In the headlines - May 25/26
Today is the real Star Wars Day. 40 years ago today, in less than three dozen theaters nationwide, what we know now as "Episode IV - A New Hope" opened. Adjusted for inflation, it is still the 2nd highest grossing film in history, surpassed only by Gone With the Wind.
I cut class that day to stand in line and see it on its first day and have been a serious fan of the franchise ever since. I stood in the rain for hours to see The Empire Strikes Back on its opening night. I watched in amazement in 1998 as most of the audience walked out of the movie after the first trailer ever for Star Wars I - The Phantom Menace played. On the day that episode opened, I sat in the Village theater in Westwood as part of a sell-out audience that roared with approval as prior to the film, we watched the original trailer for Episode IV.
Today is the real Star Wars Day.
* * *
Sticking with movies, let's take a look at what is opening tomorrow and how those films have done with both critics and audiences on Rottentomatoes.
Baywatch - 19% with critics, 64% with audiences
Pirates of the Caribbean - 30% with critics, 98% of others surveyed want to see it.
The comments of the critics on both of these movies are scathing. But they will battle it out for box office supremacy this weekend. Guess critics don't really influence audiences.
* * *
Still on the subject of movies, let's go to Austin, TX where the Alamo Drafthouse cinema has scheduled a showing of Wonder Woman for June 6th, that is for women only. All of the staff working and the audience will be female.
Some men are not happy about this. I do not understand the outrage. Now if this were the very first showing of the film and it was gender-restricted, there might be an argument to be made that this is discriminatory. But the movie breaks wide on June 2nd. So the men who can't attend the June 6th screenings (the first sold out almost immediately and another was added) have no real reason to be complaining.
* * *
In a blog last year, I point out one of the many lies told by the Cheeto-in-Chief, this one related to his claim that he had saved 1,100 jobs at a Carrier Air Conditioning plant in Indiana. In actuality, 300 of those jobs were not slated to move to Mexico and the accurate figure was only 800.
Now comes news that Carrier is going to cut 632 more jobs at that plant, most of which will be moved to Mexico where the minimum wage is below $5 U.S.
Worse yet, the company admitted that their investment of $16 million, touted by Trump last year as bringing even more jobs to the plant; will actually go toward automation which will eliminate jobs instead. #LiarInChief
* * *
The headline is that the top student financial aid official, James Runcie, at the Department of Education has resigned, and the official spin is that he refused the request of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to testify before Congress.
If you dig a little, you discover that he said he did not feel it appropriate for him to testify about the issues he was being asked to discuss when the Department had spent a considerable amount of time and resources preparing the point man on the issue of improper financial aid payments, Jay Hurt to testify.
Why would anyone want someone who isn't the expert on an issue to testify about something in their Department? I'd ask Betsy DeVos that question, but I'd have to put it into simpler terms so she could comprehend the meaning of the question.
Considering we're talking about $6 billion in potentially improper payments, the expert on the subject should be the one answering the questions.
* * *
May 26
Guadalupe Plascencia is a 59 year old hairdresser in San Bernardino. She was in jail because of an old bench warrant where she did not show up to testify in a court case. She had done nothing wrong other than fail to show up to testify.
She is a U.S. citizen. That didn't stop a deputy from pressuring her to sign a document acknowledging that she was aware that ICE had inquired about her.
Since she's a citizen she figured it couldn't hurt to sign the form. Big mistake.
Right after she was released ICE agents took her into custody and she spent a day in their "facility" until her daughter appeared with her passport, proving her citizenship.
Now the ACLU has begun the process of filing suit against ICE and the San Bernardino County Sheriffs. Their claim states she was discriminated against based on her ethnic origin.
The L.A. Times story points out that she had a valid Driver's License. Since the licenses granted to undocumented immigrants are clearly marked that they are not valid for federal identification purposes, why wouldn't the ICE agents accept a valid license as proof of citizenship?
* * *
Speaking of the Times, they ran a piece today paying tribute to California's war dead, including the five Californians who died while serving since last Memorial Day.
Two of the five perished in "non-combat" related incidents. I like that they were not excluded from the tribute. Everyone who serves, no matter where or when, has volunteered to accept the risks to keep the rest of us safe.
* * *
A Baltimore area lawyer was arrested for allegedly attempting to bribe and intimidate the victim in a rape case. According to the Baltimore Sun story, Christos Vasiliades was recorded telling the victim's husband that there was a risk of her being deported if she showed up to testify, and he offered to pay them $3,000 in cash once the charges were dropped.
If they convict this guy I hope he is disbarred as well as imprisoned.
* * *
I cut class that day to stand in line and see it on its first day and have been a serious fan of the franchise ever since. I stood in the rain for hours to see The Empire Strikes Back on its opening night. I watched in amazement in 1998 as most of the audience walked out of the movie after the first trailer ever for Star Wars I - The Phantom Menace played. On the day that episode opened, I sat in the Village theater in Westwood as part of a sell-out audience that roared with approval as prior to the film, we watched the original trailer for Episode IV.
Today is the real Star Wars Day.
* * *
Sticking with movies, let's take a look at what is opening tomorrow and how those films have done with both critics and audiences on Rottentomatoes.
Baywatch - 19% with critics, 64% with audiences
Pirates of the Caribbean - 30% with critics, 98% of others surveyed want to see it.
The comments of the critics on both of these movies are scathing. But they will battle it out for box office supremacy this weekend. Guess critics don't really influence audiences.
* * *
Still on the subject of movies, let's go to Austin, TX where the Alamo Drafthouse cinema has scheduled a showing of Wonder Woman for June 6th, that is for women only. All of the staff working and the audience will be female.
Some men are not happy about this. I do not understand the outrage. Now if this were the very first showing of the film and it was gender-restricted, there might be an argument to be made that this is discriminatory. But the movie breaks wide on June 2nd. So the men who can't attend the June 6th screenings (the first sold out almost immediately and another was added) have no real reason to be complaining.
* * *
In a blog last year, I point out one of the many lies told by the Cheeto-in-Chief, this one related to his claim that he had saved 1,100 jobs at a Carrier Air Conditioning plant in Indiana. In actuality, 300 of those jobs were not slated to move to Mexico and the accurate figure was only 800.
Now comes news that Carrier is going to cut 632 more jobs at that plant, most of which will be moved to Mexico where the minimum wage is below $5 U.S.
Worse yet, the company admitted that their investment of $16 million, touted by Trump last year as bringing even more jobs to the plant; will actually go toward automation which will eliminate jobs instead. #LiarInChief
* * *
The headline is that the top student financial aid official, James Runcie, at the Department of Education has resigned, and the official spin is that he refused the request of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos to testify before Congress.
If you dig a little, you discover that he said he did not feel it appropriate for him to testify about the issues he was being asked to discuss when the Department had spent a considerable amount of time and resources preparing the point man on the issue of improper financial aid payments, Jay Hurt to testify.
Why would anyone want someone who isn't the expert on an issue to testify about something in their Department? I'd ask Betsy DeVos that question, but I'd have to put it into simpler terms so she could comprehend the meaning of the question.
Considering we're talking about $6 billion in potentially improper payments, the expert on the subject should be the one answering the questions.
* * *
May 26
Guadalupe Plascencia is a 59 year old hairdresser in San Bernardino. She was in jail because of an old bench warrant where she did not show up to testify in a court case. She had done nothing wrong other than fail to show up to testify.
She is a U.S. citizen. That didn't stop a deputy from pressuring her to sign a document acknowledging that she was aware that ICE had inquired about her.
Since she's a citizen she figured it couldn't hurt to sign the form. Big mistake.
Right after she was released ICE agents took her into custody and she spent a day in their "facility" until her daughter appeared with her passport, proving her citizenship.
Now the ACLU has begun the process of filing suit against ICE and the San Bernardino County Sheriffs. Their claim states she was discriminated against based on her ethnic origin.
The L.A. Times story points out that she had a valid Driver's License. Since the licenses granted to undocumented immigrants are clearly marked that they are not valid for federal identification purposes, why wouldn't the ICE agents accept a valid license as proof of citizenship?
* * *
Speaking of the Times, they ran a piece today paying tribute to California's war dead, including the five Californians who died while serving since last Memorial Day.
Two of the five perished in "non-combat" related incidents. I like that they were not excluded from the tribute. Everyone who serves, no matter where or when, has volunteered to accept the risks to keep the rest of us safe.
* * *
A Baltimore area lawyer was arrested for allegedly attempting to bribe and intimidate the victim in a rape case. According to the Baltimore Sun story, Christos Vasiliades was recorded telling the victim's husband that there was a risk of her being deported if she showed up to testify, and he offered to pay them $3,000 in cash once the charges were dropped.
If they convict this guy I hope he is disbarred as well as imprisoned.
* * *
posted by me at 4:10 PM
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