Celebrate Dave Chappelle's 3 Emmy Awards for 'Sticks & Stones'

I'm continuing my series of Emmy winners of color for Black History Month by being a good environmentalist and recycling an aside from 'SNL' gives its satirical take on the election results.

Since I have a video of Chappelle in which he mentions his Netflix specials, I'm going to congratulate him on the Emmy wins for for "Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones": Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded), Outstanding Directing for a Variety Special, and Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special. As I wrote in For National Presidential Joke Day, I present the variety talk show nominees at the Emmy Awards, "Wow! No matter who wins, Netflix does as well. As for who I'd bet on, it would be between Dave Chappelle and Patton Oswalt." It was Chappelle. Congratulations!

I think Chappelle deserves a post of his own this month, so here it is. The Television Academy did not upload a clip of any of the acceptance speeches, but Daily Dose Comedy did. Watch Dave Chappelle Badass Emmys Acceptance Speech 2020.*

Dave Chappelle gave a fiery Emmy acceptance speech. He blasts the critics who criticized his Stick & Stones special and gave a special shoutout to his wife. He also said it's a great night for comedy because "comedy gets to be itself again".

That was a great speech, but I can see why the Television Academy didn't upload any clips of him. Too bad.


Chappelle made a point of crediting Stan Lathan as his director. Netflix recognized the award, but still showed Chappelle. Lathan is also African-American, so he deserves to be recognized in this series as well. Congratulations!


Comedy is nothing without good material, and the Television Academy recognized Chappelle for his writing. Here's to his being an insightful and funny critic of society for years to come, just as he has been for years already.

*I anticipate the comedians will have a hard time winning Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) this season, as I think this is the category "Hamilton," the winner of two People's Choice Awards for drama movies, will end up competing in unless the Television Academy rules it to be a Television Movie. My readers and I will find out in July. Right now, stay tuned for at least one more entry in this series.

'RuPaul's Drag Race' and other diversity in reality TV winners at the Emmy Awards

I wrote that I might continue with the Emmy Awards next at the end of Politics, government, and diversity among movie nominees at the 2021 Golden Globes, but U.S. passes 500,000 deaths from COVID-19, a pandemic update intervened. Hey, priorities. That written, it's time to pick up where I left off in Emmy-winning comedy series feature diversity in front of and especially behind the camera for Black History Month. Without any further ado, here is the Television Academy's 72nd Emmy Awards: RuPaul's Drag Race Wins for Outstanding Competition Program.

RuPaul's Drag Race wins the Emmy for Outstanding Competition Program.

I concluded 'Queer Eye' leads structured reality program nominees at the Emmy Awards while 'preaching love, acceptance, pride, and compassion' by writing "'RuPaul's Drag Race' is competing at the Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Competition Program. That can wait, so I'm skipping to television movies for the next installment of this series." I never wrote that entry, but if I had, I would have observed that the show won this category in 2019, so I expected it would win again. I was not not disappointed.

On the other hand, I did predict that "RuPaul won this category last year and the year before and I expect he'll win again." Watch 2020 Creative Arts Emmys: Host for a Reality or Competition Program from the Television Academy to see that prediction come true.

RuPaul from RuPaul's Drag Race wins the Emmy for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program.

In addition to the two awards above, which I expected, IMDB listed the other four Emmy Awards the show won, including two that I thought would go to "Queer Eye," Outstanding Casting for a Reality Program and Outstanding Picture Editing for a Structured Reality or Competition Program, although I did write that "RuPaul's Drag Race" could upset "Queer Eye" for casting. On the other hand, I expected it would repeat in Outstanding Contemporary Hairstyling for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program and I'm not all that surprised that it won Outstanding Contemporary Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program (Non-Prosthetic). Congratulations to RuPaul and the entire Drag Race crew!

I wrote "'Queer Eye" won this [Outstanding Structured Reality Program] last year and I expect it will win again." Watch it do as predicted in 2020 Creative Arts Emmys: Structured Reality Program.

The team from Queer Eye wins the Emmy for Outstanding Structured Reality Program.

Congratulations on the win and on being a good show for inclusion and mutual respect, to say nothing of great fashion and grooming tips!

I have a couple more Emmy posts to write between now and the end of the month, so stay tuned.

U.S. passes 500,000 deaths from COVID-19, a pandemic update

I closed Life expectancy fell 1 year for all Americans, 3 years for African-Americans, during 2020 because of the pandemic by telling my readers "The next milestone for the pandemic will be 500,000 U.S. deaths from COVID-19, which is likely to happen by the end of this month. When that happens, and it will, I will have an update." It took only four days to reach that grim milestone. Reuters reported U.S. coronavirus deaths top 500,000 this afternoon.

The U.S. crossed the staggering milestone of 500,000 COVID-19 deaths, nearly a year since the pandemic upended the nation.

That's the news. Good Morning America had the commentary in advance of the official announcement of the event in Dr. Fauci remarks on grim milestone of 500,000 dead from COVID-19.

Biden’s chief medical adviser discusses the staggering number of lives lost due to the pandemic and how the country will get its vaccine distribution back on track after weather delays.

I agree with Dr. Fauci. I would be very pleasantly surprised if the U.S. achieves herd immunity by April. I think we'll need to keep the rate of vaccinations up until everyone who wants the vaccine gets both doses. As I wrote last week, I expect that will take until the end of July.

USA Today has one more reaction, Pres. Joe Biden delivers remarks in memory of 500k lost to COVID-19.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris hold a moment of silence and candle lighting ceremony for the 500,000 Americans dead from COVID-19.
...
The U.S. once again crossed a somber COVID threshold much faster than any country in the world.

Less than a year after the coronavirus outbreak was declared a pandemic, the U.S. recorded its 500,000th death Monday, according to the Johns Hopkins University dashboard. That’s more than twice the COVID-19 fatalities registered in Brazil, which ranks second on the list.

President Joe Biden will hold a moment of silence and a candle-lighting service Monday evening at the White House to mark the enormous loss of life.

The endless hours of toiling amid death and suffering have taken a heavy toll on health care workers, who are exhausted and frustrated with those who won’t follow public health guidelines aimed at curbing transmission of the virus.

I conclude with the moment of silence itself.

Politics, government, and diversity among movie nominees at the 2021 Golden Globes

When I told my readers "I plan on writing about the movie nominees, although I haven't decided whether that's tomorrow or later next week" at the conclusion of Television nominees about politics and government at the 2021 Golden Globes, I was pondering whether to do that or write about another awards show, such as the Critics Choice, WGA Awards, or finish my Emmy series for Black History Month. I then remembered that the Golden Globes will be the first awards given out on February 28th, so I'm prioritizing writing about them today for the Sunday entertainment feature. Watch as Grace Randolph of Beyond The Trailer shares her opinions in Golden Globes 2021 Nominations & Predictions. Take it away, Grace!

Golden Globes 2021 today! Beyond The Trailer's reaction to nominations! Snubs! Female aka Women Directors! Mank! Borat! James Corden The Prom!
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Golden Globes 2021 today! Beyond The Trailer host Grace Randolph's reaction & predictions of the nominations and winners! Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Mank, Promising Young Woman, One Night in Miami, Nomadland and more! Snubs! Share your own reaction to the nominations for the Golden Globes 2021, and your own predictions, before you watch the full show with hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler!

Those are the nominees that Grace thinks should and will win. Follow over the jump for my opinions, including how well the nominated movies fit the themes of politics and government, how diverse the acting nominees are, and whether I agree with Grace about the likely winners.

Television nominees about politics and government at the 2021 Golden Globes

It's been two weeks since I wrote "stay tuned for my reaction to the Golden Globe nominations." While I did use the Golden Globes to compile the 2019-2020 Golden Coffee Cups TV shortlists, I don't feel that counted, so I'm sharing Golden Globes 2021 Nominations & Predictions - Television from Grace Randolph of Beyond The Trailer followed by my opinion of the political and government shows among the nominees. Take it away, Grace!

Golden Globes 2021 today! Beyond The Trailer's reaction to nominations for Television!...The Queen's Gambit, The Crown, Schitt's Creek, The Mandalorian, Lovecraft Country, Ozark and more! Snubs! Share your own reaction to the nominations for the Golden Globes 2021, and your own predictions, before you watch the full show with hosts Tina Fey and Amy Poehler!

Those are the nominees that Grace thinks should and will win. Follow over the jump for my opinions, including how well each series fits the themes of politics and government and a comparison to the Critics Choice Awards. After all, I'm an environmentalist; I recycle.

Coffee Party USA invites you to stream the political TV series on the 2019-2020 Golden Coffee Cups shortlists while staying safe at home

Hey, all of you binge-watching your guilty pleasure shows while staying safe at home, relaxing after working from home, returning for work after wearing a mask all day, or just stressed out from the real world! I have another suggestion to make your time in front of the big-screen TV in the living room, the slightly smaller screen in the bedroom, or even holding your tablet or smartphone work to help your appreciation of politics and government on television and then apply your understanding to help Coffee Party USA in one of our projects.

With the 2018-2019 television season out of the way, the members and volunteers of Coffee Party USA will move on to the 2019-2020 television season. Watch for the posting of the shortlists for the show categories along with an invitation to stream them while staying safe at home. If you want to become one of the voters for this or future Golden Coffee Cups, such as for the best political movies of 2020, become a member. Voting will happen on a members-only Facebook group.

Before I present the shortlists, I'm sharing a two-part activity Coffee Party USA and I are proposing our readers and supporters do.

The first part of the activity is to stream as many of the shows on the shortlists between now and March 13, 2021 to see which have the best portrayals of politics and government on television. The second is to become a member of Coffee Party USA by March 13, 2021, which you can do for as little as $30.00 per year. That's because the members will also vote on the nominees and winners this year. That means you!

That's your two-part activity. Now, have fun watching television while supporting the work of Coffee Party USA, whose core values include continuous learning on behalf of an informed citizenry, joining Coffee Party USA, and voting on the nominees!

Without any further ado, I present the shortlists for the Golden Coffee Cups for Television, beginning with the shortlist for Best Drama Series about Politics and Government.*

#FreeRayshawn
9-1-1
Better Call Saul
Big Little Lies
Billions
Black Mirror
Carnival Row
David Makes Man
Designated Survivor
Doctor Who
Euphoria
Evil
For All Mankind
Godfather of Harlem
His Dark Materials
Homeland
How to Get Away with Murder
Hunters
Killing Eve
Madam Secretary
Mindhunter
Mr. Robot
Outlander
Ozark
Penny Dreadful: City of Angels
Pose
Snowpiercer
Star Trek: Picard
Star Trek: Short Treks
Star Wars Resistance
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
Stranger Things
Stumptown
Succession
S.W.A.T.
The Blacklist
The Boys
The Crown
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
The Good Fight
The Handmaid's Tale
The Mandalorian
The Man in the High Castle
The Morning Show
The Outsider
The Rookie
The Witcher
Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan
Vikings
Westworld

Succession won last year and Mindhunter the year before. In addition, the first winner of Best Miniseries or Movie for Television about Politics and Government, Black Mirror, has been moved here based on the reclassification of the series by the Television Academy. The shortlist sets up a situation where they could go up against each other for the trophy. Of course, they have to be nominated first. Will you be one of the people to join so you nominate them and the rest of the field?

Follow over the jump to read the shortlists for television shows in the other four categories along with a two-part activity involving them.

Life expectancy fell 1 year for all Americans, 3 years for African-Americans, during 2020 because of the pandemic

I opened CNBC asks 'Is The U.S. Running Out Of People?' with grim statistics and projections.

At the end of A pandemic update from Michigan as vaccinations ramp up while U.S. death toll passes 400,000, I quoted USA Today reporting "more than 3 million people died in 2020 — the deadliest year in US history" and "life expectancy for 2020 could end up dropping as much as three full years, said Robert Anderson of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

The CDC released their preliminary figures today showing that it was that bad for African-Americans, whose life expectancy dropped nearly 3 years last year. For Hispanics, it fell almost 2 years, for whites, just under 1 year, and for all Americans combined, it declined 1 full year, as the graph below from Voice of America shows.


That's the worst single-year decline in U.S. life expectancy since I started tracking it in 2016.

Good Morning America has some of the details in US life expectancy declined sharply due to COVID-19.

Life expectancy dropped a full year as the coronavirus spread during the first half of 2020 with Black Americans suffering the most, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control.

"The greatest drop in life expectancy since World War II" — wow! That definitely places the impact of the pandemic in perspective. As for the experts being surprised, well, not all of them. The estimated drop was actually less than what Robert Anderson predicted, so I bet he wasn't. Because I paid attention to him, neither was I. I'm also not surprised that it will take until the end of July for everyone who wants a vaccination to get one — disappointed, maybe, but not surprised.

ABC News included more precise statistics in US life expectancy suffers historic drop due to COVID-19; audiences matter, since it's the same news organization as Good Morning America.

Experts are sounding the alarm about a new “hybrid” variant of the coronavirus. ABC’s Alex Presha reports.

This report tied the vaccination effort into both new varieties of the coronavirus and into how the severe cold weather is delaying distribution. The former is a longer-term threat, while the latter is a disaster in its own right.

The next milestone for the pandemic will be 500,000 U.S. deaths from COVID-19, which is likely to happen by the end of this month. When that happens, and it will, I will have an update. Until then, stay tuned.

The connections among climate change, the wobbling jet stream, and the polar vortex explained by PBS Terra and CBS News

I concluded Paczki Day during a pandemic by telling my readers "Speaking of the weather, I plan on writing about the winter storm and its connection to the changing climate tomorrow. Stay tuned." I begin with a general explanation of the phenomenon in PBS Terra asking Why on Earth are Winters Getting Worse if the Planet is Getting Warmer?

In 2015, Boston was brought to its knees by the worst winter on record, receiving an unprecedented 110 inches of snow. And over the last decade, the American Northeast has seen more than a 200% increase in the frequency of large, disruptive snowstorms. This trend surprised nearly everybody, including many of the top experts, as they had been expecting a warming planet to translate into milder winters. But in many locations, we have seen just the opposite. So what’s going on here?

We traveled to Boston to search for answers about these surprising effects of climate change and their connection to the jet stream, the polar vortex, and a phenomenon known as “arctic amplification.” We also discuss some of the most common risks like hypothermia, frostbite, heart attacks, and traffic accidents that make winter weather, far and away, the deadliest natural hazard of them all.

Weathered is a show hosted by meteorologist Maiya May and produced by Balance Media that helps explain the most common natural disasters, what causes them, how they’re changing, and what we can do to prepare.

The story Maiya May told "about these surprising effects of climate change and their connection to the jet stream, the polar vortex, and a phenomenon known as 'arctic amplification'" is one I've told before in Polar vortex and difference between climate and weather explained, Vox explains how a warming Arctic can cause extreme weather, and The polar vortex returns, bringing near-record cold temperatures, so it's not news to me. Still, this blog has gained a lot of new readers in the last two years, so I think it's worth repeating, especially with the new examples and footage in the PBS Terra video.

Speaking of new examples, Dr. Stuart Harris saying "What you thought was normal in Atlanta or Texas or Virginia is not gonna be" turned out to be prophetic. Watch Polar vortex triggering dangerous winter weather across U.S. for both the effects of the record cold weather in Texas and elsewhere and the connection between that weather and climate change, the wobbling jet stream, and the polar vortex.

Millions are without power as temperatures dive to record lows across a huge portion of the United States. CBS News correspondents Omar Villafranca and Jessi Mitchell have the latest on the impact and CBS News meteorologist and climate specialist Jeff Berardelli joins CBSN with the forecast.

I think Jeff Berardelli explained the interconnected weather phenomena and their effects clearly and compellingly, showing how they contributed to the current record cold weather.

CBS This Morning updated the situation in Winter storm kills at least 17 people, millions still without power in frigid Texas.

At least 17 deaths have been attributed to the winter blast blanketing much of the country - and more freezing temperatures are on the way. Meanwhile, Texas continues to experience deep freeze conditions as residents are questioning why the state failed to prepare for such an unprecedented storm. Omar Villafranca reports.

In contrast to Texas, Oklahoma has power. CBS This Morning reported and explained why in Oklahoma conserves energy as another round of snow, cold blanket the state.

Another winter storm in Oklahoma is bringing more snow and keeping temperatures below freezing. But less than 1% of Oklahoma electricity customers are without power compared to Texas, which has 25% of residents without power. Mireya Villarreal is in Oklahoma City with the interruptions the weather is causing.

I could go on about why Texas has its own electric grid and how that's contributed to the situation, but that's a post for another day. In the meantime, stay warm, stay safe, and stay tuned.

Paczki Day during a pandemic

Happy Paczki Day AKA Fat Tuesday! I begin today's celebration with MLive's One minute history of the Paczki.

Learn the history of the once-a-year pastry treat synonymous with Fat Tuesday, otherwise known as Paczki day in Michigan. Just don't call this calorie juggernaut a doughnut.

1000 calories — wow! As I first wrote in 2014, "After discovering paczki when I moved to Michigan 25 (now 32) years ago, I finally knew why today is called Fat Tuesday."

That's the history. What about today as the holiday is being celebrated during the pandemic? WXYZ has that story in Paczki Day during the pandemic: Local bakeries make big adjustments.

It's a time-honored tradition for metro Detroit bakeries, and a day that usually draws in big crowds for small businesses. We're of course talking about Paczki Day.

Those paczki look delicious, but I'm going to abstain again, not only because of the pandemic and my diabetes, but also the snow Jenn Schanz mentioned. I couldn't get out of the house even if I wanted to!

Metro Detroit isn't the only place taking precautions during the pandemic and adapting their celebrations. CBS This Morning reported on how New Orleans is trying to celebrate safely in Mardi Gras celebrations restricted following last year's super-spreader event.

Citing concerns following last year's super-spreader event, New Orleans officials have restricted Mardi Gras celebrations and banned alcohol sales in the French Quarter through next Tuesday. David Begnaud reports.

Hamtramck looks less disrupted than New Orleans, something I never thought I'd write here. We here in Michigan seem to be dealing with social distancing measures better and we're used to the snow and cold, which New Orleans isn't. Speaking of the weather, I plan on writing about the winter storm and its connection to the changing climate tomorrow. Stay tuned.

PIX11 on movie and TV presidents for Presidents Day 2021

Happy Presidents Day! For today's celebration, I'm returning to the theme of last year's The best movie and TV presidents, real and fictional, for Presidents Day weekend with Watchu Talkin’ About: Presidents from TV and film, which PIX11 News just uploaded this morning.

In honor of President’s Day, PIX11 News’ Ojinika Obiekwe is joined by founder of the new entertainment app PopViewers Chris Witherspoon to celebrate some fictional presidents on the big and small screen.

Two of the fictional presidents on the list at 4:30 are former winners of Best Television President, Kiefer Sutherland as Tom Kirkman on "Designated Survivor" for 2019 and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Selina Meyer on "Veep" for 2020. Louis-Dreyfus as Meyer is not eligible for this year's Golden Coffee Cups for Television, but Sutherland as Kirkman is. I started working on the shortlists for this year's awards yesterday, so watch for the post announcing them later this week. Stay tuned, everyone!