Danny Masterson Sentenced to 30 Years to Life for Raping Former Scientologists; Declared by Church as Being Suppressive

Danny Masterson Sentenced to 30 Years to Life for Raping Former Scientologists; Declared by Church as Being Suppressive

Danny Masterson sentenced to 30 years to life for raping former Scientologists

BY JAMES QUEALLY
STAFF WRITER
SEPT. 7, 2023

After a pair of trials focused on the Church of Scientology’s alleged attempts to shield one of its celebrity members from prosecution, actor Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison on Thursday morning after having been convicted of raping two former members of the church.

Masterson, 47, was convicted of two counts of rape in May, and a jury deadlocked on a third woman’s accusations. The assaults took place in the early 2000s, but Masterson’s victims said they waited years to come forward because Scientology doctrine forbade them to report a fellow member to police.

Bill Cosby to be Released After Sexual Assault Conviction Overturned by Pennsylvania Supreme Court

Bill Cosby to be Released After Sexual Assault Conviction Overturned by Pennsylvania Supreme Court

June 30, 2021

Bill Cosby, 83, will be released from prison TODAY after Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturns his sexual assault conviction

Bill Cosby’s sex assault conviction overturned by Pennsylvania court

Bill Cosby Conviction Thrown Out… He Will Go Free

Bill Cosby to walk free after court overturns sex assault conviction

by Jackie Salo

Bill Cosby had his sexual assault conviction thrown out Wednesday — in a stunning ruling by Pennsylvania’s highest court that found a prosecutor’s decades-old agreement should have shielded him from criminal charges.

The fallen funnyman, 83, is set to walk out of a Philadelphia-area prison a free man after serving more than two years of a three- to 10-year sentence.

Bill Cosby to be Released After Sexual Assault Conviction Overturned by Pennsylvania Supreme Court

A previous prosecutor had decided not to charge the legendary comic, and he relied on that move to speak freely and give incriminating statements.

By David K. Li

Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court vacated the sexual assault conviction of Bill Cosby on Wednesday and ordered his release from prison after finding that he was denied protection against self-incrimination.

The Cave You Fear To Enter – Joseph Campbell Quote – Thoughts On Confronting Fear

The Cave You Fear To Enter – Joseph Campbell Quote – Thoughts on Confronting Fear

If you’re someone who struggles with ordinary fear – fear of the unknown or fear of failure – or someone with an anxiety disorder who suffers from more fear than the usual person, you may find the following content helpful.

The Cave You Fear to Enter – J. Campbell’s Quote Meaning

From the Awakened Entrepreneurship blog; Excerpts:

The quote “The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek” is attributed to Joseph Campbell. It means that one of the paths you see before you but are afraid to take ultimately leads to self-actualization, even if you have to leave the ordinary world behind.

…Given what the cave means to us humans on the subconscious level, it is no wonder that we have the fear of entering it. 

…And now, we must take action and go boldly into such a seemingly unwelcome place.

[The blog post then goes on to list several different examples or areas of life where it can benefit you greatly to face your fears – to enter into that scary cave]

The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek – from the Maria Erving blog

The Cave You Fear To Enter Holds the Treasure You Seek

Excerpts:

by Phil Hunter

Fear is the biggest blocker of dreams.

For the New Year, Say No To Negativity by J. Tierney an R. F. Baumeister

For the New Year, Say No To Negativity by John Tierney an Roy F. Baumeister

Via The Wall Street Journal, December 27, 2020.

For the New Year, Say No To Negativity

Excerpts:

Bad experiences affect us much more powerfully than good ones, but there are ways to deal with this destructive bias and overcome it

…For 2020, here’s a resolution that could actually work: Go on a low-bad diet.

Our minds and lives are skewed by a fundamental imbalance that is just now becoming clear to scientists: the negativity effect.

Also known as the negativity bias, it’s the universal tendency for bad events and emotions to affect us more strongly than positive ones. We’re devastated by a word of criticism but unmoved by a shower of praise.

We see the hostile face in the crowd and miss all the friendly smiles.

We focus so much on bad news, especially in a digital world that magnifies its power, that we don’t realize how much better life is becoming for people around the world.

The negativity effect sounds depressing – and it often is – but it doesn’t have to be the end of the story. By recognizing it and overriding our innate responses, we can break destructive patterns, make smarter decisions, see the world more realistically and also exploit the benefits of this bias.

Hollywood and the Media Really Upset by Ricky Gervais’ Hosting at 2020 Golden Globes

Hollywood and the Media Really Upset by Ricky Gervais’ Hosting at 2020 Golden Globes

Oh, Hollywood and the media – both worlds consisting largely of very vocal liberals – did not take kindly to host Ricky Gervais dressing down of them at all.

I am not an expert on all things Gervais, but I gather from what I have read that he is an atheist and a liberal.

Hollywood types and the liberal media – and most of our journalists are liberal – loathe anyone who is a conservative or who lives in what they dismiss as “fly over country.”

Then your “everyday” liberals on Twitter were throwing a fit, lecturing conservatives, “Hey, you guys DO realize that Gervais is an atheist and a liberal, and he probably wouldn’t agree with your views, right?” -Yeah, we know, and we don’t care.

I’m actually fine with people holding opposing views to mine, so long as they are not unreasonable, rude, or arrogant about it – or hypocritical.

What Gervais did was point out what enormous hypocrites most of Hollywood are, and they did not like it one bit.

Word Press Blogs Not Allowing Me To Edit My Posts

Well, something is horribly wrong with my blog.

I’m not sure what is going on, but after I publish a post, Word Press won’t allow me to edit it. If and when I hit the “Edit” link to try to edit it, the page refreshes and it’s empty – there is no text.

I don’t know if this is a Word Press problem or if the problem is on my end.

If I can no longer edit my posts, I may have to abandon my blog or find a new (free) host.

This is frustrating.

Edit. January 13, 2020

I’ve found a very, very convoluted work around to edit my posts, but this is unacceptable. If Word Press does not fix this issue, I may leave this blog and find a new host.

Movies Have Gotten Longer and More Boring Since the 2000s

Movies Have Gotten Longer and More Boring Since the 2000s

I recall going to the movies at the movie theater as a kid in the 1970s, 1980s, and the 1990s, and I also recall that most movies during those decades lasted about an hour and a half.

Starting a About six to seven years ago, unfortunately, the length of most movies crept up to about two hours.

 To make matters worse, within the last two, three years, movies have grown even longer: two hours and twenty minutes seems to be the norm now.

We’re living in an age where it’s never been easier to watch movies whenever and however we want, thanks to iPads, cell phones, Disney plus, NetFlix and other streaming services, and so forth.

The computer graphics used to create special effects in movies have become even more advanced, too.

And yet, all of that, the fancy special effects and the extra length of movies, have not improved the quality.

If anything, movie quality has gone down.

My New Twitter Account Because For Some Reason Twitter Froze My Original One (October 2019)

My New Twitter Account Because For Some Reason Twitter Froze My Original One (2019)

My new Twitter handle is @butterp14862280, and it is located here

My original Twitter account is @popcorn871 and is located here

I did not violate any of their rules.

I was using my original Twitter account as I have always done, which is mainly retweeting links from other people that I find interesting.

I was periodically pasting in links on twitter to some of my blog posts to this blog – and I was not doing so in a “spammy” manner.

Everybody had an opinion about ‘The Hunt’ before anybody saw it. That’s a problem. by A. Hornaday

Everybody had an opinion about ‘The Hunt’ before anybody saw it. That’s a problem. by A. Hornaday

Everybody had an opinion about ‘The Hunt’ before anybody saw it. That’s a problem. by A. Hornaday

Excerpts

Aug 15, 2019

[Editorial discusses how people negatively react towards a movie before it’s actually released]

…Sight unseen, the reviews were in [for these movies].

Make those “pre-views.”

Today, the forces of entertainment marketing, social media and grievance culture are increasingly colliding, with the casualty being the movies themselves.

August 15th Is National Failure Day

August 15th Is National Failure Day

Various articles and links about the National Day of Failure and related:

National Failure Day: Vixens Who Overcame Failure

NATIONAL FAILURES DAY: BE FEARLESS AND MAKE FAILURE MATTER

7 Epic Fails Brought to You By the Genius Mind of Thomas Edison

Despite popular belief, the inventor wasn’t the “Wiz” of everything

…Chances are you haven’t heard of Edison’s botched ideas, several of which are highlighted here, because the Ohio native refused to dwell on them. DeGraaf says, “Edison’s not a guy that looks back. Even for his biggest failures he didn’t spend a lot of time wringing his hands and saying ‘Oh my God, we spent a fortune on that.’ He said, ‘we had fun spending it.’”

Why Finland Has a National Day of Failure

Origin of the day
The first Day for Failure was held in 2010 by Finnish university students. Their reasoning was that Finland would be needing thousands of new businesses and jobsin the future, but a natural fear of inadequacy was holding many people back from founding those businesses or pursuing those jobs.