n2doc

n2doc's Journal

February 6, 2018

Justin Timberlake Dances On Princes Grave

by NICK PEMBERTON

Prince said of holograms: “That’s the most demonic thing imaginable. Everything is as it is, and it should be. If I was meant to jam with Duke Ellington, we would have lived in the same age. That whole virtual reality thing … it really is demonic. And I am not a demon….Also, what they did with that Beatles song [‘Free As a Bird’], manipulating John Lennon’s voice to have him singing from across the grave … that’ll never happen to me. To prevent that kind of thing from happening is another reason why I want artistic control.”

Justin Timberlake was made aware of Prince’s words before his Super Bowl Halftime Show in Prince’s home state. Timberlake said that he would on second thought not use Prince’s hologram in his performance. It would have been better if Timberlake had simply been honest with Prince’s friends and family. He ended up using a projection of a hologram. Skating by on this technicality shows that Timberlake never understood Prince’s wishes. Or maybe he chose not to understand them.

There was a telling exchange between the two musicians about a decade ago. Prince said of Timberlake’s hit “SexyBack”: “For whoever is claiming they are bringing sexy back, sexy never left!” Timberlake responded quite lamely on Timbaland’s song “Give It To Me”: We missed you on the charts last week /Damn, that’s right you wasn’t there / Now if se-sexy never left, then why is everybody on my shi-i-it? / Don’t hate on me just because you didn’t come up with it.” Now that Prince is gone, Timberlake’s call to bring sexy back actually makes some sense. Only Timberlake would not be the man to do it.

Timberlake was rather prosaic to me before his blasphemy on Sunday. His sexy is not Prince’s sexy or Madonna’s sexy. Prince was sexy because he was subversive. Timberlake’s clean-cut look now matches the suburban dad he has become. Before that, he had a cretinous boyish air to him.

more
https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/02/06/justin-timberlake-dances-on-princes-grave/

February 6, 2018

Many Say Hes the Least Qualified Lawyer Ever to Lead a Guantnamo Case. He Agrees.

GUANTÁNAMO BAY, Cuba — For years, an expert legal team defended one of the most high-profile accused terrorists in a death penalty case at the military tribunals here. But a courtroom dispute involving classified snooping prompted nearly all of the team to abruptly quit this fall, leaving only a 39-year-old former SEAL turned lawyer with just six years’ experience, and none with a capital case.

By many assessments, including his own, the lawyer, Navy Lt. Alaric Piette, is completely unqualified to represent Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi man accused of orchestrating the bombing of the American destroyer Cole in 2000. Though he was trained to hunt down the most dangerous terrorists in the world, nothing prepared him to defend someone accused of carrying out terrorist acts.

“On another day, I could have easily taken my client out. I know it seems like a contradiction,” Lieutenant Piette said as he stood in the tropical glare outside the dust-colored court building here, which is ringed by razor wire and sniper netting. “But in a lot of ways being a SEAL and being a defense attorney — you’re doing the same thing. You’re defending the Constitution.”

No lawyer with so little experience has ever led a case before the tribunal, and in fact, regulations prohibit it. That the Nashiri case is going forward at all has led many to question whether the tribunals can offer a fair trial, and has cast a harsh light on the already troubled military system, which so far has produced no convictions at trial, despite years of effort.

more
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/05/us/guantanamo-lawyer-piette.html

February 6, 2018

FEMA Contract Called for 30 Million Meals for Puerto Ricans. 50,000 Were Delivered.

The mission for the Federal Emergency Management Agency was clear: Hurricane Maria had torn through Puerto Rico, and hungry people needed food. Thirty million meals needed to be delivered as soon as possible.

For this huge task, FEMA tapped Tiffany C. Brown, an Atlanta entrepreneur with no experience in large-scale disaster relief and at least five canceled government contracts in her past. FEMA awarded her $156 million for the job, and Ms. Brown, who is the sole owner and employee of her company, Tribute Contracting LLC, set out to find some help.

Ms. Brown, who is adept at navigating the federal contracting system, hired a wedding caterer in Atlanta with a staff of 11 to freeze-dry wild mushrooms and rice, chicken and rice, and vegetable soup. She found a nonprofit in Texas that had shipped food aid overseas and domestically, including to a Houston food bank after Hurricane Harvey.

By the time 18.5 million meals were due, Tribute had delivered only 50,000. And FEMA inspectors discovered a problem: The food had been packaged separately from the pouches used to heat them. FEMA’s solicitation required “self-heating meals.”

more

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/06/us/fema-contract-puerto-rico.html
Heck of a Job, Trumpy!

February 6, 2018