ANALYSIS: “Zero Dark Thirty” opens wide … to controversy
In this undated publicity photo released by Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Jessica Chastain, center, plays … Kathryn Bigelow may have been denied a chance to repeat Academy Award history, but her film “Zero Dark Thirty”—which expanded to wide release on Friday—has made the best picture list for the Oscars, Golden Globes…
Top News Stories: #9 Connecticut school shootings
On Dec. 14, a spree shooting left 28 dead in the Connecticut town of Newtown. America had already been roiled by eight rampages in 2012—among them the shootings at Oikos University in Oakland, Calif., (7 dead); the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., (12 dead); and the Sikh temple in Oak…
Analysis: When families of murder victims speak out
People walk past a makeshift memorial in Sandy Hook, after the December 14 shooting tragedy when a gunman shot … This is a group nobody wants to be part of. Few can understand the anguish that families and close friends of murder victims bear. They find ways to cope to make…
Presidential inaugurations, the second time around
FILE – This Jan. 20, 2009 file photo shows the crowd on the National Mall looking from the Capitol toward the Washington … Mass-media firsts, Marine bands, frozen canaries, poisoned pigeons. Now that’s a party? The presidential inauguration is a chance for the nation to celebrate a milestone—its continued peaceful transition…
ANALYSIS: Disciplining children over fake guns may be wrong lesson
A 5-year-old faced with a pile of Legos did what boys have done since the dawn of time: He fashioned a weapon, ran about and made shooting sounds. That’s when the Massachusetts elementary school sent a letter to his parents and warned that the next time, their son Joe would…
Hard lessons from record-low law school applications
To paraphrase the Bard: The first thing we do, let’s kill all the law school applicants. As maligned as lawyers may be, their profession comes with prestige and visions of hefty billable hours. So the plummet in law school applications—to the lowest number in 30 years—is both shocking yet unsurprising….
Analysis: Women leaving extreme faiths
Megan Phelps-Roper, the granddaughter of fundamentalist preacher Fred Phelps of the Westboro Baptist Church in … When Megan Phelps-Roper—heir apparent to the notorious Westboro Baptist Church founded by her grandfather Fred Phelps—left with her younger sister Grace in November, they joined that rare population of women who leave extreme faiths. Indeed,…
Red Dawn: Where are the Chinese villains?
Photo: Film District Where’s the China paranoia in pop culture? If and when you see “Red Dawn,” the rah-rah remake of mature-looking teenagers and their kin fighting against an invasion against America, remember — the enemy is North Korea, even though they’re Chinese. A tad confusing, but here’s the backstory:…
Abraham Lincoln’s surprising strength
Photo: Corbis Steven Spielberg’s Abraham Lincoln may be more historically accurate — and far more Oscar-likely — but “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” wasn’t far off with its focus on No. 16’s colonial ax-fu. While Daniel Day-Lewis’s portrayal focuses on bringing the union together as the commander in chief, Lincoln had…
Abraham Lincoln Steals Thanksgiving
Photo: Dreamworks Did Abraham Lincoln “steal” Thanksgiving Day from the states? And was he merely a hired thug for the woman best known for a nursery rhyme? Before 1863, observing Thanksgiving fell to the province of the states. Having an annual day of thanks was controversial for many reasons; while…