THE ABCS OF SENTENCING

THE ABCs OF DEATH case settled..

AP:

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A former substitute teacher convicted of showing a movie including graphic sex and violence to a high school class was sentenced on Wednesday to 90 days in jail.
Sheila Kearns, who was convicted in January of four felony counts, apologized in court, saying she hadn’t watched the movie before showing it to her Spanish classes at Columbus’ East High School in April 2013. The movie, “The ABCs of Death,” consists of 26 chapters, each depicting some form of grisly death and representing a letter of the alphabet, such as “E is for Exterminate,” ”O is for Orgasm” and “T is for Toilet.”

She faced a greater amount of prison time than this..
I still don’t even understand how she is getting prison time for showing a movie that released in various venues and one that most people in the class probably already saw in some form or another at home.. A firing justified? Yes. Prison time? I still don’t get that..

We previously reported about the Kearns case on this website and have continuously questioned why the outcry over the case even took place.

Now, the chapter is closed with the sentencing today.. One I still don’t get completely.

But no one else seems to be a little queasy with an African American teacher being thrown into jail for showing a horror movie–a legal horror movie–to a class.

AS a matter of fact, media sources are busy playing up the ‘horror’ of her crime, as evidenced by insane headlines running across the NET:

A HORROR MOVIE FOR A SNOWY THOR

Another snowy night.. potentially a housebound day tomorrow for lots of folks in the eye of THOR.. So why not turn off the lights, close the blinds, and entice your mind with a movie about the surreal, unreal, and paranormal. DARK SKIES is one of those films. Try it on for size—an abduction movie with dark shadow aliens, the Greys, evolves quickly into what I think was one of the most legitimately scary and good movies I’ve seen in quite some time.

There are some memorable scenes.. memorable characters. Specifically the idea that the other worldly suddenly presents itself into the lives of mundane people is freaky.

Besides one annoying scene I thought was plagiarism—a family sitting down to a dinner prior to an alien invasion like in SIGNS—the movie was strong and had a good alien premise. If you like alien movies. Or scary ones..

Add to the agenda a dark room and healthy snacks..I think it’s worth it.

Find it on NETFLIX if you can’t find it anywhere else..

After the movie, lighten the mood with the Ballad of the Greys.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu7bmvkgWEg?feature=oembed&enablejsapi=1&origin=https://safe.txmblr.com&wmode=opaque]

UK CENSORS HORROR MOVIE

A horror film featuring neo-Nazis terrorizing Jewish families has been banned in the UK..

The name of the film is HATE CRIME. The premise, as though you could not tell from the headline, is this: Anti-Semitic thugs breaking into the family’s home and mutilating and sexually abusing family members..

The British Board of Film Classification ruled that a substantial part of the 70-minute film was “unacceptable” .. even more: They have decided that the movie cannot be released in theaters OR on DVD.. And more, the Board made a decision that even if controversial scenes were cut, the movie was not able to be approved by for release in Britain..

MORE from the description: The Jewish family featured in the film, directed by James Cullen Bressack, just arrived in a neighborhood.. While recording their son’s birthday, the home is invaded by the drug enthused anti-Semitic criminals.

The Facebook page for the film has over 2,000 likes but does not mention the recent British ban to fans.

A number of fan reviews online showcase the common thread that the film is disturbing and violent..

Perusing the reviews that currently exist on IMDB, a mixed bag of emotions are presented. One review called the movie pointless, another said to ‘avoid at all costs.’ The movie is called ultra-violent and called a cultural commentary on hate crime.

Bill Nye the genetically modified guy

Suddenly MONSANTO and GMO have a brand new proponent: Bill Nye the Science Guy..

In 2005, he said we should farm responsibly.

Now he is completely fine and in favor or corporate led farming. What made the bow-tie wearing pro-vaccine scientist in chief become such a fan of GMO farming?

He is quoted on REAL TIME with Bill Maher saying, he “went to Monsanto and I spent a lot of time with the scientists there. have revised my outlook, and am very excited about telling the world. When you’re in love, you want to tell the world!” Pretty amazing what ONE VISIT can do.

PRO-GMO sites are happy.

Others are scratching their heads and wondering if Bill’s bow tie was too tight..

So who owns Art Bell?

THE COLLECTIVE COPYRIGHT CLAIM

U7 Radio is broadcasting Art Bell DREAMLAND reruns again tonight–at least for now. The war between U7 and executives for Premiere and iHeartRadio is continuing after the initial shot across the bow when the empire struck back.

But eyebrows were raising tonight after attorneys for iHeartRadio expanded their copyright claim over Coast to Coast programs to include DARK MATTER shows that Bell broadcast on Sirius radio in 2013 during his brief stint.

The full text of the newest message U7 received was printed in full.. And re-printed here:

Dear Sir:
I, the undersigned, CERTIFY UNDER PENALTY OF PERJURY that I am the owner or an agent authorized to act on behalf of the owner of certain intellectual property rights, said owner being named Premiere Radio Networks, Inc. (“IP Owner”). I have a good faith belief that the listings or materials identified in the addendum attached hereto are not authorized by the above IP Owner, its agent, or the law and therefore infringe the IP Owner’s rights according to state, federal, or United States law. Please act expeditiously to remove or disable access to the material or items claimed to be infringing.

I may be contacted at:
Printed Name: Ellen Lockwood
Title & Company: Senior Paralegal, iHeartMedia, Inc.
Street Address: 200 East Basse Road
City and State and Zip: San Antonio, Texas 78209
Email (correspondence): ellenlockwood@iheartmedia.com
Email (for infringing parties): infringerissues@iheartmedia.com
Telephone: 210.822.2828
Fax: 210.832.3149
Truthfully,
/Ellen Lockwood/
Ellen Lockwood, ACP, RP
Senior Paralegal
Certified Paralegal – Intellectual Property Specialist
Addendum to Notice of Infringement
Name of Intellectual Property Owner: Premiere Networks, Inc., a subsidiary of iHeartMedia, Inc.
Work infringed: Coast to Coast AM with Art Bell radio programs
Type of Infringement: Copyright infringement – unauthorized copies of copyrighted works made available for performance
URL of Infringing Items: http://u7radio.org/
Ellen Lockwood, ACP, RP
Senior Paralegal
Certified Paralegal – Intellectual Property Specialist
iHeartMedia, Inc.
o 210.832.3382 | m 210.863.4884
200 East Basse Road, San Antonio, TX 78209
EllenLockwood@iHeartMedia.com
– ksb

And more: The assertion was made that Premiere owns not only Coast programs but also DARK MATTER episodes!

Premiere owns all Coast to Coast, Art Bell, and Dark Matter programs on the list at the link below

The immediate outcry on BELLGAB was one of confusion mixed with consternation. Even Art Bell weighed in, writing

Wow, They must have a much bigger reach then I thought. Perhaps they made a bigger deal with Sirius/XM
then even I thought…..goodness that’s some claim!! Dave is really something. Hard to believe they would make
a Legal claim like that if not true.

Art

Meanwhile, DREAMLAND programs air on the U7 stream–and plenty of other running streams are still online broadcasting Coast programs.

The fascinating aspect has now become: Just who owns ART BELL?

THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK: U7 TAKEN DOWN

The popular U7 Radio website has been forced to take down its much listened to Art Bell 24/7 stream tonight after Premiere Radio Networks issued a cease and desist order. The copyright claim was sent to the site, and u7radio.org published the text both on its site and Facebook page.

The full screen cap:

There were rumors for several days a copyright claim would be presented to the site.. Now, the full effect of the takedown is seen: no stream. No site.

Just days earlier U7 announced a new app for the android that was on the way.

And tonight, just like the Fine Art Stream last year, this site has ceased to exist..

ONE MAN’S TRUTH, ANOTHER MAN’S TRASH

GOOGLE WANTS TO RANK WEBSITES BASED ON FACTS NOT LINKS – 28 FEBRUARY 2015 – NEW SCIENTIST »

Being trustworthy and accurate could help a web page rise up Google rankings if the search engine giant starts to measure quality by facts, not just links

Lots of people are quite worked up over this.. As a matter of fact, the grand implication here is that GOOGLE is simply the Orweillian ‘Ministry of Truth” ..

Right now, Google uses a complex algorithm of determining the number of links going TO a site as the way to measure how far up in the search a certain website will be. Of course, people would argue that sites containing lots of misinformation will be too high in results and bad information will be spread.. you know, like the bad information that typically disseminates from MAINSTREAM news outlets during breaking news events..

But now the ‘ministry of truth’ idea comes into play, where Google will tap into a fact vault to compare with search terms. Of course, one man’s facts is another man’s figuring.. facts change. Historical accounts converge to paint very different pictures from those presented in the G-rated history books we have become grown to reading in our formative years..

The ‘fact optimization’ idea will most likely create a brand new multi-billion dollar industry.. I can see it now, people who specialize in advertising ‘facts’ ..

But a long time ago, if Google would have been around, a ‘fact’ would have been a flat earth theory..

And if someone googles “Best sex of 2015” … will there be a fact algorithm to present it? Because let’s not kid ourselves on what people Google—anyone with a website can tell you some of the bizarre terms that land them on their pages..

So for all of those upset by this, I get it. I am uncomfortable, too.

But there’s always STARTPAGE. And for those more old fashioned folk, you can always still ask Jeeves, even though he has been vanquished from the askeeves search page.

SNOW GLOW OVER WEEKEND BOX

BOX OFFICE TOTALS COMING IN..

Studio execs are blaming weather for some less than stellar numbers.

WILL SMITH’S ‘FOCUS’ NOT IN CLEAR FOCUS.. Less people went to see this film than expected.. Luckily the film was cheap to make. With only $19 mil so far racked up, though, more sales will need to be generated to pay off Warner Bros..

KINGSMAN: THE SECRET SERVICE was still second in week three..

Number three was the SPONGE still soaking up family friendly movie goers.. The film came in with $11.2 mil for the weekend and has thus far made $140 mil in four weeks..

The LAZARUS EFFECT had little effect on the box office, it was expected by many to come in 4th place for its first week .. Instead, another set of women –maybe for the second time–went to see FIFTY SHADES OF GREY.. Mr. Grey ended the third week in the box office with almost $11 mil and a grand total of $147 mil since its release in early Valentine’s Day weekend..

And finally, in fifth, a weak LAZARUS EFFECT with a little over $10 mil total. Respectable perhaps.. but the numbers tell a bigger story. The movie had a 13% increase in sales on Saturday when compared to its opening Friday.. but by today it crashed 45%.

Even more: All movies crashed Sunday with uncertain weather conditions nationwide.. a snow and ice storm stretched from the Midwest to the Northeast.. and it with an average of 38% decreases in ticket sales took place across the board..