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Rob Long
If Anyone Knows How to Handle Trump, It’s Hollywood
I wrote a guest column for Variety today. Here’s a sample:
I’m a Republican (sort of), so maybe I’m predisposed to look on the bright side of any Republican administration, even one that’s run by a Democrat. But it seems to me that if there’s any community that knows how to deal with irrational, misinformed narcissists with way too much power, it’s us.
Dose of Reality
More Thoughts to Come, But for Now…
I was a fool to think this couldn't happen and to condescend to those who did. May the next 4 years humble me with prosperity and progress.
— Rob Long (@rcbl) November 9, 2016
Tomorrow’s Tweet
Smoke ‘Em if You Got ‘Em, Military Edition
This, I can say without hesitation, is an outrage. From the WSJ:
When we wrote about a new Food and Drug Administration rule that seemed to forbid companies from donating cigars to U.S. soldiers, we hoped it might be a misunderstanding. Now we know the ban is deliberate.
With Apologies to Peter Robinson
On the last podcast, some good-natured fun was had with Peter Robinson’s familiarity with the Bob Dylan songbook. In short, he had none. Which of course I knew all along, and which was the central reason I asked him, “Hey, Peter, what’s your favorite Dylan song?”
In the spirit of full disclosure, he’s not the only one here at Ricochet who is out of touch. I represent below the Slack messages between me and @blueyeti. He sent me a screenshot of a TV show that will, apparently, feature the young and talented designer behind Ricochet’s new look.
Bob Dylan: Directly to Voicemail
About show business, Woody Allen said it best:
“Show business is dog-eat-dog. It’s worse than dog-eat-dog, it’s dog-doesn’t-return-other-dog’s-phone-calls.”
We all have our opinions about the Nobel Prize committee awarding the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature to Bob Dylan. I was skeptical. I thought it seemed a little over the top.
Meetup, Wednesday, 7:30, New York City
Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em
Members Meetup, NYC, October 19th
A lot of people are saying that the next debate should be cancelled. Most of them are the usual suspects.
Whether it is or isn’t, I’m going to need a drink.
Donald Trump: Please Read This
Yesterday, on Twitter, David Axelrod delivered some good advice to Hillary Clinton:
If I were @HillaryClinton, I'd lay off the Tweets on the @realDonaldTrump tape. It kind of speaks for itself.
— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) October 8, 2016
The Next President Will Raise Your Taxes
There are three kinds of bad news: 1) bad news that’s about to happen; 2) good news that’s really bad news; and 3) bad news that’s out there in distance, where you can probably ignore it. Here’s a snippet of the 2nd kind of bad news, from the Pew Trust:
Primarily because of market gains, the state pension funding gap dropped in 2014, the first decline in reported pension debt since 2000. Lower investment returns in 2015, however, indicate that pension debt will increase when valuations for that year are complete.
Hey Dude, Do You Collectively Effervesce?
One Saturday morning, long ago, I was walking the dog down a Venice Beach street and an old battered car pulled up next to me. In the driver’s seat, a tattooed guy with a burning cigarette between his fingers. In the passenger’s seat, a down-and-out looking woman who rolled down the window and asked, “Hey, do you party?”
As I said, it was about 10AM on a Saturday, and I was walking the dog and carrying a just-filled plastic bag — if you get my drift — so it was pretty clear I wasn’t in their target demo, for whatever it was they were targeting. But now, according to NYMagazine, we know that the urge to party is bedrock human behavior:
What contemporary Americans refer to as “partying” is of a piece with what French sociologist Émile Durkheim called “collective effervescence.” According to Durhkeim (and so many Snapchat stories), when people start moving in a shared, directed experience, a current of excitement starts pulsing through them.
Member Post
Every week, James Lileks opens the Ricochet Podcast and throws it to me to list the reasons why the vast multitude of listeners driving to work, exercising, walking their dogs, washing the dishes, their cars, or their clothes who are not yet Ricochet members ought to pony up, join our community and keep the good ship […]

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Member Post
…because I am an idiot. There was one already! (That’s the problem with doing these things on the iPad.) Preview Open

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Member Post
I don’t know if the site currently supports GIFs, but I’ve barreled ahead and created a “Memes and GIFS and Cartoons” group. Because I laughed a lot today at the various Bill-and-Hillary-and-the-balloons memes that were flying around. Shouldn’t we have a place to put these, here on Ricochet? Preview Open

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Garry Marshall, RIP
I have two stories about Garry Marshall, the legendary television writer, producer, creator and motion picture director who died today at 81.
The first, I can’t really tell. Not here, anyway — it requires a very ferocious violation of our beloved CofC. And also: it may not even be true.
But the second one is easy:
Chilly Women
Member Post
Earlier this week, I got a request. (I’m being discreet here, so bear with me…) Someone with a speaker’s slot at the RNC wanted to have some jokes ready – funny ways to respond to boos or catcalls from the floor (it is, after all, that kind of convention) and funny ways to describe the opposition. […]

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