Lily Salter's Blog, page 1024
August 10, 2015
Police chief offers account of Ferguson shooting, says suspect shot at police car
FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — A suspect who authorities say opened fire on officers in Ferguson, Missouri, on the anniversary of Michael Brown's death was critically wounded when the officers shot back, St. Louis County's police chief said early Monday.
It wasn't immediately clear if the latest police-involved shooting would spur renewed unrest in Ferguson, the site of many protests — some violent — in the aftermath of Brown's death on Aug. 9, 2014. Protest groups were quick to criticize the police response to protesters who gathered along West Florissant Avenue on Sunday night.
St. Louis County Chief Jon Belmar said at a news conference that officers had been tracking the suspect, who they believed was armed, during a protest marking the death of Brown, the black, unarmed 18-year-old whose killing by a white Ferguson police officer touched off a national "Black Lives Matter" movement.
At the height of what was already a rowdy protest in which rocks and bottles were thrown at officers, gunshots rang out from the area near a strip of stores, including some that had been looted. Belmar believes the shots came from about six different shooters. What prompted the shooting wasn't clear, but Belmar said the groups had been feuding.
Bill O’Reilly tweets about Ferguson — and his followers get super racist
Black America's Greatest Champion, Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, tweeted out a simple, declarative statement about last night's shooting in Ferguson, Missouri and the response was, shall we say, an education in the effectiveness of conservative dog whistles.
Conservatives' racist shorthand has reached IRTNOG-levels novel of condensation, such that simply by indicating that there's been "Gunfire at Ferguson protest," O'Reilly's followers knew exactly how to apportion blame -- namely, on the "animals":
[embedtweet id="630748154611286016"]
And the "criminals":
See Heath Ledger’s “Dark Knight” diary in clip from new documentary
In a clip from a new German documentary about the life of Heath Ledger, we see the late actor’s father Kim Ledger flipping through the diary that his son created while he was preparing for his role as the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” Ledger died of an accidental overdose in January 2008, six month before the film was released. He would later win a posthumous Oscar for the performance.
As his father flips through the book, full of stills from “A Clockwork Orange" and creepy clown images, he reflects on his son’s process. “He pretty well locked himself up in a hotel, in his apartment, for a month or so, to sort of galvanize the upcoming character in his own mind,” Kim Ledger said. “That was typical of Heath on any movie. He would certainly immerse himself in the upcoming character. I think this was just a whole new level.”
Watch the stirring clip below:
Trump the indestructible? Post-debate poll shows The Donald riding high
The Trump implosion doesn't seem to be happening, yet.
A new NBC News-Survey Monkey poll shows Donald Trump remaining as the leading Republican presidential candidate after Thursday night's first debate of the election cycle. The 24 hour online poll was entirely post-debate, conducted Friday evening into Saturday while Trump found himself in yet another round of controversy for his sexists attacks on Fox News host and debate co-moderate Megyn Kelly, but saw The Donald holding on to his commanding and consistent lead over his Republican rivals with the support of 23 percent of Republican voters. In the same poll, pre-debate, Trump led with 22 percent support.
Trump's nearest competitor in the poll is Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who has risen seven points since the last poll to capture the support of 13 percent of Republican voters after his debate performance followed by Ben Carson at 11 percent and Marco Rubio and Carly Fiorina tied at 8 percent. The same poll found that Fiorina, the former CEO of Hewlett Packard, was considered the winner of the Fox News debate by 22 percent of respondents. Fiorina wasn't even in the main 9 p.m. event; instead, she was relegated to the 5 p.m. "undercard" debate for the bottom seven GOP candidates. But her strong debate reviews could catapult her to contention, as the latest poll suggests.
“True Detectives” drink: A comprehensive list of all the booze consumed on season 2
The second season of “True Detective” looks very different from season one. Rust Cohle's philosophizing has been usurped by Colin Ferrell's prominent mustache, while sprawling tracking shots of the Louisiana bayou have been replaced by sprawling tracking shots of California highways. But one thing season two does share with the first season is a whole lot of boozing. In fact, aside from all that (true!) detective work, all anyone on this show seems to do is drink — and in the twisted world Nic Pizzolatto has envisioned for his protagonists (you know, "the world they deserve") -- we bet they’re going to need every ounce of liquid courage they can get.
Here’s a list of every time one of the central characters (or characters we think could become central) takes a drink. We'll update it each week. Stay tuned — it’s sort of like a fun drinking game, only the characters get drunk, not you!
Episode 1, "The Western Book of the Dead"
Frank Semyon and his wife drink a glass of champagne at a fancy function. Meanwhile, the mayor double-fists champagne. [4]
At the same function, Frank has another glass of champagne. [1]
Disney accidentally tweets out celebration of Nagasaki bombing anniversary
Disney Japan's official Twitter account posted a tweet yesterday -- which just so happened to be the 70th anniversary of the United States dropping an atomic bomb on Nagasaki -- wishing its followers "Congrats on a trifling day" accompanied by an image of Alice wishing "A very merry unbirthday to you!"
The concept of "unbirthdays," as popularized by the Disney film "Alice in Wonderland," is a simple excuse to celebrate nearly every day of the day except one's birthday, and as such this tweet could have been posted on literally any other day. Instead, Disney Japan decided to post it on one of the least "trifling" days on the Japanese calendar.
Prince says record contracts are just like slavery
The artist currently known as Prince has joined the chorus of musicians criticizing the state of the music industry, comparing record contracts to slavery during a press event promoting his partnership with Jay Z’s TIDAL.
"Record contracts are just like — I'm gonna say the word – slavery," the artist said at the event at his own Paisley Park Studios, according to NPR. "I would tell any young artist...don't sign.”
Prince’s music can now be found exclusively on TIDAL after the artist removed his music from streaming sites like Spotify in July. The music legend then went on to praise Jay Z and TIDAL for building a streaming service that puts artists front and center.
Miley Cyrus slams Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood”: “And I’m a bad role model because I’m running around with my titties out?”
In the September issue of Marie Claire, Miley Cyrus — a card-carrying member of Team Katy — had some choice words to share about Taylor Swift’s Katy Perry takedown anthem "Bad Blood."
“I don’t get the violence revenge thing,” said Cyrus of the video, which features a gaggle of Swift’s celeb friends acting out a brutal revenge fantasy. "That's supposed to be a good example? And I'm a bad role model because I'm running around with my titties out? I'm not sure how titties are worse than guns.”
So now they care about sexism? The ugly hypocrisy of the right’s reaction to Trump’s Kelly slur
Congratulations, Donald Trump. You made sure that throughout a gorgeous summer weekend, headlines and chyrons everywhere blared your claim that a professional woman did her job badly because she was menstruating. I’m no fragile flower, but by Sunday, I admit, I felt a little bit ill.
Of course the media wasn’t making the charge, they were reporting it. And I’m not suggesting anyone should have censored Trump. But seeing the word “MENSTRUATING” over and over, linked to Megyn Kelly, a conservative journalist who is at the pinnacle of her profession, showed the extent to which a primitive fear and hatred of women powers far-right backlash politics today.
So many in the media are shocked at the rise of Trump and the piggishness he represents. I can’t understand why. From the dawn of the Obama administration some of us have experienced the surge of racism and misogyny personally.
Within days of Obama’s inauguration, I had former House Majority Leader Dick Armey tell me on “Hardball,” after I'd criticized Rush Limbaugh, "I'm so damn glad you can never be my wife, because I surely wouldn't have to listen to that prattle from you every day." A lot of folks on the left were outraged; on the right, they laughed and cheered Armey.
Twitter hated the “True Detective” finale: “I only kept watching in hopes someone would kill that lady singing in the bar”
After a couple of weeks of cautious optimism, the tide turned cruelly and swiftly against Nic Pizzolatto’s second season of “True Detective," with critics deeming it a massive failure and viewers tuning in increasingly to hate-watch rather than to try and make sense of the labyrinthine plot or contrived dialogue. While last night's conclusion may have brought little comfort to those who spent eight hours of their lives devoted to the show, it did yield plenty of good Twitter jokes, from Chad Velcoro’s email address to our hopes and dreams for that depressing bar singer. Let us reflect:
[embedtweet id="630550312311517184"]
[embedtweet id="630571869238898688"]
[embedtweet id="630567478163283969"]
[embedtweet id="630567276811550720"]
[embedtweet id="630593594705842176"]
[embedtweet id="630542062044250113"]
[embedtweet id="630568785586614272"]
[embedtweet id="630564907117867008"]
[embedtweet id="630558253278216192"]
[embedtweet id="630572250106695681"]
[embedtweet id="630546820809261060"]
