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Tucker Carlson: The Deep State Ate My Fake News Homework

Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson (screen capture)
During his Wednesday night show, Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson told his audience that his producers had acquired “incriminating documents” about Hunter Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, but the documents had “vanished” while being shipped from New York to Los Angeles. From The Independent:

In a bizarre segment on Wednesday night’s show, Carlson alleged that his team mailed the documents from New York to Los Angeles after receiving them from a “source” on Monday, but that the bundle never arrived.

Without providing any further details or evidence, Carlson said the “damning” documents had “vanished” on route, heavily implying foul play.

Carlson said a producer had shipped the documents to him from New York to Los Angeles via a “brand-name company”. When they didn’t arrive, the shipping company told Fox that their package had been opened and the documents had “disappeared”.  

Viewers questioned why Fox shipped the only copy of such “damning” material without making any kind of back-up, and the segment has since been a subject of ridicule on social media.

Within the last hour, a spokesman for UPS told The Daily Beast that they had located the mysterious package Carlson suggested had been deliberately misplaced or intercepted because it contained “damning” materials on the Biden family. “After an extensive search, we have found the contents of the package and are arranging for its return,” the spokesman said.

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News Round-Up: October 28, 2020

(screen capture via CBS News)
Some news items you might have missed: • USA Today: A new report says five states – Pennsylvania, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin and Oregon – are at a high risk for activity by armed groups of civilians around the November 3 election. The report lists nine, large multistate right-wing groups that could present problems to Pennsylvania and other states, including Three Percenters, Proud Boys, and Oath Keepers. • The Advocate: A dispute between two people inside the popular gay bar Paco’s Ranch in Puerto Vallarta escalated into a physical altercation that spilled outside of the Romantic Zone establishment. One left, returned with a gun, and shot two men. • Statista: Although Donald Trump has claimed his 2016 win “was the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan,” his triumph was not the landslide he pretends. In fact, he won fewer electoral votes than all but one president since Ronald Reagan.
(graphic via Statista)
• Page Six: Willie Garson, who played Carrie Bradshaw’s bestie “Stanford Blatch” on the hit series Sex and the City recently revealed why he stayed in the closet as a straight actor. “For years I didn’t talk about it because I found it to be offensive to gay people.” • OUT: International pop star Ricky Martin says “as a Latino, as a gay man, and as someone ‘married to an Arab’ — his husband is Syrian painter Jwan Yosef — he can’t imagine voting for Trump.” Martin added that seeing news about ‘Latinos for Trump’ is “really scary.” • Twitter: A Trump supporter in California was caught on video threatening a female motorist outside a polling place this past weekend. In the clip, the man walks in front of the woman’s car and appears to take a picture of her license plate. “We got your plates, baby. We know who you are now. You’re gonna vote for Trump whether you like it or not. You got no choice. You cannot resist Trump. We got you. We fucking got you.” #VoterIntimidation

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Web Series: ‘Bad Rich Boy’ Flexes Comedic Muscles

Drew Canan in ‘Bad Rich Boy’ (screen capture)
Artie O’Daly serves up the latest installment of his wild and wacky ‘Bad Boy’ web series just in time for Hump Day. In this episode, titled ‘Bad Rich Boy,’ Scott (played by O’Daly) returns home from a business trip and is surprised (again) to find BJ (Braden Davis) playing house. Scott: “BJ – why are you in my house?” BJ: “Same reason you’re here.” Scott: “I live here.” BJ: “I live here – when you’re not here…” BJ explains an ‘executor’ (or is it ‘executioner?’) contacted him about his dead uncle’s estate worth over $2 million. Whitney (Theresa Ryan) shows up complaining that Mariah Carey stole her life story, Jim (Drew Canan) finds a very good reason to take off his shirt (yay!), and everyone has an opinion on Scott smelling like cows.
Artie O’Daly in ‘Bad Rich Boy’ (screen capture)
Got it? Going on… The executor, Kaleidoscope (her parents had a thing for light refractions), finally shows up but she may not be exactly who she appears to be. O’Daly’s sharp dialogue keeps the absurdist comedy storytelling on point as the characters ricochet from topic to topic with Scott trying to survive the verbal chaos. And an unexpected revelation leads everyone to wonder who might have killed him. Hit the play button below for a clever mid-day brain break. You can Instinct’s previous coverage of the acclaimed ‘Bad Boy’ web series here.

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Jack Black & Company ‘Rock-y The Vote’

L-R Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Jack Black, Pete Buttigieg (screen captures)
It’s astounding… time is fleeting… and the 2020 election is here. Jack Black teams up with Tenacious D and several guest stars to “Rock-y the vote!” The music video is part of the Rock The Vote campaign that encourages young people to participate in elections. Black and D throwdown this raucous take on the Rocky Horror Picture Show number “Time Warp” that encourages voters to make a “jump to the left” (and not a step to the right).

Joining in are former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, George Takei, John Waters, Susan Sarandon (the original film’s ‘Janet’), Sarah Silverman, Jamie Lee Curtis, and a host of other celebs who want to make sure you VOTE!

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Report: If Polls Are As Wrong Now As They Were In 2016

The Upshot at the New York Times has adjusted its table of what would happen if the polls were as wrong as they were in 2016.

For the past few months, the table reflected the polling error over the final three weeks. Now, the table reflects the error in the final week of polls in 2016.

From The Upshot:

One reason the polls seemed to miss by so much in 2016: Hillary Clinton had a large lead in the polls conducted two to three weeks before the election. The race tightened in the end, after the third debate and the Comey Letter. There was always a chance that would happen this year, and we wanted to represent that possibility.

Why change now? Well, we’re under a week to go. We’re past the point when the polls showed the race tightening in 2016.

We’re past the third debate. We’re past the Comey Letter. We’re past when the ABC/Post poll showed President Trump ahead nationwide or when Times/Siena and Ann Selzer/Bloomberg showed Mr. Trump ahead in Florida.

All of this is not to say Joe Biden is a lock on winning. Far from it. This is just some consideration on what’s going on in polling today. Follow The Upshot for daily updates here. Whatever you do – make sure you vote! And if possible, do it in person or drop off your ballot in person.

(graphic via NY Times)

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Podcast: CATS Chat With Leslie Ellis & Matt Zarley

Matt Zarley and Leslie Ellis
As a young actor, my first big break was being cast as the ‘Magical Mr. Mistoffelees’ in a brand new national touring company of the blockbuster Broadway musical CATS. While I was ‘living a dream’ over those years back in the 1980s, a nightmare called HIV/AIDS was taking thousands of lives from us. As a company, we wanted to do ‘something.’ So in 1987, we organized one of the first large-scale benefits performances by a touring company to help those affected by HIV. Amazingly, we raised over $36K in one night. Fast forward to today, and another viral pandemic is here. A few months ago, one of my former CATS castmates reached out to say, “Anyone want to do another fundraiser?” And so, we did.

  “With Love, Now and Forever! Cats4CovidRelief” premiered on October 23 and will be available until October 28. At this writing, combining donations at Broadway Cares and YouTube, we’ve raised over $20,000 and counting Today, I’m talking to two of my closest CATS castmates, Grammy Award-winner Leslie Ellis and two-time OutMusic Award-winner Matt Zarley, about this recent company reunion. Hit the play button to hear us chat on this recent collaboration, reminisce about life on the road as young actors, and laugh a bit about the life-changing experience that was CATS. While our streaming event is scheduled to be removed from Broadway Cares website at the end of October 28, the video is still up at this writing on BC/EFA’s YouTube channel on an unlisted page here. Plus, you can see Matt’s gorgeous segment featuring Leslie singing “Memory” here.

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Bloomberg: ‘Cash-Poor’ Trump Campaign Pulls Ads In Florida

Trump walks past reporters with no comment

Trump walks past reporters with no comment
Donald Trump (image via public domain/White House)
Bloomberg News reports Donald Trump’s campaign has “all but pulled its advertising out of Florida, as it stakes its relatively small bank account on the industrial northern states that carried him to victory in 2016.” Team Trump reportedly canceled $5.5 million in ad spending in the Sunshine State although there is still about $350,000 in ad spots still scheduled to run before Election Day. The Trump campaign contends its “organizational strength” will carry the day to victory in Florida. “Trump is now placing his final bet on just 4 battleground states: Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio & Pennsylvania,” reports Bloomberg. The media outlet adds that since Labor Day the president has scaled back campaign ad spending by $24 million. At the same time, former Vice President Joe Biden has been outspending Trump at a ratio of 3-1 as he added $197 million to his ad budget.

Update: After I shared this post this morning, Thea McDonald, Deputy National Press Secretary for the Trump Campaign, reached out this response from Tim Murtaugh, Trump 2020 communications director:

“The Bloomberg story is horribly wrong and should never have been written. The campaign, with the RNC coordinated buy, is up with a seven figure buy in Florida on broadcast TV alone. In addition in Florida, we are up with six figures in local cable, six figures in Spanish language, and six figures on radio. Our ad buying week by week in the state has been consistent, and the reporting on this issue demonstrates a clear misunderstanding of how ad buying works (and in some cases a misunderstanding of simple addition and subtraction). Last week we announced a $55 million buy over the final two weeks, which is a 40 percent increase over our previous levels. Just yesterday we added $6 million on top of that for the final week. Including Florida, the Trump campaign is on television in 12 states and also nationally. This is sloppy reporting at the highest level.”

Bloomberg has updated their report adding details and quotes of advertising strategy.

The RNC is picking up some of that slack, buying $4 million in ads beginning last week. It’s now airing an ad in Florida attacking Biden on Medicare, falsely claiming that the Biden health care plan would eliminate private health insurance.

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Self-Described ‘Racist’ Arizona Man Tells Black Man ‘This Is A No N*gg*r Zone’

Self-described racist Paul Ng (screen captures)
TMZ reports that an Arizona man, identified as Paul Ng, told a Black man shooting an episode for his podcast on a public street that he was in a “no n*gg*r zone.” Andre Abram was recording an episode for his podcast in Old Town Scottsdale, AZ last Friday with his cameraman, who’s also African-American. As they were recording, they noticed Ng scoping them out. Abram’s camera was rolling when Ng strolled over and asked the two men what they were doing. Ng explained that “we’ve had problems here,” before going on to admit that he is, in fact, a racist. Abram calmly explained that they were not, in fact, in a “no n*ggr zone,” but Ng continued to ask Abram questions about where he’s from and why he’s there. Abram didn’t escalate the situation, but eventually police tracked Ng down at his home where he was cited for disorderly conduct. It turns out Ng was a Realtor with Russ Lyon Sotheby’s International Realty – “was” because the real estate office fired Ng upon learning of his abhorrent behavior. The broker there also recommended Ng’s state license be revoked. And there you have it.

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Essential Worker Couples Surprised With 1 Million Travel Points For Honeymoons

Kaila and Erica at their Belize-inspired backyard honeymoon surprise (photo: Rachel Rodgers)
As part of their “Honeymoon for Heroes” campaign, the folks at Southwest Rapid Rewards Card from Chase just gave away 1 Million Rapid Rewards Points to essential workers. In partnership with Brides.com, Chase and Southwest surprised five essential worker couples across the country with a pop-up backyard honeymoon experience PLUS 200,000 Southwest Rapid Rewards points (about $3K in value) that don’t expire so they can take their real trip (or trips) when they are ready to travel. Chase and Southwest took the time to get to know each couple over the past few months, including their unique love story and ideal honeymoon destination, so that they could design a pop-up backyard honeymoon experience that felt special and personal to their relationship. For example, Erica, who is a pediatric ICU nurse, and Kaila, who is a licensed clinical social worker in New York City, were planning to visit a tropical island for a relaxing beach trip, but had to put their plans on hold when COVID started ramping up across the city. Chase and Southwest decided to surprise them with a Bohemian Picnic backyard honeymoon experience, inspired by the islands of Belize and Turks and Caicos, to give them the chance to relax and unwind on the beach as originally intended, without any of the hassle or worry.
Joel and Zenile celebrate their Southwest surprise (photo: Rachel Rodgers)
All of the couples also received Southwest’s coveted Companion Pass status through EOY 2021, which allows a Rapid Rewards member’s companion to fly with them free of airline charges every time they book a flight using points. Plus, each of the couples will be featured on Brides.com at the end of the month in a guide to planning weddings and honeymoons. It’s totally a ‘best practice’ to use a credit card like Southwest’s for expenses. If you’re going to be spending the money on the happy nuptials anyway, why not earn points for use towards the honeymoon? As part of the campaign,  over 1,000 individuals were surveyed about their honeymoon plans and as you might expect, 2/3 of couples had to change their honeymoon travel plans (coronavirus pandemic, don’t you know…). But 3/4 of couples do intend to stick with their original honeymoon destination when they finally feel comfortable traveling.

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Michael Henry On Gays Who Don’t Have Time To Do This One Little Thing

Chris Renfro and Michael Henry (screen capture)
Which is worse – being called a ‘basic’ gay or being kicked out of bed for not voting? I have to say Michael Henry’s latest video exploration into the world of the gays had me scratching my head a bit. I know I’ve heard of gays who don’t vote, but do they really exist? Really? In the video, Clint shares a recent story of a nooner gone bad after he casually mentioned he doesn’t vote, nor does he plan to. Shaken out of his afterglow by the revelation, Nathan throws Clint out of his apartment. Needless to say, Clint’s indignation over being kicked to the curb falls on less than sympathetic ears as Michael and Chris are just as horrified by his lack of civic duty. “Would you kick someone out of bed for not voting?” asks Clint with a – pardon the expression – straight face.
Clint Keller (screen capture)
Chris and Michael in unison: “YES!” The democratic duo then goes into all the reasons how not voting serves no purpose whatsoever. Oh, and Clint also admits he won’t be going out this weekend because he partied so hard at Atlanta Pride he got gout. “What’s the big deal? It’s my right to have a good time in a dark warehouse. So what if it’s a ‘super spreader’ event at the public’s expense?” In this day and age of Donald Trump packing the courts with ultra-conservative judges whose rulings can shape (or reduce) LGBTQ rights, kicking transgender soldiers out of the U.S. military and arguing at the Supreme Court it’s fine to fire someone for who they love, why would someone choose to not vote? I mean, not even fill out a mail-in ballot? Michael Henry is, once again spot-on not only on the issue but with his timing as the election is only one week away. Watch the quick video below, then make sure you vote! Note: For those concerned about coronavirus safety, Michael Henry shares, “Nathan and Clint are in a relationship and we filmed in their apartment.”