Opinion

By Peter Howell Movie Critic Thu., April 18, 2019 The early-morning reveal Thursday of the official selection for the 72nd Cannes Film Festival should have been subtitled “Waiting for Tarantino.” Artistic director Thierry Frémaux and Cannes president Pierre Lescure had plenty of film goodies to announce for the fest’s competitive and non-competitive programs, the latter including the world premiere of the Dexter Fletcher’s Rocketman, a biopic about Elton John, with the superstar rocker attending. They also confirmed the opening film for the May 14-25 fest will be Jim Jarmusch’s zombie satire The Dead Don’t Die, a competition entry starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloë Sevigny and many boldfaced undead. The Cannes heads also named a record-tying four films with female directors in the Palme d’Or competition: Jessica Hausner’s Little Joe, Mati Diop’s Atlantique, Justine Triet’s Sibyl and … [Read more...] about Cannes lineup leaves room for Quentin Tarantino, Greta Gerwig films

On April 4, less than 36 hours after a three-page staff report was released giving the rationale for the decision, the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority board voted 5-3 to place the new $3 billion Terminal 1 project under a union-only Project Labor Agreement (PLA). Despite a roomful of construction workers, apprentices, contractors and contractor association members opposing this blatantly discriminatory “agreement,” the PLA was approved after less than 180 minutes of discussion.This stood in contrast to the thoughtful weeks-long approach that the board took in 2009, which saw a workshop on the issue followed by a 20-page staff report that helped lead to a unanimous vote against a PLA on the $1 billion Terminal 2 “Green Build” project, a project built on time, on budget and with 85% of the workers being local.So what changed in 10 years? PLA proponents have radically changed tactics on an issue voters and businesses have soundly rejected.In 2010, the … [Read more...] about Commentary: Why San Diego Airport PLA discriminates against non-union workers

In a game changer for our region, the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority voted in a bipartisan manner last week to initiate a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with the construction trades unions on its $3 billion expansion of Terminal 1. After careful research on other airport and major public projects, the Authority concluded that labor stability and cooperation results in timely, safe and successful completion of construction. It was supported by key business and labor leaders.A PLA is a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement that standardizes the working conditions for all craft workers on a construction project and is a commonly used construction management tool in both public and private sectors.These agreements have been chosen by private developers locally for the Padres ballpark, Lane Field, Kaiser San Diego Central Hospital, Carlsbad NRG Energy Center, Carlsbad Desalination Plant, Ballpark Village, Chula Vista bayfront and SDG&E’s Pio Pico projects. Schools, … [Read more...] about Commentary: Why San Diego Airport PLA benefits community

On Thursday, three weeks after it was first submitted, the public will finally get to see at least part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s extensive final report on Russia’s meddling into the 2016 presidential election. While much of the news media is once again ramping up the anticipation for this release, regardless of what that report actually says — and it could be very bad factually for the president — it is clear that President Donald Trump is going to emerge victorious in this war. Since truth has very little, if any, intrinsic value in this nonsensical era, we are really just waiting to find out what the final score will be. It is certainly possible that, when all the smoke has finally cleared, Attorney General Bill Barr’s controversial summary of the final report will vindicated, and Trump will be largely, if not totally exonerated of criminal behavior. However, it currently appears far more likely that Trump is going to win this battle not … [Read more...] about If Barr’s Roll Out of the Mueller Report is as Contrived as It Seems, It is Both Brilliant and Damning

Independent Vermont Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders bucked many of the network’s critics by appearing at an hourlong town hall moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum Monday, and the result was clarifying on a number of fronts. Here are the lessons Democrats should learn from the Sanders town hall. Sanders is getting generally high marks for his performance, and I would agree with analysts who say that overall, the net effect was positive for Bernie, politically. Particularly on the issue of health care, Sanders was effective at countering right-wing (Fox News) talking points. Democrats can learn a lot from his successes, as well as his missteps. But there are also lessons to be learned about the Fox News moderators, and how their performance relates to the separate questions of whether Democrats should appear on the network, and whether the Democratic National Committee should reconsider allowing the network to host debates. Lesson One: Bret … [Read more...] about Lessons Learned from the Bernie Sanders Fox News Town Hall