Diane Coleman’s Last Review: Life After, “A Wonderful Film.”

https://notdeadyet.org/diane-colemans-last-review-life-after-a-wonderful-film

Ian McIntosh, Executive Director Not Dead Yet:

To the best of my knowledge, one of the last tasks Founder, President and CEO of Not Dead Yet (NDY), Diane Coleman completed, days before her sudden passing last November, was to watch Reid Davenport’s Life After.  

Diane intended to write a fulsome review. And although she could not publish her thoughts in time, she left one of sorts, complete in its brevity, in an email to the film’s creators, saying that Life After is: “a wonderful film”.

In this arena and in our community, there’s no higher praise.  As Diane’s successor, serving as the Executive Director of NDY, and as a self-confessed cinephile, having seen the documentary several times now, I can confirm that like everything else Diane weighed in on: Of course, she’s right. Life After is a wonderful film for too many reasons to expand upon here and now.

But Multimedia Films, the production house for Life After, notes on its website a synopsis of the documentary, which in part reads:

“In 1983, a disabled Californian woman named Elizabeth Bouvia sought the ‘right to die,’ igniting a national debate about autonomy and the value of disabled lives. After years of courtroom battles, Bouvia vanished from public view. Sundance-winner Davenport embarks on a personal investigation to find out what really happened to Bouvia and reveal why her story is disturbingly relevant today.”

Trump Says No Deal to end the Russia-Ukraine war was made with Putin

By The Associated Press, 08/15/25

U.S. President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not reach a deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine after talks in Alaska on Friday, as the two leaders offered scant details on what was discussed but heaped praise on one another.

Putin said he and Trump had reached an "understanding" on Ukraine and warned Europe not to "torpedo the nascent progress." But Trump said, "There's no deal until there's a deal" and said he plans to speak with Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and European leaders soon.

The high-profile summit ended without an agreement to end, or even pause, the brutal conflict — the largest land war in Europe since 1945 — which has raged for more than three years....

Putin and Trump made statements after the talks but left the room full of reporters without taking questions....

Alaska to Take Center Stage at Trump-Putin Summit

https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/russia-at-war/alaska-to-take-center-stage-at-trump-putin-summit

Alaska will take a rare step into the spotlight as it plays host to the high-stakes summit between President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, creating a key backdrop for a meeting the administration hopes will open a path towards ending the Ukraine war. 

The 49th state has usually taken a place on the periphery of U.S. national politics, especially in recent years. But the setting here is notable as Trump and Putin descend on the former Russian colony for a meeting the former has long sought as part of his promises to end the fighting in Eastern Europe. 

Alaskans believe it is fitting that talks between the two nations will come to their shores.

“You can see the impact of Russian colonialism on Alaska to this day,” said Brandon Boylan, a political science professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

“If President Trump was going to host President Putin in the U.S. and it wasn’t going to be at the White House, I’m actually not surprised it’s here in Alaska, given the very rich history that Alaska has between the two states,” Boylan said. 

National Guard Troops Arrive in Washington After Trump Declares Federal Control

By Joseph Lord, 08/12/25 

National Guard troops started arriving in Washington on Tuesday to begin enforcing President Donald Trump’s federal takeover of the city’s law enforcement and security. They’re part of an 800-member deployment ordered by the administration.

Trump announced on Monday that he would activate the guard and take over the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, citing a crime emergency in the city.

Speaking ahead of the National Guard troops’ arrival, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the president’s emergency proclamation “is only the beginning.”

She said: “Over the course of the next month, the Trump administration will relentlessly pursue and arrest every violent criminal in the district who breaks the law, undermines public safety, and endangers law-abiding Americans.”

Leavitt said Tuesday that the addition of National Guardsmen to the federalized D.C. Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) would assist to “end violent crime in our nation’s capital as part of the President’s massive law enforcement surge.”

DeSantis Names State Sen. Jay Collins as Lieutenant Governor

Florida is now the only state in the country to have military veterans as both governor and lieutenant governor.

After roughly six months, Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis finally decided on his next lieutenant governor: state Sen. Jarrid “Jay” Collins [pictured here].

The governor said on Aug. 12 in Tampa that he considered two things when making his decision. First, the person had to be “strong on policy,” with a “record of delivering big conservative results.” Second, the person had to be “somebody that’s going to run towards the fire,” not sit on the fence or fear criticism.

Trump: "We're Gonna Take Our Capital Back"

By Leif Le Mahieu

President Donald Trump promised on Monday to clean up crime and vagrancy in the nation’s capital by shifting more responsibilities over the district to the federal government. 

Trump made the announcement during a press conference at the White House, where he laid out a number of executive actions he was taking to fight violent crime, decrease homelessness, and otherwise clean up Washington, D.C. 

“I’m announcing a historic action to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse,” Trump said. “
This is Liberation Day in D.C., and we’re gonna take our capital back. We’re taking it back.” 

Trump on Monday invoked Section 740 of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act and declared a public emergency. This granted him to move the D.C. Police Department under the control of the Justice Department. DEA Administrator Terry Cole will head the department, per Trump’s orders. 

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and U.S. District Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro all appeared alongside Trump at the news conference.