Editor Brian Harrod Provides Comprehensive up-to-date news coverage, with aggregated news from sources all over the world from the Roundup Newswires Network
Jury trial against military contractor CACI over ‘sadistic, blatant and wanton abuses’ comes 20 years after scandal broke
The first trial to contend with the post-9/11 abuse of detainees in US custody begins on Monday, in a case brought by three men who were held in the US-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.
The jury trial, in a federal court in Virginia, comes nearly 20 years to the day that the photographs depicting torture and abuse in the prison were first revealed to the public, prompting an international scandal that came to symbolize the treatment of detainees in the US “war on terror”.
After politics in Vice and finance in The Big Short, director McKay is taking on the climate crisis in his star-studded ‘freakout’ satire Don’t Look Up
Adam McKay calls it his “freakout trilogy”. Having tackled the 2008 financial crash and warmongering US vice president Dick Cheney in his previous two movies, The Big Short and Vice, McKay goes even bigger and bleaker with his latest, Don’t Look Up, in which two astronomers (Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio) discover a giant comet headed for Earth, but struggle to get anyone to listen. It is an absurd but depressingly plausible disaster satire, somewhere between Dr Strangelove, Network, Deep Impact and Idiocracy, with an unbelievably stellar cast; also on board are Meryl Streep (as the US president), Cate Blanchett, Timothée Chalamet, Tyler Perry, Mark Rylance, Jonah Hill and Ariana Grande. It has been quite the career trajectory for McKay, who started out in live improv and writing for Saturday Night Live, followed by a run of hit Will Ferrell comedies such as Anchorman, Step Brothers and The Other Guys. “The goal was to capture this moment,” says McKay of Don’t Look Up. “And this moment is a lot.”
Was there a particular event that inspired Don’t Look Up? Somewhere in between The Big Short and Vice, the IPCC [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] panel and a bunch of other studies came out that just were so stark and so terrifying that I realised: “I have to do something addressing this.” So I wrote five different premises for movies, trying to find the best one. I had one that was a big, epic, kind of dystopian drama. I had another one that was a Twilight Zone/M Night [Shyamalan] sort of twisty thriller. I had a small character piece. And I was just trying to find a way into: how do we communicate how insane this moment is? So finally, I was having a conversation with my friend [journalist and Bernie Sanders adviser] David Sirota, and he offhandedly said something to the effect of: “It’s like the comet’s coming and no one cares.” And I thought: “Oh. I think that’s it.” I loved how simple it was. It’s not some layered, tricky Gordian knot of a premise. It’s a nice, big, wide open door we can all relate to.
This image released by Showtime shows former Vice President Dick Cheney, left, and actor Sacha Baron Cohen, portraying retired Israeli Colonel Erran Morad in a still from "Who Is America?" JERUSALEM - Sacha Baron Cohen is at it again.
This image released by Showtime shows former Vice President Dick Cheney, left, and actor Sacha Baron Cohen, portraying retired Israeli Colonel Erran Morad in a still from "Who Is America?" JERUSALEM - Sacha Baron Cohen is at it again.
During a Tuesday panel discussion on NBC's Megyn Kelly Today about left-wing comedian Sacha Baron Cohen tricking and humiliating Republicans for his new Showtime series, NBC reporter Jacob Soboroff praised the deceptive entertainer as a "genius" who was "exposing the fault lines of our society" and "providing a service." Following a full report promoting Cohen's program, Who is America? which also aired on the Today show earlier that morning anchor Megyn Kelly hammered the comedian: "It makes me feel uncomfortable.
Some politicians are going through the several stages of panic associated with an interview with Sacha Baron Cohen: remorse, damage control, anger and regret for being duped. One of the comedian's latest targets, defeated Senate candidate Roy Moore, is threatening a defamation lawsuit over an upcoming episode of the comedian's new television series.
Remember when that dastardly Barack Obama went around the world on his "apology tour" and devoted his presidency to alienating our allies and appeasing our enemies? I know the far right does because we heard about it every day back then. We continue to hear about it frequently.
It should be clear by now: President Donald Trump believes he is above the law. It's apparent by his conduct in office and particularly related to the Russia investigation - helping manufacture "Deep State" conspiracy theories to undermine our law enforcement and intelligence institutions, concocting absurd spy stories with no merit, firing an FBI director for not letting things slide, belittling his attorney general for rightfully recusing himself from the probe and sending out his lawyer to act like they can dictate the terms of the investigation.
Sweet jesus, I don't know what they're passing around in the West Wing, but it's some serious stuff for people to be this out of touch with reality. Or they've just taken a page about of Goebbel's book on " The Big Lie ": "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.
This is what happens when you don't hold people accountable for war crimes in the first place. They wind up on Fox "news" pushing for the United States to engage in more of them.
As in so much of the senator's extraordinary life, the rebellious Republican is facing this challenging chapter - battling brain cancer - in his own rule-breaking way, stirring up old fights and starting new ones. Rarely has the sickbed been so lively.
U.S. Republican presidential nominee Senator John McCain of Arizona listens as he is introduced at a campaign rally in Fayetteville, N.C., Oct. 28, 2008. As in so much of the senator's extraordinary life, the rebellious Republican is facing this challenging chapter -- battling brain cancer -- in his own rule-breaking way, stirring up old fights and starting new ones.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said the U.S. should restart the harsh detention and interrogation practices used on terror suspects after 9/11, and called on the Senate to confirm CIA nominee Gina Haspel. Brutal interrogation practices are currently banned under U.S. law, but debate on the issue has re-surfaced during Haspel's confirmation process because she was once involved in the CIA's interrogation program.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said the U.S. should restart the harsh detention and interrogation practices used on terrorism suspects after 9/11, and called on the Senate to confirm CIA nominee Gina Haspel. Brutal interrogation practices are currently banned under U.S. law, but debate on the issue has re-surfaced during Haspel's confirmation process because she was once involved in the CIA's interrogation program.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney said the U.S. should restart the harsh detention and interrogation practices used on terror suspects after 9/11, and called on the Senate to confirm CIA nominee Gina Haspel. Brutal interrogation practices are currently banned under U.S. law, but debate on the issue has re-surfaced during Haspel's confirmation process because she was once involved in the CIA's interrogation program.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday hired a veteran attorney who represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment process as the White House shifted to a more aggressive approach to a special counsel investigation that has reached a critical stage. The White House announced the hiring of lawyer Emmet Flood after disclosing the retirement of Ty Cobb, who for months has been the administration's point person dealing with special counsel Robert Mueller.
President Donald Trump hired a veteran attorney who represented Bill Clinton during his impeachment process as the White House shifted to a more aggressive approach to a special counsel investigation that has reached a critical stage. The White House announced Wednesday the hiring of lawyer Emmet Flood after disclosing the retirement of Ty Cobb, who for months has been the administration's point person dealing with special counsel Robert Mueller.
"I don't know Mr. Libby," President Donald Trump said when announcing the pardon of former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff. "But for years I have heard that he has been treated unfairly.
Trump Lawyer Michael Cohen Used the Same Delaware Company for Payment Deals to Two Women - Federal probe looks closely at money flowing in and out of Essential Consultants - Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's personal attorney, used the same Delaware limited-liability company Trump was right to pardon 'Scooter' Libby - Justice deferred may be justice denied. But for I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby - former Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, who was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice in 2007 - President Trump's pardon on Friday, however belated, was welcome.