Larry King here, filling in for Mark for the rest of 2022, as he takes some well-deserved time off and works on a few “special projects,” whatever that is.
Before we get to my things, here’s a pitch for you to support Mark’s work.
Like many of you, I read this newsletter every day. I’ve come to rely on the Wide World of News (and on Mark) for political intelligence, insight, and wit.
And, boy, how he gets all those leaks of Ron Klain memos! What a thing!!!!
So please join me in backing Mark’s efforts.
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Thank you from the bottom of my Brooklyn heart for showing some financial love to my pal, Mark Evan Halperin. He will be back in the saddle on January 2.
Until then, you are stuck with me.
Now, without further ado: KING’S THINGS!!!
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Growing up, I knew a kid named “Elon” but no one named “Musk” – make of that what you will…Somewhere up in heaven, the great Bob Michel is cheering on Kevin McCarthy to get this right…. I have bad news for the Mets. No DeGrom. No DePennant…. How many anti-Semites does it take to get a reservation at Mar-a-Lago? Not a joke, actually asking…. They don't make classy ladies like Christine McVie anymore and they should… Iowa's being treated worse than Prince William in Boston!.... People who know Wisconsin politics keep asking: What if Michelle Obama had done two November rallies with Mandela Barnes?…They can take the kid out of CNN but they can’t take the CNN out of the kid….For Joe Biden, 80 is the new 86….I’ve been watching the World Cup, by which I mean soccer is on the TV while I nap…Speaking of which, this Messi fellow seems good, I guess, but he’s no Fran Tarkenton…. The U.S. soccer team may be out but don't bet against the U.S. Army!...Tony Danza has forgotten more about acting than most people will ever know… First the kids didn't want to wear a tie to the office, now they don't even want the office!.... All this upgrading, I do not get – my iPhone 5 still seems to work pretty good.... Not a day goes by where I don’t miss the great Marvin Hamlisch….Whoever thought of “Run, Herschel, run” probably didn’t think that through….Axios? Semafor? What happened to good old-fashioned American names like “Reader’s Digest” and “Time”??....I mean Axios sounds like the bad guy in a Bond picture…..I know the ladies like “Yellowstone,” but Kevin Costner will always be Ray Kinsella to me…
….No disrespect meant to Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow but I’ll take Danny Marino any day of the week and twice on any given Sunday…..Hey, Madonna, take a page out of Joni Mitchell's act and act your age….. How about Hunter Biden and Donald Trump Jr. someday hit the speaking circuit together a la Ralph Branca and Bobby Thompson….When was the last time you could name the current world heavyweight boxing champion?...Doesn’t the dynamic between Ron and Casey DeSantis remind you more than a little bit of Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gormé?....
….I like choices as much as the next guy, but all these video streaming services? I mean, back in Brooklyn, “plus” was something we did in math class… .. Paramount+?? Albert Ruddy and Robert Evans are rolling over in their graves….Bonds and Schilling, I get, but leaving Roger Clemens out of Cooperstown makes about as much sense as those crazy scooters just lying on the sidewalk all over Santa Monica…In what forest is Asa Hutchinson presidential timber?....Better under the mattress than in the crypto, methinks… Bob Iger is my goombah but someone’s gotta tell the guy you can’t go home again — unless you can…. Everybody keeps talking about this White Lotus. To me, it will always just be Liz Taylor’s unforgettable perfume….
…..Say what you will about this Sam Bankman-Fried kid, but his parents are the real deal…… I know this sounds crazy, but don’t you think it’s time they rebuilt the Titanic?…. I’ve always liked funny James Corden, but if a waiter brings you a meal with a hair in it, you just got to keep your mouth shut and eat it….We all know that Kanye lost billions last week, but who d’ya think is paying him anything right now?...I just started getting used to the whole pumpkin pie spice thing, now they are telling me everything’s sugar cookie flavored...You can call Mariah Carey the Queen of Christmas all you want, but note for note, I’d rather be opening presents to Brenda Lee’s “Rocking Around The Christmas Tree”…Does anybody know which bowl game to watch on which day, with which team?….
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ESSENTIAL READING
* The New Hampshire Journal breaks down the Democrats’ 2024 presidential nomination schedule fracas as only a Granite Stater can, with micro focus on some of the variables that have escaped much of the national media, including this week’s selection of the secretary of state charged with protecting first-in-the-nation status. I say for the third or fourth time: It ain’t over ‘til it’s over. And it ain’t over.
* Two things can both be true at once: The Musk-Taibbi document dump contained no revelatory smoking gun AND there is already sufficient evidence of an honest-to-goodness, long-running conspiracy between Big Tech, the Dominant Media, key portions of the FBI, and the Democratic Party.
The Wall Street Journal ed board can see this duality.
And you can also if you read three items from the New York Post, including a measured editorial (which also serves at the same time to rebuke Donald Trump’s call to suspend the Constitution), the latest Miranda Devine dot connector, and a new one from Andrew McCarthy, which includes some points that the Dominant Media will continue to deny, including this very true one, describing some of the most important threats to democracy and trust in the system of the last 30 years that were not caused by Donald Trump:
Just as it did in 2016, the Democratic Party colluded during the 2020 presidential campaign with FBI leadership, its like-minded transnational-progressives in the loose-lipped community of current and former national-security officials and the media. The objective in 2020, as in 2016, was to try to drag a weak, deeply compromised Democratic candidate across the finish line.