Monday, January 20, 2020

Weekend box office

iraq


Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Keep Falling In And Out Of Iraq" went up Sunday night.

From THENUMBERS.COM, here's the box office for this past weekend.

1NBad Boys For LifeSony Pict…$62,150,000 3,775 $16,464$62,150,0001
2NDolittleUniversal$22,010,000 4,155 $5,297$22,010,0001
3(1)1917Universal$22,000,000-41%3,612+178$6,091$76,616,9844
4(3)Jumanji: The Next LevelSony Pict…$9,680,000-31%3,323-581$2,913$270,592,9756
5(2)Star Wars: The Rise o…Walt Disney$8,302,000-45%3,058-1,221$2,715$491,947,8015
6(6)Little WomenSony Pict…$6,350,000-19%2,503-713$2,537$84,841,0524
7(5)Just MercyWarner Bros.$5,770,000-41%2,457+82$2,348$19,382,6434
8(9)Knives OutLionsgate$4,323,000-23%1,667-393$2,593$146,000,3878
9(4)Like a BossParamount…$4,035,000-60%3,081+3$1,310$17,118,5882
10(8)Frozen IIWalt Disney$3,918,000-34%2,080-575$1,884$465,069,6909



My thoughts?

We didn't need another DOLITTLE.  We already have the 60s version, the Eddie Murphy remake and now DOLITTLE?  I like Robert Downey Jr. but I wasn't interested in seeing this.  Sorry.  It's being hailed as a huge bomb.  We really need to see how poorly it does next weekend before we know how bad it's box office will be.

BAD BOYS?  Hailed as a victory for Will Smith. 

No.

It's a victory in that he's not playing the walking wounded.  All of his drama turns are a joke.  We indulge him on one of those every now and then.  But he's made his career about those bad roles.  This was a hit because it starred Will Smith AND Martin Lewis.  Martin is popular.  And Martin and Will together are a winning team.  That, and the fact that they're playing men, not weak boys or token people of color for White casts, is why the film did so well.

JUMANJI is just unstoppable.  I enjoyed both movies but I never would have guessed they'd both be such huge hits.  It's good that they are because it's always good when films that engage do well at the box office.

LITTLE WOMEN continues to hang on -- barely.  LIKE A BOSS is a bomb.  I think Tiffany Haddish needs to work on getting better material and to take her career a little more seriously. 

She infamously bombed in a high profile stand-up gig.  Watching her new NETFLIX special, it's obvious why she bombed, she's just not funny and she's not focused. 

She has talent but many more movies where you say, "Tiffany was good but that movie sucked," and people are going to stop casting her. 


Going out with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

 
Monday, January 20, 2020.  What if you campaigned for the presidency and no one showed up at your scheduled events (poor Deval!), War Hawk Joe Biden remains a menace, protests continue in Iraq and at least one protester has been killed by security forces in Baghdad . . .

In the US, the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination continues.  In one of the more embarrassing moments, no one turns out for Governor Who.  Let's include Isaiah's "Pro-rape Deval."




Maybe you forgot he was in the race, maybe you never knew but Governor Who is making as much of an impression nationally as he did when he was governor.  Pro-rape Deval Patrick had a campaign event.  Paul Duke's article (STEADFAST DAILY) e-mailed to the public e-mail account explains what happened next:   Patrick showed up at his scheduled event at Morehouse College in Atlanta only to discover only two students showed up for his event (and Duke says they were stopped in the hall and corralled in).  At that point, Deval cancelled the event.  Governor Who indeed.

And then there's War Hawk Joe.

Seriously tho How is Joe Biden really the Democratic frontrunner? He doesn't know where he is, he can barely speak, and he inappropriately touches women and girls
 
 



Joe is the choice of the corporate media and they prop him up.

‘Middle Class’ Joe Biden has a corruption problem – it makes him a weak candidate | Zephyr Teachout
 


At THE GUARDIAN,  Zephyr explains:

It looks like “Middle Class” Joe has perfected the art of taking big contributions, then representing his corporate donors at the cost of middle- and working-class Americans. Converting campaign contributions into legislative favors and policy positions isn’t being “moderate”. It is the kind of transactional politics Americans have come to loathe.
There are three clear examples.
First, Biden’s support for finance over working-class Americans. His career was bankrolled by the credit card industry. He delivered for it by spearheading a bankruptcy bill that made it harder for Americans to reduce their debts and helped cause the financial crisis. He not only authored and voted for that bill, he split with Barack Obama and led the battle to vote down Democratic amendments.

His explanations for carrying water for the credit card industry have changed over time. They have never rung true.
The simplest explanation is the most likely: he did it for his donors. At a fundraiser last year, Biden promised his Wall Street donors that “nothing would fundamentally change” for them if he became president. Now the financial world is raising huge money for his campaign. It clearly thinks he’s going to be its friend if elected. Most Americans, who get ripped off by the financial sector on a daily basis, aren’t looking for a candidate who has made their life harder.
Second, healthcare. On 25 April, the day he announced his campaign, Biden went straight to a fundraiser co-hosted by the chief executive of a major health insurance corporation. He refuses to sign a pledge to reject money from insurance and pharma execs and continues to raise money from healthcare industry donors. His campaign is being bankrolled by a super Pac run by healthcare lobbyists.
What did all these donors get? A healthcare proposal that preserves the power of the insurance industry and leaves 10 million Americans uninsured.


And, of course, there's Joe's decade long war against Social Security.  David Sirota deserves strong credit for getting this important news into the media cycle.

Joe Biden wasn’t being sarcastic — pass it on
/>
0:15
 
 
This video now has 1 million views
/>
0:09
 
 
If Biden refuses to acknowledge his past positions on Social Security and explain how he has changed his views then he deserves all the wrath that Sanders and others can dump on him. It is that simple.
 
 
    1. Joe Biden is trying to distract attention from his longtime crusade to cut Social Security - and hes doing that at the same time Mitch McConnell says he wants to work with the next Democratic president to cut Social Security. We're not letting it happen.




    Turning to Iraq . . .


    . . . where the months long protests continue this morning.  ALJAZEERA reports:

    Security forces have fired tear gas and live fire in an attempt to clear roads in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, as hundreds of protesters again took to the streets to express their anger at the embattled government's slow pace of reforms.
    Demonstrators a week ago had given the government until Monday to act on their demands, which include the holding of a snap poll under a new electoral law, the appointment of an independent prime minister and the prosecution of officials suspected of corruption.
    Starting on Sunday and continuing on Monday, young demonstrators in Baghdad and the south began sealing off highways and bridges with burning tyres.
    "We blocked the road to demand our rights ... the rights of young people to get a job," said one of the protesters in the capital, who wished to remain anonymous. 

    "We demand the central government go to early elections and the nomination of a new independent prime minister. If that doesn't happen, we will escalate and block all the highway and centres of the city." 

    The response?  ALJAZEERA's Imran Khan notes that the security forces are firing bullets into the crowd and at least one protestor has been killed.


    Tear gas near 's Tiyaran square today as security forces try to push back protestors from the highway. A 21-year-old protestor dead after being shot by security forces. With no movement on new government, protests escalating. Photo by Ahmed Qusay.
     
     



    At least 13 wounded in violent protests in Baghdad: officials
     
     





    What are they demanding?  It's right there in the report above.  So let's note the whore that's waddling his fat ass into the discussion.  Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only  Raed Jarrar.

    While some corrupt politicians and militias try to hijack the protest movement in , Iraqis in , , and other cities took to the streets to protest all foreign interventions, including those of the and .
    />
    0:31
     
     

    Yes, Iraqis want both US and Iran troops out -- actually, they want all foreign troops out which does include Turkish troops though no one wants to hear Iraq when they make that last call.

    To be fair to Raed, whom I don't care for, I did go through his Tweets, this morning.  He never notes -- going back a month -- the demands of the Iraqi people who are protesting.  He notes the issue of Iraq and US troops.  That's why Raed really isn't the person to speak to this issue though, it turns out, PACIFICA is again making him the go to.  There are many reasons that is a problem but you can refer to 2013's "Media: The Collapse of Indymedia and its Queen."  I will give Raed credit for not falling into the 'St. Soleimani was killed!' crowd.  That's not a minor point if you remember how high the crazy was cranked by a number of loud voices on that issue.

    Raed wants US troops out of Iraq.  I do as well.  My wants and my desires do not allow me to reduce a months long protest and its goals to one issue, especially when it isn't the primary issue.

    You have many Iraqis on Arabic social media, Iraqis who protest, who are very nervous about this Friday.  Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr has called for Friday's protest to be about expelling foreign troops.  They're not wanting to be hijacked by Moqtada.  Some of that is starting to bubble up in the media.  Gareth Browne (ALJAZEERA) notes:

    Many of the people in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square are deeply sceptical of Sadr’s motives, fearing he may attempt to hijack the popular protest movement for his own gain.

    “Sadr has nothing to do with us, we don’t want him, we don’t want his militia, he is a part of the problem,” Hozam Hunaidi, 24, told Al Jazeera.

    “I will die before I march behind his banner. I have been here for three months, sleeping in the cold, facing danger - I did not do that for him,” he added.

    “He [Sadr] will try to wipe us off the map, if the Sadrists come to Tahrir, we will fight back,” warned Hamoud Ali, 32.





    Qassem Abdul-Zahra and Samya Kullab (AP) add:

    The U.N. envoy to Iraq, meanwhile, urged Iraqi political elites to resume pushing for reforms and for protests to remain peaceful.
    “Any steps taken so far to address the people's concerns will remain hollow, if they are not completed,” said Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert in a statement issued by the U.N. “Violent suppression of peaceful protesters is intolerable and must be avoided at all costs. Nothing is more damaging than a climate of fear.”

    In the southern city of Nasiriyah, protesters blocked the highway linking the city to the southern oil-rich province of Basra. At least six protesters were wounded when an unknown gunmen fired at them from a speeding car, a medical official said. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations.



    Disheartening reports that security forces once again meet protesters with violence in . It is the right of every to be allowed to protest peacefully. It is the duty of Iraqi security forces to protect that right.
     
     








    Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Keep Falling In And Out Of Iraq" went up last night.  New content at THIRD:



    The following sites updated:




  • No comments: