Article:
WASHINGTON — President Trump added his former White House aide, Omarosa Manigault Newman, on Tuesday to the growing list of African-Americans he has publicly denigrated on Twitter, calling her “that dog” and a “crazed, crying lowlife” after her allegations against him of mental deterioration and racism.

 Even for a president who consistently uses Twitter to assail his adversaries, the morning tweet about Ms. Manigault Newman was a remarkably crude use of the presidential bully pulpit to disparage a woman who once served at the highest levels in his White House.

 In an interview on MSNBC, Ms. Manigault Newman responded that Mr. Trump treats women differently from men because he “believes they are beneath him” and that he talked in derogatory ways about minorities.

 “He has absolutely no respect for women, for African-Americans,” she said.

 In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has called Don Lemon, a CNN anchor, “the dumbest man on television.” He has questioned the intelligence of LeBron James, a star basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers. And he has repeatedly said that Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California, has a “low I.Q.” ||||| White House: we cannot guarantee there's no tape of Trump using N-word

 As the remarkable public spat between Donald Trump and former adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman continued on Tuesday, the White House was unable to guarantee that no recordings exist of the president using the “N-word”.

 Omarosa says Trump is a racist who uses N-word – and claims there is tape to prove it Read more

 At a White House briefing, press secretary Sarah Sanders was asked if she could say no such recordings would emerge.

 “I can’t guarantee anything,” she said.

 Sanders cited the president’s tweets on the matter and said: “I can tell you that the president addressed this question directly.” On Monday, Trump wrote: “I don’t have that word in my vocabulary and never have.”

 On Tuesday morning, he added to earlier tweets when he wrote: “When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn’t work out. Good work by General [John] Kelly for quickly firing that dog!”

 Manigault Newman, a former contestant on the reality TV show The Apprentice, is promoting a memoir, Unhinged. She has released two secret recordings related to her firing from the White House late last year and another related to the claims that Trump used the “N-word” during his career in reality TV.

 Sanders said she had never heard Trump use the racial epithet in question.

 In an interview on MSNBC on Tuesday afternoon, Manigault Newman introduced another angle to the row when she confirmed earlier hints that she has been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller. The former FBI director is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election and links between Trump aides and Moscow.

 “I have” been interviewed, Manigault Newman said, though she said her “hands are tied” over any discussion of what she was asked.

 Earlier in the day, the Trump campaign accused her of breaching a 2016 non-disclosure agreement.

 In a statement to CNN, the campaign said it had “filed an arbitration against Omarosa Manigault Newman, with the American Arbitration Association in New York City, for breach of her 2016 confidentiality agreement with the Trump campaign”. It is the first legal action the campaign has launched since Manigault Newman revealed details in her tell-all book about her time as a Trump campaign adviser and senior White House aide.

 On MSNBC, Manigault Newman said: “I don’t believe that I have violated [an NDA], but I’m going to leave that to the lawyers to sort that out. It’s interesting that he’s trying to silence me. So what is he trying to hide? What is he afraid of? If he hadn’t said anything that was derogatory or demeaning to African Americans and women, why would he go to this extent to try to shut me down?”

 I think he should be afraid of being exposed as the misogynist, the bigot and the racist that he is Omarosa Manigault Newman

 Asked if there were any more tapes the president should be “afraid of”, she said: “I think he should be afraid of being exposed as the misogynist, the bigot and the racist that he is.”

 Of Trump calling her a “dog”, she said: “I think that it just shows you that if he would say that publicly, what else would he say about me privately? He has absolutely no respect for women, for African Americans – as evidenced by him instructing the chief of staff to lock me for two hours in the Situation Room to harass me, to threaten me.

 “He’s unfit to be in this office and to serve as the president of the United States.”

 At the White House briefing, Sanders said Manigault Newman was a “self-serving someone who blatantly cares about herself more than our country”.

 Sanders also insisted that Trump’s decision to call Manigault Newman a dog and his other criticisms of prominent African Americans were not racially motivated.

 “This has absolutely nothing to do with race,” she said, “and everything to do with the president calling out someone’s lack of integrity.”

 She also complained about reporters only asking about “a few of the things that the president has said negative about people who are minorities” and said Trump was “an equal opportunity person who calls it like he sees it and always fights fire with fire”.

 Play Video 0:40 Former Trump aide claims to have heard recording of him using N-word – video

 Manigault Newman’s recent TV appearances, and her claim to have heard a tape of Trump using the N-word and other racial slurs during filming for The Apprentice, have clearly infuriated the president.

 Did Omarosa break the law by secretly recording Trump and Kelly? Read more

 On CBS, Manigault Newman revealed a third tape she said recorded a 2016 conference call among Trump aides discussing how to address potential fallout from any release of tapes that allegedly contain Trump using the N-word. The campaign aides had previously denied any such conversations took place.

 In the recording, then campaign spokeswoman Katrina Pierson can be heard saying: “I am trying to find at least what context it was used in to help us maybe try to figure out a way to spin it.” Later in the conversation, she says: “He said it. He is embarrassed.”

 On Monday night, Pierson said on Fox News the call “did not happen”. But in a statement on Tuesday, she said she had been seeking “to placate Omarosa to move the discussion along”.

 Manigault Newman’s decision to record conversations has attracted controversy. When Kelly fired her in December in the White House Situation Room, she secretly taped the conversation: an apparent breach of security protocol. ||||| President Trump says former White House staffer Omarosa Manigault-Newman lied when she called him a racist who has said the N-word on tape. The president tweeted Monday night, "I don't have that word in my vocabulary and never have. She made it up." But a new recording, obtained by CBS News overnight, seems to back up Omarosa's story that several Trump advisers discussed an alleged tape during the 2016 campaign.

 Trump campaign advisers denied on Monday that any conversations took place. CBS News has not been able to verify the authenticity of the recording - though it appears to confirm Omarosa's claims that Trump campaign officials were aware of a tape in which then-candidate Trump uses a racial slur, and they talked about how to handle it.

 During her whirlwind book tour, former White House aide Omarosa claimed to have heard tape of President Trump using the N-word during his time on "The Apprentice."

 In her new book, "Unhinged," Omarosa claims the Trump campaign was aware of the existence of the tape. She describes an October 2016 phone conversation with Lynne Patton, then-assistant to Eric Trump, spokesperson Katrina Pierson and campaign communications director Jason Miller in which they discuss how to deal with the potential fallout from its release.

 Omarosa on Trump tapes: "If you see it in quotes it can be verified"

 "I am trying to find at least what context it was used in to help us maybe try to figure out a way to spin it," Pierson is heard saying.

 Patton then described a conversation she had with then-candidate Trump about making the slur.

 Patton: "I said, 'Well, sir, can you think of anytime where this happened?' And he said, 'no.'"

 Omarosa: "Well, that is not true."

 Patton: "He goes, how do you think I should handle it and I told him exactly what you just said, Omarosa, which is well, it depends on what scenario you are talking about. And he said, well, why don't you just go ahead and put it to bed."

 Pierson: "He said. No, he said it. He is embarrassed by it."

 Appearing on Fox News Monday night before the release of the audio, Pierson denied the call ever took place saying, "No, Ed (Henry). That did not happen. Sounds like she is writing a script for a movie."

 The White House and Trump campaign have not provided responses to this new development but Patton and Pierson issued a joint statement Tuesday morning saying, "No one ever denied the existence of conversations about a reported 'Apprentice' tape. Of course there were multiple discussions about it." |||||Summary:

– President Trump insists that the "terrible and disgusting" n-word is simply not in his vocabulary—but White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says she "can't guarantee" that recordings of him saying it will not emerge. "I can tell you that the president addressed this question directly," she told reporters Tuesday, per the Guardian. She denied that Trump's attacks on former Apprentice contestant and White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman, who says she has heard recordings of Trump using the slur, were motivated by racism, reports the New York Times. "The fact is the president's an equal opportunity person that calls things like he sees it," Sanders said. In an interview with MSNBC Tuesday, Manigault Newman confirmed that she'd been interviewed by Robert Mueller's investigators, though she declined to discuss details. Asked about Trump calling her a "dog," she said: "I think that it just shows you that if he would say that publicly, what else would he say about me privately?" Asked if there were more tapes Trump should be afraid of, she said the president should worry about being exposed as the "misogynist, the bigot, and the racist that he is." Manigault Newman, who's being sued by Trump's campaign organization for allegedly violating an NDA, provided a recording to CBS News in which Trump staffers appear to confirm the existence of an n-word tape and discuss the potential fallout.


Article:

If journalists played it straight with movie stars, they’d call it an interrogation not an interview. It’d be conducted at a police station—some grimy, windowless room at the back, cramped and full of the hot stink of fear and funk. After bouncing the star off a wall or two, ignoring the pitiful pleas for a phone call, a lawyer, a mommy, the journalist would shine a light in those pretty, pretty eyes, and start grilling. What did you have to do to get your big break? How long do you think you can turn the trick, keep the public interested, huh? Who are you sleeping with? Who are you sleeping with? Who are you sleeping with? O.K., maybe I’m overstating the case. I’m not, however, mis-stating it. Encounters between movie stars and the journalists who cover them are edgy, deeply. They are, by their very nature, transactional: the journalist offers the star, usually with a new project or venture to promote, exposure; the star offers the journalist revelation, a couple of juicy details with which to titillate readers. Use and be used, give and take, a mutual hustle and the way of the world. Couldn’t be clearer, right? Where things get murky is in the trappings. The interview is made to look like the opposite of what it is: a friendly social interaction. The star and I always meet at a restaurant—the garden terrace at the Chateau Marmont or the Clement at the Peninsula—almost always for lunch. There’s conversation (one-sided, but still) and an attentive waiter and imported mineral water and a salad of wild arugula, locally grown, and it’s easy to forget that our interests are at odds and that the relationship is, at heart, antagonistic. Only I couldn’t forget with Kate McKinnon, the Emmy-winning Saturday Night Live mainstay (S.N.L. is the venture she’s currently promoting, Season 43, set to premiere on September 30), perhaps the most gifted of a gifted generation of young comics, her flair for mimicry and slapstick allowing her to create characters and impressions that are both spookily exact and totally off the wall. Mind you, I’m not proposing that Kate herself is antagonistic. She isn’t. In fact, her niceness is as pronounced, extreme, and undeniable as her talent—it’s the quality of hers you’re struck by first. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz; Styled by Jessica Diehl. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Cat Class, Cat Style

 Let me set the scene: it’s a Friday afternoon, hot, every face, every object, with that sweaty, New-York-in-the-summer shine to it. Kate and I are meeting for lunch, naturally, and she’s suggested a place in the East Village. I can’t say the name because I promised Kate I wouldn’t. (It’s a best-kept secret, only it wouldn’t be if I blabbed, is the idea.) Technically it’s a restaurant, though “restaurant” seems like too highfalutin a term to convey its essence. “Hole-in-the-wall” might be nearer the mark, “dump” nearer still: linoleum floor, laminated menus, Asian-y pop music on the speakers (“Asian-y” is as close as I’ll get to giving away its identity—see, Kate, I didn’t break my word), ceiling fan moving the thick, soupy air around some without cooling it any. Yet the food is as good as the ambience is bad, as I will soon discover when a guy, a waiter I assume though he’s in street clothes, flings on the table first Kate’s dish and then, following a discreet dick adjustment, mine. Kate arrives on time to the minute. I’m early, so I have a chance to observe her as she enters. She’s dressed down. Movie stars are typically dressed down for these occasions. (Another reason they’re deceptive: people come costumed as though it’s playtime, not work.) But Kate isn’t dressed movie-star down, i.e., the kind of down that’s flattering to the figure and still involves the application of a not inconsiderable amount of makeup, i.e., a stylist-approved, camera-ready kind of down. Kate’s dressed real-person down, i.e., badly: oversize T-shirt and pants that aren’t quite sweat but close enough; sneakered feet; face cosmetics-free; hair in a ponytail, or, rather, what would be a ponytail if she hadn’t failed to tug the hair all the way through the elastic, leaving it in a sort of ponytail-bun limbo. As quickly as I’m struck by how un-vain she is, I’m struck by how much she has to be vain about. She’s very pretty: small-bodied and full-lipped with cat eyes—pale blue and almond-shaped and slanting—tawny skin and hair, dimples she can twitch into existence without even smiling. She’s 33 but appears younger, a few years out of college. I’d watched hours of footage of her in preparation for this encounter yet had somehow missed her great good looks. Not that she photographs poorly. It’s just that in most scenes she’s impersonating a woman far, far older than she (Debette Goldry, legend of the silver screen, a fictional creation) or a woman far older (the all-too-real Betsy DeVos) or a man (Robert Durst) or a boy-man (Justin Bieber). And her face is rarely in repose. She’s often stretching it in some crazy, rubbery way, thrusting out her jaw, baring her teeth. And it isn’t only Kate’s eyes that are feline; it’s her manner as well. I don’t mean to suggest that she’s aloof or self-regarding in that cat style. Quite the contrary, in fact. As we sit down, she asks me questions and, after it’s revealed that I have two small boys, requests a picture, and actually looks when I produce it. But she has a cat’s sensitivity and suspiciousness, is nerved up as a cat is nerved up. It’s almost as if she’s equipped with a pair of invisible whiskers, and the moment those whiskers come into contact with something wrong—the tape recorder I slide onto the table, for example, the felt-tip pen I uncap and place at a diagonal on a stenographer’s notebook—she starts to back away on soft, padded paws. And it’s immediately apparent to me that I’m going to have to approach her slowly, carefully, no false moves, and that even the slowest, most careful and false-move-free approach might not work. She could still get spooked, run off. And as I’m having this thought, and as my stomach is twisting in response to it, another one occurs to me: how newly famous she is. Or not newly famous, exactly. She became a featured player on S.N.L. in 2012, a full cast member in 2013, and was an audience favorite straightaway. But newly super-famous. The reason, Donald Trump. Kate is, of course, the show’s Hillary Clinton, Trump’s once and future nemesis, though the loathing between Kate’s Hillary and Alec Baldwin’s Trump is so intense, instinctive, and visceral it’s almost arousing, it’s almost love—you just know the two never stop thinking about each other. She’s his hate interest. (Question: Were we too freaked out and pissed off to notice that the 2016 presidential election was the greatest battle-of-the-sexes screwball farce of the modern era, the blackest romantic comedy of them all? That Clinton and Trump were a surreal, gonzo version of Hepburn and Tracy? Hepburn and Tracy as re-interpreted by David Lynch or Quentin Tarantino? Trump’s nearing the end of his first year as our El Número Uno Commander in Chief and he still can’t shut up about the woman he defeated back in November, gets this wistful look in his eye whenever he calls her by her pet name, Crooked Hillary. It’s as if the old Rodgers and Hart tune were running in his head on a loop. The sleepless nights / The daily fights . . . I wish I were in love again.) Photograph by Annie Leibovitz; Styled by Jessica Diehl. Hillary

 Kate is not S.N.L.’s only Hillary. Jan Hooks took the initial shot, memorably playing the then First Lady as a simmering cauldron of barely suppressed resentment (“I happen to be the co-president of the United States”). There was also Amy Poehler’s Hillary: Obama’s rival, a brittle, chilly bluestocking whose will to power had been thwarted one too many times and whose smile had become so wooden you could rap your knuckles on it for luck. Kate’s Hillary, however, blows them all away. Kate’s Hillary has her hard-driving bitch side to be sure, but mostly she’s the world’s worst combination—half schoolmarm, half princess—who knows she’s the world’s worst combination, keenly feels her lack of flash and charisma, of the common touch, the qualities possessed in such abundance by her mate and Obama, even by Trump, yet is steady and decent and true, and wants to do good—oh, how she wants to do good!—though is stymied in her attempts because regular folk plain don’t cotton to her, are looking for any excuse to go in another direction. There’s pathos in Kate’s Hillary. You laugh at her, but you feel for her, too. And the sketch that Kate and Hillary did together, Kate as Hillary, Hillary as a seen-it-all barkeep named Val, was, I thought, Hillary’s best moment of the entire election, certainly her warmest. As Val she was relaxed, loose, funny, natural—everything she wasn’t and perhaps couldn’t be on the campaign trail. Last season’s co-head writer Chris Kelly: “The real Hillary was very game. We showed her the script, and we assumed that she, or any presidential candidate, would have notes or try to be open but still secretly have a bunch of things they didn’t want to make fun of. She read it and laughed and was like, ‘O.K.’ ” Says Kate, “Hillary has great timing.” Kate actually says very little else about Hillary, not because she has little else to say but because she gets too overwhelmed to say it. She tears up when she recalls tearing up when she viewed the presidential debates with Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, another co-head writer from last season, in preparation for devising those weeks’ cold opens. Schneider: “Kate and Chris and I would meet at the 30 Rock offices or we’d pick one of our apartments. I watched as a writer of a satire comedy show, and so I saw everything through the lens of, Can I make fun of that? But I also watched as a woman and I was concerned. I saw some of the attitudes taken towards Hillary—the nasty-woman comment. And I can understand why Kate would get emotional about that.” Though Kate’s Hillary is, obviously, not Hillary Hillary, there is a kind of fusion going on between impersonator and the human being whose skin, soul, and mind the impersonator is inhabiting. To do her job as well as she does, empathy is essential, which means she must stay open and raw where the rest of us—we nonperformers—are hard and self-protective. Psychologically it’s a dangerous place to be. Kate: “I love doing impressions of politicians because the task is always to imagine the private lives of these people whose job it is to project an image of staunch, unflinching leadership and grace, and that’s just not how human beings, in their heart of hearts, work. In doing that for Hillary Clinton, who I admire so much, I started to feel very close to her, just trying to imagine her inner life.” She necessarily takes it personally. Hillary, et al.

 Let’s talk now about Kate’s other impressions. (An F.Y.I.: Kate’s speaking voice is soft, very. The only times I don’t have to lean in to catch it are when she’s doing an impression, at which point self-consciousness disappears because she is no longer herself and thus unthinkingly turns up the volume, and when she’s telling me something she regards as important, and to both make me laugh and to make sure I don’t fuck it up, she yells the words directly into my recorder’s ear. To me, sotto voce, “My most frequent collaborators at S.N.L. are the incredibly gifted writers,” and then to my recorder, in stereophonic sound, “CHRIS KELLY AND SARAH SCHNEIDER!”) A touchstone for Kate is Molly Shannon’s Mary Katherine Gallagher, the Catholic schoolgirl who’s rough on décor and who sniffs her armpit-dipped fingers when she’s nervous: “Mary Katherine is crashing into tables and doing a little dance, and yet she’s so real at the same time. You have to love her so much because she’s a person who’s trying to connect, but is thwarted by everything about who she is. I can relate to that.” It’s the generosity of spirit Shannon brought to the character that Kate responded to, and she brings that same spirit to whomever she’s representing. Says Lorne Michaels, “Kate can embody a character and bring it to life and make it funny. But there’s also always something empathetic about her characters. And although the writing might not be kind, she is. That’s her genius. You can’t make the audience fall in love with a character you don’t like.” Kate has begun appearing in big roles in major feature films, most notably in last year’s all-female Ghostbusters reboot, which if it did nothing else served to remind us how weird people can still be about women (the outrage on social media that Columbia Pictures had the gall to remake this towering achievement of cinematic expression with cootie-ridden girls—e-e-e-e-e-u-u-u-u-w!—was as amusing as it was depressing), and this year’s bachelorette-party-gone-bad comedy Rough Night. Kate shines in both, but the movies feel slightly beside the point. Maybe because what she’s doing on S.N.L. feels so essential. There’s the pure political theater of her Hillary, of course. Yet there’s also her Elizabeth Warren, her Kellyanne Conway, her Jeff Sessions. Season 42 of S.N.L. had more eyeballs fastened on it than any season since Season 19 (1993-94), and received more Emmy nominations than any season ever, including for Kate and Baldwin, both of whom would win. Election years can often mean a ratings bounce for the show, only this time that bounce went sky-high and didn’t come back to earth, even after the contest was decided. On Hillary Clinton: “I admire [her] so much, I started to feel very close to her, just trying to imagine her inner life.” Somehow S.N.L. has managed to locate the center of a culture that’s without one, that’s increasingly fractured. Over the last 18 months or so, politics has become the national obsession, what’s pushing us together as a country even as it’s driving us apart. And to end each week with S.N.L., releasing the pent-up anger and frustration and fear and anxiety with laughter, is cathartic. This, too: the eerily symbiotic relationship that has developed between S.N.L. and the White House. S.N.L. watches the White House in order to satirize it; the White House watches the satirization and then offers notes. Trump tweeted after the October 15, 2016, episode, “Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks.” And yet Trump seems beyond influenced by it, seems haunted. Am I nuts or has Trump, since Baldwin debuted his Trump, squinted harder, pooched out his bottom lip farther? (Observes Baldwin, “He makes this face like he’s snarling and about to leap at you, like he’s in a production of Cats.”) And though purists will argue that Anthony Atamanuik’s Trump or John Di Domenico’s are the more nuanced and artful, it’s Baldwin’s that’s captured the public imagination. Scrambled the imagination, as well. In February, El Nacional, a newspaper in the Dominican Republic, printed a photograph of Baldwin as Trump believing it was Trump. Says Baldwin, “My thought was that if I did a good impression of Trump it would be dull. So I ran towards this idea that I’m going to do a horrific caricature. When you’re doing an impression, you can suggest the voice, or the way the guy looks, but you’ve really got to think of who he is, and get that right, and I think I did. In terms of the media, I’m Trump now. He’s not even Trump anymore—I am.” Baldwin has considered running for office in the future. I want to propose the ultimate comedic reversal of fortune: Trump, driven so crazy by Baldwin’s Trump, forfeits the presidency to escape it (other contributing factors include the Russia thing, the special-counsel thing, the wee-wee tape thing); Baldwin, having played POTUS on TV, is elected to play POTUS in life, Kate’s Hillary his V.P.; Trump, a two-time S.N.L. host, is recruited by that shrewd barnstormer Lorne Michaels to become the show’s Baldwin. We’re in a world now where such a scenario is, if not plausible, possible. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz; Styled by Jessica Diehl. For Public Consumption

 Kate and I start with her professional life, and we stay there for a long time, and we’re doing all right, are cooking with gas, in fact, even if we do encounter the occasional bump in the road. For instance, when I ask her about a dinner she had with Hillary at Orso in late winter (Peter Biskind, a Vanity Fair contributing editor, just happened to be at the restaurant that night: “Most of the diners stood up and there was gaping and scattered applause. And there were lots of what I assume were Secret Service men and they followed Hillary when she went downstairs to the john”), her eyes begin to skitter and jump. I immediately cast around for a less sensitive topic, though I hadn’t realized that one was sensitive. And we continue to do O.K. when I jolt the conversation onto another track, inquire about her family and early career. She grew up on Long Island, Mom a social worker, Dad an architect. Kate was, to her parents’ delight, an arty kid, and a natural cutup. Mel Brooks was a household god. “We watched The Producers once a week.” So was Christopher Guest. (Kate is, with the exception of Kristen Wiig, the biggest female star to come out of S.N.L. since Tina Fey, and the comparisons between her and her predecessor are both legion and inevitable. They are also, in my opinion, inaccurate. Fey, a former S.N.L. head writer, is brilliant, incisive, withheld, in charge; whether or not she’s technically running the show, she’s running the show; and she’s always Tina Fey, even when she’s, say, Sarah Palin. Kate, though equally brilliant, is brilliant in an entirely different way. She’s a softer, sweeter comic presence, and more anarchic, open to a manic impulse or the zigzagging energy coming off the performers around her, and she disappears into the identity she’s assuming at that moment. And it’s Guest repertory player Catherine O’Hara, she of the elastic face and bugaboo stare and oddball characters who believe they’re perfectly normal, to whom Kate bears the strongest resemblance.) Kate attended Columbia University, where she was part of the Varsity Show, a satirical look at campus life, and whose alumni, incidentally, include Rodgers and Hart. Senior year she went on an audition for a sketch series on Logo and got the job, which gave her the misimpression that breaking into showbiz was easy. “I learned quickly that that was a major fluke and then didn’t get paid again for a long time.” Eventually she landed at the Upright Citizens Brigade, and from there it was on to S.N.L. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz; Styled by Jessica Diehl. Not for Public Consumption ||||| If journalists played it straight with movie stars, they’d call it an interrogation not an interview. It’d be conducted at a police station—some grimy, windowless room at the back, cramped and full of the hot stink of fear and funk. After bouncing the star off a wall or two, ignoring the pitiful pleas for a phone call, a lawyer, a mommy, the journalist would shine a light in those pretty, pretty eyes, and start grilling. What did you have to do to get your big break? How long do you think you can turn the trick, keep the public interested, huh? Who are you sleeping with? Who are you sleeping with? Who are you sleeping with? O.K., maybe I’m overstating the case. I’m not, however, mis-stating it. Encounters between movie stars and the journalists who cover them are edgy, deeply. They are, by their very nature, transactional: the journalist offers the star, usually with a new project or venture to promote, exposure; the star offers the journalist revelation, a couple of juicy details with which to titillate readers. Use and be used, give and take, a mutual hustle and the way of the world. Couldn’t be clearer, right? Where things get murky is in the trappings. The interview is made to look like the opposite of what it is: a friendly social interaction. The star and I always meet at a restaurant—the garden terrace at the Chateau Marmont or the Clement at the Peninsula—almost always for lunch. There’s conversation (one-sided, but still) and an attentive waiter and imported mineral water and a salad of wild arugula, locally grown, and it’s easy to forget that our interests are at odds and that the relationship is, at heart, antagonistic. Only I couldn’t forget with Kate McKinnon, the Emmy-winning Saturday Night Live mainstay (S.N.L. is the venture she’s currently promoting, Season 43, set to premiere on September 30), perhaps the most gifted of a gifted generation of young comics, her flair for mimicry and slapstick allowing her to create characters and impressions that are both spookily exact and totally off the wall. Mind you, I’m not proposing that Kate herself is antagonistic. She isn’t. In fact, her niceness is as pronounced, extreme, and undeniable as her talent—it’s the quality of hers you’re struck by first. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz; Styled by Jessica Diehl. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Cat Class, Cat Style

 Let me set the scene: it’s a Friday afternoon, hot, every face, every object, with that sweaty, New-York-in-the-summer shine to it. Kate and I are meeting for lunch, naturally, and she’s suggested a place in the East Village. I can’t say the name because I promised Kate I wouldn’t. (It’s a best-kept secret, only it wouldn’t be if I blabbed, is the idea.) Technically it’s a restaurant, though “restaurant” seems like too highfalutin a term to convey its essence. “Hole-in-the-wall” might be nearer the mark, “dump” nearer still: linoleum floor, laminated menus, Asian-y pop music on the speakers (“Asian-y” is as close as I’ll get to giving away its identity—see, Kate, I didn’t break my word), ceiling fan moving the thick, soupy air around some without cooling it any. Yet the food is as good as the ambience is bad, as I will soon discover when a guy, a waiter I assume though he’s in street clothes, flings on the table first Kate’s dish and then, following a discreet dick adjustment, mine. Kate arrives on time to the minute. I’m early, so I have a chance to observe her as she enters. She’s dressed down. Movie stars are typically dressed down for these occasions. (Another reason they’re deceptive: people come costumed as though it’s playtime, not work.) But Kate isn’t dressed movie-star down, i.e., the kind of down that’s flattering to the figure and still involves the application of a not inconsiderable amount of makeup, i.e., a stylist-approved, camera-ready kind of down. Kate’s dressed real-person down, i.e., badly: oversize T-shirt and pants that aren’t quite sweat but close enough; sneakered feet; face cosmetics-free; hair in a ponytail, or, rather, what would be a ponytail if she hadn’t failed to tug the hair all the way through the elastic, leaving it in a sort of ponytail-bun limbo. As quickly as I’m struck by how un-vain she is, I’m struck by how much she has to be vain about. She’s very pretty: small-bodied and full-lipped with cat eyes—pale blue and almond-shaped and slanting—tawny skin and hair, dimples she can twitch into existence without even smiling. She’s 33 but appears younger, a few years out of college. I’d watched hours of footage of her in preparation for this encounter yet had somehow missed her great good looks. Not that she photographs poorly. It’s just that in most scenes she’s impersonating a woman far, far older than she (Debette Goldry, legend of the silver screen, a fictional creation) or a woman far older (the all-too-real Betsy DeVos) or a man (Robert Durst) or a boy-man (Justin Bieber). And her face is rarely in repose. She’s often stretching it in some crazy, rubbery way, thrusting out her jaw, baring her teeth. And it isn’t only Kate’s eyes that are feline; it’s her manner as well. I don’t mean to suggest that she’s aloof or self-regarding in that cat style. Quite the contrary, in fact. As we sit down, she asks me questions and, after it’s revealed that I have two small boys, requests a picture, and actually looks when I produce it. But she has a cat’s sensitivity and suspiciousness, is nerved up as a cat is nerved up. It’s almost as if she’s equipped with a pair of invisible whiskers, and the moment those whiskers come into contact with something wrong—the tape recorder I slide onto the table, for example, the felt-tip pen I uncap and place at a diagonal on a stenographer’s notebook—she starts to back away on soft, padded paws. And it’s immediately apparent to me that I’m going to have to approach her slowly, carefully, no false moves, and that even the slowest, most careful and false-move-free approach might not work. She could still get spooked, run off. And as I’m having this thought, and as my stomach is twisting in response to it, another one occurs to me: how newly famous she is. Or not newly famous, exactly. She became a featured player on S.N.L. in 2012, a full cast member in 2013, and was an audience favorite straightaway. But newly super-famous. The reason, Donald Trump. Kate is, of course, the show’s Hillary Clinton, Trump’s once and future nemesis, though the loathing between Kate’s Hillary and Alec Baldwin’s Trump is so intense, instinctive, and visceral it’s almost arousing, it’s almost love—you just know the two never stop thinking about each other. She’s his hate interest. (Question: Were we too freaked out and pissed off to notice that the 2016 presidential election was the greatest battle-of-the-sexes screwball farce of the modern era, the blackest romantic comedy of them all? That Clinton and Trump were a surreal, gonzo version of Hepburn and Tracy? Hepburn and Tracy as re-interpreted by David Lynch or Quentin Tarantino? Trump’s nearing the end of his first year as our El Número Uno Commander in Chief and he still can’t shut up about the woman he defeated back in November, gets this wistful look in his eye whenever he calls her by her pet name, Crooked Hillary. It’s as if the old Rodgers and Hart tune were running in his head on a loop. The sleepless nights / The daily fights . . . I wish I were in love again.) Photograph by Annie Leibovitz; Styled by Jessica Diehl. Hillary

 Kate is not S.N.L.’s only Hillary. Jan Hooks took the initial shot, memorably playing the then First Lady as a simmering cauldron of barely suppressed resentment (“I happen to be the co-president of the United States”). There was also Amy Poehler’s Hillary: Obama’s rival, a brittle, chilly bluestocking whose will to power had been thwarted one too many times and whose smile had become so wooden you could rap your knuckles on it for luck. Kate’s Hillary, however, blows them all away. Kate’s Hillary has her hard-driving bitch side to be sure, but mostly she’s the world’s worst combination—half schoolmarm, half princess—who knows she’s the world’s worst combination, keenly feels her lack of flash and charisma, of the common touch, the qualities possessed in such abundance by her mate and Obama, even by Trump, yet is steady and decent and true, and wants to do good—oh, how she wants to do good!—though is stymied in her attempts because regular folk plain don’t cotton to her, are looking for any excuse to go in another direction. There’s pathos in Kate’s Hillary. You laugh at her, but you feel for her, too. And the sketch that Kate and Hillary did together, Kate as Hillary, Hillary as a seen-it-all barkeep named Val, was, I thought, Hillary’s best moment of the entire election, certainly her warmest. As Val she was relaxed, loose, funny, natural—everything she wasn’t and perhaps couldn’t be on the campaign trail. Last season’s co-head writer Chris Kelly: “The real Hillary was very game. We showed her the script, and we assumed that she, or any presidential candidate, would have notes or try to be open but still secretly have a bunch of things they didn’t want to make fun of. She read it and laughed and was like, ‘O.K.’ ” Says Kate, “Hillary has great timing.” Kate actually says very little else about Hillary, not because she has little else to say but because she gets too overwhelmed to say it. She tears up when she recalls tearing up when she viewed the presidential debates with Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, another co-head writer from last season, in preparation for devising those weeks’ cold opens. Schneider: “Kate and Chris and I would meet at the 30 Rock offices or we’d pick one of our apartments. I watched as a writer of a satire comedy show, and so I saw everything through the lens of, Can I make fun of that? But I also watched as a woman and I was concerned. I saw some of the attitudes taken towards Hillary—the nasty-woman comment. And I can understand why Kate would get emotional about that.” Though Kate’s Hillary is, obviously, not Hillary Hillary, there is a kind of fusion going on between impersonator and the human being whose skin, soul, and mind the impersonator is inhabiting. To do her job as well as she does, empathy is essential, which means she must stay open and raw where the rest of us—we nonperformers—are hard and self-protective. Psychologically it’s a dangerous place to be. Kate: “I love doing impressions of politicians because the task is always to imagine the private lives of these people whose job it is to project an image of staunch, unflinching leadership and grace, and that’s just not how human beings, in their heart of hearts, work. In doing that for Hillary Clinton, who I admire so much, I started to feel very close to her, just trying to imagine her inner life.” She necessarily takes it personally. Hillary, et al.

 Let’s talk now about Kate’s other impressions. (An F.Y.I.: Kate’s speaking voice is soft, very. The only times I don’t have to lean in to catch it are when she’s doing an impression, at which point self-consciousness disappears because she is no longer herself and thus unthinkingly turns up the volume, and when she’s telling me something she regards as important, and to both make me laugh and to make sure I don’t fuck it up, she yells the words directly into my recorder’s ear. To me, sotto voce, “My most frequent collaborators at S.N.L. are the incredibly gifted writers,” and then to my recorder, in stereophonic sound, “CHRIS KELLY AND SARAH SCHNEIDER!”) A touchstone for Kate is Molly Shannon’s Mary Katherine Gallagher, the Catholic schoolgirl who’s rough on décor and who sniffs her armpit-dipped fingers when she’s nervous: “Mary Katherine is crashing into tables and doing a little dance, and yet she’s so real at the same time. You have to love her so much because she’s a person who’s trying to connect, but is thwarted by everything about who she is. I can relate to that.” It’s the generosity of spirit Shannon brought to the character that Kate responded to, and she brings that same spirit to whomever she’s representing. Says Lorne Michaels, “Kate can embody a character and bring it to life and make it funny. But there’s also always something empathetic about her characters. And although the writing might not be kind, she is. That’s her genius. You can’t make the audience fall in love with a character you don’t like.” Kate has begun appearing in big roles in major feature films, most notably in last year’s all-female Ghostbusters reboot, which if it did nothing else served to remind us how weird people can still be about women (the outrage on social media that Columbia Pictures had the gall to remake this towering achievement of cinematic expression with cootie-ridden girls—e-e-e-e-e-u-u-u-u-w!—was as amusing as it was depressing), and this year’s bachelorette-party-gone-bad comedy Rough Night. Kate shines in both, but the movies feel slightly beside the point. Maybe because what she’s doing on S.N.L. feels so essential. There’s the pure political theater of her Hillary, of course. Yet there’s also her Elizabeth Warren, her Kellyanne Conway, her Jeff Sessions. Season 42 of S.N.L. had more eyeballs fastened on it than any season since Season 19 (1993-94), and received more Emmy nominations than any season ever, including for Kate and Baldwin, both of whom would win. Election years can often mean a ratings bounce for the show, only this time that bounce went sky-high and didn’t come back to earth, even after the contest was decided. On Hillary Clinton: “I admire [her] so much, I started to feel very close to her, just trying to imagine her inner life.” Somehow S.N.L. has managed to locate the center of a culture that’s without one, that’s increasingly fractured. Over the last 18 months or so, politics has become the national obsession, what’s pushing us together as a country even as it’s driving us apart. And to end each week with S.N.L., releasing the pent-up anger and frustration and fear and anxiety with laughter, is cathartic. This, too: the eerily symbiotic relationship that has developed between S.N.L. and the White House. S.N.L. watches the White House in order to satirize it; the White House watches the satirization and then offers notes. Trump tweeted after the October 15, 2016, episode, “Alec Baldwin portrayal stinks.” And yet Trump seems beyond influenced by it, seems haunted. Am I nuts or has Trump, since Baldwin debuted his Trump, squinted harder, pooched out his bottom lip farther? (Observes Baldwin, “He makes this face like he’s snarling and about to leap at you, like he’s in a production of Cats.”) And though purists will argue that Anthony Atamanuik’s Trump or John Di Domenico’s are the more nuanced and artful, it’s Baldwin’s that’s captured the public imagination. Scrambled the imagination, as well. In February, El Nacional, a newspaper in the Dominican Republic, printed a photograph of Baldwin as Trump believing it was Trump. Says Baldwin, “My thought was that if I did a good impression of Trump it would be dull. So I ran towards this idea that I’m going to do a horrific caricature. When you’re doing an impression, you can suggest the voice, or the way the guy looks, but you’ve really got to think of who he is, and get that right, and I think I did. In terms of the media, I’m Trump now. He’s not even Trump anymore—I am.” Baldwin has considered running for office in the future. I want to propose the ultimate comedic reversal of fortune: Trump, driven so crazy by Baldwin’s Trump, forfeits the presidency to escape it (other contributing factors include the Russia thing, the special-counsel thing, the wee-wee tape thing); Baldwin, having played POTUS on TV, is elected to play POTUS in life, Kate’s Hillary his V.P.; Trump, a two-time S.N.L. host, is recruited by that shrewd barnstormer Lorne Michaels to become the show’s Baldwin. We’re in a world now where such a scenario is, if not plausible, possible. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz; Styled by Jessica Diehl. For Public Consumption

 Kate and I start with her professional life, and we stay there for a long time, and we’re doing all right, are cooking with gas, in fact, even if we do encounter the occasional bump in the road. For instance, when I ask her about a dinner she had with Hillary at Orso in late winter (Peter Biskind, a Vanity Fair contributing editor, just happened to be at the restaurant that night: “Most of the diners stood up and there was gaping and scattered applause. And there were lots of what I assume were Secret Service men and they followed Hillary when she went downstairs to the john”), her eyes begin to skitter and jump. I immediately cast around for a less sensitive topic, though I hadn’t realized that one was sensitive. And we continue to do O.K. when I jolt the conversation onto another track, inquire about her family and early career. She grew up on Long Island, Mom a social worker, Dad an architect. Kate was, to her parents’ delight, an arty kid, and a natural cutup. Mel Brooks was a household god. “We watched The Producers once a week.” So was Christopher Guest. (Kate is, with the exception of Kristen Wiig, the biggest female star to come out of S.N.L. since Tina Fey, and the comparisons between her and her predecessor are both legion and inevitable. They are also, in my opinion, inaccurate. Fey, a former S.N.L. head writer, is brilliant, incisive, withheld, in charge; whether or not she’s technically running the show, she’s running the show; and she’s always Tina Fey, even when she’s, say, Sarah Palin. Kate, though equally brilliant, is brilliant in an entirely different way. She’s a softer, sweeter comic presence, and more anarchic, open to a manic impulse or the zigzagging energy coming off the performers around her, and she disappears into the identity she’s assuming at that moment. And it’s Guest repertory player Catherine O’Hara, she of the elastic face and bugaboo stare and oddball characters who believe they’re perfectly normal, to whom Kate bears the strongest resemblance.) Kate attended Columbia University, where she was part of the Varsity Show, a satirical look at campus life, and whose alumni, incidentally, include Rodgers and Hart. Senior year she went on an audition for a sketch series on Logo and got the job, which gave her the misimpression that breaking into showbiz was easy. “I learned quickly that that was a major fluke and then didn’t get paid again for a long time.” Eventually she landed at the Upright Citizens Brigade, and from there it was on to S.N.L. Photograph by Annie Leibovitz; Styled by Jessica Diehl. Not for Public Consumption |||||
What is a summary?

– Kate McKinnon is dressed down ("real-person down," without makeup and in sneakers and a baggy tee) and skittish like a cat, reacting so warily to her interview with Lili Anolik for Vanity Fair that Anolik realizes she's "going to have to approach her slowly, carefully, no false moves." The writer dives into the career of McKinnon, whom she calls "perhaps the most gifted of a gifted generation of young comics," reaching back to her first forays into comedy at Columbia and her stint with the Upright Citizens Brigade improv group, and culminating with her current turn on SNL, where she's impersonated everyone from Kellyanne Conway and Elizabeth Warren to Jeff Sessions. But it's her portrayal of Hillary Clinton, the foil to Alec Baldwin's Donald Trump, that has touched an unexpected nerve and propelled her to household-name status. Anolik points out the "intense, instinctive, and visceral" interaction between the two actors. She also notes how McKinnon's Hillary has more "pathos" than versions by previous SNL actors, including Jan Hooks and Amy Poehler. That pathos was born out of the connection McKinnon forged while trying to channel what she believed may have been Clinton's private thoughts. "I started to feel very close to her, just trying to imagine her inner life," McKinnon says. The subject of the real Hillary is broached, though Anolik notes that "Kate actually says very little … because she gets too overwhelmed to say it." The cat that is McKinnon also backs away on "soft, padded paws" when Anolik brings up her personal life, which "since I'm no cop and Kate's certainly no criminal … I lean across the table and switch off the tape recorder." Anolik's full piece on McKinnon is here.


Here is a news article: I didn't think it could happen, but it did. I'm 30 years old and I have a new hero.And he's 16.His name is Chauncy Jones Black, and last week, by God's beautiful design, he met me. I'll never forget it, here comes this kid inside the Highland Kroger asking if he could help take my groceries to my car in exchange for buying him some glazed donuts.He had me at donuts. lolWhat followed was perhaps one of the most cherished experiences of my life. That night, in a fun-filled shopping spree together, I was able to share in Chauncy's life, learn his story, and for at least one night, help him with his struggle.Chauncy lives in Memphis with his disabled mother. He is a straight A student who is doing his best to make it in a world with no money and very few resources. He wants to work and help his mother financially. He wants to become a successful business owner and offer jobs and opportunites to others in his community. What so many can take for granted, he wants. He wants food, he wants a bed, he wants to work and he wants a chance.I've created this go fund me page to help Chauncy have that chance. It starts small. A simple act of kindness, but it can ripple out and create an ocean of prosperity in the world.The first step is to get Chauncy's basic needs covered and to get him working. Right now he doesn't have an ID so he cannot apply for regular jobs until he gets that handled (we're working on that). Until then, he says he likes mowing lawns. So my hope is to raise enough money to get him a push mower.(Edit: when I started this 4 days ago, never in my wildest dreams did I think something like this would happen!! I started by asking for $250 to get Chauncy a lawn mower, lol!!! Oh my goodness !!! People have been showering Chauncy and his mother in an ocean of love and support. At this rate, I have started talking to some people about helping find them a house of there own!!! Can you imagine?! They could go from not being able to pay rent to owning home owners!!! All because of the love of strangers. This is really happening?!?! Yes, it absolutely is. Thank you all so much!! God bless you all!!!!)Right now, Chauncy is in desperate need of clothing and a bed. He sleeps on the floor in a room with no AC. His clothing sizes are:Pants: 16 (this is what he says, but neither his mother nor he are too sure, so until I take him to get measured, it might be best to go size 18 and we'll use a belt if need be). They're not sure the length either, but he's 5'3".Shirt: SmallShoes: 8 1/2A $10 Ross giftcard would mean the world to this kid. You can see in his face how ashamed he is of his tattered clothes.Also, ff you have clothes for his mother, she will be so appreciative of it. She informed me that all of their posessions were stolen a few monts ago, including all her clothes.Her sizes are:Pants: 12Shirts: mediumShoes: 8 1/2 womensThey really don't have any possessions except a couch and a few lamps. So if you have any items you think might be useful to him or his mother, I know they will greatly appreciate it. His mother said that she'd really love to be able to learn to play piano and also to just enjoy music in her house. So any old CD players or speakers would be perfect. Right now they live in silence. They truly have nothing.But here's where you can make the biggest difference: if you have job or work opportunites for Chauncy and would share some time with him and encourage him while he does some odd jobs around your house--this could change his life. His spirit is nearly broken and will take some mending. He has been poor his entire life and he needs encouragement and kindness from friends and mentors to help heal these wounds. If you have an opportunity like this for him, no matter how small, I will happily get him a ride to and from.It's so rare that we get an opportunity to affect so much change on one life. I think back to how many people poured into my life with their generosity, time, money, encouragement, and it brings me to tears. The impact that those people had on my life can never be measured. I am so grateful for the lives we share with one another, so grateful for each and every one of God's children. I cannot thank you enough for caring about Chauncy. This is his big chance, and you're making it possible. Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you.P.S. Please don't think that any amount of money is too small. Honestly, $5 is plenty. You shouldn't feel you have to give any more than that. I believe there are enough people who care about Chauncy and his cause that with $5 each, we will pass the goal easily.(Edit) I keep raising the goal because people just keep giving and giving to them, it's unreal. It would be a dream come true if we could raise enough money to get them their own place. God teaches us to dream and pray big. So I am. Thank you again.If you have any furniture you'd like to deliver to Chauncy or his mother, she gave me permission to put their address here (edit)for their safety, seeing as they've been robbed once before, I've taken down their address. Please feel free to contact me through a Facebook message for it. Thanks so much.If you have any items you'd like to donate to them but can't deliver, you can email me at:and me or someone else can come pick it up from you.Chauncy and I will be going to church each sunday at Hope Pres at the 11:15 service if you'd like to come hang with us. We go out for ice cream afterward and have a lot of fun!Thank you again for being willing to touch a life, to make a difference, to give Chauncy a chance. ||||| But, what has caught them by surprise is the large amount of money people have donated on the GoFundMe page, all to help make 16-year-old Chauncy's dreams come true, and it all started at Kroger. ||||| A GoFundMe photo for an account raising money for Chauncy Jones. (Photo: Screenshot)

 Matt White and Chauncy Jones may never have met, if it wasn't for Jones cross-town trip to the "rich people's Kroger" in search of a helping hand.

 White, who lives in Memphis, Tenn., said in a Facebook post that Jones approached him at the grocery store and asked if he could carry his groceries out of the store in exchange for a box of doughnuts.

 "This kid looked like he had been turned down 100 times," White wrote in a June 10 Facebook post. "He looked ashamed, hungry and broken."

 White said he asked the teen whether he was at the grocery store alone, and learned Jones had taken a bus across town in "hopes of someone buying him something to eat because he and his mother had nothing at home."

 “He had no phone, a bus pass, and he was depending on the graces of a stranger to feed him within the hour before the bus left,” White said.

 The duo went through the grocery store grabbing frozen vegetables, pizzas, peanut butter and tooth brushes for Jones to take home.

 “All the while we talked, and he told me how he makes straight A's in school and is trying to get a job to help his mom pay rent,” White said.

 White drove Jones to his home and was shocked when he saw the fridge was empty, and the teen and his mother had no furniture and were sleeping on pallets on the floor.

 “As we unpacked the food into their kitchen, you could see the hope coming back into Chauncy's eyes,” he said. “He knew he wasn't going to be hungry. He looked like a kid again.”

 After White's Facebook post was shared thousands of times, he decided to set up a GoFundMe page for Chauncy and his mother, which has raised almost $92,000 to date.

 “I didn't know this much love could exist in one place, be aimed in one direction, but seen and felt and empowered by so many people,” White said on GoFundMe.

 Follow @MaryBowerman on Twitter.

 Read or Share this story: http://usat.ly/28WtrRJ ||||| Updated: Jun 27, 2016 - 5:05 PM

 A South Memphis teen has lived a challenging life so far. But thanks to the kindness of a complete stranger, things are turning around.

 Chauncy Jones Black is 15. His story came to light when he met a man named Matt White on June 10. Matt documented their meeting on Facebook and his since set up a GoFundMe account to help the family desperately in need.

 The two met at the Kroger at Poplar and Highland. Chauncy walked up and asked if he could help load Matt’s groceries into the car in exchange for a pack of donuts, and that’s where the story really begins.

 Matt took the teen into the store and went on a grocery shopping spree. He then drove Chauncy home so he didn’t have to take the bus, and the reality of the boy’s life became more heartbreaking from there.

 Chauncy was living with his mother in a house, but they had nothing. No furniture aside from a couch and a couple lamps. No beds; absolutely nothing.

 They slept on pads made out of sleeping bags, and their refrigerator was empty.

 Matt had given the family food and other groceries, but he wanted to give them hope for a better life moving forward.

 Chauncy has big dreams. He is a straight A student, he wants to work, he wants to be productive and he wants to eventually be a business owner.

 The problem is, he didn’t really have a chance until now.

 Matt set up a GoFundMe account with the idea of raising $250 to buy Chauncy a lawnmower so he could start cutting yards for money. The response has been incredible, and the crowdfunding website has expanded way beyond the initial goal.

 $29,000 has been raised so far.

 Matt is now working to provide the family with new clothes and belongings to furnish their home. Chauncy literally has not gotten new clothes in three years. It’s a sad situation, and he deserves better.

 Matt also wants to help them move out of their current neighborhood, where they have been robbed before and heard gunshots right outside their windows.

 Memphians and people around the country have stepped up to help this teen and his mother. The power of social media, and the innate kindness of people, may have saved this young man’s life.

 © 2017 Cox Media Group. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Matt White was grocery shopping in Memphis, Tenn., when 16-year-old Chauncy Jones asked if he could carry White's groceries to the 30-year-old's car in exchange for a pack of doughnuts. Little did Chauncy know that he was about to change his life. He told White that he had taken a bus to the "rich people's Kroger" in the hope of getting some food, since his own fridge was empty. "He looked ashamed, hungry, and broken," White writes on Facebook. So instead of buying him doughnuts, "I went on a shopping spree" for cereal, pizza, milk, soap, toothbrushes, and more. But when he drove the boy home with the haul, he discovered Chauncy and his disabled mother were truly living with "nothing," he writes, per Fox 13. "They didn't even have beds or furniture. They were sleeping on pads made out of sleeping bags, they had two lamps and nothing in their fridge." White decided to help the family even further. Chauncy "is a straight A student who is doing his best to make it in a world with no money and very few resources. He wants to work and help his mother financially," he writes on a GoFundMe page he set up to raise $250 so Chauncy could buy a lawn mower and start mowing lawns for money. Two weeks later, more than $273,000 has been raised. "I didn't know this much love could exist in one place, be aimed in one direction, but seen and felt and empowered by so many people," White says, per USA Today. The money will be put in a trust for Chauncy's education and perhaps a new home. Mother and son are now living in a hotel over security concerns, but are "getting better now," Chauncy tells WMC News. "Something told me to go to Kroger. God told me to go to Kroger." (The internet rallied for this veteran scammed out of his life savings.)


Article:

RYAN SEACREST He's Not Sayin' No To Hosting 'Idol'

 EXCLUSIVE

 Ryan Seacrest sounds like he's game for round two of "American Idol."

 TMZ broke the story..."Idol" is coming back in March, 2018 on ABC. We got Ryan and GF Shayna in NYC Saturday night and he certainly didn't shut down the possibility of hosting the show again.

 As we reported ... the new gig has almost super-human strings attached, requiring him to fly coast to coast twice in two days in the middle of the night each week to pull it off. Ryan seems to think he's up to the task... with an L.A. Fitness membership.

 BTW... we got him going in to Le Bernardin restaurant in NYC. It's super expensive, so we're guessing he's banking on "A.I." money to pay the check. ||||| CLOSE The long-running music competition series "American Idol" is coming back for the 2017-2018 season on ABC instead of FOX. USA TODAY

 Original 'American Idol' judges Randy Jackson, left, Paula Abdul and Simon Cowell returned for the series finale in 2016. Fox says it's "too soon" for a return, though ABC will give it one. (Photo: Matt Sayles, AP)

 This ... is American Idol, on a new network.

 The singing competition, which set ratings records over a storied 15-year run on Fox but was canceled last spring, is being resurrected on ABC.

 The Disney-owned network confirmed the news early Tuesday, providing no details about judges, a host, timing or the duration of the series, though it's been speculated that a shortened season will begin next spring on Sunday nights. The show's previous seasons, about 20 weeks each, stretched from mid-January to mid-May.

 TMZ first reported Idol producers FremantleMedia and 19 Entertainment's talks with ABC after earlier discussions with NBC ended.

 As for who might be back?

 TMZ says Ryan Seacrest, who joined the Disney family only last week as the new co-host of Live with Kelly!, "seems interested" in returning as host, though Seacrest Monday played coy on Live!, saying, "I don't know if I can host it."

 If the show remains in Los Angeles, as expected, Seacrest would have to jet back and forth each week during live Idol episodes. But Live!'s previous co-host, Michael Strahan, did the same thing each week during NFL season, when he moonlighted as a host of Fox NFL Sunday in Los Angeles, though the weekend gig didn't pose as direct a conflict.

 Simon Cowell, the judge who vaulted the show to fame, is now executive producer and a judge on NBC's America's Got Talent. NBC is also the new network home of fellow judge Jennifer Lopez, who has a major deal to produce and star in a new reality-competition series, World of Dance (premiering May 30) in addition to her current detective drama Shades of Blue.

 Idol was the top-rated show for eight seasons of its run, peaking in its fifth with an average of more than 30 million viewers (and 36 million for its May performance finale). But by the end of its run, Idol drew only about one-third of that audience, even as the show's expenses — some judges were paid $15 million a season — skyrocketed. Fox announced a planned final season in 2015, and the show ended its run only last May, after NBC's The Voice had eclipsed it.

 While ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey, in a statement, called Idol "a pop-culture staple that left the air too soon," former executive producer Nigel Lythgoe expressed skepticism about the speedy return, telling Variety, "it feels a little too soon to bring it back." But ABC has been struggling on Sundays with dramas, ranks fourth among the major networks and with no NFL contract, can sorely use another reality hit. And all of the networks have struggled in recent attempts to launch new unscripted hits; NBC's Little Big Shots,which started strongly, already has faded in its second season.

 Although ABC found success adapting two other British reality hits, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and Dancing with the Stars, it has failed in several attempts to clone Idol. Among the notorious bombs were The One: Making a Music Star, a costly summer series that opened with 3 million viewers and was canceled after two weeks in 2006; and Rising Star,which aired in 2014 and featured contestants singing behind partitions. But Idol has a built-in (if faded) fan base, and the reboot will likely be heavily promoted during ABC's Oscar telecast, typically the highest-rated entertainment program each year. Except for that time Idol beat it.

 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2pZOIk5 ||||| GIF Image via Fox/GIPHY.

 That strange rash on your elbow that miraculously went away but then resurfaces. A baby on the train that stops crying for five seconds, then starts up again, LOUDER. A Black Eyed Peas reunion album. American Idol.

 In mystifying news, the singing competition that won’t stop picking at its scab will return on ABC following a bidding war between networks, which included NBC and the show’s former home Fox.

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 When Idol was officially cancelled, it seemed like the perfect time to let the series go gentle into that good night after 15 seasons. Not only were ratings lower than ever (as in, no one you knew was still watching or cared), the show’s ability to build its contestants into actual stars had long faded. The last three winners of Idol: Trent Harmon, Nick Fradiani (??) and Caleb Johnson.

 Even more perplexing than the show’s return is that Ryan Seacrest has not been ruled out of hosting, given that he’s ALREADY the host of ANOTHER show that would seem to take up A LOT of his time: New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.

 Despite the logistical challenge, Idol producers are reportedly looking to relocate the show to New York City to perhaps accommodate Seacrest and avoid a tiring search for a host. On Monday’s Live with Kelly & Ryan, Seacrest said, “I had no idea it was being talked about to come here until late last week I heard a rumor in the news and made a phone call, and they said, ‘Yeah, it may actually end up here.’ And I said, ‘Well, that’s kind of good to know since I work here.’” Except, he added, “I don’t know if I can host it.”

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 A source told People, “There have been no formal discussions with Ryan about his involvement, but he may well be open to it… in the right capacity and if it fit in with his other commitments.” Well, welcome back Idol. Thought we ghosted you. ||||| 'American Idol' ABC Gets the Show Seacrest Likely Host

 'American Idol' Goes to ABC with Ryan Seacrest the Likely Host

 EXCLUSIVE

 "American Idol" will go to ABC, because TMZ has learned the deal is now closed.

 TMZ broke the story ... ABC made the offer nearly 2 weeks ago, and the networks's plan is to officially announce it at the Upfronts in a week.

 As we reported, FOX came on strong with an offer at the last minute, but the ABC deal was sealed Friday night.

 Sources involved in the deal tell us ... the co-owners of the show, Fremantle and Core, along with ABC, want Ryan Seacrest to host the show. As we reported, the show will be filmed in Hollywood and Ryan would have to make 2 round trip coast-to-coast flights in as many days to shoot the show each week.

 That now appears to be a reality.

 Our sources say the show will debut in March of 2018. ||||| It’s official: ABC has revived American Idol — and is throwing some shade at Fox in the process.

 The network has struck a deal to bring back the reality competition series next season, ABC confirmed Tuesday.

 What’s more, ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey took a swipe at Fox for canceling the series in the first place, suggesting its rival misstepped by dumping the show prematurely.

 “American Idol is a pop-culture staple that left the air too soon,” said Dungey. “ABC is the right home to reignite the fan base. We are thrilled viewers will once again share in these inspiring stories of people realizing their dreams.”

 ABC reportedly outbid Fox and NBC for the reality show’s return.

 Fox aired Idol‘s last episode — or what would have been its last episode — in 2016, after 15 seasons. The show was canceled due to a combination of its expensive cost and sagging ratings.

 ABC doesn’t have a host or judges locked down yet for its edition of the show (though Ryan Seacrest is expected to likely return now that he’s joining ABC anyway — co-hosting Live with Kelly Ripa). But Disney Media Networks co-chairman Ben Sherwood — in another line that could be interpreted as a dig at their rival — said the new version would be an improvement upon Fox’s run.

 “‘Idol is an entertainment icon, and now it will air where it belongs, in ABC’s lineup of addictive fan favorites alongside Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor,” he said. “America, get ready for the return of a bigger, bolder and better-than-ever Idol.” |||||
What is a summary?

– Turns out all that fanfare over the end of American Idol was a bit premature. The singing competition is coming back after all, just not on its original network. ABC will revive the show next season after reportedly outbidding NBC and Fox (which canceled it last year due in part to flagging ratings), Entertainment Weekly reports. In its official announcement, ABC got in a couple little digs at Fox: "American Idol is a pop-culture staple that left the air too soon," says ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey. "ABC is the right home to reignite the fan base." "Idol is an entertainment icon, and now it will air where it belongs, in ABC’s lineup of addictive fan favorites," adds Disney co-chairman Ben Sherwood (Disney owns ABC). "America, get ready for the return of a bigger, bolder, and better-than-ever Idol." The network does not yet have a host or judges lined up, though TMZ reports Ryan Seacrest might be interested in returning as host. The speculation is that ABC will launch a shortened season, starting next spring, on Sunday nights, USA Today reports. How excited is the general public? Well, not very. "American Idol is back by popular demand! ..oh wait there was no demand? Oh okay. American Idol is just back then," reads one tweet. Another: "Not real sure why anyone thinks bringing American Idol back is a good idea. Go ahead and keep it, we're good." Meanwhile, Jezebel compares the show to "that strange rash on your elbow that miraculously went away but then resurfaces."


Write a summary based on this article:

Over the course of four months starting last October, we asked American voters nationally what their impressions of each state are. Hawaii came out on top, by far, with California bringing up the rear.

 Americans generally have a favorable view of most states. Only five are in negative territory, led by California (27% favorable and 44% unfavorable), Illinois (19-29), New Jersey (25-32), Mississippi (22-28), and Utah (24-27). Only seven other states have net-positive ratings in the single digits, and another breaks even (Louisiana).

 54% see Hawaii positively and only 10% negatively, followed in the top ten by Colorado (44-9), Tennessee (48-14), South Dakota (42-8), Virginia (45-13), Montana (39-7), Alaska (46-17), Oregon (43-14), and North Carolina and Pennsylvania (each 40-11). Ten others are in positive territory by at least 21 points.

 There are also some differences across demographic lines. Women have a higher opinion of New York by 27 points more than men, Massachusetts by 22 points, Delaware and California by 16, New Hampshire by 15, Vermont and Illinois by 13, and Connecticut by 11, while men see North Dakota more favorably by 17 points, South Carolina by 15, Wyoming 14, Montana 13, and Iowa and South Dakota 10.

 Democrats’ favorite states include Hawaii (62-7), Washington (50-10), Massachusetts (49-9), Oregon (46-6), Vermont (46-9), Colorado (45-8), and New York (51-15), and their least favorites are led by Texas (17-51), Alabama (13-45), and Mississippi (13-41). Republicans love Alaska (65-3) and Texas (66-9), and absolutely hate California (12-68), followed distantly by Illinois (15-44) and Massachusetts (19-47). So the greatest partisan gap is for California, which Democrats like 91 points more than Republicans do, followed by Texas, which is favored more by Republicans by 82 points.

 Black voters dislike 10 of the 14 Southern states. The only ones they like are North Carolina (their second favorite overall after Hawaii, at 42-8), Virginia (36-13), Tennessee (36-15), Maryland (32-13), and Florida (34-18). Their least favorite state overall is Alabama (14-56), then Mississippi (15-51), and Texas (17-44).

 Full results here ||||| Texas is big, proud and … not really liked that much by people in other states, at least according to the results of a Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday.

 The state of Texas is many things, but when 1,200 Americans were asked for their opinion of Texas in the last several months, 31 percent responded unfavorably. The good news is that 40 percent responded favorably, but the difference in percentages wasn’t enough for the state to be viewed more positively than Hawaii. Or North Dakota. Or Rhode Island.

 You get the idea.

 The 9 percentage point difference in positive and negative opinions placed Texas at 38th most liked state among the 50 United States.

 But however Texas is viewed, residents can take comfort in knowing Americans aren’t indifferent about its Lone Star. About forty to sixty percent of respondents answered “not sure” when asked about their opinions of most states. But only 29 percent were unsure whether they liked Texas or not – a credit to Texas’s distinct culture and style, said Mark P. Jones, chair of the Department of Political Science at Rice University.

 “States like Texas, given that it’s a well known brand and elicits a lot of positive support, it also has high negatives,” Jones said.

 The only state respondents had less of an opinion about was California with 28 percent – the most hated state on the list.

 Some more findings from the survey: If you are black, you probably don’t like Texas as much as most other states, but it’s better than Mississippi or Alabama. If you are a Republican, you probably love Texas and hate California. (The reverse is true if you are a Democrat.)

 Take heart, Texas – 25 million people can’t be wrong. You will always be the biggest (as long as you’re only counting the continental states because Alaska beats you by a lot.) You have a lot of oil and presidents and a really big water park. And people like you more than New Jersey. |||||

– Americans are generally pretty positive, or at least indifferent, about these United States. Public Policy Polling asked 1,200 people how they felt about each of the 50 states, and only five were viewed more unfavorably than favorably. America's favorite state, by an overwhelming margin was Hawaii, while its least favorite was California. Here are the top and bottom five, along with their favorable/unfavorable split: Most popular: Hawaii—54-10 (+44) Colorado—44-9 (+35) Tennessee—48-14 (+34) South Dakota—42-8 (+34) Virginia—45-13 (+32) Least popular: California—27-44 (-17) Illinois—19-29 (-10) New Jersey—25-32 (-7) Mississippi—22-28 (-6) Utah—24-27 (-3) Of course, most people are indifferent about most states, the Houston Chronicle observes, with an average of two-thirds of respondents saying they were "not sure" for each. But some states were quite polarizing; Democrats like California 91 points more than Republicans do, while Republicans like Texas 82 points more than Democrats.


– Superbugs such as MRSA are already bad enough. But it turns out that something can make them even nastier: cigarette smoke. Researchers found that antibiotic-resistant bacteria exposed to the smoke became more aggressive and far more difficult to kill, they explain at Eureka Alert. It's almost as if the smoke sets off an alarm that causes the bacteria to strengthen its defenses, explains the Union-Tribune of San Diego. Scientists made the discovery by exposing immune cells to two different batches of MRSA, one normal and one treated with cigarette smoke extract. The bigger the dose of smoke, the bigger the effect, notes Medical Daily. "We already know that smoking cigarettes harms human respiratory and immune cells, and now we've shown that, on the flipside, smoke can also stress out invasive bacteria and make them more aggressive," says lead author Laura Crotty Alexander of UC San Diego. It's a double-whammy: Smokers already have weakened immune systems that make them more susceptible to infectious diseases, and the smoke they inhale seems to make invading pathogens even more dangerous. In this study, the smoke helped MRSA survive longer and kill more mice with pneumonia. (The latest antibiotic-resistant bug to make headlines is a nasty stomach virus.)

Expand this summary.

Cigarette smoke has long been known to have a multitude of damaging effects, but thanks to recent research we now know it also fuels the virulent rampage of superbugs. According to a study published in the journal Infection and Immunity by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, specifically MRSA, are vastly more difficult to kill when exposed to cigarette smoke.

 Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, is a type of bacteria that causes life-threatening infections to the skin, bloodstream, or a surgical site, and sometimes causes pneumonia. Originating as a strain of staph infection, MRSA becomes resistant to antibiotics and often affects individuals in hospitals or other health care settings. A disastrous diagnosis due to its innate difficulty to treat, it has become even more threatening with the addition of smoking.

 "We already know that smoking cigarettes harms human respiratory and immune cells, and now we've shown that, on the flipside, smoke can also stress out invasive bacteria and make them more aggressive," said Dr. Laura E. Crotty Alexander of UC San Diego and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System, in a press release. Crotty Alexander, a pulmonologist, sought to find potential ties between the increased occurrences of MRSA cases in smokers. In order to do so, Crotty Alexander and her team tested two groups of MRSA, one exposed to cigarette smoke extract and one not, to see how each group responded to the defenses of our immune system.

 Macrophages, or immune cells known to devour infectious ages, were infected with both types of MRSA (smoke exposed and not) to test the immune response. Although both were able to take up the populations of MRSA, macrophages fighting MRSA exposed to cigarette smoke extract had a significantly harder time killing them.

 Researchers found that this type of MRSA was more resistant to the reactive oxygen species, a chemical burst macrophages utilize once they have engulfed bacteria. MRSA exposed to smoke extract was also more resistant to antimicrobial peptides, another line of immune defense used to make holes in bacteria and cause inflammation. Even more alarming was researchers’ discovery that MRSA was able to adhere better to human cells when treated with smoke, assisting in the success of their invasion. This effect depended strongly on dose; the more smoke extract the MRSA was exposed to, the more resistant it became.

 Ultimately, the data suggest that through altering the cell walls of the bacteria, cigarette smoke allows MRSA to repel common forms of immune responses. Another study conducted by researchers at University of California, San Diego School of Medicine a year earlier suggested something similar with e-cigarette smoke; vaporized smoke can also alter the structure of MRSA’s cell wall to make it more resistant to bacteria. However, this research also discovered that surface changes to the bacteria increased 10 times more with exposure to cigarette smoke rather than e-cigarette vapor.

 "Cigarette smokers are known to be more susceptible to infectious diseases. Now we have evidence that cigarette smoke-induced resistance in MRSA may be an additional contributing factor," Crotty Alexander said. Through their finding, Crotty Alexander and her team hope to add yet another reason to why individuals should refrain from smoking.

 Source: Crotty Alexander L, Matthew D, Hwang J, et al. Analysis of the Effects of Cigarette Smoke on Staphylococcal Virulence Phenotypes. Infection and Immunity. 2015. ||||| Cigarette smoke functions much like an alarm to the superbug MRSA, warning it to activate its defenses, according to a new study led by UC San Diego scientists.

 In lab studies in human cells and whole mice, MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) bacteria exposed to cigarette smoke extract become harder to kill, said Dr. Laura E. Crotty Alexander, a pulmonologist at UCSD and the Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System.

 Crotty Alexander is senior author of the paper, published Monday in the journal Infection and Immunity.

 The study is similar to one published last May, in which the effects of e-cigarette vapor on bacterial resistance was examined.

 Laura Crotty Alexander led a study that found the superbug MRSA becomes more resistant when exposed to electronic cigarette vapors. Crotty Alexander is a UCSD assistant clinical professor of medicine and staff physician at VA San Diego Healthcare System. — Hayne Palmour IV Share Photo 

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 Reddit

 ✉ Laura Crotty Alexander led a study that found the superbug MRSA becomes more resistant when exposed to electronic cigarette vapors. Crotty Alexander is a UCSD assistant clinical professor of medicine and staff physician at VA San Diego Healthcare System. — Hayne Palmour IV

 Cigarette smoke exposure stresses MRSA, causing it to alter its cell walls to repel toxic substances, Crotty Alexander said. This enhances survival against reactive oxygen species, which macrophages generate to kill pathogens.

 MRSA exposed to the smoke extract were four times more resistant to macrophage killing than non-exposed MRSA, the study stated.

 In addition, Crotty's team found that cigarette smoke extract-exposed MRSA became more resistant antimicrobial peptides, which pierce bacterial cell walls.

 Worse, the study found that the increased resistance continued for 24 hours after exposure, suggesting it could be inherited. MRSA divides about every 30 minutes under ideal conditions. At that rate, a single MRSA cell could generate nearly 17 million descendents in 12 hours.

 "When we put these cigarette smoke-exposed bacteria into mice, there was a significant difference in mortality," compared to MRSA that had not been smoke exposed, Crotty Alexander said in a phone interview Thursday.

 The smoke-exposed MRSA also became better at invading human cells in lab cultures.

 "The cigarette smoke helped the bacteria kill more mice, whereas the e-cigarette vapor was just on the borderline," Crotty Alexander said. "It did make it a little more aggressive, but not as much as the cigarette smoke."

 Scanning electron micrograph of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and a dead human neutrophil. — NIAID Share Photo 

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 Reddit

 ✉ Scanning electron micrograph of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and a dead human neutrophil. / NIAID

 The study stated it was performed to examine an alternative to the prevailing theory that cigarette smoke mostly causes disease by harming the smoker. The alternative is that smoke actually makes the pathogen tougher. The study focused on MRSA and its more sensitive relative MSSA as a good test case for that alternative.

 "Because MRSA causes severe pneumonia more often than MSSA, and because MRSA commonly colonizes the nasopharynx and airways and thus is exposed to inhaled substances, we examined the effect of cigarette smoke on MRSA resistance to host innate immune killing mechanisms and the ability to cause pneumonia in mice," the study stated.

 Tests on human cells found the same result, Crotty Alexander said. Previous research has shown that cigarette smoke harms human respiratory and immune cells, she said.

 So the picture now is that cigarette smoke both harms smokers and assists pathogens.

 Study co-authors include Elisa K. McEachern, John H. Hwang, Katherine M. Sladewski, UC San Diego and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System; Shari Nicatia, UC San Diego, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and Utrecht University; Carola Dewitz, UC San Diego, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System and University of Veterinary Medicine, Hannover, Germany; Denzil P. Mathew, Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System; and Victor Nizet, UC San Diego.

 The study was funded in part by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. |||||


Here is a news article: Google Inc. (GOOG)’s new social-networking service, Google+, saw fewer U.S. visitors last week and users are spending less time on the site, signaling that its momentum may be slowing, according to Experian Hitwise.

 Total Google+ visits fell about 3 percent to 1.79 million in the U.S. in the week ended July 23 from the prior seven days, said Experian Hitwise, which tracks Web traffic. Google+ visits had risen 283 percent in the week ended July 16. The average time spent on the site in the most recent week declined 10 percent to 5 minutes and 15 seconds, the research firm found.

 Google+, an online tool started last month that lets users create and communicate with groups of friends, is the company’s latest effort to challenge services such as Facebook Inc. and LinkedIn Corp. Google co-founder Larry Page, who took over as chief executive officer in April, announced earlier this month that Google+ had more than 10 million users -- less than three weeks after it started.

 “We are seeing over 1 billion items shared and received in a single day,” Page said July 14 on a call with analysts. “So while we still have a lot of work still to do, we are really excited about our progress with Google+."

 Experian Hitwise’s research methods, which rely on visits to websites, don’t include mobile users and third-party application traffic, according to the New York-based company.

 Google+, which aims to help users better organize and manage contacts and sharing, began a test version on June 28 by invitation only.

 Google, based in Mountain View, California, fell $15.30, or 2.5 percent, to $607.22 today on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The shares have risen 2.2 percent this year.

 To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Womack in San Francisco at bwomack1@bloomberg.net

 To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net ||||| Tomorrow, it will be exactly a month since Google+ was first unveiled. In that short amount of time, they’ve managed to sign up well north of 10 million users, which is amazing. Of course, the easiest path to tens of million of users is to start with hundreds of millions of users. Just ask Buzz or Wave. Still, kudos to Google — phase one of G+ was clearly a success.

 Now comes the hard part. Keeping those users around and engaged.

 Some numbers today released by Experian Hitwise suggest that Google+ has already started to experience the sophomore slump. For the week ended July 23 (last week), their data says that traffic decreased 3 percent versus the previous week. It’s important to note that this data is U.S.-only, and that Google+ is still technically in limited beta (though it’s easy to get an invite now). Still, the trend is the important thing: traffic is down week to week.

 While it’s totally circumstantial, my own observations and usage seem to support this data as well. After initially checking it several times a day, I now load Google+ about twice a day, mainly to see if I’m missing anything. I rarely find that I am. I +1 a few things here and there, maybe leave a comment. But overall, the content feels fairly stale. Almost everything shared remains about Google (or worse, Google+ itself). And even though I have nearly 370 people in my circles, very few seem to be sharing anything in any sort of limited fashion with me.

 As a “power user”, I know that I’m a bit of a weird use case when it comes to sharing. But others I’ve talked to in the past couple weeks have had similar observations. Google+ started off with a bang — a big one. Part of it was the new car smell, but a bigger part was that expectations were so low for what Google would come up with in the social space (their own doing). When Google exceeded those expectations, people were genuinely surprised. And that also spurred usage. There was a sense of excitement: Could this really be the next big social network?

 But now things are calming down. The new car smell is wearing off. And it’s time for reality.

 Google gave users a compelling reason to sign up, now they need to provide a compelling reason for coming back. That’s a lot easier said than done. Just ask Twitter. User retention is a bitch.

 Google has their secret weapon: the (ugly) black toolbar that resides across all of their properties. If it weren’t for that thing, my usage of Google+ would be once a day instead of twice a day. But even that won’t matter in the long run if Google doesn’t have the network and the content to back up G+. In addition to an overall traffic dip, average time spent on the site was down 10 percent, Hitwise says. That’s not good.

 From what I’ve seen, Hangouts are the major strong point of Google+ retention right now. While Sparks seem to be a major weak point.

 Circles, while initially praised for their simplicity and design, are now also facing backlash. The fact of the matter is that they’re a pain in the ass to maintain — just like every other type of list. And aside from “Friends”, “Family”, and maybe “Co-Workers”, it’s still not clear how they’re being used, or if usage will continue. Well, aside from the Robert Scoble Circle. That is useful.

 Meanwhile, after an initial amazing burst, traffic referred from Google+ is dropping. And fast. Obviously, I can only speak to the TechCrunch data here. But again, the trend is clear. Each of the past three weeks, we’ve been seeing less and less traffic referred. And that’s with the overall network supposedly growing.

 Part of that may be Google’s own fault. They really screwed up the brand situation. They even gutted one of our employees who just wanted to share content.

 It would be hard to overstate just how important this second phase of Google+ is for Google. While they’re not a small startup limited by resources and money, they still only get one chance to make a first impression. In the first two weeks, that impression was very good. In the last two, not as good.

 I’m sure this post will get a hundred comments on Google+ about why I’m wrong, an idiot, something about Apple, and why Google+ is the bomb. I’d argue that this may be a part of the overall problem — one we’ve seen before. But that’s beside the point. It doesn’t matter what anyone says. All that matters is what Google does with Google+. |||||
A summary of this is?

– Less than a month after its big launch, Google+ has hit its first minus: Usage declined 3% to 1.79 million visits last week, reports Bloomberg. What's more, time spent on the new social media site dropped 10%, falling to 5 minutes to 15 seconds. It's important to note Experian Hitwise's numbers include neither international nor mobile web traffic, and Google+ is technically still in "limited beta," writes MG Siegler of Techcrunch. But when your prime competition has 750 million users, any setback can be daunting. Since making its debut June 28, Google+ quickly rose to 20 million users in just three weeks. "There was a sense of excitement: Could this really be the next big social network?" writes Siegler. But "after initially checking it several times a day, I now load Google+ about twice a day, mainly to see if I’m missing anything. I rarely find that I am. I +1 a few things here and there, maybe leave a comment. But overall, the content feels fairly stale. The new car smell is wearing off. And it’s time for reality." And that reality? "User retention is a bitch," says Siegler.