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• Some fans complained that the fifth season featured dialogue that was too didactic and on-the-nose. To those people, I give you, from this first episode alone, Detective Carver's line about how the War on Drugs is misnamed because "wars end," or McNulty's line to FBI Agent Fitzhugh about how the War on Terror has s... |
• Though Carver and his partner, Herc, are introduced as complete lunkheads who can't even do a proper search of a vehicle for a weapon (which, in turn, quickly establishes Kima Greggs' bonafides as a natural police), they're great sources of comic relief. Here, I especially enjoy their debate about whether piss can ... |
• Also very funny: Bunk cursing under his breath and threatening his corpse to not come back a murder, lest he get stuck with an unsolveable case. That moment is the first of many quintessential Bunk-isms that puts him near the top of every fan's list of favorite "wire" characters. |
• Another questionable early element: Dominic West's American accent. It would get (slightly) better over the years, but it's especially shaky in the Snot Boogie scene. |
• Though D'Angelo is presented as the leader and (relatively) wise old head of the Pit crew, you'll note that it's young Wallace who's the only one to know that Alexander Hamilton's the guy on the $10 bill, and that Hamilton wasn't a president, while D insists that only presidents get their faces on money. That scene... |
Up next: "The Detail," in which Lt. Daniels discovers just what a terrible hand he's been dealt with this Barksdale task force, while McNulty and Bunk look into Gant's murder. |
What did everybody else think? |
Latin Alt-Music Boss Hit With Suit Alleging Kinky Sexual Harassment |
Categories: Lawsuits |
Tomas Cookman |
See also: Nacional's Pastime. |
Nacional Records is a little L.A. label (distributed by RED/Sony Music Entertainment) known for practically creating the "Latin alternative" category with spotlight-worthy artists such as Los Amigos Invisibles, Kinky and former members of the Tijuana crew known as Nortec Collective. |
Now the label has to contend with unwanted attention for a sexual harassment lawsuit against its owner Tomas Cookman, who's also behind the annual Latin Alternative Music Conference in New York. Cookman denies the allegations: |
The suit, filed in L.A. County Superior Court and forwarded to the Weekly by the plaintiffs' attorneys, claims the married label boss harassed two female employees and created a hostile work environment. |
A summary of the claims alleges the following: |
The lawsuit alleges that Cookman created a sexually hostile work environment for his female employees by, among other things, regularly leering at them from head-to-toe focusing on their breasts and buttocks, making sexual remarks about their clothing and their bodies and what he thought (or hoped) they would be like i... |
The suit claims Cookman kept an apartment next to his home and invited a female employee there while his wife was out of town. |
After one female worker got a tattoo, Cookman allegedly called her "a really bad girl" and said, "I would totally bend you over, pull your pants down and spank you," the suit claims. |
Plaintiff Claudia Becerra alleges that he once emailed her a song called "Vente En Mi Voca," (cum in my mouth) and urged her to listen to the lyrics carefully. |
Montse Perez, the other plaintiff, says Cookman once emailed her a photo of a man going down on a woman, discussed anal beads with her, and said derogatory things about gay men in her presence. |
Tomas Cookman lawsuit |
Damages sought have not been specified. |
Cookman's attorney, Rebecca Aragon, issued this response, which was sent to the Weekly by a Nacional Records spokesman: |
My clients, Tomas Cookman, Cookman International and Nacional Records, take these allegations extremely seriously and unequivocally deny all sexual harassment and other allegations of purported wrongdoing made by both plaintiffs. My clients have long been committed to providing a workplace free of harassment and discri... |
My Voice Nation Help |
Holy shit, if you read the complaint, he didn't just make derogatory comments about gay men, he made them about the label's OWN artists! Hope the artist drops him like it's hot. |
From the Vault |
Eat Here, Not There: Fish Dinner for Lent |
Kevin Lara |
So say you're not Catholic and you hate fish and seafood, but your friend/date/spouse is observing Lent and can't eat meat today. He/she insists on fish, but you'd rather not succumb to the obvious choices of California Fish Grill and other seafood joints that get mobbed on Fridays and where you're relegated to chicke... |
As for you, order whatever the heck you want, you heathen! |
My Voice Nation Help |
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Cunning Stunts |
Cunning Stunts |
I hear the Chippy is open later due to the Friday Fish Crowd. Can anyone confirm? |
Around The Web |
From the Vault |
Return to Transcripts main page |
Interview with Bob Parker; Bond Market Pressure; Greece and Risk; Youth Unemployment; Cuts and Bruises; Interview with Giuseppe Ragusa; interview with Derek Scott; "Occupy" Protesters Return; Fake Kiss Advert; Interview with Alessandro Benetton; Business in Cuba |
Aired November 16, 2011 - 14:00:00 ET |
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Caught between a rock and a hard place -- the role of the ECB is called into question. |
Young, free and out of work -- a million Britons begin their working lives unable to find a job. |
And a kiss of controversy -- we'll ask Benetton's CEO if its latest campaign goes too far. |
I'm Max Foster. |
Hello to you. |
The U.S. wants a farewell, Ireland the ultimate backstop and Germany says it wants no such thing. The European Central Bank has steadfastly refused to buy sovereign debt directly from governments, saying it would lose credibility and independence. Now, there are calls for the ECB to finance states directly. |
The head of the Bank of England says the ECB has his sympathy. |
MERVYN KING, GOVERNOR, BANK OF ENGLAND: This phrase, lender of last resort, has been bandied around by people who, it seems to me, have no idea what lender of last resort actually means. |
FOSTER: Well, it might be the only show left in town, but even if the European Central Bank can save the day, Europe can't decide if it should. Britain's top central banker is weighing in from outside the Eurozone. But the economic situation in his part of world don't look too rosy, either. |
Let's take you through these latest numbers first. |
The Bank of England has cut its growth forecast for the UK. It's now only expecting 1 percent growth this year and doesn't expect the economy to start picking up again until the midul -- the middle of next year. It's a grim economic picture. And the BOE seems to be pointing more stimulus in the works, specifically, ano... |
Well, unemployment is also weighing down in the UK. The jobless total has gone up to 8.3 percent, the highest rate since 1996. We'll have more on that later in the show. |
And the Bank of England governor, Mervyn King, seal -- still found the talen -- time to give his opinion on the Eurozone's crisis, specifically, the role of the ECB. We've heard analysts and politicians tell us this week how it's the only institution that can rescue Europe now. |
But Mr. King said Europe shouldn't assume its central bank can just bailout the entire continent. |
KING: That is not the job of a central bank, to do something which a government could perfectly well do itself, but doesn't particularly want to admit to doing. And I think it's very important to recognize that there are circumstances when governments will try and put pressure on central banks to do things that they wo... |
So I have every sympathy with the European Central Bank in this predicament. |
FOSTER: Well, there seems to be a consensus amongst central bankers, but Europe's governments are still arguing about what part the ECB should play in this crisis. France seems to be more open to it taking a bigger role. A government -- a government spokeswoman said today the ECB has to take the necessary measures to e... |
ENDA KENNY, IRISH PRIME MINISTER: I have suggested in our own parliament and it would be Ireland's view that the ECB is the ultimate -- is the ultimate backstop here, period. There are -- there are very divergent views about this. And I know that Germany, in particular, has its own view on it. |
But this is an issue that needs to be dealt with and needs to be dealt with politically. |
FOSTER: Well, leaders outside Europe are getting tired of listening to all these squabbles. |
Today, U.S. President Barack Obama said Europe needed an economic firewall as a statement of intent. He said the issue right now isn't a technical problem, but a lack of political will. |
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But at this point, the larger European community has to stand behind the European project. And for those American readers or listeners and those Australian readers or listeners, I think we all understand at this point, we've got an integrated world economy. And what happens... |
They have made some progress on some fronts, like their efforts to recapitalize the banks. But ultimately, what they're going to need is a firewall that sends a clear signal, we stand behind the European project and we stand behind the euro. |
FOSTER: Well, earlier, I spoke to Bob Parker, a senior adviser at Credit Suisse. He says the lack of clarity on the situation has effectively sent investors on strike. |
I asked him what he made of all the arguments about Europe's central bank. |
BOB PARKER, SENIOR ADVISER, CREDIT SUISSE: The question of the ECB being a lender of last resort is actually somewhat confused, because what's going on at the moment? |
First of all, the ECB is lending money to European commercial banks, where those commercial banks are struggling to borrow money at economic terms in the money markets. So to that extent, it's a lender of last resort already. |
Secondly, the ECB owns a significant volume of Greek government debt. It has been buying modest amounts of Italian government debt. So there, it also has been a lender of last resort because it has been active in the markets buying government debt when the yields on that government debt jumps up because of investor dis... |
I think the debate is now to what extent should the ECB do the sort of quantitative easing that the Fed has done in the States. And, obviously, so far, the amount of intervention by the ECB in purchasing government bonds and lending to European banks actually has been fairly limited. And, arguably, that's one of the re... |
FOSTER: And things look to be going from bad to worse. |
So they've got that potential, haven't they? |
Is it right to say that the markets do want that formalized role as a lender of last resort in order to reassure them? |
PARKER: I think the markets want clarity on a whole range of issues. The most important issues are obviously the implementation of economic restructuring plans, notable in Italy, and, to a lesser extent, with the new government in Spain. |
FOSTER: But that's a longer-term (INAUDIBLE). |
PARKER: Very much longer-term. But they want the markets -- investors want to see progress. |
I think the second issue, which I regard as absolutely critical, is, theoretically, we have this European Stability Fund, the EFSF. But if you actually look at the money the EFSF has available, it's obviously grossly inadequate if -- if somebody, for example, did have to go for a bailout. |
So investors want clarity on the role of that European bailout fund. |
And then, obviously, a third question is the one you've raised, which is, to what extent will the ECB extend quantitative easing? |
Will it come in and buy significant volumes, you know, hundreds of billions of euro -- of Italian and other government debt? |
And the message there so far, from the German government, from the Bundesbank -- and you've had this statement from Mervyn King -- is they're not going to do it yet. |
FOSTER: I'm just wondering if there's a big shock to the system, Italy, certainly, if something happens there and blows up... |
FOSTER: Do you not want to know that the ECB or there is some sort of system in place to step in? |
And if there isn't that system in place, there's potential panic, isn't there? |
PARKER: Well, let's define the word panic. Now, when, Portugal, Ireland and Greece went to bailout fund, their bond yields all went significantly into double digits. |
FOSTER: But they don't matter nearly as much economically speaking, do they... |
PARKER: No, of course not. |
FOSTER: They can let them wait. |
PARKER: No, absolutely. No, there -- Italy's debt is 1.9 trillion euros. You know, Greek debt is 340 billion. |
So the order of magnitude for Italy is significantly greater than any of the other countries which have gone to the bailout fund. |
And I think, you know, you have a very clear position from global investors at the moment, which is they don't have any detail on the firepower of the EFSF. They don't have any detail on what the ECB would do. Therefore, the logical investor reaction is you just don't buy the bonds, because if there is a major problem ... |
Therefore, you have this investor strike. |
FOSTER: Well, the bond market pressure cooker isn't losing any heat, as you've been hearing. Yields on Italian 10-Year notes fell slightly today, but they're still above the unlucky 7 percent mark. |
Borrowing costs are going up in the -- in the meantime, for Spain and for France, as well. And as the yields rise, so does the threat of contagion. |
Nina dos Santos takes a look. |
NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As the U.S. and sovereign debt crisis rumbles on and completes its second year in passing, one of the things that's most obvious about this crisis is its ability to move from some countries within the Eurozone that are perceived as being more financially weak to even stronger nations... |
Now, if we take, for instance, Italy, we know that the cost of borrowing over the next 10 years to come, so the yields on its 10-Year bonds have surpassed 7 percent, that crucial danger point, at least twice over the course of the last two weeks. |
But the same trend is being felt on other countries, like, for instance, the Netherlands, albeit its bond yields are much, much lower. But they have been surpassing the highest level we've seen in about a month, reaching about 2.44 percent. |
Another country that has suffered the same fate of late is Austria. Its bond yields admittedly round about half of the cost of Italy's borrowing, but you can see, it's still at 3.65 percent and rising. |
And as we know, other countries across the Eurozone, like, for instance, France and Spain, with much larger debt paths, are also seeing their bond yields soar, as well. |
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