The USSC told Trump to go to hell with regard to his mail-in voting scheme.
It was nothing but an attempt at disenfranchisement despite state laws like Oregon's, which have nothing other than mail-in voting.
Snip:
The court on Monday ruled to upholda Mississippi law allowing mail-in ballots to be counted up to five days after the election, so long as they were postmarked by Election Day. The decision effectively saves similar grace periods around the country, especially in big Democratic states. That was enough to set off Republicans.
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Another "Alpine divorce" murder suspect decided take the easy way out.
There were several deaths to note in the past few days and weeks. The most notable recently was the passing of actress Ann Blyth, 98, known for many appearances in dramas and musicals during the studio era, but her greatest role may have been the one she got when she was only 16 years old. She played Veda Pierce in the 1945 film noir classic, Mildred Pierce, opposite Joan Crawford. It was the role of a lifetime playing one of the screen's greatest villains, and Blyth made the most of it. As far as I am concerned, she should have won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, although she, along with co-star Eve Arden, were indeed nominated (neither won). Her performance was one of the greatest supporting role performances in movie history. She played a character who was so rotten, it begs the question whether Joan Crawford's daughter Christina decided to emulate Veda in many respects.
Some, especially younger people, point out that the 1945 film wasn't faithful to the book, as Veda ended up with Monty Beragon (played in the film by Zachary Scott) and Mildred was much less sympathetic, but as far as I am concerned, the movie made a huge improvement on the book. The studio system had to deal with Hays Office and other censorship groups and therefore the book had to be "adapted," which it clearly states in the credits, but the filmmakers knew how to do it. Instead of a soap opera-type of film, they turned the film into a brilliantly shot, wonderfully scored (by Max Steiner) mystery classic. As an aside, there was a miniseries or something a few years ago that was more faithful to the book, but nobody remembers it or ever will.
Ann Blyth went against type as Veda. She always played goody-goody, wholesome roles. Indeed, in her life, she never had even a hint of scandal. She was long married to an obstetrician who happened to be the brother of singer and Jack Benny sidekick Dennis Day. That is about as wholesome as it gets. She had five children in all, and several of those children if not all of them were featured with her in the popular Hostess Twinkies ads in the 1970s. She was also an excellent singer, put to good use in musicals opposite the likes of Mario Lanza.
My favorite part of Mildred Pierce, after Veda managed to get an annulment from a husband she married for the money:
Ann Blyth and Joan Crawford were lifelong friends, but that haymaker was real. I bet Ann was crying after knocking her friend off her feet!
Anne Marie Blythe was born on Aug. 16, 1927, in Mount Kisco, N.Y., the younger of two daughters of Harry Blythe, a butler born in Bath, England, and Annie (Lynch) Blythe, known as Nan, who was born in County Meath, Ireland.
Her parents divorced soon after she was born, and she grew up in a Manhattan tenement while her mother did odd jobs to scrape by during the Depression.
She made an early start in show business, acting in radio plays when she was about 6, singing with the San Carlo Opera Company and attending the Professional Children’s School in Manhattan. There she was spotted by Herman Shumlin, the theater producer and director, who cast her as Paul Lukas’s daughter in Hellman’s “Watch on the Rhine” in 1941. It was Anne’s first and last Broadway play.
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In another obit from past few days, David Clayton-Thomas, 84, a UK-born singer best known for his work in the band Blood, Sweat & Tears after band founder Al Kooper decided to quit the group to move on to other projects, died a few days ago.
Snip:
Born David Henry Thomsett in Surrey, England, on September 13, 1941, Clayton-Thomas joined Blood, Sweat & Tears in 1968, following the departure of the band's original frontman Al Kooper. He landed the gig after folk singer Judy Collins heard him performing and told Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer Bobby Colomby about him.
With Clayton-Thomas singing lead, Blood, Sweat & Tears’ 1968 self-titled sophomore album became a huge hit, spending seven weeks on top of the Billboard Albums chart and winning the Grammy for album of the year in 1970, beating The Beatles’ Abbey Road.
I completely missed this death from last month. Texas-based televangelist James Robison, 82, died in May. Early on, with the rise of the religious right, especially with he televangelists in national politics during the Reagan years, Robison was quite visible with his hellfire-style of preaching. However, he later toned down his act considerably because his wife, Betty, was upset he was not the man she married. Robison was still active in Republican politics and had been a friend of then-governor and later president George W. Bush, but he was way more low-key in his style and activities.
I missed this obituary of Lawrence Welk "family" member Jo Ann Castle, 86, who died on May 8 after being saddled with years of pain. The announcement was made on various social accounts by former members of Welk's television series.
Jo Ann specialized in the "honky tonk" piano or ragtime or whatever you want to call the genre of piano. She was so fast and made it look easy. My parents used to watch the Welk show back when I was a kid, and I liked her the best of all of the performers on that show. She was so good, she didn't have to look at the keys and would have that big smile on her face. She would have given Art Tatum, one of the greatest jazz pianists if not THE greatest, a run for his money. She was that fast and that good.
Jo Ann had a lot of personal turmoil in her life. Her final years were marred by poor health.
Here is a link from the Lennon Sisters Facebook account: link
Here is an example from the show of her work. She was a regular on the Welk show for about a decade starting in 1959:
Another obit: William Smithers, known for his role as Jeremy Wendell in the original Dallas television series, died years before his time at the age of 98.
He was also known for a lawsuit he filed against MGM.
Snip:
Smithers — who died on May 26, in Santa Barbara, at age 98, per the Santa Barbara Independent — appeared on the short-lived CBS series Executive Suite from 1976 to 1977.
It was in 1976, during his time on the show, that he sued MGM in a highly publicized case, in which he alleged the studio had violated a contract that stipulated that no other actors in the series (with three exceptions) could receive more money or better billing than he did.
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Not a specific obituary, but it is no surprise men make up the overwhelming majority of deaths in national parks.
Predictably, they engage in a lot of high-risk behavior.
Snip:
Overall, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, located near Las Vegas, recorded the most overall deaths in the NPS system. Lake Mead attracts anglers and boaters, and the park reports multiple drownings every year. Three of the top five parks—Blue Ridge Parkway, Natchez Trace Scenic Byway, and Great Smoky Mountains—are located within major highways and annually see a high number of vehicle deaths. NPS data from previous years show that motor vehicle accidents are overwhelmingly the highest cause of death, followed by drowning.
The Hoosier Lottery should make good to the lottery ticket buyers. It wasn't the latter's fault the cards were misprinted or misaligned.
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I worry a lot more about the deterioration of the country rather than the deterioration of Trump.
At least he has an excuse. His supporters do not.
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Obit: Actress Anne Schedeen, 77, known for her role in the television series ALF, has died.
Snip:
Schedeen got her start in summer stock theater, before scoring a recurring role on the NBC medical drama “Emergency!” and guest-starring as the daughter of the title character in ABC’s “Marcus Welby, M.D.” She also appeared opposite Rock Hudson and Diane Ladd in the 1976 sci-fi horror film Embryo” and alongside Lucie Arnaz and Craig Wasson in 1983’s “Second Thoughts.” She would co-star in 1984’s “Paper Dolls” with Lauren Hutton and Morgan Fairchild, but the ABC soap opera was pulled after 14 episodes.
It was on “ALF” that Schedeen found fame as Kate Tanner, a no-nonsense mom trying to keep the government from discovering the extraterrestrial who has crash landed in their garage. The sitcom ran from 1986-1990 and was initially a ratings hit for NBC. However, because “ALF” relied on hand-operated puppets it was a technical challenge and after moving the series from its traditional Monday night slot to Saturday and then Sunday, it was cancelled due to declining viewership.
The first one to note is the death of actor/comic Ronnie Schell, 94, known for his many television appearances and roles, including Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. and a completely forgotten sitcom of the 1960s but one of the best, Good Morning World. It was an absolute classic and featured Billy De Wolfe, who stole every scene he was in.
Schell got his start in entertainment as a stand-up comedian while a senior at San Francisco State University and later performed at supper clubs around the country. He made his television debut in 1959 on "You Bet Your Life," the quiz show hosted by Groucho Marx.
In 1964, he landed the role of Marine Pvt. Duke Slater, the best friend of the title character on "Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C." Three years later, he starred opposite Goldie Hawn in the CBS sitcom "Good Morning World." His other television credits included "That Girl," "General Hospital," "Yes, Dear" and Disney's "Phil of the Future." He also appeared in more than two dozen films, including "The Revenge of the Red Baron" and "Fatal Instinct."
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Film critic, author, television personality, and author Gene Shalit, 100, also passed away. He was best known for his regular appearances on the Today show. He had a trademark fuzzy mustache and what can only be termed as frizzy hairstyle, which distinguished him from just about everybody else on the planet. Unlike the caustic late critic Rex Reed, who died a few weeks ago, Shalit was quite likeable.
Shalit started his career as a print journalist. He was the senior film critic for Look Magazine and wrote the “What’s Happening?” page for Ladies Home Journal for a dozen years. He published articles in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, TV Guide, Seventeen, Glamour and McCall’s.
He composed and broadcast a daily “Man About Anything” essay on NBC’s coast-to-coast radio network from 1969 to 1982, according to his profile on the “TODAY” show website. He was also a regular panelist on the game shows “What’s My Line?” and “To Tell The Truth.”
In other words, Shalit packed a lot of living in the brief time he had on this earth.
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