With the mercury continuing to soar in many sections of the country I thought I would curate a Top 15 “hot” noirs festival. Hot-as in sweaty, steamy, dripping, sticky, sudoriferous crime thrillers (get your mind out of the gutter). If you’re like me (and isn’t everyone?) there’s nothing more satisfying than gathering up an armload of DVDs and spending a hot weekend ensconced in my dark, cool media room (actually, I don’t have a “media room” nor any A/C in my apartment…but I can always dream). Enjoy! Ace in the Hole – Billy Wilder’s 1951 film is one of the bleakest noirs ever made: Charles Tatum: What’s that big story to get me outta here? […] I’m stuck here, fans. Stuck for good. Unless you, Miss Deverich, instead of writing household hints about how to remove chili stains from blue jeans, get yourself involved in a trunk murder. How about it, Miss Deverich? I could do wonders with your dismembered body. Miss Deverich: Oh, Mr. Tatum. Really! Charles Tatum: Or you, Mr. Wendell-if you’d only toss that cigar out the window. Real far…all the way to Los Alamos. And BOOM!
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Assassination attempts targeting populist leaders have had a track record of boosting their popularity.
The post Will This Make Trump More Popular? appeared first on The Intercept.
Greg Sargent at TNR makes an important observation about why the polls remain so close: A new Marist poll takes the novel step of asking registered voters which is more off-putting in an occupant of the Oval Office: dishonesty or excessive age. The results are surprising, and along with other polling along these lines, it should influence how Joe Biden’s and Donald Trump’s relative qualifications for the presidency are covered from here on out. The poll asked: Which is more concerning in a president, someone who doesn’t tell the truth, or someone who might be too old to serve? The results were lopsided: By 68 to 32 percent, respondents were more concerned about the lying than the aging. Given the relentless media focus on presidential age of late, that’s simply remarkable. While the poll doesn’t directly compare Trump and Biden on that particular question, it also finds that 52 percent of Americans say Biden has the “character to serve as president,” whereas only 43 percent say this about Trump. Fifty-six percent say Trump lacks the character to serve, which surely reflects public perceptions of Trump’s dishonesty.
This is going viral all over social media and it is hilarious. I’m sorry to say, because I’m an old person sadly attached to old fashioned communication, but this is probably a better way to reach people about policy:
According to this breathless Axios report, the fall election is the “boys vs. girls” election. I could be mistaken but it sure sounds like they think the “boys” are the big winners in that contest: There’s more. And it’s unpleasant to read. Trump’s “surge” among men after his “frail” performance by 23 points and Biden’s “ticked up” 8 points after the debate according to the Oracle of Delphi New York Times/Siena poll. The GOP convention is apparently looking to exploit this alleged advantage by featuring wife beaters and golf pros: Dana White, the macho president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the hottest sport for testosterone-charged fans, will introduce Trump, whose rhetoric and policies shoot right into the bloodstream of his male-dominated base. White, a controversial figure in his own right, apologized last year after being filmed slapping his wife at a nightclub.
Once upon a time the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken booked a nice hotel room with a Queen bed and invited Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to share it with him. Continue reading »
Summers right across the northern hemisphere are getting hotter but vegetation can lower the temperature locally. Macaques show humans how to cope with hotter conditions. Poor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Northern summers are getting hotter Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words, even if not all the details are clear (the axes Continue reading »
Every generation, or thereabouts, has its moment of unlearning or forgetting two salutary lessons that should be indelibly imprinted on the memory and the consciousness with the advent of war: first, idiosyncrasies or hubris, or both, can overpower political leaders; second allies are not necessarily friends no matter how much they may seem like us, Continue reading »
Haaretz has a new report out showing that the IDF has seized more than a quarter of Gaza’s territory, and is supporting moves by Israeli settlers to build on the areas that have been carved off from the Palestinian enclave. These areas are not just controlled by Israeli forces but have been completely demolished, with Continue reading »
I’m not sure exactly how it happened, but suddenly everyone’s talking about Project 2025. Maybe it really was Taraji P Henson talking about it on the BET awards and John Oliver laying out the stakes on his show, in which case we owe them a debt of gratitude. Whatever it was it’s now circulating in the mainstream and nothing couple be more important. Here’s one example and you won’t believe where it was published: A sweeping proposal for how Donald Trump should handle a second term in office has sparked concern for its implications on the role of federal government and its calls to eliminate a number of basic human rights.
I could go on. This is happening all over the country. It’s astonishing just how shameless they really are. But because they have their own media they know that their voters will never hear the truth.
Not joking Today is Day 3 of Netroots Nation-Baltimore. A Friday breakout session titled “Amplify: Getting Louder in 2024” featured ads written and tested to move audiences on key issues. Humor is an important way to grab viewers’ attention. But it’s hard to do irony, explained panelist Anat Shenker-Osorio. The ad above generated eye rolls when first tested. Audiences thought it an exaggeration, unbelievable. Creators had to add the end cards to explain that this joke is no joke. Republicans blocked a bill to protect access to contraception on June 5. It’s one reason why health care advocate Laura Packard is traveling around the country with a giant, inflatable IUD. More Amplify ads are here. They are free for you to use (except in Arizona). “All videos have been tested to ensure they not only persuade our audiences but move them to action. This “mobisuasion” approach is meant to break through the noise and mobilize voters in our base to repeat our message.” ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● For The Win, 5th Edition is ready for download.
Jodie Whittaker's Thirteenth Doctor and Mandip Gill's Yaz return in July 2025 for a new series of Big Finish Productions audio adventures.
Plus, meddling homeowner associations are put in their place, retirees put up a good fight, and the left wins big across the pond.
Start shouting it MAGA Republicans don’t want to govern They want to rule … You!
In today's BCTV Daily Dispatch: The Boys, Batman: Caped Crusader, Doctor Who/Star Trek, IWTV/Mayfair Witches, Euphoria, TWD/SDCC 2024 & more!
FX Networks' Shōgun, HBO/Max's Hacks, BBC/Disney+'s Doctor Who were some of the big winners during tonight's 40th Annual Television Critics Association (TCA) Awards.
Is James McMurdock a business super-star, or has he embellished his CV?
