- A hobbit continued to reign supreme at the box office for
the final weekend of the year. “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey” held
off the controversial “Django Unchained” in the latter’s debut, posting a
weekend tally of $33 million to elevate its three-week domestic total to $222.7
million and counting. “Django,” taking heat because of its humorous depiction
of the slavery era in the United States, debuted in second place with $30.6
million, heading up a trip of new films trying to knock off “The Hobbit.”
Fellow newcomer “Les Miserables” landed in third place with $28 million, part
of a tight grouping at the top of the list that finished well ahead of the rest
of the pack. Leading that subpar pack was the underwhelming “Parental Guidance,”
which brought in $14.8 million in its opening weekend for fourth place. “Jack
Reacher” fell to fifth in its second weekend, adding $14 million to its coffers
for a two-week domestic total of $44.6 million. “This is 40” fell three spots
to sixth in its second weekend and made an additional $13.2 million for an
overall bank roll of $37.1 million. “Lincoln” claimed a spot in the top 10 for
the eighth time in as many weekends of release, garnering $7.5 million and
boosting its domestic total to an impressive $132.1 million. The crap-tacular
“The Guilt Trip” continued its uninspiring run with an eighth-place finish,
somehow suckering moviegoers into buying $6.7 million worth of tickets with
money they would have been better off lighting on fire directly. In two weeks,
“Guilt Trip” has made $21.1 million. “Monsters, Inc. (3D)” was ninth with $6.3
million and has banked $18.5 million in its return to theaters. “Rise of the
Guardians” snagged the final spot in the top 10 with $4.9 million and has
managed $90.2 million in its six weeks in theaters. “Skyfall” (No. 11), “Life
of Pi” (No. 13) and (finally!) “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2” (No.
14) all fell out from last weekend’s top 10……..
- Who says the U.S. government can't get things done before
deadlines? Fiscal cliff or no fiscal cliff, the House of Representatives and
Senate were not about to miss out on their chance to grant the government five
more years of legally invading the privacy of an any person they damn well
choose…..and even a few they don’t choose and happen to stumble upon by chance.
That’s right, the
Senate approved a five-year extension of a George W. Bush-era surveillance law
that allows U.S. intelligence to conduct wiretapping on foreign citizens
without a warrant. The
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, approved by the House of Representatives in
September, cruised through the Senate with a 73-23 vote and broad bipartisan support. Of course, a
few foot-draggers tried three times s to add oversight and privacy safeguards to the elements of FISA that authorize the warrantless
wiretapping program that was begun under Bush, without congressional authorization, after
the September 11, 2001 attacks, but that didn’t happen and instead, the bill
now
goes to President
Barack Obama for his signature. The core of the law is allowing the collection
of intelligence on Americans when they communicate abroad with foreigners
designated as potential terror suspects by agencies like the CIA and the
National Security Agency. Those potential terror suspects could be goat herders
in Pakistan or a banana farmer in Belize and as long as the CIA or NSA says
they’re a terrorist, that’s all that matters. While forward-thinking critics
have raised concerns that the communications of everyday Americans may be
getting swept up in a vast electronic collection of phone calls and emails,
Congress will be damned if it’s going to allow a practice that began in 1978 in
the aftermath of the Watergate scandal to die off. Safeguards to prevent
against unlawful wiretaps of U.S. citizens were eased after 9/11 so that
intelligence agencies could better track foreign targets and there simply isn't
any tolerance for dissenters, not even Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), who
introduced an amendment that would require greater disclosure of information
about the highly secretive wiretapping program and how it is being used.
"This is an important time for American security," Wyden said. Indeed
it is, Ronnie, so get the hell out of the way because the government has
eavesdropping to do……..
- Heat supremacy is back in the U.S.A., baby. Not only is
America doing more than its part to fuel global warming and wreck the
environment with harmful emissions, but it has also reclaimed its status as the
home to the
hottest place on earth. Although Death Valley has long had the reputation of
the world’s biggest sweat box, the actual title has gone since 1922 to a city
on the northwestern tip of Libya. Al Aziziyah snagged the record with a claimed
reading of 136.4 degrees on Sept. 13, 1922 and for more than 90 years, no one
could dethrone the town – until now. After a yearlong investigation by a team
of climate scientists, the World Meteorological Organization, the climate
agency of the United Nations, rejected the 90-year-old mark, returning the
title belt to Death Valley on the strength of a 134-degree reading registered
on July 10, 1913, at Greenland Ranch. That mark is now the official world record
and there is no place hotter in the world, unless one counts the seat on which
Barack Obama and Congress sit with the fiscal cliff looming. Needless to say,
Death Valley dwellers are thrilled. “For those of us who survive here in the
summer, it was no surprise that it’s the hottest place on the world,” said
Charlie Callaghan, a Death Valley National Park ranger who personally recorded
a 129-degree day in the area a few years back. To commemorate the occasion, a
new exhibition at the National Park Service visitor center off Highway 190 was
recently unveiled with the words” “Hottest. Driest. Lowest.” Lowest is a
reference to a spot in Death Valley, Badwater Basin, which at 282 feet below
sea level is the lowest place in North America. With the 100-year anniversary
of the record-setting head recording looming next summer, there are discussions
about an official celebration of the record-setting measurement next July. If
that celebration happens, everyone can thank Christopher C. Burt, a
meteorologist with Weather Underground, who led the charge to have the Libyan
claim reviewed. “The more we looked at it, the more obvious it appeared to be
an error,” he said. Burt presented his case to members of the World
Meteorological Organization and from there it was a matter of time and due
diligence…….
- Rich French people, you have dodged a Socialist scud. An
attempt by embattled
President Francois Hollande to strong-arm the ultra-wealthy in to paying a 75
percent income tax rate was dealt a severe setback Saturday when France's
highest court threw out the plan, saying it was unfair. The constitutional
council ruled Saturday that the way the highly contentious tax was designed was
unconstitutional and rejected it with pointed criticism of those responsible
for it. If it ever is put in place, the tax would target incomes over 1 million
euros ($1.32 million). What makes the court’s decision humorous is that the
higher tax rate was a largely symbolic measure that had meaning mostly in the
fact that it would have represented Hollande and his Socialist Party fulfilling
one of his flagship campaign promises. However, it would only have affected a
miniscule number of taxpayers and brought in an estimated 100 million to 300
million euros. Stack that amount up against France's roughly 85 billion euro
deficit and the picture comes into clearer focus. Window dressing, symbolic
gesture and hollow government action all apply in this case. Prime Minister
Jean-Marc Ayrault was ready with the official response immediately after the
court’s decision, saying in a statement following the decision the government
would resubmit the measure to take the court's concerns into account. In
rejecting the tax, the court objected not to the size of the rate, but with the
way it discriminated between households depending on how incomes were
distributed among its members. The plan would have singled out households where
a single earner made 1.2 million euros or more while allowing households where
two earners each making under 1 million euros (but more than that figure
combined) to be exempt………
- Well played, Sean Payton. As his one-year suspension for
his role in the New Orleans Saints bounty program winds down, Payton has played
his hand beautifully. He has mostly laid low, stayed off the radar and allowed
rumors of his future plans to swirl after commissioner Roger Goodell refused to validate a 2011 agreement on a
contract extension between the team and Payton because of a clause that
permitted Payton to leave the franchise if general manager Mickey Loomis was
suspended, fired or otherwise left the front office. That decision made Payton
a coaching free agent and with a Super Bowl win under his belt and his intact
reputation as a great offensive mind, every team with a coaching vacancy (or
soon to create one) was salivating over the chance to land him. Even though
smart money was on him staying in New Orleans all along, he allowed those tales
of him potentially jumping to Dallas make the rounds and worked his negotiating
position and the Saints’ subpar season (7-8 going into Sunday’s season finale)
well. How well? Well enough to land a five-year contract extension with the
Saints that is expected to make him the NFL's highest paid coach at more than
$8 million annually. Although the contract still must be approved by the NFL –
which it wasn’t last time – it is being reported that Payton and Saints owner
Tom Benson have agreed in principle to the extension, leaving some of
the contract’s language to be cleaned up before it is done. The team Payton
returns to after one year away may bear little resemblance to the one he left.
Some $15 million over the salary cap and facing the prospect of shedding key
veterans from a defense that ranks as the worst in the NFL this season, the
2013 Saints could be a major rebuilding project for Payton and Loomis. If he
can pull it off and return to team to contender status, maybe Payton really
will be worth more than the current highest-paid coach in the league, the
curmudgeon-y Bill Belichick of the
New England Patriots at reportedly just under $8 million per season. Payton is
eligible for reinstatement on Feb. 4, the day after New Orleans hosts the Super
Bowl………
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