#Mike McIntire

[maaarine]

'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine (Megan Twohey and Mike McIntire and Julie Tate, The New York Times, Dec 21 2024)

"Last summer, as the release of “It Ends With Us” approached, Justin Baldoni, the director and a star of the film, and Jamey Heath, the lead producer, hired a crisis public relations expert.

During shooting, Blake Lively, the co-star, had complained that the men had repeatedly violated physical boundaries and made sexual and other inappropriate comments to her.

Their studio, Wayfarer, agreed to provide a full-time intimacy coordinator, bring in an outside producer and put other safeguards on set.

In a side letter to Ms. Lively’s contract, signed by Mr. Heath, the studio also agreed not to retaliate against the actress.

But by August, the two men, who had positioned themselves as feminist allies in the #MeToo era, expressed fears that her allegations would become public and taint them, according to a legal complaint that she filed Friday.

It claims that their P.R. effort had an explicit goal: to harm Ms. Lively’s reputation instead.

Her filing includes excerpts from thousands of pages of text messages and emails that she obtained through a subpoena.

These and other documents were reviewed by The New York Times. (…)

Mr. Baldoni was best known for the CW satirical romantic dramedy “Jane the Virgin.”

Wayfarer provided the resources for bigger ambitions. It was bankrolled by the billionaire Steve Sarowitz, who is co-chair of the studio with Mr. Baldoni.

They and Mr. Heath, the chief executive, are all deeply involved with the Baha’i religious organization, which promotes unity, peace and gender equality.

Mr. Baldoni has presented himself as an ally to women, writing books, co-hosting a podcast with Mr. Heath and giving talks on toxic masculinity. (…)

She claimed Mr. Baldoni had improvised unwanted kissing and discussed his sex life, including encounters in which he said he may not have received consent.

Mr. Heath had shown her a video of his wife naked, she said, and he had watched Ms. Lively in her trailer when she was topless and having body makeup removed, despite her asking him to look away.

She said that both men repeatedly entered her makeup trailer uninvited while she was undressed, including when she was breastfeeding. (…)

As the film release neared, Ms. Lively and other cast members informed Sony and Wayfarer that they would not do any appearances alongside Mr. Baldoni.

So did Ms. Hoover, the author, who had her own dissatisfactions with him and had become more upset after he told her about Ms. Lively’s allegations, according to text messages from Mr. Baldoni and Mr. Heath.

By the first week of August, Wayfarer and Mr. Baldoni had retained Ms. Nathan, who had worked with high-profile clients including Mr. Depp, whose ex-wife, Amber Heard, accused him of physical abuse. (…)

Three days later, Mr. Baldoni texted Ms. Abel, flagging a social media thread that accused another celebrity of bullying behavior and had generated 19 million views. “This is what we would need,” he wrote.

Ms. Nathan soon floated proposals to hire contractors to dominate social media through “full social account take downs,” by starting “threads of theories” and generally working to “change narrative.”

“All of this will be most importantly untraceable,” she wrote. (…)

When Ms. Abel wrote to her Aug. 4 that “I’m having reckless thoughts of wanting to plant pieces this week of how horrible Blake is to work with. Just to get ahead of it,” Ms. Nathan replied that she had spoken off the record to an editor at The Daily Mail.

“She’s ready when we are,” Ms. Nathan wrote.

A flurry of articles followed the Hollywood Reporter piece. Many made it seem as if the only rift was over creative control.

Some journalists had gotten wind of complaints about Mr. Baldoni’s behavior, but none of the most serious ones were published.

“He doesn’t realise how lucky he is right now,” Ms. Nathan texted Ms. Abel. (…)

It is unclear exactly how Mr. Wallace operated.

There are references in emails to “social manipulation” and “proactive fan posting,” and text messages cite efforts to “boost” and “amplify” online content that was favorable to Mr. Baldoni or critical of Ms. Lively.

“We are crushing it on Reddit,” Mr. Wallace told Ms. Nathan, according to a text she sent Ms. Abel on Aug. 9.

The next day, one of Ms. Nathan’s employees texted, “We’ve started to see shift on social, due largely to Jed and his team’s efforts to shift the narrative.”

Ms. Nathan wrote to Ms. Abel: “And socials are really really ramping up. In his favour, she must be furious. It’s actually sad because it just shows you have people really want to hate on women.” (…)

On Aug. 16, Ms. Nathan shared the Daily Mail article headlined “Is Blake Lively set to be CANCELLED?” with references to ‘hard to watch’ videos and a ‘tone deaf’ promotional Q. and A.

“Wow. You really outdid yourself with this piece,” Ms. Abel responded.

“That’s why you hired me right?” Ms. Nathan replied. “I’m the best.”"

[bekah-reading]

End of Year Book Tag 2023

Best Book You’ve Read This Year?

Haunting Adeline by H.D. Carlton

FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven

Sick Fux by Tillie Cole

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

Book You We’re Excited About And Thought You Were Going To Love But Didn’t?

Defy the Night by Brigid Kemmerer

The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

Most Surprising Book (in a good way or bad way) You’ve Read This Year?

Good way- Viper by CJ Pinard (I read it and then like binged the rest of the series)

Bad way- The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (I really thought I would enjoy it a lot more than I did.)

Books You’ve Pushed The Most People To Read?

Sick Fux by Tillie Cole

The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

Scream for Us by Molly Doyle (which I read last year but still rave about to my friends lol)

Best Series You’ve Started This Year? Sequel? Ender?

Starter- The Stardust Thief by Chelsea Abdullah

Sequel- Twisted by Emily McIntire

Ender- The Witch of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire

Favourite New Author?

Tillie Cole

Chelsea Abdullah

HD Carlton

Audrey Rush

Best Book From A Genre You Don’t Typically Read/Was Out Of Your Comfort Zone?

I don’t think I read any books out of my comfort zone this year.

Most Action Packed/Thrilling/Unputdownable Book You’ve Read This Year?

One Dark Window by Rachel Gillig

Haunting Adeline by HD Carlton

The Brides of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire

The Book You’ve Red This Year That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read?

Haunting Adeline by HD Carlton

Sick Fux by Tillie Cole

FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven

Favourite Cover Of The Year?

Most Memorable Character?

Heathen from Sick Fux

Cresswell and Audrey Rose from Stalking Jack the Ripper series

Zade Meadows from Haunting Adeline

Rain from The Brides of Maracoor

Most Beautifully Written Book You’ve Read This Year?

Haunting Adeline, I swear that was crack. It was a book I blasted through and it was wonderfully crafted.

Sick Fux, it was rough but the writing style was Al over the place and it fit the story and the vibes really well.

Books You Can’t Believe You’ve Waited To Read?

FantasticLand by Mike Bockoven

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

The Resting Place by Camilla Sten

The Brides of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire

Favourite Quote Of The Year?

“And like roses in his hands, Death blooms.” Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

Shortest Book?

Home: Habitat, Range, Niche Territory by Martha Wells

Longest Book?

Ghostland by Duncan Ralston

Book That Shocked You The Most?

The Oracle of Maracoor by Gregory Maguire

The Haunting of Adeline by HD Carlton

Grave Love by Audrey Rush

OTP Of The Year?

Cresswell and Wadsworth from Stalking Jack the Ripper series.

Blaze and Rey from Grave Love

Zade and Adeline from The Cat and Mouse Duet

Heathen and Ellis from Sick Fux

Favourite Non-Romantic Relationship?

N/A I can’t think of anything right now

Newest Fictional Crush?

Qidar from The Stardust Thief

Zade Meadows from The Cat and Mouse Duet

Glitch from Glitch

Blaze from Grave Love

Julian from Twisted

Cade from Crossed

Heathen from Sick Fux

Hidden Gem Of The Year?

The Cat and Mouse Duet by HD Carlton

Sick Fux by Tillie Cole

Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman

How Many Books Have You Read This Year?

124 books. (DAMN! I have no life, like none. But still- DAMN!)

[futuristicsaladparadise]

The Acceptance Letter: Tabitha

The party was in full swing when the doorbell rang.

“Tabby, honey, can you get that? It’s probably the pizzas,” Mom begged as sugared-up seven-year-old boys ran through the house in a pack, yelling. Mom was trying to navigate through the kitchen, past the dogs, with my brother’s birthday cake.

I had to really pull on the door because it liked to stick, our house being older than my grandma. When it finally opened, so fast I nearly lost my balance, there were no pizzas. There was just some lady with a package.

“Tabitha Danielle Crow?” she asked, staring at me. I was immediately wary, I had never met this person before, so how did she know my full name?

“Ye-es,” I said slowly, standing as far away from her as possible.

“This is for you,” she said, smiling brightly, and handed me the box. She immediately turned to go. She had just made it to the driveway when the pizza delivery showed up. It wasn’t until later that I realized I hadn’t seen any car for her, and we live half a mile from the nearest street.

I didn’t have time to do anything with the parcel until the gremlins went home. We were eating dinner (leftover pizza and cake) when my big sister Kendra picked it up. “What’s this? To Tabitha Danielle Crow, from the Innerstar School for the Gifted and Talented?” She waved the box around.

“Give it to me! It’s mine!” I roared, making a grab for it, but Kendra jumped up, holding it out of reach.

“I should probably open it for you, in case there are big words you don’t understand,” she teased. I chased her around the table, trying to snatch it back, but Kendra wouldn’t let go. She slid her finger under the flap to start tearing it open.

“You know, it’s a federal crime to steal someone else’s mail,” observed Aunt Candace quietly. (She was visiting for the party and was helping us clean up.) Kendra laughed and kept going, but stopped with a hiss, shaking her hand. She’d gotten a nasty paper cut.

“Serves you right,” I said, plucking the package from her hand. I studied the label. It had my full name, all right, but it wasn’t from the Innerstar School for the Gifted and Talented, it was from the Innerstar School of MAGIC. I looked up quickly, Kendra was sucking her cut finger and pouting, Dad and David had gone back to eating pizza like it was a race, Mom was cleaning and paying partial attention, and Aunt Candace was watching me like she was waiting for something. The box opened like it was waiting for me and I pulled out the letter.

“Dear Tabitha,” it read, “Congratulations on your selection to attend Innerstar School of Magic. We are pleased to welcome you to the Innerstar family and look forward to your attendance in the upcoming school year. All our students are placed in different family houses, and you will be a member of McIntire house. Enclosed you will find instructions on how to report to our campus, a list of school supplies, and your uniform. See you September first!”

I couldn’t speak. Did I really just get accepted into a magic school? “No way,” I finally managed. “No freakin’ way.”

I handed the letter to Mom, and she scanned it quickly. I expected some kind of reaction to the word “magic,” but it was like she didn’t even see it. “Mike, did you sign Tabby up for this?” she asked.

Dad shook his head. “I’ve never even heard of any school called Innerstar. Didn’t Kendra say it was for the gifted and talented?”

“Oh, you know, I went there,” chimed in Aunt Candace. It’s a very good school, and extremely difficult to get in.”

Mom nodded. “Apparently she’s been accepted to attend their…boarding school…in New York.”

I blinked. The letter hadn’t said anything about boarding school or New York. A magic boarding school, far away from my annoying brother and sister? Pinch me, I’m dreaming!

[nanmykel]

Oh, That's What Happened...

The Secret History of Gun Rights: How Lawmakers Armed the N.R.A “They served in Congress and on the N.R.A.’s board at the same time. Over decades, a small group of legislators led by a prominent Democrat pushed the gun lobby to help transform the law, the courts and views on the Second Amendment”. By Mike McIntire July 30, 2023 Long before the National Rifle Association tightened its grip on…

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: The Secret History of Gun Rights: How Lawmakers Armed the N.R.A. by Mike McIntire

By Mike McIntire They served in Congress and on the N.R.A.’s board at the same time. Over decades, a small group of legislators led by a prominent Democrat pushed the gun lobby to help transform the law, the courts and views on the Second Amendment. Published: July 30, 2023 at 03:00AM from NYT U.S. https://ift.tt/0PkHRAn via IFTTT

[johnteagueart]

The Photographer Mike McIntire has passed today. He'll be missed....

[contemplatingoutlander]

Excellent article by Mike McIntire about how (thanks to the conservative SCOTUS willful misinterpretation of the Second Amendment in the Heller and Bruen decisions) “armed speech” can now intimidate and silence “unarmed speech” in the U.S.

IMHO any nation that puts “armed speech” above “unarmed speech” no longer truly values the most important foundations of any democracy--the free and open exchange of ideas and the right to protest peacefully without fear of armed retaliation.

The link above is a “gift link” so readers should have access to the entire article even if they don’t subscribe to the Times. In case the link doesn’t work (or you just want to read highlights) below are some excerpts and selected photos from the article:

Across the country, openly carrying a gun in public is no longer just an exercise in self-defense — increasingly it is a soapbox for elevating one’s voice and, just as often, quieting someone else’s. [...] A New York Times analysis of more than 700 armed demonstrations found that, at about 77 percent of them, people openly carrying guns represented right-wing views, such as opposition to L.G.B.T.Q. rights and abortion access, hostility to racial justice rallies and support for former President Donald J. Trump’s lie of winning the 2020 election. [...] Anti-government militias and right-wing culture warriors like the Proud Boys attended a majority of the protests, the data showed. Violence broke out at more than 100 events and often involved fisticuffs with opposing groups, including left-wing activists such as antifa.

Republican politicians are generally more tolerant of openly armed supporters than are Democrats, who are more likely to be on the opposing side of people with guns, the records suggest. In July, for example, men wearing sidearms confronted Beto O’Rourke, then the Democratic candidate for Texas governor, at a campaign stop in Whitesboro and warned that he was “not welcome in this town.” [...] The occasional appearance of armed civilians at demonstrations or governmental functions is not new....But the frequency of these incidents exploded in 2020, with conservative pushback against public health measures to fight the coronavirus and response to the sometimes violent rallies after the murder of George Floyd. Today, in some parts of the country with permissive gun laws, it is not unusual to see people with handguns or military-style rifles at all types of protests.

For instance, at least 14 such incidents have occurred in and around Dallas and Phoenix since May....In New York and Washington, where gun laws are strict, there were none — even though numerous demonstrations took place during that same period.

Many conservatives and gun-rights advocates envision virtually no limits. When Democrats in Colorado and Washington State passed laws this year prohibiting firearms at polling places and government meetings, Republicans voted against them. Indeed, those bills were the exception.

[emphasis added]

[See more below the cut.]

[...] Beyond self-defense, Mr. Stein [a spokesperson for Gun Owners of America] said the freedom of speech and the right to have a gun are “bedrock principles” and that “Americans should be able to bear arms while exercising their First Amendment rights, whether that’s going to church or a peaceful assembly.”

Others argue that openly carrying firearms at public gatherings, particularly when there is no obvious self-defense reason, can have a corrosive effect, leading to curtailed activities, suppressed opinions or public servants who quit out of fear and frustration.

Concerned about armed protesters, local election officials in Arizona, Colorado and Oregon have requested bulletproofing for their offices.

Armed Speech

[...] The Times’s analysis found that the largest drivers of armed demonstrations have shifted since 2020. This year, protesters with guns are more likely to be motivated by abortion or L.G.B.T.Q. issues.  [...] More than half of all armed protests occurred in 10 states with expansive open-carry laws: Arizona, Georgia, Kentucky, Michigan, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia and Washington. Three of them — Michigan, Oregon and Texas — allowed armed protesters to gather outside capitol buildings ahead of President Biden’s inauguration, and in Michigan, militia members carrying assault rifles were permitted inside the capitol during protests against Covid lockdowns.

Beyond the mass gatherings, there are everyday episodes of armed intimidation. Kimber Glidden had been director of the Boundary County Library in Northern Idaho for a couple of months when some parents began raising questions in February about books they believed were inappropriate for children.

It did not matter that the library did not have most of those books — largely dealing with gender, sexuality and race — or that those it did have were not in the children’s section. The issue became a cause célèbre for conservative activists, some of whom began showing up with guns to increasingly tense public meetings, Ms. Glidden said.

“How do you stand there and tell me you want to protect children when you’re in the children’s section of the library and you’re armed?” she asked.

In August, she resigned, decrying the “intimidation tactics and threatening behavior.”

A Growing Militancy

At a Second Amendment rally in June 2021 outside the statehouse in Harrisburg, Pa., where some people were armed, Republican speakers repeatedly connected the right to carry a gun to other social and cultural issues. Representative Scott Perry voiced a frequent conservative complaint about censorship, saying the First Amendment was “under assault.”

“And you know very well what protects the First,” he said. “Which is what we’re doing here today.”

Stephanie Borowicz, a state legislator, was more blunt, boasting to the crowd that “tyrannical governors” had been forced to ease coronavirus restrictions because “as long as we’re an armed population, the government fears us.” [...] Across the country, there is evidence of increasing Republican involvement in militias. A membership list for the Oath Keepers, made public last year, includes 81 elected officials or candidates, according to a report by the Anti-Defamation League. Most of them appear to be Republicans. [...] More than 25 members of the Oath Keepers and Three Percenters have been charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. Those organizations, along with the Proud Boys and Boogaloo Boys, make up the bulk of organized groups in the armed-protest data, according to The Times’s analysis.

Shootings were rare....But Mr. Jones said the data, which also tracked unarmed demonstrations, showed that while armed protests accounted for less than 2 percent of the total, they were responsible for 10 percent of those where violence occurred, most often involving fights between rival groups.

“Armed groups or individuals might say they have no intention of intimidating anyone and are only participating in demonstrations to keep the peace,” said Mr. Jones, “but the evidence doesn’t back up the claim.”

Competing Rights

In a landmark 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court held that the Second Amendment conveyed a basic right to bear arms for lawful purposes such as self-defense at home. It went further in a decision this June that struck down New York restrictions on concealed-pistol permits, effectively finding a right to carry firearms in public.

But the court in Heller also made clear that gun rights were not unlimited, and that its ruling did not invalidate laws prohibiting “the carrying of firearms in sensitive places.” That caveat was reiterated in a concurring opinion in the New York case.

Even some hard-line gun rights advocates are uncomfortable with armed people at public protests...But groups that embrace Second Amendment absolutism do not hesitate to criticize fellow advocates who stray from that orthodoxy. [...] Regardless of whether there is a right to go armed in public for self-defense, early laws and court decisions made clear that the Constitution did not empower people, such as modern-day militia members, to gather with guns as a form of protest, said Michael C. Dorf, a constitutional law professor at Cornell University who has written about the tension between the rights to free speech and guns.

Mr. Dorf pointed to an 18th-century Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that a group of protesters with firearms had no right to rally in public against a government tax. Some states also adopted an old English law prohibiting “going armed to the terror of the people,” still on the books in some places, aimed at preventing the use of weapons to threaten or intimidate.

“Historically,” said Mr. Dorf, “there were such limits on armed gatherings, even assuming that there’s some right to be armed as individuals.”

More broadly, there is no evidence that the framers of the Constitution intended for Americans to take up arms during civic debate among themselves — or to intimidate those with differing opinions. That is what happened at the Memphis museum in September, when people with guns showed up to protest a scheduled dance party that capped a summer-long series on the history of the L.G.B.T.Q. community in the South.

While the party was billed as “family friendly,” conservatives on local talk radio claimed that children would be at risk (the museum said the planned activities were acceptable for all ages). As armed men wearing masks milled about outside, the panicked staff canceled all programs and evacuated the premises.

Mr. Thompson, the director, said he and his board were now grappling with the laws on carrying firearms, which were loosened last year by state legislators.

“It’s a different time,” he said, “and it’s something we have to learn to navigate.”

[emphasis added]

_______________________

NOTE: Photos 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6 were slightly modified from their original sources. All photo caption formatting was changed from the original sources. Photos 2 and 7 were moved to be closer to the stories about them than in the original article.

[ruthfeiertag]

Thirty Reasons to Vote: #29

“Donald J. Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes the year he won the presidency. In his first year in the White House, he paid another $750.

“He had paid no income taxes at all in 10 of the previous 15 years….

“Also hanging over him is a decade-long audit battle with the Internal Revenue Service over the legitimacy of a $72.9 million tax refund…. An adverse ruling could cost him more than $100 million.”

From Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig, and Mike McIntire. “Long-Concealed Records Show Trump’s Chronic Losses and Years of Tax Avoidance,” New York Times. September 27, 2020.

Read the article.

[midnightfunk]

With its core belief that the president is heroically battling entrenched evildoers, QAnon may be the ultimate manifestation of Trump-inspired conspiracy mongering. From the start, it was inexorably bound up with “Make America Great Again” communities online: The New York Times found last year that some 23,000 of Mr. Trump’s Twitter followers had QAnon references in their profiles.

The crazies will vote. And spread their craziness.

Will you risk the embarrassment of being labeled this, that, or the other for persuading family/friends to vote for #ABT ?

[lord-antihero]

Watch "The Truth | M*A*S*H" on YouTube

The best m*a*s*h edit I've ever seen in my life , hands down , hands down .

[wazafam]

By BY GLENN THRUSH, DANNY HAKIM AND MIKE MCINTIRE from U.S. in the New York Times-https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/05/03/us/joe-biden-news/the-long-suffering-atf-slashed-inspections-of-gun-dealers-in-2020?partner=IFTTT The long-suffering A.T.F. slashed inspections of gun dealers in 2020. New York Times

[outsidetheknow]

Trump’s Twitter War Room Aims Its Punches at Decorated Colonel The president and his allies have used the platform to frame his defense and attack key witnesses, including Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman.. via NYT U.S.

[filmnoirfoundation]

ASK EDDIE returns Thursday, 12/9, 7pm PT to our Facebook page.  A recording will be up Fri. 12/10 on our YouTube channel. We solicit questions for Eddie Muller to answer on air via our newsletter:

FNF prez Eddie Muller responds to film noir fan questions fielded by the Foundation's Director of Communications Anne Hockens.  In this edition, we begin with NOIR CITY festival news, then we discuss Christmas niors, whether 5 STEPS TO DANGER and WHITE HEAT are noirs, and Fabian Bielinksy’s EL AURA. We finish up with “If you could sit and watch one of your favorite noir films, on DVD, with one of the actors in that film, who would it be?” On the cat front, Charlotte walks off set. For your calendars — our next episode will stream on Thursday, December 16, 7:00 pm PT on our Facebook page and will be on YouTube on Friday, December 17. We will also have an episode on December 30, same time/same place. There will not be an episode on December 23. Recordings of each episode will be available the next day on YouTube.

This week’s questions:

When will El vampire negro be released on Blu-ray?

Michael, Post Falls, Idaho

One that I thought of is “Holiday Noirs”.  Most specifically "Christmas Noirs”.  I can think of sewvera; Christmas noirs, Christmas Holiday, Cover Up, Mr. Soft Touch, Lady in the Lake, and Roadblock.  Any others?

Paula

What do you think of Leonard Maltin's reviews of film noirs movies in his "Classic Film Guide"? 

Bob Seattle

What was there in the noir of the '40s and '50s that distinguished their quality from the mountain of garbage that comes out of the movie factories of today?

Mike in Florida

5 Steps to Danger, Noir or not?

Jim Alexandria, VA

Are there any movies, Noir or otherwise, that either of you would like to see as a remake?

Joe, San Francisco

Is "White Heat" a film noir or just a heist caper? 

Mi

OK.  Odd question, I know, but would Film Noir have been as enduring had it not been given that wonderful French appellation?  

Ron

What are your thoughts on staircases in noir?

John, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Can you recommend any other classic noirs where actors more widely known for their television work, were given a pretty good part?

Dennis

Jack Elam (Kansas City Confidential [1952], Kiss Me Deadly [1955]) said he bought a few acting roles when he was starting out. What did he mean by that?

Francesca in Seattle

Do you think that the announcement from police chief (John McIntire) at the end of Asphalt Jungle, may have been part of a strategy or negotiation to please the censors ?

Serge

Is it possible to name a film that has strong elements of Film Noir in the silent era?

Jeff from Brooklyn

I'd really like to know more of the back story of El Aura andd to also get Eddie's thoughts on the premature passing of its director Fabian Bielinsky and his working relationship with star Roberto Darin.

Dave-Carmel

If you could sit and watch one of your favorite noir films, on DVD, with one of the actors in that film, who would it be?    

Alan, San Anselmo, CA

[kaileeandag]

American Girl: Where Are They Now?

I wonder “What did the historical characters do when they grew up?” So,here’s what I think.

Kaya: becomes a famous warrior after inheriting the name Swan Circling. Contracts Yellow Fever in 1804 and passes away soon after, at the age of 50.

Felicity Merriman: becomes owner of her father’s shop when she was 20. Marries Benjamin Davidson at the age of 18, once the war is over. Passes away peacefully in her sleep in 1854, at the age of 89. Via adoption, her descendant is comedian Tommy Davidson.

Elizabeth Cole: becomes a schoolteacher. Is arrested in 1795 and executed for treason in 1796 at the age of 31.

Caroline Abbott: at the age of 25, becomes a ship captain. Passes away in childbirth five years later, leaving her daughter to be raised by her father.

Josefina Montoya: opens her own imports store in 1855 with the help of her nephews. Never has children and never marries, passing away in her sleep in 1900 at the age of 85.

Kirsten Larson: thanks to her teacher Miss Winston, chooses to become a teacher. Later becomes an advocate for better travel conditions for immigrants in honor of her friend Marta. Passes away at the age of 99 in 1943 surrounded by her family.

Cecile Rey: becomes a nurse along with Marie Grace. Passes away in 1930 at the age of 75 due to complications from Pneumonia.

Marie Grace Gardener: works as a nurse along with Cecile. Contracts Yellow Fever in 1872, but survives. Passes away in 1935 at the age of 90 due to Alzheimer’s Disease.

Addy Walker: becomes a schoolteacher. She never has children, but sees her nieces and nephews, as well as her students, as her children. Writes a book called Running In The Night, publishing it in 1917. Passes away in her sleep at the age of 93 in 1948.

Samantha Parkington: thanks to her aunt Cornelia’s influence, she becomes a suffragist. Votes for the first time in the 1924 Presidential election. Also becomes an advocate for open adoption sometime in the 1960s. Marries her rival Eddie Ryland in 1918, with whom she has two daughters, Deborah in 1931 and Sarah in 1941. Passes away at the age of 88 in 1983. 

Nellie O’Malley: speaks out against child labor and advocates for safer work conditions after her adoptive parents Cornelia and Gardner approve of the idea. Is the only one of her siblings to make it to old age, after Jenny passes away in 1930 due to Breast Cancer and Bridget is killed in a car accident in 1920, although her niece survives the accident, and William passes away in 1945 after a sudden heart attack. Appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart in 2000 to discuss her cousin/adoptive sister Samantha’s legacy. Passes away at the age of 105 on September 11, 2001, hours prior to the attacks on the World Trade Center. Nellie’s son Joshua passed away in 1977 at the age of 50 due to Lung Cancer, while her daughter Jennifer (born in 1930) is still living at the age of 90.

Rebecca Rubin: becomes a famous actress, making her speaking debut in the 1933 adaptation of King Kong. Her final on-screen appearance is in the 1997 Kirsten Dunst and Britney Murphy film The Devil’s Arithmetic, playing a Holocaust survivor. Marries classmate Otto Geller and has one child with him, son David in 1931. David becomes an actor himself in the early 1960s, his career spanning 55 years prior to his passing in 2015. Passes away in October 2002 at the age of 97. Considered one of the most prominent Jewish-American actresses of all time.

Kit Kittredge: becomes a reporter in the late 1940s, with her first major article being about Joseph McCarthy’s attempt to purge Communism from the country. She criticizes McCarthy in the article, feeling he is fear mongering. Marries Will Shepherd in 1945 when he returns from combat after the end of World War II. After struggling to have children for close to fourteen years, they adopt twin children Justin and Augusta in 1961. Will and Kit become grandparents when their daughter gives birth to a daughter named Amelia in 1990 and when Justin’s son Skylar and daughter Olivia are born in 1992. Retires from journalism in 2010, but comes out of retirement temporarily following the Ferguson Missouri protests in 2014. Passes away at the age of 94 in 2017.

Will Shepherd: manages to make enough money so that he can bring his family to Cincinnati. Is drafted into the Army following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He promises to marry a now adult Kit if he returns home safely, a promise he ends up keeping. Upon his return, he attends college, graduating with his degree in History in 1950. Works as a high school History teacher until his retirement in the early 1990s. When he becomes a grandfather, he dotes on his grandchildren, always taking them to the movies when he is able to do so. Passes away on January 4th, 2019, at the age of 103.

Ruthie Smithens: becomes a nurse, being sent overseas to help injured Allied soldiers during the last year of World War II. Marries Stirling Howard prior to him being shipped off to war, having his daughter Heather in 1943 when he is away. Is diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 1978, but survives. Eventually, she passes away in 1995 at the age of 72 due to a lung fungus called Aspergillosis.

Nanea Mitchell: becomes an advocate for the rights of Japanese-Americans following the end of World War II. Marries her friend Lily Suda’s older brother Gene in 1952 and has twin children Thomas and Sarah with him in 1965. Later becomes a Hawaii state senator in 1980, despite her opponent’s efforts to discredit her because of a meeting she had with former Emperor Showa (Hirohito) to discuss peace between America and Japan. Becomes very popular in Japan due to her advocacy for the rights of Japanese-Americans, becoming an honorary citizen of Tokyo in the late 1980s. Meets with double atomic bomb survivor Tsutomu Yamaguchi in 2006. Passes away three days after her 88th birthday, on April 14th, 2020, due to natural causes.

Molly McIntire: becomes a lawyer in 1950. Becomes known in the Chicago area after being asked to defend John Wayne Gacy during his trial. Is shot into the national spotlight after Ron Goldman’s family hires her to work for them during the OJ Simpson trial. Marries Howie Munson in 1950, their marriage lasting for 16 years prior to their divorce in 1966. Molly and Howie move to England in 1963 and after the divorce, Howie moves back to the States, leaving Molly to raise their 2 year old son Austin. Becomes a grandmother when Austin’s wife gives birth to a daughter named Taylor in 1992 and son Richard in 1993. Molly moves back to Illinois in 1976 with a now 11 year old Austin, settling in Chicago. Becomes a United States Senator in 1996 and votes for senator Barack Obama in the 2008 and the 2012 presidential elections.

Emily Bennett: upon her finishing secondary school, attended college in order to become a teacher. Gives birth to a son named Albion on July 4th, 1964, the same day that Molly gives birth to her son Austin. Emily raises Albion as a single mother due to the father abandoning her shortly after her son’s birth. Moves to Chicago in 1983, reuniting with Molly after she moved back to the States. Publishes a series of children’s books about her friendship with Molly starting in 1988. Her grandson Alastair is born on September 14th, 1992. She publishes an autobiography in 2017, appearing on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to promote it. Alastair drew the cover of the book, which depicts Molly and Emily as children sitting under an oak tree.

Maryellen Larkin: marries classmate Davy Fenstermacher in 1963 following her high school graduation. Her motive is believed to be that she doesn’t want Davy to fight in Vietnam, so she chose to marry him so he wouldn’t be drafted. Their son Thomas is born in 1965 and when Thomas is in 5th grade, Maryellen goes to college in order to get her degree. She becomes a special education teacher, working for 31 years prior to her retirement in 2011. Her choice to allow her students to take part in mainstream classes such as choir confuses her co-workers. However, this becomes the norm following the passing of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990. Her granddaughter Vanessa is born in July 1992 and due to her being her only grandchild, she spoils her rotten.

Melody Ellison: attends medical school, earning her medical license in 1983 at the age of 29. Gives birth to her only child Donna Summer Ellison on January 15th, 1992, on what would have been Martin Luther King Jr.’s 63rd birthday. Her daughter was conceived via In-Vitro Fertilization. Adores her only child and her various nieces and nephews. Is going to retire as a doctor in 2022, at the age of 68.

Julie Albright: wants to become a basketball player, but she is unable to due to the WNBA not existing until 1996. Becomes a professional wrestler in 1987 at the age of 21. She marries classmate T.J. Jefferson in 1989, during the few months she had off. Retires temporarily in April 1992 following the birth of her twin children Rachel Tracy Joyce and Damien Thomas Daniel. Her daughter’s middle names come from her aunt Tracy and maternal grandmother Joyce Albright, while Damian’s middle names come from his father and maternal grandfather Daniel Albright. Returns to pro wrestling in 1995, working with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) until its closure in 2001, retiring permanently soon after. When she was away wrestling, her children would stay with her sister Tracy, Tracy’s husband Mike Stenger, and Julie’s nephew Jonah (born 1988) and niece Aubrey (born 1992.) Becomes an advocate for the rights of LGBT individuals after her son Damian comes out as gay in his Junior year of high school and her nephew Jonah comes out in 2006, during his Senior year of high school.

Ivy Ling: works as a special education teacher until 2003, when she becomes a stand up comedian. She says that her primary influence for pursuing a career in stand up was Margaret Cho. Her daughter Julie was born in November 1991 and was named after her best friend Julie. Her daughter even inherited the nickname ‘Alley Oop’ from her honorary aunt.

Let me know what you guys think! This is just what I think happened.

[quakerjoe]

One of the biggest secrets in American politics — what’s in the tax returns that President Donald Trump has refused to release for so long — has at last been revealed, by the New York Times.

Times journalists Russ Buettner, Susanne Craig, and Mike McIntire obtained “tax-return data extending over more than two decades” related to the president, and have revealed their findings in a bombshell new report. (They are not posting the documents themselves, to avoid jeopardizing their sources.)

For years, the political world has speculated on just what Trump was trying to hide by holding back his returns, and by falsely claiming that he can’t release them until the IRS finishes an extended audit. Was it that he paid no income taxes at all in some years? Was it that he was far less successful of a businessman than he let on? Was he claiming legally dubious deductions?

The answer, it turns out, is all of the above.

The Times story makes clear the supposedly wealthy president often paid no income taxes, while his businesses regularly lost vast sums of money, and he himself was on the hook for increasing sums in loans. All that is politically damaging enough to Trump’s image, and likely a sufficient reason to work hard to keep the tax returns secret.

But there’s likely another reason behind Trump’s reticence — because reporters would scour his returns for legally dubious claims, and put the pieces together as to how he was trying to snooker the IRS.

That’s just what ended up happening here. Just to name one example, Buettner, Craig, and McIntire sussed out that mysterious write-offs for consulting fees on certain Trump projects matched the amounts of payments to Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump. And there’s far more in the Times’ excellent piece.

One major theme of the Times piece is that the IRS audit of Trump is extremely serious, and that he could end up owing the US government more than $100 million. So reporters’ scrutiny of his tax returns might not just be politically problematic for Trump — they could also be financially and legally problematic.

The tax returns reveal that Trump paid little taxes, that his businesses lose lots of money, and that he’s deeply in debt — none of which looks good politically

Back when Trump first ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, he came under an enormous amount of criticism from his rivals for not releasing his tax returns, as past presidential nominees have. Initially, he had promised that he would release them. But he kept making excuses, his main one being the false claim he could not yet release the returns because he is under audit.

So Trump’s tax returns became the white whale of his critics, with everyone from reporters to House Democrats to New York state prosecutors trying to get ahold of them.

After more than four years, Buettner, Craig, and McIntire of the Times got the goods.

Their story reveals the following: Trump did indeed pay zero in income taxes from 2011-2014, and the paltry amount of $750 in 2016 and 2017. He pulled this off by claiming that his businesses lost massive amounts of money. He has $421 million in debt coming due in the next few years, and he could owe $100 million more to the US government if he loses his audit battle with the IRS.

There are ample political reasons in here for Trump to have been so reluctant to release these tax returns.

For one, there’s the fact that he paid so little income taxes, which will look bad from the perspective of many Americans who paid much more in taxes than he has. You might wonder why Trump would care about this given his long-standing ability to wriggle free of political scandals — but that ability wasn’t so clear in 2016, when he first started holding back the returns. Additionally, Trump’s first campaign came just a few years after Mitt Romney was dogged by then-Sen. Harry Reid’s false allegation that Romney had paid no taxes for ten years. The political conventional wisdom was that a wealthy candidate having paid little to nothing in taxes would be punished electorally.

But the specific reason Trump paid no taxes is embarrassing — it’s because his businesses lost tons of money. (At least, that’s what he claims — keep in mind that the tax return information is his representation of his businesses to the IRS.)

To be clear, some parts of Trump’s business really do make money — for instance, The Apprentice sent cash pouring in, and Trump Tower is profitable. But he avoids paying taxes on these profits because he’s claimed such massive losses from other parts of his business empire.

Trump may also have held back the returns to avoid legal and financial jeopardy

The other big reason Trump was probably reluctant to release the returns is that there’s clearly some legally questionable stuff in there.

For instance, the records obtained by Buettner, Craig, and McIntire show that Trump wrote off $26 million in supposed consulting fees as a business expense between 2011 and 2018. But the reporters took the added step of uncovering where some of that money was going — and they figured out that some of those write-offs matched payments to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, as revealed on her own financial disclosure forms.

Now, Ivanka was an executive vice president of the Trump Organization — not some outside consultant. And sources told the Times that there were no outside consultants involved in certain of the projects for which Trump’s businesses wrote-off consulting fees.

The Times story also mentions other questionable practices — Trump dubbed a Westchester, New York mansion an “investment property” so he could write-off property taxes on it, but Eric Trump called it “our compound.” The Trump Organization also wrote off Donald Trump Jr.’s legal fees for the lawyer who represented Don Jr. in the Russia investigation.

This is probably just scratching the surface — the Times reporters say they have more stories coming. But the larger point is that Trump has a history of questionable tax practices, is facing an audit where he has a lot on the line, and appears to be in a financial situation in which having reporters closely scrutinize his tax returns can only be a problem for him.

[feenyxblue]

Anyways, I don't see shootouts to the reporters who wrote the NYT article on Trump's tax returns, so shoutout to Russ Betner, Susanne Craig, and Mike McIntire.

Shoutout also to the anonymous sources who leaked it!!!

Article here: