Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Monday, February 26, 2018
Weinstein Co. to File for Bankruptcy After Deal Collapses
Weinstein Co. to File for Bankruptcy After Deal Collapses
The global #MeToo movement that Harvey Weinstein unwittingly kicked off is now claiming the company he founded, the Weinstein Co.
The Los Angeles-based film studio will file for bankruptcy after failing to secure funding from investors, according to a copy of a letter provided by the company on Sunday. The demise of the 13-year-old studio follows accusations by dozens of actresses of decades of sexual misconduct at the hands of Weinstein, setting off a movement that saw a string of similar revelations of bad behavior by prominent men.
Weinstein Co. blamed a group of investors led by Maria Contreras-Sweet, who ran the Small Business Administration from 2014 to 2017, for the collapse of a $500 million bid backed by billionaire Ron Burkle.
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Broward Co. sheriff says he won't step down amid questions about response to school shooting
Click: Broward Co. sheriff says he won't step down amid questions about response to school shooting
Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel says he's not stepping down amid criticism of his department's response to the deadly shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Israel's declaration comes after a Florida state representative called on Gov. Rick Scott to remove Israel from his post for his deputies' "incomprehensible inaction" during the massacre.
"An investigation into the incomprehensible inaction of these deputies by Sheriff Israel will do nothing to bring back the 17 victims," Bill Hager said in a letter to the governor, referring to the students and teachers confessed shooter, Nikolas Cruz, killed.
"The Sheriff was or should have been aware of the threat Cruz presented to his community and chose to ignore it," Hager claims.
In his letter, Hager, a Republican, cites Florida statute 112.52, which he says gives Scott "removal authority for neglect of duty and incompetence."
Israel dismisses Hager's accusations, telling CNN's Jake Tapper, "Of course I won't resign"
"It was a shameful letter. It was politically-motivated. I never met that man. He doesn't know anything about me. And the letter was full of misinformation," Israel said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Hager's call for Israel's removal came after the armed school resource officer at Marjory Stoneman Douglas, Deputy Scot Peterson, resigned Thursday following his suspension amid accusations he did nothing to stop the massacre.
Israel says Peterson never went into building where the shooter was firing at students, instead taking a position outside.
In a letter of response to the governor, Israel said he was proud of the work that many of his deputies and other agencies did the day of the shooting and that he was appalled by Hager's "need to engage in disingenuous political grandstanding, perhaps in the hope he will garner some headlines, at the expense of the truth."
He also said that Hager's letter "was riddled with factual errors, unsupported gossip, and falsehoods."
Deputy suspended
Israel made the decision to suspend Peterson -- who was armed and in uniform at the time of the shooting -- after interviewing the deputy and reviewing footage and witness statements, he said.
"What I saw was a deputy arrive at the west side of building 12, take up a position," Israel said of the video. "And he never went in."
Israel told reporters Peterson should have "[w]ent in. Addressed the killer. Killed the killer." Instead, the deputy waited outside for about four minutes.
During that time, Israel said, Peterson got on his radio and took a position where he could see the western entry of the building.
Officers from the nearby Coral Springs Police Department who also responded to the shooting say they were surprised to find three other Broward County deputies had also not entered the building when they arrived, sources tell CNN.
Other deputies may have also been outside school
The deputies had their pistols drawn and were behind their vehicles, the sources said. None of them had gone into the school.
With direction from the Broward deputies who were outside, Coral Springs police soon entered the building. Additional Broward County sheriff's deputies arrived on the scene, and two of those deputies and an officer from the nearby Sunrise Police Department joined the Coral Springs police as they went into the building.
It's unclear whether the shooter was still in the building when they arrived.
Sources cautioned that tapes are under review and official accounts could ultimately differ from recollections of officers on the scene.
Wednesday, February 21, 2018
The Rev. Billy Graham, the charismatic evangelist who attracted a worldwide following, dies at 99
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/national/wp/2018/02/21/the-rev-billy-graham-the-charismatic-evangelist-who-attracted-a-worldwide-following-dies-at-99/?hpid=hp_no-name_no-name%3Apage%2Fbreaking-news-bar&utm_term=.6861bbe90162
Monday, February 19, 2018
Why Yoga Pants Are Bad for Women - The New York Times
It’s a new year and I’ve got a new gym membership. I went the other morning. It was 8 degrees outside. And every woman in there was wearing skintight, Saran-wrap-thin yoga pants. Many were dressed in the latest fashion — leggings with patterns of translucent mesh cut out of them, like sporty doilies. “Finally,” these women must have thought, “pants that properly ventilate my outer calves without letting a single molecule of air reach anywhere else below my belly button.”Don’t get me wrong. I have yoga pants — three pairs. But for some reason none of them cover my ankles, and as I said, it was 8 degrees outside. So I wore sweatpants.I got on the elliptical. A few women gave me funny looks. Maybe they felt sorry for me, or maybe they were concerned that my loose pants were going to get tangled in the machine’s gears. Men didn’t look at me at all.At this moment of cultural crisis, when the injustices and indignities of female life have suddenly become news, an important question hit me: Whatever happened to sweatpants?Remember sweatpants? Women used to wear them, not so long ago. You probably still have a pair, in velour or terry cloth, with the name of a college or sports team emblazoned down the leg.No one looks good in sweatpants. But that’s not the point. They’re basically just towels with waistbands. They exist for two activities: lounging and exercising — two activities that you used to be able to do without looking like a model in a P90X infomercial.It’s not good manners for women to tell other women how to dress; that’s the job of male fashion photographers. Women who criticize other women for dressing hot are seen as criticizing women themselves — a sad conflation if you think about it, rooted in the idea that who we are is how we look. It’s impossible to have once been a teenage girl and not, at some very deep level, feel that.But yoga pants make it worse. Seriously, you can’t go into a room of 15 fellow women contorting themselves into ridiculous positions at 7 in the morning without first donning skintight pants? What is it about yoga in particular that seems to require this? Are practitioners really worried that a normal-width pant leg is going to throttle them mid-lotus pose?We aren’t wearing these workout clothes because they’re cooler or more comfortable. (You think the selling point of Lululemon’s Reveal Tight Precision pants is really the way their moth-eaten design provides a “much-needed dose of airflow”?) We’re wearing them because they’re sexy.We felt we had to look hot on dates — a given. We felt we had to look hot at the office — problematic. But now we’ve internalized the idea that we have to look hot at the gym? Give me a break. The gym is one of the few places where we’re supposed to be able to focus on how our bodies feel, not just on how they look. We need to remember that. Sweatpants can help.Control-top exercise leggings that hold in your stomach won’t help. Nor will — and this is a real thing — the push-up sports bra.Frankly, I’m annoyed by the whole booming industry around women’s exercise, which is perhaps most evident in the rise of studio classes. According to the Association of Fitness Studios, Americans spent around $24 billion on studio fees in 2015, or about $4 billion more than they spent on traditional gyms — and that spread has only increased since then. Naturally, women are spending the most; they outnumber men in studio classes by more than two to one.They are paying for classes like SoulCycle (high-intensity stationary biking gets your soul super-toned!) and barre (look like a ballerina without ever having to dance!). And if you’re already spending $30 on a fitness class, why not spend $70 on the shirt to wear to it? In 2016, at what we can only hope was the peak of the market, Americans dropped almost $46 billion on “activewear.”All of this turns working out from a healthy thing you might do twice a week into a Way of Life, where $120 leggings are more necessity than extravagance. Consider the way that these fancy exercise clothes have spread from the gym to the street, essentially outfitting women for every activity beyond white-collar work. Consider the way the step-counting Fitbit turns every errand into exercise. When yoga pants are the first thing grown women put on every morning, we can’t help absorbing the message that staying fit is our No. 1 purpose in life.Women can, of course, be fit and liberated. We may be able to conquer the world wearing spandex. But wouldn’t it be easier to do so in pants that don’t threaten to show every dimple and roll in every woman over 30?Pantsuits had a moment, back in 2016. I think women are ready to give them another chance. And while we’re at it, let’s bring back slacks, too, and corduroys and, why not, even khakis. But the first step is to bring back sweatpants.Deep-sea divers need skintight polymer pants; so do Olympic speedskaters. The rest of us could use some breathing room. So step into some slouchy pants with me. We don’t have to look quite so good when we’re just trying to look a little better.
--
Frankly, I could care less what women wear. The Times are way off on this one...Thoughts? Leave a comment
Friday, February 16, 2018
Megathread: Office of Special Counsel Indicts 13 Russian Nationals and 3 Russian Entities for Interference in 2016 Election
https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/7y0ldo/megathread_office_of_special_counsel_indicts_13/
Gunfire Erupts at a School. Leaders Offer Prayers. Children Are Buried. Repeat.
By Dan Barry
Feb. 15, 2018
For the latest on the Florida school shooting, read Friday’s live updates.
Once again a nation sends thoughts and prayers, because it has happened once again.
The flak-jacketed police storming an American school in lockdown. The anguished parents pressing against the police cordon, the morning’s hurried goodbyes suddenly precious. The assembled media unfolding camera tripods and chasing the same story angles as if for the first time.
Aerial footage of children filing out of the school, hands above heads in surrender to the tense moment. Then their frantic dash to safety, their young minds yet to process what they have just witnessed.
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
[live] Shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida
[live] Shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida
Live Reddit thread with all available updates
Live Reddit thread with all available updates
Get Out Is Coming Back to Theaters for Free for One Night Only - IGN
Get Out Is Coming Back to Theaters for Free for One Night Only - IGN: News, email and search are just the beginning. Discover more every day. Find your yodel.
Multiple injuries reported in shooting at Fla. high school Police in Broward County responded to reports of an active shooter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High school in Parkland, Fla. Local news reports at least 20 injuries »
Tuesday, February 13, 2018
Monday, February 12, 2018
MoviePass cuts price by teaming up with Fandor on a bundled subscription deal
The controversial subscription service for movie-goers, MoviePass, is still chasing new customers as it attempts to rapidly grow its user base before its funding runs out. After growing from 1.5 million to 2 million users
in less than a month's time, the company has now teamed up with
streaming service Fandor to appeal to potential subscribers with a
bundled offer.
However, some users were confused about the new pricing plan worked.
Like MoviePass says, the deal
will lower the MoviePass subscription down to $7.95 per month from its
usual $9.95 per month. But the full annual fee has to be paid upfront,
not monthly.
The company hasn't decided how
long before this offer expires, but it's not the first time that
MoviePass has tried a bundle. The same offer was originally tested back
in November 2017, and was well-received, says MoviePass.
The deal arrives at time when MoviePass' business model is being increasingly scrutinized. The company claims its users now drive more than 5 percent of the total box office and is continuing to grow its user base. But MoviePass is subsidizing the cost of those tickets for now, while betting on the fact that it will be able to monetize in other ways.
For example, it aims to make money from studios who want to target its customers with their marketing efforts, or access user data to learn about trends; it's taking a cut of ticket sales and concessions at some theaters; it has begun
to acquire movies; and it hopes that eventually, users will slow down
their movie-going to their usual once per month (or less), after the
initial rush of having an all-you-can-watch subscription wears off.
Not all theater chains are thrilled with MoviePass, however. MoviePass recently pulled out of several high-traffic AMC locations as the chain refused to negotiate on a rev-share deal.
AMC Century City 15 in Los Angeles; AMC Mercado 20 in Santa Clara, Calif.; AMC Disney Springs 24 in Orlando, Fl.: AMC Loews Boston Common 19 in Boston; AMC River East 21 in Chicago; AMC Mission Valley 20 in San Diego; AMC Tysons Corner 16 in McLean, Va.; AMC Veterans 24 in Tampa; AMC Loews Alderwood Mall 16 in Lynwood, Wash.
Article
Trump's abuse response marks #MeToo disconnect
Trump's abuse response marks #MeToo disconnect
Updated 2:45 AM ET, Mon February 12, 2018
(CNN) - President Donald Trump spent the weekend putting himself on the wrong side of a potential turning point in history, formed by the sudden, sharp change in how society responds to women's allegations of abuse.
But by Sunday evening, there were signs his camp recognized he was on treacherous political ground as sources told Axios that Trump believed accusations against his ex-aide Rob Porter and thought he was "sick."
It would not be unusual for Trump to hold two opposite opinions on an issue at once. Yet the idea that he had always been disgusted by allegations leveled against Porter by two ex-wives risked coming across as belated political spin, given his previous comments and jarring lack of empathy for the women involved.
The contradictions in the White House narrative over the Porter affair are emblematic of a chaotic few days in an administration that remains tone deaf to a world beginning to hear the long-silenced voices of victims of sexual assault and other abuse.
And again, it displays a President trashing conventions of normal West Wing behavior at a fraught political moment at home and abroad.
Multiple administration officials tried a clean-up mission on political talk shows Sunday, but mostly only managed to add to the confusion.
Politically incorrect
Yet Trump, who uses chaos as an instrument of power, is employing a playbook that has often served him well before, even if his decision to put himself at odds with a moment of sweeping political change is a high-risk play.
The President often deliberately inserts himself on the least politically correct side of some of the most sensitive societal questions, on race (Charlottesville), on religion (travel ban targeting Muslim nations), on immigration (calling Mexicans "rapists" and criminals) and against the LGBT community (military ban on transgender service members).
Often, his strategy has worked. His willingness to say the kind of things most politicians would never dare utter built him an unshakeable base of voters who are never shocked by behavior that revolts the establishment and repeatedly confounds predictions of his political demise.
On Saturday, Trump doubled down, a day after being criticized for empathizing with the plight of Porter, his former staff secretary, while ignoring the violent accounts detailed by Porter's ex-wives.
"Peoples lives are being shattered and destroyed by a mere allegation," Trump tweeted.
"Some are true and some are false. Some are old and some are new. There is no recovery for someone falsely accused - life and career are gone. Is there no such thing any longer as Due Process?"
The tweet was consistent with Trump's habit of often taking the side of an accused male over sexual or physical abuse allegations rather than the alleged victims -- unless the accused is Bill Clinton. It also may reflect his vulnerability as a politician who has been accused of multiple instances of sexual assault against women.
But in a deeper sense, it also placed him in direct contravention of the new default societal position that has seen the testimony of women who allege assault and discrimination taken at face value, and resulted in the ostracizing of powerful men in the media, politics, business and entertainment.
Possibly, Trump, in defending Porter -- as he had former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly and former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore -- was hoping to ignite a backlash against the #MeToo movement.
But apart from cutting against most common definitions of decency, Trump's stand represents a dangerous political strategy, one that White House aides might have recognized in their comments to Axios.
White women voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton by nine points in 2016, but a recent CNN/SSRS survey shows him being crushed in the same voting block by three potential Democratic 2020 candidates -- Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders or Oprah Winfrey. Women voters will be crucial in the midterm election in November and in swing states during Trump's re-election bid in 2020.
The Porter episode has not just revived questions about Trump's character that could further erode his numbers among women, but exposed an administration divided against itself and put the job of chief of staff John Kelly in doubt.
It also provoked debate about the morality of the administration itself, and the quality of the people who Trump chose to employ. That disquiet was exacerbated when it emerged Saturday that a second White House official, David Sorensen, had also resigned after being accused of domestic abuse.
The weekend's stunning drama also coincides with an intense and consequential moment in Washington and around the world that will test the administration's capacity to respond to multiple challenges.
Trump appears to be edging closer to a constitutional crisis every week, after apparently using presidential declassification power in a showdown over dueling Republican and Democratic memos to try to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation. A CNN report on Friday that 30 to 40 senior White House and other top officials still lacked full security clearances exacerbated the disarray.
The Senate will, meanwhile, take up immigration this week, escalating a bitter showdown over the issue.
Abroad, several crises are racing to boiling point as Kim Jong Un's Olympic charm offense threatens to weaken the US-South Korea alliance and as the US, Iran, Russia and Israel bump up against one another in the cauldron of Syria.
A vote for chaos
It's often said that Trump's supporters voted for chaos, so desperate were they for changes in an establishment political system they viewed as corrupt and broken and badly in need of a shakeup.
If so, they got what they wanted over the weekend, as the dizzying lurches in direction and position from the White House recalled the circus-like dysfunction that rocked the President in his first weeks in office.
Senior aides to Trump told CNN last week that Kelly had known by early fall of last year that Porter was having trouble in getting a security clearance after his ex-wives claimed he had abused them. Far from dismissing him, Kelly, presided over the elevation of Porter's West Wing role.
White House counselor Kellyanne Conway told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday that Kelly learned the full extent of the claims Tuesday and "by Wednesday, Rob Porter was out."
Early Sunday however, Axios reported that Porter told associates that White House officials encouraged him to "stay and fight" rather than resign following the original report of the abuse allegations in the Daily Mail.
If there has been a shift in the President's position on Porter, perhaps as a result of the backlash against his comments, it may have been previewed by Conway, who took the opposite position to the President.
"I have no reason not to believe the women," she told CNN's Jake Tapper.
The inconsistencies and backtracking have engulfed Kelly. After the allegations broke, Kelly issued a statement strongly backing Porter's character. In another incredible twist to the saga, his remarks were partly drafted by reclusive White House communications director Hope Hicks, who was in a romantic relationship with Porter.
Amid an immediate backlash, Kelly hurriedly issued another statement saying that there was "no place for domestic violence in our society" though standing by his prior assessment of Porter's character. Porter denied the accusations against him, but still resigned.
On Friday, two sources familiar with meetings in the White House said Kelly was telling White House staff that he was personally responsible for Porter's resignation. But several officials told The Washington Post that they considered that Kelly's version of events was not true.
The furor appeared to weaken Kelly's position. By Friday night, sources told CNN that he had made clear he would resign if Trump wanted him to, amid reports the President was considering who might replace him. The White House categorically denied that Kelly had offered to quit in any way.
Conway told Tapper that Trump told her specifically to say that he retained confidence in the retired Marine general.
But by definition, the job of chief of staff is to assure seamless operation of the presidency. And though Kelly has had some success in quelling the uproar and streamlining the information flow towards Trump, the current tumult, following a string of outspoken remarks by the chief of staff, could make him a liability.
Article
Thursday, February 08, 2018
What the Cavaliers gained and lost during today's final trade day
Isaiah Thomas
Jae Crowder
Derrick Rose
Iman Shumpert
Channing Frye
Dwayne Wade
1st Rounder
Received
George Hill
Rodney Hood
Jordan Clarkson
Larry Nance Jr.
MIA 2nd Rounder
And they keep the Nets pick....
Wow!
Wednesday, February 07, 2018
Subreddit r/deepfakes and all surrounding subs are now banned
Yet more offending subs are still around. Shame on you Reddit for stifling technology.
New Deadpool 2 teaser! Introducing CABLE!
Check out the new trailer for Deadpool 2! #Deadpool2 pic.twitter.com/U1ZIyX8TT6— Geeks of Color (@GeeksOfColor) February 7, 2018
New Jessica Jones Season 2 Trailer!
Time to get some answers. pic.twitter.com/mw95uLyvDY— Jessica Jones (@JessicaJones) February 7, 2018
Tuesday, February 06, 2018
Elon Musk's Falcon Heavy rocket launches successfully
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-42969020
Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are making a new set of Star Wars films
The news that Benioff and Weiss would be joining the Star Wars galaxy was announced on Tuesday by Disney and Lucasfilm.
In a statement about the creators' new endeavour, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy said, “David and Dan are some of the best storytellers working today. Their command of complex characters, depth of story and richness of mythology will break new ground and boldly push Star Wars in ways I find incredibly exciting.”
The duo's movies will be separate entities from Rian Johnson's forthcoming trilogy and the Skywalker films.
“In the summer of 1977 we travelled to a galaxy far, far away, and we’ve been dreaming of it ever since,” Benioff and Weiss together in a statement. “We are honoured by the opportunity, a little terrified by the responsibility, and so excited to get started as soon as the final season of Game of Thrones is complete.”
The news of Game of Thrones and Star Wars colliding already has fans in upheaval on Twitter.
One user said they're "equally unexcited about the Game of Thrones guys getting a Star Wars trilogy as I am excited about Rian Johnson getting one."
Full Article
Monday, February 05, 2018
Subreddit r/Cryptocurrency is panic selling, which dropped the DOW over 1k points
Stocks are in shambles today after panic selling swept across the popular subreddit r/cryptocurrency.
HODL???!!
Sunday, February 04, 2018
Friday, February 02, 2018
Best Buy Will Stop Selling CDs July 1st, And Target Might Be Next
https://www.stereogum.com/1981540/best-buy-will-stop-selling-cds-and-target-might-be-next/news/
Thursday, February 01, 2018
Fidel Castro's eldest son takes own life, state media reports
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2018/02/01/americas/fidel-castro-son-dead/index.html
Florida Has Been Ranked the Worst State In The U.S.: Here's Why
Florida is officially the crème de la crappy of all 50 states, ranking dead last on a list of best to worst locations in America.
Thrillist released a definitive ranking of the states in July with a “go big or go home” ranking system based on, literally, "everything."
"Everything" being their contributions to America: important, well-known people, inventions, food and drink, and unique physical beauty and landmarks.
"When putting together a list such as this, there can be some temptation to defy popular expectations and go against the grain," the site said. “However, Florida’s awfulness résumé is so staggeringly impressive that it couldn’t go any other way.”
The state that likely broke most every prediction by topping the list was Michigan.
Despite Detroit’s bad rep, the site argues that Michigan has more coastline than any other state, except for Alaska. The site also mentions the undeniable beauty of the Upper Peninsula and its residents’ willingness to apologize for their creation of Kid Rock.
California and New York rank lower than expected, at Nos. 9 and 13, respectively.
Barely beating out Florida at the low end of the list are Delaware and Ohio. Thrillist has, somewhat rightfully, dubbed Ohio the “Florida of the North.” Ouch.
So what makes Florida so god-awful?
Could be the humidity, the atrocious traffic and the fact that just a few years ago Floridians were smoking bath salts and eating people’s faces off.
"I lived there for four years as a reporter in central and south Florida, and love it in the way that only a person who has gotten the hell out possibly can," Thrillist travel editor Sam Eifling told Newsweek. "Florida is where bath salts and Creed and the Great Recession all got their starts. It's where Donald Trump has chosen to hang out for seven solid weeks during the past year. I mean, c'mon."
Florida's rep has also been permanently damaged since that fateful day in 1981 when Miami became the birthplace of rapper Pitbull (aka Mr. Worldwide).
But according to this reporter's experience, what the Southern state lacks in overall quality of life it makes up for in amusement parks. Florida owes all that it has to Disney World and Universal Studios.
Despite the state's unfavorable ranking, Thrillist remains optimistic for the Sunshine State. It leaves Florida a message of encouragement and positivity: “You were born for this. Embrace it.”
Nintendo is bringing Mario Kart to smartphones
https://www.theverge.com/2018/1/31/16958066/nintendo-mario-kart-tour-smartphone-app-game-announced?utm_campaign=theverge&utm_content=chorus&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter
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