The year was 1983 and one of America’s most famous magicians or illusionists, as they prefer to be called, was on center stage. This trick was to be the greatest of David Copperfield’s life and not only was there a live audience seated in front of him, but the entire show was being broadcast on television. People had been talking about this special for weeks and tension was running thick, because, you see, David Copperfield was going to make the Statue of Liberty disappear in front of everyone’s eyes.
On the day of the great event, the live audience was seated in front of a giant curtain attached to 2 lateral scaffolding built on Liberty Island in an enclosed viewing area, and Copperfield, with help from several famous people, raised the curtain before lowering it again a few seconds later to reveal that the space where the Statue of Liberty once stood was empty. A helicopter hovered overhead to give an aerial view of the illusion and the statue appeared to have vanished and only the circle of lights surrounding it was still present and visible. But, how was this possible?
Although Copperfield has refused to explain how he pulled the trick-off, several theories have emerged over the years. The Straightdope webpage noted — “Copperfield had a setup of two towers on a stage, supporting an arch to hold the huge curtain that would be used to conceal the statue. The TV cameras and the live audience only saw the monument through the arch. When the curtains closed, David waxed poetic while the stage was… slowly… and imperceptibly… turned. When the curtains opened, the statue was hidden behind one of the towers, and the audience was looking out to sea. Voila! The Statue of Liberty has disappeared!” It was noted that — “Even if the stage hadn't completely hidden the statue, the towers were so brightly lit that the audience would be night blinded. Copperfield had also set up two rings of lights — one around Liberty, and another set up somewhere else. When the trick "happened", his assistants simply turned off the lights around the statue and turned on the other set for the helicopters to circle around.
And that is how an illusionist works, dear listeners. It is a combination of sleight-of-hand and a Jedi mind trick. Now you see it, now you don’t mix with these are not the droids you are looking for. It is almost the same thing as politics inside the Beltway, just a little different. You see, politicians use all of the same tricks, but they also get to use leg-breakers and strongmen, except we don’t call them strongmen, we call them lawyers. So even if you still have some doubts that it would be physically impossible to move the Statue of Liberty, they get all up in your face, and after a few minutes, self-preservation kicks in and it becomes wise to start seeing things their way. So, with this picture in mind, one must ask themselves, what kind of dogs did Hillary Clinton let loose on the New York Times?
Earlier this week, the NY Times was slated to and did run a story probing the criminality behind Hillary Clinton and her illegal use of personal email while she was Secretary of State. Except that it apparently ruffled the wrong feathers and just like that — poof! — it was gone. American Thinker wrote that — “Politico's Dylan Byers noticed a subtle but monumental change to an article in the New York Times this morning that altered the thrust of the piece…..Without explanation or notice, the Times changed the focus of the article as well as the headline.” Daily Kos noted that — “What's more, this major alteration was made without any notice to the reader. On top of that, the Times even changed the URL (the old one now redirects to the new one). If it weren't for …. assiduous observers, this big edit might have gotten flushed down the memory hole.”
On another front, stories continue to emerge about the Clinton Foundation, which of course, may or not be a massive slush fund, depending on who is telling the story. HotAir reports- “The State Department has been very clear about one thing. There is no relationship between donations to the Clinton Foundation and actions taken by the Secretary of State during her tenure there. Period. Full stop. End of discussion. You’re all just a bunch of Clinton haters who are trying to stop the ongoing charity work of these wonderful people.” It continues by saying — “And yet for some strange reason we keep seeing stories like this- Hillary hadn’t even finished unpacking her things in her new office at the State Department after Barack Obama appointed her when a situation was dumped in her lap. The Swiss government was concerned that the IRS was suing UBS AG to get them to reveal the identities of tens of thousands of clients.
The short and skinny of this case is as follows: Switzerland’s largest bank could either a) Violate Swiss secrecy laws by handing over the names, or b) Refuse and face criminal charges in U.S. federal court. Apparently, Clinton was able to work out a deal that was satisfactory for UBS and within months — “UBS’s engagement with the Clinton family’s charitable organization increased. Total donations by UBS to the Clinton Foundation grew from less than $60,000 through 2008 to a cumulative total of about $600,000 by the end of 2014, according the foundation and the bank.”
The bank also joined the Clinton Foundation to launch entrepreneurship and inner-city loan programs, through which it lent $32 million. And it paid former president Bill Clinton $1.5 million to participate in a series of question-and-answer sessions with UBS Wealth Management Chief Executive Bob McCann, making UBS his biggest single corporate source of speech income disclosed since he left the White House. Of course, we should remember, there was no connection between here. Look! No Statue of Liberty!
And rounding the week off, it was reported that Hillary Clinton just got a $600 haircut from one of the top stylists in NYC. Although it is not exactly clear what you get for 600 bucks or how it even differs from a regular beauty salon. Rumor has it that the “woman of the people” had the street blocked off, the elevator bank shut down so she could ride up alone and was styled in private.”
Of course, the haircut was nowhere near as expensive as the one her husband, Bill Clinton received back in the 90s when he sat on Air Force One as it was idling for an hour at LAX, shutting down two runways and diverting numerous flights and costing taxpayers tens-of-thousands of dollars. Maybe Hillary should learn a thing or two from American Authors new song, — “Go Big or Go Home”.
So, what do you think dear listeners, “Is there a difference between being an Illusionist and Politician?”
