Jack Lyons Theatre & Film Critic

No one does a better job of poking fun at their political institutions and customs than the British themselves.  Too bad the Americans haven’t picked up that trait.  We’re too prickly-serious about our history, our customs, and our Second Amendment rights to have much of a sense of humor.  Where is the genius of Neil Simon’s comedy skill now that we desperately need it?  Probably stuck in the gridlock of LA traffic and/or Washington, D.C.’s  “did not, did too fuzzy-headed partisanship positions”, I dare say.

But not to worry.  One can still enjoy the peccadilloes and “political-speak” of politicians, thanks to our English cousins and their non-political correctness stand, and not feel any guilt whatsoever.  All that is required is a theatre ticket to the comedy/satire production “Yes, Prime Minister”, at the Geffen Playhouse.

Tara Summers, Dakin Matthews, Jefferson Mays and Michael McKean in the American premiere production of Yes, Prime Minister by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn, directed by Jonathan Lynn
~photo Michael Lamont

The west coast premiere, co-written by Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn and directed by Lynn (two honest to goodness Brits and the original creators of the highly successful BBC TV comedy series “Yes Minister” of the 1980’s), have no fear of  “telling it like it is” when it comes to the darker and less ethical side of world politics.  Transparency?  Forget it!

These gentlemen are cut from the same loaf of English satire that gave the world the “Carry On” movie series of the 50’s and 60’s, the BBC’s famous radio series “The Goon Show”, followed by “Fawlty Towers”, and others.  Society need a good dose of humor, every now and then, to bring its power players back down to earth.

The story is set at Chequers, the official country residence of the Prime Minister.  It revolves around the clueless, but harried, out-of-touch Prime Minister Jim Hacker (Michael McKean) who finds himself in deep voter-confidence-trouble over the dreadful state of the English economy.  With an election coming up he’s looking to burnish his image in order to enhance his legacy.  When he hears about a possible 10 trillion Euro infusion of cash into the British economy, courtesy of the country of Kumranistan, it sounds like his prayers have been answered.

There is, however, just one little catch.  The recently oil-rich, middle-eastern country requires the English government ditch its love affair with the “Pound” and join the European Union and its “Euro-based “, one currency economy.  In addition, the Kumranistani Ambassador (solidly played by Brian George) passes on a request from his Prime Minister for three prostitutes for an evening of Kumaristani revelry in the guest suite.  No Fling, No Bling … it’s time to huddle with his staff.

Dakin Matthews ~Michael Lamont

Assisting in solving or obfuscating the country’s problems are: Sir Humphrey Appleby, the Cabinet Secretary (drolly and deliciously played by wordsmith Dakin Mathews); Bernard Wooley, Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister (wonderfully played by Jefferson Mays).  I couldn’t help thinking that Mays is channeling the wonderfully dry  and officious public school accented, owlish actor Richard Wattis.  Wattis also played many staple character types from the good old comedy days at Ealing Studios.  Also Jeremy Burnham, Director-General of the BBC (an affable, but outranked Time Winters), and Claire Sutton, Special Policy Advisor to the Prime Minister (Tara Summers, a long-legged beauty, and the only true Brit in the cast).

British comedy/spoofs are “verbally manic”, producing a controlled physical panic, and are a delight to watch.  In the case of “Yes, Prime Minister”, yes, it’s all a bit silly but that’s the fun of it.   Playwrights Jay and Lynn have infused their play with plenty of topical references, with which American audiences can identify, despite the characters being British.  For example “drones”, enhanced interrogation techniques, the CIA, and snide asides about former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his sexual escapades and bunga bunga parties, hit their marks.  The antics are the same just the names have been changed to protect the misidentified (we do have libel laws in the USA, you know).

Understanding the British as a people and their culture can be difficult at times, however, once on their wavelength, their humor can be as hilarious and satisfying as anyone’s.  Who can forget the zaniness and manic comedy of  “Noises Off” or the comedy plays of the great Alan Ayckbourn?  The Brits love their language.  They love speeches with lots of words.  Vocabulary is used as a blistering weapon when it comes to their comedy.  Noel Coward was a genius of the verbal putdown, as was Kenneth Tynan when it came to written criticism.  Even though the dialogue zips along, it could still stand a bit of judicious trimming.  I still maintain that most playwrights should not direct their own plays.  After all, very few can indeed throw the baby out with the bathwater (Ayckbourn excluded).

Stephen Caffrey and Michael McKean
~photo Michael Lamont

The technical team led by director Lynn features a handsomely, spot-on scenic design by Englishman Simon Higlett, that is enhanced by the lighting design by Daniel Ionazzi.  The sound design by Andrea J. Cox needs, perhaps, to prep the audience with a little rain effect and a low rumble before jolting everyone out of their seats with that gigantic thunderclap and lightening effect.  If the moment had a point I’m afraid it missed me  (…just a suggestion).

An evening with ”Yes, Prime Minister” at LA’s Geffen Playhouse is a tonic to be enjoyed.  It’s a nicely performed, two hour, peek into the comedic and Machiavellian concentric circles of English politics.  It runs through July 14, 2013.

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According to leaked NSA documents published by The Guardian last week, the United States National Security Agency is conducting dragnet surveillance of the communications of Americans, regularly receiving phone records for millions of Verizon customers while also being capable of accessing the conversations that occur over Facebook, Google and several other major Internet names through a program called PRISM. Now a 28-year-old artist and developer from Brooklyn, New York has found a fun way of warning computer users about potential government surveillance, and he’s incorporated one of the best-selling rock albums ever in the process.

Justin Blinder released a plugin for the Web browser Firefox this week, and he’s already seeing a positive response in the press if not just based off of the idea alone. His “The Dark Side of the Prism” browser extension alerts Web surfers of possible surveillance by starting up a different song from Pink Floyd’s 1973 classic “The Dark Side of the Moon” each time a questionable site is crossed.

PRISM

Blinder told the Guardian that he built the program over the course of four hours with the hopes he could “create some sort of ambient notification that you are on a site that is being surveiled by the NSA.”

“I was really interested in the fact that, although the PRISM leaks were a shock to many of us, we pretty much already kind of know we’re being surveiled a lot of the time and giving away so much data,” he said.

Upon news of the phone tracking program, even members of Congress said they couldn’t get over how much information was being shared between the telecoms and the government. Walking out of a briefing this Wednesday, Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-California) said, “What we learned in there is significantly more than what is out in the media today,” and described her reaction as “astounded.” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) said the program “represents an outrageous abuse of power and a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution,” and the American Civil Liberties Union has sued the government with a similar complaint filed in federal court.

Separate from leaking a document about the NSA’s access to phone records, former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden also gave The Guardian evidence of Microsoft, Google, Facebook, Yahoo, AOL and others sharing private communications of customers with the government. When “The Dark Side of the Prism” is installed, users of those sites will be reminded with one of the most iconic albums of the twentieth century.

“I just Googled ‘Prism’ and the cover came up,” Blinder said. It just so happened that the long-time best-seller also fits the mood for exactly what the programmer was looking for.

“I didn’t want it to be too jarring because a lot of us seem to be giving in to being surveiled on a daily basis. I feel like people already know that. I didn’t want it to be alarming,” he said.

Image from pinkfloyd.com

“The Dark Side of the Moon” was Pink Floyd’s eighth studio album and most commercially successfully, selling roughly 50 million copies and landing on the Billboard charts for 741 consecutive weeks. Surveillance, on the other hand, isn’t quite as popular: according to a Post/Washington Post poll released this week, 52 percent of Americans oppose the PRISM program.

With regards to Snowden, the American public is largely polarized on the issue. He’s been labeled as both a traitor and whistleblower and is currently the target of a Department of Justice investigation.

“He’s not a whistleblower, by the way, because a whistleblower actually wants the rule of law to be enforced,” Jeremy Bash, the former chief of staff for then-CIA Director Leon Panetta, told Politics Confidential this week. “He copied documents and he made a run for it. He may be actually aiding our enemies.”

On his part, Snowden said he leaked the documents because, “I can’t in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, Internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they’re secretly building.”

Earlier this year, Pink Floyd lyricist Roger Waters lent his support to Army Private first class Bradley Manning, who is currently on trial for the largest intelligence leak in US history.

“We need more whistl blowers,” Waters wrote in a statement. “Blowing the whistle on our behalf is not just brave, it is heroic and it is our duty.”

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Only a few days after revelations of the surveillance program known as PRISM, which alleged major companies such as the social networking giant Facebook and software maker Microsoft, as well as others, had provided the NSA direct access to their server data, both companies released statements denying such involvement.

On Friday both Microsoft and Facebook released more information regarding requests made by federal, state and local police in an effort to reassure users. The new information provided by Facebook and Microsoft detail the number of legal orders they received to disclose user data.

According to Microsoft, in the last six months of 2012 it received between 6,000 and 7,000 criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders affecting between 31,000 and 32,000 consumer accounts.

Facebook, meanwhile, has divulged a similar number of requests during the same period of time.

“For the six months ending December 31, 2012, the total number of user-data requests Facebook received from any and all government entities in the U.S. (including local, state, and federal, and including criminal and national security-related requests) – was between 9,000 and 10,000. These requests run the gamut – from things like a local sheriff trying to find a missing child, to a federal marshal tracking a fugitive, to a police department investigating an assault, to a national security official investigating a terrorist threat. The total number of Facebook user accounts for which data was requested pursuant to the entirety of those 9-10 thousand requests was between 18,000 and 19,000 accounts,” said Facebook.

According to Facebook, then, the number of data requests made by law enforcement and intelligence services represent a “tiny fraction of one percent of our user accounts.”

Along with other implicated companies, such as Yahoo and Google, Microsoft and Facebook sought greater leeway from the government to disclose information regarding secret court orders compelling them to hand over user data, ostensibly in the interests of national security.

According to James Clapper, head of US national intelligence, Internet companies implicated under the PRISM program were receiving legal orders sent to them ”pursuant to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.” In theory, judges must evaluate whether a request is “reasonably designed” to exclude Americans.

Without exception all of the companies tied to the PRISM leak maintained that they were only complying with orders made under the FISA Amendments Act, which established certain limits placed on a Bush-era warrantless surveillance following that scandal. Of course, critics argue that such courts are hand-picked and merely rubber-stamp requests that enable mass surveillance.

One such critic, retired US District Judge Nancy Gertner, told a panel discussion on constitutional privacy protection on Friday that the selection process for federal judges serving on such secret courts is extremely biased.

“It’s an anointment process. It’s not a selection process. But you know, it’s not boat rockers. So you have a [federal] bench which is way more conservative than before. This is a subset of that. And it’s a subset of that who are operating under privacy, confidentiality, and national security. To suggest that there is meaningful review it seems to me is an illusion,” says Gertner.

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Story and photos by Pat Krause

President Barrack Obama made a historic trip to our Coachella Valley to meet with the Chinese President Xi Yinping at Sunnylands. They discussed Green House emissions, Nuclear Programs and Cyber-security. Everything can’t be accomplished in one session of talks but they have made a start in communicating their concerns. Cyber-security is one of the main issues. China and the US are so connected with the trade relations that these issues need to be at the forefront in negotiation between the two Presidents. There has been much information on their meetings and possible resolutions in every form of media in the Desert so I won’t comment on that. I will talk about what the media do when a President arrives by plane in our Desert.

The Arrival of President Obama came on one of the hottest days so far this summer. He exited the plane and I am sure it felt like a furnace blast of heat as the temperature was above 112 degrees. He ran down the steps from the plane and mentioned something about a hat. He was greeted by local dignitaries Mayor Steve Pougnet, Mayor Richard Kite, Congressmen Raul Ruiz and Mark Takano, Governor Jerry Brown and Aqua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians Chairman Jeff Grubbe. One reporter hollered Mr. President and he turned and waved just before he got into the Presidential Limo.

The temperatures reached 117 on the photographers platform. Cell phones were overheating and cameras were hot in the sun. Media had to be in place over almost 2 hours before his arrival. Water was dispensed to everyone and they provided an air conditioned bus for temporary relief from the heat. One reporter was reported to have had to leave by ambulance because of overheating. The platform for cameras was filled, other press and photographers stood on the tarmac behind the fence waiting for the Presidents plane to arrive. Once the President left a few dignitaries stayed and were interviewed by TV cameras and press.

His departure was in the morning so it was cooler for media this time. Everyone was in place for a couple of hours prior to his departure. People lined the streets waiting for his limo to pass by. Lucky exiting passengers from another plane got to see Air-force 1 and take a few photos.I talked with others later that had their eyes to the sky to be able to see the plane fly overhead.

President Obama arrived and ran up the steps to the plane. Once he reached the top he did turn around and wave for a few seconds. He was squinting as he had to look into the sun. When the plane taxied to the runway someone said it was like being in Baghdad because of the sand it stirred up. You could barely see the plane before it took off.

The Presidential trip was not without some protestors. No one could get near Sunnylands as streets nearby were blocked off. Some protesters to the President lined the corner of Gerald Ford and Bob Hope. They took their flags and signs and walked as close as they could. Most were from Viet Nam but there were a few local people protesting other issues. Protests for President Xi Yinping were also seen around the Valley.

It was not all protests as there were other areas where people held signs in support of both Presidents and placards welcoming them to the Desert. Streets were lined with people wanting to get a glimpse of the President as he drove by. Parents brought their children to see his limo and took them to the airport to see Air-force 1. His visit here was a very important event.

Let us hope that some inroads were made in these meetings. The Desert and Sunnylands are a perfect place for high level discussions as there are also diversions and relaxation as some played golf. Many great things have come from former International meetings at Sunnylands over the years with Presidents and Kings and Queens that have come and worked out world problems there. This meeting will hopefully bring the Coachella Valley and its beauty to the world stage for tourism from China and other parts of the U.S.A.

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Follow RT’s LIVE UPDATES on NSA leak fallout

Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defense contractor Booz Allen Hamilton, never intended to remain in the shadows.

“I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong,” he told the Guardian from his boutique hotel in Hong Kong, where he had remained ensconced for three weeks before reportedly checking out Monday afternoon.

In revealing the existence of PRISM, the National Security Agency’s (NSA) massive data mining surveillance program which gave the agency backdoor access to e-mails, videos, chats, photos and search queries from nine worldwide tech giants, was wishful thinking, Snowden expressed the fear his exposure would overshadow the greater issue at hand.

“I don’t want public attention because I don’t want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing,”he told the daily.

“I know the media likes to personalize political debates, and I know the government will demonize me,” he continued.

However, the firestorm which has ensued was all but inevitable.

Peter King, the chairman of the House homeland security subcommittee, was unequivocal in his condemnation of Snowden.

Committee Chairman Rep. Peter King (R-NY) (AFP Photo / Mark Wilson)

“If Edward Snowden did in fact leak the NSA data as he claims, the United States government must prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law and begin extradition proceedings at the earliest date,” King, a Republican lawmaker from New York, said in a written statement. “The United States must make it clear that no country should be granting this individual asylum. This is a matter of extraordinary consequence to American intelligence.”

Prior to Snowden’s decision to disclose his identity, the NSA had already filed a criminal report with the Justice Department following media leaks on Prism.

On Thursday, James Clapper, Director of National Intelligence in the US, decried the leaks on the programs as “reprehensible,”claiming the unauthorized disclosure of information “risks important protections for the security of Americans.”

Based on Hong Kong’s 1996 extradition treaty with the US, if Snowden is in the city-state, his time there may be short lived.

On Monday, Regina Ip, formally Hong Kong’s top official overseeing security, told reporters it would be in Snowden’s “best interest to leave Hong Kong,” AFP reports.

Ip, a pro-Beijing lawmaker, said the city’s administration was“obliged to comply with the terms of agreements” with the US government, which included the extradition of fugitives.

However, she was unable to confirm whether the government had received an extradition request, adding: “I doubt it will happen so quickly.” The United States Consulate in Hong Kong has referred all questions to the Justice Department in Washington, which has only said that it is in the preliminary stages of an investigation into the disclosure of information pertaining to government programs to monitor telephone and Internet communications.

In terms of the US-Hong Kong Extradition Treaty, both Hong Kong and Beijing have the power to stymie Snowden’s extradition.

China for its part has no extradition treaty with the United States. In negotiating the treaty, Hong Kong was unbending on the inclusion of clauses providing for the denial of extradition to the US in specific circumstances, arguing that such provisions were necessary for obtaining approval from Beijing.

Article 3 of the treaty, for example, allows the Chinese government to refuse surrendering a person if it thought the surrender “relates to (its) defense, foreign affairs or essential public interest or policy.”

Hong Kong and Beijing are further granted the right to reject an extradition request deemed to be “politically motivated,” or criminal charges have already been initiated against the individual in question.

Even if Hong Kong gave the green light to Snowden’s extradition, Beijing maintains veto power, as the mainland remains in control of foreign relations and issues of national defense despite the city-state’s semi-autonomous status.

Visitors walk into The Mira Hotel, where 29-year-old former CIA employee Edward Snowden was reported to have checked out of on Monday, in Hong Kong June 10, 2013. (Reuters / Bobby Yip)

Snowden initially said his choice of Hong Kong was based on its“strong tradition of free speech.” However, he had no illusions about what fate might await him, saying all of his options “remain bad.”

“Yes, I could be rendered by the CIA. I could have people come after me. Or any of the third-party partners. They work closely with a number of other nations. Or they could pay off the Triads [Chinese organized crime]. Any of their agents or assets,” he told the Guardian.

“We have got a CIA station just up the road – the consulate here in Hong Kong – and I am sure they are going to be busy for the next week. And that is a concern I will live with for the rest of my life, however long that happens to be.”

As of Monday afternoon, it was no longer clear if Snowden was in fact still in Hong Kong. The Mira Hotel confirmed on Monday evening that Snowden had in fact stayed at the hotel but checked out at 12:30 p.m., the New York Times reports.

The hotel was unable to provide any further information, and the Hong Kong government was unable to comment on whether Snowden had left the territory, saying it did not comment on individual cases.

“All cases will be handled in accordance with the laws of Hong Kong,” the government said in a brief statement.

Icelandic asylum bid?

Regarding his hopes of asylum, Iceland, with its strong reputation as a bulwark of Internet freedom, remains his top choice. And in fact, prominent figures from the tiny Nordic nation have already issued a statement of support.

“Whereas IMMI [Icelandic Modern Media Initiative] is based in Iceland, and has worked on protections of privacy, furtherance of government transparency, and the protection of whistleblowers, we feel it is our duty to offer to assist and advise Mr. Snowden to the greatest of our ability,” Forbes cites a statement from Icelandic deputy Birgitta Jonsdottir and Smari McCarthy, executive director of the IMMI, as saying.

 “We are already working on detailing the legal protocols required to apply for asylum, and will over the course of the week be seeking a meeting with the newly appointed interior minister of Iceland, Mrs. Hanna Birna Kristjánsdóttir, to discuss whether an asylum request can be processed in a swift manner, should such an application be made.”

Jonsdottir and McCarthy, who helped publish the now infamous Wikileaks “Collateral Murder” video in 2010, already managed to pass a new source protection law in 2011 via their work at the IMMI.

But with April’s elections being won by the center-right Independence and Progressive Parties, Jonsdottir, as a member of the left-leaning Pirate Party, will inevitably have less political clout in the opposition.

Edward Snowden (AFP Photo / The Guardian)

Wikileaks for its part expressed reservations about the hopes the current political climate in Iceland would be conducive to Snowden’s asylum hopes.

“Snowden out of date on Iceland,” the group wrote via Twitter on Sunday. “New conservative government elected a month ago. Countries must step forward to offer Snowden asylum now.”

The Icelandic consulate in Hong Kong said it had “no comment” on the case, refusing to say whether Snowden had attempted to contact them.

‘Anywhere you can speak freely and live privately’

There are currently around 75 countries with no formal extradition treaty with the United States, although that in and of itself does not guarantee no extradition will take place. Many countries without a formal extradition treaty are more than willing to comply with an extradition request on a quid pro quo basis. In other cases, states may opt to lock up a suspect in a local prison while investigating the case against a suspect.

In fact, three states which actually have extradition treaties with the United States, Ecuador, Venezuela and Cuba, might be viable options for Snowden.

Ecuador, which in fact has relatively strong ties with the United States, granted political Asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange in August 2012. Venezuela and Cuba, on the other hand are locked in deeply adversarial relationships with Washington and would potentially welcome Snowden with open arms.

Snowden for his part told the Washington Post he would “ask for asylum from any countries that believe in free speech and oppose the victimization of global privacy.”

‘They will kill you’

If Snowden does manage to evade the long-arm of the US law, he believes extrajudicial means remain a definite part of the equation when dealing with the United States’ vast intelligence apparatus.

“You can’t come forward against the world’s most powerful intelligence agencies and be completely free from risk, because they’re such powerful adversaries, that no one can meaningfully oppose them. If they want to get you, they’ll get you in time,” he warned.

Barton Gellman of the Washington Post wrote on Sunday that in his earliest communications with the NSA contractor, there was an implicit understanding that Snowden would be “made to suffer” for his actions, “and that the return of this information to the public marks my end.”

Snowden went so far as to say that not only his life, but the lives of journalists investigating the story were as imperiled as long as the story had not yet gone public.

The US intelligence community “will most certainly kill you if they think you are the single point of failure that could stop this disclosure and make them the sole owner of this information,”Snowden wrote to Gellman.

Although Snowden could be accused of paranoia, Steve Steven Clemons, an American journalist and publisher of the political blog, The Washington Note, reportedly overheard security officials in Washington Dulles International Airport saying both Snowden and Glen Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who broke the NSA electronic surveillance story, should be “disappeared.”

“In Dulles UAL lounge listening to 4 US intel officials saying loudly leaker & reporter on #NSA stuff should be disappeared recorded a bit,” the Atlantic’s Clemons tweeted on Sunday.

Clemons, who says the men had just attended a conference hosted by the Intelligence and National Security Alliance, told the Huffington Post one of them was wearing “a white knit national counter-terrorism center shirt.”

In a Q&A with the Guardian, Snowden believed the veracity of Clemon’s claims despite voices to the contrary.

“Someone responding to the story said ‘real spies do not speak like that’. Well, I am a spy and that is how they talk. Whenever we had a debate in the office on how to handle crimes, they do not defend due process – they defend decisive action. They say it is better to kick someone out of a plane than let these people have a day in court. It is an authoritarian mindset in general.”

The US flag flutters in front of the US consulate in Hong Kong on June 10, 2013. (AFP Photo / Philippe Lopez)

Glenmore Treaner-Harvey, Editor-in-Chief of the World Intelligence Review website, told RT the United States will use every power available to them, both legal and illegal, to get their hands on Snowden.

However, he believes at this point, Snowden “is too high-profile to be spirited away” in a rendition operation, perhaps forcing the United States to work through legal channels for the time being.

Snowden himself acknowledged this likelihood in coming forward, telling the Guardian the publicity the leaks have generated will make it “harder for them to get dirty.”

Facing prison, death and the potential of asylum that may offer him legal protections if not physical ones, Snowden remained stoical, saying “I am not afraid because this is the choice I’ve made.”

Whatever fate he meets in the end, Snowden finds hope in the belief that whatever awaits him, “the outcome will be positive for America.”

But with so many unknowns, on one point he has little doubt: “I do not expect to see home again, though that is what I want.”

The post You can’t go home again: The uncertain fate of Edward Snowden appeared first on Desert Local News -Daily News.

Jack Lyons Theatre & Film Critic

The hope of movie producers and directors is that their film will touch and resonate with as many viewers as possible.  That’s not always easy to accomplish for a variety of reasons.  The story and/or the subject matter may not lend itself to a wide audience, or   the film may be intentionally targeted to a niche audience.

In the case of the 2012 film “Mighty Fine”, written and directed by Debbie Goodstein Rosenfeld, starring Academy Award-nominated actor Chazz Palminteri, Andie McDowell of “Groundhog Day”; beautiful, new-comer Rainey Qualley, and Jodelle Ferland.  It’s the kind of story that resonates with families everywhere.

The story revolves around the Jewish family, the Fine’s, who have just moved from Brooklyn to New Orleans in the 1970’s.  The screenplay is based, in part, on Goodstein-Rosenfeld’s own experience of dealing with the often bizarre and confusing behavior of “rage” by a parent.  In this case it’s the father Joe Fine powerfully played by Palminteri that has our focus.  We’re not dealing with abuse here. On the contrary, we’re observing a loving, but over-controlling and protective father of two daughters and a compliant wife, who has difficultly in dealing with his personal rage when things don’t go his way.  To him, life is a struggle and to succeed one needs to be tough, and never accept No for an answer. Joe, however, is oblivious to the psychological collateral damage his behavior produces at home and in the community.

Joe’s holocaust survivor wife Stella, played by Andie MacDowell (with a convincing European accent), is still intimidated by Joe’s uncontrollable temper even after many years of marriage.  Instead of helping him to seek medical help, Stella is filled with trepidation, becoming his “behavior enabler”.  His youngest daughter, the shy and introverted Natalie, winningly played by Jordelle Ferland also fears her father’s temper and behavior.  The oldest daughter Maddie, the drop-dead gorgeous and confident 16-year old played by Rainey Qualley (the real-life twenty-three year-old daughter of MacDowell), is the only one with enough gumption to stand up to her father.  It’s a convincing and auspicious film debut for the beautiful Qualley, who is an actor the camera obviously adores.

There are the usual series of scenes involving teenage pool parties gone wild, schoolroom incidents due to new students (the Fine girls) trying to fit into their new environment, adding up to a cultural disconnect for all concerned.  The South in the 1970’s was no stranger to anti-Semitism, intolerance, and anger, however the film produces both laughs and many poignant moments.  Anyone who has ever had to pull up stakes and move to a different state will certainly relate to the film, especially if they had school age children.

Set in New Orleans the movie is beautifully photographed, acting as sort of a travel brochure for the pleasures, grace, and lifestyle of the South in the bargain.  Personal stories are always best when they come from the heart.  “Mighty Fine” is a bittersweet movie from a filmmaker with talent and a sense of family and the issues affecting families everywhere.

Lionsgate Entertainment is releasing the family drama, which will be available through Netflix later this year.

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Jack Lyons Theatre & Film Critic

The art form known as adaptation can be tricky to pull off and still remain true to the dramatic intentions of the original author(s).   However, that is precisely the goal of the La Jolla Playhouse’s current west coast premiere of “His Girl Friday” (based on the Howard Hawks movie of the same name), directed by talented playhouse artistic director Christopher Ashley.

The “new play”, is a combination of the iconic Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur comedy/spoof of the newspaper game during the 1930’s, called “The Front Page”.  It’s also faithful to Hawks’ 1940 screwball movie script.   Only this time the credited author of the play is John Guare, an egghead journeyman playwright best known for his plays: the absurdist comedy “The House of Blue Leaves” and the intriguing “Six Degrees of Separation”.  Guare’s version of “His Girl Friday” is currently under audience scrutiny on the stage of the famed playhouse’s Mandell Weiss Forum.

Douglas Sills as “Walter Burns” and Jenn Lyon as “Hildy Johnson” in La Jolla Playhouse’s production of HIS GIRL FRIDAY ~photo Kevin Berne.

The original story by Hecht and MacArthur was a pointed study in the shenanigans committed by news reporters, predatory journalists, scoundrels, and scalawags, all in search of a “scoop” during the good old days when newspaper ink coursed through the veins of anyone with a by-line   It was a time when America’s newspapers and their editors would do almost anything to beat the competition.   In Chicago and elsewhere the politicians and the law were low hanging fruit when it came to scandal, bribery and collusion, and were easy pickin’s for sharp eyed and nosey newspaper professionals.

In Guare’s updated adaptation, the action is still set in a Chicago Press Room inside the Courts Building, but now it’s 1939.  In an effort to inject some “freshness and updating” he inserts some agit-prop elements into the script.  References and dialogue about Hitler’s death camps and anti-Semitism by the reporter/characters jolt the audience out of their comfort zones, which I imagine was his intention, however, the dialogue has a tendency to alienate the mainly senior citizen audience.  It’s too early to tell whether Guare’s tinkering version of a comedy masterpiece will have any legs with audiences.

One thing for sure that we do know is, the cast in this production does a terrific job in taking the audience back to those wonderful years when manic dialogue was delivered at warp speed, with annunciation and clarity.

The story, in short, deals with hard-boiled and ethically-challenged newspaper editor Walter Burns (Douglas Sills) who learns his ex-wife and former star reporter, Hildy Johnson (Jenn Lyon), is about to marry bland and dull insurance man Bruce Baldwin (Donald Sage Mackay) and settle down to a quiet life as a wife and mother in Albany, New York.  Walter determines to sabotage these plans, enticing the reluctant Hildy to cover one last story, the upcoming execution of convicted murderer Earl Williams, nebbishly played by (Patrick Kerr).

Mike Sears, Dale Morris, Evan D’Angeles and Douglas Sills ~photo Kevin Berne.

Walter does everything he can to keep Hildy from leaving, including setting Bruce up so he gets arrested over and over again on trumped-up charges.  He even kidnaps Hildy’s mother-in-law-to-be (Mary Beth Peil).  When Earl Williams escapes from bumbling Sheriff (William Hill) and practically falls into Hildy’s lap the lure of a big scoop proves too much for her.  She is so consumed with writing the story that she hardly notices that Bruce realizes his cause for marriage to Hildy is hopeless and returns to Albany.

In between all the scheming that is going on, we get to meet the denizen’s of Chicago’s notorious newspaper community, a few minor functionaries, and a cast that knows their way around a comedy spoof when they find themselves in one.  The pacing by the very creative Chris Ashley has “His Girl Friday” zipping along, and he has his cast racing around on stage like a runaway train to the delight of the audience.  But the first act could stand a little trimming even with this fast-talking cast it ran 1hour, 15 minutes.  The second act was little better coming down about an hour later.

Sills, as Burns along with Lyon, as Hildy have nice on-stage chemistry as ex-husband and wife, who still can’t quite sever those old ties and memories, regardless of how many promises they make to one another.  Newspaper ink runs deep and devious.  Sills is a likable cad who has mastered the frenetic wheeling and dealing required to stay at the top of his Editor game.  Lyon is undaunted by the fast-talking Burns and she gives him a run for his money as a female reporter in a man’s world – and one who has earned the respect of her peers.  They are a delight to watch

Mike Sears, Evan D’Angeles, Dale Morris, Jenn Lyon and James Saba ~photo Kevin berne

There are quite a few scene-stealers in this production:  Bethany Anne Lind as Mollie Malloy, is one, another is Mary Beth Peil as Mrs. Baldwin, and the venerable San Diego favorite Jonathan McMurtry, as the Reverend, is another.  Actors working with McMurtry had better be on their toes whenever they’re in a scene with him. Nothing shines like talent, timing, and experience.  The biggest scene-stealer of all, however, is the impressive picture-perfect set design of Robert Brill.  It’s so creatively spot-on I felt I was back in my old home town of Chicago walking the halls of the Chicago Tribune and the Sun Times.  The lighting design by David Lander adds to the cluttered Press Room atmosphere, and the costumes by Paul Tazewell have the proper look of Chicago reporters, 1930’s Cops, and assorted working people thanks to the many clever touches by the entire creative team.

“His Girl Friday” performs at the Mandell Weiss Forum at the famed La Jolla Playhouse, through June 30th.

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While the intelligence community has succeeded in duping the US administration into allowing mass surveillance, it did not help improve national security at all, former NSA analyst William Binney told RT.

William Binney, who worked for the NSA for over 30 years as a cryptanalyst-mathematician but resigned in 2001 as a whistleblower, explained why the notion that mass surveillance is necessary in order to combat terrorism is false.

RT: You have first hand knowledge on how the NSA works, is this just the tip of the iceberg?

William Binney: Well, in terms of the number of companies in the amount of data, yes that’s pretty much the case. It’s a direct violation of the constitution, that’s why I left the NSA in 2001. They started to do this, and that’s why I left. I could not stay there and be a party to the violation of my constitution, plus it was in violation of any number of laws at the time.

RT: President Obama has said that the invasion of privacy is done in the name of security, is he right about that? Does mass surveillance help security?

WB: No, it doesn’t. In fact it adds more of a problem because what that means, quite simply, is that if you go into a larger database, you get more data back no matter what the query is. It’s like making a query with Google. If you go in with a Google query you can get tens of thousands, or hundreds of thousands or even a million returns. Well, there’s no way you can go through that, all of that, to see what you’re really interested in. So what that does is make them less proficient at doing their jobs.

RT: And what about the cost of this to the taxpayer?

WB: Well all of that is being borne by the taxpayer. We had proposed to them a number of years ago, about 2004, that we design a system and build it for them for about $250 thousand, where it would select only the relevant data that they wanted to look at, out of the entire worldwide system. And we did it based on a simple two-degree principle – that is, if you had a terrorist calling somebody in the United States that was one degree, and that person in the US calling others in the US was the second degree. So, in other words what you would’ve been looking at was being able to find the cells inside the country, as well as being able to monitor terrorists worldwide. You would get it all, the rest of it was just extra information.

RT:  Do you think that the impact of 9-11 and the war on terror is so great that Americans are content to allow security to trample over anything else, even personal privacy?

WB: I think, initially, it began that way. People were trusting their government, I think that’s basically the case. Congress and the administration at the time was being bamboozled by the intelligence community, saying that you have to collect all this data to find the bad guys, and if we don’t do that you won’t be able to achieve that, which is absolutely false.

RT: Now there have been ongoing controversies surrounding the US spying on its citizens, is anything likely to make the government rein in its security services now?

WB: It’s going to be very difficult, because they have so much invested in doing what they’re doing. It costs a lot of money to do this, and their budgets have been almost tripled, I think, since 9-11, so that kind of spending is hard to waste. So what they’re really doing is saying we have to use what we have, which is the problem with power — when you give power to an organization or to people they tend to use it. And assembling this kind of information about all the citizens in the United States, or anybody else for that matter, gives you power against them, you have leverage, and you can use that power against them. Or you can use other agencies of the US like the IRS to investigate people, and use your knowledge about people in the country to use the IRS to target them. For example, if they wanted to know who was in the Tea Party, they already have that from the telephone and email networks. The communities built from that data will tell them who’s participating in the Tea Party, the central figures, and who are not central to the Tea Party, and then from that if they are asking for tax exempt status, you can send the IRS after them to harass them. That’s what’s possible, that’s what this power of knowledge does, it gives them that power to do that.

RT: In your experience with the NSA, is there a culture of surveillance which is prevailing there?

WB: No, I’m pretty sure there are a lot of people who are upset, at least from the ones who are retired. I’m getting feedback from them that they’re really upset at what NSA has been doing. And, of course, just the disclosure of the FISA warrants and this PRISM program says there are others who are working in government and in NSA who are upset by what they’re doing, otherwise they wouldn’t have been leaked.

RT: If this was practice, in both George W Bush’s administration and now apparently president Obama’s, it suggests both seem to agree on this surveillance of its citizens, what does this mean for the future, where is this all going?

WB: Well, what that simply means is that we have to start electing people who are smart enough to realize when they’re being bamboozled by the intelligence community or anybody else, we can’t just take people and elect them who accept what they’re being told by departments of government. You have to have people who do real oversight, from not only the courts — because after all, the courts, the judge that signed the orders for Verizon, he didn’t know any more than the government told him. So, he was totally dependent on what the government was telling him to justify their warrant, or their order. And that’s not acceptable.

The post NSA whistleblower: ‘Mass surveillance makes intelligence community less efficient’ appeared first on Desert Local News -Daily News.

Story and photos by Pat Krause

The Cabot Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs turned 100 with an anniversary celebration party on June 1st. Several hundred people came to this “An Evening at the Pueblo” party with a cocktail reception on the museum grounds and a buffet supper on the higher elevation grounds by the huge towering sculpture of an Indian Head in the background.

The guests stopped at the entrance to have their photo taken with Romeo the burro and a goat with gold horns. Each person got an immediate photo of the event. Guests enjoyed comparing their photos with others. The cocktail hour was a chance to meet friends and tour the museum and maybe buy a trinket or two to remember the event. It was a warm evening to start so water and cool refreshments were served.

The Buffet Dinner consisted of native foods, beef, chicken and tofu, mexican corn, cooked vegetables, cabbage slaw and assorted corn breads. Water and wine on each table and desserts were served on a plate for each table. A country band played as guests ate.

There was a live auction of some major paintings and art works. A surprise auction by the local police department sold a Ride-Along with two different officers and another item was Donna McMilla’s offered to create a meal for 16 people at her home that was auctioned off to a highest bid.

Speakers spoke about the Museum, The start and continuation of this fabulous museum and its artifacts. This fundraiser is to raise monies to preserve the museum buildings and save the old museum pieces and photographs for generations to come. They praised the Cabot Yerxa family for their continued support who came in force with grandchildren,great grandchildren and Great-Great grandchildren celebrate this momentous occasion.

The evening highlight was the honoring of 3 people. Philanthropist John Furbee was awarded the Cabot Yerxa Community Leadership Award. Museum Foundation Historian Judy Gigante was recognized with the Gordon Gribble Volunteer Award. The Final Award of the night was the Portia Yerxa Philanthropy and Cultural Heritage Award. The honor went to World-renowned photographer Michael Childers. Childers accomplishments also include producing the “One Night Only” concerts that has raised over 2.5 million dollars for Jewish Family Service of the Desert. Childers has won many awards in his career and is involved with many charities in the Valley. His photographs are known all over the world.

The post The Cabot Pueblo Museum in Desert Hot Springs turned 100 appeared first on Desert Local News -Daily News.

Story and photos by Pat Krause

The Escena Golf Club in Palm Springs hosted the annual FOOD NOW golf tournament on June 3rd. The course was filled with supporters of Family Services of the Desert/Food Now Charity. It was a great day for golf as the weather was perfect and the course was in pristine condition.

Each golfer was given a Goodie Bag on Arrival. The green fees included 18 holes of golf with cart, A continental Breakfast, Lunch and an awards ceremony. Trophies were given out for 1st and 2nd place alone with gift certificates. Golf club drivers were given to the winners in the longest drive contest by men and women. Other prizes included a closest to the pin contest for both men and women and a chance at a Hole In Won Prize.

A large silent auction was held to raise more money for the FOOD NOW program. Golfers perused the silent auction during lunch. The golf was a scramble with a shot gun start. Escena staff were more than helpful to all golfers and lunch guests. A BBQ Lunch was held on the climate controlled patio with fantastic views of the mountains.

Food Now provides food for 500 families each week. The Food Pantry is located in Desert Hot Springs. They provide healthy and nutritious meals for families in need. They don’t just give a hand out but a hand up and try to help people get on their feet. Food Now is waging a war against hunger.

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