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This Fall, Harvard University Press will release The Collaboration: Hollywood’s Pact With Hitler, by the 35-year-old historian Ben Urwand. Alexander Kafka previewed the book in The Chronicle Review. “Urwand found that Nazi officials considered some American films ideologically useful—among them Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935), Our Daily Bread (1934), and Mutiny on the Bounty (1935)—and that the studios expressly marketed certain titles in that vein,” Kafka writes. “ For instance, Gabriel Over the White House, an American fascist fantasia about a fed-up, divinely inspired president dissolving a chaotic Congress and whipping the...

The entertainment industry is giving full voice to their criticism of the Russian anti-gay statute. They've singled out Russia because the 2014 Winter Olympics are going to be held in the city of Sochi and gay fans of the games don't want to be arrested simply for exhibiting what in Russia is politically incorrect behavior. The International Olympic Committee wants assurances from the Russian government but Moscow is standing firm, saying that the law must be respected. Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko insisted Thursday that Olympic athletes would have to respect the laws of the country during the Sochi Games....

Matt Damon: Obama 'broke up with me' By Cameron Joseph - 08/09/13 09:50 AM ET Actor and former Obama fan Matt Damon isn't happy with the president. "He broke up with me," Damon tells BET. "There are a lot of things that I really question, the legality of the drone strikes, and these NSA revelations. Jimmy Carter came out and said 'we don't live in a democracy,' that's a little intense when an ex-president says that, so he's got some explaining to do, particularly for a constitutional law professor." Damon was a big supporter of Obama during his 2008 campaign,...

Alec Baldwin, known for his profanity-laced rants and explosive temper, is getting his own weekly primetime show on MSNBC, Mediaite reports, citing a “senior source in the cable news industry.

The White House announced that President Barack Obama will award the Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award, to 16 recipients including television star and businesswoman Oprah Winfrey, legendary Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee and former President Bill Clinton. “The Presidential Medal of Freedom goes to men and women who have dedicated their own lives to enriching ours,” Mr. Obama said in a statement released by the White House. “This year’s honorees have been blessed with extraordinary talent, but what sets them apart is their gift for sharing that talent with the world.” Mr. Obama will award the medals...

And the next host of the Academy Awards is … Ellen DeGeneres. It will be DeGeneres’ second tour of duty as Oscar host, having previously emceed the 79th annual Academy Awards in 2007 and earning an Emmy nomination. The popular syndicated talkshow host also fronted the Emmys in 2001 and 2005 (co-hosting them in 2003). “I am so excited to be hosting the Oscars for the second time,” DeGeneres said, joking that “you know what they say – the third time’s the charm.”

Chaka Khan has joined fellow performers in the boycott of Florida, as a show of solidarity against the not guilty verdict handed down to George Zimmerman earlier in the month. Khan recorded a song in honor of Trayvon Martin, who was gunned down by Zimmerman last February. In a Huffington Post interview, the legendary songstress revealed that she, like Stevie Wonder, is shunning the Sunshine State. "I am boycotting Florida," she said. "I had a booking there last week and I canceled it." However, if a gig in the state involves paying homage to Martin, she won't turn her...

Gloria Steinem, Jesse Jackson, Bonnie Raitt and Jay Leno have joined prison hunger strikers in calling for an end to California's use of solitary confinement to control prison gang violence. The civil rights crusaders, singer and late-night comedian are among those who signed a letter sent Monday to Gov. Jerry Brown. The letter calls isolation units "extensions of the same inhumanity practiced at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay." The letter to Brown, to be followed by a demonstration Tuesday at the Capitol, was arranged by the National Religion Campaign Against Torture and local supporters of the prison protesters. The organization,...

Jay-Z has responded to criticism from legendary actor and activist Harry Belafonte that the rapper has failed to use his celebrity in a social responsibly way. Last year, Belafonte reportedly said “I think one of the great abuses of this modern time is that we should have had such high-profile artists, powerful celebrities. But they have turned their back on social responsibility. That goes for Jay-Z and Beyonce, for example." * * * Jay-Z said,“I’m offended by that because first of all, and this is going to sound arrogant, but my presence is charity. Just who I am. Just like...

Jane Fonda´s turn as Nancy Reagan has outraged fans of the former first lady but the actress says "The Gipper´s" wife is happy she landed the role. "I don´t think that whatever differences there might be in our politics really matters you know," says the actress in a new clip promoting the film ´The Butler´ which follows the life of a White House worker who served eight presidents. A vocal liberal, Fonda sparked outraged in the 1970´s when she toured North Vietnam, earning the moniker "Hanoi Jane" and critics blasted her casting as Nancy Reagan when it was announced

by Christian Toto 25 Jul 2013, 9:15 AM PDT 241post a comment Most liberal celebrities who blast the Republican party stick to modern issues like taxation, birth control and foreign affairs. Not Bette Midler. Sure, the Divine Miss M hits similar topics via Twitter, but she doesn't mind reaching back into history to smite the GOP from a different angle. This week, Midler revisited World War II with a tweet claiming the GOP wanted America to lose in its fight against the Axis powers. .@GOP treats Mr. Obama the way they treated FDR in WWII. They did everything they could...

7 minutes ago Obama meets with celebs who want to promote Obamacare Posted by CNN White House Producer Adam Aigner-Treworgy and CNN's Kevin Liptak (CNN) – President Barack Obama, hoping to pitch his signature health care law to younger Americans, will get some help from a cadre of Hollywood stars who have volunteered to help promote Obamacare's insurance exchanges that open on October 1. At a meeting at the White House Monday, a group that included singer Jennifer Hudson and actors Kal Penn and Amy Poehler heard Obama extol the benefits his health care law offers young people, whose participation...

USA Today (link only) http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2013/07/13/celebs-react-to-george-zimmerman-verdit/2515113/

Far-left filmmaker Oliver Stone is mourning the loss of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as only the director can. He's making a movie about the failed socialist leader. Chavez, who died earlier this year after a long battle with cancer, will be the subject of Stone's next film, according to AFP. Oliver Stone is making a very beautiful film about our commander Hugo Chavez... that he will likely finish in the next months," [President Nicolas] Maduro said on Thursday, at an event in the northwestern state of Lara.... Maduro said that one of Stone's producers informed him about the film...

-snip- The problem for gun-toting game critics comes when they reach level 30 and get a free content update for the game. According to SimpsonsWiki.net, level 30 is at present the highest level players can reach. At level 30, a storyline involving Herman's Military Antiques store evolves that contains some fairly clear commentary on gun laws in the U.S. and takes some cheap shots at the organization. SimpsonsWiki.net pulled some quotes from the level that has the NRA gunning for the game. 'You’re the perfect gun owner! Step inside!' says Herman to Grandpa Simpson who has just told him how...

Conservatives have embraced Man of Steel, and rightly so, turning it into a cash cow for Warner Bros. The film is open about its religious aspects and has the kind of conservative leanings that we haven't seen in major blockbusters since The Dark Knight Trilogy. With a sequel already greenlit, reporters are asking the filmmakers for any and all details about their future plans. Conservatives that have embraced the patriotic origin story may be a little disappointed in what director Zack Snyder had to say about the film's patriotism and his plans for the sequel. When asked by BBC Radio...

HGTV viewers are expressing outrage after the network suggested they use American flags as table cloths for Fourth of July celebrations, calling offensive, un-American and an insult to the American military. “Using an American flag as a table cloth dishonors all Americans who love Old Glory – especially those who gave their lives defending it,” one viewer wrote. “No one dies for a table cloth.” The HGTV website featured a segment titled, “Classic Fourth of July Table Setting Ideas.”The photographs show bowls of fruit and a jar of lemonade sitting atop Old Glory. They called the flag an “unconventional table”...

ST. PAUL (WCCO) — US Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., says he’s not surprised by revelations that federal security agencies collect phone and computer data on American citizens.

The search for the actress to play Hillary Clinton in the biopic Rodham is creating loud buzz as the race gets fuelled by four equally talented actresses vying for the role. (Click Slideshow to view photos) It's a four-way fight among blonde beauties Scarlett Johansson, Reese Witherspoon, Amanda Seyfried and Jessica Chastain. Said to be gaining the early lead in the running is Johansson who is now busy filming the raven haired spy Black Widow in the sequel of Captain America. Whispers are getting louder going into the final casting that Johansson is almost sure to get the Rodham role...

As Soderbergh's Liberace biopic hits our screens, why is it that homosexual love stories now work so much better than hetero?I know where I'll be Sunday night. The reviews coming out of Cannes for Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic, Behind the Candelabra, which airs on HBO on Sunday night, have turned it into must-see TV. We might have been able to guess that Soderbergh's take on the kitsch-addicted superstar would turn out to be "mesmeric, riskily incorrect, outrageously watchable and simply outrageous" (The Guardian). Or that Michael Douglas would be "shrewd, rude, wickedly funny" (Indiewire) in the central role. What is...

Saw it last night. Couldn't make sense of certain aspects of it until I realized they're telling the 9/11 truther plot that Bush planned everything. (Spoilers ahead with plot details revealed)

She loves the IRS.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, May 11, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – This Sunday, children of all ages will celebrate the role mothers play in their lives. But Vogue model Christy Turlington Burns and a host of female celebrities are encouraging mothers across the nation to ignore their children as part of “No Mother’s Day,” a sign of their support for reducing maternal mortality by supporting family planning and global access to abortion. The campaign asks women to “disappear” on Mother’s Day to raise awareness of maternal mortality rates and underscore “just how much a mother is missed when she’s gone.” But amidst positive...

But he was most animated, his voice pitching higher and lower and the volume steadily increasing, when he spoke of global warming. "This is for real. It is not made up. The scientists are not in a conspiracy to lie to us," Gore nearly shouted. "The generation of people alive today will be held accountable," he said. "Our children and grandchildren ... if they exist in a world that has been devastated by these consequences that have been predicted and are beginning to unfold -- they would be well justified in asking of us: 'What in the hell were you...

This was a BLAST! Such a good cause! The Move Your Body and Let's Move campaigns (both supported by the First Lady herself, Michelle Obama!) want you to help all the kids out there to move and stay healthy ! Michelle has done an amazing job, but she doesn't want to do it alone knowing others out there would be more than happy to help! So what does she do?? She enlists the likes of The Wanted, Jessica Sanchez, Carly Rae Jepsen, and PEREZ — among others!! All together we teamed up with the WAT-AAH! Foundation, an organization aimed at...

Attorney Alan Dershowitz on Monday struck back at Robert Redford and other liberals for their seeming devotion to violent, homegrown activists. Appearing on NewsmaxTV's Steve Malzberg Show, Dershowitz said, "I don’t understand the way some people on the Left glorify American terrorists" (video follows with transcript and commentary):Dershowitz: 'I Don’t Understand the Way Some People on the Left Glorify American Terrorists' STEVE MALZBERG, HOST: Robert Redford before this bombing was on Good Morning America, and he made a movie about the Weather Underground, and he was specifically asked by George Stephanopoulos, “You were followers of them. You kind of rooted...

Russell Brand on Margaret Thatcher: 'I Always Felt Sorry For Her Children' The actor and comedian recalls a bizarre recent encounter with the Iron Lady, and how it prompted him to think about growing up under the most unlikely matriarch-figure imaginable Russell Brand The Guardian 9 April 2013 15.22 EDT Isnip) Her death must be sad for the handful of people she was nice to and the rich people who got richer under her stewardship. It isn't sad for anyone else. There are pangs of nostalgia, yes, because for me she's all tied up with Hi-De-Hi and Speak and Spell...

Brad Paisley’s new album Wheelhouse isn’t even in stores yet (it’s set for release tomorrow), but already one of the songs is causing controversy for its lyrics that attempt to address racial tensions in the South. Called “Accidental Racist,” the song appears aimed at helping to bridge misunderstandings. The song starts out with a guy apologizing for the Confederate flag on his T-shirt to a a worker he encountered at the local Starbucks. As his protagonist sings, “when I put on that T-shirt, the only thing I meant to say, is I’m a Skynyrd fan.” “I’m proud of where I’m...

I disagree wholeheartedly with individuals who say that there are just too many guns available in the market to regulate and that extra gun laws is not going to make a difference. trade must begin someplace. i am beautiful certain that no worthwhile undertaking has ever been finished and not using a starting and lowering gun violence in the united states is a worthwhile pastime. These mass shootings and day by day body counts to your native information are bad tragedies. The utter devastation that must be persisted by means of the victims’ families is unfathomable. These horrific occasions are...

Actor Jim Carrey’s “Cold Dead Hand� video unleashed a firestorm of outrage among conservatives and gun-rights advocates—and for good reason. In one pathetic song, Carrey, who enjoys the protection of an armed bodyguard, mocks the nearly 90 million gun owners in this country, Charlton Heston and rural America. Allahpundit over at Hot Air summed it up best when he said the song is “neither funny nor biting� but rather, is “basically an extended dick joke of the sort that’s been thrown at gun owners for decades.� Indeed. But it seems Carrey couldn’t handle Greg Gutfeld’s criticism on Fox News. The actor...

Actress Daryl Hannah says she suffers for her hard-left activism. The Splash star, talking up her appearance in the new assault on climate change skeptics dubbed Greedy Lying Bastards, says being outspoken in Hollywood comes with a price. CM: Do you think that your acting career has suffered in any way — or that you’ve lost any roles — because of your outspoken activism? DH: I know that’s been the case in some instances, for sure. But that’s OK. The truth is, I’m a human being above all. I love life. And I’d love to see life go on on...

When audiences turn out for “21 & Over” in theaters beginning March 1, they’ll see a celebration of a prominent aspect of the American college experience -- the one involving beer pong, pep rallies and sexually liberated sorority girls. The film’s Chinese audiences, however, will be exposed to a different message: the perils of a hedonistic West and the importance of embracing one’s roots. That’s because two different versions of the R-rated Hollywood comedy have been cut. There’s the version that most of the world will see that that takes place entirely in the U.S. and expounds on the joys...

Wow, re: Hugo Chavez @RobLowe comes off as a ranting Free Republci poster https://twitter.com/RobLowe/status/309132305723703296 …

Everyone's buzzing about Frank Ocean, Taylor Swift, and Mumford & Sons, but did you know that Michelle Obama and Bill Clinton are also nominated for Grammys this year. They're nominated in the often-overlooked Spoken Word category, which honors poetry, audio books, and other forms of audio storytelling. Michelle Obama, along with producers Scott Crewell and Dan Zitt, are nominated for the audio recording of her first audio book, American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America. "With one nomination," points out the Huffington Post's Julie Miller, "the First Lady has already out-Grammy-ied Justin Bieber...

A word of warning: It’s impossible to review Promised Land, the new movie written by Matt Damon and John Krasinski and directed by Gus Van Sant, without giving away its twist ending. Though the plot turn is fumbling in its execution, it is the slyest tactic in the movie’s clumsy crusade against fracking, the process of injecting high-pressure chemicals, water, and sand into the ground to access vast quantities of otherwise inaccessible natural gas.Here’s the premise: Steve Butler (Damon) is a corporate salesman who draws on his rural roots to persuade farmers to sell their land to a fracking...

Barbra Streisand and Seth Rogen's road-trip comedy The Guilt Trip debuted to an unimpressive $1.1 million at the North American box office on Wednesday as Streisand returned to the big screen in a lead role for the first time since The Mirror Has Two Faces in 1996. Box Office Report: 'Zero Dark Thirty' Soars in New York and Los Angeles Guilt Trip came in No. 2 behind Peter Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which took in $6.3 million for a six-day domestic cume of $106.5 million. Wednesday's biggest headline was Kathryn Bigelow's controversial Osama bin Laden pic Zero Dark...

In addition to cancelling its popular “American Guns” reality show, The Discovery Channel confirmed to Raw Story on Tuesday that firearms enthusiast Ted Nugent will also not be returning to the channel in any form or fashion. . ... After Friday’s devastating massacre at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, the spokesperson said that Nugent would definitely not be returning to the Discovery Channel.

Communist AARP Impact Award winner Harry Belafonte offers some friendly advice to his ideological compadre, Barack Hussein Obama, on what to do about those who think we should rein in entitlement spending before it inevitably causes total economic collapse: “Work like a Third World dictator and just put all these guys in jail.” We’re not there yet, but we soon will be. The media has managed to put the likes of Belafonte in charge of our country. If they are allowed much longer to consolidate their power, there will be no turning back.

<p>HBO host Bill Maher’s political views– and his crass way of expressing them– are well known to most. Every once in a while, though, he takes things a step further than normal.</p> <p>The mega Obama donor claimed back in March, for instance, that he should be held to a different standard after calling Sarah Palin a “cu**” than when Rush Limbaugh called 30-year-old Georgetown student Sandra Fluke a “slut.” On Sunday, Maher made another noteworthy claim.</p>

It only took 40 years. But finally, actress-turned-workout-specialist Jane Fonda has apologized for sitting on a Viet Cong anti-aircraft gun during her 1972 visit to North Vietnam. Fonda, who used her fame to push her radical leftism during her heyday, traveled to Hanoi in 1972 in solidarity with the Viet Cong. While there, she proceeded to blame the US for supposedly bombing a dike system, and did a series of radio broadcasts stating that US leaders were “war criminals.” Those broadcasts were replayed for American POWs being tortured by the Viet Cong. Later, when POWs spoke about their experiences of...

Former first lady Nancy Reagan isn’t worried about Jane Fonda playing her in “The Butler,” according to the actress. "I know that she was happy that I was doing it, and I sent some questions to her that she answered,” Fonda said Sunday after receiving the Los Angeles Press Club's Visionary Award, Variety reports. Hoping to portray Reagan accurately, Fonda reached out with questions and made changes to the film script.

Power Couple Jane Fonda And Richard Perry Vote With Their Feet The actress and music producer sell their Hollywood Hills West house for $8.5 million. The home was built in 1942 for Ronald Reagan. By Lauren Beale October 28, 2012 Just in time for the elections, actress and political activist Jane Fonda and music producer Richard Perry have sold their house in Hollywood Hills West for $8.5 million. The traditional-style home was built in 1942 for actor Ronald Reagan and his first wife, actress Jane Wyman, according to Ronald Reagan Presidential Library archives. The five-bedroom, eight-bathroom main house, a swimming...

Obama Is Prominent in ‘SEAL Team Six,’ Weinstein Film LOS ANGELES — Thanks to the magic of editing, President Obama will have a starring role in a television drama about one of his biggest accomplishments — the killing of Osama bin Laden — that will be shown just two nights before the presidential election. But promotional materials and a copy of the movie provided to The New York Times this week also show that the film has been recut, using news and documentary footage to strengthen Mr. Obama’s role and provide a window into decision-making in the White House.

What can be political about Halloween? Especially Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Studios Orlando. Well, guess what? Universal Studios in Orlando this year actually turned a Halloween Horror Nights show into what is obviously a not very subtle Obama campaign rally in which the Romney type candidate declares he lied in the debate and that he shoves grannies off the cliff. Think I'm kidding? Then read the words of Marla Knowles, a blogger at BIZPAC REVIEW, who went to Universal Studios last weekend and reported her unpleasant experience of Universal Studios pushing Obama propaganda and Romney slamming on their customers:...

LOS ANGELES — A film dramatizing the death of Osama bin Laden is set to debut next month on the National Geographic Channel, two days before the presidential election. "Seal Team Six: The Raid on Osama bin Laden," from The Weinstein Co. and Voltage Pictures, will air Sunday, Nov. 4, the channel said Thursday. President Barack Obama faces Republican challenger Mitt Romney at the polls two days later.

A new film starring Matt Damon presents American oil and natural gas producers as money-grubbing villains purportedly poisoning rural American towns. It is therefore of particular note that it is financed in part by the royal family of the oil-rich United Arab Emirates....(Excerpt)

President Obama’s campaign is recruiting young people active on social media to promote the president’s response to Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” remarks. The social media campaign is aimed at young people between the ages of 18 and 29 and builds on a new TV ad and radio ad running in swing states that highlights Obama’s stated desire to be “president for all,” a direct response to the video taken of Romney at a private fundraiser in May that was released this week. Romney told supporters in Florida that his “job is not to worry” about the 47 percent of Americans...

The Obama campaign has launched its “For All” campaign, encouraging supporters to take pictures of themselves with their hands on their hearts and a note explaining why they support President Obama. Actress Jessica Alba uses the Pledge of Allegiance as an example of the campaign in an email to supporters. “Growing up, my classmates and I started every day with a ritual: We’d stand up, put our right hand over our hearts, and say the Pledge of Allegiance,” explains Alba. “To me, that gesture was a promise. A promise to be involved and engaged in this country’s future. A promise...