When Your Only Product is Hype . . .

. . . you will do anything to maintain the façade.

What will become of the ABC News motto, “More Americans get their news from ABC News than from any other source”? Because that carefully worded bit of corporate braggadocio relies on the fact that, when you combine the audience for ABC News’ television news, online news and radio news (there are 2,500 ABC Radio Affiliates), then you’ve got your audience supremacy.

In the event of a deal, Disney likely would structure it so that the company would end up owning half of the acquiring company and would keep running ABC News, which the radio division actually “buys” through a contract with the news division.

Hey, Mickey Mouse, besides you, who cares?

Just Asking

I know that with the deployment of the Amber Alert System, I'm supposed to drop everyting and begin combing the area for every missing kid, but does that rule still apply when the missing kid is on the lamb for having the parents whacked?

The girl's 13-year-old sister, Katelyn Borden, told investigators her father and mother were shot after they argued with Ludwig for about an hour in their home near Lititz on Sunday morning. "As they got near the front door, Katelyn Borden saw David Ludwig with a handgun pointed toward her father and Katelyn saw David Ludwig pull the trigger, heard a gunshot, and then she ran into the bathroom," according to a police affidavit.

Lust du Jour

I love my daily driver, but this'd also be a very, very satisfying ride.

Weathervanes have 360 Degrees of Travel

Why do I immerse myself in news and current events? Because, borrowing from the scary movie title, something unexpected eventually this way comes. For instance, I'm amused when former president and submarine captain James Earl Carter, elder statesman and go-to guy for the DNC, turns on the Howard Dean Lemmings for vilifying and alienating people of faith.

It's pretty amusing to watch Big News with it's myopic agendas try to hang the Amman bombings of crazy W's war on Iraqi women and children, only to discover, from the horses mouth, that the attacks came from Jordan's too cozy relationship with Israel. Remember Hans, the very sophisticated terrorist from the movie Die Hard? He turned out to be just a thief. Remember Al-Queda being this incredible network of freedom fighters? They're just anti-Semites. Once again, people are killed because they're not Islamic enough.

Yesterday, John McCain was on Face the Nation. Normally, he's booked on the Sundays shows expected to be Big Media's darling and hack the Bush administration's every act, all whilst sporting the (R) after his name. Well, yesterday it was different:

But I want to say I think it's a lie to say that the president lied to the American people. I sat on the Robb-Silverman Commission. I saw many, many analysts that came before that committee. I asked every one of them--I said, `Did--were you ever pressured politically or any other way to change your analysis of the situation as you saw?' Every one of them said no. Now was there a colossal intelligence failure? Of course, there was. Is there still a lot of things that need to be done to improve that? Are we winning the war on terror? I think it depends on your parameters. But to assert that the president intentionally lied to the American people is just wrong.

And could I finally say, every intelligence agency in the world, including the Russian, including the French, including the Israeli, all had--reached the same conclusion, and that was that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. So I think open, honest disagreement, more discussion, more debate, the more facts that come out, the better off we are, but I would not accept the premise the president lied.

Tip to Ed Morrissey

More About Me Revealed

I can't tell you how many requests I get to reveal more about myself in this forum. Okay, here's pretty good insight about what I do for a living.

Yes, there's audio.

Let's Hear it for #8

Cam Neely has made it to the Hall.

Drafted ninth overall in 1983, Neely played 726 regular-season games in a 13-year career with Vancouver and Boston. During that time, the gritty right-winger recorded 395 goals and 299 assists for 694 points. He scored 50 goals three times, most notably in the 1993-94 season when he reached the mark in 44 games. Only Wayne Gretzky reached 50 goals in a season quicker (39).

The five-time NHL all-star was also recognized for his more intangible qualities. In 1994, he captured the Bill Masterton Trophy, awarded to the NHL player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey.

Hockey Night in Canada's Don Cherry called him "the greatest power forward of all time …There's lots of guys that score 50 goals that didn't hit, fight, block shots, but he did it all."

Not Much of a Reception

Especially when the bride's and groom's fathers are both murdered at the wedding.

"This is a horrible crime. The world has to know this has nothing to do with
Islam."

I understand his sentiment, but the fact is that this mass murder, like all the others committed by al Qaeda and like-minded groups, has everything to do with Islam. It is up to sane Muslims everywhere to reclaim their religion from the sadists and fanatics.

When Fraud, Hype & Ego Collide

I smell fear . . .

It was physically painful, but I watched Mary Mapes on Larry King's show last night. Mapes, of Failed Journalism fame, has a 'the world is wrong and I am right' book out there, screeching, of course that she is right and the whole world is wrong. Mapes may be as full of herself as anyone I've seen, and that includes Terrell Owens and Al Franken. Here's some highlights:

KING: But there's nothing about the story you would change? In other words, even though they've said the documents were forged and... MAPES: But no one has been able to prove they were forged.

You have it exactly backwards, sweetheart. It's not up to the viewer to disprove a reporters story. It's up to the reporter to get it right.

KING: Do you believe right this moment they were not false? MAPES: I believe no one has proved to me that they were false after more than a year. KING: So you believe they were true? MAPES: I believe -- I know. It's an odd situation. I'm perfectly willing to believe they're false if somebody will just prove it. KING: No one has proven it to you?MAPES: No, they have not. Their criticisms last year really didn't reach the bar of proof at all.

Uh huh. See above, Mary.

KING: "CBS News gave us this statement today."Mary Mapes' actions damaged CBS News as an organizational and brought pain to many colleagues with whom she worked. Her disregard for journalistic standards -- and for her colleagues -- comes through loud and clear in her interviews and in the book that attempts to rewrite the history of this complex and sad affair. As always, revisionist history must be tested against the facts. Not only are those facts contained in the extensive media coverage that took place at the time, but also in the 200-plus-page report of the independent panel which investigated the matter for more than three months.We believe those facts speak for themselves. The idea that a news organization would not need to authenticate such important source material is only one of the troubling and erroneous statement in her account."MAPES: Well, I know they've been working on that for weeks . . .

Odd for CNN, especially after they give 20 minutes of free publicity for some hack's crummy book, they found some folks with a different outlook:

KING All right, Lou (Boccardi), what do you make of what Mary had to say, that you can't disprove this? BOCCARDI: Well, I'm not sure that it's our job to disprove it. It's a curious kind of journalism that say if you say something, you're not responsible for proving it. Other people are responsible for disproving it . . . She disdains in the book my 44 years as a journalist. She's venomously attacks Dick's integrity and I'm not going to go down those roads. But just on the points she made, she talked about the examiners, the experts. She said I had four and then there were two -- well, two of the four jumped off. One of them told her not to go ahead. If you do this, the morning after you do it every document examiner in America is going to be after you. So, two jumped off. And none of the four said that they could authenticate the documents because of the difficult nature of authentication.

KING: David (Gergen), if you were in the position Mary Mapes was, wouldn't you be angry and wouldn't you strike back if you totally believe the story you ran? She still believes it. GERGEN: Well, I would hope I'd produce a better case than she has produced. I have to say this, Larry, just for starters. Mary Mapes is a journalist who has had broken big stories, especially the Abu Ghraib, for which she deserves a lot of credit. Dan Rather, of course, has had a long and distinguished career in journalism. But on this particular case, Mary Mapes is coming on the air and telling you, Larry, everybody else is wrong except me. Les Moonves, the head of ACBS is wrong, Ed Haywards is wrong, Dan Rather who went on the air to apologize about this as a bad story, he must be wrong by implication, all the other people in, CBS the outside investigatory team that Lou headed so ably, "Washington Post" which looked at this carefully, outside experts to CBS who tried to stop this story it was published, or at
least slow it down. She's saying all of them are wrong, I'm the one who's right. But she doesn't have any facts. It's very hard to take that story on face value.

(Micheal) MEDVED: Larry, the one question I have is, I was on talk radio the day after (the 60 Minutes broadcast) and there were people calling my show with these complaints about the kind of typing and the kind of anachronistic typewriter and typeface that was being used. Why didn't they have people like that who could have raised those questions on the broadcast. If those questions could be raised the day after on a talk radio show why not put them on the broadcast and at least introduce that element of doubt?

Tough Night in the Capitol City

A double blow Tuesday:

Dwayne Roloson and the Wild defense let Wayne Gretzky's Coyotes put up 3 in the first period. It was a hole too deep, and despite owning Phoenix in the 3rd period, the Wild fell short.

Also Tuesday, the voters of St. Paul turned away from my guy, Randy Kelly, and put the Other Guy in the mayor's office. It wasn't even close. As I posted here earlier, the whole thing swung on Kelly's endorsement of George Bush for reelection last time around. Kelly, a lifetime Democrat, used his mind (rather than marching orders from the part) in aking his decision, and for that reason alone, St. Paul tossed out someone who was doing a very good job on the job.

Basically everything any normal people want and expect from a mayor and the city was there. I say 'normal,' because there are always the crowds for whom there is never enough of whatever their world hinges upon.

Right out of the gate, during his victory speech, the Other Guy told 2 lies, and managed to contradict himself with them. He first said the election was not about Bush, but about the city of St. Paul. Preposterous. Other Guy never ran on anything. For months and montsh, all he ever said was that he was not Kelly, he didn't like Governor Pawlenty, and he hated that bad, bad Bush. After that, it was all lefty boilerplate, happy talk, and never a hint of how to pay for the promised New Upotia. The second fib, and the completion of the circle of fraud, was in his then immediate flaming of the supposed failed Bush policies that are punishing our cities. Yea, like what? Like all the federal money that props up transit? Like all the Homeland Security money that pours from that humongus federal spigot? All of a sudden it IS all about Bush. That's because there's nothing to criticize the sitting mayor for.

There's the ultimate punchline. Kelly's endorsement of Bush didn't mean anything. John Kerry carried the whole thing, and the city is healthy in spite of the outcome of the 2004 presidential election. Without that albatross/endorsement dangling around Kelly's neck, as Speed Gibson points out, a ham sandwitch could have been elected. If Other Guy dares use the word 'mandate' so long as he is mayor, I buy full page ads reminding him and the city that only 27% of eligible voters showed up.

Anyway, I'm still scratching my head over the whole thing. Here's some Soucheray for closure:

If Kelly hadn't endorsed Bush there would be a real race. In fact, this has been so easy for Coleman I wonder how many people are now wishing they had run for mayor. Which begs an interesting question. If Kelly is such a shrewd, bullying, tough-minded, get-his-own-way kind of mayor — these things are said about him all the time — then why did he make such a fateful error when it came to endorsing a presidential candidate? These guys take meetings to select the right socks and this guy completely misreads the democratic intensity of his own city?

These other things that are said, the bullying, the insistence that it is his way or the highway, could not possibly be known by the public . . . (a)nd yet his social skills are freely discussed as though he acts this way with the public. I haven't seen it. The people he deals with most closely insist that they do see it and thus their clamor for change and Coleman's landslide popularity in the polls, to the point where Coleman hasn't really had to say very much at all, much less how he intends to pay for his various promises.

If the city is functioning smoothly — it is — and Kelly's alleged bullying style is not generally seen by the public — it isn't — that leaves the endorsement of George W. Bush as the reason Kelly is going down in flames.

I'll Moider Ya! Nyuk, Nyuk, Nyuk.

Man's love (and women's confusion) for the Three Stooges explained:

"It doesn't take a lot of analytical machinery to think someone getting poked in the eye is funny," he commented when asked about humor like the Three Stooges. While there is a lot of overlap between how men and women process humor, the differences can help account for the fact that men gravitate more to one-liners and slapstick while women tend to use humor more in narrative form and stories, Reiss said.

Tip to Eugene Volokh

Can You Smell What Chirac is Cookin?

New from the Parisian kitchens, a recipe for Franco Hell. Take one part uncontrolled immigration, add the West's most anemic and permissive posture on assimilation, simmer over flat-line economic growth for 20 years, and viola!

Paul Mirengoff at Powerline watches a former Clinton flunkie wade through these modern times and posits this conclusion:

In a certain kind of liberal universe, French Muslim rioters are victims who want nothing more than to enjoy the bourgeoise pleasures of secular France.

Iraqi Muslims, by contrast, have little yearning for freedom, self-government, and prosperity, preferring civil war, a Saddam-style strong man, and/or a theocracy. They are victims of U.S. aggression, which denies them these things, at least temporarily.

Self-Importance & the Dewey Decimal System

Today is election day on the edge of The Tundra, which means we plebes get the distinct honor and high privileged of choosing from all sorts of identical Democrats all pretending they have anything in their lives besides party allegiance.

Here's a sample of folk seeking city employment on the Minneapolis Library Board. Check out the happy-talk essays from this gang, and make note of how many list all their Holy Left endorsements. They want to be on the library board SO BAD, their teeth ache:

Alan Hooker - DFL Party; AFSCME; AFL-CIO; Teamsters DRIVE; DFL Feminist Caucus; Stonewall DFL. - I seek election to . . . convey the importance of adequate library funding and explore alternative revenue sources; partner with citizens, business and community leaders to improve the marketing of libraries; ensure pro-active planning of operational budgets; support transparency in government by cablecasting/webcasting meetings and holding at least 20 percent of board meetings at community libraries.

Julie Iverson - Not seeking endorsements - Early on, about 10 (yes, really!), I began imagining running for office . . . I entered this race because of commitment to service, to building and sustaining strong resources for Minneapolis. I have a lot to learn. I also have commitment, creativity and chutzpah . . .

Laurie Savran - DFL Party; DFL Feminist Caucus; Stonewall DFL; Teamsters DRIVE; Building and Construction Trades Council; Minnesota Women's Political Caucus; Minnesota NOW PAC. - I love the Minneapolis Public Library; where community and neighborhoods vary, and patrons can call or e-mail with a query. Where children are valued as precious rubies; and the staff is respected and love their duties, and the library buildings are sustainable beauties. I still feel that books and collection are king, but technology and computers are now the thing, expanding the joy of lifelong learning. We lost State Aid and our budget is low; I will work hard to get the money to flow. Laurie loves libraries, and I want them to grow.

Eric Hinsdale - Not seeking endorsements - I so firmly believe in the importance of libraries that I have made a career working in them, doing everything from ironing labels onto books to managing computer systems. This experience has given me a perspective on libraries that no other candidate possesses . . . I am the one candidate who can fill this role.

Samantha George Smart - Minnesota Women's Political Caucus; Minnesota NOW; Union of Radical Writers and Workers - I am running . . . to open our libraries up seven days a week, with excellent access . . . dynamic and creative . . . increase literacy . . . rich and diverse . . . fully engaged . . . healthy and respected . . . social institution . . . evolving consciousness . . . human condition . . . free access . . . brilliant spectrum . . . transform injustice.

Gary Thaden - DFL Party; AFL-CIO; AFSCME; Building and Construction Trades Council; Teamsters DRIVE; Stonewall DFL; DFL Feminist Caucus. - I am committed to books and libraries, I have experience with city government and service on boards of directors . . . achieve more state funding, stronger and more active Friends groups, sale of library-related materials at library gift shops and better relations with the Minneapolis City Council and mayor.

Laura Waterman Wittstock - DFL Party; AFL-CIO; AFSCME; Stonewall DFL; Building and Construction Trades Council; Mayor R.T. Rybak; Eighth Ward Council Member Robert Lilligren; Ninth Ward Council Member Gary Schiff; Fourth Ward Council Member Barbara Johnson; Minnesota Women's Political Caucus. - I am an American Indian who has led nonprofits for 35 years, and I will bring dedicated leadership and experience to the Minneapolis Library Board . . . American Indian, African, African-American, Asian, Latino and all families invest social capital in education . . . The future of our city begins at the open doorway of our libraries.

I didn't know you sought endorsements when you wanted to head up the Librarian-Industrial Complex for Big Government. Makes me wonder what my municipal dog catcher's position is on NAFTA.

Scooter Libby, Zamboni Driver

I'm sure I've mentioned here my love/hate relationship with Garrison Keillor. Sometimes his brilliance takes my breath away, and sometimes his pettiness makes me want to puke. Today, for the most part, Clever triumphs over Screeching.

One Sunday morning, the Junior Cougars are trailing the Marmots 4-1 in the third
period, and one of the harpies asks why you don't keep your best line on the ice longer, and you reach around to admonish her and accidentally punch her in the left breast, and she files sexual assault charges, and you're called up before the grand jury and -- who knows why -- you tell them you were at home watching Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" and the D.A., an intense guy named Gerald Fitzpatrick, nails you for lying, and you lose your job.

Not bad, but don't forget, Gary, you are not the world's first hockey parent.

Wipe Slate Clean; Start Over

Tim Chapman over at Town Hall offers a glimpse of the Senator behind the curtain.

Today, Capitol Report has obtained an internal Senate email that highlights the mentality that makes pork-barrel spending so hard to combat. The email copied below is from a Senate Appropriations Committee staffer to other Senate staff:

Well… Here we are. The end is drawing near, and since it’s been so long, I wanted to check in with you all and confirm your priority lists. Please send me an updated list of priorities. Remember, we will start at the beginning of your list and fund down until we run out of money. So if you spend big…you’ll likely only get one or two projects. Please respond to this e-mail even if your list has not changed, so that I can be sure that your Senator’s needs are being addressed. Hope all is well. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail or call.

Why They Hate Us (the latest in an unending series)

They hate us because we are just not Muslim enough. Try to read between the lines of the BBC's editorial sanitation of the situation:

Three girls have been beheaded and another badly injured as they walked to a Christian school in Indonesia. They were walking through a cocoa plantation near the city of Poso in central Sulawesi province when they were attacked. This is an area that has a long history of religious violence between Muslims and Christians.

Police say the heads were found some distance from the bodies. It is unclear what was behind the attack, but the girls attended a private Christian school and one of the heads was left outside a church leading to speculation that it might have had a religious motive.

Jeez, ya think?

More than 1,000 people were killed before a government-brokered truce. Although the violence has been subdued, it has never gone away completely. A bomb in May in the nearby town of Tentena, which is predominantly Christian, killed 22 people and injured over 30. The fighting four years ago drew Islamic militants from all over Indonesia and many have never gone home. Analysts say the militants have targeted central Sulawesi and believe that it could be turned into the foundation stone of an Islamic state.

History Always Trumps the Future

Mark Steyn has some thoughts on that 800-lb. Chinese gorilla across the room.

Since China introduced its “one child” policy in 1978, the imbalance between the sexes has increased to the point where there are 119 boys for every 100 girls. The pioneer generation of that 20% male surplus is reaching manhood now. Unless China’s planning on becoming the first gay superpower since Sparta, what’s going to happen to those young men? As a general rule, large numbers of excitable lads who can’t get any action are useful for manning the nuttier outposts of the jihad but not for much else.

I also love that he reminds us of Paul Martin's geography gaffe:

Hey, how about that Bush? He’s so dumb he can’t even find on a map the 21st-century behemoth destined to consign him and the other Texas morons to the trash-can of history! In fact, it was the Prime Minister of Canada who last year stood up in public and declared that China was the most important nation in the southern hemisphere. If Dubya had said that, that guy who does those lame paperback collections of “Bushisms” could have retired to the Bahamas.

Prepare to Cancel the Cable Internet

TOKYO (AFX) - Japan's second-largest electric utility firm, Kansai Electric Power Co, said it has developed technology allowing the transmission of a two-hour movie in 0.5 seconds.

Deployed Again

Salt Lake Tribune:

(D)espite the dangers and the juggling of families and civilian careers with more and longer deployments, (Sgt. 1st Class Ken) Allmon is among the 80 percent of soldiers and airmen responding to a first-ever public survey of the Utah National Guard who indicated they are staying in the military, with nearly 20 percent saying they are getting out.

Utah's high retention rate is typical nationwide, as veterans offset new-recruit shortfalls. In the last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, the U.S. armed forces missed their recruitment goal by nearly 13,000 new soldiers, squeezing veterans even more.

"The problem is that as the force gets older and higher in rank, the Army has a hard time maintaining lower-rank jobs that are critical to the military," said Mike O'Hanlon, senior fellow at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C. "I don't know when it will get too disruptive, when one unit has to borrow soldiers from another to fill out its ranks. But it's significant when 5 percent of the force has to serve at the wrong rank."

For his part, Sgt. 1st Class John Kyle Hill, who served two stints in Afghanistan as a medic with the 19th Special Forces, is staying in and hoping for another tour. Hill, a Nebo School District high school science teacher, said that unlike many of his students, his comrades are highly motivated. "We lived on the edge in a life-and-death situation," said Hill, 42. "There was no apathy, no laziness. It was ennobling. It was the greatest thing I've ever done."

1st Lt. Bruce Bishop, 31, a Salt Lake County firefighter, said he'll stay "because as I look around at the state of this nation and see all of the weak little pampered candy-asses that are whining about this or protesting that, I'd be afraid to leave the fate of this nation entirely up to them." Bishop, who served in Afghanistan, is among the 450 Utah Guard members deployed to Louisiana. Most are volunteers.

Right Song, Right Time, Wrong Speed

One year ago today I came to work per usual, spun up all the machinery, wiggled into my chair, got connected to the world, and promptly fell apart.

I'm a stoic guy, and that goes back to the beginning. Even as a kid I never got too outwardly emotional; I was the even-keeled first child. Related to that or not, I also developed the quirk of taking a while to realize my own feelings about some of life's big happenings. That's me; late to my own party.

What crushed me October 25, 2004, was to learn that John Peel had died. I was as stunned as much by my reaction as I was to the news itself. Here was a man I'd never met, whose death was already working me over more than the death of some blood relatives.

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I cite 4 times in my life that music really changed things for me. I hate the word epiphany, but maybe it applies. The first is when I was maybe 3 or 4. My parents would entertain friends at our house, and after I went to bed, it was the music they played that drifted upstairs and lulled me to sleep. I remember Gerry Mulligan, Brubeck & Desmond, Sandler & Young, but mostly the Brazilian Jazz; Antonio Carlos Jobim, Astrid Gilberto, and Sergio Mendes. I think that's where I first understood music as atmosphere.

The second spin was in high school and falling in with friends that listened to Neil Young, Creedence, Bob Dylan, The Eagles, and some older country stuff from the 60's. It was such a relief, as I was under the false impression that it was my duty as an adolescent male to eat a steady diet of Van Halen, Rush, AC/DC, Judas Priest, Aerosmith and the like.

Third time was when I got to River Falls and got involved with college radio. Again, it was a time to shed stuff I really wasn't cut out for, and the chance to get excited about the music again with Nirvana, Echo & the Bunnymen, Catherine Wheel, Depeche Mode, The Fall, The Smiths, Jesus and Mary Chain, and New Order.

The most recent revolution for me was in the late spring of 2001. After a some time in a Passat on the Autostrade, I found myself really intrigued by European Pop. Upon returning home, I started pinging around various webcasts, eventually discovering BBC 1, and John Peel's show. There was this old man playing a variety of stuff like I'd never heard, all of it interesting to me, and best of all, all of it was interesting to him. I soon realized this wasn't a bit or a gimmick. It was the antithesis of a playlist and a fountain of joy that I rarely missed over 3+ years.

Threaded through #2, #3 and #4 is my rediscovery of music. Whether it's the era, or the cards life's dealt me, or the shitty state of terresrial music radio, I have sagged into the pit of musical non-interest, only to be lifted out again. When Peel died, part of my anguish was from a sense of "now what do I do?"

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Well, it became evident; I had to become my own music advocate. I would never go back because I loved music so much. Over the next few months I got a new PC, broadband internet, JBL computer speakers with a subwoofer, a CD burners, Roxio, an MP3 player, a back-up hard drive, a subscription to a great music download site, and a regular habit of perusing music blogs. I'm all over internet radio, I stop people to ask what's coming out of their speakers, and I share what I have with others, hoping that they adopt my deep disdain for the Big Dumb Radio-Industrial Complex and about 95% of record labels.

There are lots of tributes to John written very well by those fortunate to have spent time with him. My favorites are the ones from musicians that he invited to his home for recording sessions. Yup, I cried in my office a year ago today, but with that year to think about it, I realize it was because I knew that I was fortunate to come to know the greatest radio presenter ever, and how easliy I might never have know the joys of his work. To quote Jarvis Cocker, John Peel saved my life, and for that, I'll always be grateful.

There's a whole pile of great archicved media over at BBC1. Look and listen.

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE, 1939-2004

UPDATE: Radio 6 also has a page with some great audio archives.

So Long, Reggie

Rest in Peace, Crusher.

I've laughed at Henny Youngman, Steve Martin, Ron White, and Mitch Hedberg, but I'm pretty sure my first exposure to stand up comedy was the Sunday-morning stylings of Reggie Lisowski. I trust, upon reaching heaven, he;ll find the beers are cold, and that they keep 'em comin.'