Mid-Year: 25 Top Movies of 2017

Top grossing movies worldwide as of June 30, 2017

Beauty and the Beast was OK.  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 needed editing.

I would say my favorites as of mid-year are:

• Logan
• Wonder Woman
• Ghost in the Shell

Rank	Title (click to view)	Studio*  FilterA24 BH Tilt BST BV CLF ENTMP Fathom Focus Fox FoxS LG/S LGF ORF Par. PFR PNT SGem Sony SPC STX Uni. WB WB (NL) Wein. ALL	Worldwide	Domestic / %		Overseas / %
1	Beauty and the Beast (2017)	BV	$1,257.0	$503.8	40.1%	$753.2	59.9%
2	The Fate of the Furious	Uni.	$1,238.3	$225.3	18.2%	$1,013.0	81.8%
3	Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2	BV	$852.7	$381.5	44.7%	$471.2	55.3%
4	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales	BV	$681.6	$162.4	23.8%	$519.1	76.2%
5	Wonder Woman	WB	$663.6	$327.8	49.4%	$335.8	50.6%
6	Logan	Fox	$615.9	$226.3	36.7%	$389.7	63.3%
7	Kong: Skull Island	WB	$566.2	$168.1	29.7%	$398.1	70.3%
8	The Boss Baby	Fox	$491.7	$173.3	35.2%	$318.4	64.8%
9	Fifty Shades Darker	Uni.	$378.8	$114.4	30.2%	$264.4	69.8%
10	Your Name.	FUN	$354.4	$4.9	1.4%	$349.5	98.6%

11	The Mummy (2017)	Uni.	$346.4	$71.2	20.6%	$275.2	79.4%
12	xXx: The Return of Xander Cage	Par.	$346.1	$44.9	13.0%	$301.2	87.0%
13	The Great Wall	Uni.	$332.0	$45.2	13.6%	$286.8	86.4%
14	Resident Evil: The Final Chapter	SGem	$312.2	$26.8	8.6%	$285.4	91.4%
15	The LEGO Batman Movie	WB	$310.9	$175.8	56.5%	$135.1	43.5%
16	Transformers: The Last Knight	Par.	$281.3	$82.1	29.2%	$199.2	70.8%
17	Split	Uni.	$276.9	$138.1	49.9%	$138.8	50.1%
18	Kung Fu Yoga	WGUSA	$254.2	$363k	0.1%	$253.8	99.9%
19	Get Out	Uni.	$251.8	$175.5	69.7%	$76.3	30.3%
20	Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back	Sony	$246.6	$880k	0.4%	$245.7	99.6%
21	Alien: Covenant	Fox	$228.6	$73.5	32.1%	$155.1	67.9%
22	Smurfs: The Lost Village	Sony	$194.7	$44.7	23.0%	$150.0	77.0%
23	A Dog's Purpose	Uni.	$193.1	$64.3	33.3%	$128.7	66.7%
24	Ghost in the Shell (2017)	Par.	$169.8	$40.6	23.9%	$129.2	76.1%
25	John Wick: Chapter Two	LG/S	$166.8	$92.0	55.2%	$74.8	44.8%

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Ghost in the Shell was entertaining

Logan was very depressing and well done.

A Miracle - The GOP Actually Did Something

It's A Miracle

• The fact that the GOP House got off their fat asses and did anything at all is a miracle.  But watch and see this bill will die in the GOP Senate.

(Fox News)  -  House Republicans took action Thursday to crack down on illegal immigrants and the cities that shelter them.

One bill passed by the House would deny federal grants to sanctuary cities and another, Kate’s Law, would increase the penalties for deported aliens who try to return to the United States.

Kate's Law, which would increase the penalties for deported aliens who try to return to the United States and caught, passed with a vote of 257 to 157, with one Republican voting no and 24 Democrats voting yes.

Kate's Law is named for Kate Steinle, a San Francisco woman killed by an illegal immigrant who was in the U.S. despite multiple deportations. The two-year anniversary of her death is on Saturday. 

President Trump called the bill's passage "good news" in a tweet, adding "House just passed #KatesLaw. Hopefully Senate will follow."

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Obamaphone Fraud As High As 65 Percent

(Daily Caller)  -  A massive portion of Obamaphone recipients are receiving the benefit after lying on their applications, according to a new 90-page report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO).

An undercover sting operation showed ineligible applications were approved 63 percent of the time, and a review that found that 36 to 65 percent of beneficiaries in various categories had lied in easily-detectable ways but were approved anyway.

The fraud reached unheard-of proportions because the Federal Communications Commission let the task of screening for eligibility fall to phone companies that profit off of enrolling as many people as
possible.

GAO undercover investigators applied for free government phones 19 times using criteria that should have been rejected, and “we were approved to receive Lifeline services by 12 of the 19 Lifeline providers using fictitious eligibility documentation.”

But nationwide, “only 35.5 percent of people claiming eligibility based on SSI could actually be confirmed as eligible,” the GAO found. That means 64.5 percent of people appear to have lied and may not even be poor.

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I Don't Think She's Got Any More In Her....

But you just keep on trying....meanwhile, President Trump will get 2 more Supreme court justices in his first term!

Thanks to Ninety miles from tyranny

Thor Thursday

I Love a Woman in Breastplates

When politics bores me, my thoughts turn to buxom women in breastplates.

Where were all these hot chicks interested in comics and science fiction when I was young and single?

Loki with cleavage?
Why the Hell not! Works for me.

Trump Border Wall Prototypes Built This Summer

(New York Times)  -  The Department of Homeland Security will start construction of prototypes for a border wall this summer in the San Diego area, agency officials said on Tuesday, the first step in fulfilling a campaign promise made by President Trump.

Homeland security officials said the prototypes would be added to the existing border walls in San Diego and would allow the agency to evaluate which barriers are most effective in giving Border Patrol agents time to respond to illegal drugs and human smuggling. Officials said they planned to build four to eight prototypes but did not say when construction would begin.

“We own that land, have access to it and it’s a good place to start testing in a real-world environment,” Ronald D. Vitiello, acting deputy commissioner at Customs and Border Protection, said at a news briefing.

John F. Kelly, the secretary of homeland security, has said that there are no plans to build a wall along all 1,900 miles of the border with Mexico, which Mr. Vitiello has also said.

Mr. Vitiello added that the agency had identified about 130 miles that would be unsuitable for a border wall because of bodies of water or other challenging terrain.

Officials at Customs and Border Protection say they have received hundreds of bids for prototypes, but the agency has not yet chosen vendors.

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Macy's stock crumbles after dumping Trump

Screw Macy's

(World Net Daily)  -  Nearly two years after phasing out its Donald Trump line of menswear, Macy’s stock has plummeted to its lowest levels in years.

Macy’s dumped Trump merchandise in July 2015 after the then-Republican presidential candidate made “derogatory” comments about Mexican immigrants.

“Macy’s is a company that stands for diversity and inclusion,” the company said at the time. “We are disappointed and distressed by recent remarks about immigrants from Mexico.”

Trump responded by calling for a boycott of the store, tweeting: “Those who believe in tight border security, stopping illegal immigration, [and] SMART trade deals [with] other countries should boycott Macy’s.”

The boycott by Trump supporters has taken a toll, according to Fortune magazine.

Macy’s now plans to close up to 100 stores and lay off 10,000 workers as sales plummet.

For the quarter ending April 29, Macy’s profits dropped to $71 million from the $116 million that was reported during the same time last year. It’s a 38 percent drop in profits. Sales also fell from $5.8 billion to $5.3 billion, a drop of 7.5 percent.

Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette called the first quarter report for 2017 “disappointing” and would not rule out closing more stores.

“I’m not going to say we’re not going to close more stores beyond those 100,” Gennette said, “but we do feel we got to the right level.”

Macy’s reported its ninth straight quarter of declining sales this month.

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ISIS members can't get jobs in Europe

The Death of the West

• Retarded Sweden is not only allowing ISIS terrorists to enter the country, but they also give them housing, education and financial support.

(Newsweek)  -  The first thing an employer will ask about a resume is any gaps between jobs. But they probably wouldn't suspect that an applicant for a certain role who seems to have been unemployed for a few years was busy fighting for the Islamic State militant group (ISIS).

Jihadis returning to their home countries in Europe are now finding out the hard way, and many cannot get a job as they try to reintegrate into western society.

Swedish daily newspaper Expressen interviewed former jihadis about life after ISIS and they discussed the challenges of finding work. As many as 150 have returned to the Scandinavian country to try and rebuild their lives.

“I just want to forget everything,” Walad Yousef, a 27-year-old returning fighter, told the newspaper. “I apply for a lot of jobs, but I can’t get any because my pictures are out there.”

"You in the media have scared them. I do not know why they are afraid," said a jihadi from the southern city of Malmo of the fears that employees and civilians had of returning foreign fighters.

Sweden is one the best countries for a foreign fighter to return if they want to reintegrate. It is trialling a rehabilitation programme that gives Swedish extremists housing, employment, education and financial support.

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The Rape of Sweden

Words of wisdom for Pat Condell

From Swedish to Somali

More Republicans bail on Obamacare repeal

It's Time To Face Facts

Socialized Medicine is Here to Stay

• The GOP never had any intention of repealing Obamacare. There is just too much Federal cash in the slush fund and everyone wants to put their snout in that trough of money.
• What the Republicans will try to pass is Romneycare. Better known as Obamacare lite.

(Daily Caller)  -  Three more Republican senators announced their opposition to the Senate health care bill Tuesday, bringing the total number of defectors to nine.

Republicans Jerry Moran of Kansas, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia and Rob Portman of Ohio issued statements of opposition soon after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced leadership would postpone the vote until after the July 4 recess. The GOP leadership was pressed into the postponement following significant internal opposition.

Three GOP Senators had stated definitively that they would vote against the bill in its current form as of the postponement, but that number quickly multiplied Tuesday.

Moran announced his opposition to the bill via Twitter after reportedly facing significant pressure from constituents wary of the bill’s significant cuts to Medicaid.

Portman, who has previously voiced concerns about the fledgling Senate Obamacare repeal, expressed his outright opposition to the bill in a joint statement with Capito Tuesday afternoon.

“I continue to have real concerns about the Medicaid policies in this bill, especially those that impact drug treatment at a time when Ohio is facing an opioid epidemic,” Portman said.

Capito echoed Portman’s concerns, citing decreased funding for drug treatment and cuts to Medicaid as a major obstacle preventing her support of the bill.

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13,500 illegal aliens land in Italy in 48 hours

No Italian Navy

As Far As The Eye Can See

• The Italian navy could stand just off the coast of Africa and turn boats of illegal aliens around and send them back to shore. 
• Instead the open borders politicians pull the navy back to Italian waters and allow endless waves of illegals to make it to Italy.
• A "Crazy" Blogger like me might conclude the politicians want to repopulate Europe with illegals.

(Huffington Post Italy)  -  Over five thousand migrants rescued Monday off the Libyan coast and 8,500, in total, those collected by rescuers ships in 48 hours and headed to the Italian ports. It is a new emergency migrants so that Interior Minister Marco Minniti, he returned to Italy. The minister was headed to Washington for a series of institutional meetings, but he preferred to return to Italy to face directly the emergency.

Meanwhile, the raging political controversy, with Renato Brunetta, leader of Forza Italy in the House, who asked Minniti to block ships with migrants who are heading to Italy to ask the EU that might be diverted to other ports in the Mediterranean .

The five who were rescued Monday were aboard four boats, 18 boats and a punt. A rescue them units of the Coast Guard and NGOs and some tugboats. The 8,500 migrants collected within 48 hours they were loaded onto 14 ships, six of which have already reached the ports of Sicily and Calabria.

Among the rescue ships there are the Irish 'The' direct Eithne to Agusta (712 migrants on board), ship Phoenix NGO Moas live in Messina (423), 'Vos Prudence' Doctors Without Borders (861) Palermo and 'U. Diciotti 'Coast Guard (790).

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The Communist Diet - Lose Weight Today

Communist Starvation in Venezuela

The more things change, the more they stay the same

(BBC) Venezuela  -  Travelling through the country this month I saw endless queues of people trying to buy food - any food - at supermarkets and other government-run shops.

I was stopped at a roadblock in the middle of the countryside by people who said they had eaten nothing but mangoes for three days.

I saw the hopeless expression of a mother, who had been eating so little that she was no longer able to breastfeed her baby.

I met a woman affectionately known as la gorda - "the fat one" - whose protruding cheekbones indicated just how much weight she had lost in the last year.

Mostly empty shelves in this Caracas supermarket in June

I felt sympathy for all these people, but it was my family who really brought it home to me.

My brother told me all his trousers were now too big. My father - never one to grumble - let slip that things were "really tough". My mother, meanwhile, confessed that sometimes she only eats once a day. They all live in different parts of Venezuela, but none of them is getting enough to eat. It's a nationwide problem.

A study by three of the country's main universities indicates that 90% of Venezuelans are eating less than they did last year and that "extreme poverty" has jumped by 53% since 2014.

The country's official inflation rate was 180% in December, the last time a figure was made public, but the IMF estimates it will be above 700% by the end of the year.

"But this will only be available once a month!" a young mother, Liliana, exclaimed at the roadblock manned by people eating nothing but mangoes.

She admitted to going to bed in tears on days when she had been unable to give her two children any dinner.

In western Venezuela, in the oil-rich province of Zulia, I visited several small towns where people didn't know what they would eat the following day.

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Venezuela middle class crosses border for groceries

‘Tremors’ reboot gets pilot order at SyFy

Back to Perfection?

• Once you have had perfection in your life you can never find it again no matter how hard you try.
• The original 1990 Tremors movie is very special to us fans.  Can the magic of Perfection, Nevada be brought back?  No.  But I have hung in with five movies and a so-so TV series.  So I will be at my TV set when the show hits.

(TV by the Numbers)  -  Audiences may start to feel tremors in their living rooms again after all.

This afternoon, SyFy has officially put in a pilot order for a series reboot of “Tremors,” based on the 1990 film of the same name, which starred Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward at the time. Now, the series is also set to star Bacon (who will additionally serve as executive producer on it), with Jason Blum set to executive producer and Andrew Miller serving as the series showrunner. 

It will be produced by Universal Cable Productions alongside Bacon, David Schiff (“Southpaw”) and Blumhouse Television.

While there’s no telling how much the reboot may deviate from the plot, the original premise of the 1990 film followed a repairman, Valentine McKee (Bacon), and his friend who set out to investigate several mysterious deaths in their small desert Nevada town. 

However, they quickly discover the cause to be a group of giant, worm-like monsters who eat human flesh below the surface of the Earth. The revival will pick up 25 years after the events of the film, with Valentine attempting to save the town again, while also battling age, alcohol and a delusional hero complex this time around.

“This is the only character I’ve played that I’ve ever thought about revisiting. I just got to thinking, ‘Where would this guy end up after 25 years?’ ” said Bacon in a statement released with the announcement. “Andrew Miller has a fantastic take on it, and we hope to create a show that will be fun and scary for fans of the movie and folks that have yet to discover it. Let’s kick some Graboid ass!”

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Aborting White Babies Will Solve White Racism

Kill All White Babies

Libs Now Preach Genocide

By Paul Joseph Watson

A feminist magazine is calling on white women to solve historical racism and white supremacy by aborting all their babies.

In an article entitled, Beyond Pro-Choice: The Solution to White Supremacy is White Abortion, writer Nicole Valentine blames “white families” for standing in the way of a “progressive society” by “initiating their parasitism” to exert “full dominion over the enslaved and oppressed people of color.”

“Whites are embedded from birth with the sense of common white identity, and this identity conditions them to replicate the white family unit, thus furthering the cycle of white supremacy in America. That is why the white family unit must be destroyed,” writes Valentine.

“White women: it is time to do your part! Your white children reinforce the white supremacist society that benefits you. If you claim to be progressive, and yet willingly birth white children by your own choice, you are a hypocrite. White women should be encouraged to abort their white children, and to use their freed-up time and resources to assist women of color who have no other choice but to raise their children,” she adds.

Valentine goes on to demand that white women also adopt black children “who have lost their parents to the destructive white supremacist society that you have enabled and encouraged.”

The magazine, which describes itself as being “dedicated to promoting diversity and multicultural values,” is loaded with other stories that border on being satirical, including “Women can’t be rapists,” “Childhood toys are racist!” and “It’s time to talk about Whitesplaining”.

The website’s “about us” page also blames “radical right wingers” as being “responsible for several hate crimes and terrorist attacks.” The writers are mostly “current and past students”.

Valentine’s argument that white women need to have more abortions because “women of color do not often have the same privilege to choose termination as do white women” is complete nonsense given that black children are aborted at three times the rate of white children.

The article received hundreds of negative comments, with respondents pointing out the blatantly racist tone of the piece.

“Sometimes I think there must be a contest going on in which the author of the most radical, insane, warped, twisted and fever-brained article will win a prize. If so, this hateful screed should surely win at least an honorable mention,” wrote Steve Biddle.

“If this is not incitement to genocide, I don’t know what it is. If you change the term “white” to anything else, it looks exactly like that no matter how you flip it,” remarked Victor Crainic.

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