Tom

The first systematic Hollywood blacklist was instituted on November 25, 1947, the day after ten screenwriters and directors were cited for contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). The ten men – Alvah Bessie, Herbert Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott and Dalton Trumbo – had been subpoenaed by the committee in late September.

The Congressional action prompted a group of studio executives, acting under the aegis of the Association of Motion Picture Producers, to suspend without pay these ten film artists – initially labeled “The Unfriendly Ten” but soon changed to “The Hollywood Ten. Many of them had been accused, without evidence, by other Hollywood leaders of being communists or communist sympathizers. Among them, Walt Disney asserted that the threat of Communists in the film industry was a serious one, and he named specific ex-employees as probable Communists.

Most of the Hollywood Ten served time in prison and were unable to find work for years until the blacklist began to crack in the sixties and seventies.

“The Hollywood Ten” stand with their attorneys outside district court in Washington, D.C. before arraignment on contempt of Congress charges. The ten were charged for refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee. (Front row, L-R): Herbert Biberman, attorney Martin Popper, attorney Robert W. Kenny, Albert Maltz and Lester Cole. (Second row, L-R): Dalton Trumbo, John Howard Lawson, Alvah Bessie and Samuel Ornitz. (Top row, L-R): Ring Lardner Jr., Edward Dmytryk and Adrian Scott.

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ICE ‘expands’…

BADA BING!!!!

Scientists have combined the DNA of a cheetah with the DNA of a crab. Things went sideways really fast.

Am I the only person in the country who has no idea who Sydney Sweeny is and why she’s famous?

People tell me I have a lot of patience. Actually, there are just too many witnesses around.

So many people have inspired me to be nothing like them.

Whatever life throws at you, duck and let it hit someone else.

Kid Rock makes music for people who know exactly how much Sudafed you can get for a catalytic converter.

I was trying to pronounce the name of my medication and accidentally summoned Satan.

Of all the heinous things Donald Trump has done, by far the most unforgivable is making me agree with Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Let’s be honest. If dogs could talk, I’d have no need for people.

A Montana town that voted 89% for Donald Trump is holding a “pedophile bonfire” in its public park for anyone who wants to burn their Trump flags and MAGA hats.

Some people are so judgmental. You can tell just by looking at them.

The next time someone tells you that America isn’t racist, remind them that this nation is willing to accept treason, and child abuse from a white president but not healthcare from a Black one.

Everything I like is either illegal, immoral, or fattening.

Somebody called me today and tried to sell me a casket. I told him that was the last thing I needed.

When I was eighteen, I had a job where I was over 2,500 people. I was cutting grass in a cemetery.

How can you convert dollars to pounds? Visit McDonalds.

After a night of heavy drinking a husband comes home to find his wife in bed with a strange man. The husband goes to the dresser and pulls out a Colt .45 pistol and puts it to his own temple. The wife and lover start laughing, but the husband cuts them off and says, “Don’t laugh, you fuckers are next.”

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Today is the birthday, in 1944, of English rock musician Bev Bevan, drummer with The Move who had the 1969 UK No.1 single ‘Blackberry Way’. With Electric Light Orchestra had the 1979 UK No.3 & US No.4 single ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’ plus 26 other Top 40 hits. Bevan also served as the touring drummer for Black Sabbath during their 1983 Born Again Tour. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcGLRyBhE7M

On this day in 1963, Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas Police Headquarters on live TV, adding to the many conspiracy theories around the assassination of President Kennedy.

On November 24, at 11:21 a.m. CST, Oswald was being escorted by Dallas police detectives Jim Leavelle and L. C. Graves through the police basement to an armored car that was to take Oswald to the nearby county jail when Ruby, who was standing in a crowd of reporters, emerged with his revolver aimed at Oswald’s abdomen. Ruby passed by William Harrison, who saw the gun and began to reach his hand out. Detective Billy Combest described Ruby’s facial expression as that of a “determined look or grimace”. Ruby shot Oswald at point-blank range, mortally wounding him. Combest exclaimed, “Jack, you son of a bitch!”

Oswald was placed in an ambulance and driven to Parkland Memorial Hospital, the same hospital where President Kennedy was declared dead two days earlier. Oswald died at 1:07 p.m. Several photographs were taken of the event, capturing the moments when Ruby pulled the trigger. In 1964, Robert H. Jackson of the Dallas Times Herald was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Photography for his image, titled Jack Ruby Shoots Lee Harvey Oswald.

Jack Ruby (52) shoots Lee Harvey Oswald (24). Winner of the 1964 Pulitzer Prize for Photography

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ATM security – Bulgarian style

Nice rope skills!

Today is the birthday, in 1950, of Clem Burke, American musician who is best known as the drummer from Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band’s entire career. Blondie scored five UK No.1 singles including the 1979 UK & US No.1 single ‘Heart Of Glass’ and 1978 worldwide No.1 album Parallel Lines. He was named one of the greatest drummers of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, and in a long and varied career, he also played with Bob Dylan, Eurythmics, Iggy Pop and the Ramones. Burke died of cancer on 7th April 2025 age 70. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU3-lS_Gryk

Tomorrow marks the anniversary of the first commercial trans-Pacific airmail service. China Clipper (NC14716) was the first of three Martin M-130 four-engine flying boats built for Pan American Airway used in the service. Built at a cost of $417,000 by the Glenn L. Martin Company in Baltimore, Maryland, it was delivered to Pan Am on October 9, 1935. It was one of the largest airplanes of its time.

On November 22, 1935, it took off from Alameda, California on commission to deliver the first airmail cargo across the Pacific Ocean Although its inaugural flight plan called for the China Clipper to fly over the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge (still under construction at the time), upon take-off the pilot realized the plane would not clear the structure, and was forced to fly narrowly under instead. On November 29, the airplane reached its destination, Manila, after traveling via Honolulu, Midway Island, Wake Island, and Sumay, Guam, and delivered over 110,000 pieces of mail.

Aerial view of Pan American Airways “China Clipper” over San Francisco – Coit Memorial Tower at left.

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BEFORE THEY WERE FAMOUS

Charlize Theron Aged 14

Sean Connery Aged 23

Beyonce Aged 7

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On this day in 1981, Queen and David Bowie were at No.1 in the UK with Under Pressure. They recorded the song together when both acts were working in a Swiss recording studio. It was David Bowie’s first released collaboration with another recording artist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsuBBd9W4hk

Today is the birthday, in 1620, of Peregrine White, the first known English child born to the Pilgrims in America. His parents, William White and his pregnant wife Susanna, with their son Resolved White and two servants, came on the Mayflower in 1620. Peregrine White was born while the Mayflower lay at anchor in the harbor at Cape Cod. In later life, he became a person of note in Plymouth Colony, active in both military and government affairs.

Peregrine White’s father William White died on 21 February 1621. With her husband’s death, Susanna, with her newborn son Peregrine and five-year-old Resolved, became the only surviving widow out of the many families who perished that first winter. On 12 May 1621 Peregrine’s mother Susanna married widower Edward Winslow, a Mayflower and later a Plymouth colony notable with whom she had five children, one of whom was Josiah Winslow, future Plymouth governor.

In the 1627 Division of Cattle, both Resolved [sic] and his brother Peregrine were listed in the Third Lot under Capt. Standish in the family of Edward Winslow, his wife Susanna and their sons Edward and John Winslow.

The First Thanksgiving at Plymouth (1914) By Jennie A. Brownscombe

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Updating the seasonal decorations…

Today is the birthday, in 1946, of American rock and blues guitarist Duane Allman, the founder and original leader of The Allman Brothers Band. They released the classic album Eat a Peach in 1972 and had the 1973 US No.12 single ‘Ramblin Man’. A sought-after session musician both before and during his tenure with the band, Duane Allman performed with King Curtis, Aretha Franklin, Herbie Mann, Wilson Pickett, and Boz Scaggs. He also contributed to the only studio album by Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970). In 2003, he was ranked number 2 in Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, second only to Jimi Hendrix. Allman was killed in a motorcycle accident on 29th October 1971 in Macon, Georgia, when he collided with the rear of a flatbed truck that had turned in front of him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1xjl00sbao

Today is the birthday, in 1861, of Elizabeth Meriwether Gilmer, widely known by the pen name Dorothy Dix, was an American journalist and columnist. As the forerunner of today’s popular advice columnists, Dix was America’s highest paid and most widely read female journalist at the time of her death. Her advice on marriage was syndicated in newspapers around the world. With an estimated audience of 60 million readers, she became a popular and recognized figure. In addition to her journalistic work, she joined in the campaign for women’s suffrage and the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

Her journalism career began after her neighbor Eliza Nicholson, the owner of the New Orleans newspaper Daily Picayune, saw her writing and offered her a job as a reporter. At the beginning of her career, before writing advice columns, Dix wrote obituaries, recipes and theater reviews. As was customary for many female journalists at the time, who believed that their work had the potential to cause embarrassment or poor social standing, she chose to write under a pseudonym. She first used the pen name Dorothy Dix in 1895 for her column, “Sunday Salad,” in the Picayune; Dorothy, because she liked the name, and Dix in honor of an old family slave named Mr. Dick who had saved the Meriwether family silver during the Civil War. Within months the column was renamed to Dorothy Dix Talks and under that name was to become the world’s longest-running newspaper feature.

One of her most famous single columns was Dictates for a Happy Life, a ten-point plan for happiness, which had to be frequently reprinted due to popular demand. In addition to her newspaper columns, Dix was the author of books such as How to Win and Hold a Husband and Every-Day Help for Every-Day People.

Elizabeth Meriwether-Gilmer (Dorothy Dix) as a young woman in her early 30s

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How to use a rambutan…

Ummm…something missing???

Ummm…

Bada Bing!!!

Him: Taught my kids how socialism works. Let them trick or treat while I stayed home. Then took all their candy. Socialism 101. Us: The socialism part is where the community came together and fed your kids for free. The capitalism part is where you made them do all the work and stole from them.

Some people are walking around who are still “it” from recess 50 years ago and don’t even know it.

It’s hard to believe I used to be 6 lbs, 7 oz. I’ve really let myself go!

NYC has shocked the world by electing a normal guy instead of a billionaire backed pervert.

Funny that people think Zohran Mamdani will force you to become a Muslim. Not a single person who’s knocked on my door to convert me was a Muslim.

Karen: I need to speak to the Manager. I want to talk to someone who knows what is going on. Employee: Ok, here is the deal, I can go get one or the other.

Trump is freaking out that his “Truth” Social AI bot went completely rogue by saying Trump lied about the 2020 election, that he was behind January 6, and failed to bring down prices… in other words, the truth.

It’s time to start calling Nationalist Christians “Nat C’s”.

Christian nationalism is just white supremacy in bible drag.

Christian nationalism is just sharia law with bacon and beer.

How do you get away with committing a crime against a deaf person? Break their fingers so they can’t tell anyone.

Have you heard that they stopped making pennies? The Treasury said they just didn’t make sense anymore.

A woman is caught shoplifting a bag of apples. In court the judge says, “I don’t usually do this but to set an example, I’m sentencing you to spend a day in jail, one for each apple. That’s a week in total.” Her husband raises his hand, “Your honor, I have to confess, she also stole a bag of rice the day before.”

New York is the exact opposite of Minnesota. New York is where the Big Apple is and Minnesota is where Minneapolis.

The battlefield quickly turned into an orgy. Cupid: Sorry! These are the only arrows I have.

I am such a loser. I once entered the Worlds Biggest Loser Competition…I came second. 

An IRS inspector audits a hospital’s books. He asks the CFO what they do with leftover bandages, and the CFO says they send them back to the company for an occasional free box. The auditor then asks about leftover plaster from casts, and the CFO gives a similar answer, saying they send it back to the manufacturer for an occasional free package. The auditor, trying to trap the CFO, asks what they do with leftover foreskins from circumcisions. The CFO replies that they save them up, send them to the IRS office, and about once a year, the IRS sends them a complete dick.

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Today is the birthday, in 1960 of English pop singer Kim Wilde (the eldest child of 1950s rock and roller Marty Wilde), who had the 1981 UK No.2 single ‘Kids In America’ and the 1987 US No.1 single with a reworked version of the Supremes’ song ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’. Between 1981 and 1996, she had 25 singles that charted within the Top 50 of the UK singles chart. She branched into an alternative career as a landscape gardener, which has included presenting gardening shows on the BBC and Channel 4. In 2005, she won a Gold award for her courtyard garden at the Royal Horticultural Society’s Chelsea Flower Show. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_3gLp6k7ZE