Paul Krugman: Democrats May Save Us Yet (NY Times Column)
America's defenders of democracy take a stand. … What we learned Wednesday, however, was that those who define America by its ideals, not the dominance of a particular ethnic group, won't give up easily. The bad news is that our bad people are as bad as everyone else's. The good news is that our good people seem unusually determined to do the right thing.
Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman: Why doesn't McConnell want witnesses at Trump's trial? Because he's guilty. (Washington DC)
… Trump wants a trial, because he wants to be able to say he's been acquitted. This creates an additional complication for McConnell: Trump wants a trial and also wants it to be rigged on his behalf. He doesn't want to hear from those witnesses, either, which is why the White House blocked them. So that means McConnell is under pressure to hold a trial, but he's also under pressure to keep it from producing any new revelations. Yet vulnerable GOP senators might not accept a sham trial, and McConnell can't have one unless 51 GOP senators vote for such a process.
Paul Waldman: Voter suppression could become more important to the GOP's election plans than ever (Washington Post)
As we move into an election year, you can bet that more than a few state governments controlled by Republicans are going to look at what will inevitably be a close election and decide that another thumb on the scale might be just what they need to hold on to their own power and make sure Trump gets their electoral votes. Democrats will sue, and lose in court more often than not. Then they'll have to work twice as hard to overcome the ways Republicans have rigged the system in their favor. The only way Democrats can stop them is to win, no matter how hard Republicans make it.
Mary Beard: Graduating at Exeter (TLS)
I have become quite a connoisseur of shoes worn by students at graduation ceremonies. If you find yourself having the pleasure of receiving an honorary degree, there really is much to enjoy - but you usually find yourself sitting on and necessarily on you best behaviour (no tweeting) as several hundred students come up to receive their degrees. As well as clapping, my number one amusement is reviewing the footwear of (especially) the lady graduands - and marvelling at how so many of them can manage to balance, negotiate the steps and the light fandango across the stage in such perilously high heels.
Mary Beard: The anthropology of Christmas (TLS)
… I have one tree that is plain round baubles only, a purist aesthetic, plus a dozen battery-driven candles. And the other is a celebration of Christmas in all its many, conflicting modern reincarnations … from a stuffed Jane Austen (whose right arm had to be Blu-Tacked back on after a year in a box), to a gloriously up-front black angel and some "Make America Great Again" memorabilia.
The best-selling novel of the 19th century and the second best-selling book of that century, after the bible, was subtitled "Life Among the Lowly". What is the title of this novel?
Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly, is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the U.S. and is said to have "helped lay the groundwork for the Civil War".
Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century and the second best-selling book of that century, following the Bible. It is credited with helping fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s. In the first year after it was published, 300,000 copies of the book were sold in the United States; one million copies in Great Britain. In 1855, three years after it was published, it was called "the most popular novel of our day." The impact attributed to the book is great, reinforced by a story that when Abraham Lincoln met Stowe at the start of the Civil War, Lincoln declared, "So this is the little lady who started this great war." The quote is apocryphal; it did not appear in print until 1896.
The book and the plays it inspired helped popularize a number of stereotypes. These include the affectionate, dark-skinned "mammy"; the "pickaninny" stereotype of black children; and the "Uncle Tom", or dutiful, long-suffering servant faithful to his white master or mistress. In recent years, the negative associations with Uncle Tom's Cabin have, to an extent, overshadowed the historical impact of the book as a "vital antislavery tool."
Source
Mark. was first, and correct, with:
Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Randall wrote:
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Jon L said:
That would be Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Alan J answered:
Uncle Tom's Cabin.
mj replied:
A lovely propaganda piece
Uncle Tom's Cabin.
zorch responded:
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Kevin K. in Washington, DC, said:
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Jim from CA, retired to ID, wrote:
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Dave replied:
Uncle Tom's Cabin. Written by the abolitionist author Harriet Beecher Stowe, and published in 1852, Uncle Tom's Cabin and thousands of performances of the stage play, had a tremendous influence on northern and British attitudes toward slavery. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" likewise infuriated southern whites, who denied that slaves were cruelly mistreated and constrained, and helped to bring about the eventual secession movement that ironically doomed slavery. Like Trump cultists today, advocates of the Slave Power were very touchy and took great offence at being accurately described as evil doers. In 1862, Stowe was received by President Lincoln at the White House where he greeted her with the words, "So you are the little woman who wrote the book that started this great war."
Daniel in The City said:
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Cal in Vermont wrote:
Uncle Tom's Cabin. The work was said to crystallize Abolitionist sentiment and provided the impetus for the Civil War also known as the War of Northern Agression. Maybe we should get together and cut the Confederacy loose and finally realize the American Dream.
Michelle in AZ answered:
"Uncle Tom's Cabin"
DJ Useo responded:
The answer is "Uncle Tom's Cabin", & a mighty fine book it is. I think it was written years ahead of it's time,
but it's a good thing it was. Racism is pure madness. A caveman behavior, I say.
Joe S replied:
Uncle Tom's Cabin. If you didn't know that, you should have.
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• Wikipedia is completely written by its users - volunteers all. Of course, as you may expect, some users try to post incorrect information. Often, this is funny misinformation. For example, in late October 2006, this information appeared in the entry for Essex High School: "At EHS students are free to do whatever they wish in their time after school. This policy has led to the creation of the Zombie Killing Squad, the Pro-Zombie Acceptance Committee, the Zombie Hate Club and the Debate Team." Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately), this misinformation was quickly noticed and quickly deleted.
• Back in the Vietnam War era, comedian Jackie Mason made fun of reports that we were winning the war. For example, to make fun of reports that we were bombing 500 bridges a week in Vietnam, he would say that he had recently returned from Vietnam, and there weren't but eight bridges in the whole country. Does that mean that we should disbelieve military reports? Not necessarily. Mr. Mason said that apparently the military first airdropped the bridges in Vietnam, then destroyed them.
• David Letterman is known for his wit. As a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity, he once talked a fellow fraternity member into shaving his head and painting it blue. Mr. Letterman then pointed out the fraternity member to other people and said that he was the world's biggest ballpoint pen. And as a weather broadcaster in Indiana (early in his career), he once announced the temperatures of two cities - "Muncie, 42; Anderson, 44" - then said, "Always a close game."
• Groucho Marx, master of insults, once toasted a socialite in this way: "I drink to your charm, your beauty, and your brains - which will give you a rough idea of how hard up I am for a drink." Brother Chico was a master of chasing skirts. When his wife caught him kissing another woman, he explained, "I wasn't kissing her. I was whispering in her mouth."
Work
• Chris Rock became a comedian almost as a fluke. In 1983, he wanted to see in person Eddie Murphy - a comedian whom he "totally idolized." While standing in line at Radio City Music Hall to buy a ticket, he read a local paper that included information about comedy clubs. Mr. Rock says, "I don't know what it was, but something in my head said [to] walk away, so I did." He walked to the comedy club Catch a Rising Star. Fortunately, it was audition night, and fortunately he drew a lottery number that allowed him to be one of the people who auditioned that night. While waiting to go on stage, he wrote some jokes, and he succeeded so well that he was offered work at the club. This was fortunate. Mr. Rock says, "I knew nothing. If he hadn't told me to come back, I never would have." Of course, Mr. Rock rose in the comedy ranks, and a big break came when Eddie Murphy saw his act and hired him to play the role of a valet in Beverly Hills Cop II. What would Mr. Rock be doing now if he had not listened to the voice in his head telling him to walk away? He says, "I don't know, driving a truck, something like that. But happy. I'd be a happy guy doing that."
• Some people are, quite simply, competent. In 1929, Laurel and Hardy made the short comedy film "Liberty," for which a three-story building was constructed. At one point, the comedy team was working 200 feet above ground, but a wooden platform below them was supposed to provide them safety. Mr. Laurel expressed concern about the height the comedy team was in, so to prove that they were safe Mr. Hardy jumped down on the wooden platform. However, the wood was made of flimsy sugar pine, and he fell through the platform. Fortunately, a competent crewmember named Thomas Benton Roberts, who had unsuccessfully complained about the flimsiness of the safety platform, had gone to the trouble of putting up a safety net below the safety platform - something he was not required to do. Instead of falling 200 feet, Mr. Hardy fell only 20 feet. He was shaken by the fall, but he quickly went back to work.
CBS fills the night with LIVE'NFL Football', then pads the left coast with local crap and maybe a RERUN'Bob Hearts Abishola', and/or '48 Hours'.
NBC opens the night on the East Coast with 'Dateline', followed by an old 'SNL', while on the left coast there's a LIVE'SNL', followed by an old 'SNL'.
'SNL' is FRESH with Eddie Murphy hosting, music by Lizzo.
ABC fills the night with LIVE'College Football', then pads the left coast with local crap and maybe an old '20/20'.
The CW offers some local crap and some '2½ Men'.
Faux fills the night with LIVE'PBC Fight Night', then pads the left coast with local crap.
MY recycles an old 'Major Crimes', followed by another old 'Major Crimes'.
AMC offers the movie 'Elf', followed by the movie 'National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation', then the movie 'Christmas With The Kranks'.
BBC -
[6:00AM] PLANET EARTH: MISSION GALAPAGOS - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-Cauldron of Life
[7:00AM] PLANET EARTH: MISSION GALAPAGOS - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 2-Secrets of the Deep
[8:00AM] PLANET EARTH: MISSION GALAPAGOS - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Future Frontiers
[9:00AM] PLANET EARTH: ENCHANTED KINGDOM - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-Planet Earth: Enchanted Kingdom
[11:00AM] PLANET EARTH: DYNASTIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 5-Emperor Penguin
[12:00PM] PLANET EARTH: DYNASTIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 4-Painted Wolf
[1:00PM] PLANET EARTH: DYNASTIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Tiger
[2:00PM] PLANET EARTH: DYNASTIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 2-Chimpanzee
[3:00PM] PLANET EARTH: DYNASTIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-Lion
[4:00PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 5-Winter
[5:00PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Summer
[6:00PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 4-Autumn
[7:00PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-The Ends of the Earth
[8:00PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 2-Spring
[9:00PM] MADAGASCAR - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Land of Heat and Dust
[10:12PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 5-Winter
[11:21PM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 3-Summer
[12:30AM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 4-Autumn
[1:39AM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 1-The Ends of the Earth
[4:00AM] PLANET EARTH: FROZEN PLANET - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 6-The Last Frontier
[5:00AM] PLANET EARTH: DYNASTIES - SEASON 1 - EPISODE 5-Emperor Penguin (ALL TIMES EST)
Bravo has 2½ hours of 'Chrisley Knows Best', followed by the movie 'Cheaper By The Dozen'.
Comedy Central has the movie 'Meet The Parents', followed by the movie 'The Wedding Singer'.
FX has the movie 'The Night Before', followed by the movie 'Office Christmas Party', then the movie 'Office Christmas Party'.
History has 'Ancient Aliens', followed by a FRESH'Ancient Aliens: Declassified'.
IFC -
[6:00A] The Three Stooges - Three Little Beers
[6:15A] Batman - Batman Is Riled
[6:48A] Batman - Instant Freeze
[7:21A] Batman - Rats Like Cheese
[7:54A] Batman - Zelda the Great
[8:27A] Batman - A Death Worse Than Fate
[9:00A] X-Men
[11:15A] X-Men 2
[2:00P] X-Men: The Last Stand
[4:30P] X-Men Origins: Wolverine
[7:00P] Independence Day
[10:00P] Independence Day
[1:00A] Predator
[3:30A] Predator 2 (ALL TIMES EST)
Sundance -
[6:00am] The Rifleman
[6:30am] The Rifleman
[7:00am] The Rifleman
[7:30am] The Rifleman
[8:00am] The Rifleman
[8:30am] The Rifleman
[9:00am] The Shootist
[11:30am] El Dorado
[2:30pm] McLintock!
[5:30pm] Big Jake
[8:00pm] The Outlaw Josey Wales
[11:00pm] Pale Rider
[1:30am] High Plains Drifter
[4:00am] Big Jake (ALL TIMES EST)
SyFy has the movie 'Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets'.
SAG-AFTRA is expanding its probe into the firing of "America's Got Talent" host Gabrielle Union to include a deeper look at FremantleMedia, producer of NBC's competition show. The move comes after Orlando Jones claimed that his firing from the Starz drama series "American Gods," another Fremantle production, was racially motivated.
"After initial meetings with Gabrielle Union and her representatives about her experiences on America's Got Talent, and after learning more about Orlando Jones's experience on American Gods, SAG-AFTRA is expanding its investigation of Fremantle Media," the union said in a statement. "Our enforcement actions are handled confidentially to protect the members involved, and we typically do not publicize these matters unless the affected members request that we do so. We have nothing further to report at this time."
Fremantle said it would cooperate with SAG-AFTRA's effort.
SAG-AFTRA initiated a probe of Union's exit from "America's Got Talent" on Dec. 1 after the former judge went public with accusations that she faced racial and gender discrimination during her time on the show, and that producers and NBC failed to act on her complaints.
SAG-AFTRA is the largest union for talent, representing some 160,000 actors, journalists, radio personalities, singers, and media professionals. Variety broke the news that Union was let go from the NBC competition series in November after the actress spoke to producers about the alleged workplace toxicity she endured and witnessed as a judge on the recent 14th season of the show.
ViacomCBS has struck a deal to acquire 49% of Miramax for $375 million. Under the terms of the deal, beIN Media Group will maintain 51% - and thus, control. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2020.
That $375 million begins with an upfront cash payment of approximately $150 million. The remaining $225 million comes from a commitment to invest $45 million annually over the next five years, which will be used for new film and television productions as well as working capital.
Miramax's impressive film library includes more than 700 titles, 278 Academy Award nominations and 68 Oscars. The studio holds four Best Picture awards: for "Chicago," "Shakespeare In Love," "The English Patient," and "No Country For Old Men."
Founded by Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein in 1979, Miramax was sold to Disney in 1993 with the Weinstein brothers remaining in charge until 2005. They left to form The Weinstein Company, which collapsed in 2018 after more than 100 women accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and misconduct. The company became an indie film powerhouse in the 1990s and 2000s, producing many of the defining films of the era.
Disney sold Miramax to a joint venture consisting of Colony NorthStar, Tutor-Saliba Corporation, and Qatar Investment Authority in 2010. That consortium sold Miramax to the beIN Media Group in 2016.
Hand gestures flashed by West Point cadets and Naval Academy midshipmen during the televised Army-Navy football game were not racist signals, military investigations have concluded.
A Navy probe of the event found that the students were participating in a "sophomoric game" on Saturday and had no racist intent. An Army statement Friday also rejected any racist overtones, saying the hand gestures were "not associated with ideologies or movements that are contrary to the Army values."
The Navy said officials are, however, disappointed in the immature behavior of the students and "their actions will be appropriately addressed." There were no details about their exact punishment, but a Navy report on the investigation said the two midshipmen should face "administrative action" for "failure to use good judgment."
Clips of the hand gestures by the students went viral on social media and immediately raised questions about whether they were using a "white power" sign. But others suggested it was part of what's called the "circle game," in which someone flashes an upside-down OK sign below the waist and punches anyone who looks at it.
The Navy said that reviews of the footage, more than two dozen interviews and background checks by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and the FBI determined that the two freshmen midshipmen were participating in the "circle game" with West Point cadets.
Mob Wivesstar Drita D'Avanzo and her husband, Lee D'Avanzo, were arrested on Thursday after police allegedly found weapons and drugs during a raid on their New York home, a spokesperson for the NYPD confirms to ET.
During the raid, which went down on Staten Island, cops allegedly recovered 22 Xanax pills, 120 hydrocodone/acetaminophen pills, marijuana and two loaded firearms.
The couple was charged with seven felonies in total, six misdemeanors and three violations, including criminal possession of marijuana greater than 16 ounces and greater than eight ounces, criminal possession of a criminal substance, possession of a weapon, two criminal counts of possession of narcotics, and acting in a manner injurious to a child.
This isn't the first time that Drita has been behind bars. In 2016, she was arrested after allegedly getting into a verbal dispute with another woman. At the time, the NYPD told ET that things escalated when Drita "attacked" the woman, reportedly punching her numerous times before fleeing the scene.
The two cops - the cold case detective from Virginia and the evidence technician from Alaska - had a mission. Sift through more than a decade of grim stories from this small city set between the Bering Strait and Alaska's western tundra.
Nome's new police chief, another Virginia transplant, asked the two to untangle whether the city's police department had failed hundreds of people - most of them Alaska Native women - who had reported they'd been sexually assaulted.
So they spent weeks inside the police station on the edge of town, squinting at computer screens and stacks of paper. What they found horrified them.
Again and again, the files showed, officers had failed to investigate rapes and other sexual crimes. In some cases, the two cops say, officers had never questioned the suspect.
In other cases, they say, dispatchers had taken distraught calls from women saying they'd been sexually assaulted, and no one from the department had bothered to go to talk to them.
Russia's first floating nuclear power plant is now producing electricity in Chukotka, a remote area in the nation's Far East region.
On September 14, the Akademik Lomonosov docked in the port of Pevek, an Arctic town across from Alaska, after a 3,100-mile journey across the Arctic Ocean. Its freshly painted exterior bore the signature red, white, and blue colors of the nation's flag.
The vessel has two loaded nuclear reactors that will eventually generate enough electricity for an estimated 100,000 homes.
The plant could spur other nations to acquire floating nuclear power plants of their own, but environmentalists worry about the safety of such facilities.
The plant was named after Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov. It's more than 450 feet long and 30 feet tall.
The U.S. military plans to stockpile rare earth magnets used in Javelin missiles and F-35 fighter jets, according to a government document seen by Reuters, a step that critics say does little to help create a domestic industry to build specialized magnets now made almost exclusively in Asia.
The Pentagon is seeking proposals to cache a rotating six-month supply of neodymium iron boron (NdFeB) magnets, a type of rare earth magnet essential to weapons manufacturing, according to the document, detailing the latest attempt to weaken China's control over the rare earths sector.
Beijing has been using that prowess for leverage in its trade war with Washington.
The request effectively seeks someone to warehouse a six-month supply of the specialized magnets and maintain it for at least 30 months. It does not offer financial support for NdFeB magnet manufacturing, which industry analysts and executives say is a short-sighted misstep by the Pentagon.
China and Japan are the world's largest NdFeB magnet producers. None of the specialized magnets are made in the United States, though a U.S. Naval Research Laboratory scientist invented them https://www.nrl.navy.mil/content_images/horizon.pdf in the early 1980s.
When scientists at the Dalian Natural History Museum in China copped a load of a fossil unearthed in the Lower Cretaceous Yixian Formation, they couldn't believe their eyes. The eight-legged beastie looked like nothing anyone had seen before. Exceptionally preserved.
They described it as a new spider, publishing their analysis in the journal Acta Geologica Sinica, and named the species Mongolarachne chaoyangensis. There was just one problem: the fossil was a big old fake.
The cunning ruse was discovered by invertebrate paleontologist Paul Selden of the University of Kansas, whose spidey senses started tingling when he got his hands on the paper.
"The paper had very few details, so my colleagues in Beijing borrowed the specimen from the people in the Southern University, and I got to look at it. Immediately, I realised there was something wrong with it - it clearly wasn't a spider. It was missing various parts, had too many segments in its six legs, and huge eyes."
"I realised what happened," Selden said, "was I got a very badly preserved crayfish onto which someone had painted on some legs."
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