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Della Resse In ‘Touched By An Angel’ Daily Dose
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Daily Dose: 11/20/17

Della Reese passes at 86

Clinton Yates By @clintonyates

4:37 PMWhat’s up, gang? We’re on a short week because of Thanksgiving, but we’re going to power through anyways. By the way, I linked up with the 30 for 30 gang to talk about their first episode of season two. You can listen here!

Della Reese has made the transition. While she was best known later in life for her role on the television program Touched By An Angel, she had quite the career in music before that. But her on-screen work was certainly her calling card, with several films and other television roles to her name. For me, Della Reese always sort of played Della Reese, which was always excellent. She was 86 years old and leaves behind her husband and three children.

Chance the Rapper hosted Saturday Night Live this past weekend. I imagine that many people in America aren’t necessarily that familiar with his work, so seeing him in this context was a treat. Considering it was his first time at the effort, it was particularly impressive. Here’s the other thing: When there’s a black host, all the black characters tend to get more airtime with the sketches. If you missed it, you can check out all the sketches here. The Family Feud scene is particularly worth your time.

You know what happens when you don’t respect your own diversity? You lose money. Take the example of CBS, which decided to jettison actor Daniel Dae Kim after a money dispute regarding Hawaii Five-0. Basically, they did not want to pay actors of color as much as their white counterparts. So Kim walked, and with him went his brainchild The Good Doctor, which he is executive producing. Now, that show is a huge hit for ABC. There’s clearly a lesson to be learned here.

When it comes to video games, I play sports ones. I’m mostly a FIFA guy, but I enjoy a reasonable variety of others too. But some folks take things a little more seriously than that. I feel like the most I’ve ever bet on a turn on the sticks was a case of beer in college, but then again, nobody was balling like that as far as wagers go. But for rap stars Lil Yachty and 21 Savage, the stakes are way higher. Apparently, these two dudes went at it on NBA 2K and Yachty lost $12K. Yeesh.

Free Food

Coffee Break: The American Music Awards were last night, and while the acts were one thing, Tracee Ellis Ross was the host. And to make things even better, her mom, Diana Ross, was getting a lifetime achievement award. Perhaps best of all, our favorite family dropped by to give her a message.

Snack Time: Terry Glenn was a heck of a football player for Ohio State and on into the NFL. He died in a car accident over the weekend.

Dessert: Serena Williams offers up a must-watch tribute for the holidays. Watch.

 

Daily Dose

Daily Dose: 11/17/18

Jesse Jackson reveals Parkinson’s diagnosis

Clinton Yates By @clintonyates

4:08 PMHappy Friday, kiddos. Hope you’re ready for the weekend, folks, because it’s all downhill from here in terms of the holiday season. This is the last weekend you are reasonably allowed to ignore your relatives.

https://twitter.com/WeNotSocks/status/931281775258562560

Jesse Jackson is an American legend. He is not without his faults, obviously, but his run for president in 1988, on top of all his work as a civil rights activist, will go down in this nation’s history as transformational. A lot of people were prepared to vote for that black man, which is no small matter. He’s now disclosed that he’s been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, an unfortunate turn. I’ve met Jackson a couple of times, and each time it was an enlightening experience. We’re all wishing him well with his health.

Dave Chappelle’s last stand-up was pretty problematic. The comic legend who graced the world with his Comedy Central show came back to the small screen earlier this year, and it included a whole bunch of jokes that felt like he had maybe not really kept up with the times in terms of what we joke about in polite society. That aside, many people thought it was quite funny, and, if nothing else, it was good to see the familiar face back in his element. His newest Netflix special drops on New Year’s Eve, with him also doing a Stranger Things cameo.

Al Franken has admitted to inappropriate behavior. The Minnesota senator, a Democrat, was called out by radio personality Leeann Tweeden, who told her story about how the former Saturday Night Live writer and actor touched and kissed her inappropriately while the two were part of a USO tour years back. He apologized, and many people have been calling for him to resign as a result. In defense of him, the governor of Ohio came out and dropped a very weird letter about his sexual history because, well, dudes are the worst.

Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred is not here for your nonsense. One of the biggest knocks about the sport recently has been pace of play, and as a result the bigs have instituted all sorts of rules to try to speed things up. Clocks between innings, cutting down on nonsense before and after pitches, it’s all been very helpful. But now, Manfred just doesn’t care. He plans to consider a pitch clock as well as opening up the strike zone, and he might just implement it whether the players want it or not. Alrighty then.

Free Food

Coffee Break: I just want to give a shout-out to all my basics out there. You know who you are. Embrace it. I shop at the mall. I go to normal grocery stores. And when I’m on the road, I eat at pretty basic joints. Here’s a ranking of the top 25 restaurant chains in America, by sales.

Snack Time: If you have a problem with Lil Uzi Vert, that sucks for you. He might be weird, but his dance is awesome and his joints bang. Speaking of, here are four new songs of his.

Dessert: Look, do not have this at your family functions this holiday season. I will destroy the whole table.

 

Ivory tusks offloaded at burning site ahead of the historic ivory burning Daily Dose
EPA/DANIEL IRUNGU

Daily Dose: 11/16/17

Trump undoes Obama’s trophy elephant import laws

Clinton Yates By @clintonyates

6:17 PMAll right, kiddos. I’ll be on Capitol Hill for most of Thursday covering an event about the future of sports gambling, which should be an interesting day. I’ll let you know how it goes.

President Donald Trump loves undoing former President Barack Obama’s achievements. Whether it be things that can help his fellow Americans, policies that help us get along with other nations or, lo and behold, regulations that prevent endangered species from being killed off. Yes, Trump is going to reverse the ban on the import of trophy elephants in Africa. This move is clearly directly designed to help his son, whose proclivity for killing things is well-documented, and to thumb his nose at 44 directly, just because he can.

Our justice system can be extremely brutal. When it comes to fairness in incarceration, there are loopholes and inconsistencies that can ruin lives. Particularly in Louisiana, where state officials are on record as having desired to keep people in jail in order to “work them,” this is a specifically bad problem. Two more heartbreaking cases are in the news this week. One, a man was locked up for eight years with no trial, then freed after his case was thrown out. Another man is now free, nearly 50 years after a false rape accusation.

Remember Capt. “Sully”? Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, the guy who landed a plane on the Hudson River after a bird strike nearly took the aircraft down? It led to that incredible visual of people standing on a wing in the middle of the water, a situation from which, fortunately, everyone on board survived. He became a national hero. They made a movie about his life, and Tom Hanks played him. Anyways, it awakened the world to the scourge of bird strikes in general. And this photo from a fowl hitting a Miami-bound plane is really wild.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are old. Like, legit, they have one of the more aged rosters in the NBA, so how they handle their conditioning is extremely important. In a league in which daily travel is such a critical part of life, you’ve got to manage your energy very carefully, so what they’ve started doing when they get the chance is staying the night in the same city they’ve just played in before traveling on. It makes sense and, when it comes to the NBA fixing its rest problem, might be something more teams would want to consider.

Free Food

Coffee Break: If you’re not familiar with Lil Peep, I don’t blame you. His sound and approach to the game were very much on the cutting edge of where hip-hop is now, but he wasn’t without his problems. He’s suspected to have died from a drug overdose at the age of 21. Very sad.

Snack Time: I’ve mentioned the show Chewing Gum a few times in this space, mainly because it’s hilarious. It was supposed to be going away, but now, apparently, it’s back? Yay!

Dessert: Do you rock AirPods? Here’s a hack that might be useful for you.

 

Daily Dose

Daily Dose: 11/15/17

Donald Trump stops just short of calling UCLA players ungrateful

Clinton Yates By @clintonyates

1:49 PMDidn’t get a win Tuesday on Around The Horn, but Thursday is a new day, so we’ll see how that goes.

When it comes to nations ruled by dictators, it’s difficult to understand the truth. So when a military leader jumps on state broadcast television and announces that “this is not a coup,” well, OK, whatever. Now, it appears it’s definitely a coup. Robert Mugabe, who’s been in power in Zimbabwe as long as I’ve been alive, is apparently under house arrest. If you don’t know, Mugabe took control of his nation back from minority white rule and basically cashed out from there.

Speaking of Africa, its treasures are plentiful. Beyond the people and agriculture, there are the animals. Many of them are tourist attractions, but even more so, many are targets for poaching. Whether it be overzealous hunters who just want to say they downed something bigger than themselves, or those who want to take tusk ivory to be sold, many animals are under constant attack. The northern white rhino is no different, and there are only three left on earth. Meet the men who protect them with their lives.

If you don’t know Jeff Sessions, you should. He’s the U.S. attorney general, and the same guy whom Coretta Scott King warned us about some 30 years ago regarding his feelings about race. In testifying before the House Judiciary Committee, he repeatedly contradicted himself about his involvement regarding Russia, which is one thing. What caught my eye was what he said regarding a report about “black extremists.” Watch this video and, perhaps as important, check out his wife’s reaction to what he’s saying.

Donald Trump is the president of the United States of America. His literal job is to advocate on behalf of his constituents, which includes all citizens of this nation. But since he’s very much into personal accolades, he wants to know if the three hoopsters from UCLA who were accused of shoplifting in China are going to thank him for his apparent efforts in helping them get home. Now might be a good time to resurface this story. Also, it should be known that Trump’s own chief of staff called the Bruins players “knuckleheads.”

Free Food

Coffee Break: I don’t know much about robots, but I do know that I’m not here for them taking over the human race. But when they are self-aware to the point that they can basically outsmart us and plot our demise without even thinking twice, I RUN AWAY SCREAMING. Seriously, watch this.

Snack Time: The movie Get Out will be going to the Golden Globes as a comedy, which is confusing and angering to many fans of the film. It’s more complicated than that, but that category does feel rather weird.

Dessert: As someone who routinely rocks my naps on television with pride, this story is fascinating.

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