Film Review: Jimmy’s Hall (2014)

This film by British director Ken Loach will be welcomed by those who would like a change from the films and TV shows from the UK that portray upper class life. Based on a true story, it deals with life in an impoverished Irish village in the depression-era 1930’s when a young rebel Jimmy Gralton returns from a self-imposed exile in the US and reopens a hall for the local community where they conduct classes but also have fun such as dances.
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Welcome to the Trash Talk primaries

Professional athletes, once the leaders in trash talking opponents, may have to take notes from the new kids in the game. While I said before Thursday’s debate that the fight between Donald Trump and Marco Rubio would get ugly, I did not expect that it would sink so deep into the mud so soon, starting with Rubio’s aggressive performance at the debate itself where he tried to out-Trump Trump. It looks like Rubio’s technicians have reprogrammed him and flipped the switch into Attack mode.
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Conservatives freak-out over the popularity of Bernie Sanders’s positions

Tomorrow is the Democratic primary in South Carolina that polls predict Hillary Clinton will win handily. What has been extraordinary is how Bernie Sanders has made the word socialism and socialist ideas so acceptable, especially among the young, so that they view it as a more compassionate system than capitalism. This is certainly true but the mainstream media in the US has been relentlessly extolling the virtues of a particular form of capitalism that leads to vast inequalities, and they cannot believe that their sustained propaganda has been upended by a hitherto obscure senator from Vermont.
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You have to hand it to Donald Trump …

… because he will take it anyway.

But joking aside, his tactical abilities were on display today. Marco Rubio was making the rounds on media outlets this morning touting his debate performance as a knockout blow against Trump that would turn the tide in his favor although the verdict on that is decidedly equivocal. Since he has been chosen to be the establishment candidate to defeat Trump, he was sure to get a lot of positive media attention to bolster his claim.
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Last night’s Republican debate

The debate last night was as expected a slugfest between Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz, with Ben Carson and John Kasich largely bystanders. It looked like Cruz and Rubio had decided to join forces and attack Trump rather than each other (maybe they met in a closet before the debate to plan their strategy) and they did manage to land some blows on him. This report from the Guardian suggests that Trump stumbled but similar instant judgments have proved in the past to be not good predictors of his fortunes.
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The Trump-Rubio mismatch will be revealed in the coming showdown

Today there will be another Republican debate at 9:00pm ET in Houston, Texas and aired on CNN. It will be the last debate before a slew of contests to be held on Tuesday, March 1 and there is no doubt that Donald Trump hopes to run the table of 12 primaries and three caucuses. Trump leads in the polls everywhere except Texas and Arkansas where Ted Cruz has leads. Texas is the big prize because if Trump can defeat Cruz in his home state, that will be a crushing blow and likely force the latter’s exit from the race.
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The red herring of rank-ordering injustices

The increasing support for the BDS (Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions) movement targeted at the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands around the world has caused great concern within the Israeli government and they have launched a propaganda effort to try and discredit it, such as retaliating against those who advocate for it by going to the extent of getting sympathetic western governments to even criminalize speech in support of it.
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John Kasich is no moderate

Now that the Republican race is down to just five people and Jeb! has gone, John Kasich seems to have cemented his position in the media as the ‘moderate’ and ‘reasonable’ candidate. It’s about time that someone exposed his aw shucks, midwestern moderate shtick for its phoniness and Samantha Bee does an excellent job in her latest episode of Full Frontal.
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