Boston Globe Namesniks Done Alan Cumming Wrong

April 30, 2014

Start with full disclosure: The hardreading staff met Masterpiece Mystery man Alan Cumming at his Boston University Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center Friends Speakers Series appearance Monday night and found him to be the sweetest guy ever.

Exhibit A: His Twitter feed that featured this selfie with his mum:

 

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So we were a bit dismayed when we saw this Names item in yesterday’s Boston Globe.

The comings and goings of Alan Cumming

 

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Alan Cumming spent a busy day in Boston Monday. The Scottish actor, who stars on CBS’s “The Good Wife” and is currently reprising the role of the lascivious emcee in “Cabaret” on Broadway, began the afternoon at WGBH’s Calderwood Studio, taping a series of intros for the new season of “Masterpiece Mystery.” Then it was off to BU’s Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center, where Cumming talked about his life and work. The actor was adorable as ever, even if The New York Times, in its review of “Cabaret,” called him a “little softer around the jaw.”

 

(Fuller disclosure: The hardreading staff has numerous connections to the Gotlieb Center, which we’re happy to detail upon request.)

Not to get technical about it, but said Times review  of “Cabaret” was a full-throated endorsement of Cumming’s reprise of his 1998 performance as the M.C.:

Alan Cumming, who won a Tony as the nasty M.C. in 1998, is back, offering a slightly looser, older-but-wiser variation on the same performance . . . Mr. Cumming’s M.C., who commandeered a part that Joel Grey would have seemed to own exclusively, has become the new model for most interpretations of the role . . .

So that Names item might have been a little soft around the jawboning, yeah?

 

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Boston Globe Ad Says ATM Was Automated Terror Machine for Amy Lord

April 28, 2014

Automated teller machines are big business for the banking industry, and they protect their interests accordingly. Case in point: Massachusetts Senate Bill 1912. According to a piece last week at golocalworcester.com, “[t]he local ATM and banking industry is pushing back on an oft-submitted bill by Massachusetts State Senator Brian A. Joyce that would require banks to install specific security measures at their automated teller machine facilities.”

Justlikethat, this ad ran in today’s Boston Globe (yet another ad that snubbed the Boston Herald).

 

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(More about the horrific murder of Amy Lord last year.)

When you go to atmsafetypin.com, here’s what you get:

 

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From Amy Lord and Senate Bill 1912:

It has taken a lot of lying by a lot of powerful people to keep the ATM crime problem hidden. And many of those people are still in office and pretend to be working to fix it. HINT: When you see educated, powerful people with high social standing behaving like common white trash, you know you got a problem.

An amendment was filed to the original Senate Bill 1912. (https://malegislature.gov/Bills/188/Senate/S1912) The first version of S.1912 had the BANKS reporting crimes at their ATMs. The problem was, banks don’t have 24 hour monitoring of their ATMs, so they don’t know if a crime occurred or not. They would have to go to the police to get that data. Worse yet, the law doesn’t punish banks for not complying, so it’s really a “nonlaw” . . .

It would also not apply to cases where the victim was forced to use the card to make a withdrawal, but only those cases where the victim “surrendered” the ATM card and PIN.

 

There’s a lot more detail there if you care to dig deeper. There’s also a phone number, which the hardreading staff decided to call.

The man responsible for the ad, it turns out, is Joe Zingher, a Chicago lawyer who holds U.S. Patent 5,731,575, “Computerized system for discreet identification of duress transaction and/or duress access” at ATM banking machines.

When we asked Mr. Zingher what his connection was to Amy Lord or ATM crime, he said he’s been studying ATM crime for a long time and it’s easy to get hard data. When we asked directly if he had any financial stake in the reforms he’s proposing, he said he has a 15-year-old patent and “the idea I’m going to make any money off this is ridiculous.” (Not to get technical about it, but the idea didn’t seem so ridiculous in this 2004 Forbes piece, which noted that Mr.Zingher’s patent would “recognize reversed, inverted or otherwise altered PIN as a distress signal, and [instruct] the teller machine to call the cops.” The piece also mentioned Mr. Zingher’s dismay at being “flat broke” thanks to the banking industry’s stonewalling.)

Mr. Zingher concluded our chat by saying that he’s trying to “burst the bubble” of the banking industry’s obstructing reform and that he hopes to “trigger a class action suit” because suppressing ATM crime information has been part of the banking industry’s business model for 30 years.

Did we mention Mr. Zingher is a lawyer?  We thought so.

 

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Boston Dailies Are Papal Tigers

April 27, 2014

From our Santo Subito! desk

The local dailies both play the home-away game in their coverage of this weekend’s Saintorama in the Eternal City.

Start, naturally enough, with Page One of the Boston Herald.

 

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The faithy local tabloid follows up with four pages of Pope-O-Scope coverage, most notably former Boston Mayor/Vatican Ambassador Ray Flynn’s filing from Rome.

World’s Catholics celebrate the faith

O’Malley, Boston represented well

Vatican Popes Saints

VATICAN CITY — The great and the good have gathered in this lovely city, flocking from all corners of the world — ambassadors and cardinals, presidents, prime ministers and royalty.

They are meeting in hotels and embassies and gorgeous residences in the Eternal City, and many gathered together for joyous reunions last night on the eve of today’s double canonization of Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II.

It is a tribute to the remarkable occasion, the convergence of so many diverse and powerful leaders for the first time two popes will be canonized in a celebration presided over by two living popes — Pope Francis and the retired Pope Benedict XVI.

 

But there’s an even more important constituency in town, Flynn writes.

Yet there is a far greater tribute, below the glittering halls, past the motorcades and speeding police escorts and throngs of media.

Down in the streets of St. Peter’s Square, thousands of humble pilgrims gathered to sleep last night. They lay on the cobblestones in the spring chill, the clouds and stars above them, waiting for the dawn, waiting for one of the great moments in our faith.

 

There’s also Margery Eagan on John XXIII, Marty Walsh reminiscing about JP II’s 1979 Hub visit, journalist-turned deacon Greg Piatt on his vocational switch, and Peter Gelzinis on local-boy-mage-seminarian Kevin Leaver, who’ll be at the hoedown in St. Peter’s Square.

Crosstown at the Boston Globe, the front page features this:

 

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The lordly local broadsheet has Cathoholic Czar John L. Allen Jr. in Rome, while Lisa Wangsness and Jeremy C. Fox patrol the local parishes.

From Allen’s piece (website version):

Francis accents unity with halos for superstar popes

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ROME — Oct. 11, 1962, brought a beautiful moonlit night to Rome. Pope John XXIII was in an ebullient mood because of that morning’s launch of the Second Vatican Council, a gathering conceived by the pontiff in which bishops from around the world would throw open the windows of the Catholic Church to the modern world.

The first pope of television’s Golden Age, “Good Pope John” had a roly-poly, grandfatherly persona and seemingly inexhaustible cheer that won fans everywhere, though the changes he set in motion also stirred up critics, then and now. That night, the pope looked out over St. Peter’s Square at the vast crowd praying for the council, and made some off-the-cuff remarks that passed into history as his “Sermon on the Moon” . . .

“Tonight, when you get home, you’re going to find your kids,” Pope John said. “I want you to give your kids a caress . . . and tell them that this caress comes from the pope!”

No one could recall hearing a pope address the faithful in quite that way.

 

Today’s papal twofer is unique as well.

 

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Big Papi Goes in the Tank!

April 25, 2014

From our Home Run Dumby desk

For starters, let’s stipulate that when it comes to home run showboating, David Ortiz can’t hold a candle to Manny (Let Manny Be Money) Ramirez. But Ortiz puts on a pretty good showboat himself (see especially from 1:11).

 

 

So it was no surprise when Big Papi showed up in Tank McNamara on yesterday’s Boston Globe Scoreboard page.

 

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And today:

 

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Given his White House selfie, neither is David Ortiz.

 

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Is One Local Daily Baker Dozin’?

April 24, 2014

Today’s Boston dailies have two different views about GOP gubernatorial hopeful Charlie Baker’s campaign-finance prospects – one good, the other not so much.

The Boston Globe’s Frank Phillips has this story:

Scott Brown’s candidacy could hurt Charlie Baker

Analysts see more GOP money and resources going to New Hampshire’s US Senate battle

 

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Scott Brown’s entrance into New Hampshire’s US Senate race has created a political and media firestorm that some analysts believe will damage critical underpinnings of Charlie Baker’s gubernatorial candidacy in Massachusetts.

Many of the state and national Republican resources that would have been showered on Baker’s race for governor — in terms of fund-raising, strategists, and manpower — will now be directed at Brown’s challenge to Senator Jeanne Shaheen.

Just as problematic for Baker is the huge amount of money that will pour into the Boston media market, aimed at southern New Hampshire, to boost Brown’s candidacy in what the national GOP and the Democrats see as a key battleground over control of the Senate . . .

 

That translates into several potential problems for Baker. Start with independent expenditure groups and party committees scooping up big chunks of commercial inventory on Boston TV stations, leaving less desirable slots for Baker. Then factor in the inevitable smashmouth nature of the spots on both sides of the Granite State bakeoff; some of the mud slung at Brown will surely land on Baker as well.

So, to recap: Fewer dollars, worse ad placement, geld by association.

Then again, crosstown at the Boston Herald Two-Time Charlie’s prospects look much sunnier. Page One, lower half:

 

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This one is Joe Battenfeld’s story:

Super PACs Join Fray

May pour big $ into governor’s race

Two new Super PACs — one Democratic and one Republican — have jumped into the Massachusetts gubernatorial race, the latest sign that shadowy special DSC_1259.JPGinterest groups and power brokers will be pouring millions of dollars into the race for the Corner Office.

One of the Super PACs, called “Massachusetts Forward Together,” has a clear purpose — to “support the gubernatorial candidacy of Steve Grossman,” according to papers filed yesterday with the state’s campaign finance office. Grossman, the state treasurer, is a Democratic candidate for governor.

The other Super PAC, chaired by longtime Republican strategist Beth Lindstrom, appears to be an effort to support the candidacy of Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Baker. Neither of the organizations has reported spending any money yet.ADP_0008.JPG

Lindstrom’s PAC has the intentionally vague name of “Commonwealth Future” and its stated purpose is “to support candidates who create jobs, grow the Massachusetts economy and improve education,” according to its filing with the state.

 

So, to recap:

Maybe Charlie Baker’s in good shape.

Maybe not.

But only if you read both dailies.

 

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NYT Elizabeth Warren Full-Page Book Ad: Paging Howie Carr . . . Paging Mr. Howie Carr

April 23, 2014

Okay, so this full-page ad ran in Tuesday’s New York Times:

 

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And okay, the liberal mainstream media might have given Warren a total pass on the Indian thing, as this piece by Tim Stanley in The Telegraph contends.

Elizabeth Warren’s ‘Native American’ claims: if she was a Republican, the media would call her a racist

 

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Imagine if a Republican candidate claimed, confidently, that she was part Native American. Imagine if she had actually used that identity to have herself listed as a minority at Harvard, qualifying her for special treatment and celebration as proof of how diverse and progressive her department is. Imagine if, many years later, it turned out that her claims to Native heritage were dubious and, when pressed for proof, she offered her “high cheekbones.” Oh, and she once contributed a recipe to a Native American cookbook called “Pow Wow Chow” (that may even have been plagiarised).

Chances are, that Republican candidate would be hounded night and day by the press, branded a racist and probably be winding down her political career. Right now, she’d be sitting by the phone, praying for a call from the producers of Celebrity Apprentice (gotta pay the mortgage on that wigwam somehow).

The incredible thing is that all this has happened to a Democratic senatorial candidate called Elizabeth Warren. And not only has she been given a pass by her party, which normally treats race with the respect it deserves, but also by the mainstream media . . .

 

So Boston Herald Pow Wow Chowdahead Howie Carr:

Are you on this or what?

 

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More Ad-voidance of the Boston Herald

April 22, 2014

As the hardreading staff noted, the Boston Herald held its own with Marathon ads in yesterday’s edition, but today the paper got . . . bageled.

Crosstown, meanwhile, the Boston Globe got this:

 

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And this:

 

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And this:

 

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And this:

 

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(To be fair, the Globe did run a special section with all the Marathon finishing times. To be accurate, only the last two ads ran in that section.)

Still, the grumpy local tabloid can console itself with this:

 

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That’s right – the Herald won yet another nod from the Newseum’s coveted Today’s Top Ten Front Pages.

More details, no doubt, in tomorrow’s edition.

 

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Today’s Boston Marathon Adstravaganza!

April 21, 2014

Not surprisingly, special Boston Marathon ads are, yes, running in the local dailies today.

Both the Boston Globe and Boston Herald feature this Aer Lingus ad.

 

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And this Guinness ad.

 

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And this one from Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Massachusetts.

 

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But only the Globe features this finny one from the New England Aquarium.

 

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And only the Herald has this not-so-finny one from Brooks.

 

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De gustibus and etc., yeah?

Safe day to all.

 

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One Town, Two Different Worlds (Jeremiah Oliver Edition)

April 19, 2014

Page One Pop Quiz:

Which of the local dailies has already made up its mind about this story?

Boston Globe:

 

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Boston Herald:

 

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Answer:

That’s right. The Herald.

 

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Howie Carr Jumps the Snark (Elizabeth Warren DNA Edition)

April 18, 2014

The hardreading staff knows we should just ignore this knucklehead, but the Boston Herald’s baldiest thumbsucker scales entirely new heights of Carrtoonishness in today’s column.

Take my DNA challenge!

Prove you’re an Indian, Liz

041714dna001There is only one way to settle once and for all the question of whether the fake Indian is or is not a real Indian.

She needs to take a DNA test.

I dare you, Sen. Warren. It only costs about $200. If you insist, I’ll pay for it. In fact, I’ll take one myself. It’s easy. Just swab the inside of your mouth. Check my photo on the left, I’ll show you how to do it.

 

Seen enough? Us too.

So, to recap:

First there were truthers. Then there were birthers. Now we have . . . lizzards – sorry, Lizzers.

Yeesh.

 

Campaign Outsider Equal Time Addendum™

Here’s Matt Viser on Warren in today’s Boston Globe:

In book, Warren explains guarded nature with the media

 

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WASHINGTON — It is an odd contradiction. Senator Elizabeth Warren has shaped an image of herself as woman of the people, fighting for common middle-class families, unimpressed by her own power.

But since her 2012 election the Massachusetts Democrat has typically walled herself off from the media, refusing to answer questions in Senate hallways, frequently declining interviews, and adopting some of the same guarded, cautious communication strategies as the corporate CEOs she often pillories. Several weeks ago, a Warren aide physically blocked and reprimanded a Globe reporter seeking to ask Warren a question about the Boston Marathon bombings.

 

Double yeesh.

 

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