Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth and Woody Harrelson stay close after filming the last scene of “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.”
“That’s a wrap. Thank you @SuzanneCollins Thank you @Hibbits Thank you HG Fans. Other than that, I’m speechless,” producer Nina Jacobson captioned the emotional picture.
Are you planning on being True to the End tonight when the seventh and final season of “True Blood” premieres? Many EW staffers eagerly have their DVRs set to check out the latest happenings in Bon Temps, but there’s a few who remain (blissfully?) ignorant of all the political intrigue and naked bodies that populate HBO’s drama. For the faithful: EW has plenty of news for you to consume. Are you a little clueless? We’re here to help.
Spider Man was arrested Friday in Times Square for allegedly groping a woman, according to CBS New York.
A man dressed as Spider Man, that is. According to CBS, police identified him as 22-year-old Moussa Rabaoui of Queens, one of the many costumed people who roam the tourist-heavy zone dressed as popular TV and comic book characters and ask for small fees in exchange for a photo.
According to a search of court records, Rabaoui was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of forcible touching. The Daily News also reported on his arrest.
The incident follows a slew of other cases in which panhandlers wearing iconic disguises have been arrested for inappropriate behavior. Last week, another Spider-Man imitator, Phillip Williams, was convicted of harassment following an incident with a mother in Times Square earlier this year. (Williams was acquitted of the more serious charge of assault.)
The president of the Times Square Alliance, a coalition of government officials and local business owners, is calling for regulations to govern the costumed characters in the New York tourist destination.
“In the last 10 days alone, we’ve seen two Statues of Liberty arrested, a Spider-Man convicted of harassing a tourist, and now a third character arrested for groping a woman in Times Square,” Times Square Alliance head Tim Tompkins told CBS New York. “The situation is out of control and a licensing and regulatory scheme must be put in place.”
Tompkins previously called for regulations in January, after a Woody character was arrested on sex abuse charges, CNN reported. And last year, a Cookie Monster allegedly shoved a child, police told CNN.
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, told Reuters in 2013 that the ability to put on a costume and go to Times Square is likely protected under the First Amendment. One man who dressed as Elmo told Reuters for that article that he takes home $600 a week from the job. Another character told the AP in 2013 he has made as much as $280 in one six-hour period.
While Tompkins is recommending restrictions, he doesn’t think a complete ban on costumed characters in Times Square is the answer. Instead, he is seeking to establish a licensing system — including background checks — for characters in disguise.
“Quirky in Times Square is OK, creepy is not,” he told PIX11.
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By Mark Green
Shrum and Matalin agree it’s the definition of insanity for the president to reinsert U.S. into centuries-long religious war when likeliest conclusion a tripartitioned Iraq back to pre-1919. Cheney/McCain versus Obama, Petraeus, Beck, Ruddy, Frum, MKelly and Americans by 3-1. Also: how’s Hillary’s “talking tour” going?
*On Iraq Redux. We listen to ‘Michael Corelone’ explain how his family “pulls me back in”… and to JFK say how ultimately it’s up to Vietnamese themselves to repel the Communists. The more things change…
Mary and Bob agree that the rapidly deteriorating situation in Iraq is largely due to a dysfunctional, exclusionary Iraqi government/military leading Sunni soldiers to wonder why they’re fighting for Maliki. They agree that A) it would be the classic definition of insanity were Obama to just again militarily intervene in a centuries long religious (not very) civil war; and B) it was Iran and Maliki who refused to give immunity to remaining American soldiers thereby scuttling a residual American presence there.
The two stipulate that they disagree about Bush’s invasion/occupation though Mary acknowledges that the 2003 attack and aftermath demolished the needed governing institutions of the country. Matalin tries for both-sides evenhandedness by saying that “Bush got Putin wrong and Obama has gotten Islamic jihadists wrong”… the second part of which Shrum dismisses.
Lessons of Vietnam and two Iraq wars so history doesn’t repeat itself? More consensus: the U.S. military can’t nation-build when a nation doesn’t want to… so Iraq will eventually have to sort itself out after a lot of blood-letting and probably end up being tri-partitioned like pre-1919, as then Senator Biden originally predicted.
We listen to Senator McCain bitterly denounce the president as playing golf, fundraising and fiddling while Iraq burns. Question: What’s his problem? And what’s happened to him and the tradition of bipartisanship beyond the water’s edge during crises? Mary doubts many are still listening to him while Bob thinks that he’s bitter and isolated after his losses to W and O and his own war-time experiences.
Host: McCain sadly seems to have gone from hero to crank over the past 50 years.
In the ‘Reality Bites’ file, Shrum and Matalin worry that the situation is insolvable but perhaps manageable once religious combatants sort it out so the U.S. can act rationally rather than just dance to the beat of war drums again.
As for all the I-told-you-sos now flying around: it would appear that Obama here has the edge since it was he who ran on no more “dumb wars” like Iraq and who said in his West Point address last month that we have less to worry about al Qaeda central and more from local offshoots — that means more drones than troops and counter-terrorism rather than counter-insurgency.
As for the phenomenon of watching repudiated hawks like Cheney, Bolton, Wolfowitz, Bremer, Feith, North lecturing TV viewers on Fox and the Sunday Shows about best next approaches, it’s probably best to cite two humorists: Bill Maher wondered whether the media should assign OJ to cover the Oscar Pistorius trail and Andy Borowitz tweeted that ‘in an unusual development, Sunni and Shia have agreed that Cheney should just shut up.’
*On HRC “Book” Tour. Mary thinks it’s gone badly with HRC showing that she’s rusty and is attracting more criticism than book-buyers. Bob thinks that’s whistling by the graveyard. “She’s strong, the Republicans know it, which is why they attack her at every opportunity. But don’t worry Mary, she’ll invite you and James to a White House State Dinner.”
They agree that often a candidate gets more effective once they realize they may lose, like Bush after McCain won New Hampshire in 2000 and Kerry in the Fall of 2003 after Dean’s surge. Will that happen again to Hillary? Shrum thinks either that’ll happen or — like FDR, Ike, Secretariat — she’s a wire-to-wire winner.
Bob looks at two specific interviews among so many: he agrees that her “broke’ line was ill-advised but believes that Clinton45 handled NPR’s Terry Gross on gay marriage just fine and showed an admirable incaution when she blasted the NRA on CNN as “a minority terrorizing the majority.”
*Quick Takes: Washington Redskins? Wisconsin’s Walker? Although Mary hates the use of trademark law to force owner Dan Snyder’s hand, both agree that in the long run the Redskins should and will change its name (can’t wait until Heritage and the Tea Party suggest alternatives — Washington Pirates, Spenders, Bureaucrats, Tyrants…).
Finally there’s a clash over Governor Scott Walker, who’s up in 2014 for reelection in Wisconsin, a presidential hopeful and being criminally investigated for campaign finance violations when he was mayor of Milwaukee. Mary is so fond of his performance/record that she brushes off the probe. Bob, however, thinks it may disqualify him from even seeking the office, as such problems knocked out Gov. McDonnell in Virginia and may yet Governor Christie in New Jersey.
Mark Green is the creator and host of Both Sides Now.
You can follow him on Twitter @markjgreen
Send all comments to Bothsidesradio.com, where you can also listen to prior shows.
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Here’s how weather forecasts in the United States work: The National Weather Service attaches devices that measure pressure, temperature and humidity to weather balloons that are launched, twice a day, from 69 locations in the US. This is the way it has been since, well, the 1930s.
Do you need a break from watching the World Cup? Good! Because the latest Feedback Loop is right here. Amazon released a new phone this week and we discuss if it meets our expectations; we speculate on what makes password-management apps trustworthy;…
Google’s annual developers conference takes place next week. Google I/O 2014 will welcome developers from all around the world, it takes place in the Moscone West Convention Center in San Francisco from June 25-26. There have already been countless reports about what the company is going to unveil at the event. Its expected to show off a mix of hardware and software, so here we roundup all that we expect to see from Google next week.
This seems like a no-brainer. Its a given that at every I/O conference Google talks about Android. The next major update for Android is expected to be unveiled. If rumors are to be believed it may be called Android 5.0, or perhaps even Android 4.5. As far as monikers go its believed that from KitKat Google will move on to Lollipop.
While it is not known for sure exactly what improvements and updates Google has made in the upcoming Android release, a recent report claimed that the next iteration will move from DALVIK to ART once and for all. The ART runtime will help conserve battery life and speed up app load times on the device. Support for 64-bit processors is also expected. A redesigned status bar for Android has also been rumored recently.
I expect that wearable devices will have a major presence at Google I/O 2014. The company may talk in detail about Android Wear, a wearable platform it unveiled earlier this year. Some of the first Android Wear powered smartwatches are also expected to be unveiled at I/O. Rumor has it that the LG G Watch will be formally unveiled at the conference.
A more recent rumor also suggested that Samsung’s first Android Wear smartwatch might also be shown off at I/O. The Korean juggernaut hasn’t closed the door on Google’s new wearable platform and recent FCC filings show that perhaps it may have one such smartwatch up its sleeve.
There is also chatter about some Google Glass related announcements, particularly related to the consumer launch of Google’s very popular wearable device.
Ever since Apple showed off Healthkit at WWDC 2014 there has been speculation about Google’s response. It was first reported last week that Mountain View’s answer to this is going to be in the shape of Google Fit. Expected to be detailed at I/O 2014, Google Fit is said to be a new health service which will collect and aggregate data from popular fitness trackers and health apps.
Google Fit may also rely upon data pulled from wearable devices, such as heart rate and steps, bringing smartwatches and fitness trackers into the new health-focused ecosystem.
There’s no denying the fact that Google TV flopped. Competing products like the Apple TV and Roku continued to extend their dominance in the meantime. So it was really a matter of time before Google bounced back. We first heard about Android TV earlier this year. Its said to be an entertainment interface that is designed to be cinematic, fun, fast and fluid. Apart from allowing users to easily stream movies and shows, Android TV is expected to come with support for Android apps and games as well.
Rumor has it that Google is going to build the Android TV set-top box itself and will position it to compete with the likes of Amazon Fire TV and the Apple TV.
There’s isn’t enough evidence to support rumors that Google may also unveil a new Nexus device at I/O 2014. Recent leaks have hinted at the existence of a 9-inch Nexus tablet but it really can’t be said for sure if Google has any plans of making it official next week.
This is all that the company is expected to talk about during its keynote at I/O 2014. Apart from that there are dozens of sessions scheduled where finer details about new software and upcoming features will be discussed with developers. We’ll have all of the information here for you so don’t forget to stop by.
Google I/O 2014 Roundup: What To Expect , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
June 22 (Reuters) – Richard Thornburgh, a former U.S. attorney general and two-term Pennsylvania governor, has been hospitalized in Pittsburgh, his family said on Sunday.
Thornburgh, 81, who served as U.S. attorney general under President Ronald Reagan and President George H.W. Bush, suffered a mild stroke on Saturday, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported, citing Thornburgh’s wife, Ginny Thornburgh.
“He is resting comfortably and receiving excellent care at UPMC Presbyterian,” Thornburgh’s family said in a statement released through the hospital. “He is awake, alert and looking forward to a full recovery.”
A spokeswoman for UPMC Presbyterian declined to comment on the report of a stroke or Thornburgh’s condition. The hospital is part of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
Thornburgh gained national attention as governor in March 1979 when the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, had a partial meltdown just months into his first term. He was re-elected and served until 1987.
After serving as U.S. attorney general, Thornburgh served as undersecretary general to the United Nations. (Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)
We all hum the “Game of Thrones” theme song whenever an episode starts — or whenever we are thinking about watching the show. Thanks to Russian producer Steve Duzz, we now have an amazing ’80s remix full of sweet synths that can only be matched in glory by an LED dance floor. Get your groove on by listening to the track below.
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