Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Trump says he’s “fixed” F-35 program after less than month in office

Arc Technica reports Trump says he’s “fixed” F-35 program after less than month in office "But nothing has really changed with the F-35 program since Trump took office."

SCOTUS Nominee Neil Gorsuch

Here's SCOTUSblog's Potential nominee profile: Neil Gorsuch

Here's another SCOTUSblog article, Judge Neil Gorsuch – Colorado native and Washington, D.C., veteran

And here's a take by Georgetown law professor Neal K. Katyal, an acting solicitor general in the Obama administration, Why Liberals Should Back Neil Gorsuch

Overall he seems like a reasonable conservative pick. I'm happy to hear he's a good writer. I'm also happy that it seems he might limit the President's powers. Of course, I don't like most of his views on social issues. The real problem is that this is Trump's 12th day in office and I thought President's could only nominate Justices in their first week. Shouldn't we wait until the election so the people can make their views known?

Astronaut Twin Study Hints at Stress of Space Travel

Nature reports Astronaut twin study hints at stress of space travel "Preliminary results are in from NASA’s unprecedented twin study — a detailed probe of the genetic differences between astronaut Scott Kelly, who spent nearly a consecutive year in space, and his identical twin Mark. Measurements taken before, during and after Scott Kelly’s mission reveal changes in gene expression, DNA methylation and other biological markers that are likely to be attributable to his time in orbit."

We don't have a lot of details yet, but apparently the findings are interesting.

What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class

Just after the election Joan C. Williams wrote in the Harvard Business Review, What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class. It's the best explanation for the election outcome I've seen so far. Nothing to do with vote counts or anything, just about the mindset of people I would otherwise describe as voting against their own self interest.

The Center Right’s Simple Message for Trump: It Didn’t Have to be This Way

Tara Golshan in Vox, The center right’s simple message for Trump: it didn’t have to be this way "‘When Ronald Reagan spoke on foreign policy, tyrants sat uneasy on their thrones and dissidents and refugees took heart,’ Gerson writes. ‘When Donald Trump speaks on foreign policy, tyrants rest easier and dissidents and refugees lose hope.’"

After Meeting With Pharma Lobbyists, Trump Drops Promise to Negotiate Drug Prices

Matthew Yglesias writes After meeting with pharma lobbyists, Trump drops promise to negotiate drug prices "Today, after a meeting with pharmaceutical industry lobbyists and executives, he abandoned that pledge, referring to an idea he supported as recently as three weeks ago as a form of ‘price fixing’ that would hurt ‘smaller, younger companies.’ Instead of getting tough, Trump’s new plan is that he’s ‘going to be lowering taxes’ and ‘getting rid of regulations.’"

If there were ever a red line for Republicans, Trump crossed it Friday. Or not.

I really liked this Catherine Rampell opinion piece in The Washington Post, If there were ever a red line for Republicans, Trump crossed it Friday. Or not..

We have a president with pronounced authoritarian tendencies, who believes he “alone can fix it”; who signs sweeping executive orders reportedly without even briefing relevant Cabinet members on the logistical, humanitarian and national security consequences; who directs his staff and surrogates to lie about the tiniest and most ridiculous and easily fact-checkable of details; and whose staffers brought us to the brink of a constitutional crisis when they ignored federal court orders.

She goes on to list (with substantiating links) the various GOP principles he's already violated that the GOP Congress has chosen to ignore. I think it's the best summation of the case I've seen so far, though I don't think it's quite impeachable yet; but Trump is moving fast.

Monday, January 30, 2017

Hill Staffers Secretly Worked on Trump's Immigration Order

Hill staffers secretly worked on Trump's immigration order - POLITICO "Top aides to Donald Trump quietly worked with senior staffers on the House Judiciary Committee to draft the executive order curbing immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations, but the Republican committee chairman and party leadership were not informed, according to multiple sources involved in the process."

The work of the aides began during the transition period after the election and before Trump was sworn in.

Their work on the executive order meant the small group of staffers — conservative immigration hard-liners who, sources say, are close with attorney general nominee Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) — were among the only people on Capitol Hill who knew of the looming controversial policy.

GOP leaders, however, received no advance warning or briefings from the White House or Judiciary staff on what the executive order would do or how it would be implemented — briefings they still had not received as of Sunday night. Leaders, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), saw the final language only when reporters received it Friday night, according to multiple Hill sources.

Insiders told POLITICO that the botched rollout of the immigration executive order was coordinated for the most part by White House policy director Stephen Miller, a former Sessions staffer, and Trump senior strategist Steve Bannon.

No real surprise. Miller worked for Sessions. Both fed news stories to Bannon's Breitbart. All are immigration (not just "illegal immigration" but "immigration") hardliners. Bannon really just believes in a Eurocentric America. So they crafted all of this, Trump just let them run with it, and they tried to get their extreme views through (I assume they knew what they were doing with the green card holders). So far they've mostly succeeded, we'll see if it sticks and how many bridges they've burned.

Update: The LA Times writes White House aides who wrote Trump's travel ban see it as just the start.

Trump’s top advisors on immigration, including chief strategist Steve Bannon and senior advisor Stephen Miller, see themselves as launching a radical experiment to fundamentally transform how the U.S. decides who is allowed into the country and to block a generation of people who, in their view, won’t assimilate into American society.

The chief architects of Trump’s order, Bannon, Miller and National Security Advisor Michael T. Flynn, forged strong bonds during the presidential campaign.

The trio, who make up part of Trump’s inner circle, have a dark view of refugee and immigration flows from majority-Muslim countries, believing that if large numbers of Muslims are allowed to enter the U.S., parts of American cities will begin to replicate disaffected and disenfranchised immigrant neighborhoods in France, Germany and Belgium that have been home to perpetrators of terrorist attacks in Europe in recent years.

Within decades, Americans would have “the kind of large and permanent domestic terror threat that becomes multidimensional and multigenerational and becomes sort of a permanent feature,” one senior administration official argued.

“We don’t want a situation where, 20 to 30 years from now, it’s just like a given thing that on a fairly regular basis there is domestic terror strikes, stores are shut up or that airports have explosive devices planted, or people are mowed down in the street by cars and automobiles and things of that nature,” the official said.

Counter-terrorism experts have long noted that Muslim immigrants in the U.S. are better assimilated and less likely to be radicalized than immigrants in many European cities.

Terrorism in America After 9/11

The New America Foundation has a report on Terrorism in America After 9/11 "A comprehensive, up-to-date source of online information about terrorist activity in the United States and by Americans overseas since 9/11". So far there are five parts, all short, with nice graphics.

Terrorism cases

Citizenship

Jihadist vs right wing

Metallic hydrogen, once theory, becomes reality

Phys.org reports Metallic hydrogen, once theory, becomes reality. "The material - atomic metallic hydrogen - was created by Thomas D. Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences Isaac Silvera and post-doctoral fellow Ranga Dias. In addition to helping scientists answer fundamental questions about the nature of matter, the material is theorized to have a wide range of applications, including as a room-temperature superconductor. The creation of the rare material is described in a January 26 paper published in Science."

It goes on to describe it's possible uses. The NY Times reports that there's some skepticism, Hydrogen Squeezed Into a Metal, Possibly Solid, Harvard Physicists Say. "But in the small but contentious field of high-pressure physics, some scientists who perform similar experiments were harshly skeptical and wondered how the research passed peer review at a top journal like Science."

There's been other reports of its creation but without looking into it much it's not clear to me if those were all debunked.

Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump

FiveThirtyEight started a site that's worth bookmarking, Tracking Congress In The Age Of Trump. "An updating tally of how often every member of the House and the Senate votes with or against the president." Details here.

I think this is really useful, though I have one reservation. Since I've been blogging we have mroe and more sites that rate our representatives on their votes. That's great, I love transparency and I like that this is more easily available via the Web. However, usually this is broken down into a binary yes/no based on ideologies. The result is candidates are evaluated in primaries based on purity. 95% on abortion (pick your side for or against) isn't good enough, why aren't you 100%? I don't think that's been good for the country. Remember the "I was for it before I was against it" debacle of John Kerry. I'm not sure of a solution.

Anyway, after 8 votes, here's my Trump Score:

  • SENATE: Nikki Haley as Ambassador to UN - YES. She had no international experience and her positions on world affairs aren't known. She's certainly skilled as Gov and GOP rising star. At least at one point she opposed Trump's Muslim ban.
  • HOUSE: Banning federal funds for abortion - NO.
  • SENATE: Mike Pompeo as CIA Director - NO. I'm not happy with anyone that is equivocal on torture. He's said we should re-establish bulk metadata collection.
  • SENATE: John Kelly as Sec of DHS - YES. I know less about him than other nominees. Seems well respected. Absent other info, I'd let the president have his pick.
  • SENATE: James Mattis as Sec of Def - YES. Seems to be one of Trumps saner picks, particularly in security.
  • BOTH: James Mattis waiver for Sec of Def - YES. I'm ok making an exception here.
  • BOTH: Repeal ACA - NO
  • HOUSE: The Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny Act of 2017 - NO. As best I understand this requires new congressional approval for regulations from federal agencies that have a $100 million effect on the economy.

So a 50% Trump Score overall. Broken down it's 25% for House votes and 66% for the Senate. So I'm not a complete knee-jerk liberal. :) I point out, that's more pro-Trump than my Rep Kennedy (0%) and more than my Sen. Markey (50%) and Sen. Warren (33%). I suspect, with a few more votes I'll get closer to them.

Sunday, January 29, 2017

Trump’s Horrifying Executive Order on Refugees and Visas

Benjamin Wittes at Lawfare has a detailed takedown: Malevolence Tempered by Incompetence: Trump’s Horrifying Executive Order on Refugees and Visas. He describes his background, he's no screaming liberal:

Let’s start with the malevolence of the document, which Amira Mikhail summarized and Adham Sahloul analyzed earlier today. I don’t use the word “malevolence” here lightly. As readers of my work know, I believe in strong counterterrorism powers. I defend non-criminal detention. I’ve got no problem with drone strikes. I’m positively enthusiastic about American surveillance policies. I was much less offended than others were by the CIA’s interrogations in the years after September 11. I have defended military commissions.

Some of these policies were effective; some were not. Some worked out better than others. And I don’t mean to relitigate any of those questions here. My sole point is that all of these policies were conceptualized and designed and implemented by people who were earnestly trying to protect the country from very real threats. And the policies were, to a one, proximately related to important goals in the effort. While some of these policies proved tragically misguided and caused great harm to innocent people, none of them was designed or intended to be cruel to vulnerable, concededly innocent people. Even the CIA’s interrogation program, after all, was deployed against people the agency believed (mostly correctly) to be senior terrorists of the most dangerous sort and to garner information from them that would prevent attacks.

I actually cannot say that about Trump’s new executive order—and neither can anyone else.

Read it, it's informative (and scary). I want to add a bit of snark. This is from the actual executive order, Section 1. Purpose, paragraph 3:

In order to protect Americans, the United States must ensure that those admitted to this country do not bear hostile attitudes toward it and its founding principles. The United States cannot, and should not, admit those who do not support the Constitution, or those who would place violent ideologies over American law. In addition, the United States should not admit those who engage in acts of bigotry or hatred (including "honor" killings, other forms of violence against women, or the persecution of those who practice religions different from their own) or those who would oppress Americans of any race, gender, or sexual orientation.

See I think this applies to Trump.

  • "do not support the Constitution" - the emoluments clause
  • "engage in acts of bigotry or hatred" - Mexicans are rapists and murders, "Islam hates us", mocking the disabled, encouraging violence at his rallies, his cabinet picks
  • "other forms of violence against women" - grab 'em by the pussy
  • "persecution of those who practice religions different from their own" - calls for a muslim ban and other comments
  • "oppress Americans of any race" - discriminations against black tenants, the central park five, tacit approval of KKK
  • "gender" - he's not doing honor killings though there are plenty of accusal of sexual assault. Evidence of misogyny is thin, but there's no question about a history of sexism
  • "sexual orientation" - he's against gay marriage and his VP pick is flagrantly homophobic

Friday, January 27, 2017

Trump’s Yuge Week One

Politico evaluates Trump’s Yuge Week One. It seems pretty fair to me, estimating both "immediate impact" and "potential importance" and in trying to take a step back from many little things and look at the big picture.

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Donald Trump’s definition of ‘voter fraud’ will apparently ensnare his own top adviser

This is entertaining. The Washington Post reports Donald Trump’s definition of ‘voter fraud’ will apparently ensnare his own top adviser.

Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that his "major investigation into VOTER FRAUD" would be "including those registered to vote in two states."

One of those people, as it happens, is apparently Stephen K. Bannon, Trump's chief White House strategist.

I think the Post points out fallacy in Trump's argument well.

Even if it was merely an honest mistake or paperwork glitch, it's an example of how two of the three things Trump says he wants investigated for "VOTER FRAUD" — dual registrants and "those registered to vote who are dead" — simply don't constitute fraud. These things happen quite a bit, almost always for non-nefarious reasons, and they aren't actually proof of the 3 million to 5 million illegal votes that Trump has baselessly claimed were cast in the 2016 election.

To make it more entetaining, Tiffany Trump Is Registered to Vote in Two States.

[T]he new president’s own daughter Tiffany Trump is registered to vote in both Pennsylvania and New York.

“There is nothing illegal about that,” said Fred Voigt, the deputy election commissioner for Philadelphia. “The illegality only occurs if one votes in two places, not if you’re registered in both.”

Tiffany Trump lived in Philadelphia while attending the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in May. Voigt said it was “very common for college students to be registered both where they live and where they go to school.”

Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Oscar Nominations

Oscar nominations came out today.

Leaving out the shorts here are the number of nominations per film (those checked I've seen):

  • [x] 14 La La Land
  • [x] 8 Arrival
  • [x] 8 Moonlight
  • [ ] 6 Hacksaw Ridge
  • [ ] 6 Lion
  • [x] 6 Manchester by the Sea
  • [ ] 4 Fences
  • [x] 4 Hell or High Water
  • [x] 3 Hidden Figures
  • [x] 3 Jackie
  • [ ] 2 A Man Called Ove
  • [ ] 2 Deepwater Horizon
  • [ ] 2 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
  • [ ] 2 Florence Foster Jenkins
  • [ ] 2 Kubo and the Two Strings
  • [ ] 2 Moana
  • [ ] 2 Passengers
  • [x] 2 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
  • [x] 1 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi
  • [ ] 1 13th
  • [x] 1 20th Century Women
  • [ ] 1 Allied
  • [x] 1 Captain Fantastic
  • [x] 1 Doctor Strange
  • [ ] 1 Elle
  • [ ] 1 Fire at Sea
  • [x] 1 Hail, Caesar!
  • [x] 1 I Am Not Your Negro
  • [ ] 1 Jim: The James Foley Story
  • [ ] 1 Land of Mine
  • [ ] 1 Life, Animated
  • [x] 1 Loving
  • [ ] 1 My Life as a Zucchini
  • [x] 1 Nocturnal Animals
  • [x] 1 O.J.: Made in America
  • [x] 1 Silence
  • [x] 1 Star Trek Beyond
  • [ ] 1 Suicide Squad
  • [x] 1 Sully
  • [ ] 1 Tanna
  • [ ] 1 The Jungle Book
  • [x] 1 The Lobster
  • [ ] 1 The Red Turtle
  • [ ] 1 The Salesman
  • [ ] 1 Toni Erdmann
  • [ ] 1 Trolls
  • [ ] 1 Zootopia

I've seen everything nominated in just one category, Original Screenplay. If I see just three, Hacksaw Ridge, Lion and Fences I'll complete 9 more. Then I need to see 7 more with two nominations, 16 more with one, and the shorts. The only categories I've seen none of the films, other than the shorts (and I've caught one of the animated ones), are Foreign Language and surprisingly Animated Feature.

I'm not particularly interested in Hacksaw Ridge but given it got six noms I'll see it. Other than the foreign language films I think the only one I hadn't heard of is Jim: The James Foley Story up for best song. There's nothing I really don't want to see, though I have only little interest in Suicide Squad, mostly to see how bad it is.

I liked but didn't love La La Land, so I'm not thrilled that it tied All About Eve and Titanic for most nominations with 14. Titantic went on to win 11 awards, tying the most with Ben-Hur and The Return of the King. I hope it doesn't tie those films, but I think they're both a bit overrated. All About Eve though is great, if you haven't seen it, see it!

Some of my favorite films of the year were shut out. I'm most disappointed about Swiss Army Man which I would have given a best picture nom and original screenplay (over any of the ones given) and I would have given it best score. I also really liked Miles Ahead and The Birth of a Nation. I also would have given Hunt for the Wilderpeople an original screenplay nom over anything nominated, it was hilarious and touching.

I did pretty well in my nomination predictions.

  • For Picture my 8 picks all got nominations and I just missed one for Hacksaw Ridge.
  • For Director I got 4 out of 5, missing Mel Gibson for Hacksaw Ridge for Scorsese's Silence.
  • For Actress I got 4 out of 5, missing Ruth Negga in Loving for Amy Adams in Arrival. I'm fine with that
  • For Actor I got 4 out of 5, missing Viggo Mortensen in Captain Fantastic for Joel Edgerton in Loving. I'm also fine with that.
  • For Supporting Actor I got 3 of 5, missing Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea and Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals
  • For Supporting Actress I got 5 out of 5.
  • For Adapted Screenplay I got 4 out of 5 missing Lion for Nocturnal Animals
  • For Original Screenplay I got 4 out of 5 missing The Lobster (which I hated) for Loving.
  • For Documentary I got 3 of 5 missing Fire at Sea and Life, Animated, neither of which I've seen.
  • For Animated Feature I got 5 out of 5, without having seen any of them

The Oscars are given out Sun Feb 26th.

Citi's Weird Security Processes

I got a call a phone call this morning, the Caller ID said "Unavailable". I answered and it said it was from Citibank fraud prevention and about my MasterCard and the automated voice said my full name from the account. It seemed real and shortly thereafter a woman came on and tried to verifiy I was who I said. I answered a couple of questions and then they wanted to send a text message and asked for a cell phone number. I said you called me and I'm not sure you are who you say you are. She said she understood and encouraged me to call the number on the back of the card which is the right thing.

So I hung up and did that. I called the customer service number and the automated system seemed to forward me directly to the fraud department. I got a guy this time. He wanted to verify I was who I said I was. He asked me for a cell phone number to send a text message. I gave it and said but that doesn't help since you're just sending the message to the number I told you to. He said that was a good point but they check the number in a database to verify it or something. Anyway somehow they never sent the text and that didn't help. I suspect this account never had my cell phone number but am not sure. He asked if I had other accounts with Citi, I said no, just an AmEx linked to the same account they sent me some time ago. He took the last five digits of that and said yes, since it was linked to the same account it didn't help. He asked if I had any car loans. I said no and this is ridiculous, he indistinguishable from a phisher. I said you called me, the agent told me to call back and said she'd write something in the account indicating this. I did and am calling from the landline linked to the account and you're asking me about the rest of my financial history when you should know that I don't have other Citi accounts.

He checked and said there was nothing he could do and that Citi Security Dept would call me in the next 24-48 hours and theres a hold on my account. I said that was fine, that I hadn't used the card in six months and that any recent charges on it are probably fraudulent. He said he'd make a note of it.

I suspect someone made some charges on the card and Citi noticed it hadn't been used in a while and that triggered an alert, that's great. I suppose that someone might have tried opening other accounts in my name and maybe he was seeing those on his screen (though he kept saying without passing security checks he couldn't see account details) but those accounts would have been recently created and therefore shouldn't be required to verify identity.

I get that Citi is trying to accurately verify I am who I say I am, but their processes have to make more sense. If I can't trust them when they call me (because I get about 4 spam calls a day) and they can't trust me when I call them (particularly right after they called me), then it can't ever work.

Monday, January 23, 2017

Oscar Nomination Predictions

Oscar nominations are going to be announced tomorrow morning. I don't usually do predictions for Oscar nominations but I'll take a shot this year. These are picks for what I think will be nominated, not what I think should be nominated. They are somewhat in order of most likely to least likely in each category and only in the big categories.

Picture:

  • Moonlight
  • La La Land
  • Manchester by the Sea
  • Arrival
  • Lion
  • Hidden Figures
  • Fences
  • Hell or High Water

Director:

  • Damien Chazelle, La La Land
  • Barry Jenkins, Moonlight
  • Kenneth Lonergan, Manchester by the Sea
  • Denis Villeneuve, Arrival
  • Martin Scorsese, Silence

Actress:

  • Natalie Portman, Jackie
  • Emma Stone, La La Land
  • Amy Adams, Arrival
  • Isabelle Huppert, Elle
  • Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

Actor:

  • Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
  • Denzel Washington, Fences
  • Ryan Gosling, La La Land
  • Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
  • Joel Edgerton, Loving

Supporting Actress:

  • Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
  • Viola Davis, Fences
  • Naomie Harris, Moonlight
  • Nicole Kidman, Lion
  • Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures

Supporting Actor:

  • Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
  • Dev Patel, Lion
  • Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Nocturnal Animals
  • Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
  • Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins

Adapted Screenplay:

  • Moonlight
  • Arrival
  • Fences
  • Hidden Figures
  • Nocturnal Animals

Original Screenplay:

  • La La Land
  • Manchester by the Sea
  • Hell or High Water
  • Loving
  • 20th Century Woman

Documentary Feature:

  • Cameraperson
  • O.J.: Made in America
  • 13th
  • Weiner
  • I Am Not Your Negro

Animated Feature:

  • Kubo and the Two Strings
  • Zootopia
  • Moana
  • The Red Turtle
  • My Life as a Zucchini

Saturday, January 21, 2017

Photos of the Women's Marches Around the World

The Atlantic has Photos of the Women's Marches Around the World "In Washington, DC, today, hundreds of thousands of protesters filled the streets in a demonstration called the Women’s March on DC, while even more marched in cities across the United States and around the world, one day after the inauguration of President Donald J. Trump. Larger-than-expected crowds of women and their allies raised their voices against the new administration, and in support of women's rights, health issues, equality, diversity and inclusion. Below are images of today’s marches in Washington, New York, Denver, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, and from other cities in England, Ghana, France, Canada, Serbia, Australia, Kenya, Germany, India, and many more."

Thursday, January 19, 2017

We’ve never seen global sea ice levels this low before

I've seen this story a few times in the past few weeks, Vox sums it up We’ve never seen global sea ice levels this low before and has the latest version of the scary chart. Basically, we're doomed.

NewImage

But ever since September, as the red line shows, global sea ice has utterly collapsed, following a pattern never seen before. On January 14, total sea ice extent was at its lowest level since satellite records began in 1978 — and likely the lowest it’s been for thousands of years. And yes, global warming is an important part of the story here.

Tracking Down a Fake News Writer

The New York Times tracked down a fake news writer From Headline to Photograph, a Fake News Masterpiece.

There was nothing especially Christian about his efforts, Mr. Harris admits; he had simply bought the abandoned web address for $5 at ExpiredDomains.net. Within a few days, the story, which had taken him 15 minutes to concoct, had earned him about $5,000. That was a sizable share of the $22,000 an accounting statement shows he made during the presidential campaign from ads for shoes, hair gel and web design that Google had placed on his site.

He had put in perhaps half an hour a week on the fake news site, he said, for a total of about 20 hours. He would come close to a far bigger payday, one that might have turned the $5 he had spent on the Christian Times domain into more than $100,000.

The money, not the politics, was the point, he insisted.

The Intercept went a little further, Major Fake News Operation Tracked Back to Republican Operative.

What Harris failed to mention to The Times, however, is that during the entire time that he was spreading lies about the Democratic presidential candidate, he was employed as a legislative aide and campaign manager for a Republican member of the Maryland state legislature, David Vogt III.

Harris also concealed from The Times that when he sat down to create his anti-Clinton fiction “at the kitchen table in his apartment,” he was living in Vogt’s basement in Brunswick, Maryland. As Maryland’s Frederick News-Post reported on Wednesday, an FEC filing related to Vogt’s failed race for Congress earlier this year listed the same home address for both the state lawmaker and his young campaign manager, Harris.

Though apparently Vogt had no idea and fired Harris as this story broke. I guess Vogt didn't pay his employees very well.

Do high-deductible plans make the health care system better?

Do high-deductible plans make the health care system better?

High-deductible plans push people to shop around for health treatments, often without the benefit of information on quality and price. That worries Amitabh Chandra, an economist and health care researcher at Harvard University. 

'Simply calling the patient a consumer doesn’t make buying health care anything like buying cars and computers,' said Chandra.

In fact, Chandra’s research shows that even higher-income earners with more economic flexibility do not really shop for health care efficiently, even when they're given a state-of-the-art computer program to compare prices. People on these plans tend to forgo all sorts of care, regardless of their own need and health status. 

'Prevention, imaging, or drugs — consumers were cutting back on all those. And that’s a sign they don’t really know what care is valuable and what care isn’t valuable,' said Chandra.

In health care research, a new consensus is forming, in part because of Chandra’s work: high-deductible plans with cheaper premiums work well for people who are generally healthy. But for those who are chronically ill or live on lower incomes, these plans can be a disaster. At any income level, in fact, they incentivize the consumer to cut back on care they may need.

The Best Image of Saturn's Moon Daphnis Ever Taken

Phil Plait on The Best Image of Saturn's Moon Daphnis Ever Taken. And It's a Stunner.

Cassini daphnis jan2017 590 jpg CROP original original

That’s the highest-resolution image of Daphnis ever taken; for scale, the flying-saucer-shaped moon is about 8 x 8 x 6 km in size. Measured from sea level, Mount Everest is roughly the same size. You can see some structure to Daphnis; there’s a ridge around its equator that’s probably due to ring particles that have piled up there, and a second ridge at higher latitude. The soft appearance to the moon is probably due to the accumulation of small grains of ice from the rings that have coated it, filling in the craters and other features.

That gap in the rings is real. It’s called the Keeler Gap, and it’s about 30-40 km wide. The width of the gap appears foreshortened because Cassini was just above the ring plane when it took the shot; it’s actually several times wider than the moon is long.

But, oh, those ripples! That, my friends, is the result of gravity. It’s a complicated and intricate dance between moon and rings, but it’s worth learning the moves."

Tuesday, January 17, 2017

Trump Bought Targeted Facebook Ads to Woo More People to His Inauguration. Sad.

The Verge reports Trump is using targeted Facebook ads to woo more people to his inauguration party. "The Tonight Show’s Marina Cockenberg posted about the inauguration ads on Twitter, which explain that Trump is attempting to lure New Yorkers ages 27 or older to his party."

The Array of Conflicts of Interest Facing the Trump Presidency

About a month ago the New York Times wrote The Array of Conflicts of Interest Facing the Trump Presidency with several nice little graphics showing it all clearly. Still no resolution from the Trump transition team.

You Draw It: What Got Better or Worse During Obama’s Presidency

The New York Times had a really neat interactive graphic, You Draw It: What Got Better or Worse During Obama’s Presidency. They show seven stats, showing the graph for the Bush years with space for the Obama years for you to fill in and then compare with history. I was pretty good on three of them. Right on average on two and grossly wrong on two. Give it a try.

Saturday, January 14, 2017

How to Prevent Gun Deaths? Where Experts and the Public Agree

The NYT’s Upshot charted How to Prevent Gun Deaths? Where Experts and the Public Agree. “We conducted a survey on 29 gun control ideas, looking for the intersection of effectiveness and popularity.”

NewImage

Our expert survey asked dozens of social scientists, lawyers and public health officials how effective each of 29 policies would be in reducing firearm homicide deaths, regardless of their political feasibility or cost. Policies deemed both effective and popular appear in the upper-right corner of the matrix. Less popular, less effective measures fall lower down and to the left.

The two policies ranked most effective were those requiring all sellers to run background checks on anyone who buys a gun, and barring gun sales to people convicted of violent misdemeanors, including domestic assaults. The experts were more skeptical of other much-debated proposals, including a national gun registry and an assault weapons ban. The idea of requiring states to honor out-of-state concealed weapon permits was ranked low.

The academics in our panel — many of the country’s best empirical researchers on gun policy — were far more likely than the general public to support gun control. But nearly all of the policies that experts think could work have widespread support from the general public.

The article goes much deeper, showing the graph highlighting: - What Does Trump Support? - What About Mass Shootings? - Measures Supported by Academics Opposed to Gun Control - Things Law Enforcement Likes

This is really an issue where the public wants more done and the GOP is entirely captured by the NRA which is captured by the gun industry and not the gun consumers.

(Via Kottke)

Here's What Really Caused The Housing Crisis

Since Lawrence Kudlow and Stephen Moore are now advisors to Trump, Mark Thoma explains yet again Here's what really caused the housing crisis.

“A lot of the narrative of the financial crisis has been that this [loan] origination process was broken, and therefore a lot of marginal and unsustainable borrowers got access to funding. In our opinion, the facts don’t line up with this narrative. … Calling this crisis a subprime crisis is a misnomer. In fact, it was a prime crisis.”

There are other reasons to doubt that subprime borrowers were responsible for the financial crisis. For one, a large number of subprime mortgages originated in non-CRA banks, and “none of the 300+ mortgage originators that imploded were depository banks covered by the CRA.”

As noted in a study by McClatchy from 2008, “Federal Reserve Board data show that more than 84 percent of the subprime mortgages in 2006 were issued by private lending institutions;” “private firms made nearly 83 percent of the subprime loans to low- and moderate-income borrowers that year;” and “only one of the top 25 subprime lenders in 2006 was directly subject to the housing law that’s being lambasted by conservative critics.”

A second question to ask is why, if the CRA and subprime borrowing were the problem, did a very similar housing bubble and financial crisis occur in scores of other countries that didn’t have legislation like this?

A third argument, the one Kudlow and Moore cite, is that declining lending standards by Fannie and Freddie brought about by the requirements of the CRA helped fuel subprime loans. But once again, this argument doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

As Barry Ritholtz pointed out in 2011, “The relative market share of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dropped from a high of 57 percent of all new mortgage originations in 2003, down to 37 percent as the bubble was developing in 2005–06.”

The reason Fannie and Freddie were losing market share is that loan standards on mortgages issued by private lenders were falling. Fannie and Freddie eventually adjusted some of their conditions for obtaining a loan in an attempt to prevent a further loss in market share, but it’s very clear that they were followers, not leaders, in the erosion of lending standards.

Update: More here: Why these economists say the usual explanation for the financial crisis is wrong

The Elements of Life Mapped Across the Milky Way

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey have mapped the elements of life across the Milky Way

‘For the first time, we can now study the distribution of elements across our Galaxy,’ says Sten Hasselquist of New Mexico State University. ‘The elements we measure include the atoms that make up 97% of the mass of the human body.’

The new results come from a catalog of more than 150,000 stars; for each star, it includes the amount of each of almost two dozen chemical elements. The new catalog includes all of the so-called ‘CHNOPS elements’ – carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur – known to be the building blocks of all life on Earth. This is the first time that measurements of all of the CHNOPS elements have been made for such a large number of stars.

While humans are 65% oxygen by mass, oxygen makes up less than 1% of the mass of all of elements in space. Stars are mostly hydrogen, but small amounts of heavier elements such as oxygen can be detected in the spectra of stars. With these new results, APOGEE has found more of these heavier elements in the inner Galaxy. Stars in the inner galaxy are also older, so this means more of the elements of life were synthesized earlier in the inner parts of the Galaxy than in the outer parts.

While it’s fun speculate what impact the inner Galaxy’s composition might have on where life pops up, we are much better at understanding the formation of stars in our Galaxy. Because the processes producing each element occur in specific types of stars and proceed at different rates, they leave specific signatures in the chemical abundance patterns measured by SDSS/APOGEE. This means that SDSS/APOGEE’s new elemental abundance catalog provides data to compare with the predictions made by models of galaxy formation.

Also they’ve updated Origin of the Elements in the Solar System.

NewImage

Friday, January 13, 2017

A Woman Was Killed By a Superbug Resistant to All 26 American Antibiotics

The Atlantic reports A Woman Was Killed By a Superbug Resistant to All 26 American Antibiotics

Funny—by which we all mean scary—because yesterday afternoon, the CDC also released a report about a Nevada woman who died after an infection resistant to 26 antibiotics, which is to say all available antibiotics in the U.S. The woman, who was in her 70s, had been previously hospitalized in India after fracturing her leg, which led to an infection of the bone. There was nothing to treat her infection—not colistin, not other last-line antibiotics. Scientists later tested the bacteria that killed her, and found it was somewhat susceptible to fosfomycin, but that antibiotic is not approved in the U.S. to treat her type of infection.

The most worrisome kind of colistin resistance is caused by a single gene called mcr–1. The bacteria that killed this woman did not have mcr–1; it’s still unclear how they became resistant. Other cases of colistin resistance have emerged before though. What makes mcr–1 special is that sits on a loop of free-floating DNA called a plasmid, which bacteria of different species can pass back and forth. And there are many plasmids out there with genes that confer resistance to this or that class of antibiotics.

Why patients blame the weather for aching joints

Turns out, the weather doesn’t make your joint ache any more or less. Why patients blame the weather for aching joints

In the new study on knee osteoarthritis, the researchers asked 345 patients to log onto a website every time their pain flared up for eight hours or more — and then the team linked those episodes to the temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, and precipitation recorded in that patient’s neighborhood around that time by the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. The researchers also looked at the weather on days when the patients had no flare-ups. They found no significant relationship between pain and any kind of weather change. The same was true for the study on back pain.

Thursday, January 12, 2017

Last Night's Political Comedies

I watched a fair amount of the Jeff Sessions hearings yesterday. Samantha Bee is the only one I’ve seen report on the scariest thing I heard him say. When Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asked if secular federal attorney’s had anything to worry about he flustered.

Whitehouse: And secular person has just as good a claim to understanding the truth as a person who is religious Sessions: Well I’m not so sure.

That’s really not out of context.

Trevor Noah had Johnathan Chait on to talk about his new book, which sounds very good.

And Jimmy Fallon had a cute segment with Michelle Obama

Monday, January 09, 2017

Movie Review: Hidden Figures

I’ve seen a number of bio-pics from the 30s and 40s about people like Madame Curie, Lou Gehrig, Louis Pasteur, Thomas Edison and famous presidents and patriots and I wonder why they don’t make movies like this anymore? Yes they covered up character flaws and weren’t always the most historically accurate, but they were dramatizations and could make you feel good and want to research the people more. Isn’t that valuable? Didn’t Shakespear do that?

Well this year they made one like that again. Hidden Figures is the little known story of NASA’s “colored computers”, African-American women who did a lot of the number crunching for the space program. Yes there were white wome who did that too but as you might imagine, the black women faced even more difficulties. Hidden Figures Movie vs the True Story of Katherine Johnson, NASA explains some of the liberties the movie took. Nevertheless, these women were exceptional individuals and this movie is an exceptionally well told story.

10 Years Ago: iPhone Intro

Ten years ago Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to the world and changed what the term “smart phone” meant. It was probably his greatest demo. If you have a an hour and a half watch it here. Warning, once I started I couldn’t stop.

I had forgotten some of the innovations:

  • Visual Voicemail
  • Separate ongoing sms conversations
  • a widescreen touch based iPod with coverflow
  • the accelerometer that could switch between portrait and landscape
  • multitouch - listen to the cheers at scrolling and pinch-to-zoom
  • I forgot about WAP, good riddance
  • I have no memory of Apple making an old-style one ear bluetooth headset
  • It was at this event that they changed their name from Apple Computer to Apple

Some things are now quaint:

  • The “giant” 3.5" 160ppi screen
  • Sync’ing everything with iTunes was a feature
  • How slowly web pages loaded, but how fast it seemed
  • Yahoo Mail was the biggest mail provider and it was a big deal that push iMAP was free
  • 4GB and 8GB models

Here’s my post about the keynote and shortly thereafter on some notable limitations.

Friday, January 06, 2017

Snow Prediction

I’m no meteorologist but I’ll hazard a snow prediction (it’s more like a hope). I noticed that this century we’re in a 5 year pattern of low snowfall. So I’m going to guess Boston will get less than 20" of snow this winter. Of course I’m saying that having gotten 5.9 inches in Dec, an inch today and about 3 more expected tomorrow. Still, fingers crossed.

BOS Snowfall Chart

Thursday, January 05, 2017

Movies Seen in 2016

Previous Years: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011

In 2016 I saw 259 feature length movies and 49 short films (those under 40 mins). That’s the most I’ve seen in a year other than 2011 where I went crazy and saw 366 features and 30 short films.

84% Features and 16% Shorts

80% first run features is basically average for me.

Features were 80% first run, Shorts 98%

I rate on the Netflix 5 point scale where 1 is hated, 2 is didn’t like, 3 is I liked it, 4 is really liked and 5 is loved.

Features: 1:8, 2:47, 3:102, 4:83, 5:19

I had a pretty average curve for me.

Feature ratings by year back to 2009

I saw 83 features in the theater and most of the rest on cable. I only watched 3 films on Netlix this year, none on DVD or Blu-ray and only 1 online.

Screen Shot 2017 01 05 at 12 29 56 PM

I’ve got a few theaters I go to regularly, though the Somerville gets so much because of IFFBoston. The shorts I see in the theater are the Oscar nominees, this year I saw them at the Kendall, the others at the Somerville are some shorts packages at IFFBoston. Assembly Row opened in 2015, it’s nice but I only made it 4 times.

Screen Shot 2017 01 05 at 12 36 49 PM

My monthly viewing was a little odd with big months in January, July and December. Maybe I just binged in weather that was too cold or too hot. This year IFFBoston was split over the end of April and beginning of May so neither month peaked too high. But I caught 40 of the 2016 films, 18 features, and 22 shorts.

Screen Shot 2017 01 05 at 12 37 41 PM

Yet again, my viewing was really skewed towards recent films this year. I saw 79 features from 2016 and 67 from 2015. All the shorts I saw were from 2014 or later.

Screen Shot 2017 01 05 at 12 45 57 PM

Last year April was the only barren month for Oscar nominated films, this year it’s just February which seems odd, I guess I caught all the nominees in Jan or during the year. These are films from any year that got a nomination or won, not just from last year’s Oscars. They also (obviously) don’t include any films that came out this year that will get nominated later this month.

Screen Shot 2017 01 05 at 12 47 40 PM

Yet again I feel like I need to see more foreign films:

5 foreign features and 214 US features, 11 foreign shorts and 38 US shorts

I break down films into five genres that I’m pretty happy with. I then use some sub-genres and I still have a hard time putting every film in one. There are lots of Dramas and Comedies that have no sub-genre. But here’s how it looks for this year:

Screen Shot 2017 01 05 at 12 58 56 PM

Below are all the films I saw in 2016:

SeenTitleYearLengthCountryRating
Jan 3Top Five2014FeatureUS4
Jan 3Shadow of the Thin Man1941FeatureUS3
Jan 3The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel2015FeatureBritain3
Jan 3The Billion Dollar Brain1967FeatureBritain2
Jan 3What We Do In the Shadows2014FeatureNew Zealand2
Jan 5The Hateful Eight2015FeatureUS4
Jan 9Mad Max: Fury Road2015FeatureAustralia5
Jan 9The Hundred-Foot Journey2014FeatureUS3
Jan 9Dear Albania2015FeatureUS3
Jan 10Joy2015FeatureUS2
Jan 14Cinderella2015FeatureBritain3
Jan 16Dead End1937FeatureUS4
Jan 16St. Vincent2014FeatureUS4
Jan 16Jackie Brown1997FeatureUS3
Jan 16Listen to Me Marlon2015FeatureBritain3
Jan 1652 Pick-Up1986FeatureUS2
Jan 17What Happened Miss Simone?2015FeatureUS3
Jan 17The Revenant2015FeatureUS3
Jan 18The Blue Bird1918FeatureUS2
Jan 19The Danish Girl2015FeatureBritain3
Jan 21The Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs2015FeatureUS4
Jan 22Carol2015FeatureUS2
Jan 23Avengers: Age of Ultron2015FeatureUS4
Jan 2445 Years2015FeatureBritain3
Jan 24Entourage2015FeatureUS2
Jan 25The Best Years of Our Lives1946FeatureUS4
Jan 25The Helen Morgan Story1957FeatureUS2
Jan 27The Imitation Game2014FeatureBritain4
Jan 28Winter on Fire2015FeatureUkraine4
Jan 30Sounder1972FeatureUS4
Jan 30Superbad2007FeatureUS4
Jan 31Bear Story2015ShortChile4
Jan 31Sanjay's Super Team2015ShortUS4
Jan 31We Can't Live Without Cosmos2015ShortRussia4
Jan 31Prologue2015ShortBritain4
Jan 31Catch It2015ShortFrance4
Jan 31World of Tomorrow2015ShortUS3
Jan 31If I Were God2015ShortCanada3
Jan 31The Loneliest Spotlight2015ShortUS3
Jan 31The Short Story of a Fox and a Mouse2015ShortFrance3
Feb 6Tomorrowland2015FeatureUS2
Feb 7Hail, Caesar!2016FeatureUS2
Feb 13Kingsman: The Secret Service2015FeatureBritain4
Feb 13The Leisure Class2015FeatureUS1
Feb 14Day One2015ShortUS5
Feb 14Shok2015ShortBritain4
Feb 14Stutterer2015ShortBritain4
Feb 14Ave Maria2015ShortFrance3
Feb 14Everything Will Be Okay2015ShortGermany3
Feb 21Magic Mike XXL2015FeatureUS3
Feb 21Deadpool2016FeatureUS3
Feb 28Rejected2000ShortUS2
Feb 29San Andreas2015FeatureUS1
Mar 1Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens2015FeatureUS4
Mar 2Knight of Cups2016FeatureUS1
Mar 6The Witch2016FeatureUS2
Mar 10Spy2015FeatureUS3
Mar 10Eye in the Sky2015FeatureBritain3
Mar 12Love & Mercy2015FeatureUS3
Mar 1310 Cloverfield Lane2016FeatureUS4
Mar 16Body Team 122015ShortLiberia4
Mar 19Avengers: Age of Ultron2015FeatureUS4
Mar 19Still Alice2014FeatureUS4
Mar 19Big Eyes2014FeatureUS3
Mar 20Tangerines2014FeatureEstonia4
Mar 20Hello, My Name is Doris2016FeatureUS3
Mar 30The Dark Horse2016FeatureNew Zealand3
Apr 3Midnight Special2016FeatureUS3
Apr 5Ori & Addison2014ShortUS4
Apr 5Hunter's Moon2015ShortUS3
Apr 5Knockturnal2016ShortUS2
Apr 13Ant-Man2015FeatureUS4
Apr 16Ricki and the Flash2015FeatureUS2
Apr 17We the People: The Market Basket Effect2016FeatureUS3
Apr 17Chappie2015FeatureUS2
Apr 18Everything is Copy2015FeatureUS4
Apr 18Shattered2007FeatureBritain3
Apr 20Never Weaken1921ShortUS4
Apr 20From Hand to Mouth1919ShortUS3
Apr 21The Cardinal1963FeatureUS4
Apr 22Vertigo1958FeatureUS3
Apr 24Sound of Redemption2016FeatureUS4
Apr 24Miles Ahead2016FeatureUS4
Apr 27The Hollars2016FeatureUS4
Apr 28Five Nights in Maine2016FeatureUS4
Apr 28Embers2016FeatureUS3
Apr 29Presenting Princess Shaw2016FeatureUS4
Apr 29Always Shine2016FeatureUS3
Apr 30Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World2016FeatureUS5
Apr 30Transpecos2016FeatureUS5
Apr 30Class of '272016ShortUS4
Apr 30Neige2016ShortUS4
Apr 30A Living Wage2016ShortUS3
Apr 30Lockdown2016ShortUS3
Apr 30The Champion2016ShortUS3
Apr 30The Dwarvenaut2016FeatureUS3
Apr 30Bluespace2016FeatureUS2
May 1Balcony Scene2016ShortUS5
May 1Hunt for the Wilderpeople2016FeatureNew Zealand5
May 1Disorder2016FeatureFrance4
May 1Ori & Addison2016ShortUS4
May 1Bonding2016ShortUS4
May 1Twinsburg2016ShortUS3
May 1My Dark Side and My Light Side Meet in a Bar to Discuss the New Star Wars Movie2016ShortUS3
May 1Teenage Cocktail2016FeatureUS3
May 1Forever, Your Fireplace2016ShortUS2
May 1Blast Beat2016ShortUS2
May 2Weiner2016FeatureUS4
May 2The Lost Arcade2016FeatureUS3
May 3Don't Think Twice2016FeatureUS4
May 3Little Men2016FeatureUS3
May 4The Intervention2016FeatureUS3
May 5Going the Distance2016ShortUS4
May 5Killer2016ShortUS4
May 5Pickle2015ShortUS3
May 5Affections2015ShortUS2
May 6My Brother is a Zombie2015ShortUS4
May 6Tilly2015ShortUS3
May 6The Itching2016ShortUS2
May 7Captain America: The Winter Soldier2014FeatureUS5
May 7Fantastic Four2015FeatureUS2
May 8Captain America: Civil War2016FeatureUS4
May 15Money Monster2016FeatureUS3
May 17Wet Hot American Summer2001FeatureUS3
May 19Z for Zacharia2015FeatureUS3
May 19Mr. Holmes2015FeatureUS3
May 21All the Way2016FeatureUS5
May 22The Nice Guys2016FeatureUS3
May 23Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation2015FeatureUS4
May 27Love & Friendship2016FeatureIreland3
May 28The Intern2015FeatureUS3
May 29Under the Gun2016FeatureUS4
May 29The Lobster2016FeatureGreece2
Jun 2The Scarecrow1920ShortUS3
Jun 2The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean1972FeatureUS2
Jun 3Tale of Tales2016FeatureItaly3
Jun 5Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping2016FeatureUS2
Jun 7The Martian2015FeatureUS5
Jun 8Good Kill2015FeatureUS3
Jun 9Room 2372012FeatureUS2
Jun 11Muhammad Ali's Greatest Fight2013FeatureUS4
Jun 11Pal Joey1957FeatureUS3
Jun 11Meet the Hitlers2016FeatureUS3
Jun 12The Fallen Idol1948FeatureBritain4
Jun 12The Searchers1956FeatureUS3
Jun 12Alexander Hamilton1931FeatureUS3
Jun 13Lawrence of Arabia1962FeatureBritain5
Jun 18Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 12012FeatureUS4
Jun 18Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 22012FeatureUS4
Jun 18The Alamo1960FeatureUS4
Jun 19Everest2015FeatureUS4
Jun 19De Palma2016FeatureUS4
Jun 19The Walk2015FeatureUS3
Jun 22Tickled2016FeatureUS4
Jun 24Batman: Under the Red Hood2010FeatureUS3
Jun 24The Good Dinosaur2015FeatureUS3
Jun 24Shutter2008FeatureUS2
Jun 26The Man Who Knew Infinity2016FeatureBritain3
Jun 28Swiss Army Man2016FeatureUS5
Jul 2Go West1925FeatureUS4
Jul 2Shaun the Sheep Movie2015FeatureBritain4
Jul 2Captive2015FeatureUS3
Jul 2O.C. and Stiggs1985FeatureUS2
Jul 2Laurel Canyon2002FeatureUS2
Jul 3Path to War2002FeatureUS4
Jul 3Gangster Squad2013FeatureUS3
Jul 3Ted 22015FeatureUS3
Jul 3Batman: Year One2011FeatureUS3
Jul 4Misery1990FeatureUS4
Jul 4Get Shorty1995FeatureUS4
Jul 4MI-52015FeatureBritain3
Jul 5Heist2015FeatureUS2
Jul 6Heartburn1986FeatureUS2
Jul 7A Walk Among the Tombstones2014FeatureUS3
Jul 7Project Almanac2015FeatureUS2
Jul 8The Normal Heart2014FeatureUS4
Jul 9Black Sunday1977FeatureUS3
Jul 10Broken Blossoms1919FeatureUS4
Jul 10Swiss Army Man2016FeatureUS5
Jul 11Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars1973FeatureBritain2
Jul 11The Game1997FeatureUS3
Jul 17Stonewall2015FeatureUS2
Jul 17Concussion2015FeatureUS3
Jul 17Straight Outta Compton2015FeatureUS4
Jul 17Ghostbusters2016FeatureUS2
Jul 24Star Trek Beyond2016FeatureUS2
Jul 29Thunder Road2016ShortUS3
Jul 30That Cold Day in the Park1969FeatureUS2
Jul 30Cesar Chavez2014FeatureUS3
Jul 30High Anxiety1977FeatureUS4
Jul 30Atari: Game Over2014FeatureUS3
Jul 31Spectre2015FeatureBritain2
Jul 31The 332015FeatureUS3
Jul 31Jason Bourne2016FeatureUS3
Aug 2Munich2005FeatureUS4
Aug 4Deception2008FeatureUS2
Aug 4The Rocketeer1991FeatureUS4
Aug 5My Left Foot1989FeatureIreland4
Aug 6Boyz n the Hood1991FeatureUS5
Aug 7Shalll We Dance2004FeatureUS3
Aug 7Captain Fantastic2016FeatureUS4
Aug 14Grandma2015FeatureUS4
Aug 14Black Girl1966FeatureFrance3
Aug 16Complete Unknown2016FeatureUS2
Aug 19Things to Come1936FeatureBritain3
Aug 20Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country1991FeatureUS4
Aug 20There Will Be Blood2007FeatureUS4
Aug 21Office Space1999FeatureUS4
Aug 28Movie Crazy1932FeatureUS3
Aug 28Hell or High Water2016FeatureUS4
Aug 29Truth2015FeatureUS3
Aug 29The Lady in the Van2015FeatureBritain3
Sep 3The Silencers1966FeatureUS3
Sep 3In the Heart of the Sea2015FeatureUS2
Sep 3Pride2014FeatureBritain4
Sep 4Jane Wants a Boyfriend2016FeatureUS3
Sep 4It Follows2015FeatureUS3
Sep 4The Stanford Prison Experiment2015FeatureUS2
Sep 4Sicario2015FeatureUS4
Sep 5The Rat Race1960FeatureUS3
Sep 5Hysteria2011FeatureBritain3
Sep 5The Quiet American2002FeatureBritain4
Sep 5Carrie1976FeatureUS3
Sep 6Black Sea2015FeatureBritain2
Sep 6The Jerk1979FeatureUS4
Sep 6Leon: The Professional1994FeatureUS4
Sep 7Very Semi-Serious2015FeatureUS3
Sep 7Coney Island1917ShortUS3
Sep 11Star Trek III: The Search For Spock1984FeatureUS3
Sep 11Sully2016FeatureUS3
Sep 18Tron1982FeatureUS2
Sep 19Star Trek V: The Final Frontier1989FeatureUS1
Sep 22Shakes the Clown1991FeatureUS3
Sep 24Spartacus1960FeatureUS5
Sep 25Ben-Hur1959FeatureUS3
Oct 1Whiskey Tango Foxtrot2016FeatureUS2
Oct 2Command and Control2016FeatureUS3
Oct 813 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi2016FeatureUS3
Oct 9The Birth of a Nation2016FeatureUS4
Oct 16Denial2016FeatureBritain3
Oct 17Borrowed Time2016ShortUS3
Oct 19Never Happened2016ShortUS4
Oct 22Blazing Saddles1974FeatureUS5
Oct 23Moonlight2016FeatureUS4
Oct 25The Handmaiden2016FeatureKorea5
Oct 26I Am Not Your Negro2017FeatureUS5
Oct 27After the Storm2016FeatureJapan3
Oct 27The Autopsy of Jane Doe2016FeatureBritain4
Oct 28Loving2016FeatureUS4
Nov 2Manchester by the Sea2016FeatureUS4
Nov 3Piper2016ShortUS4
Nov 6Doctor Strange2016FeatureUS3
Nov 13Arrival2016FeatureUS4
Nov 15Noctural Animals2016FeatureUS3
Nov 19By the Sea2015FeatureUS1
Nov 20The Edge of Seventeen2016FeatureUS4
Nov 22The Martian2015FeatureUS5
Nov 24Funeral in Berlin1966FeatureUS4
Nov 24Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House1948FeatureUS5
Nov 25Jobs2013FeatureUS3
Nov 26Nanook of the North1922FeatureUS4
Nov 26Zero Days2016FeatureUS4
Nov 26Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice2016FeatureUS1
Nov 27Harlan County U.S.A.1976FeatureUS4
Nov 27The Peanuts Movie2015FeatureUS3
Nov 30Ace Ventura: Pet Detective1994FeatureUS2
Nov 302 Guns2013FeatureUS3
Dec 3Race2016FeatureUS3
Dec 3Keanu2016FeatureUS4
Dec 4Evolution2016FeatureFrance1
Dec 5Altman2014FeatureUS3
Dec 6Countdown1968FeatureUS2
Dec 6Much Ado About Nothing2013FeatureUS3
Dec 8Casino Royale1967FeatureUS2
Dec 8Mad Hot Ballroom2005FeatureUS3
Dec 9My Blueberry Nights2007FeatureHong Kong3
Dec 10Paris Blues1961FeatureUS3
Dec 10Harper1966FeatureUS3
Dec 10The Drowning Pool1975FeatureUS3
Dec 10The Brothers Grimsby2016FeatureBritain2
Dec 11Misconduct2016FeatureUS1
Dec 11Jackie2016FeatureUS3
Dec 15Rogue One: A Star Wars Story2016FeatureUS4
Dec 16Star Wars IV: A New Hope1977FeatureUS5
Dec 17Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing2016FeatureUS4
Dec 17Eddie the Eagle2016FeatureBritain3
Dec 17War2007FeatureUS2
Dec 18La La Land2016FeatureUS2
Dec 21Rogue One: A Star Wars Story2016FeatureUS4
Dec 22Forsaken2015FeatureCanada3
Dec 24Legend2015FeatureBritain2
Dec 24The Invisible Man1933FeatureUS2
Dec 24Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens2015FeatureUS4
Dec 25Keeper of the Flame1942FeatureUS3
Dec 25Argo2012FeatureUS4
Dec 26Bubba Ho-Tep2002FeatureUS2
Dec 26City by the Sea2002FeatureUS3
Dec 27Mr. Smith Goes to Washington1939FeatureUS4
Dec 27The Life of an American Fireman1903ShortUS2
Dec 27The Musketeers of Pig Alley1912ShortUS3
Dec 27The Beau Brummels1928ShortUS3
Dec 27Ball of Fire1941FeatureUS3
Dec 27Punch-Drunk Love2002FeatureUS4
Dec 28Ratatouille2007FeatureUS4
Dec 29Meet John Doe1941FeatureUS4
Dec 29Jeff, Who Lives at Home2012FeatureUS3
Dec 30Sushi Girl2012FeatureUS3
Dec 31Spotlight2015FeatureUS5