CANNES, France — A massive police force will be guarding the Cannes Film Festival this year. But the only scuffle on the horizon may come in response to the right-wing producers of a devastating new documentary about Bill and Hillary Clinton’s alleged influence peddling and favor-trading. That film, “Clinton Cash,” screens here May 16 and opens in the U.S. on July 24 — just before the Democratic National Convention.

The allegations are as brazen as they are controversial: What other film at Cannes would come up with a plot that involves Russian President Vladimir Putin wrangling a deal with the alleged help of both Clintons, a Canadian billionaire, Kazakhstan mining officials and the Russian atomic energy agency — all of which resulted in Putin gaining control of 20 percent of all the uranium in the U.S.?

RELATED: Latest anti-Clinton book promises to be most ‘fantastic’ yet

MSNBC got an exclusive first look at “Clinton Cash,” the flashy, hour-long film version of conservative author Peter Schweizer’s surprise 2015 bestseller, which The New York Times called the “the most anticipated and feared book of a presidential cycle.” The Washington Post said that ”on any fair reading, the pattern of behavior that Schweizer has charged is corruption.” Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager John Podesta denounced the book as a bunch of “outlandish claims” with “zero evidence.”

The film portrays the Clintons as a greedy tag team who used the family’s controversial Clinton Foundation and her position as secretary of state to help billionaires make shady deals around the world with corrupt dictators, all while enriching themselves to the tune of millions.

The movie alleges that Bill Clinton cut a wide swathe through some of the most impoverished and corrupt areas of the world — the South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, India and Haiti among others — riding in on private jets with billionaires who called themselves philanthropists but were actually bent on plundering the countries and lining their own pockets.

In return, billionaire pals like Frank Giustra and Gilbert Chagoury, or high-tech companies like Swedish telecom giant Ericsson or Indian nuclear energy officials — to name just a few mentioned in the film — hired Clinton to speak at often $750,000 a pop, according to “Clinton Cash.” When a favor was needed at the higher levels of the Obama administration to facilitate some of the deals, Hillary Clinton was only willing to sign off on them, the movie reports.

As a film, it powerfully connects the dots — whether you believe them or not — in a narrative that lacks the wonkiness of the book, which bore a full title of “The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich.”

It packs the kind of Trump-esque mainstream punch that may have the presumptive GOP nominee salivating. He recently declared, “We’ll whip out that book because that book will become very pertinent.”

RELATED: Clinton Foundation: ‘We made mistakes’

The hour-long documentary is intercut with “Homeland”-style clips of the Clintons juxtaposed against shots of blood-drenched money, radical madrassas, villainous dictators and private jets, all set to sinister music.

Produced by Stephen K. Bannon, the executive chairman of Breitbart News, with Schweizer as the film’s talking head, the documentary might be easy to dismiss as just another example of the “vast right-wing conspiracy” the former secretary of state referenced so many years ago.

But what complicates matters for Hillary Clinton’s campaign is that the book resulted in a series of investigations last year into Schweizer’s allegations by mainstream media organizations from The New York Times and CNN to The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, many of which did not dispute his findings — and in some cases gathered more material that the producers used in the film. More recently, some information uncovered in the Panama Papers has echoed some of Schweitzer’s allegations in the movie and book.

Andrea Mitchell Reports, 5/1/15, 12:43 PM ET ‘Clinton Cash’ author responds to criticism Peter Schweizer, author of “Clinton Cash,” joins Andrea Mitchell to discuss the details outlined in his book that have raised questions on just how much influence major donors to the Clinton Foundation have over Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign. The Clinton campaign loudly denounced the book as a “smear project” last year and Schweizer’s publisher, the Murdoch-owned Harper Collins, had to make some corrections to the Kindle version. But the changes, in the end, involved seven or eight inaccuracies, some of which were fairly minor in the context of the larger allegations, Politico reported.

Andrea Mitchell Reports, 5/1/15, 12:43 PM ET

Peter Schweizer, author of “Clinton Cash,” joins Andrea Mitchell to discuss the details outlined in his book that have raised questions on just how much influence major donors to the Clinton Foundation have over Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.

Neither the Clinton campaign nor the Clinton Foundation responded to calls and emails requesting comment about the film Tuesday.

One of the most damning follow-ups to Schweizer’s most startling accusation — that Vladimir Putin wound up controlling 20 percent of American uranium after a complex series of deals involving cash flowing to the Clinton Foundation and the help of Secretary of State Clinton — was printed in The New York Times.

Like Schweizer, the Times found no hard evidence in the form of an email or any document proving a quid pro quo between the Clintons, Clinton Foundation donors or Russian officials. (Schweizer has maintained that it’s next to impossible to find a smoking gun but said there is a troubling “pattern of behavior” that merits a closer examination.)

But the Times concluded that the deal that brought Putin closer to his goal of controlling all of the world’s uranium supply is an “untold story … that involves not just the Russian president, but also a former American president and a woman who would like to be the next one.”

“Other news outlets built on what I uncovered and some of that is in the film,” Schweizer, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, told NBC News Tuesday. “To me the key message is that while U.S. politics has long been thought to be a dirty game, it was always played by Americans. What the Clinton Foundation has done is open an avenue by which foreign investors can influence a chief U.S. diplomat. The film may spell all this out to people in a way the book did not and it may reach a whole new audience.”

Summary: MSNBC got an exclusive first look at “Clinton Cash,” the flashy, hour-long film version of conservative author Peter Schweizer’s surprise 2015 bestseller.


Sometimes, after a few drinks, people get a tattoo. Now there’s a tattoo that can tell if you’ve had a few drinks. Best of all, it’s temporary.

Researchers at the Center for Wearable Sensors at the University of California, San Diego, have come up with a removable electronic tattoo that can sense your blood-alcohol level from the sweat on your skin and then send this information via Bluetooth to a smartphone or car computer.

The UCSD device is part of a boom in wearable sensors of all kinds—a surge enabled by the rise of smartphones, which can keep track of the data these sensors produce.

Scientists have been particularly interested in alcohol monitoring. Breathalyzer devices don’t offer continual monitoring, and their results can be skewed by mouthwash, for example, or alcohol residue in saliva. Wearable devices that passively detect alcohol in sweat from the user’s skin—which are sometimes mandated by judges and have been known to crop up in embarrassing photos of celebrities—can offer continuous monitoring, but the gadgets tend to be bulky and expensive.

In May, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (part of the National Institutes of Health) announced the winner of its Wearable Alcohol Biosensor Challenge, which it launched in 2015 to promote innovation. The first prize, of $200,000, was awarded to a bracelet-type device made by San Francisco-based firm called BACtrack, a pioneer of consumer-oriented breathalyzers, some of which already work with smartphones.

BACtrack’s founder and chief executive officer, Keith Nothacker, says that the firm is working on algorithms to derive accurate blood-alcohol results from ethanol detected on the skin. But for many users, he noted, the main question will be whether there is any sign of alcohol use at all. A positive result could be communicated to a spouse, sobriety mentor or probation officer, for example, since the device can relay its findings to a smartphone via Bluetooth. Mr. Nothacker says that he hopes to distribute prototypes of the BACtrack Skyn—the prize-winning sensor—in the months ahead and then bring it to market for around $99, eventually offering a version that serves as a band for the Apple Watch.

The Skyn relies on “insensible” sweat, or trace amounts that you don’t even know you have. In an effort to get fast, accurate results with a one-time test while avoiding the pitfalls of breathalyzers, the UCSD device goes another route: It contains a small amount of pilocarpine, a medication normally used to treat dry mouth and other health problems. Applied topically, the drug induces a little sweat where the device’s electrodes can use it, letting the sensor get results in about 15 minutes.

The UCSD tattoo is attached to a flexible, inch-long circuit board for processing and relaying data. But Joseph Wang, one of the project scientists, says that the reusable board could probably be made much smaller with some additional engineering. He adds that the disposable tattoos cost just pennies to produce, and his lab is working on a version that works all day.

Cheap, reliable alcohol monitoring through the skin could have a variety of applications. Computers in cars could lock the ignition if they detected a reading above a worrisome threshold, especially if a motorist has had a drunken-driving conviction. Bartenders could use the sensors to tell when it’s time to cut off a customer. Or for people concerned about their own drinking, wearing the monitoring device could offer passive intake recording that is probably more accurate than memory—and not subject to fudging.

“Noninvasive Alcohol Monitoring Using a Wearable Tattoo-based Iontophoretic-Biosensing System,” Jayoung Kim, Itthipon Jeerapan, Somayeh Imani, Thomas N. Cho, Amay Jairaj Bandodkar, Stefano Cinti, Patrick P. Mercier and Joseph Wang, ACS Sensors (July 12)

Summary: New electronic sensors that can read your blood-alcohol level could help limit drunk driving or tell bartenders when it’s time to cut you off


You can cut your land line and sever your cable TV, but if you want to stream the new season of “House of Cards,” you need to hang on to your Internet connection. Whatever savings you might achieve by ditching other services, you will almost certainly give them back as your bill for Web connectivity inexorably creeps up.

Consumers now pay an average of $50 a month for a broadband connection to the Web, which is up from a monthly average of about $40 a decade ago. But costs can vary widely—ranging from $10 to $120— depending on whether the service is bundled with cable and phone, is an introductory rate, and depending also on your connectivity speed.

Cutting costs for Internet starts with understanding what you are currently paying. Most people cannot even parse this out because their bills are a jumble of bundled pricing and fees, says Kim Komando, who has hosted a national radio talk show on computers and technology for more than 20 years.

“If you haven’t looked at your whole internet package, then it’s time to go through it A-Z,” she said.

The items to look for include: the base price, speed surcharges, and equipment. If you cannot figure it out based on the arcane coding on your bill, call and ask.

One potential way to save is to buy your own modem/router combination—at $50 to $100, you could quickly make up the $5 to $10 a month rental fee you may be charged.

Another variable to control is your speed. A study released recently by the Federal Communications Commission says standalone Internet service that delivers 10-25 megabits per second (Mbps) is becoming the standard for the typical family that streams video. Many, however, opt for even higher speeds.

You could be paying for more than you need, or getting less than you expect because the wiring to your home simply cannot deliver.

The bottom line, according to savings expert Andrea Woroch, is do not pay for more speed than you need. Someone who goes online mainly to check email could make it work with a connection of 1 Mbps rather than the typical offering of 10 Mbps or more.

Some of the biggest cable providers are offering “basic” Internet connections for about $15 a month for these light users. The same deal applies for DSL, a slower Internet connection offered by phone companies and delivered over traditional phone lines. Light users will enjoy a decent price compared with those who pay for high-speed broadband, but the trade-off is that they cannot expect to stream movies without frustration or engage in video game battles online.

For those who want to make sure they are getting the speed they are paying for, numerous websites such as SpeedTest.net measure the actual speed of your connection.

If it turns out that you are paying for one speed but are receiving far less, Komando said it is important to go back to your provider and ask for an adjustment.

The next step is to call the competition, if you have alternate service providers in your area. If you do not, Woroch said it is still worth calling your provider to ask for a lower rate.

If you price out a cheaper plan, you can ask your current company to match it.

If they balk, all the better. The best deals can come from the cancellations department, says Ian Aronovich, 42, of Great Neck, New York.

Aronovich, who runs the website GovernmentAuctions.org, says he first went to Cablevision Systems Corp, his provider, about four years ago and asked for a rate that would match the introductory offer of a competitor. That deal bundled phone, TV and Internet for about $90 rather than the more than $150 he was paying.

After following up yearly to ask for better rates, Aronovich is still receiving about the same discount today—which works out to $29.99 for a high-speed connection with a free router.

Summary: Pay attention to how much speed you're paying for—and what you really need.


The Donald Trump candidacy is going to be a daily adventure, on policy as much as rhetoric. No sooner did he vanquish his last Republican rival this week than he threw over his pledge to fund his own campaign and suggested that he may change his mind and endorse an increase in the federal minimum wage.

Making the media rounds after his Indiana victory, Mr. Trump was asked on CNN whether he’d be open to raising the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour. “I am open to doing something with it, because I don’t like that,” Mr. Trump said. “Because I’m very different from most Republicans,” adding that “I mean, you have to have something that you can live on.”

Yes, but you also need a job to earn a wage, and a wage floor can price the young and least skilled out of the job market. A national minimum is also more destructive than state or local wage floors because it doesn’t account for variations in the job market and labor demand.

Mr. Trump understood the jobs point when he was competing with other Republicans who opposed raising the national minimum. “We have to leave it the way it is,” he said in November. “People have to go out, they have to work really hard and have to get into that upper stratum” and “we cannot do this if we are going to compete with the rest of the world. We just can’t do it.” He repeated the point more than once during the primaries.

But now Mr. Trump knows he’ll be competing with Hillary Clinton, who like most Democrats favors raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. Mrs. Clinton says she would sign a $15 national minimum-wage bill as long as it had some accommodation for lower-wage markets. Mr. Trump’s wage wavering may be the first of many such changes given that his economic views are more visceral and populist than rooted in any free-market conviction.

On Wednesday the supposed non-politician also abandoned a signature message of his primary campaign—that Mr. Trump is the candidate who can’t be bought because he is self-funding. Mr. Trump said Goldman Sachs GS -0.49 % had “total control” over Mrs. Clinton and called his GOP rivals “puppets” of big donors.

Now comes news that the presumed GOP nominee is going to raise funds from donors like any other political puppet. And who better to lead this effort than a Goldman Sachs alum and longtime Clinton donor? Dune Capital CEO Steven Mnuchin is the new national finance chairman of the Trump campaign, and as far as we can tell he hasn’t donated to Hillary’s 2016 campaign, at least not yet. But the hedge-fund operator is in no danger of being called an outsider and will presumably hunt up contributions from big-money donors.

The Journal reports that a Super Pac is also planning to raise big bucks to support Mr. Trump. Great America’s co-chairman will be longtime political operative Ed Rollins, whom Mr. Trump has praised as “tremendous.” You can bet its donors won’t be paupers.

Mr. Trump now needs the cash because it isn’t clear he’s going to spend enough of his own money to be competitive in November. His campaign-on-the-cheap made a nice talking point for voters who chose to believe, but now he has to build a national organization—and fast. Could it be that the alleged billionaire isn’t as liquid as he likes to suggest?

On Thursday House Speaker Paul Ryan said he wasn’t ready to endorse Mr. Trump, who replied that he wasn’t ready to endorse Mr. Ryan’s agenda. That isn’t an auspicious start for Mr. Trump’s GOP unity campaign, and his precipitous flip-flops will make the job harder. There’s an old line about the hapless janitor who has to clean up after the elephant parade. For the next six months the elephant—the GOP—may be cleaning up after its presidential nominee.

Summary: The primary is over, and Donald Trump is already changing his mind, the Wall Street Journal writes in an editorial.


Knowing how formative events are at different ages, along with the president’s approval rating, allows Mr. Ghitza and Mr. Gelman to estimate a group’s presidential voting tendencies over time, including during childhood. These preferences are not necessarily how the group voted, because they do not take into account short-term shifts, like Mr. Obama’s wide popularity in 2008. Think of them, instead, as estimates of how a group would vote in an average presidential election.

The model works best for white voters. Black voters have been reliably Democratic, regardless of when they were born, and political survey data from parts of the 20th century did not distinguish between blacks and Hispanics. Mr. Ghitza and Mr. Gelman also guess that the political socialization process may be different for Hispanics, especially immigrants, than it has been for non-Hispanic whites.

Preferences of whites born in 1941

Here are the cumulative preferences for whites born in 1941. This group came of age under Eisenhower, who was popular throughout his presidency. By the time Eisenhower left office in 1961, people born in the early 1940s had accumulated pro-Republican sentiment that would last their entire lifetimes.

Summary: People’s political views are particularly shaped by events they experience between 14 and 24.


The unpublished Ministry of Justice review appears to have opted for a "middle way" between the current approach of dispersal and the failed approach of concentration. For a few prisoners considered a particular threat of radicalising others – and one imagines Anjem Choudary would fall into this category – the review proposed creating small units within prisons that would separate these prisoners from those they might radicalise. Within those units, specialised interventions could take place. A similar approach is taken in the Netherlands. Although the devil would be in the detail, this might prove better than the current situation, as despite the strategy for dispersal, there are a number of prisoners convicted of terror offences who are in practical terms being separated through the use of lengthy solitary confinement. There is plentiful evidence of the damaging impact of physically isolating people on their mental health. A humane prison system should not rely on solitary confinement and writing people off just to maintain some semblance of order.

And a semblance of order is all most prisons currently provide. Overcrowded and facing dramatically reduced resources, what is clear is that prisons themselves are now extreme environments. There were more alleged homicides behind bars in 2015 than in any other year on record. Rates of suicide are now at a ten-year high. Reported incidents of self-harm in prisons have risen by 27 per cent in a year. The number of assaults on prison staff has increased by 40 per cent. Meanwhile access to work, education and healthcare – or interventions to deradicalise prisoners, indeed – has been dramatically curtailed because there simply aren’t the staff to unlock prisoners out of their cells.

That is the bigger picture which needs to be addressed. Otherwise it will be the prisons themselves and not the likes of Anjem Choudhary that could help turn damaged people toward dangerous ideologies.

Andrew Neilson is Director of Campaigns at the Howard League for Penal Reform

Summary: The conviction of the cleric Anjem Choudary for inviting support for the Islamic State (Isil) brings into sharp focus a longstanding concern about prisons and radicalisation.


Seeing his charade coming to an end, Ryan Lochte waved the white flag Friday morning. On Instagram, the 12-time Olympic swimming medalist admitted to embellishing his story about getting robbed at gunpoint in Rio last weekend. While details are still cloudy, it appears Lochte and fellow swimmers Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen were under the influence of alcohol when they allegedly urinated outside a gas station and broke a door on the property.

You would expect such a politically correct statement in this situation, but we can hypothesize what he really meant with this line-by-line interpretation:

What he wrote: "I want to apologize for my behavior last weekend -- " What he meant: "Jeah, they're making me apologize ... "

What he wrote: "for not being more careful and candid in how I described the events of that early morning and for my role in taking the focus away from the many athletes fulfilling their dreams of participating in the Olympics." What he meant: " ... for not explaining that these Brazilian dudes pulled guns on us because we urinated on their gas station, broke a door and were acting generally rambunctious on their property. Apparently, we brought this upon ourselves. Also, sorry to the other athletes, who try really hard, but will never have 12 medals like me. Well, Michael Phelps and me."

What he wrote: "I waited to share these thoughts until it was confirmed that the legal situation was addressed and it was clear that my teammates would be arriving home safely." What he meant: "My agent told me to get the heck out of Rio as soon as I told him the truth about what happened. That kind of sucked for my teammates, who I left stranded to face the law in a foreign country because of a lie I willingly told on national television. Honestly, I'm so lucky they're able to come home or I'd be seen as an even bigger jerk."

What he wrote: "It's traumatic to be out late with your friends in a foreign country – with a language barrier – and have a stranger point a gun at you and demand money to let you leave" What he meant: "Dude, Rio is crazy. We were just trying to have a fun night, and like, obviously, I don't speak any Portuguese. These crazy guys threatened our lives and held guns up to us until we gave them our money. Yeah, we were being drunk and annoying, but no one pulls a gun on you for that in the U.S. It's almost like Rio has a safety problem."

What he wrote: "But regardless of the behavior of anyone else that night, I should have been more responsible in how I handled myself and for that am sorry to my teammates, my fans, my fellow competitors, my sponsors, and the hosts of this great event." What he meant: "Jeah, so apparently the privilege I've experienced my whole life in America doesn't apply to Rio. I now realize I made my teammates look bad and my image sucks now. That really sucks for my bank account, seeing as how I'll need to rely on sponsors and public appearances as a means of making a living for the rest of my life. I mean, my agent just told me after I'm done swimming, that's the only way I'll make money. So I really need to fake this right now, so I can get on the next Celebrity Apprentice or something. Also, sorry to that Brazilian swimmer, Thiago Pereira, who was just trying to chill with me outside of competition, and I totally made him look bad in his home Olympics."

What he wrote: "I am very proud to represent my country in Olympic competition and this was a situation that could and should have been avoided." What he meant: "Let's be honest, America. I'm your lovable friend who is really talented and makes a few social mistakes. But I'm still really funny, I do weird stuff (like dye my hair blue for this Olympics) and I make you laugh. I messed this up, but let's put things behind us and tape another reality show on E!"

What he wrote: "I accept responsibility for my role in this happening and learned some valuable lessons." What he meant: "Yo, Rio is whack."

What he wrote: "I am grateful for my USA Swimming teammates and the USOC, and appreciate all of the efforts of the IOC, the Rio '16 Host Committee, and the people of Brazil who welcomed us to Rio and worked so hard to make sure that these Olympic Games provided a lifetime of great memories." What he meant: ... Lochte (turns to publicist): "Who do I have to thank?" Agent: "These people." Lochte: "But the IOC hates me." Agent: "Yes, Ryan. That is why you have to fake-thank them."

What he wrote: There has already been too much said and too many valuable resources dedicated to what happened last weekend" What he meant: How bored are you people? I cannot believe the world cares so much about me peeing on a gas station and knocking in the door. How is this the biggest story in the world right now? There are floods in Baton Rouge, a water crisis in Flint and ISIS is a constant threat. WHY DO YOU CARE THAT I PEED ON A RIO GAS STATION? You people are weird. Matt Lauer, why do you keep calling me?

What he wrote: "So I hope we spend our time celebrating the great stories and performances of these Games and look ahead to celebrating future success." What he meant: There are men and women dramatically improving the lives of themselves and their families by winning gold medals, and you are focused on me being an arrogant douche for one night? Forget me, and watch Usain Bolt.

More Olympics: -- Michael Phelps Teaches Katie Ledecky Proper Medal-Wearing Technique -- Olympics Are Losing Millennial Audience -- Jeff Henderson Delivers Gold To Mom Battling Alzheimer's

Follow Jeffrey Eisenband on Twitter @JeffEisenband.

Olympics, Rio, Rio Olympics, Ryan Lochte

Summary: Ryan Lochte's Instagram apology is politically correct, but this is what he really wants to say about that Rio gas station.


One of the highlights of any Boston theater season is a Lyric Stage Company production of a Stephen Sondheim musical. Spiro Veloudos, the Lyric’s producing artistic director, has directed nearly all of the Sondheim canon, with a keen sensitivity to the composer’s works and an understanding of how to stage them in the Lyric’s intimate amphitheater.

Through Oct. 9, Veloudos is taking on “Company,” considered one the first concept musicals, with a book by George Furth and music and lyrics by Sondheim.

“All of the action happens in one character’s head,” says Veloudos, taking a break after a rehearsal. “It’s the story of one man at a crossroads in his life, looking around at the friendships he’s had with couples who are now married and wondering about whether he will ever be able to make that commitment to one person himself.”

The musical takes place on Robert’s 35th birthday, and in a series of vignettes that follow, we meet the five couples and three girlfriends that make up his social circle.

“When you direct this play, you can’t help but think about whether or not you have a little bit of Robert in you,” says Veloudos. “It’s a moment when you stop, look around at where you are and think about the past and what’s important to you. It doesn’t matter whether you’re 35, 45, or 64.”

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Veloudos’s production of “Company” comes as he celebrates his 20th anniversary as the producing artistic director at the Lyric Stage Company. During his tenure, the Lyric Stage has expanded to its current seven-show season, increased its subscriber base, and picked up dozens of awards, all while championing local talent both onstage and behind-the-scenes.

“I’m very proud of the work we’ve created here,” Veloudos says.

John Ambrosino, who plays Robert, was a standout in the Lyric’s productions of “Into the Woods,” “Avenue Q,” and “On the Town,” but he has also appeared at New Repertory Theatre, Stoneham Theatre, off-Broadway, in national tours, and in Las Vegas (“Jersey Boys”).

“When I was casting Robert,” says Veloudos, “I needed someone who has both charisma and a quality of introspection. While there is no traditional plot structure, we need to see the journey Robert takes.”

While much has been made of Robert’s sexuality, with Sondheim and Furth rewriting some lyrics and dialogue to suggest that Robert is conflicted about it, Ambrosino says he believes Robert is a straight man who just can’t connect with another person on a deeper emotional level.

“He’s scared of opening up to someone,” he says. “He is surrounded by friends who are affectionate, but he doesn’t have love, and he’s not sure if he is a person of enough substance to share himself with someone.”

Although the show’s vignettes don’t offer a traditional story arc, Ambrosino says “Company” opens with Robert understanding that he is at a crossroads, and by the end of the play, when he sings “Being Alive,” he understands what’s important.

“For me, that is the ultimate acting song,” Ambrosino says. “It really pulls together everything that Robert has been struggling with, and he moves from being a guy who is so fearful, to someone who is ready to take a chance.”

Throughout their nine years as a couple, Amanda Collins and Lewis D. Wheeler have appeared together onstage in 10 different plays.

“We met performing in ‘What Then’ by Rinne Groff, directed by Jeff Zinn,” says Wheeler. “So it feels right that Jeff is directing our 10th show together.”

In “The Totalitarians,” at Gloucester Stage Company Sept. 1-24, Collins and Wheeler play a married couple for whom gender stereotypes have been reversed. Wheeler is a family doctor who is eager to start a family, while his wife is an ambitious political operative who has a chance to manage the campaign of a woman running for lieutenant governor of Nebraska.

Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s absurdist comedy takes things to extremes, with both characters getting caught up in the chaos of a candidate Wheeler describes as having “the DNA of Donald Trump and Sarah Palin: Someone who has no filter and gets all the attention because she is so unpredictable.”

Collins says the world of “The Totalitarians” is far from the couple she and Wheeler are, but because they know each other so well they have a shared language as they approach the roles.

“We are trying to play to a reality but then add this crazy, absurdist layer on top,” she says. “When you are taking risks and pushing a scene to its extreme, it helps to be in a safe environment with someone you trust.”

That helps, Wheeler says, as the two transform from mild-mannered Midwesterners to political revolutionaries.

Zeitgeist Stage opens its 16th season this weekend with “Eight by Tenn,” a collection of eight short plays by Tennessee Williams. Williams, who considered his short plays to be among his best work, often captures a crushing emotional moment in just a single scene. The plays in Zeitgeist’s collection include “The Lady of Larkspur Lotion,” “Portrait of a Madonna,” “Auto-Da-Fe,” “This Property Is Condemned,” “Something Unspoken,” “A Perfect Analysis Given by a Parrot,” “The Unsatisfactory Supper,” and “The One Exception.” The production runs Sept. 2-Oct. 8. Tickets: $30, 617-933-8600, www.zeitgeiststage.com.

In its seventh season, Israeli Stage once again gathers some of the area’s top actors for a series of staged readings of Israeli plays and one full production next spring. The readings include “Fertile” by Yakir Eliahu Vaknin (Sept. 18, 170 Beacon St., Boston); “Happy Ending” by Anat Gov (Nov. 13, 170 Beacon St., Boston); a residency in spring for playwright Joshua Sobol, who will develop a new play called “David, King”; and a full production of “Days of Atonement,” by Hanna Azoulay Hasfari (June 1–25, 2017, Boston Center for the Arts). For tickets and more information, go to www.israelistage.com.

Presented by Lyric Stage Company, 140 Clarendon St., Sept. 2-Oct. 9. Tickets: Starting at $25, 617-585-5678, www.lyricstage.com

Summary: Lyric Stage opens its season with a musical that centers on a 35-year-old bachelor who wonders whether he’ll ever be ready to commit to someone.


Police are hunting a suspect who shot three people, including two police officers, in Copenhagen’s Freetown Christiana neighbourhood.

One officer was shot in the head, and another in the leg on Wednesday night (local time).

Police confirmed a foreign civilian was also shot in the thigh, but stressed it was not a result of police gunfire.

Copenhagen police said in a statement that they cannot comment further on “neither the nature of the operation nor about the condition of the officers”.

Police have advised people to stay away from the area, and all roads into Christiania have been corned off, according to Danish television station TV2.

Christiana is a progressive, autonomous neighbourhood and is a popular tourist attraction for the city.

The former military barracks is renowned for its tolerated cannabis trade, and is thought to be among the world’s largest and oldest surviving hippie settlements.

© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2016

Summary: At least two police officers and one civilian have been shot in Copenhagen’s Christiania area.


Cabinet minister Sussan Ley is hosing down reports of a heated clash between former prime minister Tony Abbott and Treasurer Scott Morrison over superannuation changes.

Mr Abbott confronted Mr Morrison about the measures in a private meeting of coalition MPs last week, arguing the government is wrong to offer super concessions to low-income earners, The Australian reports.

But Ms Ley denies there's disquiet within the government over the policy, telling reporters in Melbourne on Sunday it was in a "good place" and insisting MPs understood the measures had been taken to an election.

Summary: Sussan Ley has responded to reports tensions between Tony Abbott and Scott Morrison are boiling over on the coalition's superannuation policy.


Former Health Services Union boss Kathy Jackson leaves court today. (AAP)

Former Health Services Union boss and whistleblower Kathy Jackson faces a slew of criminal charges over allegations she siphoned almost $500,000 from the union to fund a lavish lifestyle.

The 49-year-old was bailed on Monday after she fronted court flanked by two female supporters.

She was charged on summons last month, but police requested the NSW resident be placed on bail with a string of conditions.

One was the surrender of her passport, but the Melbourne Magistrates Court heard it had already been given to a trustee after Jackson declared bankruptcy.

She's also been told not to contact prosecution witnesses.

Each of the 70 theft and deception charges against Jackson relates to a specific transaction and the alleged offences span from mid-2003 to early in 2011.

She's accused of taking almost $500,000 from the HSU over that time, court documents show.

Among the alleged transactions are payments to airlines and hotels in Hong Kong, Las Vegas and New York.

One charge alleges Jackson received a $63,000 cheque in 2010 over an honorarium entitlement she wasn't authorised to receive.

Others relate to payments allegedly made to a furniture store and a premium auctioneer house.

Jackson was charged by Taskforce Heracles, a joint Victoria and Australian Federal Police operation investigating matters arising from the Royal Commission into Trade Union Corruption and Governance.

She is due to reappear in court on January 24.

Her case would normally come back to court mid-December but her lawyer Philip Beazley asked for a longer than usual adjournment.

He said he needed extra time to digest the large brief of evidence against her, which is about 5000 pages.

Jackson declared bankruptcy last year and owes the HSU about $2.4 million following Federal Court action.

Officers raided her Wombarra home in October 2015.

It's the same address where 45-year-old Sean Fisher, a friend of Jackson's, died on March 2 this year.

Mr Fisher's sister, Jacqueline Fisher, attended Jackson's court hearing with friend Leeanne Hosking on Monday and the pair confronted Jackson on her way out.

Ms Fisher later told media she believed some of her brother's personal items remained at Jackson's property and she wanted them back, especially a Bible that had sentimental value and his mobile phone.

Jackson became a national figure after she blew the whistle on her predecessor, former Labor MP Craig Thomson, and former HSU general secretary Michael Williamson in 2011.

Williamson was jailed for at least five years for leeching almost $1 million from the union and recruiting others to hinder a police investigation.

Thomson was fined $25,000 after he was convicted of 13 counts of theft following cash withdrawals he made from an HSU bank account between 2003 and 2007.

Jackson didn't comment as she left court.

Summary: Kathy Jackson declared bankruptcy last year and owes the HSU about $2.4 million following Federal Court action.


following multiple explosions this weekend in New Jersey and New York City, a manhunt and a shoot-out with authorities.

Despite more than two dozen injuries, no one has been killed in the violence.

Here are seven facts – and three unknowns – about the case:

1. There were three separate explosions.

A federal counterterrorism official, detailing the timeline of incidents, tells PEOPLE that on Saturday morning, a bomb went off just before a charity run in Seaside Park, New Jersey, which is about 85 miles from Manhattan. One pipe bomb exploded in a trash can along the 5K's route while two other pipe bombs were rendered safe, according to the official.

"One of the devices had Christmas tree lights wrapped around it," the federal official tells PEOPLE. "An intact flip phone with protruding wires was also found in the area."

It appeared that no one was injured in that explosion, according to

On Saturday night, a homemade bomb

in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood – a popular hot spot that is usually busy on weekend nights – injuring 29 people, according to the official.

A fusing system with AA batteries as well as parts of a pressure cooker, flip phone and nylon fabric and a zipper were found at the scene, the official says.

Everyone injured in the explosion has been released from the hospital,

Late Saturday, about two hours later, an unexploded pressure cooker with a flip phone attached was discovered on west 27th Street in New York City, the federal official tells PEOPLE. It was rendered safe and removed.

Despite reports early Sunday of a third device at 48th Street and Fifth Avenue, no device was located, the official says – but Sunday night, a bag containing five pipe bombs

One device was detonated by a bomb disposal robot, the official says. No one was injured.

2. The same man, Ahmad Khan Rahami, is a suspect in all three explosions in New Jersey and N.Y.C., the official says.

The FBI's William Sweeney said at a Monday news conference that evidence "directly links Rahami to the devices in both New York and New Jersey."

The federal counterterrorism official later confirmed to PEOPLE that Rahami is a suspect in the Elizabeth explosion as well as the Chelsea and Seaside Park bombings.

The scene after the explosion in Chelsea

3. Rahami was apprehended after a shoot-out with police in New Jersey.

Less than two days after the explosion in Chelsea, officials honed in on Rahami. The 28-year-old is a U.S. citizen living in New Jersey who immigrated from Afghanistan, according to authorities.

Johnathan Wagner, 26, tells PEOPLE he grew up with Rahami and that his relatives were "nice" people who would sometimes give Wagner food.

"I never thought someone in the family would do something like this," Wagner tells PEOPLE.

After the bombings, a hunt for Rahami ensued and police responded after a Linden, New Jersey, resident spotted the 28-year-old in front of a bar, the

reports. A shootout took place about 10:30 a.m. Monday after Rahami allegedly opened fire on the officers.

Two officers were wounded, Elizabeth Mayor Christian Bollwage said at a Monday news conference.

Both officers are expected to survive, the federal official tells PEOPLE, adding that Rahami was shot three times: in the arm, the abdomen and the leg.

Rahami was undergoing medical treatment as of 1 p.m. Monday, the official says, and is not cooperating with investigators.

Sunday night in connection with the Chelsea explosion, but those people were not charged, official says.

We did a traffic stop of a vehicle of interest in the investigation. No one has been charged with any crime. The investigation is continuing

Authorities have said Rahami is considered separate from the five people who were detained.

The federal official says they were stopped in a vehicle associated with Rahami as they drove to the Kennedy Airport from an Elizabeth address. The five were detained for questioning by the FBI, the official says.

Authorities also raided a home in Elizabeth as part of the investigation, the

Two search warrants have been obtained for addresses linked to Rahami, the federal official says, and searches continue as of this morning.

5. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has called the Chelsea bombing an act of terrorism.

"A bomb exploding in New York is obviously an act of terrorism," Cuomo said at a news conference. "A bomb going off is generically a terrorist activity. That's how we'll consider it. And that's how we will prosecute it."

However, the governor said earlier that although the explosion was "intentional," there was no connection to terrorism and no one had immediately claimed responsibility, the

N.Y.C. Mayor Bill de Blasio avoided calling the act terrorism, saying at a news conference that, "There's no specific and credible threat against New York City at this time from any terror organization."

6. President Barack Obama has said the explosions are not connected to a

at a Minnesota mall, which the federal official echoed to PEOPLE.

Huge explosion in Chelsea blew this dumpster ... pic.twitter.com/1lSIGjRyC8

Obama added that the stabbing attack is being investigated as an act of terrorism.

7. An emotionally disturbed person falsely claimed responsibility for the bombings.

The federal counterterrorism official tells PEOPLE that someone in North Carolina used a Tumblr account to falsely claim responsibility for the bombings. The official described this person as emotionally disturbed and said they had no connection to the case.

The individual has been taken into custody, the official says, though it was not immediately clear if they will face charges.

1. What was the alleged motive?

As of Monday, Rahami had not been charged with any crime, and the federal official tells PEOPLE that authorities are working to identify his overseas connections and possible ties to radicalism, if any.

Authorities are also working to determine if Rahami was allegedly inspired by any terrorist groups, the official says.

2. Did the suspect allegedly act alone?

As investigators work to learn more about the explosions, it is unclear just how many people were involved in carrying out the bombings. The federal official says they are still working to determine who placed the bombs in Seaside Park, and that there were some similarities in that incident to the Boston Marathon bombing.

3. Why were the locations selected?

Police have said they believe Rahami is behind the bombings, but it is unclear why the particular sites were selected.

Summary: Ahmad Khan Rahami, a person of interest in the bombings, was injured in a shootout with police on Monday and taken into custody


WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 (AP) —The Food and Drug Administration says that “not a single strand” of lead Christmas tree tinsel should be found on store shelves this Yule season.

“It's gone. We have assurances that not one ounce will be’ sold this year,” said Malcolm ‐Jensen, director of the Bureau of Product Safety.

Last Christmas the agency was accused of agreeing secretly with several lead tinsel manufacturers not to publicize an understanding that production would stop Jan. 1, 1972, but sales could continue through the 1972 Christmas season.

“There was never any effort to hide it,” he said in an interview. “The decision was made internally not to publicize it because we feared that many people preferring the lead variety woul dstockpile it.”

After the charges of secret. dealing surfaced, Mr. Jensen said, “We got back to the industry and sad, ‘You haven't got a saleable product anymore. You might as well get out of the lead business.'” At the same time, he said, the F.D.A. asked customs agents to freeze ead tinsel imports.

We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports, and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.

A version of this archives appears in print on November 15, 1972, on page 50 of the New York edition with the headline: END OF LEAD TINSEL PREDICTED BY F.D.A. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe

Summary: FDA Product Safety Bur dir M Jensen says stores are no longer selling lead Christmas tree tinsel; FDA was accused in '71 of agreeing secretly with several lead tinsel mfrs not to publicize understanding that production would stop Jan 1,72; Jensen denied agreement and told tinsel indus that it could not mfr lead tinsel


A man has been shot in the chest by police at a property near Warwick on Queensland's Darling Downs.

It's alleged the 63-year-old was armed and was threatening police at his property at Freestone when he was shot.

An ambulance is on its way to the scene, while the cause of the standoff isn't known at this stage.

The ma n reportedly had a gun in his hands when he was shot by police.

Police Ethical Standards Command is investigating.

Summary: A man has been shot in the chest in a standoff with officers at a rural property near Warwick.


Three trials, zero verdicts and seven years in jail later, Dean Mark Wills is finally walking out of prison.

Wills and Shane Hansen have been accused of murdering Gold Coast drug addict Darren John Britza at an industrial shed in March 2001.

The 31-year-old's skeletal remains were found in March 2008 after two fishermen saw a pair of boots sticking out of the dirt underneath Canungra Creek Bridge.

Wills stood trial for murder in 2015 and twice this year, with each jury unable to reach a verdict.

He was released on bail on Friday after the latest deadlock, bringing to an end his seven years of custodial limbo.

Hansen, who was also tried twice without receiving a verdict, remains on bail.

The murder charge against him was originally dropped in January 2014 after a Brisbane magistrate ruled there was not enough evidence.

But after his former associate Paul Taylor finally gave a formal statement to police Magistrate Paul Kluck decided he had a case to answer.

It is likely the prosecution will now drop the charges against Wills and Hansen when the matter returns to court on December 21.

Summary: A jury has been unable to reach a verdict in the murder trial of Dean Mark Wills and Shane Hansen, accused of killing a drug addict on the Gold Coast in 2001.


Showing 61 - 80 of 99 posts from March 2010

Ryan Seacrest just confirmed that Crystal Bowersox will perform on tonight's show. "Yes she is performing," he tweets.

Ryan Seacrest tweets that Crystal Bowersox's fate is still "uncertain," even as the show prepared its final run-throughs for tonight's show. At about 3:30 p.m. Pacific time, he tweeted, when asked about news on Crystal: "I'm still in a run thru..uncertain. Planning for either way." If her medical issues prevent Crystal from performing on tonight's show, she likely will become the first American Idol contestant eliminated due to illness.

Don't know why, but the American Idol contestants have just consolidated their individual Facebook, Twitter and MySpace accounts into one big "contestant" account at each site.

Kris Allen's Live Like We're Dying and Adam Lambert's Whataya Want From Me will be included on Now That's What I Call Music! 33, out March 23. Katharine McPhee gets a TV pilot. Ellen DeGeneres gets a comic book. And Jennifer Hudson's fiancé loses a wrestling match.

I'll be talking with Danny Gokey again in the next few days -- most likely when he makes his next appearance at the Grand Ole Opry on March 13 -- and I thought I'd run the interview a little different this time. So I'm going to ask him your questions.

American Idol executive producer Ken Warwick spoke with Ryan Seacrest this morning and gave an update on Crystal Bowersox, whose hospitalization yesterday forced the men to compete a day early.

Kris Allen didn't quite break a million last week (though he's probably done so by now). Live Like We're Dying showed no change last week, so it came up a few hundred short. But Let It Be, the song Kris performed on American Idol last Thursday, had the best Idol debut for the week, selling more than 46,000 copies.

If you missed Adam Lambert's performance of Sleepwalker on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno Tuesday, you can now watch the entire episode via Hulu. Adam's performance comes during the show's final segment.

Adam Lambert performed Sleepwalker Tuesday night on a Tonight Show that also featured former Alaska governor Sarah Palin and Olympic medalist Shaun White. The show caught up with all three of them (sadly, not together) for a "Backstage With Bryan" segment.

Blake Lewis returns with the latest installment of his guest blog for Idol Chatter: "The night started off with Michael Lynche singing 'It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man's World' by James Brown, and he set the bar high for the night. He had a beautiful tone and really showed the side of his voice that I enjoy -- his rhythm & blues side."

Blake Lewis, who is guest-blogging for Idol Chatter throughout Season 9, is the featured vocalist on DJ Dan & Überzone's new single Operator -- and USA TODAY has the exclusive premiere of the video.

Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta sold a couple thousand extra albums each last week in the wake of their appearance on American Idol, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Kris' week-over-week album sales jumped 66 percent to more than 7,000 for the week, while Allison's nearly tripled, putting her back in the Billboard Top 200 with more than 3,000 sales.

The guys had to perform a day early Tuesday night, because of Crystal Bowersox's sudden hospitalization. And while most of them sang better than they did during that miserable first week, few of them managed complete about-faces. One who did was Michael Lynche.

Having gotten mixed reviews (which by last week's standards, was pretty good) with Snow Patrol, this week Lee DeWyze goes with Hinder's Lips of an Angel -- a pretty good choice, since it had hit versions in multiple formats (Jack Ingram cut it country).

This week, Tim Urban wisely stays away from falsetto notes, as he sings Matt Nathanson's Come On Get Higher. It's an excellent choice of material. However. There's not much melody in this song, though there's a lot going on lyrically. Bottom line: Tim's just not a very good singer, no matter how cute he is. He can't magically transform a tune, and he can't sell a melody by itself. They're gonna rip him a new one.

Aaron Kelly tries to do The Temptations' My Girl. It's not a bad version, kind of country -- imagine Rascal Flatts' Gary LeVox as a teenager trying to sing the song. It'll probably be enough to keep him in the competition, but this is not at all what he needs to be doing -- especially that weird little dentist-drill falsetto. And he doesn't have the lung development yet to hold those notes at the end. He runs out of breath, and it's sounds really rough.

Andrew takes to the centerstage stool for James Morrison's You Give Me Something. He looks much more comfortable this week, and this song is much better suited to his kind of reinterpretation. On the other hand, it's the first time I've really gotten the Danny Gokey comparisons with Andrew, and I think Danny would have mopped the floor with Andrew's version (once he learned the song). Decent, but hardly great.

This week, Jermaine Sellers tackle Marvin Gaye's What Going On. Like most of the other guys, he's better than last week, and he's trying to adapt the song to his voice without trying to radicalize it. But he falls back into the same trap -- when he takes it to church, his tone falls apart. So close, yet so far.

Todrick Hall tries to turn What's Love Got to Do With It into an R&B ballad, almost a Luther Vandross thing, but he doesn't have that kind of voice. Basically, the effect is one of stripping away all the energy from Tina's performance and leaving only what's left in its wake -- which is to say, not much. He tries to punch it up with the band toward the end, and throws in a final falsetto run, but it's not enough.

Ryan refers to Alex Lambert as "possibly our most nervous contestant" -- and anybody who saw him last week won't disagree. Alex says he has such bad stage fright that he gets physically sick before performing -- often throwing up before his high school football games.

Showing 61 - 80 of 99 posts from March 2010

Summary: Read recaps, news, and rumors from past American Idol seasons.


By HUGH SON DAILY NEWS FEATURE WRITER

Thursday, November 14th 2002, 8:13AM

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons helped bring urban music and comedy to the masses, but when he tried to introduce another language of the streets - poetry - to Broadway, he was met with a deafening silence.

"You know, I couldn't get a traditional Broadway person to put a nickel in this," Simmons says of his new venture, "Def Poetry Jam on Broadway."

Undeterred, the 44-year-old founder of Def Jam records, Phat Farm clothing and CEO of Rush Communications turned to friends in the entertainment industry.

"Def Poetry Jam," opening tonight at the Longacre Theatre, is a set of spoken word pieces performed by a multicultural cast - Steve Colman, Poetri, Mayda Del Valle, Georgia Me, Suheir Hammad, Lemon, Beau Sia, Black Ice and Staceyann Chin - with music intervals provided by DJ Tendaji Lathan.

The production has its origins in the TV series "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry," which started airing on HBO last December. All the poets cast in the theater version have been featured in the TV series, which was taped at the Supper Club on W. 47th St. That location, says director Stan Lathan, "in the middle of Times Square, surrounded by Broadway houses," gave rise to the idea for the Broadway show.

According to Theatermania.com associate editor Mike Salinas, "Def Poetry Jam" is the first Broadway production to present poets doing their own material.

"The closest precursor that I can think of," says Salinas, "is Ntozake Shange's 'For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf,' " a prose poem piece staged in 1976. "But this ["Def Poetry Jam"] seems to be expanding the parameters of Broadway."

Spoken word poetry, which shows up mostly in coffeehouses, on college campuses and in competitions known as "slams," is an idea whose time has come, says Simmons. "Over the last few years, I started to see examples of the fact that poetry had gone mainstream. When you go to a high school and you ask, 'How many of you guys write poetry?' Eighty per cent will raise their hands. Five years ago, no one would raise their hands, they'd be embarrassed."

The spoken word boom has its roots in the readings of the '50s Beat poets, as well as in the "oral traditions of African-American culture," says Bob Holman, who opened the Nuyorican Poets Cafe on the lower East Side in 1989.

Many of the performers say that while the rhythm of rap music informs their work, spoken word allows them to make observations about social injustice and voice outrage at the status quo, themes that today's mainstream rap music largely ignores.

"When rap first started, it was true and real, and people were doing it for the fun of it," says Poetri. "Now hip hop is all commercial. There are still some straight-up rappers that are speaking truth, but they aren't signed to the major record labels. Definitely, poetry right now is truer than hip hop."

Summary: Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons helped bring urban music and comedy to the masses, but when he tried to introduce another language of the streets - poetry - to Broadway, he was met with a deafening silence. "You know, I couldn't get a traditional Broadway person to put a nickel in this,"Simmons says of his new venture, "Def Poetry Jam on Broadway."Undeterred, the 44-year-old founder


Zynga, the creators of the blockbuster social game FarmVille, has raised another round of funding: $147 million, seemingly all from Japanese telecommunications and media conglomerate Softbank.

According to Bloomberg Businessweek and Nikkei English News, Zynga and Softbank have joined forces to spread Zynga’s wildly successful suite of social games throughout Asia. The company will focus on mobile devices — a smart move, considering that many Japanese consumers use their mobile phones as their primary access point to the web.

Just six months ago, Zynga raised an impressive $180 million from Russia’s Digital Sky Technologies, the same firm that invested $200 million in Facebook. Since then, Zynga has been rapidly rising in value; its most recently valuation placed it at over $4 billion. Zynga has raised a total of around $366 million in an angel and four subsequent rounds of funding.

Softbank has been making some high-profile investments into U.S. companies over the last year. In November 2008, Softbank invested millions in RockYou, another social application developer. More recently, live video platform Ustream raised $75 million in a round led by Softbank in order to expand its Asia operations.

Zynga will likely use the funds to accelerate its hiring spree and make acquisitions as it moves into Asia. Two weeks ago, the company acquired Challenge Games and its 35 employees for around $20 million.

Summary: Zynga, the creators of FarmVille, has raised another blockbuster round of funding: $147 million.


The President’s approach to Iran has been clearly described and is in action right now,—-In other words you don’t know……LOL!!

Posted by: whining liberal | March 19, 2012, 4:55 pm 4:55 pm

It’s not smart to assign your own ignorance to others. The President outlined his approach very clearly and summarized where it stands earlier this month . .

“And that is why, four years ago, I made a commitment to the American people, and said that we would use all elements of American power to pressure Iran and prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon. And that is what we have done.

“When I took office, the efforts to apply pressure on Iran were in tatters. Iran had gone from zero centrifuges spinning to thousands, without facing broad pushback from the world. In the region, Iran was ascendant — increasingly popular, and extending its reach. In other words, the Iranian leadership was united and on the move, and the international community was divided about how to go forward.

“And so from my very first months in office, we put forward a very clear choice to the Iranian regime: a path that would allow them to rejoin the community of nations if they meet their international obligations, or a path that leads to an escalating series of consequences if they don’t. In fact, our policy of engagement — quickly rebuffed by the Iranian regime — allowed us to rally the international community as never before, to expose Iran’s intransigence, and to apply pressure that goes far beyond anything that the United States could do on our own.

“Because of our efforts, Iran is under greater pressure than ever before. Some of you will recall, people predicted that Russia and China wouldn’t join us to move toward pressure. They did. And in 2010 the U.N. Security Council overwhelmingly supported a comprehensive sanctions effort. Few thought that sanctions could have an immediate bite on the Iranian regime. They have, slowing the Iranian nuclear program and virtually grinding the Iranian economy to a halt in 2011. Many questioned whether we could hold our coalition together as we moved against Iran’s Central Bank and oil exports. But our friends in Europe and Asia and elsewhere are joining us. And in 2012, the Iranian government faces the prospect of even more crippling sanctions.

“That is where we are today — because of our work. Iran is isolated, its leadership divided and under pressure. And by the way, the Arab Spring has only increased these trends, as the hypocrisy of the Iranian regime is exposed, and its ally — the Assad regime — is crumbling.

“Of course, so long as Iran fails to meet its obligations, this problem remains unresolved. The effective implementation of our policy is not enough — we must accomplish our objective. And in that effort, I firmly believe that an opportunity still remains for diplomacy — backed by pressure — to succeed.

“The United States and Israel both assess that Iran does not yet have a nuclear weapon, and we are exceedingly vigilant in monitoring their program. Now, the international community has a responsibility to use the time and space that exists. Sanctions are continuing to increase, and this July — thanks to our diplomatic coordination — a European ban on Iranian oil imports will take hold. Faced with these increasingly dire consequences, Iran’s leaders still have the opportunity to make the right decision. They can choose a path that brings them back into the community of nations, or they can continue down a dead end.

“And given their history, there are, of course, no guarantees that the Iranian regime will make the right choice. But both Israel and the United States have an interest in seeing this challenge resolved diplomatically. After all, the only way to truly solve this problem is for the Iranian government to make a decision to forsake nuclear weapons. That’s what history tells us.

“Moreover, as President and Commander-in-Chief, I have a deeply held preference for peace over war. I have sent men and women into harm’s way. I’ve seen the consequences of those decisions in the eyes of those I meet who’ve come back gravely wounded, and the absence of those who don’t make it home. Long after I leave this office, I will remember those moments as the most searing of my presidency. And for this reason, as part of my solemn obligation to the American people, I will only use force when the time and circumstances demand it. And I know that Israeli leaders also know all too well the costs and consequences of war, even as they recognize their obligation to defend their country.

“We all prefer to resolve this issue diplomatically. Having said that, Iran’s leaders should have no doubt about the resolve of the United States — just as they should not doubt Israel’s sovereign right to make its own decisions about what is required to meet its security needs.

“I have said that when it comes to preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, I will take no options off the table, and I mean what I say. That includes all elements of American power: A political effort aimed at isolating Iran; a diplomatic effort to sustain our coalition and ensure that the Iranian program is monitored; an economic effort that imposes crippling sanctions; and, yes, a military effort to be prepared for any contingency.

“Iran’s leaders should understand that I do not have a policy of containment; I have a policy to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. And as I have made clear time and again during the course of my presidency, I will not hesitate to use force when it is necessary to defend the United States and its interests.

“Moving forward, I would ask that we all remember the weightiness of these issues; the stakes involved for Israel, for America, and for the world. Already, there is too much loose talk of war. Over the last few weeks, such talk has only benefited the Iranian government, by driving up the price of oil, which they depend on to fund their nuclear program. For the sake of Israel’s security, America’s security, and the peace and security of the world, now is not the time for bluster. Now is the time to let our increased pressure sink in, and to sustain the broad international coalition we have built. Now is the time to heed the timeless advice from Teddy Roosevelt: Speak softly; carry a big stick. And as we do, rest assured that the Iranian government will know our resolve, and that our coordination with Israel will continue.”

Perhaps the President just describes things too accurately for you Republicans to follow.

What are the Republican policies? Towards Afghanistan? Towards Iran?

Summary: For the second consecutive month, President Obama has fallen off the record-setting fundraising pace he set four years ago. His re-election campaign announced Monday that it raised $45 million in February, combining contributions to Obama for America, the Democratic National Committee and two joint fundraising accounts — the Obama Victory Fund and Swing State Victory Fund. In February 2008, Obama raised $56 million. The campaign’s financial update, which will be formally reported to the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday, follows an aggressive push for cash in recent weeks by Obama and his campaign aides, who have at times appeared panicked…


Chances are you've seen the dueling van dances set to Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe."

Now here they are, side by side, thanks to the creativity of a man named Mark O'Neill.

ThePostGame brings you the most interesting sports stories on the web.

Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to read them first!

Summary:
Chances are you've seen the dueling van dances set to Carly Rae Jepsen's "Call Me Maybe."
First it was the Harvard baseball team tha...


Forget "We are the 99 percent."

"Reject the 13 percent" may soon be the rallying cry for opponents of the Golden State Warriors' plan to build a new waterfront arena in San Francisco as the project goes before the Board of Supervisors budget committee Wednesday to approve the start of environmental review.

Arena opponents may not be planning to camp out on Piers 30-32 a la Occupy Wall Street protesters (after all, many of them live in condos nearby), but critics of the arena proposal have latched on to the 13 percent figure as an example of what's wrong with the framework deal being negotiated for the $1 billion project.

Under the conceptual agreement between the team and the city, the Warriors would pay for all up-front costs, with the city responsible for reimbursing the team for up to $120 million to rebuild the slowly crumbling 13-acre pier, which the city can't afford to fix but would continue to own.

The reimbursement money could come from only three sources linked to the project.

But the team would be entitled to a 13 percent rate of return for any unreimbursed construction costs, and exactly when that rate would start applying is still subject to negotiation.

Rudy Nothenberg, the city's former chief administrative officer, who has warned the arena project is moving forward at "unprecedented speed," is now calling for the city to "renegotiate the outrageous 13% interest rate."

In a letter to supervisors Monday titled "Reject the 13% Interest Rate!," Nothenberg wrote that over the course of a lengthy career in city government, including as a high-level financial adviser to five mayors:

"Never, even in the days of extremely high interest rates, did I ever bring a 13% interest rate bearing City obligation forward for consideration. I would have been ashamed to make such a request."

City officials say the rate is actually quite reasonable when talking about private developers building public infrastructure.

The city's deals with private developers to build out Treasure Island and the Hunters Point shipyard include returns of 18.5 to 20 percent on public infrastructure, city documents show.

Documents related to negotiations with the Giants to develop what is now a port-owned parking lot south of the ballpark show that the team wants a return of 20 and 22 percent on its predevelopment costs and for putting in infrastructure like pilings and roads.

A tight race: School board President Norman Yee is clinging to a 33-vote lead over labor leader F.X. Crowley in the race for District Seven - but with up to 1,500 votes left to be counted, it won't be settled anytime soon.

About 25,000 provisional ballots were left to assess and tally in San Francisco, and between 1,300 and 1,500 of them are from District Seven, Elections Director John Arntz said Monday. But his office has until Dec. 4 to certify the election results, and District Seven ballots won't get any special priority. That leaves the supervisors race in a district that stretches from west of Twin Peaks to the San Francisco Zoo still too close to call.

Another revealing moment: Another week, another protest by naked people at City Hall.

Last month, Supervisor Scott Wiener introduced legislation banning nudity throughout the city except at street fairs, festivals and parades.

Nudists upset over the legislation staged a nude-in in front of City Hall on Oct. 30, one stripped naked and was arrested at a Board of Supervisors' committee hearing last week, and now another naked protest is scheduled for the City Hall steps at noon Wednesday. With the exception of a bizarre mayoral bid in 2007 by one of the nudists' ringleaders, we don't remember ever seeing this much genitalia at City Hall.

Summary: "Reject the 13 percent" may soon be the rallying cry for opponents of the Golden State Warriors' plan to build a new waterfront arena in San Francisco as the project goes before the Board of Supervisors budget committee Wednesday to approve the start of environmental review.  In a letter to supervisors Monday titled "Reject the 13% Interest Rate!," Nothenberg wrote that over the course of a lengthy career in city government, including as a high-level financial adviser to five mayors:  City officials say the rate is actually quite reasonable when talking about private developers building public infrastructure.  The city's deals with private developers to build out Treasure Island and the Hunters Point shipyard include returns of 18.5 to 20 percent on public infrastructure, city documents show.  Documents related to negotiations with the Giants to develop what is now a port-owned parking lot south of the ballpark show that the team wants a return of 20 and 22 percent on its predevelopment costs and for putting in infrastructure like pilings and roads.


Damien Hirst with one of his artworks in Kiev ahead of his largest exhibition yet featuring more than 100 pieces. Photograph: Konstantin Chernichkin/Reuters

Damien Hirst plans to mount the largest exhibition ever of his trademark fish skeletons, skull paintings and dead animals in a show in Kiev. The exhibition will feature a retrospective of more than 100 sculptures and installations made since 1990, as well as oil paintings, most of which have never been on display before.

The artist said he had chosen Ukraine as the host of his exhibit because the former Soviet republic had shown a "newly discovered interest in contemporary art".

He told Associated Press television news: "I've always thought that museums are for dead artists and I kind of was afraid of that. But I think because in Ukraine the audience is so new ... to contemporary art at least ... that makes it exciting, that makes me want to do it."

Last year Hirst defied sceptics and the global economic downturn and sold his works for close to $200m (£138m) at Sotheby's - the most expensive auction of works by a single artist. Hirst has in recent years taken up oil painting again and one of his paintings, Requiem, has provided the title for the Kiev show.

Summary: Artist says Ukraine will host retrospective because of its 'newly discovered interest in contemporary art'


Nothing is harder than staying lean when your health and welfare is at the hands of a series of short-order cooks and Hell's Kitchen wannabes. Your taste buds are their concern; your health isn't. But that doesn't mean that to stay slim, you have to be a culinary wallflower. Here are some secrets for eating healthfully even when a stranger is doing the cooking.

And for even more ways to upgrade your diet and get lean for good, check out The Lean Belly Prescription by Dr. Travis Stork, host of TV's The Doctors. It's filled with simple strategies that will help you lose weight the same way you gained it: By making easy lifestyle choices that will transform your body -- this time, for the better.

A study published in Physiology & Behavior showed that people who ate a protein-heavy appetizer consumed an average of 16 percent fewer calories in their entrees than those who raided the bread basket. Pass on the rolls and ask for a shrimp cocktail instead. (Check out these 37 Protein-Packed Recipes for a delicious way to get your muscle-building fix.)

Because your body sees alcohol as a toxin, it works to burn those calories first -- meaning that the calories in the food you eat alongside the booze are more likely to be stored as fat. And liquor makes you eat quicker, too. When researchers in the Netherlands gave people a pre-meal treat of booze, food, water, or nothing, those who got the booze ate an average of 192 extra calories. (Down these 4 Secretly Dangerous Drinks at your own peril!)

At every fast-food restaurant, as soon as you decide on an entree, you'll be asked some variation of this question: "Would you like to make it a combo meal?" Of course, you're tempted -- who can pass up a bargain? But when you upgrade, you're just paying a little more money for a lot more calories -- that's like giving the garbage man a tip to bring more trash to your house! People who take the upsell spend an average of 17 percent more money and receive an average of 55 percent more calories. You don't want them! (Discover the surprising ways fast food can screw with your brain.)

What distinguishes a skinny pizza from an inflationary pizza? It's not the pepperoni, or the cheese. It's the crust. Three deep-dish slices from Domino's, before toppings, will cost you 1,002 calories. Downsize that to thin crust and you just eliminated 420 calories without lifting a finger -- or giving up pizza! (Eat more, stay full longer, and still lose serious weight with these 7 Ways to Outsmart Hunger.)

Some of the best nutritional bargains at many restaurants are found on the side items menu. Black beans and rice, roasted vegetables, and mixed greens are among the best bets. Many times, two side orders will do half the damage as one entrée! (In addition, you're right not to trust so- called "healthy" options. Order smart with these 7 Rules of Healthy Fast Food.)

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Summary: Nothing is harder than staying lean when your health and welfare is at the hands of a series of short-order cooks and Hell's Kitchen wannabes. Your ta...


1. Join All In for Tuesday night’s State of the Union coverage! We’ll start by tracing the trajectory of the battle over low-wage workers with Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, California Rep. Barbara Lee, and former Labor Secretary Robert Reich. President Obama is reportedly set to announce an increase in the minimum wage for federal workers on new government contracts during tonight’s address.

2. We’re also tracking responses from the other side of the aisle. Remember Sen. Marco Rubio’s SOTU rebuttle? Republican Rep. Cathy McMorris-Rogers takes her turn tonight after President Obama.

3. Plus, what will the president say about recent marajuana legalization efforts? The Obamacare rollout? Former Obama adminsitration speechwriter Jon Lovett joins with Demos’ Heather McGhee and strategist Tara Dowdell.

Stay with msnbc tonight for live coverage of the State of the Union address with Chris Hayes, Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Lawrence O’Donnell and Rev. Al Sharpton.

Summary: All In Agenda for January 28.


UPDATED 04/30/2014 at 12:45 PM EDT • Originally published 04/30/2014 at 11:45 AM EDT

Chelsea Lee James (left) and Beyoncé

Chelsea Lee James Support Page/Facebook

fan has died, and the singer paid her respects with a gift of 90 white roses.

After a lifelong battle with leukemia,

died on April 21; she was just 15 years old. One of Australia's most visible Beyoncé fans, James appeared in a famous concert clip with the pop diva and had made multiple appearances at the singer's Australian concerts.

To console James's parents, Beyoncé sent them a bouquet of roses, along with a message of emotional support:

"Love and prayers to you and your family," Beyoncé wrote. "Chelsea was a beautiful girl and I am so happy I was able to meet her. She touched my heart, and I will never forget her."

The pair first met in 2009, when Beyoncé brought James onstage at a concert in Sydney to serenade her with "Halo":

When the singer returned to Australia four years later for her

, then dedicated her performance of the Destiny's Child song "Survivor" to Chelsea's bravery.

"You have no idea how happy you made me seeing you," Beyoncé texted Chelsea after the show. "I will see you next time I'm in Australia."

Summary: 15-year-old Chelsea Lee James famously sang "Halo" with Beyoncé at a 2009 concert


December 5, 1968. The day of the release of their album "BEGGARS BANQUET' in the Elizabethan Room of the Gore Hotel in Queensgate, London, the ROLLING STONES, who had invited journalists to the famous "banquet of the homeless in order to ensure promotion of the record, are battling with cream tarts at the end of the "banquet"Picture: Getty

Summary: We are told to stop doing most fun things at an early age: full-body tantrums,   giggling in church and throwing food all rate highly. That final one is   reserved for when grown-up words just will not do...


Artist Ian Davenport in his studio in Peckham. Photograph: Graeme Robertson

Vivid pools of paint cover the floor, flecks of colour camouflage the white studio walls and a drum kit sits, pristine, in the corner.

The drums, says Turner-nominated artist Ian Davenport from his Peckham studio, are an essential part of the process of producing his vast canvases covered with dripping paint.

"It's quite a performative kind of painting. These works have a very digitalised, sort of pulsing rhythm that goes through them yet they are still about colour and line. I'm really interested in that idea of beats and pulses and how you put it together."

A contemporary of the group of Goldsmith art-school students who became known as the Young British Artists (YBAs), Davenport was among those who exhibited at Damien Hirst's landmarkFreeze exhibition in 1988.

In 1991 he became the youngest nominee for the Turner prize and Hirst, who recently wrote the introduction to a book of Davenport's work, still credits him for inspiring his spot paintings. Davenport's first retrospective in Britain, titled Colourfall, opens Wednesday.

Rather than painting, Davenport now uses a syringe to create his glossy abstract works, carefully squirting paint into the canvas and letting it drip down in a perfectly straight line, till it merges in a chaos of colour at the bottom – a process that took him almost a decade to perfect.Davenport said: "It's about trying to hold onto something that is quite controlled and balanced and then something which is free and uncontrolled. It is that paradox that makes these paintings so interesting in my mind.

"The movement of the paint is of real interest to me, it's about how you control the fluid but also how the liquid of the paint creates shapes itself independently. It's quite an unusual viewing experience. I'm just really into paint and materials."

He continues: "I appreciate that it is a simple concept in many ways, but that's where the beauty lies. I never expected that something so simple would open up so much, but just by sampling different colours together in different combinations, allowing them to drip and flow into one another on the canvas, it is almost like being a composer playing around with notes, it's almost inexhaustible what you can do with it."

The distinctive character and scale of Davenport's work caught the attention of Southwark council, who in 2006 commissioned him to create a piece of artwork that would reinvigorate the dank underpass beneath Western railway bridge. His 48m-long creation, named Poured Lines, is one of the largest pieces of public artwork in Europe and has since become a London landmark. He is now in talks to create another mammoth piece of public art for an "unnamed government building".

Davenport's influences are as colourful and diverse as the paintings themselves. Included in the upcoming exhibition is a new work, Colourfall: Holbein, which takes unlikely inspiration from Hans Holbein's 15th-century painting The Ambassadors.

"Holbein's painting is really about red and green and black, and how the colours punctuate the space, so I've broken that down in my painting, using his unique colour palette against a dark green background. And I also think there is something rather beautiful about how the distorted skull in the Holbein is echoed in the paint lines that merge at the bottom of my work."

In another work, Puddle Painting: Blue Study (after Van Gogh), Davenport explores the "brilliant" colour palette used in Van Gogh paintings, juxtaposing similar blues and oranges through drips and lines on his canvas.

Yet in his determination to ensure his work is full of "energy and joy", Davenport drew from popular culture as well as the old Masters, with two of the new works for the Colourfall exhibition, titled Second Series, directly inspired by the colour palette of The Simpsons.

He said: "I just got a Simpsons DVD and I was just flicking though and lifting the colours from certain areas. It gives me something to react to, and stops my paintings from being too arbitrary. Some of the colours are very poppy, but the colours do wander into these darker areas which I think captures the flickering movement of the animation."

Davenport describes the upcoming exhibition as a "snapshot" of a career that has been constantly about exploring paint.

"The paintings speak for themselves and they are about having fun," he added. "So much of art has become over-intellectualised and it's not what grabbed me as an artist. I was just drawn to materials and wanted to have fun and play around with colour. It's that simple."

• Colourfall runs until 12 July. Phone: 020-7851 2200. Venue: Waddington Custot galleries, London W1.

Summary: Turner-nominated artist and YBA explains why the beauty in his colourful, dripping syringe artworks lies in their simplicity


Reporter: Before the DNA test come back on Michael Jones, detective Alan Foote gets an unexpected visit from inn budnytska. She came to my office and said, she didn't know if she was dreaming or if it...

Reporter: Before the DNA test come back on Michael Jones, detective Alan Foote gets an unexpected visit from inn budnytska. She came to my office and said, she didn't know if she was dreaming or if it was a reality, but she remembers being in the hotel room and sitting on the bed and across from her was a black male. Reporter: Wow. Wow is right. Reporter: Detective foot shows inn a photo lineup, including a photo of Jones. And he asks me if I recognize anybody. And I chose a person from the lineup. This is the person who basically -- who raped me. Reporter: It's all starting to come together. And then the DNA results finally arrive. So you got the DNA results. What did you think at that moment? I called ken up and I said, you're not going to believe this. Detective Foote calls me up, he says, hey, ken, you're not going to believe this. He goes, it's him. I go, no, yeah, no kidding. Reporter: What was that moment like? Oh, it was total elation, you know. I was happy. Reporter: It's enough for an arrest warrant and a trip back to Maryland to see Michael Jones. Now, it's time to make an arrest. Right. Reporter: How does that happen? I fly to Frederick, Maryland. I meet up with ken Brennan and members of the Frederick police department. I fill them in, that I have got the warrant. So, we all head out. We're caravanning like John Wayne and the wagon train where the cavalry is coming because we're going to go get our guy and we go to his apartment -- and there he is. We knock on the door and he comes to the door and he answers. And we look at each other face to face, and I said, "I told you I'd be back." You are being charged with rape, all right? She says I raped her? We already have the hit on the DNA. Okay? Now, it's just a question of interrogating him and seeing if I can get this guy to roll on it. Reporter: In this interrogation room, Foote and Brennan begin a good cop/bad cop routine. Look at these. . I didn't do that. You were there. I did not do that. You were there. Reporter: And Jones tries to explain away the DNA match. Once we started to throw the fact that, obviously, he was under arrest for this kidnapping and rape, his story changed. Give us your version of what went down. And you only get one chance at it. All right, I'm going to be straight up. I know the only thing he's going to come up with is, "She was a prostitute. I paid for her. She was fine when I left her. I have no idea what happened to her after." Because they already have their cover story, okay? Reporter: Sure enough, Jones claims he went out with his friend in the Mercury t-shirt to a strip club that night. As he returned to the hotel, he says he saw inn hanging out front with some other women. Obviously, they were hookers or whatever. And you know, we were talking to her like, you know, "What to have some fun?" Okay? And then what happens next? Did you go to her room? Did she go to your room? We went to her room. You went to her room? Uh-huh. And then, you know, she -- she whispers in my ear, "A hundred bucks." So we did it and I gave her a hundred bucks and I left. Easy victim. Easy victim for everybody. Easy to blame you. Easy to blame. And then what happened after that? After you had sex with her? I went back to my room. So, you don't know what happened to her? That's what you are telling me, right? Yes sir. Reporter: Unfortunately for Jones, the hotel cameras tell a different story. It's true that he and his friend were talking to some women at 3:33 when inn left to get that phone card. But look. She walks right by without ever talking to anybody. There wasn't any kind of an exchange between the two of them that would have been indicative at all of somebody slis soliciting a prostitute or a prostitute soliciting a John. Reporter: And then there's this. The hotel records show that Jones didn't check out of his room until February 22nd, one full day after the attack. So, why would he be seen leaving with his suitcase at 5:28 the morning before, only to return without it an hour later? So he put his suitcase in the trunk of the car. But he never came back to get the suitcase. Whooid you leave the hotel when you weren't supposed to, you still had another day to stay? Reporter: Here's Jones' explanation. I took my Downstairs and put it in the trunk. I think I went to 7-eleven or something for a soda. In the middle of the night? Not in the morning when you're checking out -- Because I wasn't sure when we were leaving, that day or the next day. Reporter: Still, a sympathetic jury might overlook those questionmarks and accept Jones' account, reducing this to a case of "He says" -- I did not hurt her in any Kind of way. Reporter: And "She can't really remember." The memory was not clear because -- it's -- probably because of -- I don't know. But this is the one opportunity that you have to be able to show to the jury, what a liar this person is. Even though he's calm and he's cool and he looks like he hasn't done a thing in the world, it was my job to be able to show that he's a liar. Reporter: So Brennan begins circling around that moment he believes is the key to the case -- the suitcase and the tell-tale tug. So, the only way is to draw him in little by little. Little by little. And that's what I did. I set him up, ask him some question, let him give some innocuous answer, and then I come back to it later. Well, let's -- let's back up a little bit. I said, well, you're here on the video, you're leaving. Where were you going? He says, oh, I was going out to my car. What stuff did you bring out to your car? All I had was my suitcase. Let me ask you this. What did you have in your bag when you went out to your car? My clothes. How much clothes did you have? Just a bunch of . I was there two weeks. How much stuff? Reporter: A pause. For the first time, Jones is jammed up. You could just see the wheels turning and he's saying, oh, I got to come up with a scenario. Why is this heavier than it appears to be? How much clothes, did you have bowling balls in it? Was it fairly light? It was heavy. I had my xbox in there. Xbox in there, anything else? Clothes? How many pairs of shoes? Clothes, books. You had books? How many books did you have? Oh, I had five of them. Oh, you had five books. How big were they? Oh, big novels. You're an avid reader? I read a lot. What kind of Reading do you do? Science fiction. Science fiction? Reporter: But then, this avid reader suddenly has a case of amnesia. What was the name of the books you were Reading? I have no idea. I couldn't tell what you the name of the book was I just took out of my pocket. Well, what's the book you've been Reading right now? I couldn't tell you. Reporter: By now, Brennan's had enough. Everything you're saying doesn't add up. It doesn't make sense. What doesn't make sense? Your timeline stinks. Your story stinks. The whole story stinks. Reporter: He's sure Jones is lying and more importantly, he believes any jury viewing this video will think so, too. Because any of the things he was talking about made absolutely no sense whatsoever. Who goes and leaves, takes their clothes out to the car two days before they check out? Nobody. Who is 6'4", wakes 380 pounds, has some underwear and an xbox in a suitcase and needs two hands to pull it out of a crack? Nobody. Doesn't make sense. Doesn't make sense because it's all . What is true is that he already beat this girl, he's dragging her out. He's gone for an hour because he's looking for a place to dump her because he thinks she's dead. Reporter: Maybe so, but throughout the interrogation -- Would you be willing to take a polygraph exam? Sure. Reporter: And a polygraph test right after. So, you don't know what happened to her or how it happened to her? No. Reporter: Jones maintains total innocence. He played his role right to the very, bitter end. Reporter: Jones is charged with sexual battery and kidnapping. But before any trial begins, the case against him will nearly fall apart. The defense is about to get a big assist from, of all people, the victim. I was afraid this guy was just going to get let off. He was going to walk.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

Summary: Act 9: Jones claims Inna was a prostitute that he paid for and denies hurting her.


FORTUNE — Jan Rezab takes a sip of his tea and wrinkles his nose. “This isn’t right,” he mutters. “This isn’t English breakfast.”

“Maybe it just hasn’t steeped enough yet,” a colleague offers. Rezab sets it down, sighs, and bounces his knee impatiently.

It’s a quiet winter’s morning in Manhattan’s Meatpacking district, where snowflakes are piling into modest drifts created by the yellow taxi cabs as they roll by on slippery cobblestone streets. Rezab, the chief executive of the Prague-based social analytics company Socialbakers, has just flown across the Atlantic for New York’s Social Media Week, where he will be glad-handing with technologists and delivering a speech about how companies can use social media channels to compete with each other for customers.

Before his week’s schedule overtakes him — tea or not, Rezab will need all the caffeine he can get — he has retreated to The Standard Grill, mostly empty at this early hour, for scrambled eggs and toast. He thumbs through his phone’s inbox with anxiety. It’s understandable: In four minutes, his company will announce that it has raised $26 million in a Series C funding round led by Index Ventures, bringing the company’s total raised to $34.3 million. It’s one of the largest hauls by a non-U.S. “social” company to date and a staggering sum for a technology that many businesses just a few years ago thought was a novelty at best.

MORE: Gemvara founder’s new startup wants to help you be happier at work

“It used to be, ‘Let’s get some fans and we’ll see how it pans out,'” he says. “That’s not R.O.I., that’s R.O.-ego. It all starts with reach and engagement, specifically on the post level.” Which happens to be one of the things his company measures.

Since its founding in Prague in late 2008, Socialbakers has grown from four founders to 250 employees and attracted high-profile clients like Samsung, LVMH, Diageo, and Johnson & Johnson. In addition to its headquarters in the Czech Republic, the company has offices in Singapore, Paris, New York, and Munich, and claims to have grown revenue 300% in 2013.

“Social media is evolving. It’s not enough to just manage it,” Rezab says. “That’s why we focus on competitive analytics — how you’re performing versus the entire category. ‘Okay, every day, I’m reaching 40 million people using social media, and 100,000 are interacting with me on a daily basis.’ That’s why half the world’s airlines use us. They do make money on social media — for customer service.”

Rezab says the millions will go toward international expansion and “building and improving the product around its core capabilities.” Though he won’t rule out the possibility that Socialbakers could be acquired by another company, as was the fate of the first wave of social analytics companies, he bristles at the notion that industry stalwarts like Adobe ADBE , IBM IBM , and Oracle ORCL have comparable expertise in the creation of genuinely deep social insights for businesses.

MORE: How one founder used Instagram likes to earn $500K in new business

“Social media has changed the expectation of the user; people expect a response right away,” he says. “You used to wait 30 days for a letter! Now you expect something in 30 minutes on the company’s Facebook page. It connected people to brands in a better and faster way. Brands are coming to accept the dialogue. So we can present to people on a board [of directors] the top 10 problems a company is having. It’s much easier to organize this than from letters or call centers. You categorize problems and you give the board of a company a view on that. They have a list.”

Index Ventures partner Jan Hammer says he backed Rezab and company because online marketing has fundamentally changed. “Customers interact differently,” Hammer says. “You need a holistic approach to the category, which Socialbakers has. They’ve taken the thesis that everything will become digital and ultimately social. That’s the underlying everything that a brand will do. The brand’s job is the same — find customers, sell to them, retain them, nurture more. The customer is the same person. What they are doing is equipping the brand to live in the new environment.”

Back at breakfast, the news has finally hit the wires, and the e-mail is already rushing in. “Look at that,” Rezab says, pushing aside his plate of eggs and thumbing across the display of his phone. “One hundred fifty new e-mails in the last four minutes.” And hundreds of mentions on social media channels, of course.

MORE: How to repair a ravaged reputation

Outside, the density of falling snow has thinned, and the chalky country drifts have begun to collapse into a brown urban slurry. “It’s going to rain,” Rezab says, frowning as he fastens the buttons on his overcoat. Not exactly the best forecast for a jam-packed Social Media Week.

“As a business, social is getting bigger,” he says. “It’s a market that’s not penetrated fully. It’s still uncharted space.” He glances at his phone and chuckles. “I think I’m the only person who hasn’t tweeted out the news.” And with that, Rezab steps out onto the sidewalk and toward the soft white horizon.

Summary: Fortune meets with CEO Jan Rezab on the morning that his Czech social analytics company raises $26 million.