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Hollywood remembers James Gandolfini

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 03:00:00 +0000

Actor James Gandolfini, best known for his portrayal as mafioso Tony Soprano in HBO's hit series "The Sopranos," died Wednesday of a heart attack. He was 51.

Hollywood is just beginning to mourn the sudden and unexpected death of an actor whose portrayal of Tony Soprano was, as Salon's Willa Paskin put it, "so great that it finally made TV a prestigious place for actors to work."

Celebrities took to Twitter to express their condolences and sense of loss:

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James Gandolfini, gone too soon

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:58:00 +0000

‘The Sopranos” changed television forever, alerting everyone with eyes to what the medium, so often thought of as the movies' cheeseball little brother, could do. But if David Chase was the mastermind, James Gandolfini, who died of a heart attack tonight at 51, was the executor, the guy who took the challenging idea of making a show about a morally corrupt character, and made it seem like common sense. Since his performance, creating a show around a character sort of like Tony Soprano has been the ambition of nearly every person trying to make serious television.

There have been great performances on TV since Gandolfini’s mafioso king Tony, but none have been as powerful or as original: it's a performance so good it’s almost impossible to exaggerate its greatness. Gandolfini created from scratch an entire, now bedrock-seeming archetype, the character who, through the skill of his portrayer, is simultaneously charismatic and menacing, threatening and charming, winning and terrifying. His Tony was scary and pained, hulking and sometimes shockingly lithe, so brutal but so funny. Playing him, Gandolfini masterfully manipulated audiences' sympathy, held their attention, and kept their interest, sometimes against their better judgment and even, towards the end of the series, against their will. He was like a pick-pocket so good you ended up just handing him your wallet, abdicating before his insane skill.

R.I.P. James Gandolfini: Where Tony Soprano lives on

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 01:09:00 +0000

Last scene of "The Sopranos"

More than an hour of obsessive "Sopranos" highlights:

Tony kills Ralphie:

The last scene with Tony and Junior:

The death of Christopher:

Seven famous apologies that were just as bad as Serena’s

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:19:00 +0000

After "Rolling Stone" quoted Serena Williams blaming the 16-year-old girl victim in the Stuebenville rape case, the tennis star issued a statement that fell short of a sincere apology, or anything resembling one. Rather than own her remarks or express genuine repentance, Williams interspersed her statement with burden-shifting qualifiers, placing herself on a long list of public figures whose poorly crafted, transparent attempts to rectify lies, stupid gaffes and serious moral transgressions would surely make Aristotle weep.

Cringe-worthy mea culpas have become something of a regular occurrence, but Chris Brown ranks high on the growing list of famous people who don't seem to understand the basic elements of an apology. Over the last four years, the 24-year-old R&B artist has repeatedly squandered second chances he doesn't deserve after physically abusing on-again-off-again girlfriend Rihanna, and generally acting like a sociopath.

James Gandolfini dead at 51

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:10:00 +0000

Multiple outlets have confirmed that James Gandolfini, star of "The Sopranos," died late Wednesday while on vacation with his family in Italy. Initial reports suggest he may have suffered a heart attack. Gandolfini earned a Golden Globe and three Emmy awards for his performance on the cable series, widely hailed as one of finest dramas in television history.

HBO has released the following statement:

We're all in shock and feeling immeasurable sadness at the loss of a beloved member of our family. He a was special man, a great talent, but more importantly a gentle and loving person who treated everyone no matter their title or position with equal respect. He touched so many of us over the years with his humor, his warmth and his humility. Our hearts go out to his wife and children during this terrible time. He will be deeply missed by all of us.

NSA: Lessons from the ’60s

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Dear Reader,

Tuesday a reader wrote with concerns about how NSA spying revelations have affected his feelings about America. I said that I wanted to take two or three days to answer. It's a big subject, how we feel about the country we live in, and how events change those feelings.

When I was 14 it was 1967 and the Vietnam War was in the newspapers and on TV every day. American males were required to register for the draft when they reached 18; many were being drafted to fight in Vietnam. My brother turned 18 and was drafted. He refused induction and fought it in the courts. It then transpired that the FBI was watching our house and following my brother. There was evidence that our phone was being tapped. It appeared that the power of the state had been turned against us.

The power of the state was turned against many of us in those days. So we grew up with a reasonable respect for the power of the state and a reasonable and mature sense of the state as a dangerous entity that, if it turned against one, could be deadly.

The Tea Party’s sad, nostalgic reunion tour

Thu, 20 Jun 2013 00:00:00 +0000

Remember way back to 2010? When the Black Eyed Peas' "Boom Boom Pow" was tearing up the charts and a hot new upstart political movement called the Tea Party was striking fear into socialists everywhere? What began on Tax Day in 2009 hit a high-water mark just 18 months later with a massive rally on the National Mall organized by Glenn Beck (which later proved to be the beginning of the end of the Tea Party's purpose for existing: massive anti-government rallies of colorful, flag-waving patriots). There's no question the conservative revival in the GOP has remade the party inside Washington, but the Gadsden flags were rolled up and the tricorn hats put away as the outsider movement honed its insider game.

Until today. For one day only, the Capitol has been consumed by what feels a bit like a single-night stand reunion tour for a band that had one good album that mostly gets played for nostalgic reasons today. The event was billed as "the largest demonstration of Tea Party support since 2010," and while it may have succeeded on that count, it also underscores how much the movement has slipped since that year of its glory.

Fox News cans shady market analyst

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 22:01:00 +0000

Fox News has fired paid contributor and market analyst Tobin Smith for receiving compensation to promote the stock of Petrosonic Energy, a violation of network policy. According to a Media Matters review, Smith's company, NBT Equities Research, also received compensation for promoting numerous other companies through his website and conservative newsletters, and used his Fox News credentials to hawk volatile stocks to conservatives.

MarketWatch's Chuck Jaffe reported that Smith issued "sponsored investment research" to tout Petrosonic's stock in a 20-page mailer, for which NBT received $50,000. The paid endorsement is against Fox's policy that "no contributor to FBN [Fox Business Network], nor his/her firm, and/or family members are allowed to accept financial consideration of any kind whatsoever to issue research, advertisements, or to otherwise promote individual stocks or securities." In a post today on his website, Smith acknowledged that he is "no longer a Fox contributor" but defended his "business of sponsored research for uncovered emerging growth companies." He also wrote: "For the record, my last contributor agreement with Fox News did NOT include any exclusion from me or my company sponsored research. But that is water under the bridge."

Bernanke: Fed could scale back bond buys

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:10:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (AP) — Chairman Ben Bernanke says the Federal Reserve could scale back its $85 billion in monthly bond purchases later this year if the economy continues to improve.

Bernanke says the reductions would occur in "measured steps" and that the program could end by the middle of next year. His comments were made during a news conference Wednesday after the Fed concluded its two-day policy meeting.

After the meeting, the Fed voted to continue the pace of its bond-buying program to keep long-term interest rates at record lows. But it offered a more optimistic outlook for the U.S. economy and job market.

“Ex-gay” Christian group to LGBT people: We’re sorry

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:57:00 +0000

Exodus International, one of the largest and most notorious "ex-gay" Christian ministries, issued a statement on Wednesday apologizing to members of the LGBT community for "years of undue suffering and judgment at the hands of the organization and the Church as a whole."

Exodus president Alan Chambers went on to apologize for the organization's long history of forcing gays and lesbians to undergo discredited "ex-gay conversion" therapies, explaining that, because of this history, "I understand why I am distrusted and why Exodus is hated":

I am sorry for the pain and hurt that many of you have experienced. I am sorry some of you spent years working through the shame and guilt when your attractions didn’t change. I am sorry we promoted sexual orientation change efforts and reparative theories about sexual orientation that stigmatized parents.

I am sorry I didn’t stand up to people publicly "on my side" who called you names like sodomite -- or worse. I am sorry that I, knowing some of you so well, failed to share publicly that the gay and lesbian people I know were every bit as capable of being amazing parents as the straight people that I know. I am sorry that when I celebrated a person coming to Christ and surrendering their sexuality to Him, I callously celebrated the end of relationships that broke your heart. I am sorry I have communicated that you and your families are less than me and mine.

More than anything, I am sorry that so many have interpreted this religious rejection by Christians as God’s rejection. I am profoundly sorry that many have walked away from their faith and that some have chosen to end their lives.

Poll: Dems like “Obamacare” more than “health care law”

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:55:00 +0000

A new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that Democrats have a more favorable opinion of the Affordable Care Act when it's referred to as "Obamacare" than when it's referred to as the "health reform law."

From Kaiser:

Although nearly a quarter of Americans say they don’t know their view on the “health reform law”, the public is more opinionated when asked about “Obamacare”: the share offering no opinion drops to 11 percent, and the shares expressing both favorable and unfavorable views of the law rise when this term is used. Democrats show the biggest change in favorability with the alternate question wording – 73 percent say they have a favorable opinion of “Obamacare” compared to 58 percent who say the same for the “health reform law.”

Overall, 35 percent of the public said they have favorable view of the "health reform law" and 42 percent had a favorable view of "Obamacare." The inverse had the same effect, though, with 43 percent saying they have an unfavorable view of the "health reform law" and 47 percent saying they have an unfavorable opinion of "Obamacare."

Los Angeles school system to outfit all students with iPads

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:55:00 +0000

NEW YORK (AP) -- Los Angeles' school system, the second largest in the United States, is ordering iPads for all its students, handing Apple a major success in its quest to make the tablet computer a replacement for textbooks.

The Los Angeles Board of Education on Tuesday approved the purchase of $30 million worth of iPads as the first part of a multi-year commitment. It found that the iPad was the least expensive option that met its specifications.

The initial order is for more than 31,000 iPads, Apple said. The Los Angeles Unified School District has more than 640,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

The textbooks will be delivered through an application from Pearson, a major publisher, rather than through Apple's own iBooks. Apple and its publisher partners launched a suite of textbooks for iBooks in early 2012.

House GOPer: Teach kids about traditional gender roles

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:24:00 +0000

During a speech on the House floor in support of the Defense of Marriage Act, Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., argued that young children should perhaps take classes that teach them about traditional gender roles.

"You know, maybe part of the problem is we need to go back into the schools at a very early age, maybe at the grade school level, and have a class for the young girls and have a class for the young boys and say, you know, this is what’s important," Gingrey said. "This is what a father does that is maybe a little different, maybe a little bit better than the talents that a mom has in a certain area. And the same thing for the young girls, that, you know, this is what a mom does, and this is what is important from the standpoint of that union which we call marriage."

FBI admits to using drones over U.S. soil

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:06:00 +0000

FBI Director Robert Mueller admitted to Congress Wednesday that drones are already being used over U.S. soil. While the use of surveillance drones domestically -- both by local and federal law enforcement agencies -- has been long anticipated and ushered in by a lobby with a powerful congressional caucus of supporters, Mueller's admissions highlighted the lack of legislation currently in place to govern the use drone technology at home.

Mueller told a hearing that the FBI had used drones to aid its investigations in a "very, very minimal way, very seldom... Our footprint is very small, and we have very few and of limited use, and we're exploring not only the use but also the necessary guidelines for that use," he said.

Mueller's acknowledgment is only the latest in a series of disclosures about the domestic use of drones. In 2010, it was revealed -- and has since become common knowledge -- that Border Patrol surveils both Canadian and Mexican borders with unmanned aircraft.

What everybody gets wrong about Orwell

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:59:00 +0000

As commentators and pundits have weighed in on the (not entirely surprising) revelation that electronic surveillance has flourished during the Obama administration, words and phrases like "Orwellian" and "Big Brother" have abounded, while Amazon sales of "Nineteen Eighty-Four" have climbed a staggering 7000 percent. On MSNBC, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders warned against the “very Orwellian and inhibiting impact” unfettered surveillance will have on our lives; Megan Garber of the Atlantic called Boundless Informant, the National Security Administration’s nickname for one of its data-mining tools, “Orwellian”; Eric Benson and Frank Rich have derided the “Orwellian excess” of the Patriot Act. Even the New Yorker’s Ian Crouch, though he points out that “we are far from the crushing, violent, single-party totalitarian regime of Orwell’s imagination,” found Obama’s initial response “vaguely Big Brotherian.”

WikiLeaks helping Snowden seek asylum

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:39:00 +0000

On a press conference call Wednesday, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told reporters that his organizations had been in contact with the legal team working with NSA whistle-blower Ed Snowden, attempting to broker a deal for asylum in Iceland. Assange, who refused to comment on whether he had personally had contact with Snowden, who remains in Hong Kong, told reporters: “We are in touch with Mr Snowden's legal team and have been, are involved, in the process of brokering his asylum in Iceland ... Our people in Iceland have been in contact with his legal team.”

While Icelandic parliamentarian and longtime WikiLeaks supporter Birgitta Jonsdottir has already expressed publicly her desire to aid Snowden with any asylum requests, the recent election of a conservative coalition in her country may obstruct such efforts.

Assange, himself marking the one-year anniversary of his stay at the Ecuadorean embassy in London, from where he is avoiding extradition to Sweden, commented, “I feel a great deal of personal sympathy with Mr. Snowden."

Probe launched into TWA Flight 800 crash

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:31:00 +0000

MINEOLA, N.Y. — Former investigators are pushing to reopen the probe into the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 off the coast of New York, saying new evidence points to the often-discounted theory that a missile strike may have downed the jumbo jet.

The New York-to-Paris flight crashed July 17, 1996, just minutes after the jetliner took off from John F. Kennedy Airport, killing all 230 people aboard.

The effort to reopen the probe is being made in tandem with the release next month of a documentary that features the testimony of former investigators who raise doubts about the National Transportation Safety Board's conclusion that the crash was caused by a center fuel tank explosion, probably caused by a spark from a short-circuit in the wiring.

"We don't know who fired the missile," said Jim Speer, an accident investigator for the Air Line Pilots Association, one of those seeking a new review of the probe. "But we have a lot more confidence that it was a missile."

In a petition filed Wednesday seeking to reopen the probe, they say they have "reviewed the FAA radar evidence along with new evidence not available to the NTSB during the official investigation and contend that the NTSB's probable cause determination is erroneous and should be reconsidered and modified accordingly."

HPV vaccine leads to drastic drop in infection rate among teens

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:18:00 +0000

The prevalence of cancer-causing strains of the human papillomavirus (HPV) dropped by more than 50 percent among teenage girls in the last decade, results that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Thomas Frieden called "striking."

"This report shows that the HPV vaccine works well, and the report should be a wake-up call to our nation to protect the next generation by increasing HPV vaccination rates," Frieden said in a statement on Wednesday.

Rates of infection dropped 56 percent among girls ages 14 to 19, a response rate that exceeded researcher's expectations given relatively low inoculation rates in the United States.

That may be because the vaccine benefits people who haven't been vaccinated, as Reuters notes:

[Lead researcher Lauri] Markowitz said the higher than expected response rate could be the result of so-called "herd immunity," in which the vaccine is also reducing infections among those who are not vaccinated. Or it could mean that the vaccine was working even among women who had not received the full three doses, which included about 49 percent of women in the study.

Bitcoin tax time?

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 19:14:00 +0000

Tthe U.S. Government Accountability Office's new report on the tax implications of virtual currencies is definitely the GAO's most cyberpunk moment to date. The report name-checks "World of Warcraft," "Second Life" and, of course, Bitcoin. Yes, that's right, the U.S. government is pondering how the IRS should deal with MMORGs (massively multiplayer online role-playing games).

Don't worry -- if you've got piles of gold accumulating in your "WoW" account, you don't need to declare it. Although, if you find a way to sell that gold to some other party in exchange for legal tender, that's a different story. That's income, and it's probably taxable.

But "WoW," and "Second Life," are sideshows. The specter of the IRS casting a shadow over Bitcoin, which the GAO concludes is "the most widely circulated virtual currency available," is the meat of the report. Just the fact that the U.S. government is starting to pay serious attention to the cryptocurrency surely has libertarians getting nervous.

Poll: Americans despise their airlines

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 18:51:00 +0000

Travelers may have rated their satisfaction with airlines three percentage points higher than last year on a new survey from the American Customer Satisfaction Index, but the airline industry would only be able to brag about its dismal score to two other industries: the reviled cable television and Internet service providers.

Airlines received an average score of just 69 points on the Index’s 100-point scale, though JetBlue (83 points) and Southwest (81 points) helped lift up the pack. Indeed, Southwest was the biggest improver in 2013, gaining five points after a patch of rough air during the early stages of a merger with AirTran.

"As operations are combined and consolidated, airline mergers are not without significant problems and passenger dissatisfaction is usually one of them," said Claes Fornell, ACSI’s founder and chairman and a professor at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business, which spun the survey off into a separate company. "Sometimes these are short-term problems that eventually get solved, which seems to be the case here.”