Before we get to the death of the iconic talk show host who has deep Miami roots, we want to address the latest Potus 45 scandal in the waning days of the Fuhrer's rule.
At the end of 2020, quisling lawyer Jeffrey Clark, head of the DOJ's civil division, attempted to engineer a coup that involved deposing the acting Attorney General, replacing the AG with himself, and then using the power of the DOJ to order Georgia to throw-out the presidential election results. Clark proposed such maneuvers in meetings with the President at the end of the year. It was only a promise from the Acting AG that he and the entire top echelon of DOJ employees would resign in protest that dissuaded the Fuhrer from endorsing the planned assault on the integrity of the Justice Department and our Democracy.
On Monday, February 27, 1933, four weeks after Hitler was elected Chancellor of Germany, there was a fire at the Reichstag- the German Parliament in Berlin. The fire was blamed on Martin van der Lubbe, a Dutch Communist. The next day the Reichstag Fire Decree was passed, alleging that Germany was under attack by communists. The decree was instrumental in bringing the Nazi Party to power. The background to the fire was that although elected Chancellor, Hitler's Nazi party did not have a majority in parliament. He was agitating for the passage of the Enabling Act that would bypass the Weimar Republic's Constitution and allow the Chancellor to pass laws by decree. Although Chancellor, Hitler had to contend with German President (and war hero) Paul Von Hindenburg who had significant power in the Government.
After the fire, (set by Hitler cronies), Hindenburg signed the Reichstag Fire Decree which suspended many of the liberties guaranteed by the Weimar Constitution, including the right of habeas corpus, the right to a free press, the right to free speech and assembly, and the privacy of phone and mail communications. Such freedoms were never restored until after the end of WWII twelve years later.
While the invalidation of the Georgia presidential elections would have not denied President Biden an electoral victory, it was the first step- like the Reichstag fire- on the way to declaring martial law, invalidating all of the election results, and passage of a modern day American Reichstag Fire Decree. As the events of the months after the presidential election are revealed, just how close we came to losing our democratic government are coming to light. And we are guessing there are even more plans and planners to be revealed in the coming days.
LARRY KING HAS DIED
In 1957 23 year old Larry King arrived in Miami and got a job sweeping the floors at Miami Radio station WAHR. Two weeks later a host quit and King got his first job (after the station owner told him to change his last name from Zeiger (too German) to King). In 1958 King moved to WKAT, and then in 1960 to WIOD where he became the number one rated talk show host in South Florida, color commentator for the Miami Dolphins, and hosted a four hour evening show at the iconic Miami Beach Restaurant Pumpernicks, where the waitresses were world renown for being rude, the food was solid Jewish-deli, and King interviewed regular patrons intermixed with Jackie Gleeson, Frank Sinatra, and other 60's celebrities. A personal roller coaster ride ensued, with King being the top paid radio host, losing his money to a gambling addiction, getting arrested for not repaying a debt and bouncing checks, banished to doing promotions for a small Louisiana race track, a return to Miami and WIOD, a national nighttime radio show, and finally becoming the host on CNN's 9pm prime time show where he interviewed the top newsmakers of the day, celebrities, and took calls ("Canastota New York, you're on the air!").
In 1992 cranky Texan Ross Perot announced on Larry King live he would run for president if people would write his name in, A political revolt was born that ended with Perot taking enough votes away from George Herbert Walker Bush to get William Jefferson Clinton elected President.
King had a folksy style, even with the biggest celebrities of the day. He asked Violin virtuoso Jascha Heifetz "Jascha, why the violin?" A: "My mother made me."
King asked President Nixon in 1992, during an interview in Washington DC, if returning to Washington and driving by the Watergate complex upset him. Nixon replied that he was not bothered, and that he had never been to the Watergate complex. King, stunned replied: "You've never been inside Watergate?" setting up Nixon's deadpan response: "No, but unfortunately others have been."
Miami had two of the legendary radio talk show hosts of all time- Larry King and the great Neil Rogers. International success and fame all started for Larry King when he was hired to sweep floors in a now defunct Miami radio station. His radio show at Pumpernick's on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach was his big break. And Miami had a hand in it all.
Larry King calls Neil Rogers
7 comments:
We miss Neil Rogers--thanks for the memories.
HEIL BIDEN!!
Hialeah race track had a collection of his bounced checks in a desk drawer. Nice segue into Neil Rogers and great Miami radio personalities. I nominate another old time but knowledgeable crank, Hank Goldberg.
King was a piss poor interviewer. The appearances on his show were choreographed fluff and puff sessions.
Larry King. He was certainly great at what he did, and he did it successfully for a very long time. Growing up on Miami Beach, and with my next door neighbor's family owning Pumpernicks, I was a regular there with my family. Always loved going there for those great kosher pickles, the corned beef sandwiches, knishes, etc. I would occasionally see King there at the restaurant. My father was the one who first told me about his dark side. He borrowed from everybody in town, including my first cousin. My cousin would regularly mention that Larry never paid him back, even after he became famous (and wealthy) on his national radio show and then his national TV show; (he never paid anybody back including Don Shula, who also lent him money). He had a bad gambling problem among other issues. He was finally run out of town.
Many years later, in 2010, I appeared on his show for a segment.
RIP.
Actually I thought the insurrection at the Capitol was an attempt to create a Reichstag fire, and I said so, but no one here in Texas believed me.
Loan me fifty dollars.
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