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Cooley Hurd

Cooley Hurd's Journal
Cooley Hurd's Journal
September 15, 2016

Secretary Clinton giving press conference on CNN now:

They just broke in...

September 15, 2016

Daredevil plans replication of Evel Knievel's Snake River Canyon Jump on Saturday

http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/14/us/evel-knievel-jump-eddie-braun-snake-river/index.html


Stuntman Eddie Braun, left, and Kelly Knievel in 2015 with Braun's "Evel Spirit" rocket.

(CNN)On September 8, 1974, Evel Knievel climbed into a steam-powered "rocket cycle" and blasted off a cliff over Idaho's Snake River.

He failed to reach the other side when his craft's parachute deployed too soon and landed him -- largely unhurt -- at the bottom of the canyon, but the much-hyped stunt only added to Knievel's daredevil legend.

Now, 42 years later, veteran Hollywood stuntman Eddie Braun plans to pay homage to the late Knievel by making the jump himself. After years of planning, Braun says he will attempt the Snake River Canyon leap on Saturday with the same type of aircraft and technology.

<snip>

Some people, including Kelly Knievel and a Twin Falls city councilman, have been vocal about their doubts that Braun can pull it off.

"I wouldn't get in a piece of tin and blast off over a cliff," Knievel told CNN. "If he makes it, he'll be honoring my dad's legacy. If he splats his brains out in the canyon it'll be a different story."

</snip>


Crazy? Perhaps...
September 14, 2016

115 years ago tomorrow. Theodore Roosevelt sworn in as 26th POTUS upon death of Pres McKinley

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt#Presidency_.281901.E2.80.9309.29



On September 6, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist acting alone while in Buffalo, New York. Initial reports suggested that his condition was improving, so Roosevelt, after visiting the ailing president, embarked for the west. When McKinley's condition worsened, Roosevelt rushed back. McKinley died on September 14, and Roosevelt was sworn in at the Ansley Wilcox House.

</snip>
September 13, 2016

Stanley Sheinbaum, L.A. liberal lion who shaped decades of political dialogue, dead at 96

Source: LA Times

For more than four decades, Stanley Sheinbaum regularly gathered moguls, presidents, celebrities and activists in his Brentwood living room to sip wine and debate the issues of the day. King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Norman Lear, Barbra Streisand and Warren Beatty were among the many famous faces who participated in the vibrant salons Sheinbaum and his wife, Betty, held at their art-filled home on exclusive Rockingham Avenue.

But more than a high-powered host, Sheinbaum often was a change agent, whose fingerprints can be found on a remarkable array of notable events.

In the 1960s he engineered the release of Andreas Papandreou, the Greek leader who had been imprisoned by a military junta. In the 1970s he was the chief fundraiser for Daniel Ellsberg’s defense in the Pentagon Papers trial. In the 1980s he led a delegation of American Jewish leaders who persuaded Palestine Liberation Organization Chairman Yasser Arafat to renounce terrorism and accept Israel as a state. And in the 1990s he headed the Los Angeles Police Commission after the beating of motorist Rodney King and helped drive controversial police Chief Daryl Gates from office.

“He’s a pot boiler,” Lear once said of his longtime friend and ally. “Something is always brewing in Stanley.”

Sheinbaum, who said “helping to keep a liberal voice alive” was the overarching goal of a lifetime of activism, died Monday at his home in Brentwood, according to his assistant Marti Maniates. He was 96.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-stanley-sheinbaum-snap-story.html



Cross gently, Mr Sheinbaum, and THANK YOU!!!
September 12, 2016

Eddie Antar founder of "Crazy Eddie" electronics stores dead at 68

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2016/09/crazy_eddie_antar_whose_insaaanne_retail_chain_col.html

'Crazy Eddie,' electronics chain kingpin with 'insaaane' prices, dead at 68

Eddie Antar, the electronics kingpin who once presided over a retail empire spanning four states, died Saturday, according to a family member. Antar's company was known for its frenetic television advertising of a seemingly crazed pitchman—before it all collapsed like a house of cards in a multi-million-dollar securities fraud.

He was 68. Funeral services are scheduled today in New Jersey.

Antar, who first went into business with his father out of a storefront on Kings Highway in Brooklyn, turned Crazy Eddie into the largest electronics chain in the New York metropolitan area.

<snip>

Indeed, not many knew what Antar looked like. Most mistakenly believed that former New York radio disc jockey Jerry Carroll, whose spastic, over-the-top delivery that promised the lowest "insane prices" anywhere, for everything from VCRs, stereos, televisions and speakers—and became the face of the Crazy Eddie business—was in fact Eddie himself.

But because of those commercials, seemingly everyone in the New York metropolitan area knew Crazy Eddie, a store that some said had greater name recognition than Coca-Cola.

<snip>



</snip>
September 10, 2016

Remembering 9/11: The Today Show and an eerie cutaway to a commercial

https://archive.org/details/nbc200109110831-0912#

If you fast forward to 14:06 (on-screen, it's 8:45a), Katie Couric is finishing an interview with Harry Belafonte and cuts away to a commercial which then cuts to an exterior shot outside of 30 Rock in NYC.

If you place your ear very near your speaker, or, better yet, you listen to it thru headphones, you can hear the distinct sound of a jetliner passing overhead. You will see a few people looking up.

Given this is midtown Manhattan and the time is 8:45a, the sound is likely from AA Flight 11 on its way to smashing into the North Tower of the World Trade Center.

It will give you goosebumps.
September 8, 2016

50 years ago tonight: Star Trek premieres on NBC

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Trap



"The Man Trap" is the first episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek to be broadcast. It aired on NBC on September 8, 1966 and two days earlier on Canadian network CTV.[1] Set in the 23rd century, the series follows the adventures of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and his crew aboard the Starfleet starship USS Enterprise. In this episode, the crew visit an outpost to conduct medical exams on the residents, only to be attacked by a shapeshifting alien creature seeking to extract salt from their bodies. "The Man Trap" was written by George Clayton Johnson and directed by Marc Daniels.

The story—part of the original Star Trek pitch by series creator Gene Roddenberry—was first assigned to Lee Erwin. Johnson took on the writing duties after Roddenberry disliked his work on another plot proposal. Johnson's first draft was entitled "Damsel With a Dulcimer", incorporating elements from his Twilight Zone episode "The Four of Us Are Dying". Roddenberry, producer Robert H. Justman and story editor John D. F. Black all tweaked elements of the episode, including the title. "The Man Trap" was the sixth episode to be filmed but the first to be shot to schedule. Prop creator Wah Chang and costume designer William Ware Theiss created the creature.

The episode was chosen as the first of the series to be broadcast by the studio due to the horror-based plot. "The Man Trap" placed first in the timeslot with a Nielsen rating of 25.2 percent for the first half-hour and 24.2 for the remainder. After broadcast, reviewers criticized the levels of violence but praised the acting. More recent appraisals have been mixed; praise has been given to the plot and diverse cast but Hollywood.com listed it as among the worst episodes of the series. The creature has been dubbed the "salt vampire" by fans; it was redesigned for possible inclusion in the 2009 film Star Trek but was not used.


Live Long and Prosper!
September 7, 2016

Ferguson BLM activist Darren Seals dies at 29 - killer is at large

http://www.stlamerican.com/news/local_news/ferguson-activist-darren-seals-dies-at/article_2174f1d8-747f-11e6-990f-33cd70d152a7.html



A locally known Ferguson activist who protested in the streets seeking justice for Michael Brown Jr.’s death was killed early Tuesday, September 6 in North St. Louis County.

Darren Seals, 29, was a factory line worker and hip-hop musician. Following the death of Mike Brown – an unarmed black teenager who was fatally shot by a white Ferguson police officer – Seals protested in the streets of Ferguson.

Seals was extremely vocal about issues surrounding Brown’s death and the St. Louis region. He was featured in national news outlets such as The Washington Post and Al Jazeera.

<snip>

Fellow activists took to social media to mourn his loss. Ashley Yates, an activist who protested in Ferguson, wrote “Darren King D Seals stood for Mike Brown and is and will always be a part of my Ferguson family. Rest in power, D.”

<snip>

Police say their investigation revealed that Seals suffered a gunshot wound before the car was set on fire. The incident is currently being investigated as a homicide.

</snip>


Cross gently, Darren
September 6, 2016

115 years ago today: President McKinley shot by Leon Czolgosz

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_William_McKinley



The 25th President of the United States, William McKinley, was shot and fatally wounded on September 6, 1901, inside the Temple of Music on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley was shaking hands with the public when he was shot by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist. The President died on September 14 from gangrene caused by the bullet wounds. McKinley became the third American president to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881.

McKinley had been elected for a second term in 1900. He enjoyed meeting the public, and was reluctant to accept the security available to his office. The Secretary to the President, George B. Cortelyou, feared an assassination attempt would take place during a visit to the Temple of Music, and twice took it off the schedule. McKinley restored it each time.

Czolgosz had lost his job during the economic Panic of 1893 and turned to anarchism, a political philosophy adhered to by recent killers of foreign leaders. Regarding McKinley as a symbol of oppression, Czolgosz was convinced that it was his duty as an anarchist to kill him. Unable to get near McKinley during the earlier part of the presidential visit, Czolgosz shot McKinley twice as the President reached to shake his hand in the reception line at the temple. One bullet grazed McKinley; the other entered his abdomen and was never found.

McKinley initially appeared to be recovering, but took a turn for the worse on September 13 as his wounds became gangrenous, and died early the next morning; Vice President Theodore Roosevelt succeeded him. After McKinley's murder, for which Czolgosz was put to death in the electric chair, the United States Congress passed legislation to officially charge the Secret Service with the responsibility for protecting the president.


Last summer, I visited the very spot where McKinley stood as he was shot. It's in the middle of a residential street in Buffalo:

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