Michelle Obama is one name that everyone pays attention to, and when news hit that she’d be writing a book, we were hoping that it would be as open as she often was. It is, and “Becoming” is one book, you’ll want to get your hands on as it’s sure to be all over the media next week. You can pre-order one here.
Former first lady Michelle Obama blasts President Donald Trump in her new book, writing how she reacted in shock the night she learned he would replace her husband in the Oval Office and tried to “block it all out.”
She also denounces Trump’s “birther” campaign questioning her husband’s citizenship, calling it bigoted and dangerous, “deliberately meant to stir up the wingnuts and kooks.”
In her memoir “Becoming,” set to come out Tuesday, Obama writes openly about everything from growing up in Chicago to confronting racism in public life to her amazement at becoming the country’s first black first lady. She also reflects on early struggles in her marriage to Barack Obama as he began his political career and was often away. She writes that they met with a counselor “a handful of times,” and she came to realize that she was more “in charge” of her happiness than she had realized. “This was my pivot point,” Obama explains. “My moment of self-arrest.”
Obama writes that she assumed Trump was “grandstanding” when he announced his presidential run in 2015. She expresses disbelief over how so many women would choose a “misogynist” over Hillary Clinton, “an exceptionally qualified female candidate.” She remembers how her body “buzzed with fury” after seeing the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Trump brags about sexually assaulting women.
She also accuses Trump of using body language to “stalk” Clinton during an election debate. She writes of Trump following Clinton around the stage, standing nearby and “trying to diminish her presence.”
Trump’s message, according to Obama, in words which appear in the book in darkened print: “I can hurt you and get away with it.”
We purchased an early copy of “Becoming,” one of the most anticipated political books in recent memory. Obama is admired worldwide and has offered few extensive comments on her White House years. And memoirs by former first ladies, including Clinton and Laura Bush, are usually best-sellers.
Michelle Obama wishing she could avoid this moment with Donald Trump
Obama launches her promotional tour Tuesday not at a bookstore, but at Chicago’s United Center, where tens of thousands of people have purchased tickets — from just under $30 to thousands of dollars — to attend the event moderated by Oprah Winfrey. Other stops on a tour scaled to rock star dimensions are planned at large arenas from New York City’s Barclays Center to the Los Angeles Forum, with guests including Reese Witherspoon and Sarah Jessica Parker. While some fans have criticized the price as too high, 10 percent of tickets at each event are being donated to local charities, schools and community groups.
In “Becoming,” Obama shares both pain and joy. She writes lovingly of her family and gives a detailed account of her courtship with her future husband, whom she met when both were at the Chicago law firm Sidley Austin LLP; she was initially his adviser. Secretaries claimed he was both brilliant and “cute,” although Michelle Obama was skeptical, writing that white people went “bonkers” any time you “put a suit” on a “half-intelligent black man.” She also thought his picture had a “whiff of geekiness.”
But she was more than impressed after meeting him, by his “rich, even sexy baritone” and by his “strange, stirring combination” of serenity and power. “This strange mix-of-everything-man,” when she finally let him kiss her, set off a “toppling blast of lust, gratitude, fulfillment, wonder.”
But throughout her husband’s life in politics, she fought to balance public and private needs, and to maintain her self-esteem. She agonized over what she feared was a cartoonish, racist image. She remembered being labeled “angry” and, by the Fox network, “Obama’s Baby Mama.” At times, she feared she was damaging her husband’s 2008 presidential campaign, especially after conservatives seized on a line from one of her speeches — taken out of context, she notes — that for the first time as an adult she was “really proud” of her country.
The remarks faded from the news, but she sensed lasting damage, a “pernicious seed,” a “perception” that she was “disgruntled and vaguely hostile.”
As the first black first lady, she knew she would be labeled “other” and would have to earn the aura of “grace” given freely to her white predecessors. She found confidence in repeating to herself a favorite chant: “Am I good enough? Yes I am.”
“Becoming” is part of a joint book deal with former President Barack Obama, whose memoir is expected next year, that is believed worth tens of millions of dollars. The Obamas have said they will donate a “significant portion” of their author proceeds to charity, including the Obama Foundation.
Widely praised as a gifted orator and communicator, Michelle Obama has long said she has no interest in running for office, although she held a few campaign-style rallies before the midterms urging people to register to vote. The rallies were part of her work as co-chairman of the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization When We All Vote.
Last year, she launched a program to help empower girls worldwide through education. The Global Girls Alliance aims to support more than 1,500 grassroots organizations combating the challenges girls encounter in their communities.
Here’s the thing, I didn’t review the Supernatural episode 14.03 “The Scar,” and this is why: when I review an episode I watch it a minimum of two times, but that episode I technically watched less than once. I missed the very beginning when it aired live and basically watched the rest with one ear and one eye. Then when I went to rewatch it and take it in… I couldn’t. I legitimately got less than ten minutes in. I simply could not suffer through it and turned it off. It was a passive aggressive mess of an episode, it was a temper tantrum. And that’s literally the extent of the time of day I’m going to give that episode.
Now, here’s another thing: I love Halloween and horror movies. To say I was excited for an episode of Supernatural with a Halloween/horror movie theme and something that was leaving the mytharc behind to get back to the bread and butter of the show is an understatement. Thankfully, episode 14.04 “Mint Condition” didn’t just live up to expectations; it exceeded it.
We start the episode with an old-fashioned introduction to our victim; meet Stuart, the geek shop store clerk. We quickly learn that Stuart is a thief, a real dick in a trench coat. Within three minutes we watch him steal a brand new Panthro action figure and learn from his co-worker, Samantha, that he was belligerent to a customer. We also listen to him berate a pizza place into giving him his pizza for free. Dude is a real peach.
On the plus side, the Panthro toy he jacked totally kicks his ass. Karma, man.
Over in the bunker Dean hibernating in his room, pizza boxes strewn around and a horror movie marathon on Shocker Television, which seems to be a nod to both the now defunct Chiller channel and Shudder TV streaming service. We quickly learn the scene is deceptively relaxed; Dean isn’t really lounging, he’s hiding. We get a recap of the past few episodes and to be honest, man do I not care about Castiel and Jack’s great adventure, Dark Kaia and her baggage, or Michael’s monsters. It unfortunate that the writers feel that we have to be handheld every episode, that we can’t fill in the gaps on our own or that we may not remember what happened 6-26 days prior. I don’t blame this episode’s writer, Davy Perez, for this, I blame the executive producers for the lack of faith in the audience. Even someone like me, who completely zoned out multiple times during the previous episode, didn’t need the Readers’ Digest version.
I digress.
This scene also marks the end of Sam’s Grief Beard, and while the rest of us mourn it Dean is stoked to see Sam’s face again, calling it, quote, “smooth as a dolphin’s belleh,” but the reality is it’s more than that to Dean, it’s Sam being able to care for himself again now that Dean is home. Now that he’s clean shaven, Sam’s next move is to coax Dean out of his funk, and what better than a possessed toy and the threat of handling it with one of the strangers that have infiltrated their home? Dean is so not having that… just like Sam predicted judging by his little smirk as Dean rushes to get ready for this case.
I often complain about the overused FBI cover the boys use, and I get it, they can’t really pass themselves off as local LEOs or anything like that, but I really enjoy when the writers think outside the law enforcement box and have the brothers use a guise that’s off the beaten path. This episode gave us nerdy insurance representatives, complete with khakis and short sleeved button downs. Granted, the khakis and shirts were perfectly tailored, but I refuse to nitpick or complain about that.
At the Smash Pow Comics novelty geek shop we see Samantha again, this time behind the counter. Dean does a bit of a double take and points out that Samantha could be Sam’s twin, what with the delicate features and luxurious hair. Sam scoffs, never realizing that he and Samantha were mirroring each other, and points out that the other employee, Dirk, is practically Dean’s personality doppelgänger. Dean doesn’t see it, but between the matching lollipops and the gleeful geek out over the life-size, talking David Jaeger replica we, the audience, definitely do.
Sam and Dean learn that Stuart was kicked out when he and his roommate got into a fight over whether a dubbed version of an anime was better than the original and that he’s really a run of the mill internet troll by nature. They head to his mom’s house, where he’s now living, and try to question him. Not only is Stuart in the middle of a Fortnite rage quit, but we also learn that he’s stereotypically socially awkward and prone to lying. Sam and Dean just want to get to the bottom of the problem, but Stuart is shifty and shuts them down.
If Samantha is Sam and Dirk is Dean, well, Stuart and his trench coat… seem familiar, too.
The brothers opt to stake out the house, and while they kill time, Sam checks in with Riley. Dean’s response to that is, “I don’t know who Riley is,” and honestly? Same, Dean. Dean tries to find out why Sam hates Halloween, but Sam notices Stuart’s mom is leaving the house and uses that to deflect. Meanwhile, we are treated to a great moment of Sam and Dean slowly leaning out of view while in the Impala. When we were watching this episode live, I was positive that moment wasn’t scripted and I was right.
The cuteness is cut short when Stuart comes stumbling out of the house bloody. Sam tends to him while Dean investigates and nearly gets his own guts ripped out by a flying chainsaw that wedges itself right into a Texas Chainsaw Massacre poster. Nice nod to a classic.
At this point the episode does the good ol’ split the brothers up to hang out with their counterparts. Dean stays at the hospital and bonds with Dirk over the All Saints Day franchise while Sam heads to Smash Pow to question Samantha and it all starts coming together; Smash Pow was owned by Jordan, who passed away and left it to Samantha and Dirk. Jordan had also repeatedly fired Stuart for stealing, but Samantha hired him back, something Jordan’s ghost clearly isn’t keen on.
It would be easy to be annoyed that Sam and Dean just got back together only to spend a good chunk of this episode separated, but like most really great Supernatural episodes such as All Hell Breaks Loose: Part 1, Time After Time, or Red Meat, the separation actually serves the brothers and their story really well. We see geeky Dean and nerdy Sam in their elements, and we see that come together, without them having to do much communication, to defeat the ghost with the help of their counterparts. Gotta love when an episode stays true to the characters and gives us great parallels.
Speaking of staying true to the characters, this episode touches on something that I think we’ve lost in the past few years that was widely out of character for both brothers. See, the thing is, Dean was the anti-social weirdo and Sam was the socialized one, but somehow, around season 7 or 8, Dean became the one to understand references and assimilate while Sam became the out of touch one who couldn’t connect to people. Dean when from not knowing what MySpace was to trolling dating sites, while Sam went from having friends to having almost no one. I’m not saying Dean can’t evolve, but when one evolves, and the other regresses it’s just off-putting. This episode gave us a good balance while maintaining core characterizations; Dean was able to relate to Dirk, similarly to relating to characters like Lucas (“Dead in the Water”) and Michael (“Something Wicked”) and Sam was able to be himself without having to immediately withdraw into himself.
My one nitpick with this episode was the explanation of why Sam hates Halloween. For a boy who’s life began to fall apart on the Day of the Dead, 1983 and did so again on the same day in 2005, the story of him vomiting at a Halloween party in front of his crush in 1995 just rang hollow. This is the downside of having headcanons about the Weechesters; inevitably the writers will create a real canon for something and dash it. So, where Sam could’ve had a moment with Dean where he pointed out that John didn’t let them stray too far between October 31st and November 2nd out of fear or remind Dean that he already had issues with the holiday and then his last good night with Jess ended up being Halloween, instead we got a story that really kinda served to diminish the very first episode of this series.
On the other hand, Sam’s preteen drama ended with Dean consoling him in the woods and, well, I’m a sucker for any time Sam had a rough go of it, and Dean was there to rescue him from himself. I’m a cheap date, what can I say?
Speaking of me being a cheap date, there is nothing I love more than Dean Winchester trying his damnedest to both comfort and mortify his baby brother. His declaration that next Halloween they’re doing matching costumes is on the surface endearingly goofy, but it’s really Dean letting Sam know, once again, that at the end of the day it’s just the two of them against the world, whether they’re superheroes, cartoon animals, puppets, or if they’re just kissing it all goodbye and gunning it off a cliff.
Overall, this episode was what had been missing from Supernatural for years. This was the love letter the fans deserved back in season 10; nods to the boy’s real lives and other projects, reminders of canon meta from the days of yore, great brother moments, perfect parallels, all wrapped up with a growling engine bow. The show missed the boat back in season 10, but I’ll gladly sail it now.
There are few things more satisfying than watching a new episode of your favorite show with a bunch of people who share your passion. I was in Minneapolis for a Supernatural convention last Thursday, so of course, I was looking forward to watching the show with fellow fans.
After a few minutes of panic upon finding out that my hotel didn’t even carry The CW, I took to twitter to see if anyone would take pity on me and invite me over to watch. In a city full of fans, that took about ten seconds, so when 7 pm rolled around, I was happily curled up on the sofa in the honors floor suite of some friends’ hotel. We had crackers and cheese and wine and soda and the free buffet that nobody else was apparently interested in – and then the lovely man in charge of the suite kept making us sandwiches and bringing them in for us to try! Ever have those sort of moments when you’re sure that life is too good to be real? This was one of them.
Davy Perez is one of my favorite Supernatural writers, and the previews for ‘Mint Condition’ suggested it would be a fun Halloween-horror-movie-themed episode, but you never know. It turns out, this episode was even more fun than I expected, and an especially good episode to watch with fellow fans. The episode also had some underlying messages that weren’t just there for the fun, which made it a multilayered and sometimes surprisingly meta episode as well.
Perez knows his horror movie tropes, that’s for sure. The episode opens in a comic shop, jam-packed full of superhero lunchboxes and action figures and posters, including one for “Hell Hazers,” the film being made in one of the show’s first meta episodes, Hollywood Babylon. I adore when the show references its own history, so that made me squee out loud for the first time in this episode but definitely not the last. The television in the comic shop is tuned to Shocker TV. On screen, Hatchetman says his signature line “time to slice and dice,” and then the young guy working at the shop turns it off – and proceeds to stuff a brand new Thundercats Panthro figure into his backpack.
Everyone in the room: Uh oh.
We quickly learn that Stuart isn’t exactly a model employee and in fact is given to angry outbursts and ugly and stigmatizing name-calling. Especially when someone accuses him of being weak, as in not being able to beat up Superman.
When I watched this episode live, it was like being taken on a rollicking rollercoaster ride along with my friends, and it was pure joy. On rewatch, the darker themes came through, including some commentary on troll-infested internet culture and the messages about masculinity that can end up being so toxic. Stuart’s barely contained rage when someone threatens his ideas about masculinity (ie, you should be strong enough to beat up Superman or you’ll be a virgin for your whole life) is scarier than most horror tropes in the midst of so much real life violence springing from similar fears and rage. It comes out in Stuart’s treatment of a customer, his outburst at a delayed pizza delivery, and even in his berating fellow players and storming off in the midst of a Fortnite game online. Stuart, for me, hit a little too close to reality for me to stomach him easily. Or feel much sympathy!
But back to the show. Angry Stuart, kicked out by his roommate and back to living in his mother’s basement, regards his stolen Panthro figure. And then it TURNS ITS HEAD!!!! I legit screamed – look, I admit I have a bit of a thing about dolls and figures coming to life. Too many horror movies as a kid perhaps, but OMG there is nothing more horrifying than thinking that’s a possibility. Following the classic horror movie protocol, Stuart leans in close and ASKS the Panthro what it’s doing.
Everyone in the room: NOOOOO! RUN AWAY!!
Of course he doesn’t, and the fierce little (possessed) Panthro beats the crap out of him with its little nunchucks. SO creepy!
Back to the bunker, where Dean Winchester is sprawled out on his bed, socked feet up on the nightstand, head on a pillow watching television and eating pizza. Let me repeat. Dean Winchester is sprawled out on his bed. The camera doesn’t exactly do a slow pan as in that early season’s episode (you know the one, black boxers, tee shirt…) but it’s a nice visual, just saying.
There’s a Hell Hazers III movie ad, which again makes me squee with continuity joy, and then Dean’s Hatchetman marathon continues. Dean repeats the tag line along with the film: “Time to slice and dice.”
Everyone in the room: Fanboy Dean!!
One of my favorite flavors.
Side note: Those socks have chopsticks and takeout boxes on them, and say “SEND NOODS,” much to Jensen’s amusement, he said.
We get the first of several classic and oh-so-welcome brother conversations right off the bat, as Sam comes in to see how Dean’s doing. Dean looks up from his pizza and his eyes go wide.
Dean: Oh wow.
Sam: What? Oh. Yes, I shaved.
Half the people in the room: Nooooo!
Other half of people in the room: Yessssss!
Dean: I mean, it’s so smooth…it’s like a dolphin’s belly…
Except he says it soft like “bell-eh” and it’s just so very Sam and Dean, so it made me smile.
Sam shakes his head, indulgent, and pulls up a chair, gently admonishing Dean for hiding out in his room for the past week. Dean protests that their house is full of strangers (which I hate as much as he does), but Sam knows his big brother and casually mentions a case. At first Dean is skeptical, but when Sam plays him a video of Stuart describing his attack by a “killer toy” saying “Panthro kicked my ass,” Dean’s eyes go wide.
Dean: Thundercats? Seriously??
Sam is smug.
And off they go. (Another nod to canon and show history, since Sam and Dean have been seen watching Thundercats as kids)
When next we see Sam and Dean, they’re on their way to the comic shop – dressed as the consummate nerds. Except on Sam and Dean Winchester, that’s just another way of saying that Jensen and Jared look HOT AS HELL. Short sleeve button-up shirts never looked so good. Sam even has a pocket protector.
I had to squee again when we see that the comic shop has a life size Red Hood figure (which Jensen Ackles posted a photo of on his Instagram during filming, and then wore a full out cosplay for Halloween which just about broke the internet). That was a lovely meta shout out, since Ackles voiced Red Hood for the animated feature. There’s also a poster for “House Of Wax,” the horror movie that Jared Padalecki starred in.
There’s also a fun parallel that goes on in the comic shop, with Dean teasing Sam that Samantha the shopkeeper (in a flannel shirt with longish brown hair) is like his twin.
Dean: Soft, delicate features…luxurious hair…
Everyone in the room: Mm hmm…
They even brush it back at the same time.
Sam gives it right back, saying “If that’s me, that’s you over there” and pointing to Dirk, the other shopkeeper and bona fide geek fanboy. Dean protests that they have zero in common, then proceeds to geek out over a life-size figure of Hatchetman.
Dean: (as joyous as someone coming out of their first photo op with Jensen, Jared or Misha at a Supernatural convention) David Freakin’ Yeager! Dude, I need this, how much?
Sam: (deadpan) Yeah, nothing in common…
Alas, Hatchetman is not for sale, but Dean’s absolute glee is so refreshing.
Both Dirk and Samantha are established as nerds in addition to Stuart, regulars at game night and with an encyclopedic and passion-fueled knowledge of the things they’re fannish about. If Samantha and Dirk (and Dean) weren’t written this way, the episode would have veered close to stigmatizing fans with only Stuart as a representation. As it is, I’m not quite sure why his two friends are so fond of Stuart, but I’ll trust they have their reasons – maybe just that fans don’t give up on other fans and tend to have big hearts when it comes to understanding each other’s imperfections. But having Samantha and Dirk be both geeky and smart and caring and heroic makes the representation of fandom a lot more positive.
Dean can’t help but blurt out that he wants some vintage Hot Wheels when Samantha asks if she can help them, which gave me some nostalgic feels for little boy Dean playing on the floor of some motel room with a McDonald’s freebie and wishing he had a set of Hot Wheels like that kid at school did, and a fancy carrying case to show them off in. Sniff.
Samantha is established as both smart and savvy right away, a subtle eyeroll giving away the fact that she doesn’t quite buy their obvious rockstar aliases. Genevieve Buechner did a fabulous job with this role, making Samantha a memorable character even in the little bit of time we got to see her. She gives Sam and Dean a bit more information on Stuart, including that he’s an internet troll and is now living with his mother.
Dean: (mutters) Of course he is.
That’s a fanboy stereotype, and I tend to bristle at fannish stereotypes, but in this case, Stuart is unlikable enough that it didn’t irk me as much as it might have. I mean, I wouldn’t want to be his roomie!
Sam and Dean, still in their attractive insurance dudes outfits, visit Stuart at his mom’s. She makes them apple cider in a cat mug and a superhero mug (which Dean quickly grabs for himself). Oh, and did I mention that Dean is now wearing glasses??? That was enough to make most of us in the room gasp out loud and then grin from ear to ear.
Sam gets to show off his knowledge of internet culture, and Dean gets to be clueless, which makes for a very Sam and Dean conversation when Stuart says he was playing Fortnite.
Dean: (looks to Sam)
Sam: It’s a video game.
Wordless Winchester conversation is the best.
Stuart: I dumped goth girl before we MIRLed.
Dean: MIRLed?
Sam: Met in real life.
Dean: Why do you know what that means??
Stuart eventually kicks them out none too gently, his anger problem resurfacing. Sam and Dean wait in the car, Sam refusing to tell Dean why he’s always hated Halloween. Eventually the mom comes out and gets in her car, and the boys realize she’s going to drive right past them – they both slowly lean sideways to get out of sight with the most hilarious expressions on their faces.
Jensen and Jared said that they watched this episode together last week when it aired in one of their trailers, and when they got to that part they laughed so hard – that was an ad lib that they did just as a joke, and they were surprised and overjoyed to see that it made it into the episode! No wonder it was such a funny scene.
Smart!Sam does some research and figures out why Stuart is trying to recant his story of being attacked by the Panthros figure, and we get more underlying commentary. Seems when he posted his video, the online trolls dogpiled in the comments. Trolls with avatars like BroGamer and Trans4ormersLvr call him “Panthro’s bitch,” berate him for probably living in his mom’s basement (which he is) and predict he’ll be a virgin for the rest of his life. Again, negative stereotypes about fanboys, and also the sort of ugly accusations that try to shame men for not performing masculinity correctly. That’s the source of a lot of Stuart’s rage, and we all know what can happen when that rage gets out of control.
Dean: Gotta love the internet, where everyone can be a dick.
At that moment, Stuart runs out screaming and bloodied. Sam helps him while Dean goes in, gun at the ready. He’s dressed in the world’s ugliest jacket and should look ridiculous, but somehow he just looks hot anyway.
We get to see Stuart’s basement room, covered with horror film posters, and just as Dean is admiring a “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” poster, a chainsaw flies across the room and embeds itself in the poster. Nicely done meta moment, Davy Perez!
Dean stays with Stuart in the hospital while Sam goes back to investigate, which brings us a scary scene with lots of horror movie vibes. There’s no light, so Sam explores in the dark, and the whole time I was expecting one of the many figures in the room to come to life and attack. Sam was initially nervous too, berating himself with a muttered “Nice, Sam, smooth…” as he stumbles as a result.
Look, Sam, I don’t blame you. It was scary in there!
Meanwhile, Dean bonds with Dirk over their shared love of horror films.
Dirk: (surprised) What are you doing here?
Dean: Keeping an eye on Stuart.
Dirk: Stuart must have awesome insurance…
We all laughed out loud at that line.
Dirk gives us our first glimpse of Stuart as something other than a dick, saying that when Dirk’s dad is awful, Stuart lets Dirk stay with him.
Dirk: He has his stuff, but we all do. He’s my best friend.
Dean and Dirk recite the dialogue from the horror film playing on the hospital room TV simultaneously, and both can name all the films in the series. I absolutely love that Dean is a fan and the de-pathologizing that it does when one of the lead characters is allowed to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the movies he’s fannish about. So if Supernatural fans also aspire to have that level of knowledge, clearly there’s nothing pathological about it!
This episode was a gift in terms of gaining some insight into the Winchesters growing up, which I always appreciate more than I can even put into words. Dean explains to Dirk, who he recognizes as a kindred spirit in some ways, why he loves horror movies.
Dean: Growing up, it was nice to check out every once in a while. I like to watch movies where I know the bad guy’s gonna lose.
Well, hell. Of course he does. That makes so much sense. It’s an escape for Dean, and also brings a sense of mastery that he rarely gets from his real-life horror movie of a life. This little commentary is so rich, and one of the more serious themes running through this fun-on-the-surface episode. Coupled with Sam’s dismissal of horror movies because “our life is a horror movie,” Dean’s use of these films as a coping strategy makes so much sense. In reality, that is part of why we all watch scary movies – and scary television shows like Supernatural. We don’t have control of so much that’s terrifying in our real lives, so it feels good to lose yourself in a world where the heroes eventually do prevail, and where they “always keep fighting.” I loved Perez’s meta-commentary on fandom and Supernatural in this episode.
Sam leaves Stuart’s room eventually (phew!) and visits the comic shop to see Samantha. She tells Sam that Jordan, the shop owner, recently passed away, and that he had fired Stuart for stealing before he died.
Sam whips out his EMF meter, and it goes crazy.
Samantha: What’s that?
Sam: Umm… it’s a carbon monoxide detector…
Samantha: (as it goes nuts) Is that bad?
Sam: Pretty bad…
This whole exchange was hilarious. Jared Padalecki’s comic skills are under appreciated sometimes, and they were in full view here as Sam awkwardly maneuvers to get Samantha out of the shop without telling her there’s a ghost in there with them. Hatchetman appears before he succeeds and knocks poor Sam out.
When he comes to, he tells Samantha that ghosts are real.
Samantha: You’re not from an insurance company, are you?
Sam: Not exactly.
OMG, we all laughed out loud.
The resourceful ghost of Jordan has locked them in the shop with a door that’s shatterproof glass, so Sam and Samantha have to get creative. Sam McGyvers a bomb out of cleaning fluids in a freaking Scooby Do lunchbox (more meta nods, thanks Davy!)
As the doors blow out, Sam and Samantha crouch behind a desk and then peek up over the top.
Sam and Sam: COOL
Samantha: Where’d you learn that?
Sam: (deadpans) I had a messed up childhood.
Oh, Sam.
I adored the playful mirroring that went on in this episode. It’s a classic Supernatural trope from the Kripke days, using guest characters to mirror the Winchesters, and I enjoy the hell out of it.
Sam calls Dean to give him the heads up about Hatchetman aka Jordan, interrupting Dean and Dirk gushing over the goriest horror movie deaths (which, gross!)
Dean (ecstatic): Hatchetman is coming here?
Sam: Well, not literally but…
As Dean talks to Sam, Hatchetman walks toward Dean through hospital corridors – on the TV screen in Stuart’s hospital room! So deliciously meta.
And in real life? Hatchetman Jordan strolls down the street on Halloween night, drawing compliments on his realism from clueless trick or treaters.
Dean puts Dirk and Stuart in a salt circle and gives him the “it’s all real” talk, so of course we know there’s no way Stuart is going to stay in that salt circle.
At the first sign of doors opening and closing and lights flickering, he doesn’t.
Everyone: NOOOO!
A chase deliciously full of horror movie tropes ensues in the dark and deserted hospital (a trope referred to repeatedly throughout the episode), Dean stopping to break open the fire box and then realizing he can just open it to arm himself with a hatchet. Dirk proves himself a geek with courage by standing up to Hatchetman trying to save Stuart and Stuart’s mom, then swears and runs away. And all this time, the hospital guards sit watching the Hatchetman film on television instead of their monitors – where a Hatchetman in real life is trying to take out Dean, Dirk, and Stuart! It’s absolutely priceless, and we were all enjoying every second, alternately screaming and then laughing as people trip on nothing to fall on their faces and run in slow motion. It’s all so well done, with Amyn Kaderali directing brilliantly and everyone bringing their A games.
Dirk eventually runs to the morgue, which is never a good idea in a horror movie. [And we get a very meta preview for All Saints Day III – The Reckoning]. Hatchetman pops up from a slab because OF COURSE he does, and Dean confronts him, keeping Dirk safely behind him.
Dean: You can let this go and go into the light…. Or I can send you there.
Hatchetman hits the button on his coveralls that says “Time to slice and dice” and Dean grins.
Dean: I was kinda hoping you’d say that.
For the fourth Season 14 episode in a row, we get a fight scene. This one included Dean deploying some handy dandy bedpans, though I’m not sure why those were in the morgue, come to think of it. Eventually, Hatchetman flings Dean to the ground and raises his axe. Dirk proves his bravery again by stabbing the ghost in the back, giving Dean time to get up. But soon Hatchetman immobilizes Dirk and has Dean in a stranglehold.
Enter Sam times two, bursting through the door. Samantha has proven her smarts once again by figuring out that it’s Jordan’s keychain that’s keeping him here.
Sam: Dean, the keychain!
Dean digs it out and tosses it to Sam, Samantha suggests ethyl alcohol as an accelerant, and they burn the keychain, though it seems to take forever. Poor breathless Dean keeps making gestures of hurry up hurry up, and Ackles’ comedic talents made all of us laugh out loud. Poof, Hatchetman goes up in smoke and Jordan goes on to wherever.
Then we get another gift from Davy Perez – another broment in the Impala. As they drive away, in the dark, rain on the Impala’s windows, Dean looks at Sam.
Dean: Thanks, man. You got me out here because you wanted to get me outta my funk, to get me a win, and you did. So, thanks.
Sam: I admit it didn’t go exactly like I planned…
Dean: Hey man, I just went toe to toe with David Freakin’ Yeager, and it was awesome!
Sam: It wasn’t really…
Dean: Don’t ruin this for me.
It’s a light moment, but it’s also a serious one between the brothers.
Sam: You gotta stop hiding out in your room. I get it why you’re doing it, I do. But Michael…you said yes for me. For Jack. For family.
At this point, everyone in the room started screaming “YESSSSS” because everyone has been waiting for someone to tell Dean that and it felt SO good to hear it.
Sam: And what happened after, just because Michael was wearing your face doesn’t mean any of this is on you. I don’t blame you, no one blames you. You gotta stop blaming yourself. Please.
Dean listens, and I think he hears Sam. He insists he’s not gonna get over it, but also allows that Sam is right, and promises not to stay holed up in his room.
Dean: Whatever you need, I’m there. All right, Chief?
There’s also a subtle commentary on Dean’s difficulty adjusting to having everyone at the bunker and Sam’s new leadership role running through the episode which reappears here. Earlier in the episode, Sam gets a call from one of the AU hunters and Dean quips “I don’t know who that is.” The AU hunters all call Sam “chief” and see him as the leader, and Dean doesn’t really know his place. To his credit, he’s trying to let Sam know that he’s on board, and that he too respects Sam as a leader.
Sam responds to Dean’s uncharacteristic openness by finally telling him why Sam hates Halloween. Sixth grade crush, Halloween party butterflies, puking all over while bobbing for apples.
Sam: I hid out in the woods until you finally came and got me.
Yep, that’s enough of a nightmare to make anyone hate a holiday!
Dean: That’s great!
Of course it’s not, but that’s Dean’s way of trying to take the sting out of a painful childhood memory. Thank you, Davy Perez, for yet another glimpse into the Winchesters’ childhoods. I love knowing about Sam’s sixth grade crush and his anxiety, and I love that big brother Dean came to rescue then too. He comes to the rescue again now in a different way, determined to replace that memory with one that might make Sam smile (even if it’s with an eyeroll).
Dean: Next year, we’re doing Halloween right. Matching outfits. Batman and Robin.
Sam: (eyeroll)
Dean: Bert and Ernie? No, that’s weird…
Sam: Yeah….
Dean: Shaggy and Scooby! Rocky and Bullwinkle! Turner and Hooch! Ren and Stimpy! Thelma and Louise…we just put it in drive and go…
Screencaps by kayb625
We don’t get to be sure, but I’m pretty certain that Sam is finally thinking about Halloween and smiling. We all were too.
There’s a nice little horror movie meta ending, the security guards finding a hatchet and a hammer and a life-size Hatchetman figure on the floor of the morgue, uttering one last “Trick or treat.”
This episode was an absolute treat for me and my friends – it was an hour of pure fun, made even more special because we got to share it. Mint Condition felt like old school Supernatural – Sam and Dean in the Impala, dressing up to play a part, saving the day by being the geeky smart heroes they are, and then sharing some real talk in Baby. I screamed, I laughed, and I got a little misty-eyed once or twice. This is the show I fell in love with, and I’m still in love with fourteen seasons in.
I think I might have gotten a little emotional at some point in the episode and live tweeted my undying love to Davy Perez. Sorry, Davy. But not really.
Net neutrality might sound like a low key word, but it’s one that will get tech geeks and politicians heated up quickly. It goes under the more radar every couple years, and when it does, your bound to hear about it in the media.
For a fundamentally nerdy subject, net neutrality is pushing a lot of political buttons.
The latest salvo is over a California law that restores a ban on cable, wireless and other broadband providers from impeding people’s ability to use their favorite apps and services. The federal government had rescinded that ban, and the Trump administration is seeking to block California’s effort as an imposition on federal prerogatives.
Though net neutrality started off more than a decade ago as an insight into how to make networks work most efficiently, it has taken on much larger social and political dimensions lately. The issue has emerged as an anti-monopoly rallying point and even a focus for “resistance” to the Trump administration.
“Any time the cable companies and the Trump administration are on one side, it looks good for companies to be on the other side,” Boston Law School professor Daniel Lyons said.
But the idea hasn’t always been political or partisan. Net neutrality traces back to an engineering maxim called the “end-to-end principle,” a self-regulating network that put control in the hands of end users rather than a central authority. Traditional cable-TV services, for instance, required special equipment and controlled what channels are shown on TV. With an end-to-end network like the internet, the types of equipment, apps, articles and video services permitted are limited only to the imagination.
And the internet subsequently grew like nobody’s business — largely because it wasn’t anyone’s business.
But as internet use expanded, so did the power of the big companies that offer internet service to the masses. It became clear that they could, and sometimes would, restrict what people did. Media outlets found in 2007 that Comcast was blocking or slowing down some file-sharing. AT&T blocked Skype and other internet-calling services on the iPhone until 2009.
Law professor Tim Wu, now at Columbia University, coined the term “net neutrality” in 2003 to argue for government rules that would prevent big internet providers from discriminating against technology and services that clashed with other aspects of their business. Allowing such discrimination, he reasoned, would choke off innovation.
Big telecommunications companies, on the other hand, argue that they should be able to control the pipes they built and owned.
The Federal Communications Commission subscribed to the principle of net neutrality for over a decade and enshrined that as specific rules in 2015 under chairman Tom Wheeler, an Obama appointee. Among the rules: Broadband companies couldn’t block websites and apps of their choosing. Nor could they charge Netflix and other video services extra to reach viewers more smoothly.
Once President Donald Trump took office, net neutrality became one of his first targets as part of broader government deregulation. The FCC chairman he appointed, Ajit Pai, made rollback a top priority.
And thus net neutrality became increasingly political. As a vote loomed for months, the once-obscure concept was debated endlessly on talk shows and online chats. Big-time Hollywood producer Shonda Rhimes tweeted a link to a story about saving net-neutrality on her lifestyle website. Actor Mark Ruffalo urged people to contact members of Congress by tweeting, “Long live cute dog videos on YouTube! #RIPinternet.”
The debate created strange bedfellows: Support for net neutrality comes from many of the same people who are also critical of the data-sucking tech giants who benefit from it.
Yet on net neutrality, these tech companies got to be the “good guy,” siding on the side of the younger “digital first” generation and consumer groups calling for more protection. No matter that these companies are keeping their own business interests at heart, as a net-neutrality rollback could mean higher costs for access to the “pipes.”
Politicians glommed on to the debate to appear consumer friendly.
“No politician will ever lose votes by supporting net neutrality,” said Gus Hurwitz, law professor at the University of Nebraska and a member of the conservative group The Federalist Society. “It’s an ill-defined term that voters don’t really understand other than that it is a scary concept they know they don’t want to lose.”
Meanwhile, ISPs haven’t done themselves any favors in appealing to the consumer. They’ve long had a reputation for bad service and high prices. Unlike the high-profile support for net neutrality, the opposition was limited to behind-the-scenes lobbying.
On Monday, the Supreme Court declined to hear appeals from the broadband industry to strike down a lower court ruling in 2016 that was in favor of net neutrality. That effectively shut down an appeal that had already become largely moot when the FCC rolled back the rules. But in other arenas, the fight is likely to drag on.
Several tech companies including Mozilla and Vimeo are challenging the FCC’s rollback decision in a federal appeals court. That’s separate from the challenge to the California law, which is on hold until the tech companies’ lawsuit is resolved. Oral arguments in the tech companies’ case are expected in February.
Oregon, Washington, and Vermont have also approved legislation related to net neutrality.
And a Democratic takeover of the House in Tuesday’s midterm elections could revive efforts to enact net neutrality into federal law, though Trump would likely veto any such attempts.
“Net neutrality is only the fifth round of a 12-round boxing match,” Wedbush Securities Managing Director Dan Ives said.
If the name Lucas Hedges is unfamiliar to you now, it won’t be after “Boy Erased.” The young actor has landed a string of standout roles including playing a closeted boy in “Lady Bird” and suffering a different burden in the upcoming drama “Ben Is Back.” To be able to hold your own in scenes with Nicole Kidman says a lot about Hedges future, and you will surely be seeing more of him as both he and his work continues maturing.
“Boy Erased” is a must-see film that has already garnered positive reviews, and is the perfect showcase for this actor.
Every actor feels the pressure when taking a lead role for the first time, but Lucas Hedges was hearing voices. Very loud, very vivid movie-critic voices.
“I would hear reviews in my head that were like: ‘It appears as if Hedges has nothing going on in his inner life. In what should be a very rich…’” says Hedges, writing the imaginary hatchet job in his head. “It was like: I’m never going to work again. The stakes felt very high.”
Photo: Focus Features Boy Erased
The reviews, like just about everything the 21-year-old actor has done, including his Oscar-nominated breakthrough role in “Manchester by Sea,” have turned out quite the opposite for Hedges in his first starring role. The acclaimed gay conversion therapy drama “Boy Erased,” out Friday, is the latest in a string of disarmingly natural performances by Hedges, even if during the film’s shoot, he felt like he was drowning.
Hedges ultimately found that the self-doubt could be beneficial. He could channel it into his performance as Garrard Conley, who chronicled his anguished insecurity as the gay son of Baptist parents (Nicole Kidman, Russell Crowe) sent to a conversion camp in a 2016 memoir, the basis for Joel Edgerton’s film.
“There’s always a parallel journey going on in all of these projects,” Hedges said in a recent interview in a midtown Manhattan restaurant.
In parts large and small, Hedges has over the past two years assembled a portrait gallery of young men in strained, anxious periods of transition. He has been a newly parentless son (“Manchester by the Sea”), a gay teen in denial (“Lady Bird”), an abusive older brother (“Mid90s”) and a drug addict in recovery (“Ben Is Back”). Their struggles have all in some way mirrored Hedges’ own; their coming of age has been his.
“In the last few years, I’ve felt really restless and searching for the approval of the world,” says Hedges. “Moving forward, I can’t say I’ll be drawn to the same roles. But these parts have felt like no-brainers. There’s been a lot of transformation occurring within me.”
Hedges, a Brooklyn-native currently living with his older brother, Simon, in a Manhattan apartment, spoke on a day off from his Broadway debut in Kenneth Lonergan’s “The Waverly Gallery,” alongside Elaine May, Joan Allen, and Michael Cera. (The latter has made himself a mentor to Hedges, giving him regular film assignments.)
Hedges’ father, the author-playwright-filmmaker Peter Hedges (“What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” ″Pieces of April”), recently attended opening night. And while he’s been well aware of his son’s natural talent since a seventh grade production of “Nicholas Nickleby” (Hedges played Smike, the disabled boy), he was still impressed when he entered Lucas’ dressing room. On the wall were pictures of his grandmother for personal inspiration. (Hedges plays the grandson of a woman descending into dementia.)
“You walk in and you go, ‘Oh, there’s a real actor preparing in this room,’” says the elder Hedges. “Then it hits me that I get to be his dad.”
A decade ago, Peter cast his son in “Dan in Real Life” but ultimately cut his scene. It was a kind of blessing. Lucas later made it clear he wanted to make his own path, outside of his father.
“I wanted to have the life of an actor. I didn’t fantasize about acting. I wanted to be famous. I wouldn’t say I had the purest intentions of getting into this industry,” says Lucas. “And to be honest, I still don’t have the purest intentions.”
Theodore Pellerin, left, and Lucas Hedges in “Boy Erased.” (Focus Features)
Such a line — far from the usual sort actors make promoting their movies — is reflective of Hedges’ rare humility. In the course of a wide-spanning interview Hedges spoke with candor about everything from his growing opportunities (“Honestly, there’s no shortage of parts for young, white, male actors. … That’s a weird thing to say.”), to his deep affection for the puberty sitcom “Big Mouth” to his history as a ranked squash player. He tends to deflect praise. About as far as he’ll go is to credit the material he’s gotten to be a part of: “Maybe I’m good at, like, being aware of what I’m working on is good.”
Others, though, don’t shy from complimenting.
“He has this blank-canvas, everyday-beautiful-ordinary regularness about him,” says Edgerton, who wrote and directed “Boy Erased.” ″Lucas is an actor who holds the screen so well without words. The central character of ‘Boy Erased’ is such a quiet, put-upon person. Lucas was coming out of being a boy and transitioning into being a man.”
Hedges was lured back into working with his father by Julia Roberts, who lobbied for Lucas to star alongside her in Peter’s upcoming “Ben Is Back.” Lucas plays a young man home from rehab for the holidays; Roberts plays his mom.
“The hardest part of being the father of a young actor who has had inordinate early success, what my worry would be is that he now has to protect his place and constantly prove that he is a certain type of actor,” says Peter. “What impresses me is that he’s still thinking very much like a student. He’s always learning and growing.”
Both “Boy Erased” and “Ben Is Back,” Hedges says, are for him about overcoming shame.
“Shame has been a big part of my life and something I’ve really be able to come face-to-face with through these projects. I’ve gotten to look more directly at myself and heal those parts of me,” he says. “I try to approach every part in terms of: This part has come to me to heal something.”
Part of that process on “Boy Erased” was also coming to terms with his sexuality. In an interview last month with New York Magazine, Hedges said he’s “not totally straight, but also not gay and not necessarily bisexual.” Saying that publicly, he says, has been a relief.
“I don’t feel like I’m only attracted to women. There are people in my life that I’m afraid to say that to, and I don’t like it,” says Hedges. “But if I’m going to play this part, then I wouldn’t deserve to play it if I wasn’t able to be honest. This character had to risk everything in sharing his sexuality and being honest with himself. The least I can do is be like, ‘Am I doing the same?’”
It may have been a tumultuous period in Hedges’ life; one cathartically charted on screen. But it has brought him a hard-earned maturity.
“For the first time in my life,” Hedges says, “I’m more settled in myself.”
Election Day has finally arrived, and with it plenty of nervousness, but mainly, people wanting to know what to make of it all once it’s over. More people are voting early on both sides, but you can be sure it will be a nail-biting finish that may not end on Tuesday.
Here’s everything you need to know about Election Day 2018 and what to pay attention on.
That past year has been tweetstorms and a trade war. Kanye in the Oval Office. Kavanaugh in the hearing room.
President Donald Trump’s presidency has been a wild, turbulent, two-year ride. Now it’s time for voters to weigh in how much they’re enjoying it.
Republicans’ across-the-board control of Congress is at stake in Tuesday’s midterm election, along with command of governors’ offices and statehouses around the country.
The president has barnstormed the nation this fall, holding multiple rallies a week, mindful that his future will be shaped by Election Day. “Even though I’m not on the ballot, in a certain way I am on the ballot,” Trump said Monday.
A guide to what to watch as results come in Tuesday night. All times are EST.
THE TIMELINE
Polls start closing at 6 p.m. in Kentucky. But things will really get rolling at 7 p.m., when polls close in Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, South Carolina and Virginia. Another wave of numbers will begin coming in after 7:30 p.m. from North Carolina, Ohio and West Virginia. A big chunk of data will come after 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. when states such as Texas, New York, Michigan, and Pennsylvania begin reporting. The 11 p.m. batch of states includes California, home to several competitive congressional races. Alaska, where polls close at 1 a.m. Wednesday, will end the night.
THE EARLY VOTE
Much of America has already voted. Based on reports from 49 states, through Monday, at least 36.4 million people voted in the midterms before Election Day. And in a sign of the growing influence of early voting, 30 states reported exceeding their total number of mail and in-person votes cast ahead of the 2014 midterm elections.
A big question: Does it mean a higher turnout?
Turnout in midterm elections is typically near 40 percent, much lower than presidential elections, where turnout has hit around 60 percent in recent cycles. University of Florida professor Michael McDonald, who studies voting patterns, estimated recently that about 45 percent of eligible voters could cast ballots this year, a turnout level that hasn’t been seen in nearly a half century.
EARLY TEA LEAVES
For an early read on how things are going, keep an eye on two congressional races in Virginia: a district in the Washington suburbs represented by Republican Rep. Barbara Comstock and another in the Richmond area held by Republican Rep. Dave Brat.
Trump has struggled with college-educated women in the suburbs and Comstock’s district could be among the first casualties as she faces Democrat Jennifer Wexton. Brat, meanwhile, won his seat by upsetting then-House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in the 2014 GOP primary. But this time he is facing a serious threat from Democrat Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer.
Another district to watch is in Kentucky — the Lexington-area battle pitting third-term Republican Rep. Andy Barr against Democrat Amy McGrath, a retired Marine fighter pilot. Trump won the 6th District by more than 15 percentage points in 2016. But McGrath has pushed Barr to the edge with the help of sharp campaign ads that went viral.
HOUSE STAKES
Republicans have had control of the House since the tea party helped sweep them into power in the 2010 midterms. Nearly a decade later, the GOP is trying to avoid a “blue wave” that returns Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats to the majority.
Control of the House is expected to be determined by a few dozen districts, many of them in the nation’s suburbs. Democrats need a net increase of 23 seats to win back control — a number that many GOP officials concede is a very possible outcome.
The House races will offer clues to where Americans stand in 2018 on immigration, guns, health care, gender equality in the #MeToo era — and determine who they want representing them in Washington during the next two years of Trump’s presidency.
SENATE STAKES
Republicans hold a narrow Senate majority, 51-49, but have a huge advantage in these contests because the battle for control runs mostly through states that Trump won in 2016.
To put it simply: Democrats are on defense. Of the 35 Senate races, 10 involve Democratic incumbents seeking re-election in states won by Trump, often by large margins. Democrats’ hopes of recapturing the Senate hinge on all their incumbents winning — a difficult task — and on flipping seats in Nevada, won by Hillary Clinton in 2016, and a few states that lean Republican, most notably Arizona, Tennessee and Texas.
Trump has coveted seats held by several red-state Democrats, including Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Jon Tester of Montana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota. Strategists from both parties consider Heitkamp the most vulnerable Democrat but say the Senate makeup could be shaped by a number of narrowly contested races, including Arizona, Missouri, Indiana and Montana.
Another epic clash to watch: a race involving Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump’s one-time GOP presidential rival, against Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who hauled in a massive $70 million during the campaign. Cruz is still considered the favorite — Texas hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate in 30 years.
DONALD TRUMP
Air Force One ferried Trump across the country on Monday for rallies in Ohio, Indiana and Missouri, and the president didn’t return to the White House until well after midnight. On Election Day, the president was appearing in local interviews around the country but wasn’t expected to make any public appearances at the White House.
But any viewer should keep a second screen handy to watch Trump’s Twitter feed. The president is known for offering his first take on many key events on Twitter — and that could certainly happen as the election results come into fuller view.
YEAR OF THE WOMAN?
A record number of women are on the ballot — and could become the story of the 2018 election.
Two years after Clinton’s defeat, more women than ever before won major party primaries for governor, the Senate and the House this year. The results could significantly increase the number of women in elected office.
About 235 women won their primaries for the House, according to records kept by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. In the Senate, a record 22 women won their primaries. And a record 16 women were nominated for gubernatorial races.
Many Democratic women, including first-time candidates, have said Trump’s election motivated to run for office. But the election is also following the emergence of the #MeToo movement, the massive women’s march after Trump’s inauguration and the pitched battle over the Supreme Court confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Women currently account for one-fifth of the 535 House members and senators. By next January, that number could change.
MAKING HISTORY
The night could witness a generational change in Congress and herald in a number of barrier-breaking officeholders.
In New York City, 29-year-old Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is expected to become the youngest woman elected to Congress. In Georgia, Stacey Abrams is vying to become the first black woman to be elected governor in the nation. Andrew Gillum could become Florida’s first black governor. And Ayanna Pressley is the favorite to become Massachusetts’ first black woman elected to Congress.
South Dakota Rep. Kristi Noem could become her state’s first female governor. Vermont’s Christine Hallquist could become the nation’s first openly transgender governor. And Idaho’s Paulette Jordan is trying to become the country’s first Native American governor.
Native American women could also win seats in Congress. In New Mexico, former state Democratic Party chairwoman Deb Haaland is trying to become the first Native American woman elected to Congress. She could be joined by Sharice Davids of Kansas, a Native American woman who is also attempting to become the state’s first openly LGBT candidate to win a major office.
In Michigan, Rashida Tlaib could become first Muslim woman and first Palestinian-American in Congress. She could be joined by Minnesota’s Ilhan Omar, who is also trying to become the first Muslim woman elected to Congress along with the first Somali-American elected to the House.
And no matter what, Arizona’s Senate race expects to make history. Democrat Kyrsten Sinema could become the first openly bisexual senator and the state’s first female senator. If Republican Martha McSally wins, she will become Arizona’s first female senator.
VOTING PROBLEMS
The elections will mark the first nationwide voting since Russia targeted state election systems in the 2016 presidential race. Federal, state and local officials have sought to reassure the public that their voting systems are secure.
So far, there have been no signs that Russia or any other foreign actor has tried to launch cyberattacks against voting systems in any state, according to federal authorities.
Some states have already dealt with voting problems. Voters casting ballots early have encountered faulty machines in Texas and North Carolina, inaccurate mailers in Missouri and Montana, and voter registration problems in Tennessee and Georgia. In other states, including Kansas, Election Day polling places have been closed or consolidated.
INDICTED, YET VICTORIOUS?
Two Republican members of Congress are trying to win another term while facing separate federal charges.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., and his wife are accused of misspending more than $250,000 in campaign funds on everything from tequila shots to airfare for a family pet. Prosecutors say the couple tried to conceal the illegal spending as donations to charities, including groups for wounded veterans. Hunter faces Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar in a GOP-friendly district in the San Diego area.
Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., is accused of illegally leaking confidential information about a biopharmaceutical company to his son and the father of his son’s fiancée that allowed them to avoid hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock losses.
Collins’ most serious charge carries a potential prison term of up to 20 years. If Collins wins in the western New York district and is later convicted and forced to resign, a special election would be held.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is still under indictment — he pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of securities fraud. But the Republican is favored to win a second term, helped by a positive assessment from Trump, who singled him out at a recent rally in Houston as doing a “great job.”
Both Democrats and Republicans are anxious this Tuesday as no one is sure how Election Day 2018 will turn out. Democrats have been rallying around health care and hope while Donald Trump and Republicans have been using fear in their campaigning. Which one does America want?
This is one election day where no one is willing to make a bet after the results of 2016. Mainly, people all over the country are very nervous as to see what kind of country voters want America to be.
A turbulent election season that tested President Donald Trump’s slash-and-burn political style against the strength of the Democratic resistance comes to a close as Americans cast ballots in the first national election of the Trump era.
With voters going to the polls Tuesday, nothing is certain.
Anxious Republicans privately expressed confidence in their narrow Senate majority but feared the House was slipping away. Trump, the GOP’s chief messenger, warned that significant Democratic victories would trigger devastating consequences.
“If the radical Democrats take power they will take a wrecking ball to our economy and our future,” Trump declared in Cleveland, using the same heated rhetoric that has defined much of his presidency. He added: “The Democrat agenda is a socialist nightmare.”
Democrats, whose very relevance in the Trump era depended on winning at least one chamber of Congress, were laser-focused on health care as they predicted victories that would break up the GOP’s monopoly in Washington and state governments.
“They’ve had two years to find out what it’s like to have an unhinged person in the White House,” said Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who leads the Democratic Governors Association. “It’s an awakening of the Democratic Party.”
Democrats could derail Trump’s legislative agenda for the next two years should they win control of the House or the Senate. Perhaps more important, they would claim subpoena power to investigate Trump’s personal and professional shortcomings.
Some Democrats have already vowed to force the release of his tax returns. Others have pledged to pursue impeachment, although removal from office is unlikely so long as the GOP controls the Senate or even maintains a healthy minority.
Democrats’ fate depends upon a delicate coalition of infrequent voters — particularly young people and minorities — who traditionally shun midterm elections.
If ever there was an off-year election for younger voters to break tradition, this is it. Young voters promised to vote in record numbers as they waged mass protests in the wake of the February mass shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school that left 17 students and staff dead.
Democrats are drawing strength from women and college-educated voters in general, who swung decidedly against Trump since his election. Polling suggests the Republican coalition is increasingly older, whiter, more male and less likely to have a college degree.
Democrats boast record diversity on the ballot.
Three states could elect their first African-American governors, while several others are running LGBT candidates and Muslims. A record number of women are also running for Senate, House, governorships, and state legislative seats.
“The vast majority of women voters are angry, frustrated and they are really done with seeing where the Republican Party is taking them, particularly as it related to heath care and civility,” said Stephanie Schriock, who leads EMILY’s List, a group that helps elect Democratic women. “You’re going to see the largest gender gap we’ve ever seen.”
The political realignment, defined by race, gender, and education, could re-shape U.S. politics for a generation. The demographic shifts also reflect each party’s closing argument.
While the economy continues to thrive, Trump has spent much of the campaign’s final days railing against a caravan of Latin American immigrants seeking asylum at the U.S. border. He dispatched more than 5,000 troops to the region, suggesting soldiers would use lethal force against migrants who throw rocks, before later reversing himself.
Republicans have privately encouraged the president to back off, to no avail.
Democrats, meanwhile, have beat their drum on health care.
“Health care is on the ballot,” former President Barack Obama told Democratic volunteers in Virginia. “Health care for millions of people. You vote, you might save a life.”
Tuesday’s results will be colored by the dramatically different landscapes in the fight for the House and Senate.
Most top House races are set in America’s suburbs where more educated and affluent voters in both parties have soured on Trump’s presidency, despite the strength of the national economy. Democrats were buoyed by a wave of Republican retirements and an overwhelming fundraising advantage.
They need to pick up two dozen seats to claim the House majority.
Democrats face a far more difficult challenge in the Senate, where they are almost exclusively on defense in rural states where Trump remains popular. Democratic Senate incumbents are up for re-election, for example, in North Dakota, West Virginia, and Montana — states Trump carried by 30 percentage points on average two years ago.
Democrats need to win two seats to claim the Senate majority.
Given Trump’s stunning victory in 2016, few were confident in their predictions.
“I feel less comfortable making a prediction today than I have in two decades,” Republican pollster Frank Luntz said.
It’s finally that time of year again for the 2018 – 2019 NCAA season to kick in, and we’ve got everything you need to watch for.
The 2017-18 college basketball season had everything a fan could dream of. Standout performances, a No. 1 seed finally falling in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and Villanova cutting down the nets for the second time in three seasons.
Oh, and Sister Jean and Chicago-Loyola giving hope to underdogs everywhere by reaching the Final Four.
A new season starts Tuesday, and it’s been a long seven months to wait for a sport that seems to top itself every year.
To get you ready, we’ve got a guide on the top teams, players and other tidbits to look for in 2018-19:
TOP TEAMS
Kansas. Bill Self has another strong recruiting class, a preseason All-American in Memphis transfer Dedric Lawson and a No. 1 ranking.
Kentucky. Coach Cal has another roster full of future pros. He’s also got Reid Travis, a grad transfer from Stanford who happens to be one of the nation’s top players.
Gonzaga. The Zags broke through to the Final Four two years ago. They could be even better this year.
Duke. Coach K outdid himself with this year’s recruiting class with what could be three of the top five picks in the NBA draft.
Virginia. OK, so that first-round NCAA Tournament loss to UMBC was ugly and history-making. But the Cavaliers have nearly everyone back and plenty of motivation.
Tennessee. The Vols have never been to the Final Four. That could change this season — they’re that good.
Carsen Edwards
TOP PLAYERS
Carsen Edwards, Purdue. He was super productive as a sophomore last season. Expect even more from him now that the Boilermakers need him even more.
Luke Maye, North Carolina. The player who hit the shot to send the Tar Heels to the Final Four in 2017 averaged a double-double last season and will be counted on even more this year.
R.J. Barrett, Duke. The athletic freshman has yet to play a game but has already created a buzz and could be the No. 1 overall pick in next year’s NBA draft.
Dedric Lawson, Kansas. The former Memphis forward gives the Jayhawks plenty of talent and experience on an otherwise young roster.
Ethan Happ, Wisconsin. The Badgers sure are glad this multitalented big man decided to withdraw from the NBA draft. Opponents will not be.
Caleb Martin, Nevada. The do-everything forward’s decision to return with twin brother Cody is a big reason the Wolf Pack are being mentioned as a Final Four team.
MID-MAJOR MONSTERS
Nevada. The Muss bus is loaded with talent and is driving toward what could be the best season in program history.
Loyola-Chicago. No way the Ramblers and Sister Jean will be overlooked again.
Western Kentucky. Top recruit Charles Bassey will push the Hilltoppers up the big hill.
Buffalo. Bulls have five of their top six scorers back from a team that knocked off Arizona in the opening round of the NCAAs.
Marshall. The Thundering Herd and coach Dan D’Antoni are looking for an even deeper March run after knocking off Wichita State in the opening round of the NCAAs.
FRESHMEN PHENOMS
Zion Williamson, Duke. Basket supports beware: One of the nation’s top freshmen is a known rim wrecker.
Cam Reddish, Duke. Doesn’t get the pub Barrett and Williamson get, but he’s a legit top-five NBA prospect.
Romeo Langford, Indiana. Locking up the state of Indiana’s best player was a huge get for coach Archie Miller as he tries to get the Hoosiers back to national prominence.
Charles Bassey, Western Kentucky. He eschewed the Power Five programs to stay in-state and could dominate Conference USA — and beyond.
Nassir Little, North Carolina. Long and athletic, he was a big get for coach Roy.
Bol Bol, Oregon. Manute’s son can shoot inside, outside and swat shots, just like Pops.
TOP NONCONFERENCE GAMES
No. 4 Duke vs. No. 2 Kentucky, Tuesday in Indianapolis. It will be a blue-blooded kickoff to the season.
No. 1 Kansas vs. No. 10 Michigan State, Tuesday in Indianapolis. The opening act in Indy isn’t bad, either.
No. 19 Michigan at No. 9 Villanova, Nov. 14. Early season, title-game rematch? Yes, please.
Ohio State at Cincinnati, Wednesday. It finally happened, and hoops fans are the beneficiaries.
Marquette at Indiana, Nov. 14. Marquette’s Markus Howard vs. Indiana freshman Romeo Langford is worth it right there.
Arizona vs. No. 3 Gonzaga, Maui Invitational. OK, both teams have to win their opening games, but we can dream of the West’s two marquee programs meeting in Maui, can’t we?
Injuries continue to follow Rafael Nadal as he is over for the season after recently pulling out of the Paris Masters and now the ATP Finals. This is good news for Novak Djokovic who suffered a surprising blow at the Paris Masters to Karen Khachanov. With Rafi out, Djokovic is back in the top spot.
Nadal had to pull out of the season-ending ATP Finals because of an abdominal injury and had surgery on his right ankle Monday.
Nadal announced on Twitter that he is done for the year, citing the stomach muscle issue that forced him to withdraw from last week’s Paris Masters.
He added that he decided to have the ankle operation so he can start 2019 healthy.
John Isner will replace Nadal in the ATP Finals field. Play in London begins next Sunday.
Nadal hasn’t competed since he retired from his U.S. Open semifinal because of a painful right knee.
He lost his No. 1 ranking to Novak Djokovic on Monday.
Because Nadal’s season is over, Djokovic will finish the year atop the ATP rankings for the fifth time.
The 32-year-old Spaniard ends 2018 with a 45-4 record and five titles, including his 17th Grand Slam trophy at the French Open in June.
Novak Djokovic back on top
Novak Djokovic returned to No. 1 on Monday after a two-year absence and will become the first man in the history of the ATP rankings to finish a season at the top spot after being outside the top 20 during that season.
That’s because the man he overtook, Rafael Nadal, is done for 2018. Nadal withdrew from the ATP Finals on Monday, citing an abdominal injury, and announced he was having arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle.
“Reflecting on what I’ve been through in the last year, it’s quite a phenomenal achievement,” said Djokovic, who was No. 2 last week and hadn’t been No. 1 since November 2016. “And, of course, I’m very, very happy and proud about it. Five months ago, if you told me that … it was highly improbable at that time, considering my ranking and the way I played and felt on the court.”
The 31-year-old from Serbia fell to No. 22 in May after beginning the year with a 6-6 record while recovering from surgery on his right elbow. He hadn’t been ranked that low since he was 22nd in 2006 as a teenager.
But Djokovic has gone 43-5 since, including Grand Slam titles at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open after reuniting with Marian Vajda, the longtime coach with whom he had split.
Djokovic raised his haul of major trophies to 14, tied with Sampras for third most in men’s tennis history behind Federer with 20 and Nadal with 17.
The last man to go from outside the top 20 to No. 1 within a single season was Marat Safin, who was No. 38 and No. 1 in 2000, before ending that year at No. 2.
“What Novak has achieved this season has to go down as one of the great sporting comebacks,” ATP Executive Chairman Chris Kerned said. “It’s been a phenomenal return to form that would have been hard to imagine just six months ago.”
Nadal said on Twitter on Monday that he was still bothered by the stomach muscle issue that forced him to withdraw from last week’s Paris Masters. Because he wouldn’t be competing at the season-ending tournament in London next week, he opted to have ankle surgery now.
He hasn’t competed since he retired from his U.S. Open semifinal against Juan Martin del Potro because of a painful right knee.
The 32-year-old Spaniard ends 2018 with a 45-4 record and five titles, including an 11th French Open championship in June.
John Isner replaces Nadal in the ATP Finals field.
Karen Khachanov was able to take advantage of Novak Djokovic Sunday at the 2018 Paris Masters after the Serbian star was still recovering from his battle against Roger Federer the day before.
Khachanov upset a tired-looking Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4 to win the Paris Masters title and deprive Djokovic of the chance on Sunday to match Rafael Nadal’s record of 33 Masters titles.
Djokovic, a record four-time champion at the indoor event, looked out of energy after an epic three-hour semifinal win against Roger Federer on Saturday.
After also being taken to three sets by Marin Cilic in Friday’s quarterfinals, Djokovic’s semifinal finished at around 8 p.m. local time, and he felt he was unable to recover sufficiently from that draining encounter.
“I didn’t unfortunately. But I don’t want to talk about that,” Djokovic said. “I want to talk about how well (Khachanov) played all week and absolutely deserved to win today.”
Asked again whether it was a case of emotional fatigue, after such an intense tussle with Federer, Djokovic repeated his praise for Khachanov.
“Karen played really well, and he deserved to win,” Djokovic said. “All the credit to him.”
Although Djokovic broke in the fourth game to move 3-1 up and then led 30-0 on serve, the unseeded Khachanov broke him straight back, and the momentum abruptly shifted away from Djokovic.
Karen Kahchanov celebrates winning the 2018 Paris Masters after beating Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4
“I stepped in more inside the court,” Khachanov said. “I started to move him, and maybe he didn’t expect that I could do it after being down 3-1 with a break.”
Djokovic seemed agitated at times and twice turned to his box to remonstrate about an unspecified issue during the first set.
Khachanov broke for 6-5 when he hit a powerful shot down the line that Djokovic could only scoop back into the net. The Russian won the first set with a big first serve that Djokovic could not return, stretching out his racket in vain as the fizzing ball clipped the frame.
Djokovic struggled to handle Khachanov’s brutal two-handed, cross-court backhands from the baseline, which often landed near his ankles, and dropped his serve again to trail 2-1 in the second set. He had to save three more break points in the seventh game to hold for 4-3 down.
“He was playing big from the back of the court, flat backhands, and forehand. He can really hurt you,” Djokovic said. “His serve is really, really strong and precise.”
After both players held to love, Khachanov showed no nerves — even though he was in his first Masters final — and served out the match.
He secured victory on his first match point when Djokovic chopped a backhand return wide. The imposing Khachanov thrust both his arms in the air and, moments later, knelt down to kiss the court.
“It’s a breakthrough season. And this title, it’s a good year-end I would say,” Khachanov said. “Maybe I’m not crying, but still I’m really happy.”
Djokovic will return to No. 1 in the rankings for the first time in two years on Monday, but the Serb will be disappointed at missing out on a 73rd career title, having withstood the best of Federer on Saturday.
Novak Djokovic still recovering from epic Roger Federer match on Saturday
Still, the Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion has plenty to feel good about after a 22-match winning streak, and he remains favorite for the season-ending ATP Finals in London, beginning Nov. 11.
“I’m satisfied of course and I’m going to be No. 1 tomorrow. What more can I ask for? I mean, I won 20-plus matches in a row and had a most amazing last five months,” he said. “I’m getting into (the) season finale feeling good about my game.”
The 22-year-old Khachanov, ranked 18th, is the first Russian to win here since Nikolay Davydenko in 2006. Marat Safin won it three times before that.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Safin won the last of his Paris Masters titles in 2004, when Khachanov was a young boy.
“I watched (Safin’s) matches but later, not at the age of eight,” he said. “I’m just really proud of myself that I could be in this list of winners.”
Khachanov added this title to the Kremlin Cup in Moscow last month for his third title of the year and fourth overall.
He had won his previous three finals, and said his 100 percent record helped him when he stepped on the court against the 14-time Grand Slam champion.
“I was thinking, ‘OK, (Djokovic) has, I don’t know, 70 titles and I have three,’” Khachanov said. “But 3-0, you know? So maybe it was in the back of my mind.”
Novak Djokovic’s Epic 3- Hour Battle With Roger Federer
Novak Djokovic’s latest victory over Roger Federer was among the toughest and best in their epic rivalry, a 7-6 (6), 5-7, 7-6 (3) feast of attacking tennis which had the roaring crowd on their feet and remained in doubt until the very end.
Roger Federer serves up Novak Djokovic at 2018 Paris Masters
It finally ended, after three hours, when Djokovic moved 6-1 up in the tiebreaker. Federer saved two match points but cracked in a long rally and chopped a backhand into the net.
“We had epic matches throughout our rivalry but this one definitely ranks as one of the best,” Djokovic said.
Djokovic’s fourth straight win over Federer and 25th in 47 contests sends him into the final against unseeded Russian Karen Khachanov, who has never played in a Masters final.
“This is my best match of the year, that’s for sure,” Djokovic said, addressing the crowd in French. “Big respect to Roger.”
Federer remains one short of 100 career titles.
“When you lose a close match like this you always have regrets,” a disappointed Federer said. “That’s why I guess I have this face right now.”
Djokovic is on a 22-match winning streak and will aim to move level with Rafael Nadal on a record 33 Masters titles.
“Novak is obviously on a roll,” Federer said. “You can feel it.”
Khachanov, who beat Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-1, won the Kremlin Cup in Moscow last month for his third career title.
Djokovic, who beat him on the way to the Wimbledon title, is seeking a record-extending fifth Paris Masters title and 73rd title overall.
He was made to work far harder than when he beat Federer in the Cincinnati Masters final in August.
After they hugged at the net, Federer walked off quickly and raised a thumb to the cheering crowd.
“People enjoy the rivalry. We do as well,” Federer said. “It’s tough and fair, the way it’s supposed to be.”
Fans got everything they could have hoped for: Two players with a combined 34 Grand Slam titles, 59 Masters titles, and 533 weeks at No. 1 slugging it out at a level of unrelenting yet sublime intensity.
Brilliant one-handed winners on the run from Federer down the line and acute-angle volleys at the net; astonishing elasticity while retrieving from the baseline and laser-beam forehands to the corners from Djokovic.
Federer had 17 aces, while Djokovic got five of his eight in his last three service games of the match, raising his level at the right time.
Djokovic briefly let his volatile temper get the better of him, though, when he had Federer at 15-40 down in the ninth game of the deciding set. Federer saved both break points, and Djokovic whacked his racket into the ground, drawing the first and only boos of a titanic match.
Djokovic held his hands up as if to apologize to the unforgiving crowd, unhappy that a pique of rage interrupted their gourmet feast of tennis.
Brimming with confidence in a season which has seen him go from No. 22 in the rankings in May to No. 1 when they are released on Monday, and in which he also added the U.S. Open to his Grand Slam haul, Djokovic created pressure throughout.
But Federer saved every break point — 12 of them — and secured the only break of the match in clinching the second set.
“Hasn’t happened too many times that I don’t break a serve of anyone, especially if I have 12 break points,” Djokovic said. “Most of the break points he just served well, and played great shots.”
The best one of the match went to Federer in the eighth game. As Federer charged to the net, Djokovic hit a powerful forehand which clipped the net and flew to the left of Federer, wrong-footing him. From a seemingly impossible angle, and totally off balance, he scooped his racket behind his neck and flicked a volley over the net for a winner.
Federer thrust his arms into the air, the crowd rose to their feet in sheer disbelief.
Even by Federer’s lofty standards, it was remarkable.
“That’s why he is who he is,” Djokovic said, admiringly.
But after losing the match, Federer was left shaking his head. He was unhappy with someone in the crowd twice shouting “out” during the long match-point rally.
“It’s just unfortunate it happens and at the end you lose the point, the match,” Federer said.
Still, he retained a sense of irony.
“Thank God the rally ended,” he said. “It would have been five times if it continued.”
It’s been a two-year battle which has gotten Facebook, Twitter, Google and other social media platforms fighting online misinformation and hate speech. Now that the U.S. midterm election is less than 48 hours away, there are signs that headway has been made, but they’re a very long way from winning the war.
Google has basically given up the ghost on their ‘never quite there’ Google Plus as they’ll be shutting it down completely in August.
That’s because the effort risks running into political headwinds that Facebook, Twitter and Google find bad for business. Some even argue that the social networks are easy to flood with disinformation by design — an unintended consequence of their eagerness to cater to advertisers by categorizing the interests of their users.
Caught embarrassingly off-guard after they were played by Russian agents meddling with the 2016 U.S. elections, the technology giants have thrown millions of dollars, tens of thousands of people and what they say are their best technical efforts into fighting fake news, propaganda and hate that has proliferated on their digital platforms.
Facebook, in particular, has pulled a major reversal since late 2016, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg infamously dismissed the idea that fake news on his service could have swayed the election as “pretty crazy.” In July, for instance, the company announced that heavy spending on security and content moderation, coupled with other business shifts, would hold down growth and profitability. Investors immediately panicked and knocked $119 billion off the company’s market value.
The social network has started to see some payoff for its efforts. A research collaboration between New York University and Stanford recently found that user “interactions” with fake news stories on Facebook, which rose substantially in 2016 during the presidential campaign, fell significantly between the end of 2016 and July 2018. On Twitter, however, the sharing of such stories continued to rise over the past two years.
A similar measure from the University of Michigan’s Center for Social Media Responsibility dubbed the ”Iffy Quotient ” — which gauges the prevalence of “iffy” material on social networks — also shows that Facebook’s “iffiness” has fallen from a high of 8.1 percent 1n March 2017 to 3.2 percent on Monday. Twitter iffiness has also fallen slightly, from 5.6% in November 2016, to 4.2 percent on Monday.
Even at these levels, fake news remains huge and may be spreading to new audiences. A team led by Philip Howard, the lead researcher on Oxford’s Computational Propaganda effort, looked at stories shared on Twitter during the last 10 days of September 2018 and found that what it called “junk news” accounted for a full quarter of all links shared during that time — greater than the number of professional news stories shared during that time.
The team defined junk news as sources that published deceptive or incorrect information, often in an ideological or conspiratorial way, while failing to meet criteria such as professionalism, bias, credibility and style.
While the Oxford analysis didn’t produce similar figures for Facebook, the researchers did map out how junk news circulates on the social network and found that conspiracy theories and other misinformation once confined to a “hard right” audience are now shared more freely among mainstream conservatives as well. (Left-leaning users have also developed a taste for junk news, the Oxford team found, but it represents only a small fraction of the material they share on Facebook.)
Such studies offer imperfect pictures of what’s actually happening on social networks, since the services typically don’t offer researchers untrammeled access to their data. Twitter, for instance, takes issue with the Oxford study, noting that it used a public feed of tweets that doesn’t reflect the filtering Twitter does to remove malicious or spammy material.
Tamping down misinformation, of course, is anything but easy. Adversaries are always finding new ways around restrictions. It can also be hard to distinguish misinformation and propaganda from legitimate news, especially when world leaders such as President Donald Trump are regularly disseminating falsehoods on social media.
Politics also complicates matters, since the social-media companies are anxious to avoid charges of political bias. When Facebook, Google’s YouTube and, eventually, Twitter all banned the conspiracymonger Alex Jones for various violations of their terms of service, Jones and his allies immediately claimed he was being censored. President Trump chimed in a few weeks later with a parallel charge, claiming without evidence that Google and other companies were “suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good.”
Twitter, in fact, charges that researchers such as the Oxford team define “junk news” too broadly. The group, for instance, classes conservative sites such as Breitbart News and the Daily Caller as “junk” by its criteria. Twitter argues that banning “media outlets that reflect views within American society” would “severely hinder public debate.”
Some critics charge that the very advertising-based business model that made Zuckerberg rich is also perfectly suited for propagandists. Services like Facebook and Twitter “sustain themselves by finding like-minded groups and selling information about their behavior,” Dipayan Ghosh, a former privacy policy expert at Facebook and Ben Scott, senior adviser at New America, wrote in a Time Magazine op-ed earlier this year. “Disinformation propagators sustain themselves by manipulating the behavior of like-minded groups.”
“They don’t self-regulate,” said Dora Kingsley Vertenten, a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California and CEO of research consulting firm Trenton West. “They just want to make a profit, and what they have done to date is not nearly enough.”
Really fixing the misinformation problem might require big changes to how these services work. Users started spending less time on Facebook after it made changes to make its service more “meaningful” to users, involving less scrolling through posts and more interactions with friends, the company said.
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey has hinted that he is open to drastic changes, but he hasn’t yet said what they might look like. And there haven’t been any obvious shifts since he made that statement in August.
Rami Malek’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” did a strange thing on Rotten Tomatoes after topping the weekend box office charts, it rose dramatically from a dismal 40 percent to an okay 60 percent. Even audiences gave it an A with CinemaScore showing Hollywood that biopics can still bring in audiences. With a $52 million budget and another $25-$30 million for marketing, it should make it’s money back rather quickly.
Biopics are a tough sell for the studios, but now that the Freddie Mercury biopic, “Bohemian Rhapsody and 20th Century Fox are currently champions of the world, you can expect others to push a few through. If it can hold on for another week, expect some biopics announced about other rock legends.
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” starring Rami Malek as the late Queen frontman, shrugged off production troubles and mediocre reviews to debut with $50 million in weekend ticket sales in U.S. and Canada, and another $72.5 million internationally, according to studio estimates Sunday. That was well beyond expectations, which had pegged the film closer to $35-40 million in its opening weekend.
But audiences rushed to theaters to see the widely praised performance by Malek, the “Mr. Robot” star, and to hear Queen’s foot-stomping anthems like “We are the Champions,” ″Another One Bites the Dust” and the operatic title song. The movie, which Bryan Singer directed before being replaced by Dexter Fletcher, at times has an almost concert-like feel, including a lengthy re-creation of the band’s 1985 Live Aid performance.
“It really is a celebration of Queen and their music, and I think we did a really good job of letting people know that that’s what this is,” said Chris Aronson, distribution chief for Fox.
In soaring to No. 1, the Fox release trounced one from Disney, which will soon own the studio. Despite a production budget of $125 million, the Walt Disney Co.’s lavish, big-budget “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” opened with just $20 million. Disney is set to merge with Fox in the coming months, effectively ending the 103-year-old Fox, one of Hollywood’s six major studios.
“We were hoping for a stronger start, but we do think it’s a film that people will find as we head into the holidays,” said Cathleen Taff, head of theatrical distribution for Disney.
Though Disney’s record of success is the envy of Hollywood, “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms” marks the studio’s third misfire this year following the underperforming “A Wrinkle in Time” and “Solo.” The studio’s CGI-stuffed resurrection of E.T.A. Hoffmann story was positioned as an early holiday season release, but flopped with critics (34 percent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes) and sparked only modest interest from audiences. It grossed $38.5 million overseas.
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” made for $52 million, was largely dismissed by critics as an overly conventional rock biopic (60 percent “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes). But the film proved more popular with moviegoers, who gave the PG-13 release, produced by Graham King, an A CinemaScore and 4 1/2 stars out of five on Comscore’s PostTrak audience survey.
“Even in the negativity that came out of critics, there was always a ‘but,’ almost universally: ‘But Rami is great,’” noted Aronson. “I’m very happy for Graham and Rami and the entire filmmaking team. And I’m happy for the home team. This is a big win for Fox.”
Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore, praised Fox’s rollout of the film as “pitch perfect.” Dergarabedian also cited Malek’s breakout big-screen performance and the sustained interest in all things musical at the box office. Musically based films have lately been major draws in theaters, from Fox’s own “The Greatest Showman” earlier in the year to Warner Bros.′ Oscar favorite “A Star Is Born,” which collected another $11.1 million in its fifth weekend for $165.6 million overall.
“It seems that audiences can’t get enough of movies that have music baked into their DNA,” Dergarabedian said. “That’s proving to be a very successful formula.”
Another winning formula — Tiffany Haddish plus anything — came up short over the weekend.
“Nobody’s Fool,” which paired Haddish with another box-office force in writer-director-producer Tyler Perry, opened in third with a so-so $14 million. While far from disastrous for a movie that cost $19 million to make, the muted performance of “Nobody’s Fool” seemed likely a result of oversaturation. Two films starring Haddish — “Night School” and “The Oath” — have opened in the past six weeks, and “Night School” is still No. 12 at the box office.
In limited release, Joel Edgerton’s acclaimed gay conversion therapy drama “Boy Erased,” starring Lucas Hedges, opened with a strong per-theater average of $44,000 in five theaters.
Matthew Heineman’s “A Private War,” starring Rosamund Pike as war correspondent Marie Colvin, opened in four theaters with a per-theater average of $18,000.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to comScore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday also are included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” $50 million ($72.5 million international).
“The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” $20 million ($38.5 million international).
“Nobody’s Fool,” $14 million ($265,000 international).
“A Star Is Born,” $11.1 million ($13.9 million international).
“Halloween,” $11 million ($18.3 million international).
“Venom,” $7.9 million ($15.6 million international).
“Smallfoot,” $3.8 million ($12.1 million international).
“Goosebumps 2,” $3.7 million ($9 million international).
“Hunter Killer,” $3.5 million ($3.3 million international).
“The Hate U Give,” $3.4 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to comScore:
“Bohemian Rhapsody,” $72.5 million.
“The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” $38.5 million.
“Halloween,” $18.3 million.
“Venom,” $15.6 million.
“A Star Is Born,” $13.9 million
“Smallfoot,” $12.1 million.
“Intimate Strangers,” $10.1 million.
“Goosebumps 2,” $9 million.
“Le Grand Bain,” $7.4 million.
“The House With a Clock in its Walls,” $7.2 million.
