Requiem for an Editor

The Mooch popped his head up yesterday... just... like... that .... to make one of his trademark bizarre not-well-thought-through comments -- about cocaine, no less! Then, he deleted it! The Anthony Scaramucci era of the Trump White House was over before it even began.  But the Mooch's ability to both simultaneously demean himself and make us laugh continues unabated. His latest volley was to assure us that he and his family "take the subject of cocaine and its use very seriously."

It started with an odor blossoming like a noxious flower near a garage attached to an apartment building. A cable television repairman, in the area for his job, called the police. When they arrived they found a revolting scene.

Around the year 1970, movies and TV series starring Dracula -- especially the English films from Hammer starring Christopher Lee -- helped to fuel a wave of interest in vampires not seen since the decades-later launch of the Twilight books. This kit was designed for one purpose... Or was it.... So too was another series of films about a sort of modern-day ripoff of the Count from the Transylvania wilds -- one Count Yorga (from Bulgaria). Initially conceived as a skin flick, the producers were impressed with the box office horror films were doing and decided to change the concept. The result, quite amazingly, was the creation of two rather good, scary vampire films set in 1970s Long Angeles.

Tinder , the "hook-up dating app" that involves swiping photos of potential mates left or right depending on whether you like their profile, has been operating a members-only version of the platform called Tinder Select. TechCrunch, which first revealed the existence of Tinder's "secret tier," reported that it "is meant to serve only the elite users on the app, including CEOs, supermodels, and other hyper-attractive upwardly affluent types."

Kolchak:  The Night Stalker, a brilliant television series from the 1970s.... Either you get what this is or you don't.  Whichever category you fall into, I post this now as a lead-in to a story....Inside the Night Stalker, what really happened behind the scenes and why the great Darren McGavin wanted it canceled as quickly as possible.... The Spanish Moss Murders Written by: Al Friedman and David Chase Production # 41806 - October 21, 1974 (F.R.) INT. INS OFFICE – DAY As Vincenzo exits his office, carrying a huge bag of garbage and junk. Catches sight of Ron, who’s doing nothing, stares angrily.

President Ford with his Chief of Staff Donald Rumsfeld (left) and his deputy, Richard Cheney in 1975.  (Courtesy Gerald R. Ford Library) REVISED: To my great surprise the mass media hasn't picked this story up, which is troubling....Our former VP Dick Cheney was involved in this up to his eyebrows. Someone should seeks some answers.... The Gerald Ford White House "significantly altered" the final report produced by the "supposedly independent" 1975 Rockefeller Commission, created to investigate CIA domestic activities. The report was heavily edited to cast suspicion away from the CIA; the effort was carried out over the objections of senior Commission staff members. Based on newly released White House and Commission documents the National Security Archives posted , an entire section, 86-pages addressing CIA assassination plots was deleted.

Millennials have fun.... Millennials didn’t grow up in the worst of times – things can always get worse, it’s simply a matter of perspective. But it’s fair to say that the majority of them came of age amid one of American history’s greatest time of challenge. Still, it seems you wouldn’t know it based on how this generation thinks and acts. Millennials have shown time and time again, experts say, that they are ready, willing and more-than able to rise to the challenge. Previous generations certainly had their own allotment of horrors – the wars (World War I and II, the Korean and Vietnam conflict), then things like the Kent State massacre, the mass murderers like Texas sniper Charles Whitman, serial killers like Ted Bundy, and mob wars in Philadelphia, New York and other cities, putting on newspaper front pages gruesome dead mobsters. (Think of Carmine Galante, Lilo, shot dead, a cigar stump stuck in his mouth; Philadelphia boss Angelo Bruno sitting in the front passenger'...