Thirty years ago today, May 25, 1983, Return of the Jedi hit theaters, completing the original Star Wars trilogy. Here’s the old-school trailer:
ROTJ was the first Star Wars movie I was actually old enough to see in the movie theaters — I saw it three times that summer!
But, it’s not a movie without controversy.
Approaching the first grade, I must admit that I liked the Ewoks at the time, even “Yub Nub” — the Ewoks moved the plot along and were fuzzy bears which any five-year-old could root for. While I still accept them, in retrospect the Ewoks are intrinsically pretty terrible. Star Wars fans had and continue to trash ROTJ for the Ewoks primarily among other reasons. To many hard core fans, ROTJ is the considered the worst of the original trilogy.
At the end of the day, the cultural significance of the Star Wars films is self-evident and people will ignore, embrace, or argue about them for many years to come. Return of the Jedi is an integral part of the Star Wars universe. It’s not my favorite (that’s The Empire Strikes Back), but it’s still not Star Wars without it.
Lois Lerner, the woman who planted the question on May 10 which blew open the IRS Scandal, was called in front of a Congressional committee to address her role in overseeing the improper IRS targeting of conservative groups. As it turns out, Lerner has experience targeting conservative groups as far back as the 1990s.
After insisting on her innocence, she plead the 5th Amendment. The problem is, by making an opening statement (in a sense, testifying), she waived her right not to testify. After a brief exchange about what she may have done, Lerner was dismissed. A few hours later committee chairman Darrell Issa expressed that she did, in fact, waive her 5th Amendment right and will reappear in front of his committee. That should be interesting.
I believe that only an independent counsel will be able to get to the bottom of all this. Until then, we’ll likely hear tense exchanges in committee like this one below, which over time can only hurt the Obama Administration until they come clean.
Over the last few days, Oklahoma has seen more than its fair share of tornadoes. Living in the infamous “tornado alley,” people who live on the Great Plains do expect that eventually a tornado will hit in the same way that those in Florida expect a hurricane or that those in California will experience another big earthquake. It’s simply part of living in that area. However, most tornadoes on the Great Plains hit uninhabited fly-over country.
Not always, though.
Just a few hours ago, a massive mile-wide tornado decimated suburbs around Oklahoma City, the state’s capital and most populous area. The disaster is still developing at this point, but the damage is severe. The storm system still plagues the area, so this story is unfortunately still developing.
UPDATE: Some good news — twenty four hours later the death toll from the Moore, OK, area has been revised downward from around 51 to 24.
JJ Abrams’ reboot of the Star Trek series hits a truly satisfying note in his second installment, Star Trek Into Darkness. Here’s the trailer:
SPOILER FREE
Like Abrams’ original reboot, this latest movie has the energy, pacing, and spectacle which even the non- or casual Trekkie will be able to enjoy. This was just about the fastest 123 minutes I’ve experienced in a movie theater — I need to see it again just to absorb everything in here!
For full enjoyment, those familiar with the original plot, cast, and storyline need to accept that this is a reboot: the characters are the same, but the timeline has changed. If you can do that and just experience the movie, Star Trek Into Darkness shines! The reboot concept also explains why a few critics didn’t really like it, thought it was missing heart, etc. There’s no satisfying some — it wasn’t perfection and has its flaws, but the film was the most entertaining, fun, and visually spectacular film I’ve seen in a while. Then again, I like Star Trek and understand what Abrams is trying to do here.
There are some real mind-blowing plot twists which I will not spoil. Just know that Abrams embraces canon where possible, yet because of film purposes he accelerates their development and relationships. I can’t remember where, but someone posited that Star Trek Into Darkness is a love story. In a way it is, but not the way you expect. The “darkness” quotient in the title is also from a place you don’t expect.
If you have an afternoon to spare and want to see what the buzz is about, you’ll leave feeling that the movie was at the very least a B. If you loved the first film and have some Trekkie in you, it’s a clear A-.
Turns out that in France they don’t view ADHD the same way that we in America do. This fascinating article explains why the French don’t really need to use pills to control their kids. As someone who has been trained to deal with ADHD children, the article’s findings make a lot of sense.
Here in America, we view ADHD as a biological issue which requires biological treatments. Nine percent of our children have been diagnosed and are on drugs to help, compared to 0.5% of French children. In France, they view ADHD as a behavioral issue which requires therapy, dietary changes, and observing the child’s social environment.
The article also points out that bringing up children in France is quite different than in America. The child’s life revolves around a regular schedule set by the parents over there, rather than our flexible schedules often governed by the children themselves. So, kids learn self-control very early in France and need less medical treatment for hyperactivity. Makes sense.
In the face of a growing IRS scandal related to the political targeting of conservative groups in the run-up to the 2012 Election, Sarah Hall Ingram, the woman who oversaw all that malfeasance as it was happening, is getting a new job — running the IRS wing of Obamacare.
Ingram should be dragged in front of a Congressional committee, put under oath, and grilled to pieces. Instead, she’s being shuffled around to a position with considerably more power to ruin the lives of Obama’s political opponents if only asked. The Congressional Q&A may still happen, but this is quite a brazen act by the Obama Nation.
The GOP should learn something here, if they haven’t figure it out already — be thorough and meticulous with these issues because because this administration will go there.
That, and don’t think for a minute that because the press is finally sort-of exposing Obama to a week of what Dubya had to endure for eight years that Obama’s ship-of-state is in trouble: the Dems are already saying enough on a “fully-vetted” Benghazi scandal; the President is positioning himself as concerned and above the fray (as if this somehow isn’t actually his administration) which is a posture which has worked for Obama these five years; the usual hacks are implying that since there are too many scandals, this must merely be “desperate” GOP measures, and so on. In the political world, these multiple scandals could each disappear (or be redefined) within a news cycle and the Dem counterattack is on.
At about 6:20pm EDT, President Obama gave a three-minute statement relating to the IRS scandal, saying that he will accept the resignation of acting IRS Commissioner, Steven Miller, and work within the administration and with Congress to get to the bottom of this growing scandal.
Earlier today, Speaker Boehner made a much better statement: “My question isn’t about who’s going to have to resign. My question is, who’s going to jail over this scandal?”
Had Obama used the word “prosecute” in relation to those involved, there would be sufficient energy sparked to truly get to the bottom of this — and I would have been mostly satisfied. Using the IRS to stymie political opponents deserves that kind of tone.
Unfortunately, Obama’s statement only partially mollifies this issue until his press conference tomorrow, and doesn’t give the impression that those responsible for this will truly be brought to justice. A firing here, or a strongly-worded-letter there isn’t going to cut it.
Every President who has been reelected has had a hard time in their second terms. Some had major scandals, others passed away, others suffered from the public’s fatigue and lame duck status in a way which harmed their legacies.* No one was immune.
Neither is Obama, apparently.
Right now Obama’s second-term agenda is slowly disappearing as four (at last count) potential scandals inundate the Obama Administration:
Philly’s own Dr. Mengele faces the possibility of the death penalty when the jury deliberates further on sentencing. Hopefully there will be some justice here.
In English soccer, if your team sucks it can drop to a lower league. However, if it’s great there’s a possibility your team will get promoted! So, Watford and Leicester were engaged in a series to have the chance to play one more playoff game to get into the highest league in English soccer — the final spot in Barclay’s Premier League. What happened was amazing!
Leicester needed one goal — there’s an 80% chance that they were going to score on a penalty kick. They missed, got another shot, then lost the ball as Watford took it the length of the field in order to cement their victory all in stoppage time! Wow.
With the opening of Baz Luhrmann’s version of The Great Gatsby, nearly every high school student in the nation has an opportunity not to read F. Scott Fitzgerald period classic! At least that’s the buzz at the high school where I teach. Fitzgerald’s 1925 work more or less describes the pitfalls of combining American excess with youth during the Roaring Twenties. Luhrmann’s Gatsby strays from the book in a number of ways, but stays true to that central message. Here’s the trailer:
The gist from my point of view — visually great to watch; could have been easily edited down to two hours; don’t get hung-up on the changes from the book or the historical inaccuracies, and you should enjoy yourself: B-
My SPOILER review is below if you want more depth: [read more…]
Scouring the Internets this morning I bumped into two articles. One shows something good, the other something not so good.
Michael Barone wrote this article posted on RCP which says the college bubble is finally starting to burst. The cost of university has not been tied to market forces since about 1986, which helps to explain the ridiculous costs facing undergraduates over the last decade. These universities have had to give scholarships and discounts in order to be competitive. Barone states that data over the last few years indicates that tuition rates have finally succumbed to market forces. Rates may even decrease over the next few years.
Then I read this which comments on Peter Schiff’s new book. It’s total pessimism porn. In sum, the Federal Reserve’s money pumping is inflating the market and slowly tearing apart the dollar. One day the game will stop and craziness will ensue! Read the article, it’s pretty interesting. Unfortunately, Schiff has been really prescient on these kinds of things.
The IRS admitted to improperly targeting groups looking for tax-exempt status if the words “tea party” or “patriot” were in their names. From 2010 to 2012, roughly 75 Tea Party groups were subjected to “additional review” which delayed their acceptance. Hmm… just in time to stymie the political activities of groups opposed to the administration around election time. This is sketchy as hell.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wants a “government-wide review” to make sure that this kind of abuse was not widespread (let me save him some time, it wasn’t!).
Lois Lerner, the person in charge of the tax-exempt branch of the IRS, admitted today that this targeting “was wrong. That was absolutely incorrect, it was insensitive and it was inappropriate. The IRS would like to apologize for that.”
You can bet that apologies won’t be enough for groups targeted for their political beliefs who are already upset at this Administration.
In real numbers, last year China’s GDP was around $8 trillion, while ours was about $15.7 trillion. Based on that pattern many believe that statistically China’s economy will surpass the size and scope of United States by 2017… but something may get in the way of that forecast: China itself!
This article comes to the conclusion that China’s 30-year boom is exhausting itself, and that without serious free market reforms or risky American-style credit and debt experiments, it will soon face serious hard times. Add in the demographic changes surrounding an aging population in China and the future for China looks smaller, not bigger. Plus, there are fewer peasants to force into the factories and less demand during the current world-wide economic slump. The Chinese Politburo also believes that the September 2008 crash validates the high levels of state control on the China’s economy, stymieing any chance for real reforms.
I would feel a lot better about a rising China if they were more like us — free markets and all. It seems that from at least one person’s perspective, in order for China to take the world’s economic mantle China will have to be more like us.
No one should be surprised that the Benghazi scandal dominates the headlines once again, this time with whistle-blowers. The Obama Administration has stone-walled, subverted, intimidated, and just plain lied about that they knew and when they knew it.
The outrage isn’t new and isn’t going away. This isn’t Watergate or Iran-Contra or Zippergate. Four people are dead including US Ambassador Chris Stevens. They were killed during a sustained two-part terrorist attack on our consulate on September 11 of all days, and in its aftermath the Administration purposefully misled the nation for weeks during the run-up to a Presidential election! This ain’t going away.
That being said, the MSM (who many are calling the “Praetorian Media” lately) is shrugging off all the new testimony and inconsistencies. White House Spokes-puppet Jay Carney is calling the fuss political regarding something that happened a long time ago. If his response weren’t so Alinksy-like, I’d be disappointed. It obviously signals that the Administration is uncomfortable about where this is going. And where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
Today’s testimony was intriguing. Here’s a poignant clip from whistle-blower and regional security officer Eric Nordstrum:
Here’s Representative Gowdy nailing it (much of the revelations by Greg Hicks here are contrary to the Administration’s position):
Wow. It’s unfortunate that any of this needs to happen, but it’s too late now — we have to know the truth. We’re closer to that today than at any time since the attack.
The summer movie season usually kicks off the first weekend of May. So, the film industry usually saves a film they think will open the busiest season of the movie-going year with a bang. This year’s anticipated opening blockbuster is Iron Man 3. “Certified Fresh” by Rotten Tomatoes, Iron Man 3 delivers on what our expectation of a summer movie should be — big, loud, funny, and generally entertaining all-around. Here’s the trailer:
SPOILER FREE. While called Iron Man 3, it’s really the fourth part of the Tony Stark universe. If you haven’t seen The Avengers (last year’s big summer movie debut), then you will be out of the loop. Plus, in the post-LOTR sci-fi fanboy mold, one needs to be somewhat familiar with the first two Iron Man films as well — there is not a lot of time spent explaining the past to get the casual movie-goer caught up.
OK. Once that’s taken care of, Iron Man 3 is a lot of fun. The original movie beat my expectations, the second part was just the first one on steroids, but Iron Man 3 moves the story to a more personal level — Tony Stark’s personal demons, his past catching up with him, and a new bad guy reminiscent of an Osama Bin Laden-like terrorist. I don’t want to give anything away about the plot at this point, but it’s a clear improvement from Iron Man 2 and has real twists here and there.
Rotten Tomatoes scores the movie with a 78%. For entertainment value and spectacle, the movie is great, but suffers from being a sequel to a story that’s only OK, not riveting. I’d give it a B+ for the fun, the twists, and the spectacle. However, the casual movie goer may agree with RT’s C+ (not everyone’s a fanboy), but if you like the series, Iron Man 3 is a clear improvement from the second film.
I just saw this Kmart commercial for the first time yesterday and laughed pretty hard. Sorry if it’s been played out for you personally, but it’s new to me and I kind of need a low-brow sophomoric moment to end this crazy week. Enjoy:
While the jury in the Kermit Gosnell case continues to deliberate on the eight counts of murder against the “doctor,” pro-life advocate Lila Rose and her group Live Action continue to use the opportunity of the trial to draw attention to the outright infanticide taking place at Planned Parenthood (as well as other) clinics around the nation. Here is the latest undercover video:
The “doctor” and “counselor” don’t seem to taken aback by the undercover woman’s questions and readily have answers to those questions. The whole video is both disturbing and sad.
By the way, love that Arizona law requiring the “doctors” to read that blurb (at 3:25).
The jury in abortionist baby-killer Kermit Gosnell’s murder trial heard closing arguments today. Based on ridiculously scant media coverage of this trial, most wouldn’t have noticed it. Demonstrating the depth of the MSM blackout, NewsBusters revealed that in the last 42 days Good Morning America spent 109 minutes on other sensational trials, while spending NO time on this one. This lack of coverage was typical for other news outlets too.
The Washington Post posits a reason why: it’s uncomfortable to think about the idea that Gosnell might not be alone. That, and buried deep in the article is the fact that President Obama agrees with this kind of infanticide. Drawing attention to Gosnell may harm the President’s image, especially since he recently stood in stark defense of Planned Parenthood. Hence, it doesn’t fit the overall MSM narrative.
Unfortunately for the MSM and Planned Parenthood, their archenemy is at it again — Lila Rose from LiveAction has released an undercover video from New York, then another from Washington DC, of atrocious things being suggested at abortion clinics, implying the practices are common, no big deal. Pushing this story into the people’s consciousness may coerce the MSM to eventually do their job while exposing the mainstream media’s near silence on this issue.
Until the 1960s, it was assumed by all sovereign states that they had the right to choose which non-nationals were admitted within their borders. Now, to suggest such a thing risks the charge of “nativism” and to propose that, say, Swedes are easier to assimilate than Chechens is to invite cries of “Racist!” So, when the morgues and emergency rooms are piled high, the only discussion acceptable in polite society is to wonder whether those legless Bostonians should have agitated more forcefully for federally mandated after-school assimilationist basketball programs.
Here, Steyn connects the two themes after delving into Gosnell’s trial:
Maybe if we didn’t collapse the skulls of so many black babies in Philadelphia, we wouldn’t need to import so many excitable young Chechens. But that’s thinking outside the box, and the box is getting ever smaller, like a nice, cozy cocoon in which we’re always warm and safe. Like — what’s the word? — a womb.
Steyn certainly has a way of cutting through the PC nonsense. Read After America — it’s filled with refreshing straight-talk like this.
With the commercial success of The Hunger Games, it’s no surprise that three more movies are in the works — which is fine with me. A sequel based on book two of the series, Catching Fire, is set for release in November. Here’s the trailer:
Those not familiar with the books, but enjoyed The Hunger Games movie, may not be aware that the books are told completely in first person. So, even in this teaser trailer I noticed a little license-taking, but that comes with the territory. Catching Fire expands the story out of District 12, involving all of Panem and Katniss’ changing role in that world. I loved the book, and can’t wait for the film.
One really doesn’t know what to believe from our elected officials nowadays, but rest assured that any benefit they can endow on themselves will be baked into any cake. That being said, a story hit the Internets this week that apparently high-level confidential talks have been going on for months about exempting members of Congress and their staffs from Obamacare. Why? Simply — because it costs too damn much.
After the obligatory eye-rolling, however, I can’t help but be troubled. Rush had some thoughts about this kind of Ruling Class behavior earlier today:
“Folks, that kind of thing, gotta be very careful here in the choice of words. This kind of thing, the crafting of punitive legislation like Obamacare mandating that every citizen abide by it, but the elites exempting themselves from it, has caused trouble throughout world history — throughout human history. Acts like that have resulted in overthrows, have resulted in attempted overthrows.”
I can’t disagree — the Ruling Class is really pushing it these days. Also, I can’t get this line out of my head while writing this post: socialism is for the people, not the socialists. DC is clearly making sure of that nowadays.
The EU is a clear political expression of a civilization’s decay as its ruling class plays its last few cards before some kind of end. Nigel Farage, an MEP from the UK who belongs to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) back home, spoke truth to power about the EU’s actions regarding the troubles in Cyprus, using the dreaded “c-word,” communism, when describing the wealth confiscation plan proposed by the EU in Cyprus. Here’s the clip:
Usually we hear such displays of truth from UK MEPs like Daniel Hannan, but Farage is great here! Yet, why do I have the feeling that the chamber is virtually empty when either man speaks, and that condescending eye-rolls pepper these men from the other side of the camera.
Roughly 24 hours after releasing the photos of Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one was dead and the other in custody. Dzhokhar will face terrorism charges and ultimately be executed for his part in all of this. However unsatisfying it may be, hopefully he can answer some questions, especially for the families of the dead and wounded who need some kind of closure.
However, of all the questions which remain, none is more ominous than this one: did they act alone?
The House wants some info from the Obama Administration about Tamerlan, who the FBI was asked to approach by an undisclosed foreign government in 2011 before his trip to Russia, where many believe he was radicalized and trained. If any of that is true, then these two Chechnyans might have been part of a larger cell. The FBI is already on the case.
As the days go by, we should continue to learn more. Kudos to law enforcement for being able to bring in at least one of the suspects alive — that couldn’t have been easy.
Just before 3pm EDT a bomb exploded near the finish line of the annual Boston marathon, with a second one exploding a few blocks away only seconds later. At the time of this writing, two people are dead and 73 are being treated at area hospitals. Here was the scene:
Nonetheless, our thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families at this time along with all the people of Boston, many of whom had their lives changed in an instant by this cowardly act of terror.
If you believe “rich” is considered any household earning over $250,000 a year, and if you believe that the acceptable tax rate on the top earners is 39.6%, then wouldn’t you think someone pulling in $608,611 should pay their “fair share” of taxes? Even if this person gave (and legitimately deducted) a substantial amount of money, say $150,034, to charity then they would still be in that top bracket, clearing over $450,000.
That being said, the figures above belong to the Obama’s. It turns out that the First Couple paid an effective tax rate of 18.4% in 2012 on their income.
Just for some perspective, in 2012 I personally paid a federal tax rate of 14.8% and a 3.4% New Jersey tax rate. Meaning that a person with my job and demographic data paid a combined federal and state tax rate of 18.2%! I’m in the $50,000 to $75,000 income range and I paid virtually the same percentage of taxes than the Obama’s who made over $600,000! That’s infuriating.
I wouldn’t mind all that so much if we had a flat tax (a real “fair share”), but we don’t.
Always remember Andrew Wilkow’s gem: “socialism is for the people, not the socialists.” We have a ruling class that gets to make their own rules, then takes advantage of those rules while having the nerve to try to give the rest of us a guilt trip about paying our “fair share.” This tax code doesn’t seem particularly “fair” to this pleb.
Last night against the Baltimore Orioles, the New York Yankees pulled off something quite rare — a triple play. It is so rare for the Yanks that it’s only the team’s second since 1969, and first one at home since 1968!
A new study spanning different generations over 25 years indicates that today’s young adults are 15 years less healthy than previous age groups at the same age. Meaning, the prevalence of health issues related to things like high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, etc. among 40-year-olds today is similar to the levels older groups have at age 55!
None of this is good, or unexpected. Our increasingly sedentary lives cater to these maladies. However, like those people born in the 1920s whose bodies showed in old age indications of malnutrition as children during the Great Depression, today’s young people may show something similar in their old age.
Counter-intuitively (but related), according to the National Academy of the Sciences, over time “improvements in health are negatively correlated with GDP growth and positively correlated with increases in the unemployment rate.” Weird.
Will that hold as we wade deeper into our current Obama-induced economic quagmire? I’m not sure what the impact of the ever-increasing welfare state in America may have on that. Time will tell.
Earlier today the liberal news dump Mother Jones published a story airing secret taped conversations made during Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell’s strategy sessions regarding his potential Senate race against Ashley Judd. The excerpts deal with opposition research and campaign strategy. Judd is no longer running for Senate as that trial balloon has deflated, but that doesn’t matter — who taped these conversations, who else is involved, and how did Mother Jones get them?
Obviously, McConnell is freaked and feels like the FBI should get involved in the investigation, so he has asked for their help. This is the same kind of illegal tapping that almost happened at the Watergate Hotel in June 1972, before the “Plumbers” were caught. Following the cookie crumbs in that case brought down a President. This instance is smaller in scale, but the principle seems to be the same — cheat.
The FBI just started dealing with McConnell’s issue so it’s not likely that they’ll come up with anything soon, but heads should roll once they do. At present, though, the press is more interested in impugning McConnell’s character than getting to the bottom of the law-breaking.
