Welcome to the Overnight News Digest with a crew consisting of founder Magnifico, current leader Neon Vincent, regular editors side pocket, maggiejean, wader, Doctor RJ, rfall, JML9999 and Man Oh Man. Alumni editors include (but not limited to) palantir, Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse, ek hornbeck, ScottyUrb, Interceptor7, BentLiberal, Oke and jlms qkw.
OND is a regular community feature on Daily Kos, consisting of news stories from around the world, sometimes coupled with a daily theme, original research or commentary. Editors of OND impart their own presentation styles and content choices, typically publishing each day near 12:00AM Eastern Time.
Please feel free to share your articles and stories in the comments.
From the KTH Royal Institute of Technology: Hawking offers new solution to black hole mystery
Black holes don't actually swallow and destroy physical information, according to an idea proposed today by Stephen Hawking at the Hawking Radiation conference being held at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Instead, they store it in a two-dimensional hologram.
One of the most baffling questions facing a generation of physicists is what happens to the information about the physical state of things that are swallowed up by black holes? Is it destroyed, as our understanding of general relativity would predict? If so, that would violate the laws of quantum mechanics.
Today at the Hawking Radiation conference, Hawking presented his latest idea about how this paradox can be solved — that is, how information is preserved even if it's sucked into a black hole ... But in his lecture in Stockholm the previous night, Hawking also offered compelling thoughts about where things that fall into a black hole could eventually wind up.
"The existence of alternative histories with black holes suggests this might be possible," Hawking said. "The hole would need to be large and if it was rotating it might have a passage to another universe. But you couldn't come back to our universe.
"So although I'm keen on space flight, I'm not going to try that."
From
BBC News:
Virginia killings: Shooter Flanagan 'a human powder keg'
A man who shot dead two journalists on live TV in the US state of Virginia apparently sent a rambling fax to ABC News describing himself as a "human powder keg" shortly after the attack.
Vester Flanagan, who had been dismissed by the same station, WDBJ7, killed himself after a police chase.
In the fax, a man said to be Flanagan describes suffering discrimination and bullying for being gay and black.
The White House said Wednesday's attack showed the need for better gun control.
The two people killed were WDBJ7 reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward. Station manager Jeff Marks said: "I cannot tell you how much they were loved."
He said Flanagan was an "unhappy man" who had to be escorted from the WDBJ7 building after being dismissed in 2013.
From
ABC News:
After Shooting, Alleged Gunman Details Grievances in ‘Suicide Notes’
A man claiming to be Bryce Williams called ABC News over the last few weeks, saying he wanted to pitch a story and wanted to fax information. He never told ABC News what the story was.
This morning, a fax was in the machine (time stamped 8:26 a.m.) almost two hours after the shooting. A little after 10 a.m., he called again, and introduced himself as Bryce, but also said his legal name was Vester Lee Flanagan, and that he shot two people this morning. While on the phone, he said authorities are “after me,” and “all over the place.” He hung up. ABC News contacted the authorities immediately and provided them with the fax.
In the 23-page document faxed to ABC News, the writer says “MY NAME IS BRYCE WILLIAMS” and his legal name is Vester Lee Flanagan II. He writes what triggered today’s carnage was his reaction to the racism of the Charleston church shooting.
From
NBC News:
Officer Shot, Two People Stabbed in Sunset, Louisiana
A gunman was in custody early Wednesday evening after he stabbed two people, shot a police officer and smashed into a convenience store in Sunset, Louisiana, where he barricaded himself in a standoff with police, authorities said.
The man shot a Sunset officer who responded to a call that two people had been stabbed. He then drove to the convenience store, where he crashed through the front window and barricaded himself in an inner office, St. Landry Parish Sheriff Bobby J. Guidroz told reporters. None of the victims' conditions was immediately reported.
At least 50 local, parish and state officers responded, and "it went to hell in a handbasket from there," Guidroz said. Authorities tossed in tear gas and used axes to ram into the inner office, taking the suspect — who wasn't immediately identified — into custody.
From
The Atlantic:
When Schools Are Forced to Practice Race-Based Discipline
The Obama administration might be disappointed to find out there’s not much support for one of its key school-discipline reform initiatives—at least not from teachers or members of the general public.
A growing body of evidence has long revealed discriminatory tendencies in the ways school districts dole out discipline. Black and Latino students are much more likely to be disciplined and suffer greater rates of in- and out-of-school suspensions. Of the 49 million students enrolled in public schools in the 2011-12 school year, close to 7 million were suspended, about half of them out of school. According to the U.S. Department of Education’s Civil Rights Data Collection, black students were suspended and expelled at a rate three times greater than were white students.
Taken as a whole, white students in the U.S. account for the largest share of one-time suspensions and expulsions. Still, discrepancies emerge when considering how the numbers compare to enrollment. While black students represented 16 percent of the U.S. student population, they accounted for 32 percent of the students suspended and 42 percent of those expelled. Black students also experience the highest rate of multiple suspensions, the DOE data shows.
The discrepancies are particularly egregious in certain parts of the country. As The New York Times reported on Tuesday, a new analysis of the federal data finds that black students in 13 Southern states are suspended or expelled “at rates overwhelmingly higher than white children.” In 132 of the districts analyzed, for example, black students were suspended at rates at least five times greater than their representation in the student population.
From the
New York Times:
10 Years After Katrina
It is a wonder that any of it is here at all: The scattered faithful gathering into Beulah Land Baptist Church on a Sunday morning in the Lower Ninth Ward. The men on stoops in Mid-City swapping gossip in the August dusk. The brass band in Tremé, the lawyers in Lakeview, the new homeowners in Pontchartrain Park.
On Aug. 29, 2005, it all seemed lost. Four-fifths of the city lay submerged as residents frantically signaled for help from their rooftops and thousands were stranded at the Superdome, a congregation of the desperate and poor. From the moment the storm surge of Hurricane Katrina dismantled a fatally defective levee system, New Orleans became a global symbol of American dysfunction and government negligence. At every level and in every duty, from engineering to social policy to basic logistics, there were revelations of malfunction and failure before, during, and after Katrina.
Ten years later, it is not exactly right to say that New Orleans is back. The city did not return, not as it was.
From
Vice:
The Rape Victim Who Is Challenging One of the Fundamental Laws of the Internet
Jane Doe woke up on the wrong side of the bed with her world upside down. Through the haze of a hangover, the 22-year-old surveyed room 527 at the Red Roof Inn near Miami International Airport and tried to figure out why she was facing the window. She'd only had some Smirnoff wine cooler the night before, and what she calls her "extreme OCD" would never allow for any deviation from her normal bedtime habits. But as she became more and more alert, the panic started rising in her chest.
Her double bed was soaked. The floor was covered in clothes and she was wearing a crop-top she'd planned on showing off at the beach but didn't remember ever taking out of her suitcase. When she touched her face, she felt her lips—perfectly painted the night before – were now bloody and busted. When she urinated and wiped, the toilet paper came back stained red.
So at 9:55 in the morning on February 18, 2011, she grabbed her cell phone with trembling hands and dialed. In a Texas twang, Doe tried to tell a 9-1-1 dispatcher how what seemed like a dream opportunity quickly turned into an unimaginable nightmare. "I only came to Miami because I thought this would be a benefitting opportunity for me," she said, according to a transcript of the call. "And I, I feel like I've been molested, maybe, or raped. I don't remember anything from last night. I don't remember how I got in my bed. I woke up in my bed with my panties off."
[...]Doe is currently fighting for the right to sue the site through which her rapist contacted her, and her efforts have turned a case about sexual assault into a case about free speech on the internet and the responsibility social media websites have when their users commit crimes. Facebook, Google, and Craigslist are desperate to prevent her from seeking damages; the three companies claimed in a court brief that such a decision would have a "chilling effect" on the web and inhibit free speech. However, others claim that re-tooling (or at least re-interpreting) the part of the law that shields online publishers from liability is necessary in the age of revenge porn and the trollish harassment of nearly every woman who expresses an opinion online.
From
Reuters:
Colorado movie gunman sentenced to 12 lifetimes and 3,318 years
Condemning movie massacre gunman James Holmes to 12 life sentences and the maximum 3,318 years in prison for his rampage in a midnight screening of a Batman film, a Colorado judge said on Wednesday that evil and mental illness are not mutually exclusive.
"It is the court's intention that the defendant never set foot in free society again ... If there was ever a case that warranted the maximum sentences, this is the case," Arapahoe County District Court Judge Carlos Samour said.
"The defendant does not deserve any sympathy."
From
CNN:
Source: Khobar Towers bombing suspect nabbed in Beirut
Ahmad Ibrahim al-Mughassil, who was indicted by a U.S. court for the 1996 bombing of a U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia that left 19 airman dead, was nabbed in Lebanon in a Saudi-led operation, an Arab intelligence source told CNN on Wednesday.
In recent months, Saudi intelligence had been zeroing in on Mughassil, the leader of the Hezbollah al-Hejaz, a Saudi-designated terror group that operated in the Gulf state, the source said.
Mughassil, 48, was picked up in Beirut, "bundled into a plane," and taken to Saudi Arabia.
The source added Mughassil is in Saudi custody and will "provide invaluable information about Hezbollah and Iran's involvement."
Mughassil was in 2001 one of 13 Saudis and a Lebanese who were indicted by a federal grand jury in Virginia on charges of murder and conspiracy to kill Americans in the bombing.
From the
Washington Post:
In Trump vs. Ramos, conservatives pick a side
Earlier this month, at the end of a press conference in Michigan, Donald Trump was asked how he'd react if someone tried to disrupt his press conference. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) had just walked away after two activists claiming to represent Black Lives Matter interrupted one of his appearances in Seattle. Would Trump hand over the mic like that?
"I would never give up my microphone," said Trump. "I thought that was disgusting. That showed such weakness."
On Tuesday, Trump was as good as his word. Jorge Ramos, the Univision and Fusion anchor, stood up at the start of Trump's press conference in Dubuque, Iowa, and started in on a question about immigration. The aftermath has dominated political news for 24 hours, with Ramos, perhaps the most recognizable Latino reporter in the country, winning accolades for refusing to sit down and let Trump talk. A video of Ramos being told to "go back" to his home country (he is a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Mexico) has gone viral.
Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks. Trump called on Ramos and went round after round with him, on live TV. If the downside of challenging Megyn Kelly was that it might alienate Fox News's conservative viewers, the downside of challenging Ramos was -- what? In a Republican primary, there was no downside whatsoever.
From
The Daily Beast:
Wine Tour: Sorry about Ousting Black Women
In a remarkable about face, the CEO of the Napa Valley Wine Train apologized to a mostly African American book club that was kicked off the train after fellow wine travelers complained about their laughter.
“The Napa Valley Wine Train was 100 percent wrong in its handling of this issue,” said Anthony Giaccio. “We accept full responsibility for our failures and for the chain of events that led to this regrettable treatment of our guests.
Last Saturday, twelve women from the Sistahs on the Reading Edge Book Club—with including white member and one 83 year old woman— were approached by train employees who said they needed to quiet down because of complaints directed towards them. Next thing the members knew, they were ushered off the train “humiliatingly” in front of other passengers and met by police. Johnson blamed racial prejudice—she said they were guilty of “laughing while black.”
From
Newsweek:
Kentucky Clerk Must Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses, Appeals Court Rules
A U.S. appeals court ruled on Wednesday that a Kentucky county clerk must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, turning down her request to stay a judge's ruling that she said violated her religious beliefs.
In light of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in June legalizing gay marriage nationwide, it could not be defensibly argued that Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis' office may decline to act in conformity with the U.S. Constitution, the appeals court said.
"There is thus little or no likelihood that the clerk in her official capacity will prevail on appeal," the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in denying her request for a stay pending her appeal to the court.
Davis has refused to issue any marriage licenses since the Supreme Court ruling, saying that processing such applications would violate her religious beliefs.
From
Slate:
Europe’s Open Borders Are in Serious Danger
It’s been 30 years since the Schengen agreement, the landmark treaty that abolished internal border controls within Europe. Since then, visa-free travel within the Schengen zone has become one of the main pillars of the European project—in some ways, it’s more central than the European Union itself, as some of the 26 countries in the zone are not EU members. But thanks to an unprecedented influx of migrants and concerns over terrorism, the future of Europe’s open borders is in doubt.
Today, Hungary dispatched more than 2,000 police officers to its border with Serbia and fired tear gas to prevent record numbers of refugees from crossing into the country. Hungary also recently announced plans to build a fence on the border. The incident follows a violent clash between riot police and migrants on the Macedonia-Greece border last week. The countries on Europe’s periphery are on the front lines of the migrant waves looking to enter the Schengen area, mainly from the Middle East and Africa. Most are looking to travel to prosperous and migrant-friendly countries such as Germany and Sweden. (Relatively friendly: Chancellor Angela Merkel this week condemned the increasing number of attacks on asylum centers in Germany.) The migrant influx is bad news for countries on Europe’s periphery looking to join Schengen: Kosovo was recently told it wouldn’t get visa-free status until the refugee influx stopped. More seriously, the crisis threatens the open borders within Europe.
From
Gizmodo:
This Transforming Optimus Prime Birthday Cake Is Just Amazing
Having your parents throw an awesome Transformers-themed party for your sixth birthday is one thing. But having your dad make a talking Optimus Prime cake that actually transforms? That’s a birthday you’re never, ever going to forget.
The lucky lad in this case is the son of YouTuber Russell Munro who used a 3D printer to construct the transforming base for this cake. All of the baked and frosted parts then help to cover up the motors and other mechanisms that allow this wonderful creation to transform.
From
The Guardian:
US astronauts drink recycled urine aboard space station but Russians refuse
What’s the difference between American and Russian astronauts on the International Space Station? The Americans drink their urine, the Russians don’t.
“It tastes like bottled water,” Layne Carter, water subsystem manager for the ISS at Nasa’s Marshall Space Flight Center told Bloomberg. “As long as you can psychologically get past the point that it’s recycled urine and condensate that comes out of the air.” Condensate is the collected breath and sweat of the crew, shower runoff, and urine from animals on board the station. Specifically, 12 mice that came with the Japanese cargo ship, the Kounotori 5 or White Stork, that successfully docked on Monday.
Ninety-three percent of all the water on board is reclaimed, according to a video posted by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield while he was on the space station in 2013. “We can recycle about 6,000 extra liters of water for the station each year,” Hadfield said.
While the Americans are the only ones who filter their urine, both sets of astronauts gather condensate from the air. They have separate water systems and have never agreed on how to filter their water, according to Bloomberg.
From the
Los Angeles Times:
Is L.A.'s traffic the worst in the U.S.? Depends on how you measure it
For those who assume Los Angeles has the worst traffic in the United States: Not so fast.
Drivers in Southern California spent a whopping 80 hours sitting in traffic in 2014, according to a new report by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and the traffic data company Inrix.
But the city with the dubious distinction of most time lost behind the wheel is Washington, D.C., researchers say, where commuters clocked 82 hours of delays in a single year.
Even though the difference is negligible — two hours, or 10 minutes per month — not coming out on top can feel strangely disappointing for Angelenos who feel much of the their lives are spent behind the wheel, the study's authors said.
From
Salon:
Not tonight, honey — and maybe not ever again
I had a dream the other night. I was in the middle of a white, goose-down-comforted bed, getting pleased from behind. Only, I was pleasing myself, going at it with a large, vibrating, purple dildo. I woke up in a lip-smacking, just-sexed way, confused my body didn’t respond to what had been so real unconsciously. But this was the closest I’ve been to masturbating in a year and a half.
Not-masturbating wasn’t the result of a major decision to abstain. I’d just had a baby on my own and sex was the furthest thing from my mind. Having all urges to orgasm vanish seemed normal at first. This happens after having a baby. It was to be expected. So I waited.
When I tried dating about a year ago, sex had that familiar thrill to it the first few times. I could kiss him without getting nauseous, but touching him could still only be described as “nice.” I thought it’d get better. For those few weeks I didn’t wonder what was going on with me and when I’d be normal again. Then, one night, I sighed. I’d been on top, facing his feet, and stopped rising up and down. This was just too much work. I’d been having sex so I could get some sleep.
From
New York magazine:
If These Girls Knew That Slender Man Was a Fantasy, Why Did They Want to Kill Their Friend for Him?
Over the past year, the attack in Waukesha has come to be known as “the Slender Man stabbing.” This is because, during their interviews with police that Saturday, Anissa Weier and Morgan Geyser, who at the time were both 12 years old, said they were trying to kill Payton Leutner to please a mythical internet horror creature named Slender Man — a tall, thin, faceless man in a suit who has tentacles growing out of his back and preys on children. The idea, Anissa carefully explained to the detective, as if giving a book report, was to become proxies, or puppets, of Slender Man through murder — an initiation ritual requiring a blood sacrifice. Anissa and Morgan told officers that, according to this logic, Bella’s death would earn them Slender’s protection. Afterward, they said, they would go to live with him in a mansion in the forest, morphing somehow into mini-monsters, not unlike the way humans who’ve been bitten by vampires are said to become vampires themselves.
The girls were charged with attempted murder in the first degree — as adults, in accordance with Wisconsin law — and have been held for the past 14 months in a juvenile-detention facility in Washington County, about 30 miles from Waukesha, as their lawyers have attempted to convince the court that they should be tried as juveniles. That effort failed earlier this month when, on August 10, Judge Michael Bohren, citing the particularly vicious nature of the crime, ruled to maintain their status as adults. One of the results of this decision is that their court files remain open, and because the girls’ lawyers declined interview requests, it is from these files, which include transcripts of hearings, exhibits, and hours of their videotaped interrogations, that this account is largely built. Many girls live in dreamworlds, but seldom are those worlds so thoroughly catalogued. The material is heart-stopping.
From
Bleacher Report:
Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O'Neal Comment on Lakers, Relationship, Regrets
The blood feud between Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant has long been buried, but the two have managed to avoid a one-on-one sit-down in which they publicly discussed what went wrong in Los Angeles—until now.
Bryant appeared on O'Neal's podcast, The Big Podcast With Shaq, which will air Monday on PodCastOne.com, and the pair addressed their past head-on.
In an excerpt of the interview provided to Bleacher Report, O'Neal and Bryant both admitted to having regrets about the way their pairing with the Lakers ended.
"A lot of stuff was said out of the heat of the moment," O'Neal said, via Serena Winters of Lakers Nation. "I guarantee I don’t remember a lot of stuff that they said, because I changed my thought process of, you know what, we won three out of four, what the hell are you all talking about, this is not really even a story."
From
TMZ:
Derrick Rose Accused of Drugging and Gang Raping Ex-Girlfriend
Derrick Rose is being sued by a woman who claims the NBA superstar and two of his friends drugged and gang raped her.
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe, says she and Rose dated from 2011 to 2013. During that time, Rose allegedly tried to pressure her to masturbate in front of him, allow him to have sex with her friends and engage in group sex with strangers, all of which she says she refused.
Rose's accuser says the two continued to date until August 2013, when Rose and two friends, Ryan Allen and Randall Hampton (who is also Rose's personal manager), invited her to Rose's Beverly Hills house. She says there, they slipped a drug into her drink with the aim of raping her.
The plaintiff says she escaped the house with a friend, but later that night, Rose and his friends broke into her apartment and gang raped her while she was incapacitated. She says she remembers only "flashes" of the incident, but can remember the defendants forcibly raping her.
From
People:
Josh Duggar Checks into Rehab, Starts 'a Long Journey Toward Wholeness and Recovery'
Just under a week after Josh Duggar confessed to cheating on his wife Anna and having an addiction to pornography, he has entered rehab ... The latest Duggar statement comes just six days after Josh, 27, and his parents Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar first broke their silence about the scandal with a statement in which Josh called himself "the biggest hypocrite ever" and confessed to a secret pornography addiction, as well as being unfaithful to his wife, following reports that he signed up with the infidelity website Ashley Madison. The statement was later revised several times to remove porn and Satan references, though the current version does include the pornography mention.
In the wake of Josh's first statement, a Duggar family source told PEOPLE that "it's hurting everyone involved" and "everyone feels betrayed." A source close to Anna added "there was always something a bit odd about Josh." ... Josh's recent admission comes just three months after his first scandal broke in May, when he revealed he had molested five underage girls as a teenager, including two of his sisters, Jessa (Duggar) Seewald and Jill (Duggar) Dillard.
Josh and Anna married in 2008 and have four children together, including Meredith Grace, just over 1 month old.
A source close to the Duggars told PEOPLE that Anna "doesn't get mad" – per the family's conservative patriarchal Christian beliefs, "You are not allowed to get mad," said the source. "It's not godly for a woman." A source with ties to the family told PEOPLE last week that Anna will likely not leave her husband in the wake of the scandal.
From
Variety:
‘Mr. Robot’ Finale Postponed Because of Similarity to Live TV Killings
USA Network has postponed tonight’s scheduled season finale of hacker drama series “Mr. Robot” for a week because the episode includes a scene with similarities to the real-life murders that occurred on live TV this morning in Virginia.
“Out of respect to the victims, their families and colleagues, and our viewers, we are postponing tonight’s episode. Our thoughts go out to all those affected during this difficult time,” USA said in a statement.
Early today, a reporter, Alison Parker, and cameraman, Adam Ward, for WDBJ-TV in Roanoke, Va., were shot and killed while delivering a live report for the station’s morning news program. The suspected killer is a former co-worker of the pair who posted video of the ambush on social media after fleeing the scene.
From the
A.V. Club:
Music writer’s Twitter feed exposes industry’s harsh sexism, marginalization
Author and journalist Jessica Hopper isn’t shy about speaking up about all of the ways in which the music industry oppresses and attacks those in the margins. And so earlier this week, when she tweeted, “Gals/other marginalized folks: what was your 1st brush (in music industry, journalism, scene) w/ idea that you didn’t ‘count’?” people listened. And then they responded, in droves, with tweet after tweet containing jaw-dropping stories about sexism, racism, misogyny, condescension—and much, much worse.
Hopper’s been diligent about retweeting responses to her initial tweet, and cumulatively, they paint a picture of an industry where anyone who’s not a straight white man is belittled for even existing. This oppression isn’t limited to music writers, either: Musicians, booking agents, publicists, venue workers, tour managers, and photographers relayed harrowing stories about being treated like girlfriends and groupies rather than competent workers; having their knowledge and expertise demeaned by others; being hit on by everyone from colleagues to band dudes they’re interviewed; and even being raped.
“Imagine how many women, queer kids, POC might stick around scenes, industry, journalism if they encountered support not hostility,” Hopper tweeted at one point—and, reading example after example of infuriating and inappropriate behavior on her timeline, it’s hard not to agree 100 percent.
From
The Hollywood Reporter:
Nancy Snyderman Breaks Silence on Ebola Nightmare, NBC News: "People Wanted Me Dead"
I had left my house and headed to a little place that had put some sandwiches out for us because they knew we were probably running out of food. It was just one of those simple small-town gestures. I was waiting in my car while David grabbed the sandwiches when I was spotted by a woman, who then called 911. That night, I was served mandatory quarantine papers by Gov. Chris Christie.
I realize now that I was not sensitive to how frightened people were. Suddenly I became the nexus for those fears. I behaved correctly by the letter of the law. I knew I had never been infected. I had all the paperwork from the CDC. I had been in touch with a health officer. I never left my car. But that didn't take into account how just downright scared people were, and so it came off as phenomenally arrogant.
NBC executives had tried to warn me before I came back that people were flipping out. But it just didn't make sense to me. Rich Besser, who came back at the same time, went over to 30 Rock to tape a show for Meredith Vieira, where nobody would touch him to put his mic on. And he told me that the ABC people were saying, "Why aren't you locked up like Nancy Snyderman is?"
From
/Film:
Rumor: ‘Man of Steel 2′ May Be on “Permanent Hold”
A new rumor recently popped up saying that Mad Max: Fury Road director George Miller was in talks to take over the Man of Steel franchise from Zack Snyder. But considering the movie isn’t officially on Warner Bros. Pictures’ schedule for their DC Comics cinematic universe, it didn’t sound like it was an immediate concern for the studio.
Now another rumor seems to confirm a lack of urgency to get Man of Steel 2 off the ground as the project is reportedly on “permanent hold.” But what does that even mean?
Den of Geek has this latest rumor on Man of Steel 2 on hold, and while they also echo the story of George Miller being in talks with Warner Bros., they actually say their discussions have been about which forthcoming comic book property for him to take on.
However, Miller won’t exactly be given free reign, as the studio would need to agree with his vision and scheduling would need to be worked out. So it seems like the studio is in very early talks with Miller about doing another movie for them, and there’s no guarantee that it will be Man of Steel 2.
As far as the “permanent hold” description is concerned, no one is entirely sure what that means. Are they holding off on another Superman movie until they get the rest of the DC Comics cinematic universe off the ground? Are they maybe wanting to get this rumored Batman trilogy with Ben Affleck in action first? It’s hard to say, but no matter what the situation is, Man of Steel 2 clearly isn’t a priority.
From
Billboard:
Ten Years After Katrina, the Gulf Coast's Music Scene Recovers
Three venues tell the story of the region's disaster, relief and ultimate recovery.
When Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast 10 years ago, she inflicted major pain on the touring industry in that region, but a decade later live music in the region is thriving.
The market is on solid footing these days and has, "bounced back very strongly," says veteran promoter Don Fox, founder of New Orleans-based Beaver Productions, whose offices on West Harrison St. in New Orleans were flooded during Katrina. "Now, everybody that is on tour is playing New Orleans. All of the major theaters have reopened and are doing great business."
From
Rolling Stone:
Welcome to Maternity Hotel California
Peter and Ellie Yang, by all outward appearances, are living the Beijing dream. They have a condo in an up-and-coming area, a white Honda that Peter keeps immaculate and a rambunctious one-year-old son, Xiongxiong. They wear brand-name jeans and own separate iPhone 6s. On holidays, they go to Sanya — "China's Hawaii" — as well as Hong Kong and Japan. On weekends, they eat out and take hikes in the Fragrant Hills. It's enough to make them the envy of many. But when Ellie found out she was pregnant in 2014, Peter said he wanted to have their second child in America. "It's for him to get a good education," Peter says. "But it's also for us — to find business opportunities and to make friends. Chinese who do this tend to be well-connected."
Peter began researching maternity hotels that operate within the underground birth tourism industry. He chatted with sales agents and scanned large photos on forums like LA Fat Dad, USA Baby DIY and America Baby Home. One option was staying in a single-family home, rented solely to birth tourists, but moving into a close-knit residential community as part of a rotating cast of pregnant Chinese felt risky. Renting an apartment in San Francisco, as some of their friends had done, was less expensive and lower profile, but Peter didn't know anyone there. At last he and Ellie agreed on a "middle of the road" option — a 16-room hotel in suburban Los Angeles for $20,000.
At the end of October, Ellie and Peter — who asked to use pseudonyms — boarded a 10-hour flight from Beijing to have their second child. The decision had made Ellie uneasy from the start. It seemed potentially dangerous for the baby and expensive. A friend with permanent residence in the U.S. told them the process was also legally fraught. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had turned pregnant women away at West Coast airports. She finally consented, though — it was worth the risk to give their child a better education outside of China.