Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Rob Gleason released the following statement regarding the latest budget development.
“Today, Tom Wolf finally admitted his multi-billion dollar mistake,” Gleason said. “When Tom Wolf issued a complete veto of the Republicans’ on-time budget last June, he needlessly plunged our school districts and non-profits into a six-month crisis. Throughout this year, Tom Wolf has repeatedly made special interests his top priority. It is tragic that so many schools and non-profits were faced with unpaid bills, layoffs and even closures because Tom Wolf used them as political pawns in his reckless budget game.
“It is time for Tom Wolf to join with Republicans in enacting a fiscally responsible budget that puts our Commonwealth on the right track for the future.”
Tuesday, December 29, 2015
You Don't Wanna Miss This One . . .
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Since 1968, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl has been a New Year's
tradition.
This year, the party starts at 12 p.m. EST when the Houston
Cougars challenge the Florida State Seminoles at the Georgia Dome.
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Bombshell: TV Star Snagged For Child Porn!
Actor Mark Salling, best known for his role as Noah "Puck"
Puckerman on "Glee," has been arrested and booked for
alleged possession of child pornography, news outlets report and
Los Angeles police reportedly confirm.
It's being reported that The LAPD's Internet Crimes Against
Children Task Force has served a search warrant at
the 33-year-old's home.
Word is that Salling is being held in lieu of $20,000 bail.
Remembering Great Stars Lost This Year - Video
From Turner Classic Movies:
Our way of honoring those great actors, actresses & filmmakers who've made our lives richer with their talent & imagination. We'll always remember you.
Once again, this year has seen the loss of beloved actors whom TCM was unable to honor with a full programming tribute. So we are taking this opportunity to show a key film from the career of each of the following splendid performers.
Dashing Louis Jourdan, born in 1921, died on Valentine's Day after more than 50 years as a film actor, though he is probably best remembered for the romantic leading-man image epitomized in Gigi (1958). Sultry Lizabeth Scott, born in 1922, was a leading light of film noir and gave her definitive performance as a femme fatale in Too Late for Tears (1949). Versatile Theodore Bikel, born in 1924, was an accomplished musician as well as a skilled actor who won an Oscar® nomination for his role in The Defiant Ones (1958), playing a sympathetic but determined Southern sheriff. Winsome Coleen Gray, born in 1922, often shone as the "good girl" in films noir including Kansas City Confidential (1952), in which she is the love interest of beleaguered ex-con John Payne. Voluptuous Anita Ekberg, born in 1931, enjoyed her first star part in Back from Eternity (1956), playing a sexy showgirl stranded in a South American jungle inhabited by headhunters! Sophisticated Betsy Drake, born in 1923, was a model before starring alongside Cary Grant in her film debut in the romantic comedy Every Girl Should Be Married (1948); she became his third wife the following year.
Dashing Louis Jourdan, born in 1921, died on Valentine's Day after more than 50 years as a film actor, though he is probably best remembered for the romantic leading-man image epitomized in Gigi (1958). Sultry Lizabeth Scott, born in 1922, was a leading light of film noir and gave her definitive performance as a femme fatale in Too Late for Tears (1949). Versatile Theodore Bikel, born in 1924, was an accomplished musician as well as a skilled actor who won an Oscar® nomination for his role in The Defiant Ones (1958), playing a sympathetic but determined Southern sheriff. Winsome Coleen Gray, born in 1922, often shone as the "good girl" in films noir including Kansas City Confidential (1952), in which she is the love interest of beleaguered ex-con John Payne. Voluptuous Anita Ekberg, born in 1931, enjoyed her first star part in Back from Eternity (1956), playing a sexy showgirl stranded in a South American jungle inhabited by headhunters! Sophisticated Betsy Drake, born in 1923, was a model before starring alongside Cary Grant in her film debut in the romantic comedy Every Girl Should Be Married (1948); she became his third wife the following year.
Mary Scranton Remembered As 'Tireless' Advocate
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Former Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett released the following statement regarding the passing of Mary Scranton, the wife of former Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton.
“Mary Scranton was an extraordinary Pennsylvanian who tirelessly served her community, state and country. Her legacy will live on in the countless people she helped during her time as a nurse in WWII, first lady of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, an advocate for her community and as a loving wife and mother.”
“Susan and I send our thoughts and prayers to Mary’s family and the many who loved her.”
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Monday, December 28, 2015
Movies: Three To See Right Now
It's Christmas and end-of-year movie season as we head up to the Oscar nomination rush.
And among the current flock there are at least three good movies that are worthy of your consideration. Depending on where you live, two of these films may have already been yanked from theaters to make room for blockbusters such as the one (we won't mention the name lest we give it more publicity) that has already grossed more than one billion dollars.
Anyway, let's start with the one that's just arrived at theaters -- the new David O. Russell written and directed Joy, the story of Joy Magnano, the hugely successful businesswoman who started her empire with the invention of the Miracle Mop.
The film reunites Russell with his three favorite players, Jennifer Lawrence (as Joy), Robert De Niro (as Joy's father) and Bradley Cooper (as a TV producer and sometimes mentor).
Lawrence gives a bravura performance as Joy. She embodies a fierceness that reaffirms our belief that women are indeed the stronger sex and always have been. She takes on her role with no less authority and self-assuredness than Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce or Bette Davis in All About Eve.
De Niro is fine and Cooper does his best to make the most of a small role. But it's co-stars Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, Édgar Ramírez and Virginia Madsen who manage to steal one scene after another. Rossellini plays De Niro's love interest and Joy's financier with great gusto. Ladd is Joy's soap-opera addicted mom and she dominates her scenes even though she hardly ever leaves her bed. What a joy it is to see these beautiful (and beautifully talented) actresses on the big screen once again! Ramírez is so convincing as Joy's Latin lover, ex-husband and loyalist that he makes you wonder why she ever divorced him. And Madsen is loving and lovable as Joy's grandmother and the wise narrator of the proceedings.
Joy is a big, messy film that juxtaposes times and places and real life sequences and dreams. There are times when it seems like it could use that Miracle Mop that Joy road to fame and fortune. It's not as tight as Russell's Silver Linings Playbook nor as raucous and edgy as The Fighter nor as emblematic as American Hustle. But this is a meaningful and entertaining film nonetheless and it contains important lessons and observations on what it takes to succeed in business and the nature of modern American capitalism.
Trumbo is the updated telling of the story of the dreaded McCarthy era, a time characterized by the Hollywood blacklist and malicious, career-destroying witch hunts in search of communists.
The tale is told through the life of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo who actually was an American communist and someone who eventually survived the blacklist, living to once again write screenplays under his own name and also receive numerous honors from an industry that once rejected and scorned him.
Movies about the movie industry have always been tricky endeavors but this one works because, as serious as the subject matter is, the film spotlights the absurdity of the whole era and even manages to interject dashes of irony and humor into the proceedings. And the sheer hypocrisy of most of those involved in the sanctimonious "laundering" of the entertainment industry is/was nothing short of laughable.
The great Bryan Cranston is superb as Dalton Trumbo and the luminescent Diane Lane is wonderful as his always patient, ever supportive, keenly perceptive wife. On top of that, the movie is worth it just for Helen Mirren's depiction of bloodthirsty gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, she of the ubiquitous chapeau. You'll also be treated to a fine performance by Louis C. K. in a supporting role and you'll enjoy the treat of Dean O'Gorman as a young Kirk Douglas.
The movie intermixes actual newsreel footage from the era with recreations of particular events in an effort to give it an air of authenticity. But don't be entirely fooled. There really was an effort by American communists in the 1950's to take down our government from within. And yes, it did involve treason and espionage and some of it was directed from Moscow. Still, the suspicion, panic, suppression and outright tyranny that this was met with in some quarters remain virtually unjustifiable.
Someone has commented that Brooklyn has to be one of the first movies about Ireland and the Irish that doesn't depict the Irish as dark, brooding, violent or drunk and that doesn't mention the IRA or The Troubles.
For that alone, Brooklyn is worth your time.
There are films that unfound like fine novels and watching these films is like reading a wonderful book. You become engrossed and you simply don't want the tale to end.
Such a movie is Brooklyn. There's a finely-crafted human story here. The characters are three-dimensional and believable and the tale is engrossing. What's more, all of the details are marvelously authentic.
Brooklyn tells the profoundly moving story of Eilis Lacey, a young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s Brooklyn. When she arrives in America, she's so lonely and homesick that her awkwardness and detachment is palpable. You truly ache for her. But later in the film, when she returns to Ireland to tend to some family matters she finds herself torn between two nations, two cultures and two loves. How this all resolves itself is the real (and wonderfully romantic) story of Brooklyn.
And among the current flock there are at least three good movies that are worthy of your consideration. Depending on where you live, two of these films may have already been yanked from theaters to make room for blockbusters such as the one (we won't mention the name lest we give it more publicity) that has already grossed more than one billion dollars.
Anyway, let's start with the one that's just arrived at theaters -- the new David O. Russell written and directed Joy, the story of Joy Magnano, the hugely successful businesswoman who started her empire with the invention of the Miracle Mop.
The film reunites Russell with his three favorite players, Jennifer Lawrence (as Joy), Robert De Niro (as Joy's father) and Bradley Cooper (as a TV producer and sometimes mentor).
Lawrence gives a bravura performance as Joy. She embodies a fierceness that reaffirms our belief that women are indeed the stronger sex and always have been. She takes on her role with no less authority and self-assuredness than Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce or Bette Davis in All About Eve.
De Niro is fine and Cooper does his best to make the most of a small role. But it's co-stars Isabella Rossellini, Diane Ladd, Édgar Ramírez and Virginia Madsen who manage to steal one scene after another. Rossellini plays De Niro's love interest and Joy's financier with great gusto. Ladd is Joy's soap-opera addicted mom and she dominates her scenes even though she hardly ever leaves her bed. What a joy it is to see these beautiful (and beautifully talented) actresses on the big screen once again! Ramírez is so convincing as Joy's Latin lover, ex-husband and loyalist that he makes you wonder why she ever divorced him. And Madsen is loving and lovable as Joy's grandmother and the wise narrator of the proceedings.
Joy is a big, messy film that juxtaposes times and places and real life sequences and dreams. There are times when it seems like it could use that Miracle Mop that Joy road to fame and fortune. It's not as tight as Russell's Silver Linings Playbook nor as raucous and edgy as The Fighter nor as emblematic as American Hustle. But this is a meaningful and entertaining film nonetheless and it contains important lessons and observations on what it takes to succeed in business and the nature of modern American capitalism.
Trumbo is the updated telling of the story of the dreaded McCarthy era, a time characterized by the Hollywood blacklist and malicious, career-destroying witch hunts in search of communists.
The tale is told through the life of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo who actually was an American communist and someone who eventually survived the blacklist, living to once again write screenplays under his own name and also receive numerous honors from an industry that once rejected and scorned him.
Movies about the movie industry have always been tricky endeavors but this one works because, as serious as the subject matter is, the film spotlights the absurdity of the whole era and even manages to interject dashes of irony and humor into the proceedings. And the sheer hypocrisy of most of those involved in the sanctimonious "laundering" of the entertainment industry is/was nothing short of laughable.
The great Bryan Cranston is superb as Dalton Trumbo and the luminescent Diane Lane is wonderful as his always patient, ever supportive, keenly perceptive wife. On top of that, the movie is worth it just for Helen Mirren's depiction of bloodthirsty gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, she of the ubiquitous chapeau. You'll also be treated to a fine performance by Louis C. K. in a supporting role and you'll enjoy the treat of Dean O'Gorman as a young Kirk Douglas.
The movie intermixes actual newsreel footage from the era with recreations of particular events in an effort to give it an air of authenticity. But don't be entirely fooled. There really was an effort by American communists in the 1950's to take down our government from within. And yes, it did involve treason and espionage and some of it was directed from Moscow. Still, the suspicion, panic, suppression and outright tyranny that this was met with in some quarters remain virtually unjustifiable.
Someone has commented that Brooklyn has to be one of the first movies about Ireland and the Irish that doesn't depict the Irish as dark, brooding, violent or drunk and that doesn't mention the IRA or The Troubles.
For that alone, Brooklyn is worth your time.
There are films that unfound like fine novels and watching these films is like reading a wonderful book. You become engrossed and you simply don't want the tale to end.
Such a movie is Brooklyn. There's a finely-crafted human story here. The characters are three-dimensional and believable and the tale is engrossing. What's more, all of the details are marvelously authentic.
Brooklyn tells the profoundly moving story of Eilis Lacey, a young Irish immigrant navigating her way through 1950s Brooklyn. When she arrives in America, she's so lonely and homesick that her awkwardness and detachment is palpable. You truly ache for her. But later in the film, when she returns to Ireland to tend to some family matters she finds herself torn between two nations, two cultures and two loves. How this all resolves itself is the real (and wonderfully romantic) story of Brooklyn.
This is a story about growing up, making your way in the world, trusting your instincts and ultimately, moving on.
You won't find any major stars in Brooklyn but you will find an outstanding cast of Irish, British and American actors under the steady, knowing direction of John Crowly combined with a spare, convincing screenplay by Nick Hornby based on the novel by Colm Tóibín.
This is a beautiful film to watch and a finely-told tale to treasure.
Don't miss Brooklyn!
One Star Who Isn't Afraid To Stand With Military!
"Now is the time where [our troops] need us most."
That was the crux of USO tour veteran Bruce Willis' message when he sat down to record a USO holiday message a couple of week ago. The Emmy Award-winning actor and hero of the "Die Hard" films went on a USO entertainment tour to the Mideast and has been a proud defender of the values we hold dear.
Willis has never been afraid to stand apart from other Hollywood stars in his defense of our nation and its guardians of liberty. Bravo!
Christie Picks Up Major Iowa Endorsement
As New Jersey Governor Chris Christie heads back to Iowa for another packed three day trip around the state to continue engaging Iowans in town halls and meet and greets, former Iowa GOP co-chair, Mason City Mayor and State Representative Bill Schickel announced his endorsement.
“I am very impressed with the way Governor Christie is reaching out to and connecting with Iowans. On a personal level, he has demonstrated to me that he is the tested and mature leader that Iowa and our nation needs. There is no substitute for executive experience,” said Schickel. “Governor Christie has a strong record of offering conservative solutions and making tough decision as a former US Attorney and a governor. I am honored to be caucusing for him in Mason City on Monday, February 1 and urge Republican friends in all of our 99 counties across Iowa to do the same.”
“I am honored to receive Bill’s support today as we start another three day visit to Iowa,” said Governor Christie. “Bill’s strong voice in his community, and across the state, will be invaluable on our team as we continue to build support leading up to the caucuses.”
Bill Schickel currently serves on the Mason City City Council. He has previously served as the Republican Party of Iowa’s Co-Chair, and is a former three term State Representative, and former three term Mayor of Mason City.
View Christie's full Iowa leadership team here.
“I am very impressed with the way Governor Christie is reaching out to and connecting with Iowans. On a personal level, he has demonstrated to me that he is the tested and mature leader that Iowa and our nation needs. There is no substitute for executive experience,” said Schickel. “Governor Christie has a strong record of offering conservative solutions and making tough decision as a former US Attorney and a governor. I am honored to be caucusing for him in Mason City on Monday, February 1 and urge Republican friends in all of our 99 counties across Iowa to do the same.”
“I am honored to receive Bill’s support today as we start another three day visit to Iowa,” said Governor Christie. “Bill’s strong voice in his community, and across the state, will be invaluable on our team as we continue to build support leading up to the caucuses.”
Bill Schickel currently serves on the Mason City City Council. He has previously served as the Republican Party of Iowa’s Co-Chair, and is a former three term State Representative, and former three term Mayor of Mason City.
View Christie's full Iowa leadership team here.
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