tagged w/ Democratic National Convention
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Hillary found out I couldn't make it this year, so she decided not to go. :)
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The New York Times...
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March 9, 2012 - Friday
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Peter Bergman, Satirist With Firesign, Dies at 72
By PAUL VITELLO
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Peter Bergman, a founding member of the surrealist comedy troupe Firesign Theater, whose albums became cult favorites among college students in the late 1960s and ’70s for a brand of sly, multilayered satire so dense it seemed riddled with non sequiturs until the second, third or 30th listening, died on Friday in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 72.
The cause was complications of leukemia, said Jeff Abraham, a spokesman for the group.
Mr. Bergman hosted an all-night radio call-in show on KPFK in Los Angeles beginning in 1966, “Radio Free Oz,” which served as the testing ground for the high-spirited Firesign sensibility. Phil Austin and David Ossman, two other founders of the four-man group, were the producer and director of the show; the fourth founder, Phil Proctor, was a frequent guest.
“We started out as four friends, up all night, taking calls from people on bad acid trips and having the time of our lives,” Mr. Austin said in a phone interview Friday. “And that’s what we always were: four friends talking.”
Mr. Bergman and his friends recorded their first album, “Waiting for the Electrician or Someone Like Him,” in 1968, followed the next year by “How Can You Be in Two Places at Once When You’re Not Anywhere At All?”
By 1970, their mordant humor and their mastery of stereophonic recording techniques had made them to their generation of 20-somethings what Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are to today’s (if Mr. Colbert and Mr. Stewart had a weakness for literary wordplay, psychedelic references and jokes about the Counter-Reformation).
Their records employed sound effects in ways considered pioneering in audio comedy at the time. More generally, they were considered important forerunners of comedy shows like “Saturday Night Live.”
Ed Ward, writing in The New York Times in 1972, described the third Firesign album, “Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers,” as “a mind-boggling sound drama” and a “work of almost Joycean complexity.”
“It’s almost impossible to summarize any Firesign album,” Mr. Ward wrote, because most of their albums were so filled with “intricate wordplay, stunning engineering and use of sound effects, breakneck pacing and, of course, a terribly complex story line.”
When the Library of Congress placed “Don’t Crush That Dwarf” in its National Recording Registry in 2005, The Los Angeles Times described Firesign Theater as “the Beatles of comedy.”
Mr. Bergman told people the ensemble’s albums, unlike most comedy records, were never made to be listened to just once or twice. “He said our records were made to be heard about 80 times,” Mr. Austin said.
While the ensemble continued making albums for three decades, Mr. Bergman also wrote and produced several one-man shows, including “Help Me Out of This Head,” a 1986 monologue-memoir that drew on his childhood in Cleveland. He also wrote interactive games, including a CD-ROM parody of the popular adventure video game MIST.
Mr. Bergman was born on Nov. 29, 1939, in Cleveland, one of two children of Oscar and Rita Bergman. His parents hosted a radio show in Cleveland when he was growing up, “Breakfast With the Bergmans.” His father also worked as a reporter for The Plain Dealer.
Mr. Bergman graduated from Yale and taught economics there as a Carnegie Fellow. He later attended the Yale School of Drama as a Eugene O’Neill playwriting fellow. He moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s to pursue a writing career.
He is survived by a daughter, Lily Oscar Bergman, and his sister, Wendy Kleckner.
Mr. Bergman got a taste of radio work when he was in high school, according to a biography on Firesign Theater’s official Web site. But he lost his job as an announcer on the school radio system, it said, “after his unauthorized announcement that the Chinese Communists had taken over the school and that a ‘mandatory voluntary assembly was to take place immediately.’ Russell Rupp, the school principal, promptly relieved Peter of his announcing gig. Rupp was the inspiration for the Principal Poop character on ‘Don’t Crush That Dwarf.’ ”
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PHOTO:
Firesign Theatre/Columbia Records
Clockwise from far right, Peter Bergman, Phil Austin, Phil Proctor and Dave Ossman of the Firesign Theater in 1970.
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.The New York Times...
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March 9, 2012 - Friday
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Peter Bergman, Satirist... more
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Leading California Democratic strategist Kam Kuwata dies [Updated]
April 11, 2011 | 12:39 pm
Kuwata Democratic political consultant Kam Kuwata’s body was found Monday inside his Venice condominium, but there was no evidence of foul play, police said.
Police went to his home after friends became concerned about his welfare, said Sgt. Ron Pickering of the Los Angeles Police Department.
Kuwata, 57, served as a key Democratic Party strategist for more than 25 years. He worked on the successful campaigns of former Los Angeles Mayor James Hahn and U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein.
He served as then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's program director for the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Kuwata was at the heart of the effort in 2002 to defeat the secession of the San Fernando Valley from Los Angeles at the ballot box.
[Updated, 2:06 p.m.: "I am shocked to hear of the passing of Kam Kuwata," L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Monday in a statement. "Kam gave a lifetime to politics and public service.
"My prayers are with his family and large network of colleagues and friends during this difficult time."]
Read more about Kuwata at the Times' PolitiCal blog.Leading California Democratic strategist Kam Kuwata dies [Updated]
April 11, 2011 |... more
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Anna Wintour holds fundraiser for Democratic National Convention. Obama in attendance tonight.
http://bit.ly/cF3w4w
WWD: http://bit.ly/9yX1VQAnna Wintour holds fundraiser for Democratic National Convention. Obama in attendance... more
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Now, new evidence has come to light whereby Dr. James Manning has declared that Obama never attended Columbia University [New York].
Dr. Manning has hired a team of investigators to comb over every bit of available evidence to validate his declaration.
For the Full Story On Obama Not going to Columbia and More ....Audio Video...http://ctpatriot1970.wordpress.com/2010/02/12/investigators-%E2%80%9Cobama-never-attended-columbia-university%E2%80%9D/
Manning’s investigators conclusively state that:
1) Columbia University will not divulge whether the “alleged” diploma issued was in the name of Barry Soetoro or Barack Hussein Obama. No public record exists regarding the diploma.Now, new evidence has come to light whereby Dr. James Manning has declared that Obama... more
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PLAYING THE HEALTH CARE GAME...
We have all watched in amazement as the defaced photos of President Obama as Hitler held by wild eye'd crazy people screaming loudly with no more of a purpose than to disrupt and to stop the Democratic process. These loud mouth antagonists following their seemingly well distrubuted scripts of Anarchy 101. These people who now claim, to be Blue Dog Democrats or, independents etc.. All also claim to be only wanting a different type of health-care reform? When the truth is self evident by any person that would quickly choose a sign of Hitler and swastikas' to taunt as if these evil signs and symbols had something remotely to do with health care. By their own professed actions they show more to be the apostles of the extremist far right locked in "goose-step" with others like them across the country... following the lead of organizations like: NEWSMAX and Christopher Ruddy, Rush Limbaugh's along with the other hate screaming Neocons and Fascists. It seems rather amazing as after eight years at the helm with Bush, leaving the country on it's knees ruined. Now these over-caffeinated and angry losers, who only want democracy- Only if "they win", are at it again!
We need not forget ~ That some of our goose-stepping colleagues have been assigned to be here.
You can hear some of their voices here among us everyday. They are on a mission... Their own mission to instigate hatred, conflict, discord to disrupt the process and ultimately to destroy Democratic process.
You might ask... Why would they do that? Because, A Democracy is not a "Republic".
You hear their voices twisting the honest need by real people for Obama's Health Care Reform as an "Evil Socialist Plot" to take over the country and the government. These people are deliberately trying to push everyones buttons to cause, a riot and revolt between each other. They want that!!! The truth is, they are nothing more than a group of people with their own agenda that has less to do with Health Care.... and more about their own twisted political beliefs. = > To them.... IT IS ONLY ABOUT THEM!
They want to disrupt this political process by yelling "FIRE" in a crowded movie theatre!
SO NOW.... LETS TALK ABOUT THE REAL ISSUES HERE...
"HEALTH CARE and THE MILKING OF THE CASH COW! "
FIRST.... IT IS NOT ABOUT HEALTH CARE: It is all it about MONEY!
The Huge Money that flows into all these MEGA BUSINESSES. Business like; BlueCross, Blue Sheild and all of the other major health care insurance companies. This is all about keeping that money coming into their pockets! This is huge money!!!! BILLIONS!!!! That these industries are making EVERYDAY, EVERY HOUR, EVERY SECOND. All coming from the wallets and the backs of the hard working people across America.
"ALL THEIR DISCUSSION ABOUT HEALTH CARE THIS IS ONLY ABOUT KEEPING THAT MONEY FLOWING INTO THEIR POCKETS!!!! "
The Obama Health Care Reform Plan, when passed will stop that cash flow and their Milking of the "Cash Cow" and that damages their bottom Line! >> THAT IS WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!
(2) IT IS NOT ABOUT THE QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE:
Every one of these Paid Government elected Politicians are lying through their teeth about how bad Government run Healthcare is . Because All of them have "Government Run Healthcare" themselves. (AND THEY ALL LOVE IT !)
(3) WAKEUP!!!
Health Insurance Companies have been bleeding all of us with as much money as they can get from our pockets !
(4) THE HEALTH CARE INDUSTRIES ARE ADDICTED THAT MONEY:
They are addicted to that cash flow like a drug. Like any addict or Junky... they will: LIE, CHEAT and, STEAL in order to continue that cash flow and keep that (MONEY/DRUG) coming in.
What we are all witnessing on all media everyday are these Addicts doing everything and anything to continue to protect their overcharging of population by Billions and Trillions of Dollars !!!
THAT IS WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT !PLAYING THE HEALTH CARE GAME...
We have all watched in amazement as the defaced... more
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It's hard to believe, but David Crosby, an artist celebrated for his liberal activism as much as for inspired songwriting, will attend his first-ever Democratic National Convention, in Denver next week.
Musician David Crosby performs during a benefit concert for the City Parks Foundation at Central Park Summer Stage, Tuesday, July 29, 2008, in New York.
(AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)"Usually the people who try to get celebrities to come around to conventions and stuff want bigger ones than me," Crosby said via telephone from his Santa Barbara, Calif., home earlier this week. "They want Jennifer Lopez or something."
And mind you, Crosby won't attend the convention itself. He's going to the Buell Theatre to play an etown show Tuesday with buddies Graham Nash, James Taylor and Ani DiFranco.
"I don't like most politicians, so I don't see what the attraction is to go and be in the middle of a bunch of them," Crosby said. "I'm definitely not going to the convention. I'm going to etown. I have a very high opinion of etown. They're good people, and they do really good work. And I don't think you can say that about most politicians."
What about the dude getting ready to accept the Democratic nomination?
"I think he's a very encouraging guy, a very intelligent man - which is, of course, a complete 180 degree shift from where we've been the last eight years," Crosby said. "The idea of having a guy who can speak in complete sentences is extremely attractive Barack has dignity and moral values, and I believe he loves his country."
Crosby is just one of many musicians making their way to the Mile High City in the next 10 days. Conventions have grown into media circuses where entertainers and politicos share the same ground for a few days. It's going to be an incredibly busy music week in Denver with performers as varied as Willie Nelson and the Black Eyed Peas, Fall Out Boy and Rage Against the Machine, Daughtry and Melissa Etheridge, the Blue Scholars and Silversun Pickups, Moby and Ted Leo and the Pharmacists - and maybe Dave Matthews, Kanye West and Bruce Springsteen.
While some bold names will be in Denver all week - playing this party, getting spotted at that party, hobnobbing at another party - Crosby is fine with getting in and out.
"I have a friend who does a show on Air America, David Bender, and I'll probably do his show while I'm there," said Crosby. "If we get roped into something else, we get roped into something else."
Crosby understands the weight of the current presidential race, not to mention the great divide in America today. There's a scene in the recent Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young documentary, "Déj... Vu," that films angry fans leaving in the middle of a CSNY concert in Atlanta as the group spoke against President Bush and sang songs such as "Let's Impeach the President." The group knew their political views would make an impact in the South, and that's why they were filming it for the documentary, but they didn't know the reaction would be so severe.
"When you look at the people, the ones who were disgruntled, they're not the people who I really give a (expletive) about," Crosby said. "Truth is, it's good to stir things up. It's good to make people have a dialogue with each other, even if it starts out with people yelling and pointing fingers."
When asked about the dichotomy of an artist-fan relationship - they love your music but not your personality or politics - Crosby changed his tune a bit.
"I do give a (expletive) about them, but I think they're kind of funny when they come to a CSNY concert and get mad about there being politics," he said. "I don't have a lot of sympathy for them. We've been probably the most political band in the world - or at least one of them. Anybody who comes to a concert of ours and expects us to not be anti-war and pro-human and anti-George Bush is crazy. They should have gone to a different concert."
It's hard to believe, but David Crosby, an artist celebrated for his liberal... more
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kbclef
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3 years ago
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Bertha Means, 88 year-old civil rights pioneer, reflects on the historic 2008 election through her life experience. Struggle, discrimination, picking cotton, the Great Depression: her story gives context to history. Just in time for black history month and the inauguration!Bertha Means, 88 year-old civil rights pioneer, reflects on the historic 2008 election... more
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Coldcut vs TV Sheriff "Revolution '08" Music Video
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Denver's police union is facing criticism for printing a commemorative T-shirt that makes light of the use of violence by police, particularly in the wake of 154 arrests during the week of Democratic National Convention this past August.
"We get up early, to beat the crowds," the shirt reads, followed by "2008 DNC." The words flank a grinning police officer holding a baton and wearing a hat with a crossed-out number "68," presumably making reference to activist organization Recreate 68, which staged several anti-war demonstrations during the convention.
"The people of Denver were assured by the city that it would respect First Amendment rights during the DNC, and that that police officers were being trained to do so. The actions of police during the DNC, which involved numerous violations of people's right to freedom of speech and assembly, put the lie to those promises," said Recreate 68's Glenn Spagnuolo. "And now this appalling, tasteless t-shirt shows why. The members of Denver's police union clearly have no respect for the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution. The Denver Police Department Operations Manual includes a Law Enforcement Code of Ethics, which begins, 'As a Law Enforcement Officer, my fundamental duty is to serve mankind, to safeguard lives and property, to protect the innocent against deception, the weak against oppression or intimidation, and the peaceful against violence or disorder; and to respect the Constitutional rights of all men to liberty, equality and justice.' The creation of this t-shirt makes a mockery of that statement."
Detective Nick Rogers of the Police Protective Association said that the union predicts sales of about 2,000 shirts in addition to the ones given free to Denver police officers, and also told KMGH that he hadn't received any complaints about the shirt.Denver's police union is facing criticism for printing a commemorative T-shirt... more
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Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie takes us into the Big Tent at the Democratic National Convention to reveal the chaotic swarm of political bloggers and discuss the unprecedented impact of the new media on this year's election news cycle.Chris Walla of Death Cab for Cutie takes us into the Big Tent at the Democratic... more
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On the streets of both Denver and St. Paul, protestors, demonstators and anarchists were out in force.On the streets of both Denver and St. Paul, protestors, demonstators and anarchists... more
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Not even the emotionally charged speech by Sen. Ted Kennedy kept corporate lobbyists from carrying out their multi-million dollar campaign to wine and dine and influence Democratic lawmakers at a series of lavish parties last night in Denver.
On the local news though I will say that the people who were showing up, made really quick appearances and then left because of the cameras recording them walking into a known Lobbyist party. Obama did not attend.Not even the emotionally charged speech by Sen. Ted Kennedy kept corporate lobbyists... more
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The Green Frontier Fest, taking place during the DNC, invites residents and visitors of Denver to enjoy interactive and educational exhibits, a farmers market of local and organic produce, a children's area, eco-carnival games, music and entertainment and special presentations by guest speakers, among other activities.The Green Frontier Fest, taking place during the DNC, invites residents and visitors... more
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August 26, 2008
2008 Democratic National Convention
As the Democrats celebrated inside the Pepsi Center on opening day of the convention, outside on the streets police pepper-sprayed protesters and rounded up dozens of them in mass arrests. The incident began near the Civic Center Park around 7:00 p.m., where a few hundred protesters had gathered to march. The police arrived in full riot gear, surrounded the protesters, blocking them in before firing pepper spray into the crowd. Protesters fled across the park, where they were met by dozens of police officers who boxed them in. Many of the marchers sat down in the street. Nearly a hundred people were arrested.
Democracy Now! arrived on the scene moments afterwards and spoke with some of the eyewitnesses. JACOB: My name is Jacob, and I work with Berkeley CopWatch. We go out, we watch the police when they're interacting with people. So, obviously, we're here at the DNC to ensure that police are not utilizing tactics that are against law. And what took place about an hour ago is, we had a big group of protesters start marching, and what happened is they cordoned off the block on both sides, and without any warning or nothing, they initiated arrests. Now, the rest of the people that should have had an opportunity to leave were asked to go up the street and then were also enclosed. So, basically, what the police did is they just did a mass arrest with the intention of keeping people in jail for the next two days, so they won't be out tomorrow, they won't be out the day after, to protest. STEPHEN NASH: I'm Steve Nash with Denver CopWatch. We're a police accountability group that observes the police, and tonight we watched protesters block the street about a block from here. It's about fifty protesters in the street. The police came at them in riot gear from both sides and hemmed them in. Then they refused to let anybody out, including people who were just on the sidewalk in the group, who were not actually trying to block the street. I saw one older legal observer who begged for the police to let him out, and they refused. They pushed him back into the crowd. Then they donned their gas masks and began pushing the media and legal observers and the public a block away in each direction and in a very aggressive manner. JACOB: 99 percent of the officers tonight that are operating have no identification, which is against the law. An officer has to be identified by a badge or a nameplate. JOHN TARLETON: People were generally very calm. There were several legal observers there from the National Lawyers Guild who gave everybody their legal number, because we were—what was, you know, unclear at that moment was whether the police were going to do a mass arrest. RON KOVIC: I was inside of the Sheraton Hotel watching the convention. I had just heard Ted Kennedy's inspiring speech, and someone whispered in my ear that there's a riot outside. I immediately left. I left the hotel with a friend, and we came outside. We came outside to see what was happening. I came outside because of my concern for you, because of my concern for the young people who are demonstrating.
AMY GOODMAN: And that last voice was by Ron Kovic, the paralyzed Vietnam veteran, antiwar activist, who arrived on the scene soon after the protesters were arrested. Special thanks to Democracy Now! producer Hany Massoud for that report.
Eileen Clancy is with I-Witness Video. We just have a few seconds for Eileen to comment on what has happened. The behavior of the police that you've come to watch as you've watched in conventions past, Eileen?
EILEEN CLANCY: One thing, I have never seen more police officers with fewer identification marks on them as I saw last night. It's a big problem. They have spanking new uniforms. Yet somehow the nameplates didn't manage to remain attached.August 26, 2008
2008 Democratic National Convention
As the Democrats celebrated... more
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Months of planning for a deeply green Democratic National Convention largely paid off, vendors and city officials said Friday, with tons of garbage now in composting rows and recyclables headed for reuse.
"We said this would be the greenest convention ever and it has been," Mayor John Hickenlooper said Friday morning.
Final answers on how sustainable this convention really was won't be available for several weeks.
Parry Burnap, director of greening for Denver's local convention committee, said a report that compares preliminary estimates with actual results would likely be ready in early to mid-October.
"We've had scant time to digest this," Burnap said.
But Hickenlooper said Friday that nearly 70 percent of the trash generated at the Colorado Convention Center had been diverted from the landfill, sorted into compost or recycled.
At the Pepsi Center, the other convention venue, it looked as if similar amounts had been diverted, he said.
On one afternoon alone, volunteers weighed 150 pounds of "e-waste" - laptop batteries and discarded cell phones - that had been captured for recycling instead of being thrown out.
Waste Management, which hauled all of the trash and recyclable materials, said the undertaking, which required hand sorting by hundreds of volunteers, was the most complex it had ever tackled.Months of planning for a deeply green Democratic National Convention largely paid off,... more
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ivxx
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John McCain will have to do better than naming Tina Fey his vice presidential choice if he expects to attract 38.4 million people to watch his acceptance speech next week, as Barack Obama clocked Thursday night.
Obama's speech, delivered between 10 and 11 p.m. at the [Investment Management Company] Field in Denver, is the most-watched convention speech ever, according to Nielsen Media Research estimates.
More people tuned in to hear Obama's speech than watched the Olympic Opening Ceremonies in Beijing. That orgy of intimidating precision, with its cast of thousands, clocked 34.2 million U.S. viewers, remember?
Nearly one out of every five people who watched Obama's talk saw it on CNN.
The cable news network averaged more than 8 million viewers in that hour, making it far and away the network of choice for Obama-viewing.
Second-place ABC News clocked 6.6 million viewers, in a rare convention win over NBC News, which copped 6.1 million viewers. CBS News trailed with 4.6 million, barely edging out Fox News Channel (4.2 million) and MSNBC (4.1 million).
Obama's speech garnered nearly 60 percent more viewers than John Kerry's Dem acceptance speech four years ago.John McCain will have to do better than naming Tina Fey his vice presidential choice... more
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ivxx
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Obama did exactly what he had to do.
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If it felt familiar when
Brooks & Dunn’s “Only In America” played after Barack Obama’s acceptance speech last night, there was good reason: President George W. Bush used the same song four years ago when he was rallying against Democratic candidate John Kerry. If it felt familiar when
Brooks & Dunn’s “Only In America”... more
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BerkRS
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3 years ago
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What do you get when you add an "A" and an "E" to the DNC?
infoMania is a half-hour satirical news show that airs on Current TV. The show puts a comedic spin on the 24-hour chaos and information overload brought about by the constant bombardment of the media. Hosted by Conor Knighton and co-starring Brett Erlich, Sarah Haskins, Ben Hoffman, and Sergio Cilli, the show airs on Thursdays at 10 pm Eastern and Pacific Times and can be found online at current.com/infomania.
What do you get when you add an "A" and an "E" to the DNC?... more
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