Mediaboss Marketing

Writer-director Rian Johnson took inspiration from his favorite Agatha Christie mysteries for Knives Out, which has has been holding its own with adult audiences at the fall box office. But he told the crowd at Deadlines recent The Contenders New York that he also wanted to write a modern-day original.

In the tradition of Christie ensembles, the all-star cast of the Lionsgate film plays possible suspects in a murder mystery. Daniel Craig is Benoit Blanc, the sleuth investigating the Thrombey family and their maid (Ana de Armas) after the death of patriarch author Harlan (Christopher Plummer). Chris Evans, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Toni Collette, Don Johnson, Katherine Langford and Jaeden Martell play the Thrombeys. They represent the 1%, with some specific 2019 digressions. For example young Jacob (Martell) is an alt-right online troll.

We see it today, its usually an Agatha Christie adaptation, Johnson, joined onstage by his producer Ram Bergman, told the DGA Theater crowd of Academy and guild voters. Its usually a period piece set in Britain. Its easy to forget that when she was writing, its not like she was a heavy political writer, but she was always engaging with contemporary British society of her time through her characters.

He added: I love the Agatha Christie adaptations, but the notion of doing an original and really plugging it into 2019 America, not just giving it a modern skin but using this little microcosm to look at that, that seemed like that could be really interesting.

The mystery unfolds in the Thrombey house, which is a character unto itself. One day we saw a picture, we said, This looks like the house, Bergman said. I took Rian there while he was still writing and we zeroed in on the house, but it took us like months and months to actually negotiate a deal. We literally cemented it like two weeks before we started filming.

Check out the conversation in the video above.

Here is the original post:
'Knives Out's Rian Johnson On The One Thing Missing From Modern Mysteries The Contenders NY Video - Deadline

Its time to have a national conversation about antisemitism. Not an abbreviated one that starts with neo-Nazis and ends with the alt-right. No, a real one.

For the mainstream media and many public officials (cough,Bill de Blasio, cough), its been convenient and even preferable to discuss antisemitism in that one, narrow way. Like a predictable movie, the narrative about American antisemitism has long been that its a far-right problem. Its true, the far-right has always been antisemitic. Ive yet to meet any Jew who would say otherwise.

The less convenient corollary is that antisemitism is not confined to the far-right, not least because the political spectrum is increasingly egg-shaped, especially where Jew hatred is concerned. When discussing Jews, the language of the far-left and far-right is increasingly overlapping, which is no coincidence, according to a new reportfrom Zachor Legal Institute and StopAntisemitism.org. Its why activist Linda SarsourreferencesDavid Duke, whopraisesRep. Ilhan Omar.

Antisemitism is the great unifier, ideologically aligning those who may dress differently but think similarly. Unless and until thats widely accepted, it will be significantly harder to push antisemitism back to societys fringes and we must. Its not only a matter of safeguarding the lives of Jewish citizens, but also of protecting American democracy. Widespread acceptance of conspiracy theories like antisemitism is not a mark of a healthy, vibrant society.

In little more than a year, antisemitism has turned deadly three times for American Jews. On Oct. 27, 2018, a gunman murdered 11 Jews gathered for prayer at the Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh. On April 27, 2019, another gunman attacked the Chabad of Poway, California, taking the life of another praying Jew. Then last Tuesday, three people were murdered at a kosher supermarket in Jersey City, New Jersey.

The victims in Jersey City included store owner Leah Minda Ferencz (age 33), Ferenczs cousin Moshe Deutsch (age 24), and store employee Douglas Rodrguez (age 49). The attackers also killed Detective Joseph Seals, a father of five. These deaths were totally unnecessary. Yet as heinous as this attack was, knowingthe intended target was likely the 50 children attending the Jewish school beside the grocery store is even more horrific.

For Jews whove watched antisemitic violence rise first overseas and now here at home, the Jersey City attack recalls the assault on the Paris areaHyper Cacherin January 2015, when an Islamist gunman killed three customers and an employee at the kosher market, which burned down precisely three years later. Such attacks are not random. They clearly target Jews.

Reportsindicatethat Jersey City attackers Francine Graham and David Anderson attended an anti-Semitic Black Hebrew Israelite church in Harlem. Aneighbor also reported overhearingAnderson repeatedly listening to recordings of Louis Farrakhan, a virulent antisemite with links to the initialleadership teamof theWomens March and congressional Democrats, who has been photographed with Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. That is to say, the attackers appear to have been inspired by sources that were neither white supremacist nor of the right.

Antisemitism takes numerous forms. For the safety of American Jews, its time society takes all those threats seriously.

So its not helpful when New York Citys mayor doubles down on his insistencethat antisemitism is a right-wing problem,tellingNew York public radiosBrian Lehrer last Friday, We have to have an honest conversation. There are folks who identify on the left who are saying and doing antisemitic things although it has not taken a systematic violent form. I think there is a lot of evidence in this country, not just in terms of antisemitism, but violent acts in general thats coming from the white supremacy movement.

This is an epic refusal to acknowledge reality.Ongoing attacks on visibly Orthodox Jews in Brooklyn have been violent. They have occurred for years now, and white supremacists are not perpetrating them. Just this month in Brooklyn, a Jewish womanwas called the F Jew with the wig, as another woman threatened to throw her onto subway tracks, and three teens stoned a Jewish girls school bus, shattering a window.

Downplaying deadly attacks on Hasidic Jews and explaining the Jersey City attacks as some sort of response to tensions in the community or gentrification by relative newcomers, as the Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker have, would be considered victim-blaming in other contexts.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the country, police are investigating the Friday night attack on a Persian synagogue in Beverly Hills. Bizarrely, in spite ofreligious ritual items, such as Torahs, beingmistreatedinside asynagogue, police say there are no overt signs of antisemitism. Have words lost all meaning?

It just shouldnt be this hard for our leaders and the media to recognize and condemn antisemitism. Without widespread pushback, antisemitism could become normalized.

Historys already broadcast numerous episodes of this same show. A society that cant truly tolerate its Jewish minority quickly becomes a dangerous place for other religious, racial, and ethnic minority groups, too. If were going to prevent a rerun of some of historys worst chapters, we must stop antisemitism now.

Read more here:
Pretending Racism Against Jews Is Only The Right's Problem Is Fueling It - The Federalist

Jewish Americans are alarmed by the increase of anti-Semitism in their communities. The fear is troublesome by many in America, who would have never imagined this level of hatred before. Last week, terrorists associated with the Black Hebrew Israelites targeted a Jewish supermarket in Jersey City, leaving two dead. On Saturday, a criminal broke into Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills, destroying Torah scrolls and vandalizing the property. New York City, home to 1.9 million American Jews, has witnessed a 162% increase in anti-Semitic incidents on its subway cars and stations. Just last month, witnesses saw kill all Jews, graffiti at the 103 subway stop.

Horrific events against Jews, whether vandalization or murder, are on the rise in America from coast to coast, targeting every other American city. American Jews have seen the fall and rise of ani-Semitism in Europe, including England, but no one could have imagined the same level of hatred against Jewish people on American soil.

The hatred isnt just from the right or the left; the hatred comes from every direction and political spectrum. There has been a significant rise in neo-Nazi groups in America, but not all these events can be linked to neo-Nazism. The issue is more challenging than ever because there isnt one group against Jewish communities. It would be easy to say the sudden escalation of racist and nativist extremist groups like the so-called alt-right, the KKK, and neo-Nazis are the results for the tragedies, but these are not the only perpetrators targeting Jewish communities.

After Charlottesville, we recognized that the Alt-Right and White Supremacy movements are on a rapid rise. In 2015, researchers affiliated with the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), surveyed law enforcement officers across the country, asking whether officers viewed different types of extremists as a serious terrorist threat; their results revealed a belief that Sovereign Citizens pose a more significant threat than any other groups. Sovereign Citizens, regardless of their race, carry deep-rooted anti-Semitic beliefs.

The problem has only gotten worse in 2019 because we dont know who could target Jewish communities next. It isnt a neo-Nazi thing anymore; it isnt just a Sovereign Citizen hatred; it doesnt only apply to radical Jihadists. There are currently over 25 active groups of White Nationalists and neo-Nazis on Twitter. The American Freedom Party, American Nazi Party, Aryan Brotherhood, David Irving, Texas Nationalist Movement, and the Traditionalist Worker Party just to name a few. A few names within the White Supremacist groups and the list continues growing more prominent and more disconcerting.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation recently issued its annual report on hate crimes in the United States and Jews remain the most targeted religious group in the country by far. They are victims of 58.1% of all religious hate despite comprising less than 2% of the U.S. population. Just last year, a white supremacist stabbed his Jewish gay friend to death and left him in a grave. while in the same year, we witnessed the horrific massacre on Shabbat in Pittsburgh. Whether vandalization or murder, incidents targeting Jews are on the rise. They are happening in New York and Los Angeles, New Jersey, and Georgia. These acts are all over the country, without one type of perpetrator to target.

In the past, American Jews felt safe at home and empathy for Jewish people in European countries such as France. We witnessed the rapid migration of many French Jews to Israel for safety. We were saddened to discover that many Jewish communities in Europe were hiding their identity to feel safer out in public. We never imagined a day that we, American Jews, might have to exercise the same precautions in America to stay safe. The right solution is not to live in fear or hide. We must stand up, united, and fight back the hatred. We must push our members of Congress to take actions that make our communities safer.

We must push the Federal Bureau of Investigation, including local and state law enforcement agencies, to do a better job of identifying and arresting criminals. Words arent enough. We need our lawmakers and authorities to take the right steps towards keeping our communities safer. Together, we can make a difference at a time, when we are, once again, the target of hatred and bigotry. The American Jewry will again stand up, strong and united, to defeat hatred with love. We will not be scared, nor will we be quiet because if we dont stand up against such hateful groups today, things will be worse tomorrow.

Sheridan Bahar is an M.A. graduate at the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University with research, analytical, and intelligence experience. He Possesses social, political, economic, historical, and cultural knowledge of the Middle East with fluency in Farsi, Dari, and Hebrew languages.

Go here to read the rest:
American Jewry, under threat | Sheridan Bahar - The Times of Israel

PewDiePie at the European Premiere of 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' on December 16, 2015 in London.

Topline: After facing years of criticism for his supposed ties to the alt-right, YouTube megastar PewDiePie announced over the weekend that hes taking a break from the platform and deleted his Twitter account, saying that hes tired.

Key background: Kjellberg is YouTubes most popular and recognizable stars, but hes been accused of anti-Semitism and racism over the years. In 2017, Disney stopped advertising with his channel after he paid actors to hold up a sign reading Death to All Jews in several videos (he said it was a joke gone too far). Months later he was caught saying the n-word in a gaming stream and later apologized.

White nationalists have since embraced Kjellberg. The Christchurch shooter used a popular alt-right meme subscribe to PewDiePie in a livestream before he went on to kill 51 people. And in a botched attempt to rehabilitate his image in September, Kjellberg rescinded a planned donation to the Anti-Defamation League, an organization combating anti-Semitism, after saying the donation didnt feel genuine.

Tangent: PewDiePie became the first individual creator to reach 100 million subscribers on YouTube in August, making him one of the most popular creators on the platform. Hes also one of the wealthiest. According to Forbes, Kjellberg raked in $15.5 million in 2018.

Read more here:
Im Tired: Controversial Star PewDiePie Is Taking A Break From YouTube, Deletes Twitter - Forbes

When the Republican Party rebranded as the party of fiscal responsibility, social conservatives believed the family values GOP was dead. The party would focus on tax reform and curbing government spending and would forget about issues like abortion and legalized gay marriage.

Today, GOP legislative priorities no longer indicate they are the party that once championed fiscal responsibility. Their tolerance of the president evinces they no longer are the Reagan party of family values. This begs the question, What does the modern Republican Party hope to accomplish? Although the preface may have put the cart before the horse, it is clear: The modern GOP seeks to stop American demographic change.

The language was once subtle. Small things, like memorializing the Confederate flag or refusing to condemn white supremacists, served as dog whistles suggesting the party may be prioritizing the goals of white America over other groups. But during the era of Trumpism and hyperpartisanship, this messaging has become far more overt.

Fox News hosts with powerful platforms slowly leaned into anti-diversity rhetoric. It began with Bill OReilly, who would casually make problematic comments like slaves who built the White House were treated well; that a black guest looked like a cocaine dealer or sharing his surprise upon witnessing that a black restaurant was not chaotic, but was well-mannered like an Italian restaurant in an all-white suburb. His show, once the most popular program on cable, would embody a more subdued version of other resentment.

In his absence, the networks popular hosts have evolved his brand of racism with a new, more xenophobic bent. This new style is far more blunt and succinct.

Laura Ingraham rightfully faced pushback for airing a segment regarding how massive demographic change, through legal and illegal immigration, has perverted America. Tucker Carlson aired a segment begging the rhetorical question, how is diversity a strength? Sean Hannity has continually defended the President and his supporters, even when that requires defending the send her back chants about a American-born Muslim Congresswoman or silence on Charlottesville.

Fox News hosts are not the same thing as Republican operatives, but when they run in the same social circles, endorse the same values and appeal to the same audiences, it is safe to say they personify the attitudes of the new American right.

The White House employs a similar amount of troublesome personalities. Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to the President, has been accused of being a Nazi sympathizer due to his sympathy for far-right European groups harboring similar views as the Nazi party and his fashion accessories that originate from a Hungarian subgroup of the Nazi party.

Despite circumstantial connections to Nazism, he is not the White Houses most controversial figure. Stephen Miller, senior adviser to the president who is responsible for crafting much of the administrations immigration policy, harbors views that are blatantly anti-immigrant. Numerous stories regarding Miller connect him to a white nationalist agenda and an alt-right ideology.

Or perhaps the most chauvinistic character in the White House is the Commander-in-Chief himself. The founder of birtherism, who launched his presidential campaign with colorful language on Mexicans, has a track record of demonstrating disdain for non-white Americans.

From allegedly characterizing Haiti and African nations as shithole countries to supporting the death penalty for the all-black Central Park Five, exonerated by DNA evidence, Trump has demonstrated a very robust social-dominance orientation.

But if the results are truly what matters and not rhetoric, as some of the Presidents allies proclaim, the argument only grows stronger. First the party attempted to mitigate illegal immigration based on bunk crime statistics.

Then Steven Miller and the rest of the administration worked tirelessly to dismantle the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA. Today, the administration strives to slow down legal immigration and prevent the very demographic change it so clearly fears.

And it is not just the administration. The partys systemic disenfranchisement, including racial gerrymandering, voter ID laws and voting to reject the reinstatement of key parts of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, has specifically targeted minorities. One court even ruled that the North Carolina GOP gerrymandered maps targeted African Americans with surgical precision.

The consequence of a ruling party using more overt anti-immigrant rhetoric is that these ideas have been integrated into the political mainstream. A political environment in which Tucker Carlson feels secure criticizing American diversity is a toxic one. America has never fully engaged the melting pot ideal properly, however, it is probably time the founders dream was realized.

Please GOP, for the sake of the country, return to the party of fiscal responsibility.

Andrew is a sophomore in LAS.

[emailprotected]

View original post here:
Opinion | GOP fights to preserve white America | II - Daily Illini