This freshly minted partnership may satisfy all your custom attire needs in a single New York location.
en. Dianne Feinstein has called for an inquiry into why former Attorney General Loretta Lynch directed then-FBI director James Comey to refer to the Clinton email investigation as a “matter.”
That’s an encouraging development, as law enforcement should never be a playing field for partisan politics.
The words that triggered Feinstein’s concern may be just the tip of an iceberg. In his June 8 testimony to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Comey said it gave him a “queasy” feeling that the attorney general was asking him to use language that “tracked the way the campaign was talking about the FBI’s work.” He called it “concerning.”
He wasn’t alone in his concerns. On Oct. 3, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte sent a letter to Lynch asking about immunity agreements with key witnesses in the FBI’s investigation into Clinton’s exclusive use of a private email server as secretary of state.
In December 2015, the Justice Department signed two immunity agreements with Bryan Pagliano, the State Department technician who set up Clinton’s server. The following May, immunity was granted to Paul Combetta, the information technology contractor who deleted archived Clinton emails that were under subpoena. A month later, the DOJ granted immunity to former State Department information resources manager John Bentel, and to Heather Samuelson and Cheryl Mills, attorneys and former State Department aides to Clinton who had sorted her emails on their laptop computers.
Goodlatte wanted to know why the Justice Department had made side agreements promising that the FBI would destroy both Mills’ and Samuelson’s laptops after the bureau completed its search of them, making follow-up investigations impossible.
The side agreements also constrained the date range of documents that would be searched. Goodlatte asked why the time limit was necessary, since Mills and Samuelson were given immunity for any potential destruction of evidence charges.
More questions were raised by Lynch’s 30-minute meeting in her private plane with Secretary Clinton’s husband on June 27. Speaking to reporters after the incident, Lynch brushed off concerns about political interference. “My agency is involved in a matter looking at State Department policies and issues,” she said. “It’s being handled by career investigators and career agents.”
But Comey testified that the conversation on the tarmac was one reason he held a press conference a week later to declare an end to the investigation.
Feinstein is certainly right to ask why the attorney general directed the head of the FBI to use language that “tracked” with the Clinton campaign’s messaging.
More broadly, Congress has an obligation to find out if federal law enforcement agencies have acted with political bias to protect some politicians and damage others. That is an abuse of power that cannot be tolerated in a free country.
Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, joins Republican members Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham in asking Chairman Chuck Grassley to call on Lynch to testify. The sooner, the better.
Film guide for box-office releases and ongoing movies
From news services
NEW THIS WEEK
“The Book of Henry” (PG-13) (for thematic elements and brief strong language) This appealing, quirky tale of a single mother’s loving relationship with her two young sons goes off the rails when it turns into a vigilante thriller. (The New Times) 1 hour, 45 minutes. Grade: **
“Cars 3” (G) Aging race car Lightning McQueen faces a midlife crisis in a sequel that is fun and dazzlingly animated but lacks the magic of Pixar’s more tender touchstones. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 49 minutes. Grade: **
“Rough Night” (R) (for crude sexual content, language throughout, drug use and brief bloody images) Despite its funny moments, this comedy about four women on a wild bachelorette weekend who accidentally kill someone and try to get away with it is too dark to stomach. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 49 minutes: Grade: **
CONTINUING
‘3 Idiotas’: (PG-13) (for some rude humor and brief strong language) A group of friends embark on a fun adventure determined to find a college roommate who disappeared without a trace on graduation day. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 46 minutes.
‘Alien: Covenant’: (R) (for sci-fi violence, bloody images, language and some sexuality/nudity) What was once a slithery straightforward monster movie in space has mutated into an impressively ambitious but overly ornate saga with a general sense of deja vu. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 2 minutes. Grade: ** 1/2
‘Baywatch’: (R) (for language throughout, crude sexual content, and graphic nudity) This raunchy spoof of the ‘90s TV show about a group of buff and beautiful crime-solving lifeguards is unwieldy, derivative and mostly unfunny. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 56 minutes. Grade: * 1/2
‘Beauty and the Beast’: (PG) (for some action violence, peril and frightening images) Live-action adaptation of the animated classic is equal parts dispiriting and enchanting: overflowing in handsome craft, but missing a spirit inside. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 9 minutes. Grade: ** 1/2
‘The Boss Baby’: (PG) (for some mild rude humor) Animated comedy about how a new baby’s arrival can upend a family, told from the viewpoint of an older sibling, is sabotaged by pointless side plots. (The San Francisco Chronicle) 1 hour, 37 minutes. Grade: **
‘Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie’: (PG) (for mild rude humor throughout) Animated feature about students hypnotizing their principal into thinking he’s a superhero is a little too dark, a little too nihilistic and not quite funny enough to forgive its weaknesses. (The New York Times) 1 hour, 29 minutes. Grade: *
‘Churchill’: (PG) (for thematic elements, brief war images, historical smoking throughout, and some language) Historical saga that follows the British prime minister over the course of several days leading up to the D-Day invasion is neither insightful nor entertaining. (The New York Times) 1 hour, 38 minutes. Grade: * 1/2
‘Dean’: (PG-13) (for language and some suggestive material) A comedy about loss, grief and the redemptive power of love, Dean is an NY illustrator who falls hard for an LA woman while trying to prevent his father from selling the family home in the wake of his mother’s death. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 27 minutes.
‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul’ (PG) (for some rude humor) In addition to endlessly annoying, barely sympathetic characters, this deeply unfunny family road trip film has gross-out jokes to rival the R-rated “Vacation” remake. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 31 minutes. Grade: 1/2
‘Everything, Everything’: (PG-13) (for thematic elements and brief sensuality) A teenager who’s lived a sheltered life because she’s allergic to everything, falls for the boy who moves in next door. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 36 minutes.
‘The Fate of the Furious’: (PG-13) (for prolonged sequences of violence and destruction, suggestive content, and language) The action in this sequel satisfies, even if the lines veer past campy into full-on cheese territory and the story is hazier than the smoke from a broken tailpipe. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 16 minutes. Grade: ** 1/2
‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2’: (PG-13) (for sequences of sci-fi action and violence, language, and brief suggestive content) Powered by dazzling visuals and irreverent humor, this sequel to Marvel’s swashbuckling space Western is even wilder and more inspired than its predecessor. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 16 minutes. Grade: ***
‘How to be a Latin Lover’: (PG-13) (for crude humor, sexual references and gestures, and for brief nudity) Finding himself dumped after 25 years of marriage, a man who made a career of seducing rich older women must move in with his estranged sister, where he begins to learn the value of family. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 55 minutes.
‘It Comes At Night’: (R) (for violence, disturbing images, and language) A well-crafted psychological thriller about an isolated family of survivalists who fall victim to doubt and paranoia when their protected fortress is threatened. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 37 minutes. Grade: ***
‘King Arthur: Legend of the Sword’: (PG-13) (for sequences of violence and action, some suggestive content and brief strong language) Director Guy Ritchie reimagines the Excalibur myth for a modern “Game of Thrones” audience in this reasonably entertaining if somewhat forgettable CGI-laden offering. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 6 minutes. Grade: **
‘The Lovers’: (R) (for sexuality and language) A long-married, dispassionate couple who are both in the midst of serious affairs are on the brink of calling it quits, before a spark between them suddenly reignites, leading them into an impulsive romance. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 34 minutes.
‘Lowriders’: (PG-13) (for language, some violence, sensuality, thematic elements and brief drug use) A young street artist in East Los Angeles is caught between his father’s obsession with lowrider car culture, his ex-felon brother and his need for self-expression. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 39 minutes.
‘Megan Leavey’: (PG-13) (for war violence, language, suggestive material, and thematic elements) This true story of a Marine and her combat dog is really about love — the real, actual, soul-nurturing, life-expanding kind that can happen between a human and an animal. (The New York Times) 1 hour, 56 minutes. Grade: ***
‘The Mummy’: (PG-13) (for violence, action and scary images, and for some suggestive content and partial nudity) Tom Cruise is a poor fit as a soldier of fortune who battles an ancient evil princess released from her crypt in this convoluted mishmash. (The Associated Press) 1 hour, 50 minutes. Grade: * 1/2
‘My Cousin Rachel’: (PG-13) (for some sexuality and brief strong language) A young Englishman plots revenge against his mysterious, beautiful cousin, believing that she murdered his guardian. But his feelings become complicated as he finds himself falling under the beguiling spell of her charms. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 46 minutes.
‘Paris Can Wait’: (PG) (for thematic elements, smoking and some language) A woman takes a car trip from Cannes to Paris with a business associate of her husband. What should be a seven-hour drive turns into a carefree two-day adventure replete with diversions. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 32 minutes.
‘Past Life’: (Not rated) Tracks the daring late 1970s odyssey of two sisters – an introverted classical musician and a rambunctious scandal sheet journalist – as they unravel a shocking wartime mystery that has cast a dark shadow on their entire lives. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 49 minutes.
‘Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales’: (PG-13) (for sequences of adventure violence, and some suggestive content) This weary, battered fifth chapter in the franchise is high on CGI tricks but has a hopelessly muddled plot and recurring characters basically running on fumes. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 9 minutes. Grade: *
‘Radio Dreams’: (Not rated) A brilliant and misunderstood Iranian writer struggles to pursue his ambitious goal of bringing together Metallica and Kabul Dreams, Afghanistan’s first rock band. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 33 minutes.
‘Snatched’: (R) (for crude sexual content, brief nudity, and language throughout) When her boyfriend dumps her before their exotic vacation, a young woman persuades her ultra-cautious mother to travel with her to paradise, with unexpected results. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 30 minutes.
‘The Wedding Plan’: (PG) (for thematic elements) When her fiancé bows out on the eve of her wedding, Michal refuses to cancel the wedding arrangements. An Orthodox Jew, she insists that God will supply her a husband, as the clock ticks down. (imdb.com) 1 hour, 50 minutes.
‘Wonder Woman’: (PG-13) (for sequences of violence and action, and some suggestive content) This coming-of-age story about how a naive Amazonian princess becomes Wonder Woman isn’t perfect, but it’s often good, sometimes great and exceptionally re-watchable. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 21 minutes. Grade: ***
‘The Zookeeper’s Wife’: (PG-13) (for thematic elements, disturbing images, violence, brief sexuality, nudity and smoking) A riveting and inspiring real-life story about a zookeeper and his wife who saved hundreds of Jews in Poland during World War II by secretly giving them refuge on zoo grounds. (The Associated Press) 2 hours, 4 minutes. Grade: ***
Rating system
G: All ages admitted
PG: Parental guidance suggested. All ages admitted
PG-13: Parental guidance suggested; not recommended for younger than 13
R: Restricted. Those younger than 17 not admitted unless accompanied by a parent or guardian
Rehab centers, a get-rich-quick scheme? Sad, but true. As a result of the Affordable Care Act, addiction treatment has become, for some, an opportunity to make money easily and quickly. Enormous amounts of money and resources have poured into a proliferation of treatment centers and sober homes all over the country, with a huge representation in Southern California. These investors believe that with 24 million addicts in the U.S. and only 10 percent accessing care annually, building more beds will result in more people accessing care.
With the onslaught of venture capital into our industry, new “creative” ways of boosting revenue have come with it. Some new centers are waiving co-pays and deductibles, not charging for sober-living rent and engaging in patient brokering by creating call centers and illegitimate websites. While many of these activities may not be illegal, they are detrimental to patients and can cause insurance companies to deny or limit access, and authorize lower, less expensive levels of care, across the board.
These circumstances may seem overwhelming at first glance, but I know there is a solution. With my 40 years in the industry, I am truly passionate about getting our industry back on track, and I encourage other good players in the business to join this movement with me. My vision is to get individuals from insurance carriers, the community, and reputable, licensed, certified and accredited providers to come to the table together, to stay in the solution, and hold ourselves accountable for “keeping our side of the street clean.” We can all come together without trouncing on civil rights, upholding good legislation, and creating healthy parameters for both providers and communities. The insurance carriers will ultimately win, and save money, if they authorize access, as we know $1 invested in treatment results in $7 of national savings.
I suggest we create pods of providers, legislators, insurance carriers and community members to work collaboratively for a solution. Include the National Association of Addiction Treatment Providers in the discussion, as well as the co-chairs of the Recovery Caucus and Executive Leadership from national insurance companies. Personally, I’m creating a space to start the conversation by hosting a Jeffersonian Dinner at the New Directions for Women campus in Costa Mesa on August 23. I challenge you to host a gathering of your own, so we can begin a fruitful conversation about where we need to go and who we need to be in order to solve this problem. By having these conversations with each other, it will help us create pathways forward ensuring more people can achieve a lifelong journey of recovery from substance use disorder, a chronic incurable disease.
It is clear to me that we must address the many bad insurance carriers, who simply deny access to care and find new ways of limiting a benefit that a person has every right to access. There are communities that are shrouded in stigma about addiction, and group all players, good or bad, in the same overarching category. There are also bad physicians, who can make larger profits by utilizing unnecessary maintenance drugs, or prolong the patients’ addiction without monitoring the person’s readiness to enter higher levels of recovery treatment.
Of course, there are many good people as well. Addiction treatment providers that have been around for decades, are reputable and accredited, and who are driven by the mission of helping to save lives. There are good communities that welcome healthy providers and want to ensure they are doing good work with the right intentions. There are insurance carriers that do want to help save lives, however don’t understand substance use disorders enough to know the intensity or duration of time that is really adequate to help someone on a lifelong pathway to recovery.
The solution is not to lose ground, backtrack and re-create bipartisan laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008, or the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act of 2016. The answer to any devastating problem is to stay in the solution, not in the problem.
Rebecca Flood is executive director and CEO of New Directions for Women, a world-renowned, exclusively female, private drug and alcohol rehab program providing social model residential addiction treatment services for women of all ages.
The Irvine City Council made the right call last week when it voted 3-2 to go with developer FivePoint’s proposal for a veterans cemetery that offers the best chance for properly honoring our nation’s veterans.
Or, as Peter Katz, an Army veteran and member of the Orange County Memorial Park Committee, told the council, “The costs are cheaper. The access is easier.”
The FivePoint proposal, for which the company has volunteered to fund the first phase, is spread across as much as 125 acres, fittingly straddles Marine Way and contains a host of proposed amenities for honoring our fallen men and women in uniform. The site would include a veterans memorial on the side facing the I-5 freeway. Its proximity to the freeway allows ease of access for visitors and a solemn reminder of the price of freedom to those passing by.
The previous site was controversial because of its proximity to homes. This alternative site has the support of both residents and the veterans group formed to push for a cemetery.
It makes better financial sense, too. The state announced late last month that it would only contribute $30 million for the project at the other site, leaving Irvine residents to cover a $50 million difference.
“The Irvine council’s decision is a win-win-win for the city at large, our communities and, most importantly, our veterans who deserve a special place to honor their own that is worthy of the service they have given this country,” Emile Haddad, chairman and CEO of FivePoint, said in a statement.
But critics have pointed to unknowns in the plan, and repeated the tired notion that the council is “giving away” the Great Park.
The other plan was hardly without its unknowns, though, like where that $50 million was coming from. As for the giveaway argument, it seems some are still using Larry Agran’s playbook. If Agran had gotten his way, 688 acres of Great Park wouldn’t have been turned into sports fields and trails. Instead, we’d still have dirt, waiting on fantasy.
FivePoint came forward when the city desperately needed help keeping the promise of the Great Park. Now it needs help keeping the promise for a respectable resting place for our veterans. This is a win-win-win deal.
As unfunded pension liabilities mount, California’s cities and counties are bracing for the additional contributions they’ll have to make to the California Public Employees’ Retirement System in coming years. Meanwhile, unions representing government workers are trying to limit the fiscal options that counties have to help pay for those higher pension payment requirements.
Last year, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System board approved a significant reduction in the system’s assumed rate of return on investments. If investment returns are diminished, state and municipal governments are going to have to make up the difference. The dollars involved are significant. For example, Lodi is expecting its pension contributions to more than double next year from $6 million to $13 million as a result of the change.
“That’s our library, parks and recreation department, a police beat and a fire station,” Lodi City Manager Steve Schwabauer told the East Bay Times.
Enter the unions and Assembly Bill 1250. Recognizing local governments are looking for ways to cut costs and save money, AB1250 places major roadblocks in front of future privatization efforts that local governments might undertake.
Strong opposition from 200 cities and the League of California Cities caused the bill to be amended — and it now exempts cities. But it would still hit county governments, preventing them from choosing their best courses of action. The bill would block counties from “displacing” their government workers. It would force contractors to pay employees at the same level of wages and benefits that government employees in those jobs receive, thus eliminating some of the potential cost savings from outsourcing.
The bill also requires county governments to conduct flawed cost comparisons before contracting out services. The comparisons required by this legislation are designed to stack the deck against the private sector. Under government accounting, many of the “all-in” costs of public service delivery (including office space and overhead) are spread across many different agencies and multiple sections of the government’s budget. This law would say those costs — a county government agency’s overhead costs, for example — cannot be included in a cost comparison with the private sector. Thus, any comparison will feature a radically underpriced figure on the government’s side of a cost comparison with the private sector. This makes privatization look artificially more expensive than in-house government service delivery. It selectively ignores costs associated with public workers. And, if a private company bidding to provide the service doesn’t win a cost comparison under the rules set by the bill, the law would prohibit counties from privatizing the service.
In many ways, the proposal is set up to make decisions of whether or not to outsource services solely on costs, which, ironically, is a criticism often leveled against proponents of privatization. Services shouldn’t be outsourced to the lowest bidder, unions often say. Under this law, a local government would be banned from trying to improve the quality of its services while maintaining the same cost levels.
Many localities are looking to lower costs, improve service quality and find more expertise. There is a wealth of evidence showing that simply making government workers compete with the private sector generate benefits for taxpayers — regardless of whether public or private entities ultimately deliver the services.
In this case, public employee unions recognize the higher pension contributions local governments have to make to CalPERS, the greater likelihood they’ll start exploring privatization opportunities. But the unions’ push to take viable options off the table pits them directly against taxpayers. Not only are California taxpayers being asked to cover over $100 billion in unfunded pension liabilities — for these union workers, they would be asked to tackle the budget problems caused by these pension obligations with one arm tied behind their backs if this law passes.
Hopefully, the state Legislature realizes that county governments need tools like privatization to deal with the fiscal crises many of them are facing.
Leonard Gilroy is director of the Pension Integrity Project. Austill Stuart is a policy analyst at Reason Foundation.
Remember when Victoria Beckham launched Victoria Victoria Beckham — then known as Victoria by Victoria Beckham — as a light, flirty lineup of girly dresses to accompany her main line? That was a while ago — 2012 to be exact — and the collection has come a long way. There were a few dresses for resort, such as a gold-sequined T-shirt style and a mixed stripe knit tank, but otherwise, the dominant mood was cool separates worn a little loose and boyish, that reflect Beckham’s own evolution toward sophisticated modernist sportswear.
“When we merged VVB and Denim two years ago I was responding to a customer desire to develop the category beyond a dress offer,” Beckham said. “In the past two years, the collection has continued to expand into more lifestyle categories. And we’ve established pieces such as cotton shirting, outwear, knitwear, easy dress shapes, embroidered sweatshirts, all pieces that are now synonymous with VVB season on season.”
There was a mild Seventies vibe to disco sequins and graphic gold, orange and blue zig-zag stripes printed on a fluid oversized shirt worn with bold blue slouchy pants. “Thinking about the time at which this collection drops, which is just before Christmas, I was keen to
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New York-based Ala von Auersperg launched her namesake label in 2016 with a fairly straightforward goal: to offer breezy beach-to-dinner coordinated caftan and gown sets in original digital prints. She found a passion for painting a few years back and, along with creative partners Antonio Gual and Larry Black, began digitally imposing her artwork onto pieces equally appropriate for Palm Beach, Marrakech or Antigua (where she has a second home).
Customers have responded to the contrast of fitted dresses in Lycra or silk georgette with matching flowy mesh caftan overlays. They’re sexy without being too bare. “It’s tight but put a layer on top, they start to vamp in the way they walk,” the designer said in her showroom. “I say I’m never going to show in an art show because women are my art installations. I really love to see these things I paint move.”
She’s even begun imprinting her signature so people know designs began with a painting. This season’s prints included blue coral on an asymmetrical caftan with a single long sleeve, an oranges print cut into an off-shoulder blouse and skirt, and a black coral print from last season with inverted colors. “We want to evolve it but
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For his Pitti Uomo guest slot, Virgil Abloh took over the forecourt of Florence’s Palazzo Pitti, a feat of Versaille-like proportions, and serenaded them with a performance by the Florence Opera. But, just as the crowd was settling into their seats facing the site, the designer jolted them into reality with a series of poems that scrolled down the walls, recounting harrowing individual experiences of war and migration.
As a son of immigrants from Ghana, it’s a subject close to Abloh’s heart, and his desire to promote awareness about those themes pushed him to team with American artist Jenny Holzer. When the models eventually walked out, eyes darted between the clothes and the poems, creating an uneasy tension.
On the runway, Abloh stayed to true his progressive streetwear DNA with a collection centered on high-tech athletic silhouettes. LED displays were incorporated into trenchcoats and double-breasted jackets in retro floral upholstery fabrics, offering a new take on tailoring while losing none of the street cred that Off-White is known for. Blazers revealed zipper details on the back, while pants were cut in generous proportions for a Nineties feel.
Playing with different textures and weights, the designer also delivered easy-breezy trenches made of technical nylon,
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The fashion industry’s support of LGBT issues and, specifically, Pride Month, continues. For this year’s Pride March in New York, on June 25, PVH will participate as a sponsor, the company has revealed. The sponsorship is part of the company’s newly formed LGBTQ Business Resource Group, which it says is focused around its commitment to “creating an inclusive environment where every individual is valued.”
Employees of PVH, parent company to Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, among other brands, the will participate in the March wearing PVH Pride logo shirts atop a float called “runway to Pride.” Pride-themed underwear will be distributed throughout the crowd during the parade by models in Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger underwear. Additionally, a custom PVH Snapchat filter is planned for the course of the March.
“At PVH, we are committed to creating an inclusive environment where every individual is valued, and we believe in expressing who you are,” said Emanuel Chirico, chairman and chief executive officer of PVH. “I continue to be inspired by our associates who showcase their individuality every day, and I am incredibly proud that hundreds of members of the PVH family have come together to celebrate the NYC Pride March.”
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