1/13/2023: Do More Good Deeds
PLUS: Poseidon’s Temple; Shakira Shades Her Ex; and Julia Roberts’ Ancestry
Today is Friday, January 13, 2023.
It is the 13th day of the year.
352 days remain.
PROGRAMMING NOTE
We’re still covering the Lottery every day, but realized it makes more sense to be folded into the daily By the Numbers section, which has been relocated to follow The Swamp. You’ll also notice some other changes in the works to make Morning Martini easier to read and bring you even more stuff that’s good to know to get you through the day.
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WHAT’S ON TAP
The preliminary hearing for BRYAN KOHBERGER’s murder trial has been pushed to June after he waived his right to get it done in the next 14 days. More in HIT LIST.
President JOE BIDEN had a very bad day yesterday. Find out what’s been in his garage in THE SWAMP.
JULIA WOLF, WILDES, and MOLLY are out with new music for NEW MUSIC FRIDAY and JOY BEHAR crawls up her own rear-end with her latest absurd claim. More in SHOWBIZ.
Following Balenciaga’s pedophilia-adjacent recent scandals, KIM KARDASHIAN is putting some distance between her and the fashion house. More in THE DAILY KARDASH.
As Pepsi pushes its new soda Starry, relive five big new product flops from recent years in today’s LIST OF THE WEEK.
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HIT LIST
Twitter is making a push into the “creator economy” – where accounts try to get people to pay them for their videos, art, and other online content – with the creation of a currency specific to the Twitter platform, simply called “coins,” Engadget reports.
WORTH NOTING: This isn’t exactly the same thing as Twitter creating its own cryptocurrency. It’s more what they’re calling the in-app mechanism that would empower users to pay people for content they like.
The coins platform would be an extension of the tipping feature that already exists, which allows users to send money to account owners, often as a thank-you for work they like or appreciate. [via Engadget]
SPEAKING OF CONTENT CREATORS: SAM BANKMAN-FRIED apparently has set up his own Substack. His first long post appears to be a detailed explanation of why he’s not a criminal but just a totally incompetent executive.
WORTH NOTING: SBF’s substack is free – for now.
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The lawyer for Idaho murder suspect BRYAN KOHBERGER said he’s waiving his rights to a speedy preliminary hearing within the next 14 days, suggesting the accused killer’s lawyer intends to challenge some of the evidence laid out in discovery. [via Fox News]
WORTH REMEMBERING: The arrest affidavit connects a lot of dots between the murder scene and Kohberger, but much of it is circumstantial.
HUNKER DOWN: The preliminary hearing will now be at the end of June and last five days.
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A study out of Ohio State University shows that performing good deeds for others has a bigger effect on improving the good-deed-doer’s mental health than other psychiatric techniques, like planning social activities or going through a bit of therapy.
Those who reported being happiest performed acts of kindness small and large, sometimes as simple as leaving a sticky note with a message of gratitude for a roommate or baking cookies for a friend.
“Doing nice things for people and focusing on the needs of others may actually help people with depression and anxiety feel better about themselves,” said the study’s lead researcher.
As COLDPLAY’s CHRIS MARTIN tells us, “We’re only human, but capable of kindness, so they call us humankind.”
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Over 2,000 years ago, Greek historian Strabo wrote about a magnificent temple of sea-god Poseidon on the Peloponnesian coast.
Now, archeologists think they’ve found it.
The site was first discovered in 2021, but continued excavation and research suggests this might be the temple historians have long sought to find.
The area is also believed to have endured two major tsunamis throughout history – once in the 6th century and again in the 14th century – and some believe that a place experiencing significant seaborne natural disasters would be the perfect place for ancient peoples to worship and pay tribute to their god of the sea.
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A Texas football coach is on leave after reportedly making players do more than 300 pushups as part of an intense off-season workout.
An unidentified number of participants were diagnosed with rhabdomyolysis, a condition resulting from muscles releasing an excess of proteins and electrolytes into the bloodstream that can cause heart and kidney damage.
Team captain Brady Luff defended the coach, telling the ABC affiliate that the workout “wasn’t any different than any workout we’ve done before, intensity-wise,” and noted the players weren’t forced to do the workout. [via WFAA ABC8]
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CHARTS
What’s Streaming This Weekend
New to Hulu:
The Drop (Rotten Tomatoes Score: No Score)
A Kind of Murder (Score: 33%)
New to Netflix:
Dog Gone (No Score)
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DEATHS
LISA MARIE PRESLEY, the only child of ELVIS PRESLEY, has died.
News broke Thursday she had been admitted to an ICU near her home in Calabasas, California, and was on life support with a temporary pacemaker after suffering cardiac arrest.
Her sudden death comes two days after she attended the Golden Globes ceremony to support the biopic, “Elvis.”
She was 54.
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TikToker TAYLOR CLAYDOM, known for eating strange and nostalgic foods, has died.
His brother told TMZ that they believe he suffered a fatal heart attack on Wednesday.
According to The Sun, Taylor had over 1.7 million followers on the app.
He was only 33.
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RELATIONSHIPS
BEN SAVAGE, known best for his role as Cory Matthews on “Boy Meets World,” is engaged!
The 42-year-old announced the news on social media this week, with a photo of him alongside his new fiancee, TESSA ANGERMEIER. He captioned the post, “The best is yet to come.”
The couple have been together for about four years.
Very little is known about Angermeier.
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THE SWAMP
Attorney General MERRICK GARLAND has appointed a special counsel to investigate President JOE BIDEN’s unauthorized possession of classified documents, which have now been found at his DC-area offices and his private Delaware residence.
Biden has retained private lawyers to represent him in the matter, but on Thursday White House Media Commissar KARINE JEAN-PIERRE could not confirm a name (or names). Biden told a reporter Thursday that the second batch of documents were in his garage, which locks, and were near his classic Corvette. Biden later said the documents were in his library, so the documents could be in either or both places. He carefully read the statement from his notes instead of speaking extemporaneously.
GET A LOAD OF THIS: The New York Post’s MIRANDA DEVINE reported Thursday that the house where the additional documents were found is owned by Biden’s son, HUNTER BIDEN.
WORTH ASKING: How many drug addicts do you know who can afford to buy a house for their dad at the same time asking their dad to wire them money to pay for hookers – which is something that the Hunter Laptop revealed to have happened.
MEANWHILE: Federal investigators have interviewed multiple aides who worked for Biden during the last months of the Obama administration in 2016 and 2017. This includes Biden’s executive assistant from when he was veep. [via NBC News]
One source tells NBC News, “The people who were boxing [up the vice presidential office] had no idea that there was anything in there that shouldn’t leave the White House.”
WORTH ASKING: In more than five years, these documents weren’t looked at or reviewed?
ALSO WORTH ASKING: Is it possible these documents were also inadvertently misplaced, and so were the classified documents found at Mar-a-Lago held by former President DONALD TRUMP? And rather than expose Biden as a criminal, this incident reveals the media’s totally one-sided bias?
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In January 2018, Republican Rep. DEVIN NUNES wrote a classified memo for the House Intelligence Committee outlining how the FBI abused its power in obtaining surveillance warrants on people connected to former President DONALD TRUMP.
News of this memo was leaked, and the media and Democrat blowhards decried it as a politically-motivated joke to move the spotlight away from the ongoing Mueller investigation.
FLASHBACK: Former FBI Director ROBERT MUELLER spent years investigating accusations that the Russian government colluded with Trump to get him elected and he was working as their asset while serving as President of the United States. These accusations turned out to be meritless.
BACK TO 2018: As news of the Nunes memo spread, Trump’s supporters took to Twitter en masse and caused the hashtag #ReleaseTheMemo to trend for days.
Democrat legislators including DIANNE FEINSTEIN, RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, and ADAM SCHIFF wrote open letters that argued this hashtag was only trending because of the “assistance of social media accounts linked to Russian influence operations.” They were trying to paint the picture that, once again, agents of Russia were meddling in the national discourse to protect their guy.
This simply was not true, as internal Twitter communications from the time now show.
Even YOEL ROTH, who at the time headed the site’s security operations, and left shortly after ELON MUSK took over, wrote to colleagues that none of the accounts using the #ReleaseTheMemo hashtag “show any signs of affiliation to Russia. He adds, “We investigated, found that engagement as overwhelmingly organic, and driven by [Very Important Tweeters].”
IT GETS WORSE: Journalist MATT TAIBBI, who has reported on a few Twitter dumps now, reports, “Despite universal internal conviction that there were no Russians in the story, Twitter went on to follow a slavish pattern of not challenging Russia claims on the record” [emphasis added]. Taibbi points out that despite glaring evidence to the country, all major media outlets suggested this hashtag was the result of Russian agents influencing public opinion online. [via Matt Taibbi]
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BY THE NUMBERS
📈 The DOW added 216 points (0.64%) to close at 34,1879 on Thursday. The S&P added 13 points (0.34%) to close at 3,983 while the NASDAQ added 69 points (0.64%) to close at 11,001.
🛢 WEST TEXAS INTERMEDIATE closed at $78; BRENT CRUDE at $83.
⛽ The national average price of a gallon of gas was $3.27 on Thursday.
₿ BITCOIN surged on Thursday, trading above $19,000 for part of the day, before sliding back just over $18,700.
🛩 There were more than 5,800 flights delayed within, into, or out of the United States on Thursday and more than 180 such cancellations.
💰Tonight’s MEGA MILLIONS drawing will be for a $1.35 BILLION jackpot or a $707.9 million cash payout. Saturday night’s POWERBALL drawing will be for a $404 million jackpot or a $211.7 million cash payout.
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SHOWBIZ NEWS
These albums drop today:
Babytron, “Bin Reaper 3: New Testament”
Billy Nomates, “CACTI”
Circa Waves, “Never Going Under”
Joesef, “Permanent Damage”
Julia Wolf, “Good Thing We Stayed”
Juni Hablel, “Carvings”
Leila Moss, “Internal Working Model”
Manny Laurenko, “TACTICAL”
Margo Price, “Strays”
MOLLY, “Picturesque”
Rozi Plain, “PRIZE”
Skyzoo and The Other Guys, “The Mind of a Saint”
The Subways, “Uncertain Joys”
Ville Vale, “Neon Noir”
Wildes, “Other Words Fail Me”
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On Thursday’s episode of “The View,” co-host JOY BEHAR appeared to suggest that former President DONALD TRUMP planted classified documents in President JOE BIDEN’s garage.
“I’ve never seen a luckier person than Donald Trump. Just as we’re this close to getting him, somehow these documents appear,” Behar said, suggesting the former Commander-in-Chief played a role in this scandal.
The rest of the women at the table were not so convinced of Joy’s theory. [via Fox News]
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DR DRE is in the process of offloading some of his music rights to two separate companies -- Shamrock Holdings and Universal Music Group.
The deal with Shamrock would include artist royalties from two of Dre’s solo albums and producer royalties. The deal with Universal would include the master recording of his first solo album, “The Chronic.”
Insiders told Billboard that Dre is not selling all of his music or his ownership stake in his record label, Aftermath.
In total, the deals are worth well over $200 million. [via Billboard]
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SHAKIRA’s new collaboration with producer BIZARRAP takes aim at her ex, soccer player GERARD PIQUE.
“A she-wolf like me is not for rookies / A she-wolf like me is not for guys like you,” she sings, although in Spanish, a nod to her 2009 hit “She Wolf.”
Later in the song, Shakira refers to Pique’s new girlfriend CLARA CHIA MARTI, singing “I wish you luck with my supposed replacement / I don’t even know what happened to you.” She later shades, “You traded in a Ferrari for a Twingo / You traded in a Rolex for a Casio.”
Shakira and Pique announced their split in June last year after 11 years together. Shortly after, she moved to Miami with their two sons Milan and Sasha. [via People]
WORTH NOTING: The performance video has already racked up more than 52 million streams.
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JENNA BUSH HAGER told “Today” show viewers that her grandma, former first lady BARBARA BUSH, once body-shamed her, telling her she was “looking chubby.”
She said the comment stuck with her for years, making her feel like she needed to cover up.
Years later, Jenna said her grandma apologized for the comment, saying her own mother “said those types of things” to her growing up. [via Page Six]
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JACK NICHOLSON’s friends are concerned that the actor, who lives “like a recluse,” will end up dying alone.
Speaking to RadarOnline, multiple sources said that Nicholson “doesn’t leave his house anymore” and that his “mind is gone.”
The insiders added that Nicholson’s kids are “his only connection to the world.”
The 85-year-old was last spotted out in public at the Staples Center for a Lakers game in October 2021. His last film was 2011’s “How Do You Know,” which he starred in alongside REESE WITHERSPOON, PAUL RUDD and OWEN WILSON. [via RadarOnline]
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A jersey KOBE BRYANT wore during his only MVP season is heading to auction.
The signed Lakers jersey, from the 2007-2008 season, is expected to fetch upwards of $7 million, according to Sotheby’s, the auction house listing it.
The most expensive piece of Mamba memorabilia is an autographed jersey from his rookie year, which sold for $3.7 million in 2021. [via CBS Sports]
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During a recent appearance on PBS show “Finding Your Roots,” actress JULIA ROBERTS discovered a centuries-old secret about her family.
After looking into her ancestry, host HENRY LOUIS GATES JR, revealed that Julia’s alleged great-great-grandfather, Willis Roberts, had died more than a decade before her great-grandfather was born.
With that news, Gates Jr. said he dug further and was able to trace her to a man named Henry McDonald Mitchell Jr.
“So we’re the Mitchell’s?” Julia asked.
“You’re Julia Mitchell,” Gates Jr. quipped. “You are not a Roberts, biologically.” [via People]
WHAT’S MORE: Mitchell Jr. was reportedly married at the time of his affair with Julia’s great-great-grandmother and had six of his own kids.
WORTH ASKING: Will this be a plot for Julia’s next big flick?
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CASTING CALL
Not everyone is ready to congratulate actor EVAN PETERS on his Golden Globe win for his portrayal of serial killer JEFFREY DAHMER.
Shirley Hughes, the mom of victim Tony Hughes, told TMZ that the actor should have used his time on the stage to shed light on the families still suffering from Dahmer’s crimes and to tell Hollywood to stop glorifying killers.
She also called it a “shame” that “people can take [the] tragedy and make money,” adding that “the victims never saw a cent.” [via TMZ]
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While filming his latest flick, “Plane,” actor GERARD BUTLER accidentally rubbed phosphoric acid in his eyes, and said it felt like he was “burning alive.”
Detailing the ordeal during his recent appearance on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” Butler said that his hands got covered in green fluid during a scene where acts like he is working on a faulty aircraft.
“Every time I bring my hands out, they’re covered in blood and green fluid, right? And I’m like I don't know what this green fluid is,” he explained. “I’m rubbing my face and, suddenly, it’s in my throat. It’s in my mouth. It’s up my nose. It’s in my eyes. It’s burning my face, and I mean burning.”
Butler didn’t say how he got the acid off, but did joke that the incident was “great for the sequence” they were filming.
“Plane” hits theaters today.
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THE DAILY KARDASHOPUS
KIM KARDASHIAN is selling some of her Balenciaga items following the scandal surrounding the brand over two ads featuring children.
One of the ads featured kids posing with teddy bears dressed in BDSM gear and one showed an image of a Supreme Court opinion on child pornography.
Backlash was swift for the fashion house, as well as celebs who promote, wear and support the brand. Kim, being a brand ambassador, responded to the critics saying she would be “re-evaluating” her relationship with Balenciaga. [via The Independent]
WORTH NOTING: While fans are pleased with Kim removing herself from the brand, many on social media felt that she should be tossing or donating the items, not trying to make a profit.
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WE’LL NEVER BE ROYALS
Netflix announced this week that PRINCE HARRY and MEGHAN MARKLE’s next project, “Heart of Invictus,” will drop this summer.
The series features competitors from around the globe as they prepared for the 2020 Invictus Games in The Hague in the Netherlands, which took place in 2022 due to the pandemic.
Harry created the Invictus Games in 2014 to bring together wounded veterans to compete in adaptive sports. [via People]
WORTH REMEMBERING: Harry and Meg made their first public appearance together at the Invictus Games in Toronto in 2017.
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LIST OF THE WEEK
With Pepsi announcing a new lemon-lime drink this week called Starry to replace Sierra Mist and take on Coke’s Sprite, the beverage giant has high expectations. Here’s some of the biggest product flops in recent memory despite their hype:
5. GAP REBRAND (2010): On October 6, 2010, hip clothing company Gap announced a new logo, swapping the iconic tall, all-caps, serif letters on a blue square background for a chunky black typeface. The backlash was swift and severe. By October 10, the company reverted to its original.
4. DELOREAN DMC-12 (1981-83): Despite the car’s familiarity through the “Back to the Future” series, the DeLorean only ever produced about 9,000 vehicles between 1981 and 1983, a few years before the first movie even came out. More than 6,000 are believed to remain on the road today. You can get your very own at auction from anywhere from between $55,000 and $85,000.
3. KELLOGG’S BREAKFAST MATES (1998-99): For those who thought taking out a jug of milk, unscrewing the cap, and tipping it into a small bowl was a morning time suck, did Kellogg’s have the product for you before the new millennium: Their Breakfast Mates line paired popular cereal flavors with shelf-stable milk in a single package. But the weird taste and room-temperature milk never caught on and the offering was discontinued within about a year.
2. QWIKSTER (2011): Netflix rose to popularity in the mid-to-late 2000s as the DVD-by-mail company that was putting Blockbuster out of business. It also was an early pioneer in video streaming technology, and by 2011, the two services required totally different teams and infrastructure to operate. That year, the company announced the DVD-by-mail service would spin-off into a separate company called Qwikster. The swift and severe backlash caused Netflix to scuttle their plans entirely.
1. NEW COKE (1985): In a desperate bid to shore up its market share in the cola wars, Coke spent millions testing and promoting “New Coke,” which reliably won in taste tests and focus groups. But much of the country wanted none of it and angry customers sent thousands of letters and jammed Coke’s complaint hotline. Just 79 days after the launch, Coca-Cola announced they would return to the original formula, which had in the meantime ceased production.
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DAY OF THE YEAR
Korean American Day
Stephen Foster Memorial Day
Make Your Dream Come True Day
National Blame Someone Else Day
National Sticker Day
National Rubber Ducky Day
Public Radio Broadcasting Day
National Peach Melba Day
International Skeptics Day
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ON THIS DATE
1128 – Pope Honorius II declares the Knights Templar an army of God, fighting on behalf of Christianity.
The soldiers were meant to protect Christians making pilgrimages to the Holy Land during the Crusades, when Muslims and Palestinians were more likely to attack them.
At first there were only 9 soldiers, who took vows of poverty, obedience, and chastity, like today's Jesuits.
The Knights Templar provided part of the inspiration for Dan Brown's novel "The Da Vinci Code."
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1929 – Gunslinger Wyatt Earp dies in Los Angeles - 50 years after the famous shootout at the OK Corral. .
He was 80 years old.
Earp earned his reputation as a lawman in the frontier town of Tombstone, Arizona.
Afterward, he speculated in gold mines, ran saloons in San Francisco and Alaska, and raised horses in San Diego.
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1950 – Soviet ambassadors run out on a UN Security Council meeting when a proposal to expel the National Chinese delegation was shot down.
They did the same a few days earlier, for the same reasons.
The U.S. was a major voice trying to keep a free China in the UN, but the Soviets had already recognized the communist Peoples Republic of China as the legitimate government.
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1999 – Michael Jordan quits basketball for a second time.
He first retired in 1993, after which he played minor league baseball with the Chicago White Sox's farm team the Birmingham Barons. He played abysmally.
By March 1995, Jordan returned to the NBA, but only for a few seasons.
He led the league in scoring in 1996 and won three consecutive championships with the Chicago Bulls.
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2008 – The Hollywood writers’ strike shuts down the Golden Globe Awards.
Organizers of the event figured no one would show up out of solidarity with the writers.
Instead of a big TV awards show, there was a quiet presentation held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
NBC was set to air it, and ended up losing between 10-and-15 million dollars in ad revenue.
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2020 - Queen Elizabeth II issues a statement saying that she supports Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s wish to live a more independent life.
Her Majesty reluctantly spoke on the matter as the newlywed couple made plans to move to the States.
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2021 - The world’s oldest known cave painting of an animal is discovered in a cave in Indonesia.
The painting, a life-size portrait of a wild pig, is believed to be over 45,500 years old.
The previously oldest dated rock art painting from the region, featuring part-human, part-animal figures, was believed to be at least 43,900 years old.
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BIRTHDAYS
Connor McDavid - hockey player - 26
Natalia Dyer - actress, “Stranger Things” - 28
Liam Hemsworth - actor, “The Hunger Games” films - 33
Orlando Bloom - actor, “Pirates of the Caribbean” films - 46
Nicole Eggert - actress, “Charles In Charge” & “Baywatch” - 51
Shonda Rhimes - TV producer, “Grey’s Anatomy” & “Scandal” - 53
Patrick Dempsey - actor, “Grey’s Anatomy” - 57
Trace Adkins - country singer - 61
Julia Louis-Dreyfus - actress, “Seinfeld” & “Veep” - 62
Kevin Anderson - actor, “Sleeping with the Enemy” - 63
Mark O’Meara - golfer - 66
Janet Hubert-Whitten - actress, “Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” - 67
Drew Abbott - guitarist, Silver Bullet Band - 76
Born On This Date
Fred White - drummer, Earth Wind & Fire” - 1955 (d. 2023)
Rip Taylor - actor & comedian, “Gong Show” - 1931 (d. 2019)
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