17 hours ago
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Micro movie review
Far from the Madding Crowd--Thomas Hardy's novel about a young woman in rural Victorian England, and the three men who wanted her. I read the book and saw the Julie Christie/Alan Bates film version back in the 60's. This one is a decent telling of the original story, though the heroine is far more feminist than I remember. Its biggest problem is that the film is very rushed--this version is 50 minutes shorter than the earlier one. The acting is fine, the scenery is very good, and if you like costume dramas you'll enjoy this one.
Friday, May 22, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- Federal judge rules again that gay couples have right to wed in Alabama
- NY can ban 'Choose Life' license plates as DMV program upheld
- Chad extends offensive against Boko Haram
- U.S., allies conduct 20 air strikes against Islamic State militants: military
- Iraqi forces clear path to key refinery
- Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval signs anti-bullying legislation
Bad News
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Monday, May 18, 2015
Sunday, May 17, 2015
Today's news round-up
Good News
- Restored 'The Third Man' emerges again from the shadows
- Nigerian military says it destroyed 10 Boko Haram camps
- French Protestant church allows gay marriage blessing
- Thousands in Chile's 'March for Equality' to support gay rights
- U.S., allies conduct 18 air strikes in Iraq, eight in Syria
Bad News
Saturday, May 16, 2015
Friday, May 15, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- Texas bill to hinder gay marriage dies in statehouse
- Laramie City Council passes state's first LGBT anti-discrimination ordinance
- Luxembourg PM first EU leader to marry same-sex partner
- Morocco to allow abortion in certain cases A first step.
- Wisconsin's Feingold to run for US Senate
- Principal Fired After Racist Comments at Graduation Caught on Video
- Missouri House speaker resigning after intern text messages
- Bullying in U.S. schools falls to record low, report says It's still horribly high. And they should be tracking kids below 12 also. Bullying starts much younger.
- Official: Boko Haram retakes Nigerian border town
- IS seizes government HQ in Iraq's Ramadi
- IS kills Syria civilians in advance on ancient Palmyra
- Russia targets 'undesirable' foreign organisations
- Toys R Us says it will close FAO Schwarz store in July
- Eloping Indian couple beaten to death, cremated in "honor killing"
- Four Pakistani Trans Women 'Mysteriously' Murdered in One Week
Tuesday, May 12, 2015
Monday, May 11, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- West Point to Posthumously Honor Black Cadet Who Was Ostracized
- Sweden rejects Assange appeal to drop arrest warrant
- U.S. supporter of Islamic State gets four-and-a-half-years in prison
- Oregon governor signs bill expanding gun background checks
- Intersex people must choose own gender: European rights watchdog
Bad News
Saturday, May 09, 2015
Friday, May 08, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- Iraq signs up 1,000 recruits for Sunni militia to fight IS
- Court: Border search of businessman's laptop 'unreasonable'
- Hot Springs Passes LGBT Anti-Discrimination Ordinance
- Kurdish Leader Agrees to Accept Arms on U.S. Terms in Fight Against ISIS
- Fallin signs bill tripling Oklahoma's abortion waiting period
Bad News
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Today's news round-up, Part 1
Good News
- Parents call cops on teen for giving away banned book; it backfires predictably I've got some news for these parents: It's not illegal to give (or sell) books to children without their parents' permission.
- Judge denies NFL linebacker's request in revenge porn case
- Senate sustains Obama veto of bill gutting union rules
Bad News
Tuesday, May 05, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- US top court lets stand ban on 'gay conversion therapies'
- Nigeria’s Boko Haram in disarray as government forces advance
- Airbnb Removes Texas Property Listing After Owner Reportedly Rejects Gay Couple
- Massachusetts' Smith College has adopted trans-inclusive admissions policy
- 2 Michigan officers suspended after man's videotaped beating
- Justice Department to boost disclosure of cellphone tracking programs: WSJ
Monday, May 04, 2015
Sunday, May 03, 2015
Saturday, May 02, 2015
Friday, May 01, 2015
Today's news round-up
Good News
- Al Hirschfeld's drawings, other works coming to NYC museum Let the hunt for the NINAs begin.
- Transgender army major wins victory in conservative Serbia
- Minnesota: State Senate shoots down transgender bathroom restrictions
Bad News
Thursday, April 30, 2015
Today's news round-up
Good News
- Pakistan court jails 10 for involvement in attack on Malala
- Oklahoma county to curb reserve deputy duties after shooting
- German police foil Islamist attack ahead of Frankfurt cycle race
- Nigerian army says rescues more women and children from Boko Haram
- US smartphone app sends police incident videos to lawyers
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
Tuesday, April 28, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- Social Media Exploding with #PaintYourNailsForBruce Campaign in Support of Bruce Jenner
- Disney told to rehire workers who refused soiled costumes
- NFL relinquishing tax-exempt status
- Nigerian army says rescues hundreds of girls from Boko Haram camps UPDATE: Chibok girls not among group rescued by Nigerian army: spokesman
- Judge: Oregon bakery should pay gay couple $135,000 over wedding cake
- Kenya: Court orders government to register gay rights group
- U.S., allies conduct 20 air strikes in Syria, Iraq -military
- Officers who used Taser 8 times on disabled woman get prison
- Arizona: Ducey angrily revokes state policy blocking gay adoptions
Bad News
Sunday, April 26, 2015
Yesterday's news round-up
Good News
- Off-Broadway play 'The Fantasticks' offered a lifeline I saw it 3 times down on Sullivan. A great little musical.
- Iowa Law Arising From Kasem Case Ensures Adult Children Can See Sick Parents
- Boko Haram retakes NE town from Nigerian army
- Three Florida college band members found guilty in hazing death
Bad News
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Friday, April 24, 2015
Recent news round-up, Part 1
Good News
- Cuomo: Nearly $1 billion loan for commuter rail safety I only ride these trains occasionally, but this is reassuring.
- Arizona sheriff's re-election chances called into question
- No Mor Chikin: Johns Hopkins Students Ban Chick-fil-A From Campus
- Eight women finish first week of US Army Ranger test
- Nevada Assembly rejects transgender 'bathroom bill'
- Hawaii poised to become 1st state to raise smoking age to 21
Bad News
Thursday, April 23, 2015
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Today's news round-up
Good News
- U.S. top court makes it easier for people to sue the government
- Supreme Court settles latest Fourth Amendment dog-sniff case
- Little Rock approves anti-discrimination protections
- U.S. allies conduct 18 air strikes in Syria, Iraq: military
- Transgender teen settles with state over license photo
- Michigan Music Festival That Excluded Transgender People To Shut Down The headline is misleading. Transgender men were welcome. Only transgender women were excluded.
- This Miami Bakery Will Make Anti-Gay Cakes, But Not For The Reason You Think I think this in an excellent response from the bakery. I suspect they won't get a single order.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Recent news round-up, Part 2
Recent news round-up, Part 1
Good News
- Hungary says FBI chief insensitive, superficial on Holocaust Exactly. While there were Hungarians and citizens of a number of other countries who enthusiastically joined the campaign to eliminate Jews from Europe, it was Nazi Germany that created and mostly carried out the plan.
- Woman strip-searched at Detroit airport settles lawsuit
- New Orleans going smoke-free in bars, other public places
- California county to pay man beaten by deputies on video
- New Cards for Medicare Recipients Will Omit Social Security Numbers
- New York Investigates Whether Boy Scouts’ Employment Practices Discriminated Against Gays
Bad News
- Judge Orders Hearing for 2 Chimps Said to Be ‘Unlawfully Detained’ While this order only requires there to be a hearing, I don't think non-humans should be getting human rights. Ironically, I know the judge who made this order.
- Pakistan cyber bill threatens free speech, privacy: rights groups
Monday, April 20, 2015
Micro movie review
Woman in Gold The true(ish) story of the recovery of some of the artwork stolen by the Nazis from the family of Maria Altmann, finely played by Helen Mirren. The main item at issue was Gustav Klimt's famous portrait of her aunt, Adele Bloch-Bauer, which by 1998 had become a national treasure of Austria (renaming it "Woman in Gold," thus obscuring its Jewish connection):
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I remember the years-long case, though not in any detail. As much as the film is the story of Altmann's restitution battle, it is just as much the story of the revival of her memory of the events in Vienna when the Nazis came in, and her new-found desire to make Austria face up to what it did to its Jewish citizens. The film does have its faults, not the least that the outcome is quite predictable. However, I found it quite absorbing, even knowing the results. Mirren's performance carries the whole thing.
I don't think it is that much of a spoiler to say that Altmann was successful in her fight--in fact, the painting is hanging in a museum five or six hundred feet from where I am sitting right now.
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I don't think it is that much of a spoiler to say that Altmann was successful in her fight--in fact, the painting is hanging in a museum five or six hundred feet from where I am sitting right now.
Sunday, April 19, 2015
Today's news round-up
Good News
- Iraq clears massive oil refinery of IS
- Ohio settles civil rights groups' lawsuit over early voting A good compromise. I wish we had early voting in NY.
- Arpaio immigration unit tarnished by misconduct allegations He should be found in contempt and thrown in jail.
Saturday, April 18, 2015
Friday, April 17, 2015
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Today's news round-up
Good News
- Caseworkers assigned to toddler who starved to death resign
- Tennessee plan to make Bible 'official' book derailed I'm somewhat shocked, and very saddened, that no one on the committee thought of discussing the Constitutionality of this.
- Oklahoma reserve deputy records falsified: newspaper So they let an untrained 73-year-old have a badge and a gun, and then tried to cover it up. He may be acquitted, but some of the supervisors may not.
- Obama administration to remove hurdle to 'wellness' penalties I think it's coercive. I'm glad I'm retired.
- N.Y.U. Labor Rules Failed to Protect 10,000 Workers in Abu Dhabi At least they've agreed to pay the workers what they should have gotten. Hopefully they will be more careful when drawing up such rules in the future.
- Guam governor wants a referendum to decide gay marriage People's Constitutional rights should not be subject to popular votes. The whole idea of Constitutional rights is to protect the minority from the majority.
- Russian police raid offices of Putin critic Khodorkovsky Russia is not a democracy.
- IS seizes parts of Iraq's largest oil refinery: officials
Recent news round-up
Good News
- Army vet discharged for ‘homosexuality’ successfully petitions for different reason
- Arizona: Court Upholds Ruling on Police Profiling
- New Girl Scout troop starts at Utah gay pride center
- Sheriff loses bid to cancel contempt-of-court hearings
- France stands by choice of gay Vatican envoy
- Minnesota governor orders missing Lindström umlaut restored
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Sunday, April 12, 2015
Plat du jour
Probably an abbreviation for "a bi gezunt," which translates from Yiddish as "so long as you're healthy." The expression means, "Don't worry so much about your problem. You've still got your health."--which is something you'd expect a doctor to say.
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- Obama Calls for End to ‘Conversion’ Therapies for Gay and Transgender Youth
- Judge overturns Illinois order restricting union dues
- 2 women sentenced in slaying of Mississippi black man
- Air Force general reprimanded over A-10 'treason' remark
- Surge in voter turnout gives blacks new voice in Ferguson, Missouri
Bad News
Friday, April 10, 2015
Tuesday, April 07, 2015
Sunday, April 05, 2015
Saturday, April 04, 2015
Recent news round-up, Part 2
Good News
- California man gets 18 years for US 'revenge porn' site
- IBM uncovers new, sophisticated bank transfer cyber scam It's good they discovered it.
- Groups aim to further expand gay rights at state level
- Romania to expel seven for recruiting for Al-Qaeda, IS
- California court issues ruling about out-of-control kids
- Justice Department sides with transgender inmate in Georgia lawsuit
Bad News
Recent news round-up, Part 1
Good News
- Klingenschmitt loses committee post, suspends ministry for six weeks This was the legislator (a Republican, of course) who called it "a curse of God" that a woman had her fetus ripped from her womb.
- Judge orders California to pay for inmate's sex change
- With Hire, Boy Scouts Affiliate in New York Defies Ban on Gays
- NCAA to examine events in other states after law dispute
- Appeals court: Yoga doesn't bend rules on religious freedom
- 7 San Francisco officers suspended over racist texts
Tuesday, March 31, 2015
Yesterday's news round-up
Good News
- Arizona Governor Vetoes Bill to Shield Police Names
- U.S. Supreme Court rejects Obamacare 'death panel' challenge
- Supreme Court preserves New York ban on worship services in schools
- U.S. Justice Department sues Oklahoma university over transgender professor
- Indiana lawmakers try to quiet firestorm surrounding new law The only thing that will quiet the firestorm is to repeal it.
- Arizona governor signs bill blocking abortion coverage through Obamacare
- Blogger hacked to death in Bangladesh's capital
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- Lawmakers, police chiefs clash over secrecy of officer names
- Use of force brings charges against Missouri police officer It's heartening to see the prosecution of a police officer accused of using excessive force.
- Alabama policeman indicted for throwing Indian man to ground Ditto.
- Ex-deputy charged after suspect shot in head Ditto.
Friday, March 27, 2015
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Today's news round-up
Good News
- Man arrested in courthouse for missing jury duty 11 times
- California acts against poll measure to execute gays
- Opening New Iraq Front, U.S. Strikes ISIS in Tikrit
- Police stations are becoming common Craigslist meetup locations
- Judge rules Portland teen not guilty of resisting arrest, has stern words for police
- Spain approves security laws decried by rights groups
- 'Downton Abbey' to end after upcoming 6th season The plots are simplistic and repetitive, but it's still so much fun--especially waiting for the Dowager's comments.
- Texas: Judge Blocks Benefits for Gay Couples
- Indiana: Bill Signed Allowing Denial of Service to Gays
Wednesday, March 25, 2015
Today's news round-up
Good News
- Justices Side With Black Lawmakers in Alabama The article also covers another good decision about pregnancy discrimination.
Yesterday's news round-up
Good News
- Firing of Milwaukee police officer who shot man upheld
- CDC: 11M fewer uninsured since passage of Obama's law
- Canada to conduct airstrikes against IS group in Syria
- UN committee approves benefits for spouses of gay staffers
- Pa. officer charged in fatal shooting of unarmed motorist
- Family of alleged Facebook fraud fugitive to forfeit bail: U.S. judge
- India's top court strikes down ban on 'offensive' online comment
- BP drops out of conservative ALEC policy group
Slightly Good News
- Wisconsin Decides Not to Enforce Voter ID Law This only applies to the election in a couple of weeks.
Bad News
Monday, March 23, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
Bad News
Bad News
- New Hampshire lawmaker opposes fourth graders’ bird bill with antiabortion rant
- Judge OKs punitive damages in California gender bias case
- Missing British medical students feared to have joined IS
- U.S. top court rejects challenge to Wisconsin voter ID law
- Uprooted by violence, Afghan women held like prisoners in camps: report
Saturday, March 21, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- Abortion dynamics in sharp focus as judge rules against Wisc. law
- Police officer charged with holding gun to man's head It's good that he was indicted.
- Retreating Boko Haram leaves mass of throat-slit corpses near Nigerian town
- Boko Haram insurgents kill 10 in Nigerian border town
- US lawyer argues chimps are people too
- Islamic State calls on backers to kill 100 U.S. military personnel
- Islamic State video purports to show Kurdish peshmerga beheadings
- Afghan cleric and others defend lynching of woman in Kabul
Friday, March 20, 2015
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Today's news round-up
Yesterday's news round-up
Good News
- California grants posthumous law license to nation's first Chinese-born lawyer
- Data on Health Law Shows Largest Drop in Uninsured in 4 Decades, the U.S. Says
- Oregon: Voter Registration Made Automatic
- Nigeria military retakes towns from Boko Haram in Yobe, Borno
- U.S. conducts air strikes in Syria and Iraq against Islamic State
Bad News
Monday, March 16, 2015
Sunday, March 15, 2015
Saturday, March 14, 2015
Happy Pi day!
A once in a century moment this morning: 3-14-15 at 9:53:26. Come to think of it, 9:53:26pm works also.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- France increases its efforts in the fight against Boko Haram
- Uganda parliament backtracks on media purge
- U.S.-led coalition targets Islamic State in 11 air strikes: statement
- European Court Rules Turkey Cannot Make Sterilization A Requirement For Gender Reassignment
- Trans woman named head of D.C. gay police unit
Bad News
Wednesday, March 11, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- Star Wars introduces its first LGBT character to canon
- TransUnion, Equifax and Experian Agree to Overhaul Credit Reporting Practices
- Georgia becomes the first state in the South to “ban the box” on state employment applications
- Judge OKs atheist's 'reason station' in city hall
- Oklahoma University shuts 'disgraceful' fraternity for racist video
- Ferguson city manager out after Justice Department report
- Iraqi soldiers, militiamen enter Islamic State-held Tikrit
- IS Syria-Iraq communication lines smashed: coalition
- China says IS fighters back from Syria caught in Xinjiang
- Denver officer fired after videotaped struggle with woman
- Mississippi deputy fired for remarks while playing Xbox
Bad News
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Monday, March 09, 2015
Recent news round-up
Good News
- Army eases ban on transgender soldiers
- Man trolls lawyer on Web, lawyer sues (guess who wins)
- Female Islamic State recruiter arrested at Barcelona airport
- Kurdish forces attack Islamic State west of Kirkuk
- Air strike on Islamic State-run refinery in Syria kills 30: monitor
- IS executes 20 opponents in northern Iraq: officials
- Gunmen kill more than 12 Islamic State militants in eastern Syria
- Slovenia allows same-sex couples to marry, adopt children
- The Eiffel Tower Is Now a Powerful Wind Energy Machine
- 9 foreigners unaccounted for after IS attack on oil field
- Nigeria's Boko Haram pledges allegiance to Islamic State: video text
- Four bombs in Nigeria's Maiduguri city kill at least 50
- Fear, violence, kidnapping: life for women under Boko Haram
- In Turkey, criticizing the president can land you in jail
- Supreme Court revives Notre Dame's Obamacare contraception objections
- Florida bans use of 'climate change' by state agency: report
- Foreigners seized by Islamic State in Libya: Austria
- Hungarians face new ban on shopping most Sundays and nights
Sunday, March 08, 2015
Public service announcement
Set your clocks ahead 1 hour--it's daylight savings time. This way, you have an extra hour in the evening to look at the mounds of snow.
Thursday, March 05, 2015
Recent news round-up, Part 2
Good News
- Obama announces new education effort to 'let girls learn'
- Chad president tells Boko Haram leader to surrender or face death
- All-women's college Wellesley to accept transgender women
- Facebook posts about job land US contractor in Emirates jail The Emirates is a dangerous place. They don't respect many standard human rights. Don't work there. Don't vacation there. Don't even change planes there.
- Boko Haram remote control bomb kills two Niger soldiers
- Islamic State torches oil field near Tikrit as militia advance
Recent news round-up, Part 1
Good News
- Major survey shows most Americans support same-sex marriage
- David Geffen Captures Naming Rights to Avery Fisher Hall With Donation I suspect I will continue to call it Avery Fisher Hall for the rest of my life.
- Court: Man burned by fajitas while praying can't sue eatery
- Unions say they'll sue Christie again over pension payments
Bad News
- New Kind of Annoying: Robocall Trojan Horse Hides Cruise Offer in Political Survey But it's good they were caught.
- New Jersey officially announces $225M Exxon Mobil settlement They should be paying much more. ADDED: New Jersey Governor Christie's office drove favorable Exxon settlement: NYT
- Yale students protest work requirement for aid recipients What ever happened to work-study?
- A murderer and rapist's views reflect those of many in India
Tuesday, March 03, 2015
Sunday, March 01, 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015
Today's news round-up
Good News
- Final rule to grant same-sex couples access to FMLA
- Kurdish forces 'capture strategic IS Syria bastion'
- FCC votes to override state laws that block municipal broadband deployments
- Google's Blogger reverses porn policy after user backlash
- Adoption by same-sex parent recognized by Alabama appeals court
Bad News
- War crimes and genocide: IS systematically killing religious and ethnic minorities in Iraq, study finds
- South Carolina college comes out against homosexuality
- Kansas May Allow Concealed Carry Without Permits, Training Idiocy.
- Iran blocks website for reporting on reformist ex-president
- Russian opposition leader Nemtsov shot dead: official Russia is not a democracy.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
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