December 3, 2017


News and Views


YEAH, YEAH. TELL ME ANOTHER ONE!

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-says-he-never-asked-comey-to-stop-investigating-michael-flynn/
CBS/AP December 3, 2017, 8:33 AM
Trump says he never asked Comey to stop investigating Michael Flynn

WASHINGTON -- President Trump said in a tweet early Sunday that he never asked former FBI Director James Comey to stop investigating his ex-national security adviser, Michael Flynn, issuing a fresh denial amid a shifting timeline on when he may have known that Flynn had lied to the FBI.

"I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn," Mr. Trump said on Twitter before dawn. "Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie!"

The president reiterated his version of events after Comey testified before Congress in June that Mr. Trump had asked him in a one-on-one meeting if he could see to "letting Flynn go."


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
I never asked Comey to stop investigating Flynn. Just more Fake News covering another Comey lie!
6:15 AM - Dec 3, 2017
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Mr. Trump shifted his story Saturday on why he fired Flynn, lumping in the retired Army lieutenant general's lies to the FBI along with his untruthfulness with Vice President Mike Pence. The president's initial explanation was that Flynn had to go because he hadn't been straight with Pence about contacts with Russian officials.

Lying to the FBI is a crime, and one that Flynn acknowledged Friday in pleading guilty and agreeing to cooperate with the special counsel's Russia investigation.

Mr. Trump tweeted Saturday: "I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!"


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
I had to fire General Flynn because he lied to the Vice President and the FBI. He has pled guilty to those lies. It is a shame because his actions during the transition were lawful. There was nothing to hide!
12:14 PM - Dec 2, 2017
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Amid questions raised by the tweet, Trump associates tried to put distance Saturday evening between the president himself and the tweet.

Sources with direct knowledge of the situation told CBS News that Mr. Trump's personal attorney composed the tweet that implied Mr. Trump knew Flynn had lied to the FBI when he demanded his resignation in February. John Dowd was the principal wordsmith for the tweet, and it's unclear if Mr. Trump saw the final version, sources said. The president was in between fundraisers in New York when the tweet was sent from an iPhone.

In another email wrinkle in the investigation into Mr. Trump's ties to Russia, The New York Times reported Saturday that emails among top Trump transition officials suggested that Flynn was in close contact with other senior members of the transition team before and after he spoke to Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. A Dec. 29 email from K.T. McFarland, a transition adviser to Trump, suggested that Russian sanctions announced by the Obama administration had been aimed at discrediting Mr. Trump's victory.

She wrote the sanctions could also make it more difficult for Mr. Trump to ease tensions with Russia, "which has just thrown the U.S.A. election to him," she wrote in the emails obtained by the Times. A White House attorney told the newspaper McFarland only meant that Democrats were portraying it that way.

It's unclear why Mr. Trump would cite lying to the FBI as a reason for firing Flynn. Doing so suggests the president knew at the time that Flynn had done something that is against the law, and therefore the investigation could not be as frivolous as he's been portraying. It's also unclear how he would know that, if information about Russian contacts had not reached him, as he has been implying in his own defense.

Sources told CBS News that Dowd meant to convey that Flynn was fired for lying to Pence and other White House officials about his conversations with Kislyak, and "now we know" that he lied to the FBI, according to the sources. But Dowd bungled the tweet and created confusion around Mr. Trump's knowledge of events.

President Trump Departs The White House En Route To New York City
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before departing the White House on Marine One, on December 2, 2017, in Washington, D.C. MARK WILSON/GETTY IMAGES

Flynn left the White House in February, only acknowledging that he had given an incomplete account to Pence of his conversations with Kislyak. After Mr. Trump forced Flynn out, he asked Comey to end the bureau's probe in the matter, according to Comey's account. Comey refused, and Mr. Trump fired him, too.

Then-White House spokesman Sean Spicer said after Flynn's firing that it was the result of a "trust issue" and the White House counsel's office had determined there was not a legal issue.

"Whether or not he actually misled the vice president was the issue, and that was ultimately what led to the president asking for and accepting the resignation of Gen. Flynn," Spicer told reporters on Feb. 14. "That's it, pure and simple. It was a matter of trust."

Mr. Trump has been publicly dismissive of Comey and of special counsel Robert Mueller's continuing investigation, and was often generous in his appraisal of Flynn, except to say his adviser could not stay on the job after misleading his vice president.

At the time, Pence said Mr. Trump was justified in firing Flynn because Flynn had lied to him. Neither Mr. Trump nor Pence indicated concern then that the FBI had not been told the true story.

Pence, who served as head of Mr. Trump's transition, has not publicly commented on Flynn's plea.

Later Saturday night, Mr. Trump railed about why Flynn was prosecuted but his Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton was not for her alleged misdeeds.

He tweeted: "So General Flynn lies to the FBI and his life is destroyed, while Crooked Hillary Clinton, on that now famous FBI holiday 'interrogation' with no swearing in and no recording, lies many times...and nothing happens to her? Rigged system, or just a double standard?"

He then added: "Many people in our Country are asking what the 'Justice' Department is going to do about the fact that totally Crooked Hillary, AFTER receiving a subpoena from the United States Congress, deleted and 'acid washed' 33,000 Emails? No justice!"

Clinton was voluntarily interviewed for more than three hours at FBI headquarters in July 2016. She was not in custody during her interview and so, in accordance with standard FBI and Justice Department protocol, her interview would not have been recorded. A Justice Department policy on recorded interrogations applies to individuals who have been arrested and are in custody.

It is nonetheless a crime to lie to the FBI about any material fact in an investigation. Comey has said Clinton did not lie to the FBI during her interview.

Early Sunday, Mr. Trump again appeared critical of the Comey-led FBI in light of the lack of charges against Clinton, saying "After years of Comey, with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more) running the FBI, its reputation is in tatters -- worst in History!"

He added, "But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness."


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
After years of Comey, with the phony and dishonest Clinton investigation (and more), running the FBI, its reputation is in Tatters - worst in History! But fear not, we will bring it back to greatness.
8:00 AM - Dec 3, 2017
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Mr. Trump also took a shot at ABC News, after an ABC News reporter who erroneously reported a crucial detail following Flynn's guilty plea was suspended for a month without pay.


Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
People who lost money when the Stock Market went down 350 points based on the False and Dishonest reporting of Brian Ross of @ABC News (he has been suspended), should consider hiring a lawyer and suing ABC for the damages this bad reporting has caused - many millions of dollars!
8:15 AM - Dec 3, 2017
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© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



FLYNN WAS “DIRECTED” TO DO WHAT HE DID, WHICH IS SIGNIFICANT, BUT ACCORDING TO THIS, NOT BY TRUMP HIMSELF. IT WAS ALSO NOT DURING THE CAMPAIGN, BUT DURING THE TRANSITION. IT STILL IS A DEAD WRONG MANEUVER FOR A PRESIDENT TO MAKE – BESIDES, I DON’T KNOW THAT I BELIEVE THIS VERSION. WHY WOULD HE BE DIRECTED OR EVEN ASKED TO DO IT AFTER THE ELECTION? HIS SPECIAL SERVICES WERE NEEDED TO DEFEAT HILLARY CLINTON.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brian-ross-abc-news-suspends-reporter-four-weeks-without-pay-for-botched-flynn-report/
By STEFAN BECKET CBS NEWS December 2, 2017, 8:07 PM
ABC News' Brian Ross suspended four weeks without pay for botched Flynn report

An ABC News reporter who erroneously reported a crucial detail following the guilty plea of Michael Flynn has been suspended for a month without pay, the news organization said Saturday.

Brian Ross, a longtime investigative reporter at the network, reported Friday morning during a special report that Flynn had been directed to contact Russian officials by then-candidate Donald Trump during the presidential campaign. When pleading guilty, Flynn admitted to lying about contacts with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. during the presidential transition period, but filings from the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller did not allege any contacts during the campaign itself, or implicate Mr. Trump directly.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled more than 300 points following Ross' report, which was not matched by other major news organizations.

ABC News issued a "clarification" later Friday walking back the report.

View image on Twitter
View image on Twitter

ABC News
✔
@ABC
CORRECTION of ABC News Special Report: Flynn prepared to testify that President-elect Donald Trump directed him to make contact with the Russians *during the transition* -- initially as a way to work together to fight ISIS in Syria, confidant now says. http://abcn.ws/2ixWHDL
10:53 PM - Dec 1, 2017
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In a statement Saturday, the network said "the reporting conveyed by Brian Ross during the special report had not been fully vetted through our editorial standards process," calling the erroneous report a "serious error."

"As a result of our continued reporting over the next several hours ultimately we determined the information was wrong and we corrected the mistake on air and online," ABC said. "It is vital we get the story right and retain the trust we have built with our audience -- these are our core principles. We fell far short of that yesterday. Effective immediately, Brian Ross will be suspended for four weeks without pay."

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


WHAT A SAD ARTICLE THIS IS. WE NEED PERFORMANCE STANDARDS.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/were-going-to-find-some-really-stinky-stuff-in-tax-bill-sen-angus-king-predicts/
CBS NEWS December 3, 2017, 1:08 PM
"We're going to find some really stinky stuff" in tax bill, Sen. Angus King predicts

VIDEO -- Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, said Sunday he predicts "some really stinky stuff" will be found in tax bill the Senate passed overnight Friday into Saturday.

"We're going to find some really stinky stuff in here that we didn't know," said King of the legislation, adding "anything good that happens in America in the next year, including good weather at the Super Bowl, is going to be attributed to this bill."

"This is the bill that we got at about 6:00 at night that we were going to vote on that night," he said of the 477-page document.

"There were no hearings. There were some general hearings about tax reform. There were zero hearings on the bill. And even the bill that was reported out by the Finance Committee was different than what we were handed that we had to vote on a few hours later," King said.

Transcript: Sen. Angus King on "Face the Nation"

King said that he managed to read the bill all the way through on the floor of the Senate Friday night, but that he "can't say" he "understood all of it."

"There's a lot of stuff in here that I don't think, that I don't think anybody knows what it's all about. I just happened to pick up, I marked in the margin on page 409, 'domestic oil and gas extraction income.' What's that all about? There's a later provision about income on oil and gas from foreign countries. What's that all about?" he said.

"The point is nobody knew what was going on here," he added. "And there was a moment when we could have fixed it. Chuck Schumer moved to recess Friday night about 9:00 until Monday. Give people a chance to go through this and dig through it. Party line vote, denied, we end up voting at 3:00 AM."

Asked what tax payers can expect now as the bill now moves to conference where both the House and Senate are expected to work out any differences between their legislation, King said he gives it a 50-50 chance of not getting to conference.

"I think there's a chance. Because I don't think that either side, either the House or Senate, wants to bring this back to the floor, the House just may take the Senate bill and send it to the president," said King.

King said the vote "may be the most important vote any of us take in our career."

"We've now made a 30-year decision," said King. "This isn't the reauthorization of the FAA, or even the Farm Bill. This is something that's going to affect every American, every business, the whole economy -- for decades."

© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



PUBLIC RADIO IS IN THE SPOTLIGHT AGAIN. THERE IS NO REPORT OF HOW THE INFORMATION CAME TO LIGHT, OR WHETHER IT WAS TOLERATED. UNFORTUNATELY, GIVEN THE NEWS OF THE LAST THREE OR FOUR MONTHS, IT IS BECOMING ORDINARY. I LEAVE IT TO YOU TO PULL IT UP AND READ IT FOR YOURSELF IF YOU ARE INTERESTED. HOCKENBERRY, IN ONE OF HIS EMAILS TO HER, ASKED FOR HER HOME ADDRESS. THAT IS MORE DISTURBING TO ME THAN SEXUAL LANGUAGE. HIS CONTRACT “WAS NOT RENEWED.” EVEN IF THEY DO HAVE A FEW A-NUMBER ONE JERKS ON THEIR STAFF, THEY STILL PROVIDE THE BEST NEWS AND ARTS INFORMATION ON THE RADIO AND TV. I WILL CONTINUE TO GIVE THEM MY “WIDOW’S MITE” MONTHLY.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/john-hockenberry-former-public-radio-host-accused-of-sexual-misconduct/
GO TO WEB SITE.


BERNIE SANDERS NEWS

THIS VIDEO IS A GOOD ONE. TRUST ME. JUST WATCH IT. IF YOU DON’T HAVE TIME NOW, DO IT IN BED WHILE TRYING TO GET TO SLEEP AS I DO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP5xavI0d_o
Bernie Sanders In A Candid Conversation With Sarah Silverman

NowThis News
Published on Dec 16, 2016
Bernie Sanders In A Candid Conversation With Sarah Silverman - Watch

Bernie Sanders and Sarah Silverman discuss Trump, Standing Rock, and how powerful people control politics

Follow us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NowThisNews

http://www.youtube.com/nowthismedia
Category
News & Politics
License
Standard YouTube License


HILLARY CLINTON DIDN’T LOSE THE 2016 ELECTION. THE PARTY DID. “... STILL SITTING WITHOUT ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS POSED BY THAT DEFEAT, STILL NOT YET COME TO TERMS THAT IT FAILED IN 2016 BECAUSE IT LEFT THE WORKING CLASS BEHIND.”

THAT’S WHY I’VE STILL GOT MY MONEY ON THE DARK HORSE, BERNIE SANDERS. BESIDES, I JUST LIKE HIM. HE’S A MENSCH, AND WHEN HE GRINS HE’S A VERY CUTE GUY. HIS FACIAL EXPRESSION WHEN THE SPARROW LANDED ON HIS PODIUM WAS PRICELESS. HERE IT IS IN A VIDEO -- https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2016/03/27/video_sparrow_surprises_bernie_sanders_on_stage_in_portland.html.

Video: Little Bird Surprises Bernie Sanders On Stage In Portland
By Tim Hains
Posted on March 27, 2016

A local Portland, OR sparrow spawned the hashtag #‎BirdieSanders Friday evening, when it landed on Bernie Sanders' podium during a speech. "I think there may be some symbolism here," Sanders joked.

Sparrow symbolism: "A common visitor, a love of old buildings, the triumph of common nobility, symbol of peasants and the common people. If a Sparrow totem has entered your life, ask yourself if you know your own self-worth. The sparrow will show you that even a common little bird can triumph."

"I know it doesn't really look like it," Bernie said. "But that bird is really a dove asking us for world peace. No more wars."

Related Topics: Election 2016, Bernie Sanders


http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mensch -- “Word Origin and History for mensch
n.
"person of strength and honor," 1907, from Yiddish, from German Mensch, literally "man, person," from Old High German mennisco "human," from Proto-Germanic adjective *manniska- "human" (see mannish ).


https://www.salon.com/2017/12/03/bernie-sanders-2020-election/
Bernie Sanders may not be necessary for 2020, but his vision is
Perhaps he shouldn’t be handed the 2020 nomination, but the party can’t underestimate what he represents
Though they seem far off, the 2018 midterm elections and subsequent 2020 presidential campaign loom closer than one may realize.

CHARLIE MAY
12.03.2017•10:30 AM•0 COMMENTS

Photograph -- Bernie Sanders
(Credit: Getty/Tasos Katopodis)

By now, we should see signs that Democratic leaders are rethinking, reorganizing and rebuilding a party that lost enough of the working-class electorate that an unqualified, unhinged reality star slipped into the Oval Office.

But no. By most signs the Democratic Party is still barely piecing itself back together after Hillary Clinton's loss, still sitting without answers to the questions posed by that defeat, still not yet come to terms that it failed in 2016 because it left the working class behind.

Recently, there has been plenty of speculation over who will seek the Democratic Party's nomination in 2020. But none of that speculation fully addresses the elephants in the room above or offers direction at the crossroads the party arrived at on the night of Nov. 8, 2016.

At this moment, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., regardless of any individual opinions about him, seems the only politician on the left with a clear, robust and radically transformative progressive vision for the country's future. Since President Donald Trump took office, the magnetic pull of that vision has only seemed to increase.

But this isn't to say Sanders should be gifted the 2020 nomination. Indeed, nobody should ever be guaranteed a nomination. This is perhaps the most important lesson to take away from 2016.

But even at that, Sanders offers something few in the party can at this stage.

Now, it could be argued that Sanders only has such a well-established, fully rounded vision because he ran in 2016. Hot off of two years of stump speeches, he'd naturally be more prepared than all new potential bidders for executive office. That's a fair counterpoint.

Yet, it's been over a year since the election, and he's still serving as the frontman of the political left and, sometimes, the Democratic Party as a whole. That says something.

Despite not being an actual Democrat, Sanders has repeatedly led the party on several issues, such as healthcare and providing relief for Puerto Rico. Along with sponsoring the most progressive healthcare proposal in recent history, Sanders co-sponsored a $146 billion "Marshall Plan" relief bill with Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., to help repair the battered U.S. island.

Warren and Sanders have similar agendas and, for the most part, represent a political ideology that is much further to the left than where the party has stood for quite some time. The two have championed grass-roots progressive issues such as reducing wealth inequality through redistributive economic policies and fighting back against predatory financial institutions.

They're positions that have seen them often treated in the press and within the Beltway as maverick outsiders. But it's often overlooked or downplayed just how enjoyed their positions and appeal actually are.

Since the election, Sanders' popularity has surged. Earlier this year, he was named the the country's most popular politician in a Fox News poll, well ahead of his colleagues. He's also beating Trump handily in early 2020 polling. The party itself, however, hit its lowest favorability mark in 25 years last month (though it's still more well regarded than the GOP).

Yet, the party establishment shows no signs of adopting a platform of radical progressive change similar to the one that has made Sanders so popular leading up to and in the wake of Trump's election. Though they want to defeat the 45th president, they have resisted forwarding the sort of agenda that might just make his defeat possible.

Since the election, top party leaders including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have touted their staunch opposition to President Donald Trump's agenda, but have done little to offer up a vision that galvanizes the fractured Democratic base.

There's no denying that many Americans are unhappy with the Democratic Party, with party leadership and with establishment politics as a whole. It's an increasingly common opinion that all three serve the interests of the wealthy few rather than the middle-class majority.

It's been said before — and should continue to be said until an aggressive and suitable agenda is laid out — voters not only need, but deserve, a party that provides them with something to vote for as opposed to a party that merely points its finger at Trump and Republicans and says, "Well, at least we're not that."

Sanders has all that, and yet, is nowhere near the steering wheel.

But contrary to the belief of many Clinton supporters, or those who have projected their election-loss anger onto Sanders and his followers, acknowledging that the senator is the only galvanizing force in the party and following in his path doesn't mean Democrats have to bow down to him as their leader. Few are asking anyone to follow his politics unquestionably. Picking up his vision, his direction, however, is starting to seem essential.

Even before they can settle on a 2020 candidate, the Democrats need a vision they can rally around. Sanders, at the very least, has one. It's a vision, as it turns out, that the most activated voters on the left share (remember those rallies?). Not only that, Sanders has shown an ability to annunciate it, to make it resonate.

If the party doesn't want to move forward with Sanders at the helm, so be it. There are at least a few decent reasons why it may not. After all, Sanders will be 79 in 2020, 83 in 2024.

But it's time to stop acting as if his vision isn't viable, as if the movement it created doesn't offer a model for a promising way forward. Just as important, it's time to stop pretending his campaign was always about him when it was more often than not about what he was fighting for.

Trump is wildly unpopular. Right now, it's not hard to see Democrats as staring at an open goal and not kicking the ball forward. Quite frankly, it's astounding that the party's establishmentarian* leadership hasn't been able to recognize the gold mine they are sitting on top of. Bernie 2016 can be a gift to 2020, if the party lets it be.


“ESTABLISHMENTARIAN” LEADERSHIP HOW MANY OF YOU REMEMBER “ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM?” THAT WAS THE YEAR I GRADUATED FROM HIGH SCHOOL. THE WHOLE COUNTRY, INCLUDING MYSELF, WERE WOWED BY HER PERFORMANCE AND BY THE EXCITEMENT OF THAT TV SHOW. NOW IF YOU WANT SOMETHING THAT IS EVEN VAGUELY EDUCATIONAL YOU’LL HAVE TO GO TO PBS OR A FEW CABLE CHANNELS.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-11-24/features/8703280496_1_spelling-antidisestablishmentarianism-word
Has Anyone Seen Gloria Lockerman?
November 24, 1987|By Bob Greene.

The question, posed here several weeks ago, was: ``What is the significance of the following word: `Antidisestablishmentarianism`?``

The winner of the contest-the first person to come up with the right answer-is Fred Tragemann, 40, a restaurant manager who lives in Wheaton.

Many readers phoned and wrote with the definition of ``antidisestablishmentarianism.`` (Believe me, you don`t want to know.)

But I did not ask for the definition of ``antidisestablishmentarianism.`` I asked for the significance of ``antidisestablishmentarianism.``

Many readers said that the significance was that the word was the longest one in the English language. But other readers pointed out that there are longer words than ``antidisestablishmentarianism.``

So what is the significance of the word?

The significance is that, in 1955, the nation sat enthralled as a 12-year-old schoolgirl from Baltimore spelled ``antidisestablishmentarianism``correctly on America`s most popular TV quiz show. The girl was named Gloria Lockerman, the show was called ``The $64,000 Question,`` and on the August morning after Gloria got the spelling correct, ``antidisestablishmentarianism`` was the most uttered word in every office, factory and playground in the United States.

``The $64,000 Question`` aired in prime time from 1955 to 1958. The master of ceremonies was Hal March, the ``question authority`` was Dr. Bergen Evans and the contestants were ``sealed`` in the ``Revlon Isolation Booth`` so that they could concentrate in silence, and avoid hearing any answers shouted from the studio audience.

Gloria Lockerman became one of the most famous people in the U.S. after spelling ``antidisestablishmentarianism.`` There was a slightly racist aspect to people`s fascination with her: This was before the civil rights movement gained momentum, and Gloria Lockerman was black. Her brilliance was in direct contrast to many Americans` stereotypes of black people, and there is no question that in countless living rooms, amazement was expressed not only that a girl of her age could spell the word, but that a girl of her color could do it.

Interestingly, the majority of you who did remember that ``antidisestablishmentarianism`` was the word that Gloria Lockerman had spelled thought that she had earned $64,000-the show`s top prize-for her accomplishment. Not true.

Gloria won $8,000 for spelling ``antidisestablishmentarianism.`` The way the game worked was that if you won one week, you came back the next week on a double-or-nothing dare. If you won again, your money doubled. If you got the question wrong, you lost the money, but were given a consolation prize of a Cadillac.

The week after she had spelled ``antidisestablishmentarianism``correctly, Gloria Lockerman returned to the show and again dazzled the nation by correctly spelling the entire sentence, ``The belligerent astigmatic anthropologist annihilated innumerable chrysanthemums.`` But the following week, on the advice of her grandmother, Gloria declined to gamble again. She took the $16,000 and said it would be put in a trust fund for her education. She left the show.

Reviewing the old newspaper coverage of Gloria Lockerman`s feat is fascinating. For one thing, the papers were reluctant to mention ``The $64,000 Question`` by name. This was during the time when many papers still thought that they could slow down the influence of TV by promoting it as little as possible. So in many news accounts, ``The $64,000 Question`` was referred to only as ``a television quiz show.`` Today, of course, newspapers virtually pimp for TV. Got a show coming up? Hey, we`ll run a preview, we`ll interview the star, we`ll run pictures-anything you want. We know that people love nothing better than to read about TV.

The other fascinating thing is the aforementioned racial angle. Many a newspaper sentence began, ``Gloria, a Negro . . . .``

``The $64,000 Question`` went off the air in 1958, a victim of the quiz-show scandals in which contestants on some programs admitted having been given answers before the broadcasts-although Gloria Lockerman was never accused of any such thing.

Where is Gloria Lockerman today? Is she still alive? If she is, she`s only 44 years old. Did she invest her money wisely? Is she happy? Do people remember her name?

Someone out there must know. If you do, get in touch. I`ll pass the information on through the column.


http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/1987-12-22/news/8702130126_1_companion-sean-penn-rod-stewart
Coping With Fame Can Be Quite A Hassle
December 22, 1987|By BOB GREENE, Syndicated Columnist

I recently phoned Gloria Lockerman. She was a 12-year-old Baltimore schoolgirl when she correctly spelled the word ``antidisestablishmentarianism” on the old $64,000 Question TV program in 1955 and instantly became a national celebrity. I`ve been trying to find her -- and I did.

The former Gloria Lockerman (she uses her husband`s last name) is 45 now. She explained there is nothing she values more than her privacy. She gained so much fame in 1955 that, long ago, she decided it was enough fame for a lifetime.

In that summer of `55 she went from being a shy, brilliant student to an object of the country`s collective curiosity -- both because she was so smart at such a young age, and because the fact that she was black went against many Americans` backward stereotypes of the intellectual capacities of black people during that era.

GREAT AMERICAN FAME MACHINE

We spoke for a long time. She told me all about her life since 1955, but I promised not to quote her and not even to mention the state where she`s living. She said as far as she knows her local newspaper is not aware that she lives in the town.

I suppose valuing her privacy has to do with a couple of circumstances I`ve noticed lately -- circumstances that point out the often bizarre nature of fame. In the spring of 1983, I was having a late-night drink at a restaurant on New York`s West Side. One of my companions nodded toward the table next to us. He said one of the men at the table was perhaps the most highly respected new actor in New York. The young actor had made a couple of movies and was performing in a Broadway play. His future, my companion said, seemed limitless. He was that good.

The young actor was said to abhor publicity. He came to this restaurant after his Broadway performance every night because the customers knew not to bother him. I had not seen his movies, so I didn`t know which man at his table he might be. My companion pointed him out and said his name was Sean Penn.

For the two hours that we were there, no one approached this Sean Penn. He spoke quietly with his friends, and eventually he left. Now, of course, the Great American Fame Machine has turned Sean Penn into almost a cartoon. Every personal problem he has had in the past several years has been chronicled in the press. When people think of him now, it is not in terms of being a fine, promising actor; it is in terms of what the Great American Fame Machine has done to him and of his apparent inability to deal with that.

Sometimes fame works in less insidious, but just as troubling, ways. In the early 1970s, there was a rollicking British rock-and-roll band called Faces. Their lead singer was a raspy-voiced, charismatic man named Rod Stewart. I went on the road with Faces; this was just before Rod Stewart became ROD STEWART, and for what was to be the last time he could enjoy at least the pretense of being just a member of the band.

We were in a little charter, on our way to Clemson, S.C. The plane was bumping along through choppy air, and Stewart was writing a song. He scribbled the lyrics on a piece of paper while he listened to the music through a set of earphones hooked up to a small tape machine. Most of the song already had been recorded on tape, and Stewart was composing a final verse or two.

PRIVACY CHERISHED SO DEEPLY

He handed me the earphones, and I slipped them on and listened. The song was called You Wear It Well, about his affection for a woman. It was quite good, and Stewart seemed proud of it.

The other night I was watching television, and a commercial for Pierre Cardin cologne came onto the screen. Accompanying the video images was a song: You Wear It Well, the song the young Rod Stewart had been composing in the little plane. If anyone had told him that day what would become of his song -- and what would become of him -- he probably would have laughed in disbelief. Selling cologne? But the Great American Fame Machine has powers that cannot be overestimated.

Gloria Lockerman was almost sucked into that machine, and she decided that she did not like it. Our conversation was so pleasant; she is truly a nice woman. I hope you don`t feel as if I`ve let you down by allowing her to maintain the privacy she cherishes so deeply. Somehow I have the feeling that you understand.


MADDOW REPORTS

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/30/17
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin fails to deliver promised tax report
Rachel Maddow shows Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's repeated claims that he had a hundred experts working on an assessment of the Republican tax bill, only to deliver nothing in time for the vote because reportedly there is nothing to deliver, no report ... more Duration: 14:24


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
TRUMP PUSHING SENATORS TOO HARD
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/30/17
Trump pushed top GOP senators to end Russia probe: NYT
Joyce Vance, former U.S. attorney, talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump's potential legal jeopardy for obstruction of justice in light of new breaking news from the New York Times that Trump pressured senators over the summer to end the probe. Duration: 7:00


RICK SANTORUM ON THE FINE ART OF PREVARICATION
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/29/17
World astonished at yet more falsehoods from Donald Trump
Eric Mouthaan, correspondent for RTL Dutch TV, talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump's retweet of a false anti-Muslim propaganda video and the reaction of the world to a U.S. president who so regularly disgraces himself and his country. Duration: 14:31


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 12/1/17
Why did Trump ignore repeated warnings Flynn was compromised?
Rachel Maddow looks at the warnings Donald Trump received about Mike Flynn and the inexplicable way Trump held Flynn in favor even after he left office. Duration: 19:36


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/30/17
Wray surprises with mention of 'foreign influence' task force
Rachel Maddow reports on the latest developments in the investigation into Russia's attack on the 2016 U.S. election, including FBI Director Wray announcing a previously unheard of task force to counter foreign influence in elections. Duration: 6:41


LAZINESS OR INCOMPETENCE? WHICH?
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/30/17
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin fails to deliver promised tax report
Rachel Maddow shows Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin's repeated claims that he had a hundred experts working on an assessment of the Republican tax bill, only to deliver nothing in time for the vote because reportedly there is nothing to deliver, no report was done. Duration: 14:24


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/29/17
World astonished at yet more falsehoods from Donald Trump
Eric Mouthaan, correspondent for RTL Dutch TV, talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump's retweet of a false anti-Muslim propaganda video and the reaction of the world to a U.S. president who so regularly disgraces himself and his country. Duration: 14:31


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/28/17
Facing widespread protest GOP pushes tax bill in party-line vote
Rachel Maddow reports on protests around the United States against the Republican tax bill and shares video of the Senate committee vote that passed along party lines as protesters were dragged from the room and and arrested. Duration: 13:18


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/27/17
Cordray: CFPB leadership 'shouldn't be decided by tweets'
Richard Cordray, former director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, talks with Rachel Maddow about Donald Trump's effort to force a new director on the Bureau outside of the order of succession specified by the law. Duration: 8:13


http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 11/27/17
Woolsey, Flynn witness, spotted talking with Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Rachel Maddow looks at how Mike Flynn's views on the Turkish coup changed completely once he was on Turkey's payroll, and wonders whether investigators will be interested to know what former CIA director James Woolsey and Donald Trump were talking about at Mar-a-Lago over Thanksgiving break. Duration: 6:36