I think I just figured out how...

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Yep!

imgur.com works differently than the last time I used it. Had to seek guidance within the "Welcome and Help" forum here!

Thanks, demmiblue! http://www.democraticunderground.com/125612037

Shit - I still miss him.

It happened on a Monday night. Shit, CountAllVotes - you take me back! 1980. I was working at NBC Radio in Burbank and had put in a full day's shift already. I was home with my husband, done for the day, eating dinner in my bathrobe. The phone rang. It was the night-side assignment desk guy in Burbank. This crusty-but-benign rumpled ol' dude who everybody loved, and teased for his growly voice, and quirky sense of humor, and how he was always a good sport and game for everything. Every one of us in the bureau, male and female, could do an impersonation of him. But he was also kind of out-of-it as far as keeping up with pop culture.

He called me at home and alerted me - that "uh, New York just called. One of the Lennon Brothers just got shot."

Okay, anybody old enough to remember the Lennon Sisters of "Lawrence Welk Show" fame - three pretty young virginal look-alike sisters with lacquered hairdos who were adorable in a classic 1950s way, whose singing style was this soupy-but-perfect three-part harmony? I froze for a moment. Kinda dumbfounded. Turned to the phone and just gaped at it. "'One of the Lennon Brothers just got shot'...'Lennon Brothers'"? And then - "nah... he couldn't possibly be talking about JOHN Lennon of the Beatles? Nah, couldn't be... ... ...could it?" And boom! I was back on the clock, throwing my clothes back on and grabbing my car keys to hightail it out to Burbank to work react on the unfolding story - for most of the rest of the night.

Sheesh what a night. We worked at an experimental young-adult radio news network, one that served rock stations, so this was a HUGE story for us. It was the ONLY story for a week. The full-on tragedy of it didn't hit me til Friday of that week.

I'm still not over it, either. Many times through the years I've thought back to his political activism and courageous outspokenness, and wonder what he'd think if he were still here. Up to as recently as last night.

I made an art glass concrete paver of the first couple of measures.

The glass is kind of rainbow-y. Seemed fitting. It's out front! I made a series of them. Fire, Earth, Air, Water; the Sun, moon and Earth, and the first two bars of "Imagine" - with the little glass pieces forming the musical notes. I remember using a piece of sheet music, but everything had to be in reverse, because you embed the surface design at the bottom of your paver frame, and then pour the "Quick-crete" on to cover it. And when it all sets, you flip it over and remove the frame and there's your design right there on top!

I thought it was comparable to the death of Picasso.

Of that magnitude. John Lennon was a giant. He transcended. He was SO much more than a popular rocker, and man was he a colossus among popular rockers.

Question, please. Re: something I just saw on CNN.

Poppy Harlow is hosting this hour. Before the commercial break in the first quarter-hour, she teased an upcoming segment regarding Exxon/Mobil chief Rex Tillerson and his probable nomination for Secretary of State.

Then, they went to commercial. An Exxon/Mobil commercial touting how responsible they are to the interests of the planet. "And you thought we just made the gas."

And then, after the spot cluster ended, Poppy's back and intros the Tillerson discussion. Segment was about ten minutes long and kicked the whole idea around. She has actually done well today. I liked her probing of the CON-leaning columnists, trying to dig down into his obfuscating statements. Follow-up questions!

I'm beginning to wonder if there's an issue developing now, in the Conflict-of-Interest file. Should CNN be airing commercials from companies that pay them beaucoup bucks to advertise - when those same companies have extraordinarily strong ties to our government? Can CNN be counted on to report objectively on Big Oil when one of its leaders has been tapped as the next Secretary of State? They've been taking money from Exxon/Mobil for awhile because those commercials have been running for awhile.

After all, part of CNN's job is supposed to be reporting on and covering (NOT covering for)on the airwaves on which it sells air-time, isn't it?

Should this be discussed openly? I wonder if anybody at the networks that run those Exxon/Mobil commercials has thought of this? Should we as consumers be letting them know we're watching and questioning this? Should that be a concern? Have the networks fully flitched off any sense of objectivity or independence, or are they just wholly-owned subsidiaries?

Or is this even an issue? The Donald seems intent on blurring lines everywhere...

I remember that argument coming up when I was still working. None of us ever came up with a suitable answer.

There's always the old standby from the bush/cheney days.

How 'bout "Resident trump?" Because at least some of the time (assuming the Electoral College lemmings along and anoints him), he'll be residing in the White House.

That way, you can refer to his ill-gotten gain "title" in mixed company while still being true to your convictions, and the idiot contingent probably won't be paying that much attention, so they'll miss it.

Welcome to DU, ZoomBubba.

As much as I wish (and OH! How I wish!) you were wrong, you're not. Sometimes I have to fight really hard not to feel like giving up on this country for just such a reason as this.

One of the guys I was working with got into a shouting match with me in the middle of the newsroom

about it.

I was at NBC at the time. I said the loss of John Lennon was EPIC. Ranked up near or AT the top of the "loss of the century" category. This dude on the assignment desk vehemently disagreed. We were actually yelling at each other. And I have to admit - it affected how I regarded him, professionally, from then on. In the negative, that is.

I also felt the same toward the veteran newsman Edwin Newman, who had one of the daily one-minute featurettes that fed out to radio affiliates with the feature package that was made available several times a day. I remember sitting at my desk - and literally GAPING at the little closed-circuit monitor whose sound I had turned up, because I was listening for a couple of items I needed for my shift that day. Edwin Newman spent that day's 60-seconds complaining that too much had been made of John Lennon's murder, and questioned the reasoning for so much airtime given over on radio and TV to the death of the former Beatle. I'll NEVER forget it as long as I live. Somewhere in there, Newman opined that "granted, Lennon had SOME talent..."

"SOME talent?????" WHAT THE FUCKIN' FUCK???? "SOME talent?????????"

Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?????? I remember just staring at the monitor, stunned, with my jaw falling toward the floor. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I was literally in shock. And from Edwin Newman? Someone I'd watched covering the Kennedy assassination, the space program, all those political conventions at which he was one of the star floor reporters along with such legendary heavyweights as John Chancellor, Sander Vanocur, Cassie Mackin, and Frank McGee - and their anchors of eminence - Chet Huntley & David Brinkley? I idolized those people! Every last one of 'em. Wanted to grow up and be like them, and maybe even do that thing they were doing for the Nightly News every dinner hour! Edwin Newman was one of my idols - until that day. I never felt the same about him after that. All I could think of was "shame on you, Mr. Newman. SHAME on you!"

NO. We DO NOT Forget.

Welcome to DU, njcpa1978!

Don't forget that "Pizza-gate" idiot, taking his assault rifle into some pizza joint to "investigate" some stupid-ass completely made-up shit about Hillary and John Podesta somehow running some kiddie-sex-slave ring - out of a pizza parlor in Washington DC.

He saw it on the internet and fell for it hook, line, and sinker. And shit-for-brains like him get to vote... (which is even more nauseating)!

Dear God...