Have you heard about this Skittles thing? Donald Trump Jr., who sure takes after the old man, is running around trying to tell people that they're likely to get killed by a Syrian refugee if his pop doesn't get elected. It's the old "vote for us or you'll die" scam.

The Junior Trump posted a photo of a bowl of Skittles and wrote, "If I had a bowl of Skittles and I told you three would kill you, would you take a handful?" He sees that level of risk as analogous to the risk of letting in Syrian refugees. Obviously, the first problem with that is that human beings are not pieces of candy. But as this article notes, the math is also all wrong.

Your odds of getting killed by any sort of refugee (not just a Syrian one) are one in 3.64 billion, not more like one in thirty or forty as the analogy suggests. We do riskier things all day. Your odds of dying in an airplane crash are like one in 11 million. Your odds of dying in a car accident are a lot worse than that.

Someone will probably do the math on this and try to ask Donald Jr. a question like this: "You want to ban Syrian refugees because of the threat they pose to American lives but the availability of assault weapons pose a threat that is X times as great. Should they be banned, too?" X in that equation would not be a small number. Trump would probably reply, "But we need the assault weapons to protect us from that one in 3.64 billion chance that a Syrian refugee will try to kill us!"

As a welcome relief from the politics of the day, I give you…baby pandas!

Jonathan Chait summarizes the new Paul Ryan tax proposal, thusly: "Paul Ryan Tired of Giving Rich People Most of the Tax Cuts, Decides to Give Them All of the Tax Cuts."

If you think that's a misrepresentation, read the analysis of the plan by the non-partisan Tax Foundation. They say the rich pay less and less in taxes under it and the deficit swells to an epic size. Does anyone think that a President Trump would hesitate one second before signing such a thing?

Obviously, I don't want to see Trump win. But I think it would be a little less painful if he won because most Americans understood what he and his kind want to do to this country and wanted that, rather than that they've been convinced that Hillary wants to admit more terrorists into this country.

(And sorry about all this political stuff today. I'm trying to pay less attention to this kind of thing, folks. Honestly, I am.)

Early in 2014, we noted several good days not to be Chris Christie like this one and this one.  Today is an especially good one as the "Bridgegate" scandal trial gets under way. Christie is not on trial in the sense that these proceedings can send him to prison or anything. The ones accused are two of his former officials who apparently arranged for the actual bridge closing. But Christie is on trial in the sense that both the prosecutors and defense lawyers are trying to pin some of the blame on him.

An investigation once yielded the finding that he did not know the closure was deliberately engineered until long after it occurred and he, of course, has steadfastly denied it. But it's odd to see the prosecution insist that he did and even odder to see the defense, representing those who closed the bridge, say yeah, sure, he knew all about it. They will probably be using the phrase "tacit approval" a lot. No wonder Trump didn't pick this guy as his running mate.

I have a personal interest in this that you probably won't care about. I'm a lifelong Democrat, though in the past I did vote for a few Republicans for small offices and sometimes skipped voting because I didn't like either of my choices. I also used to cite a fair number of Republicans as folks I could imagine myself voting for against certain Democrats or wouldn't be upset to see win. I didn't shriek and bemoan the end of the United States of America when the first George Bush won. I thought his advertising — the famed Willie Horton ad — was deliberately deceptive and meant to inflame racial fears (glad no one does that anymore) and he should have lost because of that. But I didn't think he'd be a bad president and I still don't think he was. He was certainly the best President George Bush we ever had.

John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Chris Christie were also, once upon a time, Republicans I could see myself voting for in the right match-up. None of them are on that list any longer. In fact, no one is on that list these days, though I'm nicer about it than certain Republican acquaintances who insist all Democrats are evil and quite intent on destroying America.

What interests me about Christie is like what interested me about the others: Did I just misjudge this person from the start or did they change? Like, I can imagine McCain not being truly caught up in the progressive-hating swamp fever but thinking, "If I'm ever going to be president, I'm going to have to pander to the right-wing nut jobs" and making that move. I don't think that was true of Huckabee. I think all that reasonableness that once impressed me about him was an intentional charade. And I just plain don't know with Chris Christie.

It probably doesn't matter with Christie. All this guy has in his future is maybe a job in the Trump administration (if there is one) and maybe a job on Fox News or doing a right-wing radio show. If he gets indicted for perjury or anything else in this Bridgegate mess, he may not even have those job options. I'm still kinda hoping to get some insight into how much I was duped. If he actually had principles and sold them out for a chance at the presidency, he sure sold them for a longshot.

• Mike Pence says his role model for Vice President is Dick Cheney. Except for that support of Gay Marriage stuff, I'm guessing.

• Mike Pence says his role model for Vice President is Dick Cheney; vows to get his own approval rating down to 13%.

• Mike Pence says his role model for Vice President is Dick Cheney. Do not go hunting with Mike Pence.

I've often written on this blog (here, for instance) about how people who talk tough rarely do anything tough but talk. They think telling you how tough they are is the same thing as actually taking actions that involve toughness…and of course, it isn't. That's Donald Trump's approach to darn near everything: Talk tough. Say how tough you are. You don't need a plan if you can look tough. And as Jonathan Chait notes, we can defeat our enemies by talking tough and using lots of swear words.

Kevin Drum has a good summary of why progressives should be solidly behind Hillary Clinton. Everything Drum lists has been pretty well documented and it's amazing (and frustrating) how many of them are matters in which her foes have been able to convince people the opposite is true.

Trump's tax plan: Take from the poor, give to the rich. Like every other Republican tax plan.

From some year's Tony Awards telecast: Jerry Orbach and the original company of 42nd Street performing that show's show-stopping number…

There's a movement afoot to name an intersection in the Los Feliz area of Los Angeles for the late Forrest J Ackerman. Forry, of course, was a prominent figure in the world of science-fiction and he was the editor of Famous Monsters of Filmland, a magazine which had a surprising amount of impact on kids who grew up to become important writers and filmmakers.

The intersection's connection to Forry is kinda remote. Three of its four corners have nothing to do with him at all. The fourth is where his favorite place to dine — the House of Pies restaurant — is located.

I've dined at that restaurant — in fact, I dined there once with Forry — and I don't see how it could be anybody's favorite restaurant. Then again, I'm not a big fan of eating pies. Throwing them, yes; eating them, no.

If someone does want to honor Forry's memory, I can't think of anything better, at least in this country. Maybe somewhere in Transylvania…

I thought I'd take a break from discussing why Donald Trump shouldn't be president and discuss why Gary Johnson shouldn't be, either. Both men are proposing things that I think would be horrible for this country. The main differences are that (a) Johnson is at least fairly open and consistent and (b) Trump will carry some states and so has a chance of winning the election.

I see out there two reasons why people are saying they'll surely/probably vote for Johnson. One is to "send a message" that they're not happy with either candidate from the major parties. I think it's already pretty well established that most of America would rather have other nominees. That seems like a pretty feeble message to me and a vote for Johnson could easily be interpreted in other ways, like: "Hey, even in a year when most Americans distrust the candidates from the two major parties, only this many [not enough to get a single electoral vote] bought into the Libertarian agenda!"

The other reason, of course, is that you agree with what Gary Johnson stands for and want to endorse all those things. Before you're sure you do, check out what Kevin Drum says Gary Johnson stands for.

It's not polite to tell a lady's age but when the lady in question is the First Lady of Cartoon Voices, it's not exactly a secret. June Foray is 99 years old today and that's just one of many amazing accomplishments in her long, amazing life. Others involve the staggering number of times in which her voice was heard in animated cartoons, radio commercials, records, dubbing other actors in movies, narrating films and TV shows, etc.

There was a long period in that life when she would get up early each morning, drive herself into the Hollywood area and spend the day going from job to job to job to job, often not returning home until late in the evening. You all know how she played Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha and almost all the female voices in Jay Ward cartoons…how she played Granny (owner of Tweety) and many supporting roles in Warner Brothers cartoons…a couple of Smurfs…witches for Disney and really every cartoon studio in Southern California…and so many other cartoon characters.

Well, all that is just a small part of what this woman did. For 20-30 years in this town, if you needed a thoroughly dependable male voiceover artist, there were many men you could call in. If you needed a female, you said these four words: "Get me June Foray!" Not all that long ago, the late Earl Kress and I were honored to assist June with her autobiography and one of the big problems we had was that even June couldn't tell us all the things she'd done. I'm still learning about jobs we should have included.

I was also honored to hire June on many occasions for cartoons I directed…and believe me, I was not doing her a favor. Other way around. I was merely getting the best person I could for the job.

I worked with her many times and June was always early. Always. One day, she was sitting in the waiting room, complaining not in the slightest that the engineer wasn't ready yet to record what she was there to record. A young, beginner actress was there for some other job and she recognized June.

The beginner told the old pro how much she admired her, how she had learned so much from studying her work, how she hoped someday to have the kind of career June had had…and was then still having. She asked, "Do you have any advice for me, Ms. Foray?"

June said to call her June, then asked her, "What are you doing here today and what is your call time?"

The newbie said, "I'm here to record some lines for a movie trailer spot and my call time is 11 AM."

It was around 11:10 when this conversation took place. June asked her, "And what time did you get here?"

The young lady said, "I was here at 11."

June said, "Then you were a half-hour late. You should have been here at 10:30."

The young lady said, "But I was here on time. And look — they still aren't ready for me."

June said, "That doesn't matter. They could have been ready for you at 11. You also could have hit unexpected traffic or had car trouble or something else on your way here. My call time was 11 and I was here at 10:30." (And she was. She was there waiting for me when I arrived…and remember, this was June Foray doing a job for someone who loves her and thinks she's the best in the business and wouldn't have minded one teensy bit if she'd been late.)

The young lady didn't get it. She said, "I don't see what the problem is. They said to be here at 11 and I was here at 11." Another human being might have at least paused to think, "Hmm…this is June Foray, the woman who has had the greatest success in my chosen profession. Maybe she understands something I don't." But this young lady just didn't get it.

What she might have learned from June is that if you're going to do a job, do it right. I might have booked June for her ten-thousandth voice job but she did it right. You don't get to your ten-thousandth job — or for that matter, to the age of 99 — doing things any way but right.

In the many tributes to the late Gene Wilder, people mentioned his great roles in The Producers, Young Frankenstein, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and many others.  I don't think anyone mentioned perhaps his greatest performance — as The Stomach in this award-winning commercial designed by artist R.O. Blechman.  The other two voices were done by Luis Van Rooten, a prolific radio actor who was also heard in Mr. Disney's Cinderella as both the King and the Grand Duke.  Forgive the bad edit in the middle…

What I did was to have a great evening. First, there was dinner at one of my favorite restaurants. I'll tell you about that in a day or so. Then it was off to The Theater at the Ace Hotel (that's its name) in downtown L.A. to see the gent who is now my favorite currently-working stand-up comedian. His name is Jim Jefferies and I can't recall having a better time watching a stand-up perform. Funny…brilliant…and hard-working. He did close to two hours and that was after fifteen-or-so by an opening act.

I was surprised there was an opening act and so were most of those present. If Forrest Shaw was billed anywhere, we all missed it and I always feel sorry for performers in that position. No one came to see you and whereas audiences once regarded you as a surprise bonus, now you're just an unexpected obstacle to the person they came to see. Moreover, they sometimes they don't even get that you're part of the show and they're supposed to pay attention.

A lady seated in front of us asked the folks around her if he was a comedian who was there to perform or if he was just someone sent out to introduce Jim Jefferies. Shaw was indeed a comedian — a pretty good one — and he'd have done better if during his set, audience members weren't straggling in to take their seats and/or engaging in distracting private conversations. It was almost like, "Well, we didn't come to see him so we can talk while he's on." Somewhat annoying. Mr. Shaw deserved better.

Shaw was kind of a gateway drug to the headliner, in that he said the "f" word and discussed his own genitalia a bit less often than Jim Jefferies. When Jefferies finally did take the stage, the audience stopped talking to each other, listened and had a great time. Among the topics covered: Porn (there was a lot about porn), Black Lives Matter and racism, Donald Trump, Canadians, Gay Marriage, Gun Control and a private party where he performed in front of Al Pacino, Warren Beatty and other celebs. It's not the kind of act you take your grandmother to see but I thought it was very funny and at times, very smart.

An odd thing happened when he got to Donald Trump. He asked if there were any Trump supporters in the house and maybe two dozen people (out of maybe fifteen hundred) indicated they were backing the guy. Jefferies was just sorta praising those people for their courage when a fight broke out in the audience about two rows behind where we were sitting…an actual fight even though only two or three punches were thrown.

Near as I can figure out, what happened was this: A Trump supporter had identified himself as such in response to Jefferies' question. A non-Trump supporter then poured a beverage on the Trump supporter, whereupon the Trump Supporter whirled and threw a punch at the non-Trump supporter who punched back…and then it got broken up.

On stage, Jefferies (who seemed to enjoy the moment in an odd way) quizzed the men about what had happened, then ordered them both ejected. Security, which was already on the job, carried out the command while Jefferies segued back into talking about Trump.  He was shaking his head about the whole thing but, like a good comic, incorporating it into his performance.

As you might guess, he's not a fan of Mr. Trump…but one of the things that impressed me about Jefferies was that he wasn't just up there telling his audience what he thought it wanted to hear. He said a lot of things some of us didn't want to hear…and when he did so, he not only made us all laugh, I think he made some of us think, "Hey, that guy's got a point." There are a lot of comics who try to do that and fall short on both counts. He was also in total command of the stage. The fisticuffs in the audience didn't shake him. A heckler in the balcony didn't shake him…and he put that guy away in a most entertaining manner that pretty much ensured no further hecklers.

I'd quote lines but this kind of thing is always a "you had to be there" moment…and anyway, I'm sure this will all be an HBO or Netflix special before long. Better you should hear it from him than from me. But if you've liked this guy on TV or YouTube and he's coming your way soon, get tickets in a hurry. I've never seen a great comedian who wasn't way better in person than he was on HBO and this man is a great comedian. Just don't bring grandma and if you do, warn her not to heckle.