FOLLOW me on my popular Twitter feed. Just click this photo! @hbbtruth - David - Common sense on #Politics #PublicPolicy #Sports #PopCulture in USA, Great Britain, Sweden and France, via my life in #Texas #Memphis #Miami #IU #Chicago #DC #FL 🛫🌍📺📽️🏈. Photo is of Elvis and Joan Blackman in 'Blue Hawaii'
Beautiful Stockholm at night, looking west towards Gamla Stan
ABC News: Senior U.S. Official: Intercepted Al Qaeda Communications Indicate Planned Attack ‘Big,’ ‘Strategically Significant’ By Martha Raddatz and Jonathan Karl August 4, 2013 9:00am http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/08/senior-u-s-official-intercepted-al-qaeda-communications-indicate-planned-attack-big-strategically-significant Meanwhile, that same day in South Florida, all Sunday afternoon, hours after the ABC News telecast above, the Miami Herald has had nothing VISIBLE on their homepage about the al-Qaeda security threat. Really. Not that this is surprising given how far they've fallen over past 15 years... Here's a screen capture of the homepage when I checked it for one of the last times late Sunday afternoon, little changed from what It'd been in the morning and after Noon. The proof is in the pudding, since more often than not over the past few years, the Miami Herald reads like the weekly community newspaper of a suburb of Tulsa or Des Moines. http://www.miamiherald.com/
It might also be the best dressed city in the world. Everyone looks so well put together...makes me want to start a fashion blog #Stockholm
— Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) July 1, 2013
Trending -with style!- at Hallandale Beach Blog: Maria Sharapova and her knowing, nuanced and amusing tweets about sports, food, fashion, travel and the unusual under-the-microscope life she leads; @MariaSharapova, #Sugarpova, #Stockholm: ABC News Nightline video of her 2010 trip to Chernobyl
Here at the blog we love her because she's STILL so remarkably level-headed and thoughtful despite all her great success, on and off the court!
If @MariaSharapova is NOT playing in the finals of a Women's Grand Slam, like this morning's Wimbledon finals, chances are high that we won't watch it for more than 15-20 minutes at a time. The other crazy thing is that for reasons not worth getting fully into here, because of MariaSharapova's upbringing via her parents, despite her being born in Russia, she's demonstrably more pro-American and down-to-earth -and better informed- than most members of the current U.S. (and European) Mainstream Media that's covering Wimbledon on TV/cable and which you'll be reading online over this Fourth of July weekend, especially the jaded and blasé under-40 women Some of us really appreciate that aspect of her winning personality.
My last blog post on Maria Sharapova featured a very good ABC NewsNightline segmentthat originally aired on August 17, 2010.called Out of the Ashes: Maria Sharapova . It dealt with her visiting the general area near where she might've been born, about 100 miles from Chernobyl -correct, THAT Chernobyl-where her parents lived UNTIL AFTER the 1986 nuclear accident that led them to western SIberia, due to radiation fallout and concern with birth defects. Maria was born about 51 weeks after the disaster. The second part of the video focuses on her first yisit there since she was 13 years old.
E:60 Maria Sharapova From Russia With Love Chernobyl, 2010. Narrated by then-ESPN correspondent Rachel Nichols.
My hero! I was very close to entering Junibacken, but thought it could get a bit awkward pic.twitter.com/3hGYqydCo4 — Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) July 4, 2013
which is more interesting when you remember that three months ago, she tweeted about fictional Swedish literary icon, Pippi Longstocking...
Nice day in Paris! At the park, reading the latest issue of Fricote, a fun French culinary magazine. pic.twitter.com/2ttdpAXiPz — Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) June 4, 2013
See you in Paris at the launch of Sugarpova on Wednesday, May 22 at Colette. It's from 4-6 pm! pic.twitter.com/zTQtfaXihX — Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) May 17, 2013
On my future to-do list: rent a pool house in Palm Springs during #Coachella and listen to music for 12 hrs, then sleep for another 12.
— Maria Sharapova (@MariaSharapova) April 18, 2013
love this. "Schools in Norway move midterms so students can attend Justin Bieber concert" foxnews.com/entertainment/… — Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) April 3, 2013
re Justin Bieber -Teen Idols and Teenage Girls' Consumer Power and the Backlash: Signs of the coming Pop Culture apocalypse in Oslo: 5 Norwegian schools are rescheduling mid-term exams around Justin Bieber tour dates, and it's okay according to Kristin Halvorsen, the Norwegian Minister of Education and Research. But other politicians are less sanguine about it, and worry what this sort of govt. response will encourage in the future
And the one thing we know from the mountain of evidence is that the students who would otherwise have skipped school are NOT teenage boys! Interesting that the news media is unwilling to state the facts -that the students who will not show up for school are almost exclusively girls, don't you think?
Art Beat blog
New York Times
Schools in Norway Postpone Exams for Bieber Concerts
Another article about the over-the-top situation is this one that ran on Tuesday, that was dominated by one large photo of a teenage fan's bedroom :
Flyttet tentamen for Justin Bieber, Nedtellinga til konsert i Oslo 17. april har begynt. Da får Kristiane Søvik (15) se sitt store forbilde - Justin Bieber.
It's like I'm always saying on these pages -twelve-to-seventeen year old girls in Western countries are taking over the world and won't let go of their grip, and as long as they hold sway, pop culture will cease to be a meaningful measure of merit or talent in the way that it often but not always was in the past. That so much of what teenage girls "Like" music-wise is pre-digested corporate filler product is not a positive sign. Old rule of thumb for the blog and his circle of friends is that if the recording artist's album sale or concert is comprised of more than 90% of one gender, they're not really that talented.
Those girls' fingers on their precious cell phones, whether texting or casting votes dozens and dozens of times for no-talents at home, at school or while walking across the street without looking both ways, are like tentacles around real music talent's throat and creativity. U.S. and Western consumer product companies and their print/TV middlemen are completely afraid to call their bluff, too, which is the worst sign of all. That's closely followed by the U.S. Mainstream Media's general cowardice and unwillingness to push-back against the LCD group think that says giving more news time to what's going on with teenage girls and their myriad fads and obsessions, is, actually helping. In many cases, it's pretty clear that the more the media -hard news and general interest- talks about one of these issues -teen suicide, anorexia, bulemia, teen fashion, teens texting while driving- is actually does more harm than good. But publicly you can't tell teenage girls NO anymore, as per the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas cheerleading scandal here in Broward County, where a mob and a mob mentality made the all-female Broward School Board make decisions not based on facts but on their -yes- feelings. For more on that, see my October 8, 2012 blog post titled, Dynamite! Bob Norman adroitly uses facts and context to lower-the-boom on the Broward School Board for their abysmal handling of the purported Douglas H.S. cheerleader coach 'scandal" -and drops School Board member Katie Leach squarely on her head; One month before the election, docs show Donn Korn opponent Franklin Sands funds his race with lots of money from his stepson’s lobbying firm -shocker!; @mattgutmanABC, http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/10/dynamite-bob-norman-adroitly-uses-facts.html The firing of Coach Melissa
By Bob Norman, Reporter, bnorman@Local10.com
Published On: Oct 07 2012 10:33:04 AM EDT
Updated On: Oct 08 2012 11:16:26 AM EDT
http://www.local10.com/news/blogs/bobnorman/The-firing-of-Coach-Melissa/-/3223354/16884040/-/8enkprz/-/index.html Not giving in to upset teenage girls and their emotionally over-wrought mothers actually resulted in a principal being removed! Principals upset over cheerleading coach's firing 'They're furious. They're absolutely furious over this' Published On: Oct 08 2012 06:30:41 PM EDT Updated On: Oct 09 2012 10:16:48 AM EDT http://www.local10.com/news/Principals-upset-over-cheerleading-coach-s-firing/-/1717324/16903370/-/t6vkfa/-/index.html And you certainly can't say aloud in the media that many of their so-called "problems" actually seem much more psychological in nature, and based on their own self-esteem or lack of it, not something physical, otherwise you're labeled as not being understanding. But if these things were physical, shouldn't there be at least some measurable incidence of bulimic or anorexic activity by girls in countries like Pakistan and Iraq, too? But there aren't any. Why the dissonance? Because these groups all have an incentive to not tell these Western teenage girl consumers the truth -that they can't always get their way. They want to sell them something: a product, a fad, an idea... that will make them like themselves better. So, while consumer product companies and the advertising industry falls all over themselves to get in (and stay in) the good graces of teenage girls -because they'll be making the family buying decisions in the future, so they want to favorably shape those opinions ASAP!- the news media just capitulates rather than stand up for common sense or the truth. And they just can't wait to find out the new trend and fad of upscale teenage American and Western girls and obsessively report on it as if it's something more than it is.
My last post on Justin Bieber was an August 31, 2010 post I titled simply,
Examining a music phenomenon: ABC News Nightline's Chris Connelly interviews pop sensation Justin Bieber: "The Business of Being Bieber"
NewsOnABC video: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard has used a call by Tony Abbott for the Government to remove Peter Slipper as Speaker to attack the Opposition Leader for hypocrisy, labelling him a misogynist. Uploaded October 9, 2012. http://youtu.be/ihd7ofrwQX0
Tawdry 'Slipper Affair' sexting scandal leads to national smackdown, Down Under! Boom goes the dynamite! Feisty Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard calls Opposition Leader Tony Abbott a hypocrite and a misogynist... and then really starts to level-the-boom!; A case involving sexting and sexual harassment, plus vile personal attacks from a popular radio host, lead PM to verbally hang Abbott by his own words and deeds
"The Leader of the Opposition says that people who hold sexist views and who are misogynists are not appropriate for high office. Well I hope the Leader of the Opposition has got a piece of paper and he is writing out his resignation. Because if he wants to know what misogyny looks like in modern Australia, he doesn't need a motion in the House of Representatives, he needs a mirror. That's what he needs."
This may be THE single most amazing political video I've seen all year..
SkyNewsAustralia video: Greg Combet, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency speaks on the comments uttered by pro-Tony Abbott radio host Alan Jones of Sydney 2GB that Prime Minister Julia Gillard's father "died of shame" because "he had a daughter who told lies every time she stood for Parliament" -despite her being Australia's first female PM. Uploaded October 1, 2012. http://youtu.be/MG5cc63vgss
The predicate and the coup de grâce of the Speaker is here: Peter Slipper resigns as Speaker after scandals trigger a tumultuous day in Parliament
I remind those of you who are new to the blog that my family and I were "this-close" to moving from Miami to Sydney back around 1973 or so, just as I was about to enter JFK, John F. Kennedy Junior High School in North Miami Beach. Or, as it was known to many of the area's stoners who routinely ditched class to hang-out all day at the 163rd Street Shopping Center, "Jail For Kids."
senatorcorker video: Appearing on Fox News Channel, Tennessee Senator Bob Corker, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, sounded-off on the lack of information and cooperation the Comm. is receiving re the Benghazi attacks on September 11th. Corker believes the Obama administration's response to Libya consulate attack is "Nothing Short... of Benghazigate." "Both Democrats and Republicans want answers to what happened." Uploaded September 27, 2012. http://youtu.be/wLk6o3N8cB8
More useful clarity on President Obama's Libyan Lies, Misrepresentations & Misadventures: Obscure film was NOT responsible for riot there, security was lax in Benghazi, U.S. Marines were NOT there during consulate attack, and FBI agents are still NOT there two weeks later, a fact that ABC News' Friday evening newscast continued to neglect to mention
And on Friday, sixteen days after the death of four Americans, including U.S. Ambassador Christoprher Stevens, ABC News national newscast devoted ZERO time to Obama's serial lies about what happened in Libya, not mentioning Libya even once. No, instead, the lead story was on TSA agents pilfering airline passenger goods. Really? Yes, nothing at all about no FBI agents being in the country more than two weeks later to investigate. The Washington Post
In Libya, security was lax before attack that killed U.S. ambassador, officials say
By Ernesto Londoño and Abigail Hauslohner
September 29, 2012 at 2:12 PM
On the eve of his death, U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens was ebullient as he returned for the first time in his new role to Benghazi, the eastern Libyan city that embraced him as a savior during last year’s civil war. He moved around the coastal town in an armored vehicle and held a marathon of meetings, his handful of bodyguards trailing discreetly behind.
But as Stevens met with Benghazi civic leaders, U.S. officials appear to have underestimated the threat facing both the ambassador and other Americans. They had not reinforced the U.S. diplomatic outpost there to meet strict safety standards for government buildings overseas. Nor had they posted a U.S. Marine detachment, as at other diplomatic sites in high-threat regions.
After more than two weeks of obfuscation and misdirection from the Obama administration, the American public is coming to understand what the U.S. intelligence community learned in the 48 hours immediately following the September 11 attack on the American consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Among the important new details:
By David D. Kirkpatrick, Eric Schmitt and Michael S. Schmidt
Posted online September 27, 2012
BENGHAZI, Libya — Sixteen days after the death of four Americans in an attack on a United States diplomatic mission here, fears about the near-total lack of security have kept F.B.I. agents from visiting the scene of the killings and forced them to try to piece together the complicated crime from Tripoli, more than 400 miles away.
Investigators are so worried about the tenuous security, people involved in the investigation say, that they have been unwilling to risk taking some potential Libyan witnesses into the American Embassy in Tripoli. Instead, the investigators have resorted to the awkward solution of questioning some witnesses in cars outside the embassy, which is operating under emergency staffing and was evacuated of even more diplomats on Thursday because of a heightened security alert.
Though it's the newscast that I always watch and prefer, Thursday night's "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" was one of the worst in quite some time, more noteworthy for what they neglected to say than anything they actually reported -never a good sign.
This case of collective hysterical amnesia at the alphabet network seemed especially curious in light of interesting news reports that emerged over the course of the day that only gathered steam as the day went on, as they made even more preposterous many of the Mainstream Media's claims of the day before and that morning's daily newspapers. The facts simply wouldn't cooperate and fit their assumptions.
These were all "facts" that that you reasonably expected to see mentioned at some point in a national newscast when the subject of the riots and murder in Benghazi and Cairo came up and yet... Yes, sometimes even when Diane Sawyer is standing right there in the middle of it, the absence of evidence is evidence itself, and so is the refusal of her news program to mention these inconvenient facts when it goes against the Mainstream Media narrative of that morning.
Here's just a small list of what WASN'T mentioned on Thursday night's "ABC World News with Diane Sawyer" http://abcnews.go.com/WN/
1.) Libyan government announced that organized and heavily-armed groups used the so-called film protests as a cover to stage coordinated attacks. Yes, the rocket-propelled grenades are always a tip-off that civic discourse is not at the top of someone's agenda. [And why so much reluctance by ABC News and the rest of the Mainstream Media in the U.S. to mention how often variations of "Osama, we are with you" was heard a week at the protests one week after the DNC mentioned Osama Bin Laden 21 times with respect to their famous hunter Obama practically killing Bin Laden himself. TV and print reporters in other countries who speak Arabic and who are there on the ground are mentioning it, so why aren't U.S. reporters mentioning how often the words "Osama" and "Obama" are mentioned in the same sentence, and not in a positive light? Speaking of speaking the language of the place you are reporting from, how's Barbara Raddatz's Arabic? Perhaps Paul Ryan will ask her at the October 11th Vice-Presidential debate she is moderating.
No need to do that, I can answer that question for you. ABC News reporter Barbara Raddatz, like so many other American A-list reporters routinely go to countries where they don't speak the language -like Arabic- and have to be totally dependent on others to explain what in the hell is going on. So, why do we need to hear from her then? Good question. But ABC News doesn't care that she doesn't actually understand what is being said all around here while she is supposed to be reporting. To them, the most important thing is that she's there -is showing the ABC flag. That's NOT the most-important thing to me -facts are. (She was in washington on Thursday night)]
2.) Why nothing at all about this f-ed up situation with Larry Schwartz at the U.S. embassy in Cairo? Guess they were too busy trying to find another Republican in DC to criticize Romney. Anonymously, of course. Foreign Policy magazine The Cable blog Inside the public relations disaster at the Cairo embassy Posted By Josh Rogin September 12, 2012 - 8:48 p.m.
One staffer at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo was responsible for the statement and tweets Tuesday that have become grist for the presidential campaign, and that staffer ignored explicit State Department instructions not to issue the statement, one U.S. official close to the issue told The Cable.
Two additional administration officials confirmed the details of this account when contacted late Wednesday by The Cable.
Read the rest of the post at: http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2012/09/12/inside_the_public_relations_disaster_at_the_cairo_embassy 3.) All Thursday morning and afternoon, credible reports emerged that despite what President Obama said about the Libyan security forces helping transport Ambassador Christopher Stevens to another building per their protocol, credible stories that members of the Libyan security forces had in fact signaled to the armed organized groups that were there to storm the consulate that the move was taking place. The groups already knew that Stevens would be moved, they just weren't sure where. Once they knew, it was easy to fire their rockets right at him. It was literally like he was herded into the scene of his death. This was not mentioned at all on ABC's newscast Uh-oh! Mira! Here's something finally penetrating the MSM's invisible force field Notice that this is being given a 6:45 am time stamp, even though I heard this yesterday before 1 p.m. CBS News
September 14, 2012 5:23 AM Official: Libyan insiders may have aided assault Updated 6:45 a.m. ET
(CBA/AP) BENGHAZI, Libya — Heavily armed militants used a protest of an anti-Islam film as a cover and may have had help from inside Libyan security in their deadly attack on the U.S. Consulate, a senior Libyan official said Thursday.
As Libya announced the first four arrests, the clearest picture yet emerged of a two-pronged assault, with militants screaming "God is great!" as they scaled the consulate's outer walls and descended on the compound's main building.
4.) Surprise! Reports throughout the day emerged that U.S. Ambassador to Egypt Anne Pattersonwouldn't allow U.S. Marines guarding the embassy compound to carry live ammunition. http://nation.time.com/2012/09/13/whats-worse-no-marines-or-possibly-unarmed-marines/
With all their resources and personnel, how is ABC News unable to either confirm or deny this story by 6:30 p.m. Eastern? Or mention that she was in Washington at the time? Really, how can that be?
If it turns out to be true, like you, I can hardly wait to hear the future interviews with the Marines and their leaders back in Washington on the fact that the very people most-responsible for the safety of U.S. personnel were reduced to playing the role of Barney Fife, who, lovable as he was, famously, wasn't allowed to have a loaded gun while he was on-duty in Mayberry. And as if I even have to mention it, Ambassador Ann Patterson's name was never spoken on-air Thursday. Again. Hmm-m...
Honestly, what is it about female U.S. Ambassadors posted to the creepy patriarchal Middle East, and their own feelings of protocol and or inadequacy, that actually cause them to threaten U.S.lives thru their queer policy pronouncements?
If true, unfortunately, Anne Patterson's bad decision-makingwill remind many of usthat after the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole in 2000, the last year of the Clinton Administration, the U.S. Ambassador to Yemen, Barbara Bodine, imposed all sorts of rules on the U.S. officials sent to investigate the bombing that took place on her watch. She seemed to be the very stereotype of a spiteful feminist who wanted to keep men at a distance even though they were the ones who had any power on the block she lived on. Instead of letting common sense prevail, she said that allowing so many FBI and CIA agents -read assertive men- would send the 'wrong signals' about who really ran U.S. foreign policy.
She forgot that it wasn't her. She was the worker bee who works for us, not the other way around.
In case you forgot or never knew the exact details, Bodine was the stick-up-her-ass PC U.S. Ambassador to Yemen who tried to thwart the Cole investigation and famously took steps to revoke the visa of FBI Special Agent John O'Neill, the FBI's leading expert on al Qaeda and on-scene commander in Yemen after he arrived from New York with his team of counter-terrorism agents.
Yes, really.
Among so many other things that seem contrary to U.S. interests, Bodine famously intervened and prevented his re-entry into Yemen after he'd flown back to New York for Thanksgiving 2000.
O'Neill, of course, died ten months later in the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers
Here is what PBS says on their Frontline website about that situation in October of 2000.
I usually would not put so much of that here, but it's important that you see what part of her decision-making rings familiar today, considering Patterson's orders.
Arriving in Yemen, O'Neill finds challenging field conditions. His agents confront 102-degree heat and a cramped, unsecured hotel for their quarters. O'Neill soon finds himself clashing with Barbara Bodine, the U.S. ambassador to Yemen, who is concerned about the number of FBI agents and military personnel flooding into the country after the bombing. O'Neill argues that the FBI needs resources to thoroughly investigate the attack. Bodine has different priorities, including maintaining good relations with Yemen. "I had to act as a cultural interpreter. They have endured first British colonialism, and then the Soviets. These people have only had foreigners telling them what to do. Now O'Neill and his men were coming in, doing essentially the same thing," Bodine later told Britain's The Sunday Times.
As relations between the two sour, the number of topics they disagree on multiplies. O'Neill wants a heavily-armed security presence; Bodine wants the agents to be unarmed. O'Neill wants to have direct access to Yemeni officials; Bodine feels she should supervise encounters. As O'Neill starts to seek support from Barry Mawn and other FBI officials back in the U.S., the cables sent by Bodine to the State Department become increasingly critical of O'Neill. It reaches the point where Louis Freeh and Janet Reno become personally involved in the dispute.
Meanwhile... CNN IGNORES REAL GOAL OF CAIRO RIOTS: FREEDOM OF BLIND SHEIK
ABC News: ABC News Nightline Olympic correspondent Julie Foudy of ESPN on the Englishman who wants to reward Fourth-place finishers at the Olympics with a medal, and is paying for them himself; @Nightline asks "Do you think there should be a fourth place medal at the Olympic games?" August 7, 2012. http://youtu.be/CRrHDK35AKI
Just more proof of why Julie Foudy is so very likable and reliable, besides knowledgeable and articulate -and unswervingly honest. Me, I'm a big fan of hers. I think I'd rather listen to her than just about any other TV color commentator covering any other sport, except for Jim Palmer on baseball and Ron Jaworski on the NFL. She was excellent on ESPN'sEuro 2012 coverage from Poland and Ukraine @Nightline asks "Do you think there should be a fourth place medal at the Olympic games?" http://twitter.com/Nightline/status/233049579925426176 @JulieFoudy http://twitter.com/JulieFoudy http://www.juliefoudyleadership.com/ ABC News @ABC http://twitter.com/ABC
Tomas Lopez, the Fired Lifeguard at the Center of the Storm in Hallandale Beach, will be a guest on Sunday's "This Week in South Florida with Michael Putney" at 11:30 a.m. on WPLG-TV/Channel 10, after ABC News "This Week."
My first post on this stort from Wednesday Lifeguard Tomas Lopez helps save the day at the city's public beach but get's fired for his trouble. Meanwhile, Hallandale Beach City Hall continues to act neglectful and NOT do what it's legally supposed to do around the beach areas, and nothing happens. Nobody is fired. Just more mindless bureaucratic apathy and incompetency from the same old crew! http://www.hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/lifeguard-tomas-lopez-helps-save-day-at.html
My follow-up post
Tomas Lopez story results in predictably anemic response by Hallandale Beach City Hall as growing public outrage re harsh treatment of lifeguard Lopez by his company, Jeff Ellis & Associates -an unpersuasive form letter- shows City Hall's longstanding myopia remains. Story has touched a nerve all over the world about moral imperatives and importance of doing the right thing despite strong possible negative consequences. We desperately need to change the culture and personnel at City Hall ASAP! http://hallandalebeachblog.blogspot.com/2012/07/lifeguard-tomas-lopez-helps-save-day-at.html
