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San Francisco Chronicle
25-05-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Triathlon, S.F. tourism would suffer under Trump's dopey Alcatraz initiative
President Trump has a brilliant idea, six words that should strike terror into every heart. Trump's latest inspiration is to restore Alcatraz to a working federal prison. Picture it: Convicts locked up behind gold bars. A Trump Bible in every cell. Inmates working in the prison factory assembling Teslas. In floating this idea, Trump may have been simply testing to see just how obsequious his appointees can get. Apparently, there is a contest in progress. Well, we have a new leader in the grovel sweepstakes. William K. (Billy) Marshall, Trump's recent appointee to director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, didn't merely support the Alcatraz plan, he put it to poetry. Marshall said on Fox TV, 'When you think of Alcatraz, you think of Fenway Park, Wrigley Field, Lambeau Field, those types of facilities — you get that kind of feeling about Alcatraz when you think of those historical venues.' Indeed, for those of us who cherish American history, Trump's proposal did bring back a flood of memories from famous venues — the home runs, the touchdowns, the cafeteria shankings. Hey, they really did play baseball at Alcatraz back in the day. Who can forget the legendary double-play combo of Birdman to Scarface to Machine Gun? Jokes aside, there are serious ramifications to Trump's proposal. Alcatraz is a vital part of San Francisco Bay recreation and tourism. Turning the Rock back into a real prison would be a major hit to the economy and the soul of the region. Only a cynic would suggest that at least part of the reason Trump loves this plan is that it would be serious blow to his least favorite city and state. Alcatraz tours generate about $60 million per year, most of which goes to the National Park Service, which is already being slammed by Trump budget cuts. Tourism is San Francisco's biggest moneymaker, and Alcatraz is probably No. 2 (to the Golden Gate Bridge) on tourists' must-see lists. About 1.6 million tourists visit Alcatraz every year. The swim from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park is also world famous, and that would be threatened. The Escape From Alcatraz Triathlon began in 1981 and draws 2,000 competitors each year, plus thousands of spectators. There are other popular annual events, including the Alcatraz Open and the Alcatraz Sharkfest Swim, and almost daily supervised swims. All of that business and fun could go away, since it seems unlikely that the Bureau of Prisons would welcome boatloads of swimmers being dumped into the water a few feet from a max security lockup. Wouldn't want to give the bad guys any ideas, remind them that children and the elderly routinely make that swim. A dog once did it, easily. So did the late Jack LaLanne, shackled and towing a rowboat. This plan must have been approved by the DOGI, the Department of Government Inefficiency. Restoring Alcatraz to active prison status would cost an estimated $1 billion-plus, and it would cost tens of millions per year to run it. But how can you put a price tag on making a silly spectacle of locking up 200 prisoners? Can't wait to see the first prisoners shuffling off the boat and onto the Rock, dancing to 'YMCA.' More deep thoughts & cheap shots • Sutter Health Park was supposed to be a homer-happy ballyard, and it has been exciting for fans of the Sacramento A's, if by 'exciting' you mean 'disappointing.' Going into Friday's games, there were 73 home runs hit at Sutter's Homer Mill, fifth highest in the majors (Dodger Stadium was tops at 87; Oracle Park had 42, good for 24th). Of those 73 West Sacramento dingers, visiting hitters slugged 45, A's hitters plinked 28. • Honey, I shrunk the buffer zone. Some pitchers — Justin Verlander of the Giants is one — are complaining that the strike zone is snugged up this season. Here's why: In grading umpires on their ball-strike accuracy, MLB used to give the umps a two-inch leeway — a 'buffer zone' — on calls outside the strike zone. This season the buffer zone is down to three-fourths of an inch, so fewer edgy pitches are called strikes. Can we just end all this silly millimeter calculus and bring in computerized ball-strike umpiring? • There's something odd about the San Francisco 49ers signing a kicker to compete in training camp and preseason with Jake Moody. If Kyle Shanahan still has doubts about Moody's ability to kick under pressure, after watching him for two seasons, maybe it's time to let him walk. 'As long as we bring in a guy who is capable of taking that job, and Jake respects him, that's what puts pressure on him,' Shanahan said. If it's a good thing to put pressure on a guy whose performance has faltered, should Shanahan bring in Colin Kaepernick to compete with Brock Purdy? • The caissons are marching along, apparently. The A's ballpark construction crews in Las Vegas haven't exactly broken ground yet, but they're pushing it around. The team says grading is under way on the land upon which will rest their new ballpark. Caissons, holes for pilings, are being dug. Cranes will arrive by mid- to late June. The official groundbreaking ceremony is TBD. Seems odd to break ground after construction has begun, but the A's swear they are on schedule to open in 2028, and when have they ever failed to live up to their promises? • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is a marvelous player, but if I had an MVP vote I would not cast it for a notorious flopper. So many guys in the NBA — and it's creeping into the WNBA — have completely lost the ability to play basketball without the slapstick pratfalls.
The Guardian
28-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
JB Pritzker's fiery speech calling for mass protests sparks talk of 2028 run
Illinois's Democratic governor, JB Pritzker, scorched Donald Trump's administration Sunday night, calling for 'mass protests' and declaring that Republicans 'cannot know a moment of peace' during a fiery speech in New Hampshire that immediately sparked presidential speculation. 'It's time to fight everywhere and all at once,' Pritzker said to a ballroom filled with Democratic activists, officials and donors. 'Never before in my life have I called for mass protests, for mobilization, for disruption. But I am now.' The billionaire heir to the Hyatt hotel fortune addressed more than 800 people at the New Hampshire Democratic party's annual McIntyre-Shaheen dinner – a state traditionally crucial to the early cycle of presidential primaries and a launching pad for anyone with White House ambitions. 'These Republicans cannot know a moment of peace,' Pritzker said. 'They must understand that we will fight their cruelty with every megaphone and microphone that we have.' Pritzker's appearance marked the first major foray by a potential 2028 presidential contender into an early primary state, though Pritzker insisted he remains focused on 2026 midterm elections. Unlike some other Democratic governors who have adopted more piecemeal approaches toward Trump, Pritzker is now positioning himself as the standard-bearer for unflinching opposition, calling out both the president and fellow Democrats who advise moderation. Many Democratic activists appear to align more with the Pritzker approach, as more than 1,000 protests across the US and Europe hit the streets at the beginning of the month specifically focused on calling out Trump. More than tens of thousands had been estimated in Washington alone. Trump is now also sitting through cratering polls ahead of his 100 days in office benchmark tomorrow – the lowest approval rating for a new president in that time period over the last 80 years. 'Fellow Democrats, for far too long we've been guilty of listening to a bunch of do-nothing political types who would tell us that America's house is not on fire, even as the flames are licking their faces,' he said. 'We need to knock off the rust of poll-tested language, decades of stale decorum.' The Illinois governor saved his sharpest attacks for Trump's cabinet, describing the health and human services secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, as 'a weird nepo baby who once stashed a dead bear in the back seat of his car' and the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, as 'a washed-up Fox TV commentator'. 'Stop thinking we can reason or negotiate with a madman,' Pritzker told the crowd, adding that Republicans enabling Trump should 'feel in their bones that when we survive this shameful episode of American history' their portraits will be relegated 'to the museum halls reserved for tyrants and traitors'. Sign up to Headlines US Get the most important US headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morning after newsletter promotion Pritzker's confrontational stance contrasts with potential rivals like the Michigan governor, Gretchen Whitmer, and the Pennsylvania governor, Josh Shapiro, who have advocated for bipartisan collaboration with Trump while representing pivotal swing states. Whitmer was photographed in the White House earlier this month, at one point hiding her face from the cameras. His speech also comes as Democrats nationwide search for new leadership after Kamala Harris's defeat in November, as it's still not clear if Harris runs again. Anne Caprara, Pritzker's longtime chief of staff, told the New York Times that his approach stems from family history – his ancestors fled pogroms in Ukraine. 'What we're seeing right now is 1930s Germany,' Caprara said. 'The only way to actually stop that from happening is to be very loud and vocal about the pushback.'
Forbes
21-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘The Last Of Us' Season 2: Why Does Manny Look So Familiar?
Danny Ramirez in "The Last of Us" Season 2, Episode 2. The Last of Us Season 2 introduces several new cast members, including Danny Ramirez as Manny Alvarez. What else has Ramirez starred in before? Season 2 of The Last of Us picks up five years after the end of Season 1, where Joel (Pedro Pascal) smuggles Ellie (Bella Ramsey) — a teen immune to the deadly Cordyceps virus that turns its victims into zombiesv— out of a quarantine zone and across the post-apocalyptic landscape of the U.S. Note: Spoilers from 'The Last of Us Season 2,' Episode 2 are revealed in the next two paragraphs. In the season finale of The Last of Us Season 1, Joel, while saving Bella from the Fireflies during a deadly experimentation procedure, kills most of the members of the group including a doctor. After the doctor's daughter, Abby (Kaitlyn Dever), comes across the carnage, she vows to kill Joel. Accompanying Abby on her mission to kill Joel is Manny, who witnesses the brutal beating death of Joel firsthand. And while Abby, Manny and the rest of their group walk away from the execution unscathed, Ellie — who witnessed Abby finishing Joel off — vows to exact revenge on the perpetrator. Born in 1992 in Chicago, Ramirez made his screen debut as 'Moving Van Kid #1' in the Showtime drama The Affair in 2015. Two years later, Ramirez landed guest roles in the Netflix drama Orange is the New Black and the Fox TV/Marvel superhero drama The Gifted. Ramirez's other series credits include a recurring role on Netflix's On My Block in 2018-19 and supporting roles in such films as Assassination Nation in 2018, Silo and The Giant in 2019 and Valley Girl in 2020. After that, Ramirez landed a pair of breakthrough roles in a major TV series and film — which explains part of the reason he looks so familiar. Danny Ramirez in "The Falcon and the Winter Solider." Even though he appeared in a guest role on the Fox TV/Marvel series The Gifted, Danny Ramirez's career soared to new heights with a supporting role opposite The Falcon/Sam Wilson/Captain America (Anthony Mackie) and The Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) in the Disney+ Marvel Cinematic Universe miniseries The Falcon and the Winter Solider. Ramirez plays Air Force 1st Lt. Joaquin Torres in The Falcon and the Winter Solider, who assists Sam in his investigation into the series' foes the Flag Smashers. The series wasn't a one-and-done job for Ramirez, though, as he would once again take flight with Mackie in big screen adventure in the MCU. Danny Ramirez in "Top Gun: Maverick." Danny Ramirez reached for the skies once again in 2022 with his role as Naval aviator Lt. Mickey "Fanboy" Garcia the blockbuster action-adventure Top Gun: Maverick opposite Tom Cruise as Capt. Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell. In the film, Garcia is recruited to fly a dangerous mission under the auspices of Maverick, alongside other expert pilots including Lt. Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw (Miles Teller), Lt. Jake 'Hangman' Seresin (Glen Powell), Lt. Natasha 'Phoenix' Trace (Monica Barbaro), Lt. Javy 'Coyote' Machado (Greg Tarzan Davis) and Lt. Robert 'Bob' Floyd. Robbie Tann, Zazie Beetz, Danny Ramirez, James Rees in "Black Mirror" Season 6, Episode 4. Danny Ramirez stars opposite Zazie Beetz in Netflix's dystopian sci-fi series Black Mirror in the Season 6, Episode 4 titled Mazey Day. Beetz and Ramirez play Bo and Hector, two members of a small group of heartless paparazzi who go on the hunt for a reclusive actor Mazey Day (Clara Rugaard) to capture a lucrative photograph, only to discover she is harboring a dark secret. Danny Ramierez and Anthony Mackie in "Captain America Brave New World." Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) fulfills his destiny as Captain America and Joaquin Torres (Danny Ramirez) earns his wings as the new Falcon in Captain America: Brave New World. The duo faces off against a new nemesis in the fourth Captain America film, who has close ties to President Thaddeus 'Thunderbolt' Ross (Harrison Ford). Mackie and Ramirez will check in for duty once again as Captain America and the Falcon in the hotly anticipated Marvel Cinematic Universe adventure Avengers: Doomsday on May 1, 2026. Also starring Isabela Merced as Dina, Gabriel Luna as Tommy, Rutina Wesley as Maria, Young Mazino as Jesse and Jeffrey Wright as Isaac, Episodes 1 and 2 of The Last of Us Season 2 are airing on HBO and streaming on Max.
Telegraph
15-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
If black actors can play white people, why not the other way round?
Congratulations to Ncuti Gatwa, the star of Doctor Who, on landing an exciting new role. He's been cast in Born with Teeth, a Royal Shakespeare Company play about the relationship between the Bard and his fellow Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. Mr Gatwa says the play is 'like no version of Shakespeare and Marlowe that I've ever seen before'. I can well believe it. Not least because Mr Gatwa is to play Marlowe. Who, like most people in England in the early 1590s, was white. To be clear: I mean no disrespect to Mr Gatwa. He's a talented actor. In any case, there's nothing unusual, these days, about hiring a non-white actor to play a white historical figure. We saw it last year in the BBC's adaptation of Wolf Hall, set in the 1530s, and indeed in a 2023 episode of Doctor Who, with a mixed-race actor playing Isaac Newton. The only reason I mention it is that, in this day and age, I somehow find it hard to imagine a white actor being hired to play a black historical figure. While Mr Gatwa gets to play Marlowe, the writer of Tamburlaine and Doctor Faustus, I somehow doubt that, say, Keira Knightley would be cast to play the Nobel Prize-winning African-American novelist Toni Morrison, or that Hugh Grant would get the nod to portray the great Nigerian author Chinua Achebe. I tend to suspect that such casting would be considered not just inauthentic, but disrespectful. If not downright racist. Nowadays, in fact, casting white actors to play black characters is unacceptable even in cartoons. This may seem curious, given that a cartoon's audience is unable to see what race the actors are. None the less, we know it's true, because in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020, the Fox TV network announced: ' The Simpsons will no longer have white actors voice non-white characters.' As a result, Harry Shearer, who is white, no longer voices the character of Dr Hibbert, who is black. The same happened on another popular US cartoon, Family Guy. For 20 years, the character of Cleveland Brown, who is black, had been voiced by Mike Henry, who is white. But after the Black Lives Matter protests, Mr Henry announced that he was quitting the role, saying: 'Persons of colour should play characters of colour.' In summary, then, here are the new rules. A black actor may play a real-life historical figure who was white. But a white actor may not even provide the voice for a completely fictional character who is black. Please update your records accordingly. What's got into modern women? Police in Detroit, Michigan have arrested a suspect in a harrowing case of animal cruelty. Having forced entry into the suspect's home, officers say they found a dog suffering from 'multiple stab wounds'. The suspect is also alleged to have posted videos of the dog's suffering online. I found this story deeply shocking. Not least because, according to both the police and leading Left-wing news outlets, the suspect is a woman. This took me by surprise. Because, when I was growing up, I would swear that women never used to be charged with such brutal, aggressive, violent crimes. But, if they ever had been, I feel sure that they would at least have taken the trouble to look smart and respectable for their police mug shot. Not so in this case, I'm afraid. On Friday evening the Independent, the Left-wing news site, ran a report headlined, 'Woman Accused of Stabbing Dog and Posting Video of Wounded Animal on Social Media'. Beneath this headline was the woman's mug shot. And it showed her with several days' worth of stubble. Of course, I don't mean to mock the woman for her looks. That would be sexist. So I will refrain from drawing attention to her uncommonly large ears or her remarkably square jaw. None the less, I do think that, before having her mug shot taken, she might at least have had a shave. In the old days, no self-respecting woman would ever have let herself be photographed with five o'clock shadow, let alone thick stubble. These days, however, it seems to be increasingly common. In February, the website of the Southern Daily Echo ran a story headlined, 'Hampshire Woman Appears in Court Charged with Raping Girl'. Beneath this headline was a photo of the woman in question. And she appeared to have several days' worth of stubble, too. Two months before that, the Manchester Evening News reported that 'a 'dangerous' woman' named Angel Hill had been jailed 'for violent physical and sexual abuse'. And the accompanying mug shot showed that, like the women above, Miss Hill hadn't shaved for some time. It seems to me that, in recent years, something very strange has come over women. Judging from headlines like these, they appear to be committing more and more violent crimes. The sort of crimes that, in the past, were overwhelmingly committed by men.
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How 'The Simpsons' Inspired Cypress Hill's Latest Project
The Simpsons may or may not have predicted Donald Trump's presidency and the COVID pandemic, but the long-running animated Fox TV show has manifested some cool music moments, such as Lady Gaga's Super Bowl halftime performance in 2017, and now, a blistering, badass collaboration that's no Hill might have "ordered" the London Symphony Orchestra to perform with them in the 1996 Simpsons episode, titled Homerpalooza, but that gag is now a reality and it's smokin.' CH's reefer-drenched repertoire is not only elevated to a higher level by the LSO, it's reworked, recharged and reimagined without losing its edge. The sonic culture clash is captured on film in the new concert doc, Cypress Hill and the London Symphony Orchestra: Black Sunday Live at the Royal Albert Hall, and as Chuck D of Public Enemy said after the premiere screening in Culver City earlier this week, watching it in the theater is just as exciting as being there. The crowd at the premiere even gave the group a standing ovation after the movie ended, led by D's bandmate Flavor Flav, who shouted out his iconic catch-phrase, "Yeah Boyy!" more than once from the audience. "Power, grace, dedication..." D said during the post-screening Q&A. "There's been no other group in rap music or hip hop that has been so attuned and intertwined with their fans for a cause, for the gift of music and just bringing everybody together for one good time."Everyone is definitely having a good time in the film, especially the classical British musicians who are grooving and smiling throughout the entire show as they play horns, violins and percussion alongside the group. Conductor Troy Miller is particularly engaged. He had a big part in the inventive arrangements, which delve into a multitude of genres, from rock and jazz to cinematic James Bond-style interludes as they tackle the 1993 classic, Black Sunday, in its Gate-bred rappers B-Real and Sen Dog, up front and dressed sharply in suits, maintain the power and swagger that makes their celebratory weed and street anthems so unique. Their representation of Chicano culture remains too— in their bilingual slang and narratives, reflecting the strong ties of the Latino community in L.A. It's actually surprising how well it works and gels together, and how much British fans at Royal Albert Hall seem to connect with the songs, the vibe and the rappersExpect local movie theater crowds to be even more "Insane in the Brain" for this eclectic music and movie melding. List of local theaters here. Live album out June 6 and first single 'Illusions' out now.
