Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Sep 24, 2021

Here's good news (NOT!!!): Advance reviews of the FBI's latest Uniform Crime Report apparently shows that the number of murders in the US increased by nearly 30% in 2020. That comes to about 21,500 people pushing up daisies --around five-thousand more than 2019. The NY Times reports the official report will be out Monday.

Tube talk: TBS has renewed “Full Frontal with SAMANTHA BEE” for a seventh season. There is one change --the show will air on Thursday nights beginning in January, instead of Wednesdays. The reason: TBS will be running a wrestling show, “AEW: Dynamite,” in the old slot on Wednesdays.

You've undoubtedly heard that thanks to a shortage of computer chips from the Far East, it's put a slow-down on the production of new cars. And yesterday, a New York-based firm says that will cost the auto industry $210 billion in revenue this year. That estimate is the money from the loss of 7.7 million cars, trucks and whatnot this year.

While we're on the car trek, the folks at Volvo announced yesterday that they wants all their cars to be leather-free by the year 2030. And further, they want a quarter of the material used in their new cars to “consist of recycled and bio-based content” by 2025. The company has already said it's also going to be a “fully electric car company” by 2030 as well.

"James Bond" actor DANIEL CRAIG's latest film as 007 --"No Time to Die"-- will be in theatres October 8th, and yesterday he was honored by the Royal Navy with the honorary rank of Commander --just like Bond.

If you're headed to the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics this coming February and March in Beijing, you'll have to be vaccinated against Covid-19. The United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee issued the declaration yesterday, and said that the athletes --as well as their own employees-- will have to be vaccinated by November first of this year.

Passing: Sorry to announce the death or filmmaker MELVIN VAN PEEBLES at 89 years old. He famous for a lot of classic films, including “Watermelon Man,” “Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song,” “The Story of a Three-Day Pass,” and “Don’t Play Us Cheap.” He was called the "godfather of black cinema," and directors SPIKE LEE, AVA DuVERNAY and BARRY JENKINS were among the people honoring him.

Fast food: Denny’s has added a couple of brand-new sweet treats to their menu: Double Chocolate Pancake Puppies and the Pecan Panookie. The Pancake Puppies have Ghirardelli chocolate chips and cocoa baked inside, then are tossed in powdered sugar and served with cream cheese icing for dipping. If you get six of the little balls (Puppies), it's 761 calories; for 10 of the Puppies, that's 1121 calories. You're welcome.

The Pecan Panookie is a large, warm chocolate chip cookie filled with molten chocolate, and topped with premium vanilla ice cream, pecan pie sauce and glazed pecans. No calorie estimate for the serving so far.