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
CovertAffairsOnUSA YouTube Channel video: Covert Affairs, Season 4 - "Vamos," Previously On Covert Affairs -Season 3 recap. Uploaded July 12, 2013. http://youtu.be/DxAEF0v_Rq0
'Covert Affairs' and Annie Walker are back tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, and she's going undercover in Columbia, so we'll break out the good pizza and beer for tonight and tape the MLB All-Star Game for viewing afterwards. (Repeat episode is at 12:07 a.m. Eastern.) We have to have our priorities straight, after all.
CovertAffairsOnUSA YouTube Channel video: Covert Affairs, Season 4 - Sneak Peek, Uploaded July 12, 2013. http://youtu.be/bWBBGaZtYo4
The Hollywood Reporter
'Covert Affairs' Bosses Preview Annie/Auggie's Romance, New Blood and 'Darker' Season 4
Opening credit sequence of NBC-TV's "I SPY" starring Robert Culp and Bill Cosby; iconic music composed by Earle Hagen, who won the Emmy Award for it. The TV spy program we watched when we were young-and-impressionable, wanted the newest and coolest gadgets to fight evil and evil regimes... back before there were blogs that needed careful tending and persuasive and enthusiastic writing.
Cuban spy story gets more and more interesting: Puerto Rican woman accused by U.S. of spying for Cuba for 17 years, a Princeton and Georgetown Law School grad, remains out of reach of U.S. justice because she lives in Stockholm; Sweden won't extradite her on espionage charges, plus, she's now married to senior Swedish Foreign Ministry official; While Aftonbladet is advancing the story, Miami Herald is still ignoring the story
Many, many hours after this Cuban spy story was first reported and posted on the Washington Post's website Thursday, the Miami Herald has still not picked up this story, even as of 10:30 am Friday.
Surprise!
The Washington Post
Woman indicted in Cuba spy case is in Sweden and out of U.S. reach
By Jim Popkin, Published: April 25, 2013
The Justice Department on Thursday announced the indictment of a former State Department employee for allegedly spying on behalf of Cuba, but it is unable to arrest her because she lives in Sweden, a country that does not extradite citizens accused of espionage.
Marta Rita Velazquez, 55, a graduate of Princeton University and Georgetown University Law School, was indicted nearly a decade ago on charges of conspiracy to commit espionage. Velazquez lives in Stockholm and is aware of the charges against her, the Justice Department said. But the extradition treaty between the United States and Sweden does not allow extradition for spying.
While the Miami Herald continues to snooze, Jan Helin'sAftonbladet is all over the story and is constantly advancing it, telling us today, below, that the suspected spy is married to a senior Swedish Foreign Ministry official.
SHOWTIME video: Season Two, Episode One: An asset from Carrie's old life comes in from the cold. Uploaded September 30, 2012. http://youtu.be/-xtJ5lLkW70
In honor of espionage and the Season Two premiere of SHOWTIME's Emmy Award winning HOMELAND getting a 60% increase in viewers over last year's premiere, I present some amazing video that needs to be seen to be believed: VICE News videos - Hezbollah's Propaganda War; Morena Baccarin @missmorenab
Have already watched the new episode on TV twice. Plus, watched the DVD-RW I made looking for hidden clues, so I guess that makes thrice! More HOMELAND clips are at SHOWTIME'sYouTube Channel:http://www.youtube.com/show/homeland/
"Hezbollah has built a multi-million dollar theme park celebrating its military victories over Israel. It's the latest PR offensive from the Iranian-funded Shia Muslim militia its followers call the "Party of God." Host Ryan Duffy heads to Lebanon to visit this bizarre tourist site to learn how this group that started as a ragtag militia in the 1980s has skillfully used propaganda to transform itself into a military and political force to be reckoned with, and how anti-Hezbollah groups are trying to compete in this war of words." September 2012.
Reviewing what we already know -the second U.S trailer for Skyfall http://www.sonypictures.com/previews/movies/skyfall/clips/5074/ "Some men are coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first." Skyfall, directed by Sam Mendes, opens in U.K. cinemas October 26th and in U.S. theaters November 9th, and as everyone has known for months because it's the worst-kept 'secret' of the year, Adele will besinging the new title song. As I've mentioned in my previous posts about this film, Skyfall isthe first 007 film to be only filmed inIMAX.
jamesbond007 video: Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe on their roles in new 007 film, Skyfall. Uploaded September 20, 2012. http://youtu.be/diFTdVBYISg M: "Think on your sins."
jamesbond007 video: Skyfall director Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig talk about the role of the London locations to show the essential Britishness of James Bond by showing real but iconic places he would frequent, but from unusal and perhaps even menacing perspectives. Uploaded August 16, 2012. http://youtu.be/dl218z68iC4
jamesbond007 video: On the set in Turkey for the shooting of the opening sequences of the film that sets up the premise. Uploaded September 7, 2012. http://youtu.be/sYEpEseJl9U
See the studio stage here, including a 360 view, at:
CovertAffairsOnUSA video: Covert Affairs - Season 2 Recap and Season 3 Sneak Peek. June 21, 2012. http://youtu.be/VINgJImISFg
So our favorite CIA operative, adorable and moxie-filled Annie, went on a combination business trip/vacation to Stockholm in December with her sister Danielle, but no sooner was she out of the terminal at Arlanda when she gets a phone call from Langley saying that there'd been change in plans.
After all sorts of adventures in Stockholm and the archipelago, with some excellent shots of the scenery, Annie winds-up in a crazy shoot-out with an assassin and finally has to tell her sister that she works for the CIA as an operative, had a thing for someone at work who's blind...
And now her new boss at the CIA is a smart and savvy IU grad? (Sarah Clarke)
Annie Walker's life only gets more complicated tonight on the season premiere of USA's Covert Affairsat 10 p.m. Eastern. Yes, after the season premiere of White Collar, also another favorite of ours, as tonight starts this summer's heated White Collarvs.Rizzoli & Islesbattle.
CovertAffairsOnUSA video: Covert Affairs, Season 3 Premiere - Hang On To Yourself, June 27, 2012. http://youtu.be/9CZsVVqUwJQ
Lena Smith (Sarah Clarke) makes her pitch to Annie (Piper Perabo)
CovertAffairsOnUSA video: Covert Affairs, Season 3 - Hang On To Yourself, Clip 3. July 2, 2012. http://youtu.be/WOcVAU63ANw
CovertAffairsOnUSA video: Piper Perabo interview about Season Three.
The first teaser trailer for the new James Bond film, Skyfall, was released today to set the mood for the millions of eager 007 fans around the world. May 21, 2012.http://youtu.be/xJ4dAY3DW4c
"Some men are coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first."
Skyfall, the first 007 film to be only filmed inIMAX, opens in the U.K. on October 26th and in the U.S. on November 9th, the first Friday after the election. Directed by Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem and Naomie Harris. And yes, once upon a time, the amazing Rachel Weisz dated Mendes for three years before breaking-up in 2002; she's now married to Craig since last year's surprise wedding.
Over 284,000 people have already seen this teaser within the first 12 hours it's been online...
Breaking News: Mannix Marathon on Cloo until 6 a.m. Eastern Sunday, DirecTV Channel 308. Be there!
Back in the day before we all knew what CSIs and mass spectrometers were, all you needed when you were in a real tight pinch was to call your ex-Army pal from Korea out in LA named Joe Mannix. Mannix would get us the answers we need!
Mannix wasn't just a crime-fighting gumshoe, a top-shelf detective with a keen eye for clues, beautiful women and people who got the shaft from the system, but someone who wasn't afraid a of a fight. Joe Mannix also had a deeply ingrained sense of integrity and righting wrongs. Remember that, integrity?
Joe Mannix for Broward Sheriff, Al Lamberti for Media Photo Ops!
If you play the extended version above now for any half-normal kid in elementary school -like one of my teachers once did at Fulford Elementary in North Miami Beach, back when the show was still on the air- I absolutely guarantee you that their eyes will light up.
Alyona & Co. - Whether "From Russia with Love" or "From Russia with Lust," the world's fascination with Russian women shows no end in sight
Almost 50 years after the worldwide release of "From Russia with Love," the second of the James Bond films -and one of my two personal favorites- despite all the 007 films that have come and gone and become part of our everyday experience and pop culture, despite all the beautiful actresses who've played their parts to the hilt to advance the narrative of the world's favorite espionage agent, the number-one-rated all-time "Bond woman" among James Bond fans remains the first Russian femme fatale, Tatiana Romanova.
Or, rather, the faux Russian, since actress Daniela Bianchiwas actually Italian.
No matter!
She was Russian in the film!
We love us our Russian femme fatales!
Above, an amateur remakeof the trailer for "From Russia With Love" and one of the better ones you'll find on YouTube, too.
Before there was a Tatiana Romanova to distract MI6's James Bond from the task at hand of preventing the Russians from getting their hands on high-tech gadgets, there were other Russian femme fatales of one sort or another, some stoic and others smoldering.
There was director Ernst Lubitsch's 1939 romantic comedy "Ninotchka" starring Melvyn Douglas and Greta Garbo -"Garbo laughs" was part of the film's famous marketing campaign.Garbo's the stoic visiting Russian official who meets dignified schemer Douglas in Paris and whose personality evolves as she comes to spend time with him.
Moral of the story, as always, is that 'Opposites attract.'
Eventually.
Ninotchka - 1939 (Original trailer)
Ninotschka - Melvyn Douglas and Greta Garbo's characters meet for the first time and it's far from instant attraction, as she makes clear her disdain for the West.
Then there was smoldering Russian streetcar driver Theodore (Hedy Lamarr) slightly skewing newspaperman Clark Gable's view of Russia in King Vidor's film "Madame X" a year later in 1940. Her he likes, Russia, not so much.
Irina Rodnina, the female Russian pairs figure skater who, along with partner Aleksandr Zaitsev, were the most dominant pair in the world, and the template for future generations of a certain refined Russian figure skating style that was pure magic and radiance on the ice.
Above, a screen grab I did of Alyona Wednesday night on her show, talking about the U.S. economy with a guest.
I didn't know that amazing fact until THIS summer!
It's actually hard for me to look at her the same way knowing that information.
This is the fourth post of mine that has mentioned RT'sAlyona Minkovski, and my last post on her in April was one of the five most-popular posts since the blog was born in early 2007:
1. APRIL 22, 2011
Beguiling Alyona Minkovski zeroes-in on TIME's "100" list and fillets some particularly dubious celebs we're supposed to admire -but DON'T!
To close this Russian-centric tangent, I've got the Russian-language version video of Belarus-born Norwegian singer/violinist extraordinaire and 2009 Eurovision Song winner Alexander Rybak's "Europe's Skies," one of the handful of go-to catchy songs I've been singing and humming -a lot- in the car this year when stuck in traffic.
I prefer the English-language version because I've heard it so many times, but this one is okay, too.
Александр Рыбак - Небеса Европы (Русская версия)
Alexander Rybak - "Europe's Skies" (Russian version)
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bctid=699597927001 The accompanying news article is at: http://www.channel4.com/news/i-will-clear-my-name-says-russian-aide-accused-of-spying To this news in a part of England that has already seen a lot of gnashing of teeth this year, I can only say, just when you think things have already reached rock bottom this year in Pompey... boom goes the dynamite.
Back in late October I sent a lengthy email out to friends and former colleagues in far-flung parts of the world who love and appreciate high-caliber football (soccer) titled, simply enough, "Sacha Gaydamak's demand for a ransom payment may cause Premier League club to close down and be liquidated."
That dispatch was prompted after a weekend spent watching perhaps too many SkyNews Sportsreports on Fox Soccer Channel, but reading even more of the more astute British tabs and football blogs/websites than usual, where the news for the beloved ball club and its loyal fans kept getting worse and worse by the hour. Imagine traveling a few hours for an away Portsmouth game and then hearing on the radio that it might be the last game your team will ever play? http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11688_6462212,00.html
For the latest on what's going on with Pompey football, see the well-produced Pompey Pagesathttp://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sectionhome.aspx?sectionID=12295 Here's the latest: http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/sport/Pompey-financial-report-to-be.6647296.jp
Lib Dem Mike Hancock'swebsite for his constituents in South Portsmouth and Southsea: http://www.mikehancock.co.uk/ On that site are these comments about his legislative assistant of over two-and-a-half years, Katia Zatuliveter: http://www.mikehancock.co.uk/news/555/24/Statement-from-Mike-Hancock-about-Katia-Zatuliveter/ Not mentioned here, though, for obvious reasons, is that more than a few other MPs, even other liberal members, feel that Mike Hancock is too "soft" on Russia, and far too often, too uncomfortably close to the official Russian government position on certain issues, like what's been going on in the Republic of Georgia. These very facts make Hancock's denials, however heart-felt and truthful, seem to some well-informed observers, perhaps a bit disingenuous, and I suspect that you will be hearing more about this as the week goes on.
The last thing in the world that members of Parliament want to consider is the possibility that there might actually be foreign intelligence agents or sympathizers working around them, with aims considerably more dire than simply bloggers or paparazzo taking snaps of embarrassing personal situations.
If you think about it logically from the perspective of the Federal Security Service, the FSB, ФСБ, the successor to the KGB, the day-to-day schedule and hours of tedious tasks on behalf of a staffer in Parliament, esp. for a member on a Defence committee like Mike Hancock, would be the perfect position for an FSB mole to gather useful info on members, staffers and myriad agency liaisons they deal with on a daily basis. Perhaps you've heard - loose lips sink ships.
Channel 4 News: Russian spying has 'absolutely' not gone away says Lord West. http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid601325122001?bctid=699578293001
The Beatles - Back In The U.S.S.R [HQ] RARE PROMO http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2Qk-mZjwhA
See also 'Britain is under attack from Russian spies' http://www.channel4.com/news/lib-dem-mp-denies-his-assistant-is-a-russian-spy and UK Border Agency http://www.ukba.homeoffice.gov.uk/
From the UK Border Agency website:"Every week, our frontline officers are locating and removing migrants who flout the UK's immigration law or pose a risk to the community."
If we only had such marked vigilance here in South Florida, where the print and electronic news media is ardently pro-amnesty for all illegal aliens, especially the editorial board, columnists and reporters at the Miami Herald.
And FYI, no, I haven't forgotten about my promise here a few weeks ago about posting some very accurate and measured analysis of Herald reporter Alfonso Chardy and his consistently one-sided, factually-flawed and self-evidently biased stories about illegal immigration, so recently seen the past two weeks with seemingly daily pro-amnesty stories about the DREAM Act. You know, those over-the-top stories of Chardy's that ALWAYS leave out inconvenient factsthat hamper the story that he and the Herald want to peddle to their beleaguered readers, almost as if they really are stupid enough to think that if he doesn't mention those pesky facts that contradict what he says, nobody will be the wiser.
The same condescending way they seem to assume that nobody ever notices the compelling stories in South Florida that they have consciously ignored for years or give short-shrift to now, like SO MANY of the interesting ones that first appear at Bob Norman'sDaily Pulp blog. http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/
But fortunately, there are a lot more well-informed people like me who pay close attention to issues and public policy than you might otherwise think in South Florida, and we not only have technology on our side, in the form of blogs and websites and social media, but from past experience, we are totally hip to the tricks that Chardy and certain other reporters have long played with pesky inconvenient facts in their so-called news articles in the Herald.
PLUS, CHARDY JUST HAPPENS TO BE MORE OBVIOUS ABOUT IT, NOT TO MENTION, RIDICULOUSLY PREDICTABLE! Those tricks of his don't change much on his stories re the South Florida transportation scene, either, the most egregious of which will also get their own analysis blog posts here, since Chardy has a LOT to account for with them, too.
Trust me, when you know the true facts, Chardy's so-called 'reporting' is even worse than you think. It's not so much journalism as it is old-fashioned, biased stenography.
No matter how many times the Herald's management and editors tell Chardy to write about it, the DREAM Act bill in Congress is deader than dead -and rightfully so.
No matter how many times Chardy tries to insinuate that Florida's U.S. Senator George LeMieux might support it, somehow, he's a NO vote, comprende? No means no!
