Today’s sentencing of Dongfan Chung, a 74-year-old former engineer for defense contractor Boeing who was convicted of economic espionage, makes the Obama administration’s recent downgrading of China as an espionage threat look foolish.

John Tkacik, a former State Department intelligence official, told the Washington Times, that the demotion of China to a second tier priority reflects bias in the National Security Council staff. The demotion was a political decision to assuage Chinese concerns that American intelligence agencies were exaggerating the Chinese threat.

[Read more →]

Tags: politics & government by Paul Davis
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Once you start keeping an eye out for Satan, he seems to pop up everywhere. Thanks to HP Lovecraft I now have a link to an English language report on the Satanists arrested in Yaroslavl in 2008. And here’s even more info on Russia’s cannibal Satanists. Foul stuff, indeed.

Meanwhile I was sent this video of some Black Metal enthusiasts performing a Satanic show and tell for their classmates which has to be seen to be believed. I’m a bit late on this one as it’s had over a hundred thousand hits. But better late than never: [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, travel & foreign lands by Daniel Kalder
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In the movie Tapeheads — perhaps the last film featuring Tim Robbins in which the actor’s entertainment value outweighed his self-regard — a disreputable record producer named “Mo Fuzz” induced aspiring video producers played by Robbins and John Cusack to make music videos “on spec.” In case you didn’t know, “on spec” means “do this for free and maybe you’ll impress me so much that you’ll make some money in the undefined future.” If you’re a writer these days, everybody seems to be Mo Fuzz. And plenty of folks taking the Fuzzes of the world up on their speculative offers seem unconcerned as to whether the effort ever pays off. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing by J.D. Tuccille
1 Comment »

The old train sputtered at such a slow speed that a fast walker could’ve easily overtaken it. Inside one of the cars, a tall, frail man with a ghost-like complexion looked around and noticed that the only passengers remaining were others just like him — men half-alive — men taking their final journey. He almost expected Charon to walk through the door and lead them the rest of the way. He even reached into his pocket for a one-heller coin, just in case. [Read more →]

Tags: books & writing, creative writing by Colin Cohen
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Lost (Tuesday, ABC, 9PM) — Who is the man in black? I don’t even remember the man in black (thank goodness for that recap hour). It seems as if the devilish man in black has the ability to take the form of dead bodies… so I guess Locke really is dead… and it wasn’t really Jack’s father following him around on the island that whole time (or was it?). Oh and the man in black is also the smoke monster.

[Read more →]

Tags: Lauren Likes TV, television by Lauren LaBumbard
2 Comments »

I’m not a Sarah Palin fan.  The idea of a populist “conservative” scares the living day lights out of me.  Conservatism is supposed to be the ideology of people who think independently, who realize that they can’t vote for their own self interest and expect to have a functioning, viable country.

But if the left keeps on dragging her out into the spotlight, she’s going to win high office.

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Tags: politics & government by Mike McGowan
13 Comments »

Everyone watches the Super Bowl, right? I guess I don’t need to ask. Last year’s game fell just short of 100 million viewers. That’s a big number. From the endless pregame show to the commercials to the game itself, it’s all quite a spectacle. I usually enjoy it, although I enjoy it more if I have some kind of rooting interest. Since the Eagles have only made it to the Super Bowl twice in my lifetime (I’m 41), my rooting interest is usually borne of a dislike for one of the teams, as opposed to an actual affinity for anyone. Still, I enjoy the Super Bowl as much as the next guy. You know what I don’t enjoy, though? The halftime shows. [Read more →]

Tags: bad sports, good sports by Alan Spoll
4 Comments »

10. “Honey, tonight dinner’s on me! I have a coupon!”

9. “When I said I hoped you’d give me something special, I didn’t mean Swine Flu.”

8. “I’m so looking forward to spending the coming year with you, Mr. Madoff.”

7. “Table for one? Right this way, Sir!”

6. “We can have hanky, but I’m not quite ready for panky.”

5. “No, offense, but I think you should try out for ‘America’s Least Wanted’.”

4. “We patch leaking tires here; we don’t fix ‘girlfriends’.”

3. “Bad news, Dear: Tonight, in bed, Jay Leno is taking over your old time slot.”

2. “So this year, Valentine’s Day is on the fourteenth?!”

1. “Hi! This is Tiger. Happy Valentine’s Day to my one and only! I love you – ummmm…Who did I call again?”

Bob Sullivan’s Top Ten Everything appears every Monday.

Tags: Bob Sullivan's top ten everything, ends & odd by Bob Sullivan
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Even though I feel sympathy for the plight of the Haitians, I’m the kind of person who LOVES to say “I told you so“.

Reuters:

The protest in the Petionville neighborhood of Port-au-Prince was one of the largest since the January 12 quake that killed more than 200,000 people and left over 1 million homeless. It reflected still simmering anger among survivors over problems in the massive international relief effort.

Aid agencies from around the world have moved tons of rice and other food into Haiti but distributions to the hungry and homeless have been slow and sometimes chaotic.

Tags: politics & government by Mike McGowan
7 Comments »

I can’t take it, this global celebration of American ridiculousness. Everything about it — the overdeveloped man-children “battling” on the gridiron, the “generals” on the sidelines receiving images from spies with a bird’s-eye view of the “trenches,” the pomp and circumstance, the all-too-serious “expert analysis,” the unapologetic commercialism and obedient consumption — is fucking cheap.

Fortunately, there are other options for your viewing pleasure. [Read more →]

Tags: animals, art & entertainment by David A. Brensilver
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What’s worse than being forgotten? Being told you won’t be… then being forgotten anyway. When Pete Sampras retired in 2003, he was proclaimed by many the greatest tennis player ever. Today there remains a small amount of debate over the greatest player, but the experts all agree it ain’t the Greek. Sampras’ primary claim to supremacy was his unprecedented 14 Grand Slam titles. Thanks to a Swiss headband-wearer, 14 is not only precedented, but passe. [Read more →]

Tags: sports by Sean Cunningham
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Dramatis Personae
Mike McGuinn, Secret Service agent
James O’Keefe, conservative enfant terrible
Sean Medlock, a/k/a Jim Treacher

O’KEEFE: Are you sure you can get me into the White House?

MCGUINN: You’re not gonna bug their phones, are you? [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government by Colin Cohen
1 Comment »

The AP has a story today about a kid in Louisiana who was sent home from school for wearing an Indianapolis Colts jersey.

A Louisiana high school student says he was sent home for wearing an Indianapolis Colts jersey Friday — the day the principal encouraged students to wear New Orleans Saints black and gold as the teams get ready to face off in the Super Bowl.

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Tags: education, sports by Ricky Sprague
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“One of these days, Alice…  POW!  Right in the kisser.  Straight to the moon!”

Well, America’s favorite domestic abuser might have been a little more upbeat, were he alive to see these days.  While he never succeeded in putting his his wife on the moon with a killer uppercut, it seems as though the government is finally going to help simplify the process of placing Americans on our closest celestial neighbor.

[Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, science by Mike McGowan
10 Comments »

Kids should be shot. Measles/mumps/rubella (MMR) vaccine does not cause a reaction in children’s bowels that causes autism. What? Bowels? Somebody believed that? Somewhere Jenny McCarthy stamps her little foot and tosses her blond hair, and yet is still not a doctor.

Bigger kids should be wrapped in duct tape. [Read more →]

Tags: diatribes, trusted media & news by Ari McKee
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Following yesterday’s entirely speculative post related to the possibility of Black Metal fans burning down churches in Texas, news reaches us from deepest Russia of an actual, full-on Satanic cult engaged in foul deeds:

Investigators say that the Saransk-based Nobilis Ordo Diaboli group recruited young people from across the region between 2003 and 2009. The cult’s founding members, 24-year-old Belarus national Alexander Kazakov and 23-year-old local Denis Danishin, face a number of charges, ranging from the sexual abuse of minors to battery. [Read more →]

Tags: travel & foreign lands, trusted media & news by Daniel Kalder
2 Comments »

February 3, 2015

A Culvert County second-grader is in critical condition tonight after a SWAT team shot him four times in the process of serving a warrant to check his home for illegal light bulbs.

[Read more →]

Tags: environment & nature, politics & government by Ricky Sprague
4 Comments »

There was an interesting report on the AP today about a bunch of churches which have mysteriously gone up in flames down here in Texas since the new year. Well I say down here but actually it’s quite a drive from Austin to East Texas where most of the incinerated churches used to stand. [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy, trusted media & news by Daniel Kalder
6 Comments »

Apparently, early childhood testing is becoming more and more common. This article in New York Magazine is a must read for anyone with children. Whether you plan on enrolling your kids in private school or not, it’s an incredibly insightful and interesting look inside the world of testing children at a young age and the implications of allowing those tests to further determine the future of these kids. [Read more →]

Tags: family & parenting, going parental by Jaclyn Roth
6 Comments »

Back in the early 1970s I was stationed in Southern California while serving in the Navy. Although I’m a die-hard South Philly guy, I loved my time on the West Coast.

I particularly loved my weekends in Los Angeles, a city I read about as a teenager in the novels of Raymond Chandler and was at that time reading about the city in the novels of Joseph Wambaugh. I had also seen LA as a backdrop in a good number of movies and TV shows growing up. From crime stories to tales of Hollywood, LA was almost a mythical place to me.

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Tags: on thrillers and crime by Paul Davis
1 Comment »

Shawn Macomber (who sometimes writes for WFTC) posted the trailer for Black Sheep over at The American Spectator. The trailer made me laugh. Shawn discusses it in connection with a recent political ad that is critical of Tom Campbell. I hadn’t heard of the political ad, or of Tom Campbell. I don’t know which video is funnier, but I know which is more disturbing. Decide for yourself. Both videos are below. Also, calling the movie Black Sheep might be racist.

[Read more →]

Tags: animals, movies, politics & government by Scott Stein
2 Comments »

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a pastor and theologian martyred through his resistance to Adolf Hitler and Nazism, was born on this day in 1906. It was the begining of one of the more significant — if tragically short — lives of the 20th-century. [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy by Jeff McDonald
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Dramatis Personae
Terry O’Neill, President of NOW
Rahm Emanuel, White House Chief of Staff

O’NEILL: Hello. We in the pro-choice community feel — in light of Pam and Tim Tebow’s horrific and offensive Super Bowl ad, where they ignorantly glorify the choice of life — that we must respond, by encouraging all pregnant women in crisis to make the one and only correct choice. [Read more →]

Tags: politics & government, sports by Colin Cohen
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As soon as I learned of the title of Lost’s Season 6 premiere episode last year, I immediately began to wonder about its implications. Sure, the LA X was a reference to LAX, the abbreviation for Los Angeles International Airport where Oceanic Flight 815 was suppose to land, but why was there a space between the “LA” and the “X”?  Like everything on Lost, surely this play on letters was for a reason. [Read more →]

Tags: religion & philosophy, television by Marc Oromaner
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When most 23 year-olds claim to have had a good year, “good year” usually means a college graduation, a blooming engagement or gainful employment that doesn’t involve phrases like “sweater vest” ,”deep fryer”, and “temp agency”.  With epic record sales, roof-shattering concerts, and admiration from even Barbra Walters, saying Lady Gaga had a “good year” is like saying Bernie Madoff had a bad one.   [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, music by Sarah Ameigh
3 Comments »

April 7, 2009
I dream Richard Schechner organizes a performance festival to be held on the top floor of the Empire State Building. It is my privilege and pleasure to participate. Then, when the show is over, I get a phone call and Richard tells me someone wants to talk to me. I figure, he found one of my old friends who wants to surprise me. It turns out it’s David Letterman calling on the show. I explain to Dave what we’ve been doing at the festival, and I tell him about my mind reading skills. Letterman is gracious and kind.

[Read more →]

Tags: Fred's dreams by Fred Siegel
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When Falls the Coliseum is looking for bloggers to post commentaries, essays, rants, satire, and reviews about current events, politics, entertainment, culture, and many other topics from a broad range of personal and political perspectives. We appreciate both serious discussion and merciless mockery. We like humor — the funny kind. If you’re interested in being a regular contributor, visit our submissions page and tour our site (see FAQ, Welcome, and History). We don’t care if you are libertarian, liberal, conservative, other, or don’t pay attention to politics. As long as you can write posts that interest readers and you want to do so regularly, we’d like to hear from you. We’re looking to increase our coverage of movies, books, TV, video games, celebrity news, pop culture, politics, current events, social issues, online oddities.

Tags: announcements by Coliseum
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Contrary to what I feared, I was not the last person in the United States to see the 3D IMAX version of Avatar. The theater was packed and Avatar continues to rule the box office. But for me, Avatar was a first — the first time I cried at a movie while wearing 3D glasses.  It will take me weeks to process that one. I knew the special effects were, as a friend of mine said, “game changers,” but I didn’t expect the moving story and first rate performances from lesser known actors. I know this film is manipulative, but it manipulated me so well that I didn’t resent it; I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.   [Read more →]

Tags: Gail sees a movie, movies by Gail D. Rosen
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Feel like a chump nowadays? Mark Morford’s disappointment is better than yours:

My God, did you hear that pathetic State of the Union? That guy, that President Obama? Disappointing times a thousand, am I right? What the hell happened to him? Why is he so weak and ineffectual? Why the hell can’t he step up and fix the entire planet in under 400 days like he promised he would, in my dreams and fantasies and impossible liberal grass-fed organic tofu greengasms? Doesn’t he know I put a goddamn bumper sticker on my Subaru for him? I’ve never done that for anyone. Bastard.

Heartbreaking.

[Read more →]

Tags: diatribes, politics & government by Neil Verma
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And don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Somali pirates kidnap entire cargo ships. That’s cool. They get $3 million ransoms. That’s cool. Helicopters drop the ransoms on the ships. That’s cool. Then pirates head to their secret hideout to split the booty. That’s cool.

But pirates used to be even cooler. [Read more →]

Tags: art & entertainment, ends & odd by Scott Stein
3 Comments »