David Fagin

Trump Calls School Shootings a Mental Health Issue, Then Guts Education Funding

A friend of mine is a special education teacher in northern New Jersey. Her specialty is teaching learning impaired kids between the ages of 7-10. This year, she’s been saddled with teaching one of the worst cases of disobedience she’s come across in over twenty-five years. He’s caused so much havoc in her class she’s actually scared to turn her back on him, for fear of what he may do next. Keep in mind, this kid is nine. Nikolas Cruz, who shot up Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. with an assault rifle, killing 17 and wounding 50 others, sounds a lot like this kid....

Is Al Franken Being Railroaded by Hard-Core, Trump-Supporting Zealots?

Isn’t it amazing, suddenly, out of nowhere, Minnesota Sen. Al Franken, is being accused of sexual assault–by two Trump supporters, no less–just as Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation is bearing fruit and the GOP’s Alabama Senate candidate is turning out to be a serial child molester? Added to that, Vice President Pence and Don Jr. are twisting slowly in the wind; Attorney General Jeff Sessions is proving to be a flat-out liar; Trump can’t seem to keep track of the mass shootings and the Dems have taken Virginia and Oklahoma....

Huffington Post Caves to Right Wing Pressure Over Satirical Article

The Huffington Post has caved to right wing pressure over a satirical article published on its comedy page, in a disturbing example of self-censorship that sends the wrong signal about the role of the media. President Trump and his hard right surrogates have been waging an unrelenting war against media outlets that report unpleasant truths about his lies, fuck ups, bungling and miscues....

Twitter Fails Test Of Its Own ‘Zero Tolerance’ Policy on Hate Speech

More than 40 million tweets were posted during Donald Trump’s inauguration, a good number of them hate-filled. Yet, Twitter failed its “zero tolerance” policy on hate speech over and over again, including on this repulsive, Nazi-inspired anti-Semitic image. I posted the Tweet while watching the anointing of our country’s first fascist regime; it made me weep for us all....

Grammys Nod to Streaming Music in Last-Ditch Stand for Relevance

The Grammys, music’s biggest night, lumbers into its 59th year besieged by failing ratings and dwindling demographics. Does anyone even care anymore–outside of industry insiders and 12-year-old girls? The entire telecast could be re-titled “An Annual Tribute to Beyonce.” Every year, it seems, the same four or five homogenized pop stars vie for the evening’s biggest accolades....

Hillary Clinton Dilemma: Should She Refuse to Debate Donald Trump?

Enough is enough, Hillary Clinton should pull out of Sunday’s debate with Donald Trump. With Republican leaders abandoning his campaign by the dozen, why should she give him a national platform to perpetrate more of his bluster on the nation? The guy on the recording, talking about grabbing a girl “by the pussy,” sounds like a convicted rapist, bragging to his prison cellmate. Instead, it’s possibly the next president of the United States. ...

Shark Tank Puts the Bite on Inventors With Staged or Rip-Off Deals

“Shark Tank,” the popular ABC show that puts everyday inventors in front of multi-millionaire investors looking for the next Scrub Daddy, is under fire from some of those who’ve appeared on the show. They say the game is “rigged” and many of the so-called deals never get off the ground. The show’s regulars include Robert Herjavec, Daymond John, Barbara Corcoran, Mark Cuban, Kevin O’Leary and Lori Greiner....

Gene Wilder Appreciation: Goodbye to One of Last Giants of ‘Jewish Shtick’

Gene Wilder’s passing should not only make us appreciate, and celebrate, his incredible talents, but also to celebrate and cherish the few legendary giants of Jewish “shtick” who, thankfully, are still with us. His classic humor that he wore as a badge of honor, in turn, influenced generations of others, from Billy Crystal, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David and the late Garry Shandling to Sasha Baron Cohen, Seth Rogen and Jon Stewart....

Donald Trump Musical Coming! First White House, Then Great White Way

Donald Trump may not make it all the way to the White House, but he might just make it big on the Great White Way. Trump the Musical is in the works, featuring notable scores on all his talking points, from the “woman card” and “Immigrants” to “Muslims” and “Mexicans.” Starring George Clooney as The Donald, Sarah Palin, Megyn Kelly, Chris Christie as “The Gimp,” and an all-star cast of fakes, losers and right wing fanatics....

Prince’s Humble Style, Grace & Genius Set an Unmatched Standard in Music

Prince Rogers Nelson, better known simply as Prince, captured the hearts and minds of a generation that grew up in the ’80s on a steady diet of MTV. His death, April 21, will forever be remembered as the biggest loss for music and music lovers since the death of Michael Jackson. His unique blend of pop, funk, rock and R&B, cut across genres, appealed to a far-reaching audience and still influences the style and direction of music today. ...

Hulk Hogan Gets a Big Payday From Gawker and We’re All Poorer For It

Is Hogan A Hero? In the late ’70s, Hulk Hogan was fearless every Saturday on the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Who knew he was really a shy, sensitive guy? No wonder he sued when Gawker.com posted his sex tape online. Even more remarkable, who knew a jury would give him $140 million? Fast forward about 30 or so years and the once mythical God of Thunder can now be seen blubbering with regularity on national television. His skin must be paper thin. ...

Oscars: Awful Moments, Cheesy Jokes, Preening Celebs… And Lady Gaga

The Oscars pretty much had everything you could want from a cheesy, social media and celeb-obsessed awards show. Racism, racist jokes, Lady Gaga, lots of awkward moments, a three foot tall Kevin Hart, global warming expert Leo DiCaprio and some serious right-wing bashing! Lastly, kudos to Leo for finally taking one home! Whether or not you thought his performance in “The Revenant” was Oscar worthy, you have to admit, there’s few actors around today with DiCaprio’s body of work who don’t possess a golden statue....

New, Unimproved! Why Grammys Underwhelmed as Usual This Year

With only a handful of actual awards handed out on television, The Grammys did their utmost best to convince us there’s nothing wrong with the music business. Again, it’s kind of like the orchestra on the Titanic–if the Titanic took 20 years to sink. As much as I loved The Eagles and the late Glenn Frey, they looked sorely out of place on last night’s telecast. Don Henley, Bernie Leadon, Timothy Schmit, Joe Walsh and Jackson Brown looked like your grandfather’s band jamming in the middle of your bar mitzvah....

David Fagin

David Fagin is a New York writer, producer and musician. His resume boasts an incredibly diverse range of contributions, from top news sites such as Salon, TheImproper, AOL News, Yahoo and The Huffington Post to a wide-range of humorous entities such as The Onion, The Muppets, Comedy Central, Dennis Miller, and Howard Stern.