remember Al Gore hanging Chads??
2:06 AM - 20 Oct 2016
123 123 Retweets 141 141 likes

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Bj Deplorable @SmilePointe
Democrats cheered when Al Gore strongly challenged the election results in 2000. NOW they attack #Trump for saying he MIGHT challenge. #tcot
3:13 AM - 20 Oct 2016
7 7 Retweets 13 13 likes

Trump’s words are markedly different from what took place 16 years ago.

As polls have increasingly turned against Trump, he has stepped up claims that the election is “rigged,” which critics argue is laying the groundwork for contesting the election. Gore never questioned the election results before the voting concluded.

On election night in 2000, the television networks called Florida for Bush, ostensibly giving him the electoral votes to win the White House. Gore called Bush to concede, but when the networks realized Florida was too close to call, they rescinded Bush's win there.

Gore took back his concession. Florida state law mandated a recount because of how close the vote was.

Gore sought hand recounts in a handful of counties; Bush sued to stop them. Pictures of elections officials scrutinizing paper ballots filled the airwaves, and a legal battle ensued.

Ultimately, Bush took the matter to the Supreme Court, which stopped the recount. Gore said he disagreed with the decision but conceded the race.

Here’s a recounting by veteran Associated Press reporter Jim Kuhnhenn.

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter
Follow
Nick Riccardi ✔ @NickRiccardi
Veteran WH reporter @jkuhnhenn on the Al Gore analogy
11:33 PM - 19 Oct 2016 · Denver, CO, United States
375 375 Retweets 345 345 likes
Republican strategists who worked for Bush, albeit critical of Trump, back up this account.

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stuart stevens @stuartpstevens
As someone who was around Governor Bush a lot then, he was ready to accept results of what was a mandatory recount of Florida. As did Gore. https://twitter.com/spieckerman/status/788959120166686720 …
12:28 AM - 20 Oct 2016
66 66 Retweets 173 173 likes

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Matthew Dowd ✔ @matthewjdowd
Having worked for bush in 2000, gore had more legitimacy questioning results than Trump will ever have. And Gore conceded and honored results
11:47 PM - 19 Oct 2016
224 224 Retweets 426 426 likes



CBS, EXCERPT – “In 2000, Rep. Alcee Hastings, a Florida Democrat, called the high court’s decision a “stain on democracy. … The legitimacy of any president where the votes are left uncounted is automatically a consideration.’’ But, he added, Bush would be the president, “and if the Middle East explodes tomorrow, we will rally round him as we would around Al Gore.’’ Nine months later there was an explosion, though not the Middle East. And there was no question about Bush’s legitimacy. During the long recount, Sabato recalled, “some people were asking, ‘Do we need a president?’ On that day,’’ he said of Sept. 11, 2001, “we recognized why we do.’’

LA TIMES, EXCERPT – “As polls have increasingly turned against Trump, he has stepped up claims that the election is “rigged,” which critics argue is laying the groundwork for contesting the election. Gore never questioned the election results before the voting concluded. On election night in 2000, the television networks called Florida for Bush, ostensibly giving him the electoral votes to win the White House. Gore called Bush to concede, but when the networks realized Florida was too close to call, they rescinded Bush's win there. Gore took back his concession. …. “As Donald Trump said earlier today in Ohio, of course we will accept a clear election result,” he went on. “But we also reserve the right to contest or file a legal challenge in the case of questionable results.”


Dear Mr. Trump,

It isn’t the case, of course, that you have no right to challenge an election in the legal and time honored way – calling for a recount as Gore did in Florida – but you need to say what you mean when you make these statements, using more exact language and without all of the bravado. Your vice-presidential choice Governor Pence did it correctly in his statement quoted above. The way you tend to say and do things makes you LOOK like a very dangerous “loose cannon,” whether or not you are actually a true fascist; and one whom we simply must not elect as president in this country. We have enough trouble from the “militias,” the KKK, and other intensely unempathetic and power hungry people in this country, without knowingly bringing that soulless group into the central government and the White House. Unfortunately, they are all followers of yours this year, so that influences the public’s opinion of you.

I and hundreds of thousands of others will not stand by while this country becomes the next nation based on pure greed, illegal assumption and enforcement of power, and hatred. Nazi Germany was enough for the next thousand years. The problems we are having with our police forces in many parts of the country today are a strong sign of infiltration by such people. The established incidence, as evidenced by their crude racist emails to each other, of KKK, Oath Keepers, Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers members, etc. among the police forces, which demonstrate their presence in a number of city PDs already, is very disturbing. It looks to me like a grass roots movement toward the far right that is occurring in the US and Europe at this time. I’m going to vote against my personal preferences in a few days now, in order to keep you out. I’m sorry.



THE INTERNET OF THINGS

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/new-world-hackers-claims-responsibility-internet-disruption-cyberattack/

New World Hackers group claims responsibility for internet disruption
CBS/AP
October 22, 2016, 7:42 AM

Play VIDEO -- Who is behind cyberattack on U.S. websites?

Withering cyberattacks on server farms of a key internet firm repeatedly disrupted access to major websites and online services including Twitter, Netflix and PayPal across the United States on Friday. The White House called the disruption malicious and a hacker group claimed responsibility, though its assertion couldn’t be verified.

Manchester, New Hampshire-based Dyn Inc. said its data centers were hit by three waves of distributed denial-of-service attacks, which overwhelm targeted machines with junk data traffic. The attacks, shifting geographically, had knock-on effects for users trying to access popular websites across the U.S. even in Europe.

“The complexity of the attacks is what is making it so difficult for us,” said Kyle York, the company’s chief strategy officer. “What they are actually doing is moving around the world with each attack.” He said an East Coast data center was hit first; attacks on an offshore target followed later.

CBS News homeland security consultant Fran Townsend pointed to Russia as a possible instigator.

“Is this sort of a brushback pitch from the Russians sending us a message that we should be pretty careful about engaging in this sort of cyberactivity with them because they are very capable,” she said.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security told CBS News they were investigating “all potential causes,” but they have not gone as far as to say that this was a state-sponsored attack.

The data flood came from tens of millions of different Internet-connected machines - including increasingly popular but highly insecure household devices such as web-connected cameras. It was an onslaught whose global shifts suggested a sophisticated attacker, though Dyn said it had neither suspect nor motive.

The level of disruption was difficult to gauge, but Dyn serves some of the biggest names on the web, providing the domain name services that translate the numerical internet addresses into human-readable destinations such as “twitter.com.”

Steve Grobman, chief technology officer at Intel Security, compared an outage at a domain name services company to tearing up a map or turning off GPS before driving to the department store. “It doesn’t matter that the store is fully open or operational if you have no idea how to get there,” he said in a telephone interview.

Jason Read, founder of the internet performance monitoring firm CloudHarmony, owned by Gartner Inc., said his company tracked a half-hour-long disruption early Friday in which roughly one in two end users would have found it impossible to access various websites from the East Coast.

“We’ve been monitoring Dyn for years and this is by far the worst outage event that we’ve observed,” said Read.

Dyn provides services to some 6 percent of America’s Fortune 500 companies, he said. A full list of affected companies wasn’t immediately available but Twitter, Netflix, PayPal and the coder hangout Github said they experienced problems.


Members of a shadowy collective that calls itself New World Hackers claimed responsibility for the attack via Twitter. They said they organized networks of connected “zombie” computers called botnets that threw a staggering 1.2 terabits per second of data at the Dyn-managed servers.

“We didn’t do this to attract federal agents, only test power,” two collective members who identified themselves as “Prophet” and “Zain” told an AP reporter via Twitter direct message exchange. They said more than 10 members participated in the attack. It was not immediately possible to verify the claim.

Dyn officials said they have received no claim of responsibility, but are working with law enforcement.

The collective, NewWorldHacking on Twitter, has in the past claimed responsibility for similar attacks against sites including ESPN.com in September and the BBC on Dec. 31. The attack on the BBC marshaled half the computing power of Friday’s onslaught.

The collective has also claimed responsibility for cyberattacks against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, or ISIS. The two said about 30 people have access to the NewWorkdHacking Twitter account. They claim 20 are in Russia and 10 in China. “Prophet” said he is in India. “Zain” said he is in China. The two claimed to their actions were “good,” presumably because they highlighted internet security problems.

Another collective member the AP previously communicated with via direct message called himself “Ownz” and identified himself as a 19-year-old in London. He told the AP that the group - or at least he - sought only to expose security vulnerabilities.

During the attack on the ESPN site, “Ownz” was asked if the collective made any demands on sites it attacked, such as demanding blackmail money. “We will make one demand actually. Secure your website and get better servers, otherwise be attacked again,” he said.


For James Norton, the former deputy secretary at the Department of Homeland Security who now teaches on cybersecurity policy at Johns Hopkins University, the incident was an example of how attacks on key junctures in the network can yield massive disruption.

“I think you can see how fragile the internet network actually is,” he said.


Dyn officials said attacks stemmed from tens of millions of devices connected to the internet - closed-circuit video cameras, digital video recorders and even thermostats - that were infected with malware.

“The Internet of Things sort of ran way ahead of how the Internet was architected,” Dyn’s York said on a call with reporters. He said there are between 10-15 billion such devices online.


Dyn first became aware of an attack around 7 a.m. local time, focused on data centers on the East Coast of the U.S. Services were restored about two hours later. But then attackers shifted to offshore data centers, and problems continue.

“It is a very smart attack. As we start to mitigate they react and start to throw something that’s over the top,” York said on a call with reporters.

The second attack broadened its net, affecting the U.S. West Coast. “Prophet” of New World Hackers said hacktivists of the broad, more amorphous Anonymous collective piled on in the third wave on Friday afternoon.

“We’ve stopped all our attacks,” he said at midafternoon. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was monitoring the situation, White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters Friday. He said he had no information about who may be behind the disruption.

Security experts have recently expressed concern over increasing power of denial-of-service attacks following high-profile electronic assaults against investigative journalist Brian Krebs and French internet service provider OVH.

In a widely shared essay titled “Someone Is Learning How to Take Down the Internet,” respected security expert Bruce Schneier said last month that major internet infrastructure companies were seeing a series of worrying denial-of-service attacks.

“Someone is extensively testing the core defensive capabilities of the companies that provide critical internet services,” he said.



Just when I was thinking it was all about oil, religion and politics, I’m seeing a new front to the world war. I would like to see a book by a very tech savvy writer who is able to present what is happening without 10 inconceivable concepts and words per page. I’m at sea when it comes to keeping track of the technological changes that are going on. I’m certain that some of these guys are good and some are evil, but most are probably just a totally new generation of thinkers and doers, and if I’m lucky I can retire to the comfortable places in my mind and live a day at a time! (Anyone who reads these will know that I have already started spending time in my 20s and 30s again.) In the words of the great Kris Kristofferson, “You know the things I've come to know, seem so confusin', And it's gettin' hard to tell, what's wrong from right, I can't separate the winners from the losers anymore, And I'm thinkin' of just givin' up the fight.” When you read those lyrics, imagine a strikingly handsome face and body with a rich, emotional baritone/tenor voice and a well of genuine sensibility. Better still, look him up on Youtube.



THE ’60S AND THE ‘70S – A PERIOD OF “GREAT ART”

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/phil-collins-speaks-out-on-need-to-correct-things/

Phil Collins speaks out on need to "correct things"
CBS NEWS October 20, 2016, 1:34 PM

Photograph -- Music legend Phil Collins, with correspondent Jim Axelrod. CBS NEWS
Photograph -- phil-collins-not-dead-yet-cover-244-crown-archtype.jpg, CROWN ARCHTYPE
Play VIDEO -- Phil Collins: From workaholic to alcoholic


Singer-songwriter Phil Collins is behind some of the biggest hit songs of this era. But that fame came with a price: maligned by critics, his personal life suffered greatly.

Now, Collins opens up to set the record straight in a new book, which he discusses in an interview with Jim Axelrod for “CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley.”

“There’s such a lot of untruths and misconceptions about who I am, what I am, what I’ve done and why I’ve done it,” Collins tells Axelrod in an interview to be broadcast Sunday, October 23 on CBS. “It’s not a ‘get even’ book, but it’s just … an opportunity to correct things.”

Collins, 65, is brutally honest about his life and his career in the book “Not Dead Yet” (Crown Archtype). He tells Axelrod he was so frank because he felt the need to get the information out, while also, perhaps, gaining a little clarity about what he’s been through.

He’s sold more than 250 million records, including the hits “In the Air Tonight,” “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now),” “One More Night,” and the Academy Award-winning “You’ll Be In My Heart.” He also has some searing regrets.

“I mean, when you’ve been married three times and you’ve got five kids, you don’t live with them, and you’ve been divorced three times, you start to wonder whether it’s you, you know? It can’t always be someone else’s fault,” he says.

Axelrod visits Collins at his Miami home, where he talks about his career in music; the day he played Live Aid concerts in both London and Philadelphia; and the possibility of a comeback.

Collins also reveals another, somewhat surprising passion besides music: he and Axelrod head to The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, where Collins explains his fascination with collecting Alamo artifacts.

Collins also opens up about how alcoholism nearly killed him in 2006. He recalled when he was in a hospital in Lausanne, Switzerland and his organs were shutting down. “The doctor said to Lindsay, who is my assistant, ‘Are Mr. Collins’ papers in order, because we don’t think he’s -- he might not make it,’ you know?”

The Emmy Award-winning “Sunday Morning” with host Jane Pauley is broadcast on CBS on Sundays beginning at 9:00 a.m. ET. Executive producer is Rand Morrison.



“Not Dead Yet” (Crown Archtype).
https://www.amazon.com/Not-Dead-Yet-Phil-Collins/dp/1101907479

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BIO -- Phil Collins pulls no punches—about himself, his life, or the ecstasy and heartbreak that’s inspired his music. In his much-awaited memoir, Not Dead Yet, he tells the story of his epic career, with an auspicious debut at age 11 in a crowd shot from the Beatles’ legendary film A Hard Day’s Night. A drummer since almost before he could walk, Collins received on the job training in the seedy, thrilling bars and clubs of 1960s swinging London before finally landing the drum seat in Genesis. Soon, he would step into the spotlight on vocals after the departure of Peter Gabriel and begin to stockpile the songs that would rocket him to international fame with the release of Face Value and “In the Air Tonight.” Whether he’s recalling jamming with Eric Clapton and Robert Plant, pulling together a big band fronted by Tony Bennett, or writing the music for Disney’s smash-hit animated Tarzan, Collins’s storytelling chops never waver. And of course he answers the pressing question on everyone’s mind: just what does “Sussudio” mean?

Not Dead Yet is Phil Collins’s candid, witty, unvarnished story of the songs and shows, the hits and pans, his marriages and divorces, the ascents to the top of the charts and into the tabloid headlines. As one of only three musicians to sell 100 million records both in a group and as a solo artist, Collins breathes rare air, but has never lost his touch at crafting songs from the heart that touch listeners around the globe. That same touch is on magnificent display here, especially as he unfolds his harrowing descent into darkness after his “official” retirement in 2007, and the profound, enduring love that helped save him. This is Phil Collins as you’ve always known him, but also as you’ve never heard him before.


Do listen to this audio on youtube for the experience of music at its’ most magical.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKps2hocUdY

IN THE AIR TONIGHT
BY PHIL COLLINS

Uploaded on Jul 1, 2010

Lyrics:

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
Can you feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord, oh Lord

Well if you told me you were drowning, I would not lend a hand
I've seen your face before my friend, but I don't know if you know who I am
Well I was there and I saw what you did, I saw it with my own two eyes
So you can wipe off that grin, I know where you've been
It's all been a pack of lies

And I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
Well I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
Well I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord, oh Lord

Well I remember, I remember, don't worry, how could I ever forget
It's the first time, the last time we ever met
But I know the reason why you keep your silence UP, oh no you don't fool me
Well the hurt doesn't show, but the pain still grows
It's no stranger to you and me

I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
Well I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
I can feel it in the air tonight, oh Lord, oh lord
Well I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh Lord
And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh Lord
I can feel it in the air tonight, oh lord, oh lord, oh lord
Well I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh lord, oh lord

I can feel it in the air tonight, oh lord, oh lord, oh lord, oh lord
And I've been waiting for this moment for all my life, oh lord, oh lord, oh lord
And I can feel it in the air tonight, Oh Lord...
I've been waiting for this moment, all my life, Oh Lord, Oh Lord



What was it about that period of the late 60s and early to mid 70s? It was the whole world of war and sweeping social change. It was a highly romantic period, a la Keats in England and Poe in America; and like the great English Romantic Period in literature, whose backdrop was the French and American Revolutions, with the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution. Like the 1970’s the sap was rising, bringing relative affluence to most Americans and an onrush of new ideas, viewpoints, political activity, the arts, bearing love, joy and yet angst front and center. Collins song “In the Air Tonight” brings that feeling back to me even today. Charles Dickens says it best to me:

http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/29595.html
Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities
English novelist (1812 - 1870)

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”


If I have one bit of advice to give the world of humans out there, it is to live your life – your own personal fairy tale -- full out and with honest emotion before you die. I don’t know if there is a heaven or a hell, but whatever happens, I have enjoyed this existence and have been a part of the natural world throughout. Where a shady woodland beckons, my spirit will be walking there.



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