Some shocking news, Blockbuster video goes the way of the 8-track tape.
The Story:
Englewood, Colo. — The final curtain is falling on the Blockbuster video-rental stores that Dish Network Corp. owns in the U.S.
The closures announced Wednesday will affect about 300 Blockbuster locations scattered across the country. Dish Network expects the stores to be closed by early January. Dish Network says about 2,800 people will lose their jobs.
There are over a dozen Blockbusters in metro Detroit.
The Englewood, Colo. satellite-TV provider also is shutting down Blockbuster’s DVD-by-mail service next month.
Dish Network’s retreat will render Blockbuster’s once-ubiquitous brand nearly extinct. About 50 U.S. stores operating under franchise agreements will remain open.
Blockbuster’s downfall began more than a decade ago with the rise of Netflix Inc.’s DVD-by-mail service, followed by the introduction of a subscription service that streams video over high-speed Internet connections.
Dish Network bought Blockbuster out of bankruptcy court in 2011.
I am old enough to remember when Blockbuster video started back in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s.(*) Sad to see them go; but times change, the advent of high speed internet, basically rendered the rental of Video tape and DVD’s old hat.
Still though it is a bit of a shock to see something like that go away.
* = Update: Least I that should be accused of not knowing what I am talking about; According to Wikipedia, Blockbuster Video was formed in 1985. However, I lived in Southwest Detroit from my date of birth, which was in 1972 till 1989 and we never saw them there at all. My family moved from Detroit to the southern suburbs of Detroit in 1989; and around 1990 or 1991 is when we noticed the first blockbuster opened around here. I guess I am showing my age a bit. 😳
Controversial Evangelical author David Barton just announced that he won’t challenge Senator John Cornyn in the 2014 Texas Senate primary. On Glenn Beck’s radio show this morning, he told Beck’s listeners that, though the primary is “winnable,” the timing isn’t right for him.
“What can I do to talk you into this?” asked Beck, disappointed.
Texas tea-party activists had been hankering for Cornyn to get a primary challenger ever since he removed his name from Mike Lee’s letter urging his Senate colleagues to refuse to support a CR that funded the Affordable Care Act. But finding a candidate with the requisite name recognition, connections, and willingness was a tall order. Enter Barton, former vice chairman of the Texas Republican party, who’s well-connected in the Evangelical movement and has deep ties with the Texas conservative grassroots. Barton is a lightning rod for controversy: The publisher of his most recent book, The Jefferson Lies, pulled it because of concerns over numerous factual inaccuracies. (Beck wrote the foreword for that work and has promised to continue publishing it.)
Barton told Beck’s listeners that he had done polling to investigate his odds in the race, and believed it would have been easy for him to raise the first $3 to 4 million.
“Has Louie ruled it out?” Beck asked, hoping Representative Louie Gohmert would challenge the senator. The Texas congressman did reject the idea in July, and it’s ultimately unlikely Cornyn will get a competitive primary challenger.
I believe this to be a very smart move by David Barton. Because quite frankly, Barton would be a lightening rod for the left to attack the GOP as an extremist party. Furthermore, it would cost the GOP a important seat in the Senate. The plain truth is that while Barton might have some noble intentions; he is simply unelectable and his campaign would be unwinnable.
It simply boils down to credibility and Barton has a credibility problem; his book was pulled because of issues with accuracy. Those sort of things are not exactly a feather in ones cap, when it comes to politics. Either way, I am glad to see that Barton did not try and run; because in his case, the Republican Party simply did not need someone of his ilk trying to run for office.
I see this as a very good thing and not for the reasons you might think!
But, first, the video:
The Story:
Detroit’s New Mayor – Mike Duggan
For Duggan, born in Detroit but who lived much of his life in the western Wayne County suburb of Livonia, it was a victory rooted in his turnaround persona that may also reflect a move away from decades of racial politics.
He will replace one-term Mayor Dave Bing in a city where 83 percent of the residents are black and in a region where racial divisions have strained city-suburb relations until recently.
A beaming Duggan Tuesday made a veiled reference to race but immediately brushed it aside to focus squarely on the monumental tasks that voters decided to put in his hands — and which he’ll share with an emergency manager appointed by Gov. Rick Snyder who holds the power to make most major decisions.
“What we have in common is much more powerful than what divides us. Now the real work begins,” Duggan said. “They want somebody to go into City Hall, get rid of the bureaucracy and get city services going.”
Now about why I believe that Mike Duggan won the election; I believe that Duggan won because quite frankly, the people of the city of Detroit and I mean everyone — was sick and tired of the racial politics of the city. Those racial politics, by the way, date back to the first black mayor of the city of Detroit, Coleman A. Young. Quite bluntly, Young hated white people with a passion; and it showed in the white parts of the city, namely southwest Detroit — where I grew up.
Also too, I believe that many people in Detroit were sick of business as usual. That “Business as usual” bankrupted the city and put the city in the position that it is in now. I believe that Duggan represented a better path for the city of Detroit. What amazes me, as that Duggan has, as you can see in the video; an overwhelming support of the black community, which I think is an awesome thing.
I am convinced Mike Duggan has his work cut out for him. I wish him and his staff the best. However, I believe that if he plays his cards right and goes in with the right attitude; I believe that he can possibly do some great things for the City of Detroit.
Here’s to a prosperous future in the City of Detroit!
In the South, political perspectives are as likely to be shaped by conversation between friends at the corner store as they are by The Washington Post or CNN. Most of us who take the time to vote make the decision based on the information at our disposal, cast our vote at the polls, and move on with our lives. The choice belongs to us, and we know our interests better than anyone else.
What he means is, that next time the United States will not get caught spying.
The Story:
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is vowing that a review into NSA surveillance activities will ultimately result in the “right” balance between security and privacy and says outrage over alleged espionage and eavesdropping should not disrupt key trade talks between Europe and the United States.
Speaking in Warsaw after talks with Poland’s foreign minister, Kerry said Tuesday that Europeans and others have “legitimate” questions about the surveillance and that those would be answered in private diplomatic discussions.
“We need to understand that we are all in this together,” Kerry said. “We are all in the effort to be able to provide protection to our citizens. And we have to strike the right balance between protecting our citizens and obviously the privacy of all our citizens. That is a balance that we do try to strike.”
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said he had spoken with Kerry and “we have agreed on closer cooperation between our services on combatting common threats.”
Sikorski also said that trade issues should be separate from surveillance questions.
“These are two separate things, two separate orders. One belongs to Eurpoe itself, to the community,” he said. “The second one is rather national in character, it depends on individual states vis-a-vis the U.S.”
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