Ep. 131 - Noel Casler - Sex, Diapers and Donald Trump

No matter how many “I told you so’s” you’ve heard, or even told yourself, the actions of January 6th were terrifying.  Of course they were planned – some of the terrorists flew in from far flung states to storm the Capitol.  Some wore merchandise.  I saw a windbreaker that was printed with “Trump’s Civil War. MAGA January 6, 2021”.  You saw the pictures.  You saw the fur pelts and Viking helmets and pro-Auschwitz t-shirts.  And now you’ve probably seen the videos – some made by the genius son, Don Jr. – of the Mob Family itself rooting on the rioters from an AV tent. 

This podcast is called “Five Things that Make Life Better.”  Some of you may recall that I began this enterprise because Trump and his MAGats brought me down.  Every day brought bad news – many times a day.  Whether it was Betsy DeVos knowing nothing about public education making sweeping stupid changes, or ending environmental protections of some kind, it made me feel despondent and helpless.  This podcast changed that for me.  I had an assignment – albeit from me – to find 5 things – a measly 5 things that made a positive difference in my life.  Then I added conversations with interesting people, and over the course of the last two plus years, we’ve helped one another get through these gloomy days.

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. To WATCH it on YOUTUBE where you’ll see the full unedited interview - Click HERE. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO! It helps get my podcast noticed.

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Lisa Birnbach and Noel Casler

Some time ago I started following a very funny and brave fellow on Twitter.  His name is Noel Casler, and he worked as a talent wrangler for some of Trump’s beauty pageants and on the Celebrity Apprentice finales for 6 seasons.   Though he had to sign an NDA when he worked for Mark Burnett and NBC, he observed Trump, and especially the children up close, and has flouted the rules to talk about Donald Trump.  Why?  Because he knew this man was a bad man who damages everything he touches.  Noel Casler, who also does standup when he’s not taking a celebrity to the stage or making sure their Evian is exactly 62 degrees cold, and he is my guest today.

I had to re-write my intro for today’s blog. No matter how bad I feared Jan. 6th would be, I could never have imagined what ACTUALLY happened.

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Even though I had to re-write my intro, the five things that made life better for me this week didn’t change!

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1. The puppy is sleeping near my ankles. She is a sweet little furball that will become a friend with a personality and a lot of needs. She is my own optimism in a living form

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2. We just bought a new mattress.  The amount of education one has to get before making a sound decision is overwhelming.  It’s not fun, either.  A good mattress in 2021 is expensive and if you are like me, you want to try it in the store before you bring it home.  It arrived this week and my back is getting used to it.  We are getting used to one another.

3 Saying “I love you” – I don’t suggest in a Valley Girl Gossip Girl Basic Girl way – Love you mean it; I appreciate so much the care and affection my nearest and dearest apply to me and I to them.  It makes me feel good, and that’s the point.

4 The Washington Press Corps.  I have said it before, and I’ll say it again.  The reporters risk their own safety every time they leave the house and cover a riot, an insurrection, and not for riches, not for glory, but to get the true story out.  This includes the photographers and camerapeople who are at the same risk as the reporters you see.  Without them, we would definitely be in the dark with a mendacious president and the liars he employs.

5 A hot bath.  Important.  Without the news or twitter in my head.  A break of every kind.

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NOEL CASLER’S 5 THINGS

1. Sunshine
2. Birds
3. Guitars
4. Books
6. Neroli Oil

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MORE ABOUT NOEL CASLER

Twitter @CaslerNoel

Instagram @noelcasler

Noel Casler

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The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC. My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.The Field in NYC

Ep. 130 - Patricia Morrisroe - Beethoven and his Muse

Happy New Year!  It’s hard to believe the page to 2021 has turned.  I’ve installed my new calendar into my “system” and am really trying to focus on the future and not complain or stew about the past.  Those of you who are about my age –  568-ish – might remember a novelty song about the distant future called In The Year 2525 by Zager & Evans, (whomever they were).  I keep returning to this song every New Year’s Eve this century, as hey, we’re living in the future. 

 It was a #1 hit in 1969, and included these far-out lyrics:

 “Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too. From the bottom of a long glass tube whoa whoa”

The song anticipated test-tube babies, but could not have foreseen Facebook, cell phones, Rupaul’s Drag Race, or a reality show president.  (You knew I was going there.). But beyond that, it’s 2021.  And if you are listening to this week’s podcast or reading this blog, you made it! We made it!  Now if we can contain ourselves patiently, by this time next year, we should be able to return to most of the in-person things we used to do – enjoying them even more, I suspect.

 I know another year is a big ask.  But wearing masks isn’t terrible.  I find I’ve gotten used to them.  I remember when the seatbelt law was passed and I thought, ‘This will never become second nature to me.’  Well, I was wrong, baby.  And that’s how I’m looking at this new safety measure. And in just a couple of weeks, Joseph Biden will be sworn in as our 46th president, with Vice President Kamala Harris, and we’ll have competence and decency in charge. 

 That really encompasses all my hopes going forward.  But before I give you my list, I want to tell you about this week’s guest.

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. To WATCH it on YOUTUBE where you’ll see the full unedited interview - Click HERE. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO! It helps get my podcast noticed.

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Lisa Birnbach and Patricia Morrisroe

Patricia Morrisroe has written interesting and thoughtful articles in all the magazines we read – New York, Vogue, Travel & Leisure, Vanity Fair, and the New York Times.  Now she’s written a fascinating novel about Beethoven and his romance with one of his piano students.  Based on deep research – 4 years of reading, researching, listening to the music – she has produced a page-turning historical novel called The Woman in the Moonlight.  You’ll enjoy this chat and her book.

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And here is my list of five things that make my life better:

1. Great customer service – when it’s great.  I know hold music so well – the drugstore, the veterinarian, my lawyer, Verizon, and so on – I should have my musical #exhibits ™ record the wait tunes and write lyrics for them.  Could be funny.  But I digress.  When you reach someone who seems to know what she is doing and can communicate the information you need, it feels wonderful.  After all is said and done, it’s great to have a human to talk to.

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2. Satsuma oranges.  These are available now, and they often are presented with their leaves on.  Their skin is a bit thicker than your average tangerine. Satsumas peel effortlessly and are just sweet enough.  They have the perfect Labor:Reward ratio.  Some orange rinds require nails like talons to break through – and by the time you’ve opened one, the skin and pith is in your nails and there are pits in every section.  Not Satsuma.  Try them.  (Another star of the L:R world is your daily newspaper.  Paging through the paper version is honestly easier than looking for what you want online.  Admit it!)

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3. The new chair pillow my fella Michael bought for my office chair.  It’s not terribly attractive but it keeps me in place.  (Before this I was always looking for a comfortable position with my little back pillow.). When one gets older, etc.  It was a thoughtful gift.

4. My Aunt Yona, who turned 94 this past week, has all of her memory and a lot of sass too.  She taught me to drink scotch at her birthday when I was 20 and she is getting her first COVID vaccine this week.

5. Our youngest family member:  Sheila Evelyn.  She’s a 10 week old cavapoo, and that means she’s smart and cute and a real heart-breaker.   I did know what a life-changing event a brand new puppy was, but it was theoretical until last week.  Wow!  We get it. But a cuddle from her makes the sun shine.

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Patricia Morrisroe

 Patricia Morrisroe’s 5 Things:

1.     Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, particularly the chorale finale – Ode to Joy.

 2.     Dinner with my husband in front of a crackling fire.  (He does the cooking.)

 3.     Bringing up Baby, with Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant.  The best screwball comedy ever.

 4.     Gossiping with my sister

 5.     Shakespeare in the Park

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MORE ABOUT PATRICIA MORRISROE

The Woman in the Moonlight
By Patricia Morrisroe
Published by Little A – Amazon.
Facebook @patricia.morrisroe
Instagram @patricia.morrisroe
Website www.patriciamorrisroe.com

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The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC. My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.The Field in NYC

Ep. 129 - Joyce Carol Oates - 58 Novels... and counting.

First things first.  Merry Christmas everyone!

 I hope all your wishes come true.  A snippet of wisdom I found on Instagram, (I would prefer to say I discovered it in reading – or rereading Michel de Montaigne, the French philosopher, but no.  Even better, it was cribbed from someone else who got it from someone else, who saw it neatly chalked on a pavement.)

 It said, “I thought 2020 would be the year I got everything I wanted.” [Pause to ask, “why?”].  Now I know 2020 is the year I appreciate everything I have.”   I would amend that by saying 2020 was a difficult and oppressive year for all of us, and we are almost through it, and grateful we are still here.  And beyond-grateful that the various Covid vaccines are beginning to be deployed around the world.

 What I want for the holidays I cannot have; that would be to spend time in the flesh, nose to nose with my exhibits™, whom I miss like crazy.  But they are staying safe and keeping me safe by staying away.  However, in the meantime, we just became parents to a puppy dog, an 8-week old Cavapoo named Sheila.  She is my current headline.  I forgot what it was like to be the parent of a newborn -- one who doesn’t wear a diaper -- and her bathroom habits keep me focused on her for now.   I can barely look away lest she have a little accident. But I’m stealing time away from her while she naps to tell you about this podcast. 

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. To WATCH it on YOUTUBE where you’ll see the full unedited interview - Click HERE. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO! It helps get my podcast noticed.

Some weeks ago, I had the privilege of interviewing Joyce Carol Oates for the Miami Book Fair, to discuss her recent novel, Night, Sleep, Death, The Stars.  Having never met this grande dame of American letters,  and being mindful of the audience who was watching our Zoom presentation, I could not retrofit it into a typical “Five Things podcast”.   

Joyce Carol Oates, 82, is not only famous for her writing, she is famously a prodigious writer, with at least 58 novels published so far, and more in the pipeline.  She writes poetry, novellas, essays, and teaches as well.  I found her ideas about fiction illuminating and very modern.  If this kind of talk floats your boat too, I think you’ll enjoy our conversation.   And yes, if you would prefer to watch it, you can do so right here: 

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So only my 5 things that make life better this week.  (But only this week.)

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1 . I’m loving some podcasts I’ve listened to.  Traveling to Poughkeepsie, where our wonderful dog breeders live, we listened to “Smartless”.  It’s a funny and messy conversation among co-hosts Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett – friends all – and a guest.  The banter between the 3 hosts reminded me of my high school classmates who are still close friends with one another –funny, dirty, immature.  We listened to their interview with the marvelous Maya Rudolph.  She was in no way intimidated by them; she was able to meet them where they were.  And “Nice White Parents” is a fascinating investigation from the New York Times.

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2.  Chocolate covered almonds.  My fella loves dark chocolate ones, as do most cosmopolites I know.  Me, I like milk chocolate.  And also, I seem to eat these in the winter alone.

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3 The joy that a new puppy brings to people all around.  It’s the trickle-down effect, much like having a baby in a stroller; a beacon of simple joy.  It gives people the chance to coo and forget about their troubles for a moment.  Birth = optimism.  Youth = optimism.

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4. Dr. Anthony Fauci. I couldn’t be happier or more stoked that America’s doctor, who has done so much research about both HIV-AIDs and COVID-19, has been re-upped by the incoming administration. How he has been abused and demeaned by Trump, et. al. He deserves our respect. When he told a little boy that he personally administered a COVID vaccine to Santa Claus in the North Pole in advance of Christmas Eve, it made me a believer in St. Nicholas

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5. Stella Artois Cidre.  Have you tried this drink?  Its low alcohol content (4.5%) and not too sweet flavor make this cider a nice late afternoon drink in the winter.  Does it taste like apples?  Not exactly.  But thank you Anthony for introducing this hard cider to us.  And I’m sure it’s refreshing in the summer too, but to me it’s for staying cozily at home.  (I mean, where else are you going to go?  Amirite?)

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Joyce Carol Oates

JOYCE CAROL OATES

Night, Sleep, Death, The Stars.

By Joyce Carol Oates

 Twitter:  @JoyceCarolOates

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The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC.
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

Ep. 128 - Amanda Benchley & Sharon Coplan Hurowitz - Art for the Pandemic

By the time you read this or listen in to today’s podcast, my fella and I will have made our way to Poughkeepsie, New York, to fetch our newest family member, Sheila the cavapoo. 

 She is just a tad over 8 weeks old and just a tk weight.  How can such a tiny creature make us so happy?  What a ridiculous question.

 We know absolutely nothing about training a puppy, having never ever had one.  Previously I have adopted senior rescues who were already basically who they were.  One was housebroken but emotionally quite broken, and one was housebroken and perfect.

Sheila is proof of optimism.  She allows us to raise a creature and give it a good life.  She forces us to leave our hermetically-sealed existences and give her plenty of exercise and fresh air.  She forces us outdoors when we might not have ventured out.  Not to mention all the cuddles we have in store.

 How did she get the name Sheila, you might wonder?  Sheila is the name my mother gives to females whose names elude her.  My step-grandchild calls my mother Sheila, in turn.  So when #ExhibitB learned that we were adopting a female, she suggested this name – this human name, which is possibly unpopular in the canine world.  We procured Sheila from a highly-recommended breeder.  (If you would like a referral, please let me know privately.)

 (Note, we will probably refer to Sheila as “Henry” and “him” for a while.  It’s hard to break old habits, and so on.)

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. To WATCH it on YOUTUBE - Click HERE. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO! It helps get my podcast noticed.

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Liss Birnbach and guests - Amanda Benchley and Sharon Coplan Hurowitz

Meanwhile, back at headquarters, we have cool guests with a great holiday book.  I am happy that Amanda Benchley and Sharon Coplan Hurowitz could talk about their collaboration of collaborations:  Open Studio: Do-it-Yourself Art Projects by Contemporary Artists.  Sharon, an art dealer and generator of projects, and Amanda, writer of books and friend to artists met and though very different from one another, recognized their compatability as co-producers.  Their book is in itself an art exhibit, my favorite part being each artist describing his or her process. 

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Now it’s time for my list of five things that made my life better this week.

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1.  The VACCINE.   I know that people in intensive care units may not be saved by the Covid-19 vaccine, and to have lost someone who died needlessly will never be okay, but for the rest of us, the hopes and prayers for a preventative to this deadly disease is a Godsend.  Watching the essential workers be inoculated was moving.  Perhaps by summertime those of us who want to be vaccinated will be, and life as we once knew it – perhaps with masks but not with fear – will return.

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2. The Electoral College.  This is a concept I believe is outdated for a lot of reasons, and certainly not in touch with our current population density, but I am grateful we had the day of December 4th to hear the electors announce their votes.  Once again, for the 50-somethingth time, Joe Biden won the presidential election and has become our 46th president.  I don’t expect the sore and bitter Republicans will acknowledge this, so in the thrall of Trump’s villainous ambition are they, but for the rest of us, good news.

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3.  Dr. Jill Biden.  Our FLOTUS to be is a decent and lovely person by all accounts.  The fact that she has continued to teach all this time is impressive.  That she plans to continue teaching at community college during her years as first lady is remarkable.  That she studied hard while being a parent and earned her doctorate in education is a testament to ambition and follow-through.  She earned her degree and if she chooses to be known as Dr. Biden, that is so not a problem or a thing to dismiss or mock.  Melania was a nude model and she wasn’t teased for that.  You know what I’m saying?  I look forward to seeing how Jill Biden moves the needle forward for women.

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4.  Clogs.  I’m a clog lover from way back – the 1970s to be precise – and I’m still happiest wearing my Dansko closed-back clogs.  I’ve had other kinds and wild colors:  silver clogs, red patent leather ones, sandal clogs, and elegant clogs with my initials embroidered into them, but the basic – I’m a chef, I’m a surgeon, I’m an ER nurse -kind of clogs make me happy even though they are ugly.  They are my most comfortable shoe.  How many of you are clog wearers?  Let me know!  Do you have a favorite brand or style?

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5.  Creativity.  I haven’t learned a new language, as I thought I might.  I haven’t written a book proposal or a play, but I have been creative in other ways, and when I am in a creative flow, time stops – the opposite of what has happened during the pandemic.  I made two projects using the Open Studio book’s guidelines, and I found myself excited and at true piece while cutting out a photograph for a collage.

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Amanda Benchley and Sharon Coplan Hurowitz’s Combined 5 Things:

Amanda Benchley and Sharon Coplan Hurowitz

1. The Met

2. Central Park

3. Sant Ambroeus

4. The Public Theater

5. Friendships 

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MORE ABOUT AMANDA BENCHLEY AND SHARON COPLAN HUROWITZ

Open Studio: Do-It-Yourself Art Projects by Contemporary Artists

Instagram  @AmandaBenchley 

Instagram:  @sharonhurowitz

 Website: www.phaidon.com

https://www.phaidon.com/store/art/open-studio-9781838661281/

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The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC.
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

Ep. 127 - Dr. Bandy Lee - A Mental Health Warning About Trump

I think I just had my last socially-distant meal for the year.  Let me explain.  I’m a slave to the weather apps on my phone.  I take them seriously and often, as I compare the two I use to one another, and then decide how warmly to dress before I leave the house.  (Note:  when staying home I actually don’t bother.)

Yesterday, despite the actual number of the temperature, there was a lot of sun, and I had lunch with a friend outdoors, until the sun moved and we could stand it no more. It was fine.  And just think of the calories I burned when I shivered!

Today, I had my second lunch out – my busiest week yet!  It was truly cold, despite the distant heat lamp, that though I enjoyed catching up with one of my oldest friends, it was really too cold to chat and we had to sit too distantly to properly gossip.  I just have to admit that it’s going to be a long haul.   Gloves are a must, and between the gloves and the mask, it’s all too much.

Nevertheless, we have one another.  Whether you are dusting, walking, on your stationary bike, or in your car, podcasts are user-friendly.  (By the way, if you listen to the accompanying podcast, please review it on whatever platform you use.  We could really use the boost.) I listen to plenty of others as well as books on tape and the occasional article. 

Staying home?  Not a problem.  But to be honest, the decluttering isn’t going as swiftly as I’d hoped, to no one’s surprise.  (The piles of New Yorkers just might have to go, alas.)

Gift buying and wrapping intervened, so it might be a few more weeks. 

Still there are Facetimes with my Exhibits, Zoom cocktails with friends, zoom conversations, and classes, performances, and webinars.  There are books to be read, baths to be savored, and cheeses to spread on crackers.  Hunkering down in the winter is not going to be a huge sacrifice, and if you find me complaining, just shut me down.

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. To WATCH it on YOUTUBE - Click HERE. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO! It helps get my podcast noticed.

Before I tell you my list of 5 things that make my life better, I want to introduce today’s guest.She is a doctor I met through her wise observations on Twitter.You’ve probably read her or seen her on television.It is Dr. Bandy X. Lee, a forensic psychiatrist and expert on violence who is also the president of the World Mental Health Coalition.Dr. Lee has been alerting us to the dangers of having such a truly disturbed and dangerous man as our president.She edited both editions of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President” (Macmillan, 2017 and 2019), which was on the New York Times bestseller list.Dr. Lee has taught at both the Yale Schools of Medicine and the Yale School of Law.I feel lucky to have persuaded her to join us today

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The 5 Things that made my life better this week:

1)     Noodles.  Or call it pasta.  Or call it lo mein.  Or anything else from any other cuisine.  Be they made with or without eggs, with or without wheat, with artichoke, rice, potato, or garbanzo beans, there is something so comforting, so warming about eating a bowl of that plain wiggly stuff with butter, or sauce, or soup, or pesto.  However I have it, it always makes me happy.  A version of it is on my menu several days a week.

2)    Elected officials, many of them Republicans, who are not capitulating to Trump’s heinous seditious scheme to undo our election.  For example, Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensberger, a Republican who voted for Donald Trump.  And the noble Gabriel Sterling, an elections official in Georgia, also a Trump voter.  Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania called Trump’s insistence on overturning the election in PA “unacceptable.”   It’s amazing how little one has to do – basically distinguish right from wrong – that will prove a person has a spine.  It’s a pretty low bar, but here are 3 fellows who’ve shown some this week.  That’s a comfort.

3)    Something that keeps me giggling to myself.  Okay, I’ll tell you what it is. It’s a trailer for something called a “Lifetime Mini Movie” starring Mario Lopez as Colonel Sanders, in something called A Recipe for Seduction, which is premiering at NOON on December 13th.  In case you wondered, this entertainment is sponsored by Kentucky Fried Chicken.  We all need a laugh.  Watch this trailer immediately.  I’ve watched it four times in a row.  Don’t take my word for it.

4)    Chanukah.  It started last night.  It was always my favorite holiday as a child, when I’d spend the previous month reading and rereading the FAO Schwarz catalogue, until I practically knew the sku numbers by heart.  Now I have to hope that my gifts reached my exhibits and theirs on time.  And I suppose we’ll do it by zoom.  Chanukah is the Jewish holiday which celebrates a military victory and the improbable miracle of a tiny amount of oil – enough for one night, which lasted 8 nights.  We light the menorah, a candelabra with 8 candles, and exchange presents.  I’m guessing we’ll be in person a year from now, so no complaining!

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For a 20% Discount at elizabethW.com valid through the end of this year, enter the discount code: SOLONG2020.

There’s also free shipping on orders over $125 (after the discount).

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Dr. Bandy X. Lee

Dr. Bandy Lee’s 5 Things

1. Rembrandts

2. Bach’s chaconne

3. Meditation

3. Human thriving

5. Learning to cook with her 8-year-old niece

More about Dr. Lee:

You can learn more about Dr. Bandy X. Lee at:

Website: bandylee.com

Twitter: @BandyXLee1

Twitter:  @dangerouscase

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The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President.

Updated and Expanded with New Essays.

Macmillan Publishers

The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC.
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

Ep. 126 - Lawrence O'Donnell - Trumpism Will Die.

In answer to the question that absolutely no one is asking, “Were you overwhelmed by Black Friday/CyberMonday/SmallBusiness Saturday sale emails?”  Yes.  I was.  Since in-person retail shopping is for the most part cancelled, it felt like I was being deluged by people calling me by name in my office.  These people already knew my shopping tastes and habits.   It was intrusive.  And reader, it worked.

 Within just a few days packages started arriving, and I began to feel like the out-of-control Lucy Ricardo at the chocolate factory.  (Kids, Google her.)  What a lemming I am.  What a consumer. 

And here I am determined to consciously uncouple from consuming at the same time. 

 Is there something organic about exchanging Christmas gifts?  I guess it’s a reference to the gold, frankincense and myrrh that the 3 wisemen brought for the baby Jesus.  Is there something organic about Chanukah presents?  Does it harken back to the tiny amount of oil that the Maccabees had to light their lamp for one night, and which lasted eight?  Or is it a way to make Jews feel more comfortable in their Christmas-lessness.  (Cynically, I say the latter.)

The good news is that my inflow is all going out to others, as soon as I inspect them, wrap them, and mail them.  I don’t like that part, but like many things I like the part immediately afterwards, where I wipe my damp brow, thinking of what an accomplishment I’ve just…. accomplished.  It’s a low bar, I know.

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. To WATCH it on YOUTUBE - Click HERE. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!  It helps get my podcast noticed.

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Lisa Birnbach and Lawrence O’Donnell

My early holiday present for you is today’s interview with MSNBC host and political journalist Lawrence O’Donnell on my podcast.

You know him from MSNBC’s “The Last Word”.  He was also a writer on “The West Wing,” winning an Emmy in the process.  When I first met Lawrence he was the chief of staff on the Senate Finance Committee.  He brings a lot of depth and authority to his job of political talker and writer.

I had a million questions for him and he was kind enough to answer at least 20 of them.

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But before you go listen, here are the five things that made life better for me this week.

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1. The United States Postal Service.  Knowing that Alexander Hamilton created the Post Office only enhances my positive regard for this institution that almost melted down into oblivion by you know who.   I appreciate the post office now that the holidays are looming, and that I became a victim of CyberShoppingMadness.  I’m amazed that shipping has been so efficient (like voting by mail, if you catch my drift), and I have always known the most decent mail women and men on my beat.

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2. Reading glasses sprinkled around my apartment like bouquets of flowers.  There are some on my desk, my night table, my coffee table, and in the kitchen.  And in the bathroom.  I can read anywhere!

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3. My gift-giving skills.  (See confession above.). I’m sorry I cannot give each of you a physical present, but if I knew you I could really find the right thing.  Not that every present is a home run, but many are.  It is one of the reasons I like to give.

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4. “The Undoing”.  This 6 part series on HBO definitely took my brain on a trip away from my political obsessions and my insomnia.  Starring Nicole Kidman as a rich psychologist married to Hugh Grant, a pediatric oncologist who looks and sounds like Hugh Grant.  They live on the Upper East Side and their son goes to a private school.  In other words, it’s about territory that’s familiar to me.  It’s based on the novel “You Should Have Known” by Jean Hanff Korelitz, and though I read it when it was published in 2014, the series takes enough liberties that I was confused about who “did it”.  But so were my exhibits, my brother, and a lot of people I talked to last week.  It became the virtual “water cooler” program.  Also, according to people in my Twitter feed, it became a fun “hate watch”.  If you saw it, let me know what you thought.  I love how it brought a disparate group of people together.  (The book is superior, in my opinion, to the series.  I recommend it.)

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5. My measuring tape.  You cannot imagine how often I need one.  To measure the boxes I mail, to check my size when ordering something to wear, to measure furniture or art I swoon at, fantasizing if I have the space for it.  (Short answer, I don’t.)  You can have your sturdy metal self-locking measuring tape, I’ll take the soft fabric one.  Thank you.

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Lawrence O’Donnell

Lawrence O’Donnell’s 5 Things

 1.     Invention of the Teleprompter

2.     The cordless phone charger in my car

3.     Rudy Giuliani’s hair dye (see images below, and listen to the podcast!)

4.     Air Conditioning

5.     COVID-19 Facemasks

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More About Lawrence O’Donnell

MSNBC - The Last Word

 Twitter:  @Lawrence

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And now for some real fun. Here’s a look back on “America’s Mayor” Rudy Giuliani.

Giuliani all dressed up with nowhere to go. “Undercover” in 1986

Giuliani all dressed up with Donald Trump. Going places. 2000

Giuliani with hair die. 2020

Giuliani about to get “undressed” with Borat’s Daughter in the film “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” 2020

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Our Sponsor this week is Virtual School Gear. Wear it virtually anywhere. - Use code BESTGIFTEVER for 15% 0ff

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The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC.
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

Ep. 125 - Lisa Birnbach - The Thanksgiving Special

This was a quiet Thanksgiving for our family and most families I know.  No one got on a plane to join far-flung relatives, no one tossed a football after a big meal (but no one does in my family), and if there were football games to watch, we didn’t turn them on.

This Thanksgiving was filled with phone calls, face times, and very distanced family.   Everyone is just a phone call away.  My mom is foggy on why she had to eat turkey by herself, but she may not remember that Thanksgiving came and went in the first place.  In a way, perhaps that’s just luck.

 I count my blessings.  (By the way, I never used to talk this way.  I think it’s the excruciating pain of everything that has happened in the last year that makes me sound like an amateur Sunday School teacher.)

 But now, after a long, long siege, it feels safe to exhale.  Donald Trump hadn’t conceded as of this taping, but he had authorized at last the transition to the next administration.  Joe Biden will be our next president, Kamala Harris will be our next vice president, and President-elect Biden has already named an impressive slate of cabinet secretaries and security advisors, who are experienced and qualified, and who respect the branches of government.  These are not payoffs to deep-pocketed donors.  These are women and men who will make us proud and also relaxed.

 And critically, three pharmaceutical companies have independently created and tested anti COVID-19 vaccines that have at least a 90% effectiveness rating.  Dr. Fauci thinks we will be able to get inoculated before the summer.  I have never wanted a shot so badly.

 I know many of you have lost loved ones to this pernicious virus.  I know many of you have recovered from it yourselves.  So even though we are not physically close, and even though we’ll probably be wearing face masks for many more months, it feels like we may have dodged several more bullets.  And when you think about it, staying home and wearing a mask isn’t that hard to do.  We’re getting close to the finish line.

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. To WATCH it on YOUTUBE - Click HERE. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!  It helps get my podcast noticed.

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I can’t help but wanting to share my five things that make my life better with you.

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1. Rachel Maddow.  She has narrated this multi-year crisis in clear English and became a trusted resource for me.  So many people have told me about their crushes on Rachel Maddow’s brain, her style, her essential kindness.  I have been a fan of hers since she worked at Air America Radio, where she co-hosted a daily show with Chuck D and Lizz Winstead.  But my admiration just exploded last week when she told the world about her partner’s experience with COVID, and in surprisingly stark and candid terms told us how much she loves Susan, and how she would have done anything in the world to have gotten the virus in order to protect the woman she adores.  From someone who seems abashed when guests thank her for the work she does, she was emotional and open and so human.  An inspiration.  I’m glad her relationship gives her so much happiness.

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2. There is a cadre of good people in the Senate who get less attention than their colleagues who ask for more attention or elicit it for one thing or another.  I’m thinking of Sherrod Brown of Ohio.  Dick Durbin of Illinois.  Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. Chris Coons of Delaware.  People who give me a sense of calm when I see them.  (I feel the same way about Amy Klobuchar and Elizabeth Warren, but they’ve been in so many headlines this year.)

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3. Peking Duck.  Not the traditional expression of the pilgrims celebrating their first festival in the New World, but as good as any this year.  My fella and I have had it a few times since socially distancing as a celebratory meal.  It felt right for now.

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4. Watching live conversations on my computer:  They may be webinars, they may be zooms, I don’t actually know what they are.  I watched Martin Amis have a good talk with Steve Martin.  I watched Salman Rushdie talk with Paul Auster and Natasha Trethewey .  I understand one can see actors reading from beloved books too.  Whatever you see, it feels like connection, which is what we need.

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5. Zingerman’s pimento cheese spread.  My friend the journalist and foodie Micheline Maynard extolls Zingerman’s, the famous Michigan food store – dare I call it “the Zabar’s of the Midwest”? all the time.  Well somehow I was able to buy a tiny plastic tub of this cheese product through Farm to People.com, and I love it so much!  It’s like a little beacon in my fridge – maybe I’ll go over there now and take a tiny bite.

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The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC.
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

Ep. 124 - Chris Whipple - Gatekeepers and Spymasters

Here we are.  How are we doing?  Is your lamb cooked to your liking?  I sound like an overly eager maître d’, don’t I? 

 Funny though we’re all separated and apart, I feel closer to you all than I did when we were out and about.  I think it’s knowing that we’re all grinding our teeth together through this muck and dread… and that’s not even including the pandemic.  We’re stuck, but let’s face it.  We’re fortunate.  Many of us already worked from home.  Some of us could survive without full time work.  The biggest challenge, but I think we’ll be grateful for it when this siege is over may be reinvention.

 I’m not saying it’s easy.  God, I wish I were good at it myself, but when we reenter 2021 (or 2022) after we’ve been vaccinated and Covid is more of a memory than a present danger, we will have to reassess and reboot.  Maybe I’ll be doing a podcast from Costa Rica?  Maybe I’ll go grey.  Maybe I’ll become an officious maitre d’.  I can honestly say that anything could happen. (And now the caveats that should run across the bottom of the virtual screen like side effects in a Humira commercial – taking care of mother, spending time with #Exhibits, and so on.)

 As we witness historic bad behavior by the outgoing president, I wanted to find out why the president’s chief of staff is considered so essential to the running of the operation.  We’ve heard that Ron Klain, former chief of staff to Vice President Biden will be President Biden’s new chief of staff.  (Oh that felt good to actually say it out loud!). The current occupant of the White House has been through 4 so far, and as he’s firing staff left and right, Mark Meadows might not last till January 20th.

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. To WATCH it on YOUTUBE - Click HERE. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!  It helps get my podcast noticed.

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Lisa Birnbach and Chris Whipple

My guest this week is Christopher Whipple, who has written The Gatekeepers:  How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every President.  More recently he wrote The Spy Masters: How the CIA Directors Shape History and the Future.  Chris Whipple is also a documentarian, a former 60 Minutes producer, and it’s great to have him here today.

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But first, friends, my five things that made life better.

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1. The Queen’s Gambit.  People are talking about this streaming series based on a novel about a female chess prodigy.  Once again, my friend Fred Bernstein suggested that I watch this.  So I did as soon as we hung up the phone.  For starters, the set and costume design alone are worth the price of watching this 7-8 episode series.  Set in Kentucky (and Las Vegas, Mexico City, Moscow, and Paris) it follows an orphan from her first day in the orphanage to her triumphant life as an international chess sensation.  Just watch it.

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2. Christopher Krebs, the former Microsoft executive who ran Trump’s  Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), a division of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. He refused to go along with the charade of a rigged election, thus he was fired.  He showed more spine than most anyone in the GOP.  (Why he wanted to work for Trump is another thing altogether.  I don’t think it will serve anyone well who is looking for a job post January 20th.)

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3. A woman named Kim whom I may never meet, who did me a great favor.  I had the luck after holding on for ages and repeating my social security number and date of birth a quadrillion times, to reach her when I was trying to schedule my annual mammogram at Weill Cornell Hospital.  Based on my insurance calendar, it is always in December.  When I called yesterday the earliest appointment, I could get was April 29th, 2021.  I took it, but whoah, was not happy.  I asked Kim to put me on a waitlist for cancellations and figured it would never happen.  Today she called me with the good news that I can have it done in December.  Besides providing me with the appointment I needed, she was just kind.  Lovely.  Thank you Kim.

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4. Being able to look forward to the return of Shtisel, season 3!!!!  Do you understand how excited I am?  Shtisel is such a fine tv series.  I’d like to see a show of hands:  how many of you watched it?  If any of you didn’t, you have time to see it before it returns on December 20th.  I’m also looking forward to watching both seasons 3 and now 4 of The Crown. 

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5. The election wasn’t rigged.  Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will be holding the reins on January 20th.

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Chris Whipple

Chris Whipple’s 5 Things:

1.     Family

2.     Friends

3.     First Responders

4.     The Deep State

5.     The Crown

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More About Chris Whipple:

The Spymasters: How the CIA Directors Shape History and the Future

By Chris Whipple

Facebook @ChrisWhipple

 Twitter @ccwhip

  Website: chriswhipple.net

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The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC.
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

Ep. 123 - Dahlia Lithwick - Defining Justice in the Current Dystopia

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

 What the hell is happening to our country?   After the jubilation we all experienced on Saturday, when the count was done, and Joe Biden had narrowly beaten the incumbent, I felt about 30 pounds lighter.  There was a bounce in my step, and in the step of everyone I saw on the streets and sidewalks of New York.

I saw the fireworks in London, heard the bells pealing in Paris, saw the relief and joy that I too felt all over the world. 

 And then.  Like a loud, bratty bloviator whose 6th grade teacher has told him to sit down and let someone else talk, he acts out, and sulks and finds ways to punish the other kids, the teacher, the principal, and the entire school district.  If the stakes weren’t so high it could almost be funny, but there’s nothing funny about a mentally disturbed tyrant.

 No matter what he does it seems he’s got people who will cover for him, support him, and agree with his crooked plans.  We’re all reading about how “Trumpism” will survive even when he leaves the White House.  I’m furious that we’re normalizing his behavior.

There’s nothing even remotely acceptable about cheating and lying.

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. To WATCH it on YOUTUBE - Click HERE. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!  It helps get my podcast noticed.

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Lisa Birnbach and Dahlia Lithwick

Anyway, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the election, and that feels great.

But I wanted to discuss the president’s malfeasances, and the way the Department of Justice and the Supreme Court seem to have been politicized with a brilliant lawyer whose career it has been to write about laws and the courts for Slate.  It’s Dahlia Lithwick, and we are so fortunate to have her here this week.  Spoiler Alert:  She made me feel better.

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But first the five things that made my life better this week:

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1. Joe Biden.  A calm, soothing politician, who isn’t perfect, but is the person we need to be our president right now.  How can the other 70 million take offense when he says he wants to heal the divisions in our country?  As Lindsey Graham said, “if you don’t like Joe Biden, there might be something wrong with you.”

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2. Kamala Harris.  The ceiling has burst open.  A woman a woman of color who can express joy as well as she can probe with ferocity.  I’m still speaking, says Kamala Harris.  She will be a wonderful vice president.

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3. The weather!  It’s been in the low 70s every day since Saturday.  A gift! I’ve been walking and wait for it – smiling – as I do my chores.

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Photo used with permission by Culinary Hill: https://www.culinaryhill.com/classic-tuna-salad-sandwich/

4. Tuna fish salad sandwiches.  I forgot how they are the great lunch.  With or without a pickle.  Preferably on toast. Photo by Culinary Hill:

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5. Poll watchers, vote counters, Secretaries of state, and state election workers.  The unsung heroes of the democracy.  Thanks to all of them for caring about doing their jobs well.

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Dahlia Lithwick

Dahlia Lithwick’s 5 Things:

1. Voters. Despite all odds they showed up, stood in lines, rejected nihilism, licked stamps. Amazing.

 2. Arbie our new kitten (named after RBG natch). Photo attached. She annihilates me. My boys are smitten.  She has increased lockdown joy by a factor of 2000000%

 3. Eloquent Rage by Brittney Cooper. Rebecca Traister told me to read it. I've had such a hard time with rage/fury/anger/spite these past years. This was like straight to the veins.

4. My parents. Halfway across the world, stuck in almost endless lockdown. Complicated haircuts. And yet doing fine, still in love, full of joy, modeling grace under crazy.

 5. Team Tyranny. This is for real. The people who started warning about authoritarianism the day after 2016 election. We didn't know what to make of them. Masha Gessen, Steve Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, Tim Snyder, Jason Stanley, Bandy Lee. So many of them were prophetic in the broad strokes. For me it was better to be informed than just scared, to see patterns and moves rather than chaos.

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Arbie

More About Dahlia Lithwick

Facebook: @DahliaLithwick

Twitter: @DahliaLithwick

Senior Editor - Slate

Amicus with Dahlia Lithwick podcast

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The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC https://thefieldtv.com
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.

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Ep. 122 - Barry Levine - The inside story of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell

Well that didn’t happen.  And that other thing didn’t happen.  And my faith in the American people has been bruised.  But perhaps by the time you hear this podcast, we will have a legal and honest count of the Electoral College and be on the long road to a new administration.

I can’t wait.  I’m running out of wine.  (But I have plenty of whine.  See what I did there?)

Election Day is over but the process of transformation is far from done.   Even if we have our old, worn out, and self-dealing Senate Majority Leader, we will have a Senate that will have to learn to “play nicely”, as we said when our kids were in nursery school.  If Joe Biden is president, you know he will encourage that, as working in a bi-partisan way was vital to his work as a United States senator.  And Mark Kelley will serve the people of Arizona!  And perhaps we’ll see another Democratic senator from Georgia. 

 Further, we are all bracing for a winter spike in coronavirus.  I know people are trying to prepare for that without hoarding.  We don’t actually know what it will feel like.  If the imminent spike is anything like April and May in New York, we will have to stay home more than we’ve done, and be more conscientious about social distancing.  If we’ve learned NOTHING ELSE IN 2020, it is to be patient.

NOTE: If you are reading this, this is my written Blog. To LISTEN, please SUBSCRIBE to the Podcast at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeartRadio – or wherever you get your Podcasts. To WATCH it on YOUTUBE - Click HERE. And if you’d like to rate it as well, PLEASE DO!  It helps get my podcast noticed.

Lisa Birnbach and Barry Levine

Speaking of long games, the full story about Trump’s dead dreadful pedophile friend, Jeffrey Epstein is still murky.  His BFF Ghislaine Maxwell is in prison, awaiting her trial in 2021.  My guest this week is Barry Levine author of the new book The Spider:  Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.  I’m fascinated by this story because I believe the reach of these two creeps goes far into the fortresses of power across the globe. 

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Photo credit: Dafydd Jones

As promised in my podcast, here's the photo from Barry’s Book:

Epstein with Donald Trump and his children Eric and Ivanka, then nine and twelve, at the NYC Harley-Davidson Cafe opening in 1993

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With difficulty, the five things that made life better for me this week.

1. My Family
2. My Health
3. My Old Friends
4. My New Friends! (Over the last couple of years I’ve been surprised to make new friends. I do feel grateful for them.)
5. The Resistance

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Barry Levine

Barry Levine’s 5 Things:

1.     Watching the animated Peanuts Charlie Brown Halloween and Christmas shows with my daughter, now in high school, every year because she enjoys them as much as when I was a kid. 

2.     Starting every single day, no matter where I am, with a visit to Starbucks for a Trenta black iced tea with extra ice - no matter whether it’s summer or the coldest day in winter. 

3.     Drinking dirty martinis at an old writers bar in Manhattan with former newspaper colleagues and telling war stories. The stories get better and better with age like a fine wine. 

4.     Going to the annual antiquarian book fair every spring at the Park Avenue Armory in New York - and seeing the greatest modern literature first editions in perfect dust jackets. 

5.     Pulling out a reporter’s notepad and simply putting pencil to paper in this high-tech world with the very same enthusiasm all these decades later since I did it first for my high school and college papers. 

More About Barry Levine

Barry Levine, author of The Spider: Inside the Criminal Web of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell

Published by Crown | Penguin Random House. 

Twitter @barryscoopking

Facebook @ barry.levine.792  

Website: www.BarryLevineauthor.com

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The 5 Things That Make Life Better podcast is recorded and produced at The Field in NYC https://thefieldtv.com
My team is Shpresa Oruci, Michael Porte, Sam Haft and Boco Haft.