IN THE NEWS

Judge recommends ex-Trump election lawyer John Eastman be disbarred

By Katelyn Polantz and Hannah Rabinowitz, © CNN
March 27, 2024

An attorney discipline judge in California has recommended that ex-Trump election lawyer John Eastman be disbarred, according to an opinion released on Wednesday.

Eastman will lose his ability to practice law within days, because the court’s decision involuntarily revokes his license, according to the opinion.

Judge Yvette Roland’s opinion comes after a lengthy trial about Eastman’s actions as he led some of the efforts for Donald Trump to challenge his 2020 election loss. The opinion serves as a recommendation to the California Supreme Court, which will ultimately decide whether to endorse or reject the punishment. Eastman will have the opportunity to appeal Roland’s ruling.

... full article

What do you got instead of a lawyer? Don’t answer. I know: a lawyer.

-Kirk Douglas in “Detective Story” (1951)

The Zone of Interest is a portrait of guilt. No wonder it has divided opinion in Germany

Fatma Aydemir, © The Guardian
March 27, 2024

There is something unsettling about sitting in a German theatre laughing at Nazis. How unsettling depends on the type of humour that prompts the laughter. Is it meant to set the audience apart from the stage action, or does the laughter stem from the discomfort of proximity? When I saw the satire Nachtland staged recently at Berlin’s prestigious Schaubühne (a production also runs in an English translation at the Young Vic in London until 20 April), I perceived the ripples of laughter filling the room as a sort of embarrassed self-awareness. Like a tense moment of getting caught – a feeling that every storyteller ultimately longs to evoke.

... full article

Insua antes de Boca y la tremenda defensa al fútbol argentino

© Olé
March 27, 2024

Como de costumbre, es muy especial para San Lorenzo jugar contra Boca y el partido de este sábado no va a ser la excepción. El Ciclón necesita un buen resultado en la Bombonera para seguir con chances de aspirar a un lugar entre los cuatro clasificados de la Zona B de la Copa de la Liga. Y Ruben Darío Insua lo sabe y lo dejó en claro en la conferencia de prensa conjunta que dio con Diego Martínez (en un momento, bromearon sobre un San Lorenzo-Huracán que los enfrentó).

... full article

-I’ve never been so insulted in all my life.
-Well, it’s early yet.

-Esther Muir and Groucho Marx in “A Day at the Races” (1937)

Israel isolated as UN security council demands immediate ceasefire in Gaza

Julian Borger and Lorenzo Tondo, © The Guardian
March 25, 2024

The UN security council has voted to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza for the first time since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, after the US dropped a threat to veto, bringing Israel to near total isolation on the world stage.

The vote result sets up the strongest public clash between US president Joe Biden and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu since the war began.

The US abstained and the 14 other council members all voted in favour of the security council ceasefire resolution, put forward by the 10 elected council members who voiced their frustration with more than five months of deadlock between the major powers. Applause broke out in the chamber after the vote.

... full article

We’re not quarreling. We’re in complete agreement. We hate each other.

-Nanette Fabray about Oscar Levant, in "The Bandwagon” (1953)

THB #504: Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar Speech

DAVID POLAND © Substack
March 12, 2024

I clicked on a bunch of links to outlets from The New York Times to BBC to The Guardian and on today, looking for a simple transcription of Jonathan Glazer’s brief acceptance speech for The Zone of Interest at last night’s Oscar show.

Couldn’t find one.

Every outlet seemed compelled to chop up the text with editorial that told or led readers to what to make of Glazer’s words. (Eventually, I found the plain text at Vox… which was using it to shame other outlets, offering, “Everyone is misquoting Jonathan Glazer’s speech at the Academy Awards.”)

Ironically, this behavior by what seems to be the majority of the media speaks very much to what Glazer’s movie is about. While some very smart people have argued that the film’s “gimmick” of not showing the horrors of the Jewish Holocaust was a major flaw in the film, I see the film as one that inspires reflection and thought in the viewer, considering the things we know and don’t know and don’t want to know (I’m reminding myself of The Unknown Known) when the hard truths are close enough to touch and far enough away to avoid.

... full article