Recommended Reading
from Bruce
Mark Morford: 13 reasons to turn down $3 billion (SF Gate)
Hey, Evan Spiegel! You're an adorably post-pubescent, 23-year-old Stanford frat guy/techbro who co-founded an adorably meaningless app called Snapchat, used by millions of teens to send photos of their mall exploits to their friends, photos that self-vaporize almost as quickly as the teens' interest in smartphone apps that will be sadly irrelevant in ten months unless you're Facebook or Twitter which no one is I mean thank God!
Paul Krugman: Social Security and Secular Stagnation (NY Times)
Another option, however (or a complementary option) would be to follow up on another surprising notion that is suddenly gaining traction: expanding, not cutting, Social Security.
Rory Carroll: "Donald Sutherland: 'I want Hunger Games to stir up a revolution'" (Guardian)
Donald Sutherland wants to stir revolt. A real revolt. A youth-led uprising against injustice that will overturn the US as we know it and usher in a kinder, better way. "I hope that they will take action because it's getting drastic in this country." Drone strikes. Corporate tax dodging. Racism. The Keystone oil pipeline. Denying food stamps to "starving Americans". It's all going to pot. "It's not right. It's not right."
David Christopher Bell: The 4 Worst Recent Police Fails in America (Cracked)
Fingerprints are like anuses in that no two are the same and cops love checking them for clues. Fingerprinting suspects is as basic as police work gets -- unless you're the police in St. Louis, Missouri, who apparently prefer a more lax "let's just arrest whoever" approach. Take Shannon McNeal, who was arrested for having the same name as another woman who's 14 years younger than her ... and also dead. Even though her fingerprints didn't match, McNeal was thrown in jail and ended up paying $15,000 in fees.
Chris Ramirez: 4 On Your Side reveals another traffic stop nightmare (KOB)
Young is taken to the Gila Regional Medical Center in Silver City, and just like Eckert, he's subjected to medical procedures including x-rays of his stomach and an anal exam. Again, police found nothing, and again the procedures were done without consent, and in a county not covered by the search warrant. We've learned more about that drug dog, Leo, that seems to get it wrong pretty often. He might be getting it wrong because he's not even certified in New Mexico.
Joel Stice: 20 Surprising 'Pulp Fiction' Facts You Might Not Know (Uproxx)
What I'm saying is that now is a good time to look back at one of the greatest films of last 25 years and dig up some of the gems you may not know. How the hell else do you expect to win Tarantino Triva Night if you don't know the story behind Jules's jheri curl?
Sam Leith: "CS Lewis's literary legacy: 'dodgy and unpleasant' or 'exceptionally good'?" (Guardian)
It's 50 years since CS Lewis died. His legacy encompasses far more than just Narnia - Rowan Williams, A.S. Byatt, Philip Pullman and others give their thoughts on his body of work.
Lee Camp: The Truth About Black People (YouTUbe)
Black people use drugs at about the same rate as white people.
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Michelle in AZ
From The Creator of 'Avery Ant'
Selected Readings
from that Mad Cat, JD
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Overcast day, rainy night.
Tapped for 2014 Spirit Award Duty
Patton Oswalt
Our lock-down awards season prediction: we can guarantee that the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards will have plenty of spirit now that Patton Oswalt has been tapped as the ringmaster. Yes, the comedian-actor-Twitter star will host the indie Oscars, Yahoo Movies has exclusively learned.
The 29th annual awards ceremony, honoring the best in independent cinema, will be held during a daytime beach party in a tent on the Santa Monica sand on March 1, with the broadcast airing that evening at 10 p.m. ET/PT on IFC. Nominations will be announced Nov. 26.
"Patton is an incredibly talented writer, actor and comedian whose irreverent humor is the perfect fit for our show. We couldn't be more thrilled that he will be hosting the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards," says executive producer Diana Zahn-Storey, who is returning for her 19th Spirit Awards show.
The ceremony will premiere on IFC, March 1, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
Patton Oswalt
Voters Reject Anti-Abortion Measure
Albuquerque
In a closely watched, first-of-its kind municipal election, voters in New Mexico's largest city have soundly defeated a ban on late-term abortions.
Voters on Tuesday rejected the measure 55 percent to 45 percent following an emotional and graphic campaign that brought in national groups and hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising. The campaign included protests that compared abortion to the Holocaust and displayed pictures of aborted fetuses.
A coalition of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and Planned Parenthood, called the results a huge victory for Albuquerque women and families.
"Albuquerque families sent a powerful message today_they do not want the government interfering in their private medical decisions," Micaela Cadena with the Respect ABQ Women campaign said in a statement. "Dangerous, unconstitutional laws like the one we rejected today have no place in Albuquerque, no place in New Mexico, no place anywhere in our nation."
Albuquerque
Comic Book Gets Digital Makeover
Civil Rights
The comic book used to teach and inspire civil rights proponents and activists in the 1950s and 1960s is being released digitally amid increased interest in its role in the movement.
Top Shelf Comix said Wednesday that "Martin Luther King and The Montgomery Story" was scanned using the original files from the 16-page comic first published in 1958 by the Nyack, N.Y.-Fellowship of Reconciliation. It's being sold digitally through Comixology, as well as through Amazon for the Kindle, in Apple's iBookstore and on other platforms.
Its influence was noted by U.S. Rep. John Lewis who said reading it helped galvanize his involvement.
"It was very inspiring ... and when I attended the nonviolence workshops in Nashville at a local church, we all had an opportunity to get a copy of this book we called the 'comic book,'" he told The Associated Press in August. "We were able to digest the essence of the book as we studied and participated in those nonviolence workshops."
Civil Rights
Paramount Would Fight Sequel
'It's A Wonderful Life'
Paramount won't be giving any wings to a planned "It's a Wonderful Life" sequel.
A studio spokeswoman said Wednesday that Paramount would fight the proposed follow-up to the 1946 holiday classic starring Jimmy Stewart as George Baily, a desperate family man who imagines what his town would be like if he'd never been born.
Star Partners and Hummingbird Productions announced plans Monday to create a sequel titled "It's a Wonderful Life: The Rest of the Story."
Bob Farnsworth, president of Nashville, Tenn.-based Hummingbird Productions, told trade publication Variety that the film was set for release in 2015 and would star Karolyn Grimes, who played George Bailey's daughter in the original film.
While a lapsed copyright led TV stations in the 1970s, '80s and early '90s to repeatedly broadcast "It's a Wonderful Life," Paramount has controlled the rights for the past 14 years, after the studio acquired Republic Pictures as part of its acquisition of Spelling Entertainment in 1999. Paramount has since licensed "It's a Wonderful Life" to NBC, which airs it sparingly during the holiday season.
'It's A Wonderful Life'
Ousted Director General Testifies
Bolshoi
There were simmering tensions between Bolshoi ballet chief Sergei Filin and dancer Pavel Dmitrichenko, who is suspected of masterminding an acid attack on Filin, the ousted head of the famed theater told a Russian court on Wednesday.
The attack shed light on fierce backstage drama at the famed Russian company and led to a major shake-up. Director general Anatoly Iksanov and his archrival, former principal dancer Nikolai Tsiskaridze, who feuded openly about the direction of the theater, were both ousted.
Iksanov told the court he was aware of a "difficult relationship" between Filin and Dmitrichenko but never personally witnessed any animosity. He said employees had told him that Dmitrichenko "took liberties in speaking rudely" to Filin before others.
Looking straight at Dmitrichenko, Iksanov dismissed the dancer's claims that Filin had threatened staff and even extorted $100,000 from the troupe chief.
Bolshoi
In The Market For #4
Rupert
Media baron Rupert Murdoch (R-Evil Incarnate) and his soon-to-be-ex-wife said they were parting with "mutual respect" Wednesday after telling a judge they had reached a divorce deal.
The chairman of News Corp. and 21st Century Fox and his wife of 14 years, Wendi Deng Murdoch, shook hands and briefly hugged after a brief proceeding in a Manhattan court.
The terms of the agreement weren't disclosed in court, but a person familiar with the settlement said Wendi Deng Murdoch will keep the couple's Beijing house and their apartment on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. The couple will share custody of the school-age girls, who are expected to continue living with their mother in Manhattan, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the personal matters.
Rupert Murdoch will retain properties elsewhere, including an estate in Bel Air, Calif., the person said.
The divorce will end a third marriage for the 82-year-old, who got his start in his family's newspaper business in his native Australia and built a global media conglomerate. Forbes pegged his and his family's wealth at $13.4 billion in September.
Rupert
5 Month Sentence
Michael Little
Jim Coombes was trying to surprise his wife by amassing a collection of works by famed American glass artist Dale Chihuly to donate to Gonzaga University in Spokane, where they've worked for decades.
They both ended up surprised: It turned out he spent $25,000 on about 100 counterfeit pieces.
He bought them from Michael Little, a Renton man who provided him with fabricated documents attesting to their authenticity.
U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik sentenced Little to five months in prison, followed by five months at a halfway house and three years of supervised release, for his guilty plea to wire fraud. The case involved two dozen victims, including Coombes, though the others lost less money.
The judge said he would have preferred to send Little to basic training in the Army, if he had the authority.
Michael Little
Turkey and Greece Feud
Hagia Sophia
Turkey and Greece were locked Wednesday in a war of words over the possible conversion of Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's most stunning landmarks, into a mosque.
The feud over the 1,476-year-old World Heritage site is the latest to erupt between the two neighbours over religion.
Greece reacted furiously to remarks by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc that he hoped to change the status of Hagia Sophia, which is now a museum.
Hagia Sophia, which dates back to 537, was a church for centuries -- and the seat of the Patriarchate of Constantinople -- before being converted to a mosque under the Ottoman empire in 1453.
It opened as a museum in 1935 after the founding of modern Turkey.
Hagia Sophia
Advises Employees
McDonald
The fast food chain's McResource Line doles out health and financial advice to its 1.8 million low-wage employees, including instructions for obtaining food stamps and tips for eating healthy. However, like McDonald's employee budget released this summer, the resource seems to highlight how poor of a deal these workers have, earning on average $7.75 an hour, rather than providing any useful help.
The group Low Pay Is Not OK pointed out several months ago that McDonald's sample budget assumed workers had two incomes, put heating costs at zero dollars and allotted only $600 a month to mortgage costs - a tiny sum for anyone living in an urban centre.
On Tuesday, the group released another video criticizing McDonald's happy-go-lucky advice to its workers, many of whom struggle to make ends meet, to go on vacation and "quit complaining" to lower stress hormones.
The company's holiday debt advice in particular has led to some damning press coverage . For example, consider McDonald's suggestions for employees trying to clamber out of debt after the holidays:
On a short term basis, do whatever it takes to dig out from your holiday debt. You may want to consider returning some of your unopened purchases that may not seem as appealing as they did. Selling some of your unwanted possessions on eBay or Craigslist could bring in some quick cash. Consider bringing a brown bag lunch and skipping the takeout, renting free videos from the library, or giving up your gym membership. You might also consider a temporary part time job to dig out of debt quickly.
McDonald's
Restored Frescoes
Catacombs of Priscilla
Proponents of a female priesthood say frescoes in the newly restored Catacombs of Priscilla prove there were women priests in early Christianity. The Vatican says such assertions are sensationalist "fairy tales".
The catacombs, on Rome's Via Salaria, have been fully reopened after a five-year project that included laser technology to clean some of the ancient frescoes and a new museum to house restored marble fragments of sarcophagi.
Built as Christian burial sites between the second and fifth centuries and meandering underground for 13 km (8 miles) over several levels, the Catacombs of Priscilla contain frescoes of women that have provoked academic debate for many years.
One, in a room called the "Cubiculum of the Veiled Woman," shows a woman whose arms are outstretched like those of a priest saying Mass. She wears what the catacombs' Italian website calls "a rich liturgical garment". The word "liturgical" does not appear in the English version.
She also wears what appears to be a stole, a vestment worn by priests. Another fresco, in a room known as "The Greek Chapel," shows a group of women sitting around a table, their arms outstretched like those of priests celebrating Mass.
Catacombs of Priscilla
Seeks Marijuana Editor
Denver Post
And they say there are no good jobs out there anymore. The Denver Post is seeking a new section editor to "oversee the maintenance and development of a recreational marijuana website." Paging Snoop Dogg!
A partial image of the job description was posted to Twitter by Steve McMillan, an editor at the Denver Post. Colorado recently legalized the use of recreatrional marijuana for adults. The image was quickly retweeted and drew snarky and enthusastic comments.
The Huffington Post notes that the full job description has not yet been added to the Digital First Media job board, owner of The Denver Post.
That's likely because the job is for people already employed by the Denver Post. No outside marijuana enthusiasts need apply. Kevin Dale, who is listed as a contact on the job posting, tweeted out this sad trombone of an update.
Denver Post
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