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2015年6月21日星期日

The 21 Best Seafood Shacks In America

Credit: Shutterstock

It’s summertime, the livin’ is easy, and seafood shacks are throwing open their doors. There’s no better way to consume the fruits of the ocean than with a paper plate on your lap, the wind in your hair, and creaky floorboards beneath your feet. What the following seafood joints lack in ritz they more than make up for in character, legend, and, of course, lobsters, shrimp, crabs, and various other delicious lower life forms. Forget restaurants, and hit our round-up of the 21 best shacks.

More: 22 American Foods You’ve Never Had

Credit: Flickr/Paul Schultz

Tides Tavern
Gig Harbor, WA
What you’re getting: Halibut and chips
Though the primary reason to visit Tides Tavern is the seafood, that its owner through the ‘60s and ‘70s was a Jerry Garcia look-alike named “Three Fingered Jack” is up there. It opened as a general store in 1910, but party times began with the end of Prohibition. The current iteration – seafood on the deck, live music, and great burgers for that weird friend who hates seafood – dates from current owner Peter Stanley’s reconstruction project in 1973.

More: The 21 Best Diners in America

Credit: Flickr/Anna Hanks

The Clam Shack
Kennebunkport, ME
What you’re getting: Lobster rolls. Lots of them.
No one likes to wait in lines. Especially lines famous enough in Maine that nearly everyone mentions them at some point if you come through Kennebunkport. But the thought of getting that sweet hand-picked-meat lobster roll (and maybe some fried dough for dessert) from a tiny shack in one of the most beautiful parts of the world, and then posting up on a lobster crate and watching the seagulls swoop in on unsuspecting tourists to take a piece of their hard-earned roll for themselves, seems to make it all worthwhile. Just remember: keep your head on a swivel.

2015年6月17日星期三

Gowdy: Clinton confidant was not author of Benghazi memos

WASHINGTON (AP) — The chairman of a House panel investigating the deadly attacks in Benghazi, Libya, says that a longtime confidant of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton did not write any of the numerous memos he forwarded to Clinton while she served as secretary of state.

Nearly all the memos forwarded by Sidney Blumenthal to Clinton came from a single source, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., said late Tuesday.

Both Gowdy and Blumenthal agreed that Blumenthal shed little light on the Benghazi attack, but Gowdy called the all-day session interrupted by lunch and floor votes "productive" and informative. Blumenthal, however, said his appearance "was for one reason and one reason only, and that reason is politics."

Rather than offer original analysis, Blumenthal was "simply and merely a conduit of someone who may have had business interests in Libya," Gowdy said after Blumenthal spent nearly nine hours at the Capitol as Gowdy's committee met in closed session.

Blumenthal, who has never been to Libya and is not an expert on the country, "has absolutely no idea if (information included in the memos) is credible or not," Gowdy said.

Blumenthal, meeting with reporters after his testimony ended, said the memos were written by a former high-ranking CIA official, adding that he passed them on to Clinton as a friend.

Blumenthal and Gowdy declined to name the author of the memos, but emails released last month show at least one memo written by former CIA official Tyler Drumheller.

The evening after the September 2012 Benghazi attack, Blumenthal forwarded to Clinton an analysis of the situation from Drumheller which purported to contain information from "sources with direct access to the Libyan National Transitional Council as well as the highest levels of European governments as well as Western intelligence and security services."

The memo said a top Libyan official, Mohamed Yousef el-Magariaf, had told close associates that the Benghazi attack was carried out by the militant group Ansar al-Sharia and that Libyan security officials believed the group "took advantage of cover provided by" demonstrations against an Internet video seen as insulting to the Prophet Mohammed to conduct it.

Blumenthal said he "explained the facts" about his correspondence with Clinton to the committee and "dispelled some myths recklessly disseminated" by some committee members.

"I answered every question," Blumenthal said, adding that he "shed no light on events in Benghazi" because he has no firsthand knowledge and never worked for the Obama administration.

Earlier Tuesday, Gowdy complained about delays in receiving emails between Clinton and Blumenthal, noting that the committee received roughly 60 new emails totaling 120 pages from Blumenthal last week.

Committee Democrats called the delay understandable after Gowdy and majority Republicans expanded the panel's scope from a probe of the September 2012 attacks that killed four Americans, including the U.S. ambassador, to a broader examination of U.S. policy toward Libya.

Democrats cited a May 29 letter from Gowdy to Blumenthal seeking "any and all documents and communications" sent to or received by Blumenthal related to Libya, "but not limited to Benghazi and Tripoli." The letter also asks for information on weapons found in, imported to or removed from Libya. Gowdy made similar, broad requests in a March subpoena issued to the State Department.

Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said the GOP was continuing to "move the goalposts in terms of what they're asking for from the State Department."

A member of the Benghazi panel, Schiff said the shift in tactics was occurring "out of frustration (by Republicans) that they weren't able to find anything of any interest on Benghazi — that is, anything that hadn't already been disclosed by the eight other investigations" conducted over the past several years.

Blumenthal was pressed for answers about frequent emails on Libya that he sent Clinton when she served as secretary of state. Blumenthal worked in the White House under President Bill Clinton and is a longtime friend and adviser to the Clinton family.

Blumenthal's role in sending the near-monthly missives emerged when nearly 350 pages of emails about the 2012 attacks on the U.S. diplomatic post in Benghazi were publicly released last month.

His testimony came days after Clinton formally kicked off her presidential campaign on Saturday.

State Department spokesman Alec Gerlach said the department has worked to make public all emails received from Clinton.

"Secretary (John) Kerry has been clear that the State Department will be both transparent and thorough in its obligations to the public on this matter," Gerlach said.

Blumenthal offered a flood of advice and intelligence to his former boss, sending frequent emails about the growing unrest in Libya to the personal email account Clinton continued to use as a government employee. The correspondence, which covered everything from warring Middle Eastern factions to political strategy, was absorbed by Clinton, who often forwarded the messages to aides.

Clinton's earlier efforts to hire Blumenthal, who has spent nearly two decades working for the Clinton family, as a State Department employee were rejected by White House aides. Those aides feared that Blumenthal's role spreading harsh attacks against Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential primaries would cause discomfort within the Obama administration.

Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., a member of the Benghazi panel, said there were "not a lot of sparks" produced by Blumenthal's testimony Tuesday.

Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., the senior Democrat on the panel, said Blumenthal's deposition was the latest example of how the committee "has strayed far from investigating the Benghazi attacks and is now focused like a laser on attacking Secretary Clinton in her run for president."

Republicans no longer appear interested in discovering facts about Benghazi, but merely are trying to prove that Clinton "engaged in some sort of conspiracy" over the attacks, Cummings said, calling the investigation a "travesty" that has cost taxpayers more than $3.5 million.

This One Picture Captures Everything Wrong With Hollywood’s Sexist Standards

Adam Sandler, Selena Gomez, and Kevin James at theTransylvania 2 photo call. Photo: Getty Images

Selena Gomez recently wore a sexy red ensemble promoting her new movie, Transylvania 2. Designed by Katie Ermilio, the silk two-piece set consisted of a bandeau top and a skirt with a thigh-high slit and oversized bow fastened to the waistline. Her co-stars, Adam Sandler and Kevin James, on the other hand, showed up to the Cancun, Mexico photo call in sweatpants and shorts.

Besides the fact that the 22-year-old seemed to be uneasy flanked by two 40-something men, it appears that her red carpet ensemble left her feeling similarly uncomfortable. The former Disney star was photographed grasping at the dress’s wide seam, using her arms as skin shields. Perhaps it’s because she’s wildly overdressed, at least in comparison to Sandler and James.

But what if Gomez showed up to the event dressed in the same vein as her male counterparts? Unless the actress wore fancy short shorts that put her long legs on display, the fashion police would most likely ridicule Gomez for her too-casual outfit choice. But the young multi-hyphenate who’s been in the biz for over a decade knows the name of the game: look good, get your picture taken, make a best dressed list, get lots of press, rake in money.

Adam Sandler in burgundy corduroys, orange button-down, and track jacket, with his wife, Jackie, in an LBD. Photo: Getty Images

There’s a double standard in Hollywood fashion, and this photo — men, looking as if they’ve rolled out of bed or come from the gym, with their female co-star putting effort (and hours of it) into her appearance — encapsulates it. Sure, Sandler’s got a reputation for being a slob, often throwing a middle finger up in the face of assumed dressing standards and having an apathetic attitude towards the bright lights big city culture, but that doesn’t discount him from the sexist issue at the heart of it all.

Part of the problem is how individuals devour, and professionals publish, media. Whenever someone wears something — good, bad, or ugly — it’s a headline, tweet, Instagram, Facebook, Vine, or any other. Best and worst dressed lists abound and the fashion industry breeds a culture that not only has readers coming back for more information, but one that also has audiences striving to emulate the ensembles their celebrity idols step out in.

2015年6月15日星期一

NY senator wants airlines to scrap carry-on luggage proposal

FILE - In this May 5, 2015, file photo, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., speaks to reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington. Schumer wants airlines to scrap a proposal to reduce the allowed size of carry-on luggage. He planned a news conference Sunday, June 14, 2015, to warn travelers that a 20 percent reduction would force them to pay more for check-in fees or spend money on new luggage. (AP Photo/Brett Carlsen, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Sen. Charles Schumer wants airlines to scrap a proposal to reduce the allowed size of carry-on luggage.

He planned a news conference Sunday to warn travelers that a 20 percent reduction would force them to pay more for check-in fees or spend money on new luggage.

The Democratic senator said it's just another way for airlines to make money at the expense of travelers.

"We want to blow the whistle on this before it happens," Schumer told The Associated Press. "Enough already! They charge a fee for peanuts, for leg room, for just about anything."

In many cases, it costs $25 to check each piece of luggage.

Schumer says customers deserve a break, especially since airline profits are expected to soar this year.

The current maximum carry-on size, depending on the airline, ranges from a length of 22 inches to 24 inches, a width of about 14 to 18 inches and a depth of 9 to 16 inches.

The trade association for the industry — the International Air Transport Association — wants to standardize the permitted carry-on size to 21.5 inches by 13.5 inches and a depth of 7.5 inches.

The association says the smaller size is ideal for storage space and would avert the problem that travelers commonly face when a plane cabin runs out of storage space by the time all the passengers board.

Many international airlines already have agreed to adopt the proposed policy, including Air China, Avianca, Azul, Pacific, China Southern, Emirates, Lufthansa and Qatar.

Schumer said he expects U.S. airliners to decide whether or not to make the size change in the next few months.

"Luggage companies have made carry-on bags and now, all of a sudden, millions of them won't fit," the senator warned.

2015年6月14日星期日

What One Dad Got Right and Wrong When He Got Divorced

The author, Charles Martin, with his sons Joseph, left, and Michael. (Photo: Charles Martin)

“As long as the kids are okay.”

Those words were the North Star of my divorce. A simple mantra that reinforced the idea that, though the marriage might have been ending, we would always be a parental team. Take care of the children first and everything else will follow.

We got married too early. That was the problem, the All-American mistake. Too young, too naive, and with too much curiosity left for the world and all its wild ways. We managed to stay together fifteen years. A testament to our patience with each other and all our mistakes, great and small. A house, two kids, two dogs, and a true and powerful affection for one another. Yet, even love can’t bind forever when it is so dwarfed by history.

STORY: Dad Who Wrote Letter ‘To the Teen Who Planned to Kill My Son’ Speaks Out

We made comics together. That was when we felt the most perfect, when we were creating side-by-side. She was a brilliant writer with elegant, simple, but evocative illustrations. And clever. So very clever.Gay Zombies Attack. Elvis Is Undead. Frankenpimp. Progressive social commentary through satirical exploitation. She was good. Her noir-inspired family portrait still hangs on the wall. I think often that I should take it down, but its presence comforts me.

She took a job in the corporate world so that I could stay home with the kids and write. She pushed hard to advance within the company, slowly clawing us out of poverty while I talked her out of quitting. There were many mistakes on both sides, but not recognizing that the stress was crushing her remains my biggest regret.

STORY: The Unintended Effects of Divorce on Kids

“You need to be patient and let yourself mourn,” my mother told me shortly after the initial separation. “Divorce means losing someone important to you. It is like there has been a death.”

Yet, it’s not the same, not really. There is a sad nobility to mourning death. Mourning a dead love felt pathetic and sick.

But as long as the kids are okay.

And they were. We got through the divorce without alienating the children. Instead, we only alienated each other, which is to be expected. The gameplan, some of it discussed, much of it formulated on the fly, was meant to insulate the kids from as much fallout from the divorce as possible.

“‘As long as the kids are okay’ is a simple mantra, but not an easy one,” Paulann C. Canty, a licensed marriage and family therapist atGrowthLines, told me. “The idea of a ‘parental team’ or partnership is important. How that team operates is unique to each couple, and is determined, and redetermined, across time, circumstances, and development stages. Being partners in parenting is critical whether the marriage dissolved after two years or twenty, and continues through children becoming adults, marrying, and having children of their own.”

Our strategy started with never talking about the ex-spouse in a negative light. Never. Especially when we most deserved it. As long as the kids were safe and healthy and happy, we kept our criticisms to ourselves. Peace was difficult to achieve and even more difficult to maintain in those first two years while the emotions were still so strong. Clear boundaries helped considerably, yet those boundaries broadened over the course of the divorce until we were left with near silence. I talk to my ex-wife’s new husband more than I talk to her. I can’t say if this is a good thing or a bad thing, but the kids are okay, so I let it be.

Robert Horry only had one off-court conversation with Phil Jackson as a Laker

It's often said that NBA championship teams must have great chemistry to succeed. Talent matters, of course, but there are few substitutes for player, coach, and management all getting along swimmingly. If every player takes his own cab on a road trip, there's a problem.

[Follow Dunks Don't Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]

That's the idea, anyway. Yet, if Robert Horry is to believed, an essential part of a championship roster can go four seasons and win three titles without speaking to his head coach more than one time when not on the court. In a new article for The Players' Tribune (via SLAM), Horry says he and Phil Jackson spoke all of one time during their four years together with the Los Angeles Lakers. And it's not as if the subject was unrelated to their jobs:

Whenever I hear people crying about Kobe yelling at people in practice, or wondering whether or not LeBron is best friends with his teammates, I just roll my eyes. You know how many off-court conversations I had with the Zen-Master Phil Jackson in my entire time with the Lakers? One. I was sitting in the trainer’s room getting treatment and he was sitting on the table across from me.

“What happened with you and Danny Ainge in Phoenix?” he asked.

“I didn’t like him, so I blew up and threw a towel at him. I didn’t handle it the right way.”

“Okay.”

And that was it. We won three titles together. Go figure.

Horry goes on to say that he and Houston Rockets head coach Rudy Tomjanovich had a much closer working relationship and that he and Hakeem Olajuwon had a great understanding, so it's not as if the notion of chemistry is a lie. Rather, the issue seems to be that it's not necessary to a winner. A team can do fine without it, just as the Lakers did with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryantas co-stars.

This is just one of several topics Horry covers in the article. He describes how the Lakers opted not to bring him back (poorly, it seems), the way his strong relationship with Olajuwon started (via a challenge), and the extent of Kobe's insane desire to win. It's a wide-ranging piece without a consistent through-line, but it's also pretty great.

2015年6月9日星期二

Officer caught on video in Texas pool party incident resigns

MCKINNEY, Texas (AP) — A white police officer recorded on video pushing a black girl to the ground at a North Texas pool party resigned from the police force Tuesday.

Officer David Eric Casebolt's actions were "indefensible," McKinney Police Chief Greg Conley said at a press conference after the officer submitted his resignation. But Casebolt was not pressured to quit the force, Conley said.

A teenager at the party posted a video online showing the officer pushing a bikini-clad girl to the ground and brandishing his gun to other black teens when officers responded last Friday to calls about the pool party at a community-owned McKinney swimming pool. The 41-year-old former Texas state trooper and 10-year veteran of the McKinney force was put on administrative leave after the incident. His lawyer, Jane Bishkin of Dallas, confirmed Tuesday he had quit the force.

Conley said a review of the video showed that "our policies, our training and our practices do not support his actions."

Twelve officers responded to the report of fights and a disturbance at the pool party at the Craig Ranch North Community Pool in an affluent area of western McKinney. "Eleven of them performed according to their training," Conley said. Casebolt did not, he said.

"He came into the call out of control and the video showed he was out of control during the incident," Conley said.

Casebolt's actions are under investigation and no decision has been made whether charges will be filed against him, Conley said. Charges of interfering with an officer and evading arrest against the only man arrested during Friday's incident have been dropped, Conley said. Everyone else detained was released.

Bishkin declined to say where Casebolt is now and said the officer had received death threats. The attorney said she would release more information at a news conference Wednesday.

The incident prompted criticism of the affluent suburb of McKinney north of Dallas, which is among the nation's fastest growing cities, has highly regarded public schools and was ranked by one publication as America's best place to live.

People who demonstrated this week at a McKinney school compared the city to Baltimore and Ferguson, Missouri, where use of force by police triggered widespread protests and violence.

The resignation is a step in the right direction, said Dominique Alexander, president of the Dallas area-Next Generation Action Network and organizer of the demonstrations.

"We still need a serious investigation into the charges that need to be brought against him in this matter," Alexander said, adding that Casebolt should be drug tested.

The NAACP is asking the U.S. Department of Justice to review the procedures of the McKinney police force, stopping short of asking for a formal investigation. A review of department policies is needed to ensure officers are responding appropriately to calls involving minorities, the local NAACP chapter said.

Casebolt had been accused of excessive force in a 2007 arrest as part of a federal lawsuit that named him along with other officers. The officers arrested Albert Brown Jr., who authorities said was found with crack cocaine during a traffic stop. Brown, who is black, accused the officers of forcibly searching him after pulling down his pants and slamming his head against a car hood. A defense attorney denied Brown's accusations. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2009.

The city of McKinney also has been the target of a lawsuit accusing it of racial segregation in public housing.

A lawsuit in 2008 accused the McKinney Housing Authority of restricting federally subsidized public housing for low-income families to older neighborhoods east of U.S. 75. The lawsuit said that in the Dallas area, 85 percent of those receiving so-called "Section 8" housing vouchers are African Americans.

The lawsuit was settled in 2012 with a consent decree, which is an agreement to take specific actions without admitting guilt.

A message left with the housing authority seeking comment wasn't returned Tuesday.

The scrutiny contrasts with McKinney's high ranking for its quality of life. A Time Inc. publication last year said the city was the best place to live in America, with a median family income in excess of $96,000 and job growth projected at 13 percent. Crime is comparatively low and like other metropolitan suburbs in Texas, McKinney has seen unprecedented expansion. Its population has tripled in the last 15 years to approximately 155,000. About 75 percent of residents are white while nearly 11 percent are black.

___

Wallace reported from Dallas. Associated Press video journalist Jill Craig in McKinney and writers Jamie Stengle in Dallas and Juan A. Lozano in Houston also contributed to this report.

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