Newsletter: Today: Time for a Gratitude Adjustment
Happy Thanksgiving! Here are the stories you shouldn’t miss today:
TOP STORIES
Time for a Gratitude Adjustment
What are you doing today, other than turning up the air conditioning if you live in Southern California? Spending it with family and friends? (Prep yourself for angry Uncle Joe with some comebacks.) Watching TV? (Check out these tips.) Wondering how you are going to cook that turkey? (Take a crash course.) Feeling remorse about the bird that gave its life? However you spend the day, columnist Bill Plaschke wants you to remember the Thanksgiving spirit. “Don’t we all have contact with someone who enriches our lives without us knowing their names? They help us, they inspire us, they momentarily connect with us, and they ask for nothing in return, our human blessings.” Last but not least, thank you for reading.
Paying Their Last Respects to the Ancestors
Decades ago, the human skulls, bones and teeth taken from Native American burial sites on Catalina and other islands off Southern California’s coast were displayed in an Avalon tourist attraction. Last year, the remains of 200 ancestors quietly received what the Gabrielino-Tongva Tribe considers a proper burial. It was just one instance of how tribes are trying to take back their past. For some, that means reclaiming ancestral remains. For others, especially those with casino profits, it means building museums dedicated to their legacy.
How the LAPD Is Sorting Through Hollywood’s Shame
With one sexual assault allegation after another coming out of Hollywood these days, the Los Angeles Police Department has had to re-engineer its detective staff. It’s not just the volume of accusations, but also the complexity of cases that can be years old and with multiple alleged victims. That’s why five teams of two detectives, including members of the cold-case unit, have been assigned exclusively to investigate allegations of sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry.
Ay, Robot: The Politics of the Driverless Revolution
Many lawmakers in Washington don’t acknowledge it, but there’s an issue that’s heading for them right now like a Mack truck: driverless vehicles. The Trump White House and members of Congress are embracing the technology and seem to think there’s a long road to go before automated trucks affect jobs. But economists and technologists say the future is now, and that driverless trucks are the just the beginning of a wave of automation that will disrupt the American workforce. It could have an even bigger effect on Trump country than globalization has.
More Politics
-- Roy Moore’s Senate campaign is a train wreck. So why does he still have a decent shot at winning?
-- In pre-Thanksgiving tweets, President Trump called basketball father LaVar Ball an “ungrateful fool” and “a poor man’s version of Don King.”
-- Texas Rep. Joe Barton is apologizing after a nude photo of him circulated on social media.
Mail-Order Catalogs Flip the Script
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday fast upon us, how does a business stand out in today’s world of e-commerce? In more and more cases, it’s by sending out a good, old-fashioned catalog in the mail. As email inboxes fill up and letter boxes empty out, retailers this holiday shopping season have rediscovered the joys of glossy print publications — albeit much thinner than a phone book. (Remember those?)
MUST-WATCH VIDEO
-- Life, family, water: Hurricane survivors say what they’re grateful for this Thanksgiving.
-- A radio program manager in Dallas remembers a historic chance encounter with Lee Harvey Oswald.
-- Film critic Justin Chang says the gay love story “Call Me by Your Name” is a new coming-of-age classic.
CALIFORNIA
-- Gov. Jerry Brown has pardoned a 70-year-old man who spent nearly four decades in prison for two murders that officials now believe he did not commit.
-- The state auditor wants University of California regents to consider disciplining employees who repeatedly interfered with an audit and tried to hide their actions, according to a private report.
-- The California Legislature has refused to release additional information on sexual harassment complaints requested by The Times.
-- What airport has the highest percentage of delayed flights during the long Thanksgiving travel crush? You guessed it: LAX.
HOLLYWOOD AND THE ARTS
-- How Denzel Washington and filmmaker Dan Gilroy created an unforgettable idealist for “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”
-- Two books examine the beautiful Airstream myth and the painful RV reality of life on the road.
-- From page to screen, the spirit of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” is a perennial favorite of the season.
-- Before making its debut on Netflix, the seven-episode miniseries “Godless” took more twists and turns than a rerouted stagecoach.
CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD
During Thanksgiving 30 years ago, audiences watched John Candy and Steve Martin try to make their way home for the holiday in “Planes, Trains and Automobiles.” It’s far from the only film from 1987 to resonate today: Think “The Princess Bride,” “Broadcast News,” “Moonstruck,” “Dirty Dancing,” “Fatal Attraction,” “Wall Street,” “Three Men and a Baby,” “RoboCop” … the list goes on.
NATION-WORLD
-- White nationalist Richard Spencer has reportedly been banned from 26 European nations.
-- South Korean authorities have deported an American man caught wandering last week near the highly fortified border with North Korea.
-- Curiouser and curiouser: Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said he would wait before putting his resignation into effect after the country’s president asked him to do so.
-- A U.N. tribunal found former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, known as the “Butcher of Bosnia,” guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. Will it put others on notice?
-- A proliferation of artificial light at night around the globe has researchers worried about the consequences for the environment and human health.
BUSINESS
-- John Lasseter’s decision to leave Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios for six months after complaints of inappropriate employee interactions is raising questions about the fallout for Disney’s business.
-- Your Thanksgiving dinner is cheaper this year. Here’s why.
SPORTS
-- How have so many Colombian cyclists ascended into the highest levels of an elite, insular and mostly European sport?
-- The Chargers love being on the Thanksgiving Day stage against the Dallas Cowboys today, but if you have Dish Network, you may not be able to see them play.
OPINION
-- A member of the Federal Communications Commission speaks out: “Please stop us from killing net neutrality.”
-- The L.A. Unified School District can’t afford to put off the day of reckoning on retiree benefit costs.
WHAT OUR EDITORS ARE READING
-- Thanksgiving memories at home and abroad. (The New Yorker)
-- New York Atty. Gen. Eric Schneiderman pens an open letter to the FCC chairman. (Medium)
-- “Dante’s nine circles of hell, reimagined for linguistic transgressions.” (McSweeney’s)
ONLY IN L.A.
In a West Hollywood gym, they gather every Thursday afternoon to work out, talk about their struggles and to give thanks. The charity program called Merging Vets & Players brings together mostly combat veterans and some former professional athletes, many of them former NFL players, who bare their souls in an hourlong “fireside chat.” “What this program has given me is hope and support,” says one veteran. “What I’ve said to everybody is, ‘I’m not allowed to be depressed anymore. If I’m depressed then somebody is going to kick me in my [butt] and tell me, ‘Get up, and let’s go.’ ”
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