“Saturday Night Live” Dying A Slow, Torturous Death

Do you ever watch Saturday Night Live?

If not, don’t worry. Not many people do… any more.

Like millions of other Americans, I do NOT watch it, and rather, see but snippets of it online every now and then, and occasionally see it mentioned in various news items here, there, and yon.

The reason I ask, is because a thought occurred to me, which is that, even though it’s circling the proverbial drain, it is salvageable.

In fact, in this now seemingly not-so funny time, it could quite possibly rise beyond its highest ratings period, which was its heyday, and perhaps even surpass it. But, the writers now ALL need to be fired. Why? They’re… Just. Not. Funny.

The track the show’s been on is eventually going to land it in the graveyard, and that’s not where longtime producer Lorne Michaels would like it to end up. But, at this point, it seems all but certain. The post mortem would read: Died for lack of humor caused by bad writing.

More to the point, as I pondered the matter, a thought occurred to me:

I do not ever recall having seen any skits or jokes about,
or references to,
the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol.

That thought occurred to me after reading an OpEd about the committee, which lead with this sentence,

“The U.S. House’s Jan. 6 committee has performed its task with a dignity that verges on parody.”

If you’ve ever seen SNL, even once, then

Biden’s ABC Town Hall Ratings Trumps Trump’s NBC Town Hall

Trump Lost.

Joe Biden and ABC were the BIG WINNERS in Thursday night’s “split screen America” debate.

Biden’s Q & A Town Hall meeting Thursday, October 15, 2020 with voters was held in Philadelphia’s National Constitution Center with George Stephanopoulos moderating. Both men, and all attendees were more than adequately distanced for public health reasons.

Meanwhile, Trump’s Town Hall was conducted outdoors at the Perez Art Museum in Miami, and was moderated by NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, a Georgetown Law graduate who was distanced at least 12 feet from the President.

But it turns out NBC was played for a fool by the Manipulator in Chief.

Trump lost.

NBC lost.

After initially rejecting the Commission on Presidential Debates offer to conduct a “virtual” town hall, Trump reached out to NBC to hold the town hall style meeting on the same day and time slot as Joe Biden’s appearance in Philadelphia in a direct head-to-head viewership challenge to feed his fragile ego.

Yashar Ali, a contributor to New York Magazine and HuffPost wrote that several NBC employees were angered, and that “over a dozen NBC, MSNBC, and CNBC sources (talent and staff) and the frustration with and anger toward their employer for scheduling a town hall against Biden is palpable.”

Trump lost.

NBC lost.

NBC News agreed to put Trump before voters in a town hall style event on Thursday, October 15 – the same day as Biden’s scheduled town hall in Philadelphia – stipulating that beforehand, he must have submitted to an independent coronavirus test with the results reviewed by Dr. Anthony Fauci.

NBC said that Trump was administered a coronavirus test Tuesday by the National Institutes of Health, the results of which were reviewed by NIH Clinical Director Dr. Clifford Lane and Dr. Anthony Fauci, both who stated after reviewing the President’s medical records, that they had a high degree of confidence that the president was “not shedding infectious virus.”

But Trump’s COVID-19 test wasn’t the only thing reviewed.

AdWeek magazine reported that “Nielsen data released this afternoon

Donald Trump: An Accidental President

Donald Trump was never serious about becoming president, and campaigned exclusively as a lark, in order to better position himself in upcoming contract negotiations with NBC.

Thus said Howard Stern at least 3 years ago.

While it may have been a topic of some minor discussion earlier – and therefore not discussed much at all – Howard Stern, radio “shock jock” and self-described “King of All Media” – has been a long-time friend of the Current White House Occupant, the Liar in Chief himself, Donald J. “DJ” Trump.

As such, when Trump told Stern his plans, Stern said he advised Trump not to run, and later, again advised him to drop out of the running to become the Republican party’s nominee.

Trump has been a guest on Stern’s eponymous “The Howard Stern Show” many, many, many times. And socially, away from the microphone, Stern and Trump have enjoyed a long-running friendly relationship. Suffice it to say, Trump and Stern are intertwined – not quite inexplicably, or even inexorably, but definitely inescapably.

With over 24 appearances over 20 years, it would be reasonable to say that Trump has some level of relationship with Stern.

And, as you might imagine, there’s

Will You Release Your Medical Records?

Just in the case you may not know it, there’s a law in our United States called HIPAA, which is the acronym for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Signed into law in 1996 by then-POTUS Bill Clinton, the long title is “An Act To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1996 to improve portability and continuity of health insurance coverage in the group and individual markets, to combat waste, fraud, and abuse in health insurance and health care delivery, to promote the use of medical savings accounts, to improve access to long-term care services and coverage, to simplify the administration of health insurance, and for other purposes.”

The biggest takeaway from the bill for most people is the privacy it mandates for patient’s medical records, care, and treatment. With fines/penalties for violation starting at $250,000 per violation, an entire industry has grown up around HIPAA.

The Department of Health and Human Services summarizes, in part, the law’s privacy provisions:

“The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) required the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop regulations protecting the privacy and security of certain health information.¹ To fulfill this requirement, HHS published what are commonly known as the HIPAA Privacy Rule and the HIPAA Security Rule. The Privacy Rule, or Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information, establishes national standards for the protection of certain health information. The Security Standards for the Protection of Electronic Protected Health Information (the Security Rule) establish a national set of security standards for protecting certain health information that is held or transferred in electronic form. The Security Rule operationalizes the protections contained in the Privacy Rule by addressing the technical and non-technical safeguards that organizations called “covered entities” must put in place to secure individuals’ “electronic protected health information” (e-PHI). Within HHS, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has responsibility for enforcing the Privacy and Security Rules with voluntary compliance activities and civil money penalties.”

POTUS Bill Clinton Signing HIPAA

Before the HIPAA existed, there were no security standards nor requirements to protect patients’ health information or patients privacy in the entire health care industry. In reality, physicians, or anyone with access to the record – including the janitor and housekeeping crew – could simply access and divulge a patient’s entire medical record to the press, or to anyone, without any legal recourse for the victim. Now, it’s a violation of the law to even discuss any Personal Health Information, or Personally Identifying Information about the patient outside of a clinical setting, and that includes on elevators in hospitals. The law is so strict, that anyone who is not involved in the patient’s care cannot access the patient’s record without violating the law.

There have been cases where renown individuals, or those with celebrity status, including politicians, have had their records accessed by those within the healthcare system in violation of the law, ostensibly to satisfy their 24karat curiosity, or for other nefarious purposes, such as to gossip about the patient, or to divulge the information they found to the press. Healthcare organizations, especially large ones, are particularly sensitive to such violations of the HIPAA, and many, if not most, have policy in place to censure, or most often, dismiss for cause (fire) any employee who examines a record of a patient whom they’re not treating, or caring for.

In short, the law safeguards and protects patients’ right to privacy of their healthcare information in ways the average patient cannot imagine, including transmission of such information electronically, such as via facsimile or Internet.

The law also provides authorization for a patient to request a healthcare organization voluntarily release select portions of, or their entire medical records, to individuals whom they specify, such as to attorneys who may be representing their interests in a matter of law, including to the patients themselves, personally.

What many may not know about the law, is that it was a bipartisan bill sponsored by

Do you trust this man? Can you trust this man?

The Secret Service endeavors to protect presidential candidates from physical harm by attacks upon him from those whom would seek their harm.

However, there is one death the Secret Service cannot prevent – political suicide.

NBC had the “Not Ready for Prime Time Players.”

The GOP has a “Not Ready to be President” candidate in Mitt Romney.

“After the assassination of

Wall Street Journal on @MittRomney policy plan & R’ObamaCare Mitt-Flop

Do tell.

—

WSJ chides Romney for too few policy details

By MAGGIE HABERMAN|

9/10/12 10:11 PM EDT

The WSJ editorial page weighs in on Mitt Romney‘s Obamacare response on Meet the Press, and the subsequent clean-up:

When Mitt Romney ventures into health care, political trouble usually follows. So it went this weekend, as the GOP standard-bearer made his own policy sound worse than it is.

On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Republican was asked what he would do about people with pre-existing medical conditions who would supposedly “no longer be guaranteed health care” if he repeals the Affordable Care Act. “I say we’re going to replace ObamaCare,” Mr. Romney replied. “And I’m replacing it with my own plan,” without defining the substance of his own agenda.

When pressed, Mr. Romney said that “I’m not getting rid of all of health-care reform. (That would be the liberal euphemism for ObamaCare.) Of course, there are a number of things that I like in health-care reform

Mitt Romney, the “Etch-A-Sketch” Flip-Flop candidate, flips again. This time, on “ObamaCare.” Borderline Personality Disorder?

Given the number of statements which Mitt Romney has made – statements in which he contradicts his own previous statements – it’s more than disconcerting that Mitt Romney has once again switched positions. Late former president Ronald Reagan – then candidate Reagan – once famously intoned while campaigning “there go you again.”

This, however, makes Mitt Romney appear almost schizophrenic, out of touch with reality, incapable of taking a position, constantly changing positions, being a moving target, a reed blown by the wind, wishy-washy, two-faced, hypocritical, liar, indecisive, and more.

“Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) (according to the ICD-10 World Health Organization disease classification, emotionally unstable personality disorder, borderline type) is a personality disorder marked by a prolonged disturbance of personality function, characterized by unusual variability and depth of moods.”

Those are NOT the qualities America needs in it’s Chief Executive.

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Romney backs away from healthcare pledge

By Anna Fifield in Washington
September 9, 2012 6:18 pm

Mitt Romney has said he would keep the most popular parts of Barack Obama’s signature healthcare reforms if elected president, performing an abrupt about-turn on his earlier campaign promise to repeal the whole law.

His comments will reignite suspicions that the Republican presidential candidate is a politician of expediency and

Gunman Shoots D.C. Lobbyist Firm’s Guard

Face it… gun nuts are gun nuts, and psychos are nuts too.

Period.

Oh yeah… it’s a lobbying group.

Period.

—

Security Guard Shot at Family Research Council in Downtown DC

Guard shot in the arm in lobby of conservative Christian group’s building

By Carissa DiMargo, Wednesday, Aug 15, 2012  |  Updated 2:11 PM EDT

An as-yet-unidentified male suspect is in FBI custody after he shot a security guard in the lobby of the Family Research Council, a conservative Christian organization based in downtown D.C.

A suspect is in FBI custody after a security guard was shot in the lobby of

POTUS slow jams the news on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

Sure… it’s cute, it’s cool.

Best part?

It’s TRUE!

“Three Amigos” Mega Millions Lottery winners in Maryland

There’s been significant hubbub and speculation over who held the winning ticket sold in Maryland in the Mega Millions Lottery.

Three winning tickets were sold, one each in Kansas, Illinois and Maryland. Earlier last week, a Kansas winner emerged and requested anonymity. However, the Illinois and Maryland winners had yet to claim their winnings. Maryland State Lottery officials said that by law, lottery winners have up to 182 days to claim winnings.

MONEY TROUBLES: Mirlande Wilson (above) claims she purchased a winning Mega Millions ticket for herself and won’t share it with co-workers in her pool, including Davon Wilson and Suleiman Osman Husein. (Photo by William Farrington)

However, significant speculation arose surrounding Mirlande Wilson, a 37 year-old Haitian immigrant mother of seven who worked at a McDonald’s on the 8200 block of Liberty Road in Baltimore, which is not far from where the winning ticket was sold at the 7-Eleven in Milford Mill.

According to a co-worker who identified himself only as “Allen,” 15 co-workers contributed $5 each toward a pool, to which the McDonald’s owner Birul Desai also later contributed. Ms. Wilson was to appointed to purchase tickets on her way home from work, and later returned to purchase additional tickets from money given to her by the store’s owner – and, as she has claimed, separately for herself.

The next day, Ms. Wilson

“Where, oh where’s my Mega Millions Lottery ticket?”

Here’s what we know thus far.

Three winning tickets were sold. One each in Kansas, Illinois & Maryland. Only one winner – the one in Kansas, whom also chose to remain anonymous – has come forward to claim their portion of the prize.

The winning Kansas ticket was purchased at Casey’s General Store No. 2668 at 940 N. Main Street in Ottawa, which has a population of little more than 6,000. The winner spent only $1 and let the computer pick a random number.

Director of the Maryland Lottery, Stephen Martino, said “The ticket has not been claimed. People need to look at their tickets.” He added that a Quick Pick ticket with the winning numbers was sold around 7:15PM on 30 March 2012 at the 7-Eleven on Liberty Avenue in Baltimore, and was the only ticket sold at that time. The drawing was less then four hours away when that ticket was sold. He also said the winner has until 28 September 2012 to claim the prize, and must do so in person. However, the winner is not required to make their identity public.

Maryland and Kansas allow winners to remain anonymous, but by law Illinois must publicly identify the winner to demonstrate that jackpots are being paid out, and winners have one year to claim winnings.

The Illinois winner has not yet been identified, and lottery officials there said

The BEST Super Bowl 2012 joke!

It was already making the rounds after the announcement of the half-time “entertainment” was announced.

The artist formerly known as “Madonna” was scheduled to perform during the 2012 Super Bowl, sometimes also referred to as the XLVI Super Bowl.

I suppose those folks take themselves a bit too seriously, what with the Roman numerals and such. Does anyone recall

“More permanent temporary…”

“Tonight, aid organizations are finalizing plans to move people into

Conan the Barbarian O’Brien

By now, it’s painfully evident that NBC made a critical programming error by ousting longtime funnyman and Tonight Show host Jay Leno, and substituting with the former Saturday night Live writer and most definitely un-funny Late Night host, Conan O’Brien.

Almost immediately, NBC’s viewership numbers  for its venerable Tonight Show declined. The honeymoon was over in under a week.

It’s no wonder.

O’Brien once wrote for SNL – which has been beating that dead horse ever since its initial hey day run from 1975-80 when the late John Belushi and Gilda Radner, with their equally genius comedic companions Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Jane Curtin and Bill Murray ruled the weekend comedy airwaves.

SNL has not been funny since. Well, perhaps there’s an episodic exception when Chris Farley appeared to take the spot emptied by Bellushi’s untimely death. Then Chris died… in much the same fashion and same age as Belushi. Not funny.

But back to O’Brien.

His abusive tenor, gutter “humor” – a masturbating bear? – and physical gesticulations are reminiscent of something painfully UNfunny.

Physical gags were John Ritter’s forte, but O’Brien’s intentionally spastic movements remind one of nothing more than a late teen attempting to be funny by behaving as a child.

Palinly… er, plainly, they’re a painful chore to watch, and his “jokes” are even worse to hear.

So, “goodbye,” and good riddance, Conan!

Maybe Fox will do you some good.

Oh, and by the way… it’s a masturbating bull – beef stroganoff.