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01-10-21  10:01am - 1348 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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Twitter has banned Donald Trump, our glorious President-For-Life-Of-The-Wonderful-World-Of-Trumpland.

A foolish and dangerous decision.
How will Trump be able to reach out to his followers?
How will Twitter survive?
Who will bother to read Twitter, since the most important user of Twitter, the man who invented Twitter (Donald Trump), who invented the Twitter Bomb, is barred from his favorite platform?

Enquiring minds want to know:
Is this the end of Democracy?
Will the United States go down in flames and destruction, since we can no longer read tweets from the PRESIDENT-OF-THE-UNITED-STATES?
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Squelched by Twitter, Trump seeks new online megaphone
AOL Associated Press
FRANK BAJAK
January 10, 2021, 4:49 AM

BOSTON (AP) — One Twitter wag joked about lights flickering on and off at the White House being Donald Trump signaling to his followers in Morse code after Twitter and Facebook squelched the president for inciting rebellion.

Though deprived of his big online megaphones, Trump does have alternative options of much smaller reach. The far right-friendly Parler may be the leading candidate, though Google and Apple have both removed it from their app stores and Amazon decided to boot it off its web hosting service. That could knock it offline for a week, Parler’s CEO said.

Trump may launch his own platform. But that won't happen overnight, and free speech experts anticipate growing pressure on all social media platforms to curb incendiary speech as Americans take stock of Wednesday’s violent takeover of the U.S. Capitol by a Trump-incited mob.

Twitter ended Trump’s nearly 12-year run on Friday. In shuttering his account it cited a tweet to his 89 million followers that he planned to skip President-elect Joe Biden’s Jan. 20 inauguration that it said gave rioters license to converge on Washington once again.

Facebook and Instagram have suspended Trump at least until Inauguration Day. Twitch and Snapchat also have disabled Trump’s accounts, while Shopify took down online stores affiliated with the president and Reddit removed a Trump subgroup. Twitter also banned Trump loyalists including former national security advisor Michael Flynn in a sweeping purge of accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory and the Capitol insurrection. Some had hundreds of thousands of followers.

In a statement Friday, Trump said: "We have been negotiating with various other sites, and will have a big announcement soon, while we also look at the possibilities of building out our own platform in the near future.”

Experts had predicted Trump might pop up on Parler, a 2-year-old magnet for the far right that claims more than 12 million users and where his sons Eric and Don Jr. are already active. Parler hit headwinds, though, on Friday as Google yanked its smartphone app from its app store for allowing postings that seek “to incite ongoing violence in the U.S.” Apple followed suit on Saturday evening after giving Parler 24 hours to address complaints it was being used to “plan and facilitate yet further illegal and dangerous activities.” Public safety issues will need to be resolved before it is restored, Apple said.

Amazon struck another blow Saturday, informing Parler it would need to look for a new web-hosting service effective midnight Sunday. It reminded Parler in a letter, first reported by Buzzfeed, that it had informed it in the past few weeks of 98 examples of posts “that clearly encourage and incite violence” and said the platform “poses a very real risk to public safety.”

Parler CEO John Matze decried the punishments as “a coordinated attack by the tech giants to kill competition in the marketplace. We were too successful too fast,” he said in a Saturday night post, saying it was possible Parler would be unavailable for up to a week “as we rebuild from scratch.”

Earlier, Matze complained of being scapegoated. “Standards not applied to Twitter, Facebook or even Apple themselves, apply to Parler.” He said he “won’t cave to politically motivated companies and those authoritarians who hate free speech.”

Losing access to the app stores of Google and Apple — whose operating systems power hundreds of millions of smartphones — severely limits Parler's reach, though it will continue to be accessible via web browser. Losing Amazon Web Services will mean Parler needs to scramble to find another web host — in addition to the re-engineering.

Gab is another potential landing spot for Trump. But it, too, has had troubles with internet hosting. Google and Apple both booted it from their app stores in 2017 and it was left internet-homeless for a time the following year due to anti-Semitic posts attributed to the man accused of killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue. Microsoft also terminated a web-hosting contract.

Online speech experts expect social media companies led by Facebook, Twitter and Google's YouTube to more vigorously police hate speech and incitement in the wake of the Capitol rebellion, as Western democracies led by Nazism-haunted Germany already do.

David Kaye, a University of California-Irvine law professor and former U.N. special rapporteur on free speech believes the Parlers of the world will also face pressure from the public and law enforcement as will little-known sites where further pre-inauguration disruption is now apparently being organized. They include MeWe, Wimkin, TheDonald.win and Stormfront, according to a report released Saturday by The Alethea Group, which tracks disinformation.

Kaye rejects arguments by U.S. conservatives including the president’s former U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, that the Trump ban savaged the First Amendment, which prohibits the government from restricting free expression. “Silencing people, not to mention the President of the US, is what happens in China not our country,” Haley tweeted.

“It’s not like the platforms’ rules are draconian. People don’t get caught in violations unless they do something clearly against the rules,” said Kaye. And not just individual citizens have free speech rights. “The companies have their freedom of speech, too.”

While initially arguing their need to be neutral on speech, Twitter and Facebook gradually yielded to public pressure drawing the line especially when the so-called Plandemic video emerged early in the COVID-19 pandemic urging people not to wear masks, noted civic media professor Ethan Zuckerman of the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.

Zuckerman expects the Trump de-platforming may spur important online shifts. First, there may be an accelerated splintering of the social media world along ideological lines.

"Trump will pull a lot of audience wherever he goes,” he said. That could mean more platforms with smaller, more ideologically isolated audiences.

A splintering could push people towards extremes — or make extremism less infectious, he said: Maybe people looking for a video about welding on YouTube will no longer find themselves being offered an unrelated QAnon video. Alternative media systems that are less top-down managed and more self-governing could also emerge.

Zuckerman also expects major debate about online speech regulation, including in Congress.

“I suspect you will see efforts from the right arguing that there shouldn’t be regulations on acceptable speech,” he said. “I think you will see arguments from the democratic side that speech is a public health issue.”

___

This story has been updated to correct the spelling of Alethea.

___

Associated Press writers Barbara Ortutay in Oakland, California, and Amanda Seitz in Chicago contributed to this report.

01-09-21  06:28am - 1350 days #9
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West Virginia Lawmaker Who Filmed Self Storming Capitol To Face Charges
HuffPost
Ryan J. Reilly
January 8, 2021, 11:22 AM

WASHINGTON ― A right-wing West Virginia lawmaker who stormed the U.S. Capitol during an insurrectionist attack in support of President Donald Trump’s losing reelection campaign will face charges, a federal official said Friday.

Derrick Evans, a member of the West Virginia House of Delegates who livestreamed himself invading the U.S. Capitol but claims he “committed no criminal act,” will face charges, an official with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said. The case was expected to appear on a court docket on Friday.
West Virginia House of Delegates member Derrick Evans, left, will face charges for storming the U.S. Capitol.  (Photo: Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislature/AP)
West Virginia House of Delegates member Derrick Evans, left, will face charges for storming the U.S. Capitol. (Photo: Perry Bennett/West Virginia Legislature/AP)

The charge was an indication that federal officials would use social media posts and other evidence to go after the insurrectionists even though they were allowed to leave the Capitol Building without being arrested and processed.

Also charged was Richard Barnett, who posed for photos inside House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and gave an interview identifying himself.

Nick Ochs, the leader of the Hawaii chapter of the far-right group Proud Boys, and Kristina Malimon, the vice chair for the Young Republicans of Oregon, were also reportedly arrested for their involvement in the riot.

Malimon gained infamy earlier this year when a Trump boat parade she helped organize led to the sinking of a family’s boat. Malimon’s 54-year-old mother was also arrested.


Another defendant who had 11 Molotov cocktails in a truck with Alabama license plates will also face charges, officials said.

Ken Kohl, the No. 2 official in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, said the investigation was the highest priority for the Justice Department. “We literally have hundreds of prosecutors and agents working from three command centers on what is really a 24-7 operation,” he said. “It is active, it is fluid, it is evolving.”

Steven D’Antuono, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Washington field office, said the bureau was “far from done” and that the rioting and destruction “would not be tolerated” by the FBI.

“I want to stress this: Just because you’ve left the D.C. region, you can still expect a knock on the door if we find out that you were part of the criminal activity at the Capitol,” D’Antuono said.


Federal officials said they appreciated the tips they’d received from the public, and that hundreds of federal law enforcement officials were working around the clock to identify and charge as many of the insurrectionists as possible.

Dominique Mosbergen contributed reporting.

01-08-21  09:29am - 1350 days #8
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Trump has discussed pardoning himself, source says
Reuters
January 8, 2021, 1:24 AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Trump has discussed the possibility of pardoning himself in recent weeks, a source familiar with the situation said on Thursday.

Such a pardon would be an extraordinary use of presidential power by Trump, a Republican who lost the Nov. 3 election to Democrat Joe Biden and will leave office on Jan. 20.

The White House declined comment.

The New York Times earlier reported that Trump had said he was considering pardoning himself in discussions with aides since the November election, citing two unidentified people with knowledge of the conversations.

"In several conversations since Election Day, Mr. Trump has told advisers that he is considering giving himself a pardon and, in other instances, asked whether he should and what the effect would be on him legally and politically, according to the two people," the Times reported.

The newspaper said it was not clear whether Trump had discussed the matter since the storming of the U.S. Capitol by his supporters on Wednesday, which prompted calls for his removal from office by the top two Democrats in Congress.

House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer both said that Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet should invoke the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to remove Trump from power.

A Pence adviser said the vice president opposes use of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office.

Trump, who has issued a series of pardons to political allies and friends, said in a 2018 Twitter post: "I have the absolute right to PARDON myself."

Trump faces state legal actions that would not be covered by a federal pardon. They include a criminal probe by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance and a civil probe by New York state Attorney General Letitia James into whether he inflated asset values to obtain loans and tax benefits in his business dealings.

Constitutional lawyers say there is not a definitive answer on whether a president can lawfully issue a self-pardon. No president has tried it before, so the courts have not weighed in.

"When people ask me if a president can pardon himself, my answer is always, 'Well, he can try,'" Brian Kalt, a constitutional law professor at Michigan State University, earlier told Reuters. "The Constitution does not provide a clear answer on this."

Some legal experts have said a self-pardon would be unconstitutional because it violates the principle that nobody should be the judge in his or her own case.

01-08-21  09:21am - 1350 days #7
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It's official: Trump will not attend the inauguration of Joe Biden, the man who stole the presidency from our beloved President Donald Trump, the bestest, most honest, bravest President we've ever had.
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Donald Trump Will Not Attend Joe Biden's Inauguration
HuffPost
Paige Lavender
January 8, 2021, 7:54 AM

President Donald Trump officially announced he will not be attending President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20.

Trump tweeted the announcement Friday.

To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20th.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 8, 2021

The announcement was no surprise; Trump has railed against the results of the election for the last two months, pushing conspiracy theories and misinformation about voter fraud while insisting he’d defeated Biden.
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Biden won both the popular vote, with more than 81 million votes cast in his favor, and the Electoral College vote. Congress certified the Electoral College votes early Thursday morning, after the process was initially disrupted by a mob of Trump supporters who breached Capitol security.

In a video shared on social media Thursday evening, more than 24 hours after the riot at the Capitol occurred, Trump finally acknowledged that Biden would be taking over the presidency on Jan. 20.

Presidents typically attend the inauguration ceremonies of their successors in order to help facilitate a peaceful transition of power. Three former presidents are expected to attend Biden’s inauguration: Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Former President Jimmy Carter, who has attended every inauguration since his own in 1977, has said he will not attend.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

01-07-21  08:39pm - 1351 days #6
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First Congressional Republican Openly Calls For Removing Trump With 25th Amendment
HuffPost
Sara Boboltz
January 7, 2021, 8:10 AM

Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois became the first Republican member of Congress to openly call for President Donald Trump’s removal using the 25th Amendment, saying it was necessary to “end this nightmare” following Wednesday’s deadly insurrection on Capitol Hill.

Vice President Mike Pence should begin initiating the removal process, Kinzinger said in a video statement Thursday, “to ensure the next few weeks are safe for the American people, and that we have a sane captain on the ship.”

“Sadly, yesterday it became evident that not only did the president abdicate his duty to protect the American people and the People’s House, he invoked and inflamed passions that only gave fuel to the insurrection that we saw,” Kinzinger said. “When pressed to move and denounce the violence he barely did so, while of course victimizing himself and seeming to give a wink and a nod to those doing it. All are indications are that the president has become unmoored, not just from his duty, but from reality itself.”

“Here’s the truth: The president caused this. The president is unfit, and the president is unwell,” Kinzinger said, addressing conspiracy theorists who joined in the mob breaching the Capitol.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on Pence to begin 25th Amendment proceedings minutes later, saying in a statement that Trump “should not hold office one day longer.”

“If the Vice President and Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress should reconvene to impeach the president,” he said.

A number of White House officials have been privately discussing invoking the 25th Amendment, The Washington Post and other outlets reported Thursday morning. Doing so would be an extraordinary step, allowing Pence to perform the president’s duties until he is deemed fit, or until President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office in just under two weeks.

Some congressional Democrats and elected Republicans have already called for Trump’s removal from office following the riot, which left four people dead. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) announced Wednesday that she would be drawing up articles of impeachment. Schumer’s statement was echoed by Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) shortly afterward.

It’s with a heavy heart I am calling for the sake of our Democracy that the 25th Amendment be invoked. My statement: pic.twitter.com/yVyQrYcjuD

— Adam Kinzinger (@RepKinzinger) January 7, 2021

Trump “has a bunker mentality now,” one unnamed White House official told The Washington Post.

The president spent Wednesday evening holed up in the White House while Congress reconvened the joint session to certify Biden’s election win, which had been abruptly halted earlier in the day so lawmakers and staffers could be rushed to safety.

Trump was behaving like “a total monster,” an official told the Post. The outlet noted that the president had to be persuaded to issue a statement to calm his supporters.

Yet instead of telling them to immediately leave the Capitol, Trump posted a video to Twitter in which he merely told the rioters to act peacefully, telling them, “We love you.” The social media platform has now banned the president from posting out of fear that he will incite more violence.

Several White House officials have resigned due to the incident. Among them are Stephanie Grisham, the first lady’s press secretary, and Mick Mulvaney, the former White House chief of staff who still had an administration post as special envoy to Northern Ireland.

Others are reportedly considering making an exit with just 13 days left in Trump’s term.

“Those who choose to stay, and I have talked with some of them, are choosing to stay because they’re worried the president might put someone worse in,” Mulvaney told CNBC.

01-07-21  08:36pm - 1351 days #5
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Rats deserting a sinking ship.
The number of people resigning from Trump's last days as president is going up.
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Barr says Trump's conduct is a 'betrayal' of the presidency
NBC Universal
The Associated Press
January 7, 2021, 8:00 AM

Former Attorney General William Barr says President Donald Trump’s conduct as a violent mob of his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol was a “betrayal of his office and supporters.”

Barr said Thursday that “orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable” in a statement obtained by NBC News. The Associated Press was the first to report Barr's remarks.

Barr was one of Trump’s most loyal and ardent defenders in the Cabinet.

His comments come a day after angry and armed protesters broke into the U.S. Capitol, forcing Congress members to halt the ongoing vote to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s election and then flee from the House and Senate chambers.

Barr resigned last month amid lingering tension over the president’s baseless claims of election fraud and the investigation into Biden’s son.

Barr said there was no widespread fraud in the election, defying Trump, who has made baseless claims the basis of a failed legal bid to overturn the results and stay in power.

His resignation was "on his own accord" and "wasn't pushed out or forced to resign," a White House official said at the time. Trump tweeted of his departure, "Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family."

01-07-21  08:31pm - 1351 days #4
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Burger King revamps brand for the first time in 20 years.
Now President Trump can try to taste the difference.
And maybe switch from McDonald's to Burger King for his brand of preference.
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Burger King revamps brand for first time in over 20 years

Thomson Reuters
Sheila Dang
Jan 7th 2021 10:33AM

(Reuters) - Burger King has redesigned its brand including its logo, food packaging and restaurants in order to reflect improvements such as eliminating preservatives, the fast food chain announced on Thursday.

"We've been doing a lot in terms of food quality and experience," said Fernando Machado, global chief marketing officer of Restaurant Brands International, which owns Burger King. "We felt that putting a wrap around all that with an upgrade of our visual identity would help signal to our consumers that this is a brand that's evolving."

The rebranding, Burger King's first in over 20 years, includes a new logo with a rounded font that mirrors the shape of its burgers and other menu items.

Bold colors in shades of brown, red and green are a nod to Burger King's flame grilling process and its use of fresh ingredients, the company said.
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Burger King earlier this year announced it would remove all artificial colors and preservatives from its signature Whopper burgers as fast food chains are increasingly introducing healthier options to follow consumer tastes.

The company's famously quirky plastic-faced mascot - The King - won't be going anywhere despite the rebranding.

"We love him the way he is, and he will continue to be weird," Machado said.

(Reporting by Sheila Dang, Editing by Nick Zieminski)

01-07-21  08:22pm - 1351 days #3
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Iraq issues arrest warrant for Trump over Soleimani killing

Finally, there is justice.
Iraq has issued an arrest warrant for President Donald Trump.
Two important Iraquis, Gen. Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were killed in a drone strike in Iraq.

The arrest warrant was for a charge of premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty on conviction. It is unlikely to be carried out but symbolic in the waning days of Trump's presidency.

This means that Trump should not put Iraq on his vacation dream list any time soon.
Unless he wants to be a martyr to his theory that Biden truly stole the presidency away from Trump.
Trump can die with the famous words: "Give me liberty or give me death."

What a way to go.
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Iraq issues arrest warrant for Trump over Soleimani killing
AOL Associated Press
January 7, 2021, 10:51 AM

BAGHDAD (AP) — An arrest warrant was issued Thursday for outgoing President Donald Trump in connection with the killing of an Iranian general and a powerful Iraqi militia leader last year, Iraq's judiciary said.

The warrant was issued by a judge in Baghdad's investigative court tasked with probing the Washington-directed drone strike that killed Gen. Qassim Soleimani and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the court's media office said. They were killed outside the capital’s airport last January.

Al-Muhandis was the deputy leader of the state-sanctioned Popular Mobilization Forces, an umbrella group composed of an array of militias, including Iran-backed groups, formed to fight the Islamic State group.

Soleimani headed the expeditionary Quds force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The arrest warrant was for a charge of premeditated murder, which carries the death penalty on conviction. It is unlikely to be carried out but symbolic in the waning days of Trump's presidency.

The decision to issue the warrant "was made after the judge recorded the statements of the claimants from the family of Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis,” according to a statement from the Supreme Judicial Council. The investigation into the killings is ongoing, the court said.

The killings sparked a diplomatic crisis and strained U.S.-Iraq ties, drawing the ire of Shiite political lawmakers who passed a non-binding resolution to pressure the government to oust foreign troops from the country.

Iran-backed groups have since stepped up attacks against the American presence in Iraq, leading to threats by Washington to shutter its Baghdad diplomatic mission.

01-05-21  05:58am - 1354 days #2
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In honor of our dearly departing President Donald Trump, McDonald's will launch 3 new chicken sandwiches in 2021. The classic, deluxe and spicy versions will launch Feb. 24, 2021.
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McDonald's wants a bite of crispy chicken market with new sandwiches
Reuters
Hilary Russ
January 4, 2021, 8:39 AM

* McDonald's to launch three crispy chicken sandwiches

* Classic, deluxe and spicy versions to launch Feb. 24

* Biggest burger chain taking on growing chicken chains (Adds background, details, analyst comments)

By Hilary Russ

NEW YORK, Jan 4 (Reuters) - McDonald's Corp is hoping 2021 is the year it cracks the crispy chicken sandwich by rolling out three different versions in the United States, as it takes on chains such as Restaurant Brands International's Popeyes for a share of the growing market.

The world's biggest burger chain confirmed to Reuters it plans to launch its crispy chicken sandwich in "classic", "deluxe" and "spicy" versions on Feb. 24. All will contain a new crispy white meat chicken fillet served with crinkle-cut pickles on a toasted, buttered potato roll.

The new McDonald's strategy is founded in part on the long-term popularity of Chicken McNuggets, which it has sold since the 1980s, and 2020's limited time Spicy Chicken McNuggets, which contributed to September U.S. comparative sales that were the highest in nearly a decade.

"As commonplace as chicken is, it's a growth area. You want to participate in that growth," said Mark Kalinowski, an independent restaurant equities analyst.

But to really ruffle feathers in the market, McDonald's needs to overcome operational and structural hurdles, including a lack of pressure fryers, and prove wrong skeptics who doubt it can match sandwiches offered by pure poultry purveyors.

"I would bet big time that McDonald's never competes in the chicken business," restaurant marketing consultant Chas Hermann said of the menu additions.

A social-media-fueled war between privately-owned Chick-fil-A and Popeyes raised the game for the fast-food industry after Popeyes launched its first-ever chicken sandwich in August 2019.

The Popeyes sandwich quickly sold out and drove sustained spikes in its comparable sales growth beginning that quarter, prompting other companies to try to follow its lead.

Chick-fil-A's growth in the South also pressured McDonald's franchisees there, who pushed for the new sandwiches.

"They'll definitely improve their chicken sandwich. It won't win awards. They will have some of the very best marketing around it," Hermann added of the McDonald's move.

At least two dozen restaurant chains launched new or improved chicken sandwiches in 2020 even as the coronavirus pandemic disrupted supplies, workers and operations, trade publication Nation's Restaurant News said.

If McDonald's crispy chicken is successful, an average location could sell as many as 150 sandwiches per day, said Credit Suisse analyst Lauren Silberman.

By comparison, for a typical Burger King restaurant that 40 units of a new sandwich per day would be considered very successful, she said.

McDonald's also needs to keep costs low to appeal to existing customers and compete with $4 sandwiches from rivals.

CHICKEN PLATFORM

At its Investor Day on Nov. 9, McDonald's USA President Joe Erlinger said the sandwich was a "jumping off point" for an even broader "chicken platform".

"Our chicken-only competitors here and abroad have strong brand equity and credibility. Developing a reputation for great chicken represents one of our highest aspirations," he said.

The existing McChicken sandwich could also see new flavors, marketing and promotions, Erlinger said.

McDonald's McNuggets, which are processed, battered, partly pre-cooked and frozen before shipping, are one thing. A fresh-tasting fillet to beat chains at their own game is another.

"Trying to ensure large, thick pre-breaded chicken to 14,000 stores can be difficult," said former franchisee Jim Lewis.

McDonald's also lacks equipment used by poultry specialists - pressure cookers and hand-breading stations inside stores.

It is "very hard to do something with the equipment that they have and the complexity you have in the kitchen, it's very hard to manage that," Restaurant Brands' Chief Marketing Officer Fernando Machado said of McDonald's.

Popeyes' chicken is also marinated for 24 hours in the restaurant, he added.

"If it were easy to do, we could do it at Burger King," he said of Restaurant Brands' burger chain.

But McDonald's huge scale could help it.

There about 13,846 McDonald's restaurants in the United States – about as many as all the Chick-fil-A, Popeyes, Yum-owned KFC, Church's, Wingstop, Zaxby's, Bojangles and El Pollo Loco locations combined.

"Customers have to drive past two or three McDonald's to get to a (Chick-fil-A) or a Popeyes," said Richard Adams, a consultant to franchisees. "That's an opportunity to pull in those customers with a comparable product." (Reporting by Hilary Russ; Editing by Alexander Smith)

01-05-21  05:18am - 1354 days Original Post - #1
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Glen Campbell died in 2018.
Shortly after his death, his estate, which previously was valued at over $50 million, is now valued at $410,000.

What happened, to the money that disappeared?
Or is this a trick to reduce taxes on the estate?
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Glen Campbell estate previously valued at $50 million. Latest estimate: $410,000
Walter F. Roche Jr.
For USA TODAY NETWORK - Tennessee
Glen Campbell died Aug. 8.

April 24, 2018

A court-appointed administrator for the estate of Glen Campbell has come up with a partial preliminary estimate that is but a small fraction of the previous estimates of its value.

In a four-page filing in Davidson Probate Court in Nashville, Stanley B. Schneider set the estimated estate assets at $410,221. Prior estimates of Campbell's total estate value totaled some $50 million.

The estimate excludes future income rights from royalties. "Appraisal needed," the report states.

Schneider served as the legendary singer's accountant and later as his manager. He was appointed "administrator ad litem" in February by Probate Judge David "Randy" Kennedy.

More:Court record: Glen Campbell specifically excludes 3 of 8 children from will

More:Glen Campbell's wife seeks $506,000 reimbursement for his Alzheimer's care

Three of Campbell's children already have served notice that they are contesting Campbell's will, which specifically excludes them from any share of his estate.

Campbell died Aug. 8 after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease. His will names his wife, Kimberly, as executor. She and his five other children are listed as beneficiaries.

The Schneider inventory lists two bank accounts with a combined total of $959. The largest single item is a 50 percent stake in the AZPB Limited Partnership. Its value is set at $296,164. A 50 percent interest in the AZ Baseball Broadcast Holdings is valued at $3,464.

More:Glen Campbell estate includes stake in Arizona Diamondbacks

Prior court filings show Campbell held an ownership interest in the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The filing also lists Glen Campbell Music Inc. valued at $25,110, while Glen Campbell Enterprises is listed with a $84,524 value. Campbell was the 100 percent owner of both of those entities.

Schneider, who also was charged with keeping track of royalties paid to the estate, listed $42,448 in payments between Aug. 8 and April 20.

He said an additional $76,000 in royalties was owed to the estate, while checks totaling $1,776 were awaiting deposit.

A payment of $14,246 is expected as a settlement on an insurance claim for water damage on a California property.

Schneider listed debts of $118,200, including an estimated $107,000 in state and federal income taxes and $71,000 in legal fees.

Reach Walter F. Roche Jr. at wfrochejr999@gmail.com.

01-03-21  05:24pm - 1355 days #2
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Trump's 'less-than-perfect' call to Georgia officials could also be a crime
Yahoo News
David Knowles
January 3, 2021, 2:14 PM

As word spread Sunday of President Trump’s astonishing phone conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger the day before, there was widespread speculation that the president had committed one or more crimes in his effort to overturn the results of the election in Georgia, including extortion and, ironically, election fraud.

A recording of the one-hour call was released Sunday by the Washington Post. The president is heard pressuring Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” that would put him in the lead over President-elect Joe Biden in Georgia, which has already certified its results.

Trump also threatens Raffensperger with the possibility of criminal charges unless he comes up with the votes to overturn the election results.

“You know, that’s a criminal — that’s a criminal offense. And you know, you can’t let that happen,” Trump says on the call. “That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. That’s a big risk.”

The Post did not say who recorded the call or how it obtained the tape.

Trump offered no direct evidence of voter fraud in Georgia, instead offering second-hand conspiracy theories about manipulated voting machines, ballots being scanned multiple times and votes simply being thrown out — all of which were investigated by Georgia law enforcement and the FBI, and found to be untrue. But Trump went beyond trying to prove that he won the state by “hundreds of thousands of votes,” pressuring Raffensperger to simply announce a new vote total showing him beating Biden.

“There’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you’ve recalculated,” the president said.

Joined on the call by his general counsel, Ryan Germany, Raffensperger calmly and methodically disputes Trump’s election theories.

“Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong,” Raffensperger said.

Trump’s actions could constitute election fraud. Section 52 of the U.S. Code concerns voting and elections, and provides for a sentence of up to five years for:

“A person, including an election official, who in any election for Federal office

(1) knowingly and willfully intimidates, threatens, or coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any person for-

(A) registering to vote, or voting, or attempting to register or vote;

(B) urging or aiding any person to register to vote, to vote, or to attempt to register or vote; or

(C) exercising any right under this chapter; or

(2) knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by

(A) the procurement or submission of voter registration applications that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held; or

(B) the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held.”

Trump’s citing possible criminal charges for Raffensperger unless he produces a different election result in Georgia could be seen as extortion, which section 18, chapter 41 of the U.S. code expressly prohibits.

The former lead counsel in Trump’s impeachment trial — which was predicated on what Trump called his “perfect phone call” to the president of Ukraine — agreed that this was also a less-than-perfect call by the president.

“It’s gonna be costly to you.” I’ve charged extortion in mob cases with similar language. https://t.co/wB0jV9Mkhl

— Daniel Goldman (@danielsgoldman) January 3, 2021

NYU law professor and former DOJ lawyer Andrew Weissmann also noted the similarity with Trump’s attempts to pressure Ukraine’s government to investigate Joe and Hunter Biden.

Trump's threats to Georgia Sec of State; Trump, to Ukraine President; Trump to US Senators who won't violate the Constitution for him - and on and on - are all examples of POTUS criminal extortion and election tampering. And those who knowingly assist him violate 18 USC 2 & 371.

— Andrew Weissmann (@AWeissmann_) January 3, 2021

Trump’s call also raised the question of sedition, which is defined as “conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch.”

In a statement Sunday, Biden senior adviser Bob Bauer made many of those same points.

“We now have irrefutable proof of a president pressuring and threatening an official of his own party to get him to rescind a state’s lawful, certified vote count and fabricate another in its place,” Bauer said in his statement.

While flipping Georgia’s 16 electoral votes would not, by itself, change the outcome of the presidential election, it would be an important symbolic victory for Trump as he fights to overturn the results in several other swing states, including Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Brad Raffensperger
Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger commenting on his state's election results, Dec. 2, 2020. (Elijah Nouvelage/Reuters)

Trump did more than threaten Raffensperger; at several points he was reduced to pleading.

“Fellas, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break,” he says near the end of the call.

Whether Trump’s words result in legal troubles for the 45th president once he leaves office remains to be seen. If it does, though, Michael Bromwich, former Department of Justice inspector general and former assistant U.S. attorney suggested one possible defense.

Unless there are portions of the tape that somehow negate criminal intent, "I just want to find 11,780 votes" and his threats against Raffensperger and his counsel violate 52 U.S. Code § 20511. His best defense would be insanity.https://t.co/ZAtRgiRQmz

— Michael R. Bromwich (@mrbromwich) January 3, 2021

01-02-21  01:57pm - 1356 days Original Post - #1
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11 Republican senators announced Saturday they will challenge the outcome of the presidential election.
That is their right.

The Democrats need to toughen up.
They need to assemble a firing squad and execute the 11 Republican senators for treason.
The Republican senators are trying to overthrow the US government.
The Republicans need to pay for their treason.

End of story.
------
------
Cruz leads 11 GOP senators challenging Biden win over Trump
Associated Press
LISA MASCARO and MARY CLARE JALONICK
January 1, 2021, 10:10 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) — A coalition of 11 Republican senators announced Saturday it will challenge the outcome of the presidential election by voting to reject electors from some states when Congress meets next week to certify the Electoral College results that confirmed President-elect Joe Biden won.

President Donald Trump’s extraordinary refusal to accept his election defeat and the effort to subvert the will of the voters has become a defining moment for Republicans and is tearing the party apart. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has urged Republican not to try to overturn the election.

The 11 senators, led by Ted Cruz of Texas, said they will vote against certain state electors unless Congress appoints an electoral commission to immediately conduct an audit of the election results. They acknowledged they are unlikely to change the results of the election.

“We intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ (the statutory requisite), unless and until that emergency 10-day audit is completed,” they wrote in the statement.

“We do not take this action lightly,” they said.

In response to Trump’s unfounded claims of voter fraud, bipartisan election officials and Trump’s then-Attorney General William Barr have said there was no evidence of widespread fraud and the election ran smoothly.

The days ahead are expected to do little to change the outcome. Biden is set to be inaugurated Jan. 20 after winning the Electoral College vote 306-232.

Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri was the first to defy McConnell by announcing he would join House Republicans in objecting to the state tallies during Wednesday's joint session of Congress.

On the other side of the party’s split, Sen. Ben Sasse of Nebraska warned such challenges are a “dangerous ploy” threatening the nation’s civic norms.

The issue is forcing Republicans to make choices that will set the contours of the post-Trump era and an evolving GOP. Caught in the middle is Vice President Mike Pence, who faces growing pressure and a lawsuit from Trump’s allies over his ceremonial role in presiding over the session Wednesday.

“I will not be participating in a project to overturn the election,” Sasse wrote in a lengthy social media post. Sasse, a potential 2024 presidential contender, said he was “urging my colleagues also to reject this dangerous ploy.”

Trump, the first president to lose a reelection bid in almost 30 years, has attributed his defeat to widespread voter fraud, despite the consensus of nonpartisan election officials that there wasn’t any. Of the roughly 50 lawsuits the president and his allies have filed challenging election results, nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. He’s also lost twice at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Still, the president has pushed Republican senators to pursue his unfounded charges even though the Electoral College has already cemented Biden’s victory and all that’s left is Congress’ formal recognition of the count before the new president is sworn in.

“We are letting people vote their conscience,” Sen. John Thune, the second-ranking Republican, told reporters at the Capitol.

Thune’s remarks as the GOP whip in charge of rounding up votes show that Republican leadership is not putting its muscle behind Trump’s demands, but allowing senators to choose their course. He noted the gravity of questioning the election outcome.

“This is an issue that’s incredibly consequential, incredibly rare historically and very precedent-setting,” he said. “This is a big vote. They are thinking about it.”

Pence will be carefully watched as he presides over what is typically a routine vote count in Congress but is now heading toward a prolonged showdown that could extend into Wednesday night, depending on how many challenges are mounted.

The vice president is being sued by a group of Republicans who want Pence to have the power to overturn the election results by doing away with an 1887 law that spells out how Congress handles the vote count.

Trump’s own Justice Department may have complicated what is already a highly improbable effort to upend the ritualistic count. It asked a federal judge to dismiss the last-gasp lawsuit from Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, and a group of Republican electors from Arizona who are seeking to force Pence to step outside mere ceremony and shape the outcome of the vote.

In a court filing in Texas, the department said they have “have sued the wrong defendant” and Pence should not be the target of the legal action.

“A suit to establish that the Vice President has discretion over the count, filed against the Vice President, is a walking legal contradiction,” the department argues.

A judge in Texas dismissed the Gohmert lawsuit Friday night. U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle, a Trump appointee, wrote that the plaintiffs “allege an injury that is not fairly traceable” to Pence, “and is unlikely to be redressed by the requested relief.”

To ward off a dramatic unraveling, McConnell convened a conference call with Republican senators Thursday specifically to address the coming joint session and logistics of tallying the vote, according to several Republicans granted anonymity to discuss the private call.

The Republican leader pointedly called on Hawley to answer questions about his challenge to Biden’s victory, according to two of the Republicans.

But there was no response because Hawley was a no-show, the Republicans said.

His office did not respond to a request for comment.

Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who has acknowledged Biden’s victory and defended his state’s elections systems as valid and accurate, spoke up on the call, objecting to those challenging Pennsylvania’s results and making clear he disagrees with Hawley’s plan to contest the result, his office said in a statement.

McConnell had previously warned GOP senators not to participate in raising objections, saying it would be a terrible vote for colleagues. In essence, lawmakers would be forced to choose between the will of the outgoing president and that of the voters.

Several Republicans have indicated they are under pressure from constituents back home to show they are fighting for Trump in his baseless campaign to stay in office.

___

Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani in Chicago contributed to this report.

01-02-21  10:28am - 1356 days #2
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RabbitsReviews sent out a newletter this Saturday, featuring some porn site discounts.
But there are even better discounts available, if you look around.
Just saying.

I want to support the PU site, but I also want to save money, too.

01-01-21  08:55am - 1357 days Original Post - #1
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I just saw a discounted offer of $5/month for MetArt.
That's the lowest price I've ever seen for one of the finest softcore glamour sites on the internet.

Look around, you might see other great offers.

But $5/month for MetArt seems like a fantastic deal.
That's for a year-long membership, so $60/year (recurring).
But for a softcore megasite with a ton of photosets, it's still a great deal.

12-30-20  08:03am - 1359 days Original Post - #1
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Lin Qi, the chairman and CEO of Yoozoo Games, died on Christmas Day following a week-long illness that may have stemmed from a poisoned cup of tea.

Jaclyn Diaz

Dec 28, 2020 at 12:58 am NPR

The Chinese billionaire CEO of video game developer Yoozoo Group died on Christmas Day following a suspected colleague's alleged poisoning plot.

Lin Qi died at the age of 39, according to Shanghai police. Lin's company, Yoozoo, is best known for its Game of Thrones: Winter Is Coming game.

Before his death, Lin was attached to an upcoming, high-profile Netflix project. Lin'z Yoozoo Group had purchased the rights to the Chinese sci-fi trilogy The Three Body Problem in 2015. Netflix announced in September it would adapt the internationally bestselling books into an English series with Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. Television writer Alexander Woo was also set to write and produce the series, according to Variety. Lin was also involved as executive producer on the project.

Lin became sick last week and was hospitalized on Dec. 16, reportedly barely able to walk and with symptoms of "acute illness." He was immediately brought to the ICU for treatment, where he had to be resuscitated after his heart stopped, according to local reports.

By Thursday, Dec. 24, Shanghai police said a man was detained for the alleged poisoning of Lin. Police referred to both men by their surnames, but media reports said the detained suspect was Lin's colleague, Xu Yao.

The next day, Lin was dead.

Xu was a senior executive for Yoozoo's film and television division. Alleged infighting at the company may be the motive behind the attack on Lin, according to reports. Those reports suggested that Lin may have been poisoned by a tainted cup of pu'er, a fermented tea.

When Yoozoo purchased the film rights to develop The Three Body Problem series in 2015, plans to develop the movie under its own production team were fraught with problems. That included senior personnel changes throughout the production and difficulties on set, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Eventually, the company gave up on the endeavor and sold the rights for the film to Netflix as well as the video game production for the trilogy to a Chinese company. [Copyright 2020 NPR]

12-30-20  05:20am - 1360 days #2
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It's not just forgotten porn films that have poor reproductions.

I bought The Story of O (1975) and the first Emmanuelle (1974) film as DVDs from Amazon.
I saw both of these films in a regular movie theater (not a porn theater) back in the 1970s, when they were first released.

Both of these films make millions, one of the first porn films to be released wide in regular movie theaters.

I was very disappointed in the quality of the DVDs I bought from Amazon.

Paid full price, expecting a good quality copy.
Was disappointed in the colors and clarity of the DVD copies I got.

Considering that both films were considered classics, and made tons of money, I thought the DVDs would be excellent reminders of what I saw in the original theaters.

But the DVDs were a real disappointment.

On a commercial basis, it makes sense: why spend money restoring a film to its original condition, if you can make money selling a degraded copy?

But the crispness and outstanding colors of the original films were a large part of the experience of watching the movies in the theaters.

12-27-20  06:07pm - 1362 days Original Post - #1
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Daily Cover|Aug 25, 2020,06:30am EDT

Trump Has Now Moved $2.3 Million Of Campaign-Donor Money Into His Private Business
Dan Alexander

Donald Trump continued to shift money from his donors to his business last month, as his reelection campaign paid his private companies for rent, food, lodging and other expenses, according to a review of the latest Federal Election Commission filings. The richest president in American history, who has yet to donate to his 2020 campaign, has now moved $2.3 million of contributions from other people into his private companies.

The most recent expenses look familiar. The president accepted $38,000 in rent last month through Trump Tower Commercial LLC, the entity that owns his Fifth Avenue skyscraper. Since Trump took office, his campaign has paid that company $1.5 million, more than any other property in the Trump empire, according to an analysis of federal filings. The Republican National Committee also coordinated with the campaign to pay Trump Tower Commercial LLC an additional $225,000.

Trump got another $8,000 in July via the Trump Corporation, a management company that he owns. The precise reason for those payments is unclear. Campaign filings describe the rationale as “legal & IT consulting” but it’s still a mystery why Trump’s management company is providing such services. The Trump Corporation has now taken in $281,000 from the campaign since the president entered the Oval Office.

More money went to Trump Restaurants LLC, another company the president owns outright. Those payments may be connected to a kiosk in the basement of Trump Tower that sells campaign memorabilia. It’s hard to imagine that the kiosk has been doing much business amid the coronavirus crisis, but the campaign has continued to pay its rent, $3,000 per month. Trump Restaurants LLC has gotten $117,000 since its owner became president.

Trump Hotel Collection, in which Trump also owns a 100% interest, received another $1,000 in July. The campaign has paid Trump’s hotel properties $226,000 since Inauguration Day, according to the analysis of federal filings.

Not every company cashed in last month. Forbes found no payments to Mar-a-Lago, the president’s golf clubs, or Trump Plaza LLC—an entity that controls property on Third Avenue in Manhattan and previously collected regular rent from the reelection effort.

Trump’s machinations have been going on for years now. Forbes first reported on money moving from his reelection campaign to his business in 2018. The amount has more than doubled since then.

The Trump Organization did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for the Trump campaign ignored a series of questions about the payments and instead issued a broad statement. “The campaign complies with all campaign finance laws and FEC regulations,” the statement said. “The campaign pays fair market value under negotiated rental agreements and other service agreements in compliance with the law. The campaign works closely with campaign counsel to ensure strict compliance in this regard.”

In addition to the campaign, the Republican National Committee and the president’s joint-fundraising committees have also paid millions of dollars to Trump’s businesses. Last month, Forbes reported on $4.7 million of payments from those entities since Trump took office. The president’s total haul—from his campaign, party and joint fundraising committees—now stands at more than $6.9 million.

Not a meaningless sum, even for a billionaire.

With additional reporting by Michela Tindera.

12-19-20  09:54pm - 1370 days #2
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Most PU members seem to want downloads included with their memberships.

So I would think they'd agree with you that a site should state clearly if a subscription includes downloads, or if you have to pay extra for it.

For that reason, any site that charges extra for downloads without clearly stating that fact should, when a review is posted at PU, state that downloads are not included in a basic membership.

But my feeling is that most PU members agree with the ideas you've expressed in your comment.

12-19-20  10:42am - 1370 days Original Post - #1
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Donald Trump threatened to fire Dr. Fauci.
Maybe Trump had good reasons.
Can we trust Fauci?
Fauci first said that Santa was safe from the virus, and would not spread the disease if he came down the chimney into our homes.
But now Fauci says he himself went to the North Pole to vaccinate Santa himself.
Which is it?
Was Santa naturally immune, and did not require a vaccination?
Or did Santa require a vaccination?

Also, the two vaccines the US has developed, both require two injections of the vaccine.
So, did Fauci give both of the injections?
Or did he only give Santa one injection, and Santa needs a second injection before Santa can be considered safe?

Enquiring minds want to know:
Is Santa safe, or should he be barred from our houses, until the virus has blown away?
-------
-------
Fauci says he personally vaccinated Santa Claus against COVID-19
HuffPost
Hilary Hanson
December 19, 2020, 9:13 AM

Dr. Anthony Fauci laid to rest any concerns that kids might have about Santa and COVID-19, announcing that he personally vaccinated the jolly old guy.

“I took a trip up there to the North Pole, I went there and I vaccinated Santa Claus myself,” Fauci said Saturday on CNN, responding to multiple queries from worried children. “I measured his level of immunity, and he is good to go. He can come down the chimney. He can leave the presents, he can leave and you have nothing to worry about.”

But wait a minute. Didn’t Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, say only last month that Santa was immune to the novel coronavirus?

It’s true that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that even people who have had the virus, and thus may have natural immunity, get the vaccine. That’s because scientists don’t know how long immunity may last after someone has had COVID-19.

Even so, when Fauci discussed Santa’s immunity before, he made it sound like Kris Kringle’s “good innate immunity” was sufficient protection for a safe Christmas night. In that case, why give one of the first available vaccines to him, rather than someone more immediately vulnerable?

Here are some more questions raised by Santa’s preferential treatment:

Did Santa alone get vaccinated? Did his elves — who presumably work close together in their toy factory and whose immunity Fauci has not discussed — also receive doses?

Fauci, who had not yet received the vaccine as of this week, does not take public transportation in his home city of Washington, D.C. or socialize outside of his household. Why did he decide a trip to the North Pole was worth the risk, when surely other people qualified to administer a vaccine lived closer?

Reindeer are among the kinds of animals that could be susceptible to infection. Is there a safety plan for Dasher, Dancer and the rest?

Finally, it’s unclear whether a person vaccinated for the virus can still carry it and infect others. Do families really want to let this potential superspreader down their chimneys?

12-18-20  03:33pm - 1371 days Original Post - #1
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Inebriated Press

January 24, 2008 · 7:00 am
Pam Anderson Sells Spare Breasts on eBay

Actress and model Pamela Anderson has listed her spare breasts on the auction website eBay. Reportedly Anderson has put them up with “no reserve” and is willing to get whatever she can for them. The actress has changed breast sizes several times in recent years, usually making them bigger, but did downsize them once before making them bigger again. Reportedly she became tired of having the extra ones lying around the house and decided to sell them off.

“I’ve gradually increased the size of my breasts and with it my popularity,” said Anderson, juggling three of her breasts with her hands and jiggling two others currently mounted on her chest. “My back ached from all the weight so I downsized one year, but my popularity went down with it. So I popped the size back up and my popularity popped up too. I just exercise and see a chiropractor for my back now. What can I say; a gal’s got to do what a gal’s got to do.”

Not everyone favors the routine modification of ones body or breast size. “Be who you are and be genuine about that, and you’ll be happier,” said Betty Boop, a precocious cartoon character whose modest cup size never slowed her popularity or stopped her from strutting her stuff. “Some guys are all about big jugs but that’s superficial, just like those kinds of guys. I’ve gotten along just fine with my perky little tits and don’t want anybody with a knife slicing away on me.”

eBay.com is an online auction and shopping website in which people and businesses buy and sell goods and services worldwide. In its early days it traded almost anything, but eventually began to prohibit the sale of items like firearms, dirty underwear and body parts. Pamela Anderson has been selling her used clothes and other items on eBay since 2004 but this is the first time she’s offered her breasts for sale.

“They’re like anything else you’ve got laying around the house,” said Pam, drinking a glass of fresh milk and pondering mammary health. “If you don’t get rid of some stuff pretty soon your place is full of junk you don’t use. I’ve got no more use for those old silicone boobs, so I may as well put them on the world’s biggest garage sale. Maybe I’ll get a couple bucks for them.”

In related news, breast milk continues to be popular among babies and used to be traded on eBay but is no longer allowed since it’s not inspected by the United States Department of Agriculture.

(C) 2008 InebriatedPress.com

12-17-20  10:00pm - 1372 days Original Post - #1
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I've been seeing some holiday discounts to major porn sites for $10 or less.
Some sites offering $7 for the first month.
And some sites offering a yearly price of maybe $60.

These are major sites, not low-rated junk.

The PU and RabbitsReviews should list some of these discounts, but the staff at these sites might be on holiday themselves.
So if you're in the market for a new sub, look around.

12-16-20  08:31am - 1373 days Original Post - #1
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Salacious woman tries to entice lawful police officers from their duties.

Woman also wanted her video shown on TV news channel, in spite of objections from the mayor of Chicago, a city noted for strong ethics and moral discipline.

=======================
Lori Lightfoot Tried To Block Video Of Cops Raiding Wrong Home, Cuffing Naked Woman
HuffPost
Sanjana Karanth
December 15, 2020, 6:34 PM

The city of Chicago attempted to block a local news station from airing recently obtained body camera footage of police mistakenly raiding the wrong home with guns drawn and handcuffing a distressed, naked woman.

CBS2-TV released body camera footage on Monday night of officers forcing their way into the home of Anjanette Young nearly two years ago. The 50-year-old clinical social worker, who helps victims of violence and mentors people of color going into her profession, had just finished her work shift at a hospital and was undressing in her bedroom when a group of male officers broke down her door with a battering ram.

“It was so traumatic to hear the thing that was hitting the door,” she told CBS2 in a televised interview as part of Monday’s report. “And it happened so fast, I didn’t have time to put on clothes.”

In the disturbing Feb. 21, 2019, footage, officers appear to have their guns drawn while they yell for Young to put her hands up. She can then be seen in the video fully naked with her hands raised, looking terrified and confused (CBS2 blurred parts of the video in which Young was shown naked). One officer puts Young’s hands behind her back and handcuffs her, leaving her with no way to cover herself as police search her home.

An officer can be seen attempting to drape a short coat around Young’s shoulders, which still leaves her front fully exposed while police surround her. Someone puts a blanket on her that keeps sliding open because she can’t hold it closed. Eventually, an officer holds the blanket closed on her.

Young becomes increasingly and understandably distressed in the footage as officers refuse to tell her why they have raided her home. She asks them repeatedly to let her put clothes on and tells them she believes they have the wrong information.

According to CBS2, Young told police at least 43 times that they were in the wrong home. She said that officers responded to her distress in a way that amplified it, telling her not to shout when she’d ask questions.

“When I asked them to show me, when I asked them to tell me what they are doing in my house, and their response to me was just ‘shut up and calm down,’” Young told the station, “that’s so disrespectful.”

CBS2 found that the officers involved failed to check if they had the correct address before getting their search warrant approved. A confidential informant had told the raid’s lead officer that he’d recently seen a known felon with guns and ammunition at the address, according to the police department’s complaint for a search warrant, which the news station obtained.

The informant reportedly gave police the wrong address, and there’s no evidence that officers independently verified the informant’s claim.

The person that officers were looking for actually lived in the unit next door to Young at the time of the raid and had no connection to her, CBS2 found. The suspect was also reportedly wearing an electronic monitoring device, making it even easier for officers to track his location. Body camera footage showed officers in a squad car looking at notes and saying, “It wasn’t initially approved or some crap.”

“They are adding trauma to people’s lives that will be with them the rest of their lives,” Young told CBS2. “The system is broken.”

Young fought for nearly two years to get the footage of the raid on her home released. The Chicago Police Department initially denied her Freedom of Information Act request but eventually turned over the footage after a judge ordered it as part of Young’s lawsuit.

Hours before CBS2’s report on Monday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s lawyers filed an emergency motion in federal court to try and stop the station from airing bodycam footage of the raid. The lawyers also wanted Young punished, accusing her of sharing the video with a news outlet despite a confidentiality order.

“In open court, Defense Counsel specifically outlined concerns that this video would be shared with the media in a salacious and unfair manner designed to elicit a reactionary response, which carries the risk of poisoning the public’s view of the case,” Lightfoot’s lawyers argued in the filing.

They also said the footage, which shows a naked woman in distress begging officers to leave because they raided the wrong home, paints “an inaccurate picture of what happened during the subject search warrant.”

CBS2 said it filed a response to the city’s motion calling it unconstitutional and an effort to suppress the station’s reporting. While CBS2 was broadcasting the report, a judge denied the motion by Lightfoot’s lawyers.

Chicago police declined to tell HuffPost whether the officers involved in the raid will be penalized, citing an open investigation with the city’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability. COPA didn’t launch its investigation until nine months after the incident, when CBS2 first broke the story of the raid.

“Social workers are trained to have unconditional positive regard for clients,” tweeted Social Service Workers United-Chicago, a group of area social workers who advocate for improved conditions in the field. “CPD’s behavior would not have been justified if they had violently raided the ‘right’ home, because everyone, regardless of what they are accused of, is entitled to constitutional due process.”

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At a press conference for Chicago’s first COVID-19 vaccinations on Tuesday, a reporter asked Lightfoot why her office attempted to block CBS2 from airing the footage and also punish Young for sharing it.

“That was not something that happened on my watch,” the mayor started. “Because of the concern that we saw and was expressed, we changed the protocols for search warrants. It requires now two supervisors, it requires a pre-check of the location. And I’m not gonna sit here and tell you that we’ve solved every problem.”

“I watched that video and I put myself in that poor woman’s place and thinking about somebody breaking into your home … and the trauma that that causes,” Lightfoot continued. “I think we have taken steps to address that issue. This case was litigated in federal court. The federal judge put in place an order. There’s allegations she has violated that. But what I’ve directed my law department to is resolve any pending case with respect to Young’s situation.”

However, Chicago police have continued to ignore even the small search warrant policy changes Lightfoot made in February of this year, nearly two years after CBS2 began exposing botched Chicago police raids.

The mayor also dodged the question on Tuesday of why her law department tried to get a last-minute federal court order to stop CBS2 from airing its story.

It's one of those moments where I felt I could have died that night. ... I truly believe they would have shot me.Anjanette Young

If the story feels familiar, that’s because it is. Chicago’s previous mayor, Rahm Emanuel, left a stained legacy when he blocked bodycam footage of police fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald for nearly a year until a judge ordered the city to release it.

Young’s ordeal also recalls the killing of Breonna Taylor, a young Black woman whom police shot to death earlier this year as part of a botched drug raid meant for someone else. Body camera footage released much later showed officers walking around the apartment as Taylor lay on the floor, bleeding to death.

While Taylor’s family received a settlement for the high-profile crime, none of the officers were charged for killing her. Earlier this year, Lightfoot held a citywide moment of silence for Taylor.

“It’s one of those moments where I felt I could have died that night,” Young told CBS while wearing a T-Shirt with Taylor’s face. “Like if I would have made one wrong move, it felt like they would have shot me. I truly believe they would have shot me.”

12-16-20  07:36am - 1373 days Original Post - #1
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Tom Cruise yells at 'Mission: Impossible 7' crew members for breaking COVID-19 rules: 'If I see you do it again you’re f****** gone'
Yahoo Celebrity
Raechal Shewfelt
December 15, 2020, 6:44 PM

New audio appears to capture Tom Cruise ranting at his co-workers on the British set of Mission: Impossible 7 for breaking COVID-19 protocols.

The star, who’s also a producer of the blockbuster franchise, threatened to fire anyone not following the guidelines, according to the recording published on The Sun. Cruise was reportedly upset to see people standing too close together. Variety confirmed the incident.
Tom Cruise wears a mask while "Mission: Impossible 7" films Nov. 29 in Italy. (Photo: Samantha Zucchi/Insidefoto/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)
Tom Cruise wears a mask while Mission: Impossible 7 films Nov. 29 in Italy. (Photo: Samantha Zucchi/Insidefoto/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images)

“If I see you do it again you’re f****** gone,” Cruise can be heard saying. “We are the gold standard. They’re back there in Hollywood making movies right now because of us. Because they believe in us and what we’re doing. I’m on the phone with every f****** studio at night, insurance companies, producers and they’re looking at us and using us to make their movies. We are creating thousands of jobs, you motherf*******. I don’t ever want to see it again. Ever!”

His said he didn’t want the movie to be shut down. Mission: Impossible 7 was one of the films to halt production early in the year, because of the epidemic.

Cruise insisted that there be no apologies: “You can tell it to the people that are losing their f****** homes because our industry is shut down. It’s not going to put food on their table or pay for their college education. That’s what I sleep with every night — the future of this f****** industry! So I’m sorry, I am beyond your apologies. I have told you, and now I want it, and if you don’t do it, you’re out. We are not shutting this f****** movie down! Is it understood? If I see it again, you’re f****** gone.”

Social media quickly reacted to the audio, with many people saying how glad they were to see Cruise taking the pandemic seriously. They also compared him to Les Grossman, the bullying Hollywood agent that Cruise played in Tropic Thunder, and several people noted the allegations against Scientology, of which Cruise is its most high-profile member.

The leaked audio recording came out the same day as a very different story about Cruise and how he sends his his many celeb friends a certain gourmet treat this time each year.

12-15-20  11:36pm - 1374 days #5
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Loki,

I'm not sure where the current rules are for a review to earn raffle tickets.

But if a person won a membership to a site (through a prize given by the PU site), I would think the review, if accepted by the PU site, could earn raffle tickets, if the review had merit.

On a similar issue, I think that a review based on a trial membership could also be eligible to earn raffle tickets.
(A trial period of one or more days membership to a site, instead of a month-long membership.)

My impression was that the PU site was trying to discourage sites from giving out free memberships to encourage positive reviews.

That was my impression, but I could be wrong on the technical details of when a review could earn raffle tickets.

12-14-20  12:05am - 1376 days Original Post - #1
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Sia calls Shia LaBeouf a 'pathological liar' who 'conned me into an adulterous relationship'
Megan Johnson
December 13, 2020, 10:15 AM
Singer Sia says she was conned into an adulterous relationship with actor Shia LaBeouf.

Australian singer and songwriter Sia says she was manipulated into an affair with actor Shia LaBeouf, and is advising other women to “stay away” from the actor.

Sia’s allegations come in the wake of the bombshell New York Times article that revealed singer FKA twigs, born Tahliah Debrett Barnett, is suing LaBeouf, 34, for “relentless abuse” she allegedly suffered during their relationship, which began in 2018.

“I too have been hurt emotionally by Shia, a pathological liar, who conned me into an adulterous relationship claiming to be single,” the singer tweeted on Saturday. “I believe he's very sick and have compassion for him AND his victims. Just know, if you love yourself — stay safe, stay away.”

In a follow-up tweet, Sia solidified her support for Barnett. “Also I love you ⁦@FKAtwigs. This is very courageous and I'm very proud of you,” she added.

Sia did not provide more details about her “adulterous relationship” with LaBeouf, who appeared in her 2015 music video for “Elastic Heart.” LaBeouf wed Mia Goth in 2016, but the couple ultimately divorced in 2018.

Sia’s claims came just one day after the New York Times article, in which FKA twigs spoke out on her lawsuit and detailed her allegations of an abusive relationship with LaBeouf, which she calls the “worst thing I’ve ever been through in the whole of my life.”

“I don’t think people would ever think that it would happen to me,” said FKA twigs. “But I think that’s the thing. It can happen to anybody.”

Sia worked with LaBeouf on her 2015 music video for "Elastic Heart."

The singer alleges extensive physical, emotional and mental abuse by LaBeouf, including at one point allegedly waking her up “in the middle of the night, choking her.” In another incident, LaBeouf allegedly drove recklessly, “removing his seatbelt and threatening to crash unless she professed her love for him.”

Barnett also claims LaBeouf knowingly gave her a sexually transmitted disease.

Ultimately, Barnett planned her escape from the relationship with the help of a therapist, a process she called “both difficult and dangerous,” according to her lawsuit.

Barnett is not the only LaBeouf ex included in the lawsuit. A second former girlfriend, Karolyn Pho, whom he dated for two years, alleges he once drunkenly pinned her to a bed and headbutted her, causing her to bleed.

LaBeouf was also caught on tape in 2015 threatening his ex-wife Goth, stating he “would’ve killed her” after they got in a serious argument.

A representative for LaBeouf did not immediately respond to Yahoo Entertainment’s request for comment. However, LaBeouf did issue a statement to the New York Times in response to the article about FKA twigs.

“I’m not in any position to tell anyone how my behavior made them feel,” wrote LaBeouf. “I have no excuses for my alcoholism or aggression, only rationalizations. I have been abusive to myself and everyone around me for years. I have a history of hurting the people closest to me. I’m ashamed of that history and am sorry to those I hurt. There is nothing else I can really say.”

While LaBeouf said specific allegations “are not true,” he went on to say that he’s “a sober member of a 12-step program” and undergoing therapy. “I am not cured of my PTSD and alcoholism, but I am committed to doing what I need to do to recover, and I will forever be sorry to the people that I may have harmed along the way.”

12-10-20  06:51am - 1379 days #6
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This is terrible news.
Trump, as Commander-In-Chief, still has the ability to send US Armed Forces to arrest Barack Obama, the Fake President who was born in Africa and should never have entered the White House.
But now Obama is joking that if Trump does not leave the White House on his own, the Navy SEALS can drag him out.

That is no way to speak about a sitting president.
We must respect Trump, and honor him for his good deeds.
Long live Donald Trump, the most honest, bravest, intelligentest president the US has ever had.
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President Barack Obama is done playing nice. Last night, the 44th president sat down with Jimmy Kimmel to discuss his new memoir, A Promised Land, his marriage, and, of course, President Trump’s refusal to concede to Joe Biden. Obama was quick to throw shade at Trump’s administration, explaining that “there seems to be some lag” in the White House’s information system, and he even offered an idea for how to remove Trump on January 20, should he refuse to leave: “Well, I think we can always send the Navy SEALS in there to dig him out,” he joked.

“Do you feel that when you congratulated Biden and Sen. Harris that you were premature in doing that?” asked Kimmel with a knowing smile. “No,” replied a chuckling Obama. “I thought I was right on time.”

“The communication system in the White House used to be better. It was real time,” he said, referencing Trump’s insistence that he won the election, despite news outlets across the country calling the race for Biden. “There were a lot of computers there that actually tell you what is going on around the world.”

When Kimmel asked if there are places in the White House where “someone could hide if, say, they were going to be removed,” such as a “cubbyhole” or secret hallway, Obama let out another long laugh before suggesting that the Navy SEALS could be up to the task. At the rate things are going, they just might have to.

Obama added that he’s “already called [Biden] ‘Mr. President-Elect” and he stressed his former VP’s ability to heal the nation. “He knows the job. He understands the gravity of it,” he told Kimmel. “He will hit the ground running, most importantly with respect to how to deal with this pandemic.”

“I wish the transition was going better, because we lose time during these crises,” added Obama. “When I came in, we were in the middle of a big crisis, the financial crisis. George W. Bush, he and I obviously had big policy differences, but he’s a good man, he’s a patriot. And he ordered everybody on his team to work seamlessly with us on the transition. Could not have been more gracious, could not have been more helpful. And that actually helped us be able to get a head start on trying to stem what could have been a great depression instead of a great recession.”

12-09-20  07:29am - 1380 days #5
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President Trump needs to investigate this potential criminal:
Did the black man rob a Subway restaurant?
Did the black man have a receipt for the sandwich he was holding, or proof that he paid for the sandwich?
The deputy shot the black man in the back, and the black man died.
Did the black man confess to an armed robbery at the Subway restaurant, before he was shot and died?
The police and the FBI and whoever else need to investigate if the black man was a hardened criminal, who lied to get a concealed weapons permit.

Also, why did the black man wave his sandwich at police officers?
Was he trying to be friendly, or trying to confuse the police about his criminal behavior?

President Trump, you need to investigate, what happened.
Then you can file more lawsuits, about the criminal Joe Biden, who is trying to steal the Presidency away from you.
Also, President Trump, you are Commander-In-Chief: send your Armed Forces to arrest Biden, with orders to Shoot-To-Kill if Biden resists.
Also, shoot Biden in the back, if Biden is holding a sandwich, which proves Biden is Armed-And-Dangerous.
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Family: Black man shot by deputy held a sandwich, not a gun
Associated Press
FARNOUSH AMIRI
December 9, 2020, 4:03 AM

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Civil rights and FBI investigators will help look into the fatal shooting by an Ohio sheriff's deputy of a Black man whose family says that he was holding not a gun, but a sandwich, and that he was shot in front of two toddlers and his grandmother while inside his home, not outside it, as authorities assert.

The office of U.S. Attorney David M. DeVillers in Ohio said Tuesday that it would step in — along with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the FBI in Cincinnati and the Columbus police — after the state attorney general's office declined to investigate the shooting of Casey Goodson Jr., 23, because it said the police department didn't ask soon enough.

“My grandson just got shot in the back when he came in the house,” Goodson’s grandmother told a dispatcher Friday, according to 911 recordings obtained by The Associated Press. “I don’t know if he’s OK.”

Goodson had just gone to the dentist, she told the dispatcher, and she didn’t know what had happened or who shot him.

The Franklin County Sheriff’s Office first reported Friday the fatal shooting of a man that day on the north side of Columbus. The case was given to city police because the Sheriff's Office does not oversee investigations of its own deputies in fatal shootings, and the police department did not release such details as the names of Goodson and the deputy who shot him until Sunday.

Since then, Goodson’s relatives and law enforcement officials have given conflicting details. Visible evidence of the events is lacking because the Sheriff’s Office does not provide officers with body cameras, and the deputy’s SWAT vehicle did not have a dash-mounted camera.

The deputy, Jason Meade, a 17-year veteran of the Sheriff’s Office, had been assigned to a U.S. Marshals Office fugitive task force. The task force had just finished an unsuccessful search for a fugitive Friday afternoon when Goodson, who was not the suspect, drove by and waved a gun at Meade, according to U.S. Marshal Peter Tobin.

Meade confronted him outside Goodson’s vehicle in front of the man’s home, Tobin said.

One witness heard Meade command Goodson to drop his gun, and when he didn’t, the deputy shot him, Tobin said. Goodson was taken to a hospital, where he died.

But attorneys for Goodson’s family say that he was shot while walking in his home, and that his grandmother and two toddlers, who were not his own children, witnessed the shooting.

Tobin’s narrative leaves out “key details that raise cause for extreme concern,” the attorneys’ statement reads, including the object Goodson was holding. Police say it was a gun that was later recovered from the scene; Goodson's family says he was holding a Subway sandwich.

“At this point, witness testimony and physical evidence raise serious concerns about why Casey was even confronted, let alone why he was shot dead while entering his own home,” the lawyers added.

Even if Goodson had been carrying a gun, the statement read, he had a license to do so.

The Sheriff’s Office and a police union declined to comment on behalf of Meade.

Mayor Andrew Ginther had sought Monday to send the probe to the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which the attorney general's office oversees, to ensure “another layer of independence." Protests in Columbus and elsewhere over the police killings of George Floyd in Minnesota and Breonna Taylor in Kentucky included, among other things, criticism of law enforcement officers investigating their own.

But the bureau declined to take the case because it believed Columbus police should have called for help immediately, according to the office of Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican.

“Three days later after the crime scene has been dismantled” and witnesses have dispersed “does not work,” a spokesperson for Yost said in a statement Monday night.

On Tuesday, DeVillers' office made the announcement that it would work with other agencies to “review the facts and circumstances” of Goodson's shooting and “take appropriate action if the evidence indicates any federal civil rights laws were violated.”

Meade’s personnel file shows that he is a former Marine who received small arms training before joining the Sheriff's Office, and that he has had a generally good performance.

Two missteps stand out: In March 2019, he was reprimanded for misusing a stun gun on a suspect and failing to notify his supervisor of his use of force. And in September 2007, the Sheriff's Office prohibited Meade from having contact with inmates but did not disclose what conduct prompted it.

12-09-20  12:00am - 1381 days #4
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Republicans are the only true Americans.
They know that Trump won the election of 2020.
Therefore, their honor and dignity force them to declare the United States of Trump, where Trump will be the first President-For-Life, with his lovely daughter, Ivanka, waiting in the wings when Trump ascends to Heaven to stand by God's right hand.

Hail Donald Trump, first President-For-Life of the new United States of Trump.

And wait until Trump unleashes the assassins that will bury Biden.

There will be no Civil War.
Because all right-thinking Americans know that Trump is the first President-For-Life that will rule the United States of Trump.

Beware, Biden. You are going down!!!!
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As Biden passes 'safe harbor' milestone, Republicans on inaugural committee refuse to say he won
Yahoo News
David Knowles
December 8, 2020, 11:52 AM

Republicans on the Joint Congressional Committee on the Inaugural Ceremonies voted on Tuesday against a resolution stating that the committee was preparing for the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

Sen. Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., all voted against the resolution. The three Democrats on the committee, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., who introduced the measure; House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.; and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., voted in favor. The measure, which would have recognized what Democrats and some Republicans say is obvious — that Biden won the election — failed to pass on a 3-3 tie vote.

“The extent to which Republicans are refusing to accept the outcome of the election and recognize Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as our next president and vice president is astounding,” Hoyer said in a statement released after the meeting of the committee. “Their continued deference to President Trump’s postelection temper tantrums threatens our democracy and undermines faith in our system of elections.”

The presidential inauguration traditionally occurs on the Capitol steps, although, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, plans for the ceremonies on Jan. 20 are in flux. Hoyer’s motion to recognize Biden and Harris as the winners was basically symbolic; the joint committee has no power to decide who gets inaugurated.

Still, Biden’s transition team said it looked forward to continued planning with the JCCIC.

"President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris will be sworn-in as the next President and Vice President of the United States on January 20, 2021,” Pili Tobar, communications director for the Biden Inaugural Committee said in a statement emailed to Yahoo News. “We look forward to continuing to work closely with the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and plan a safe inauguration that engages Americans across the country."

Despite recounts in three battleground states and more than 20 legal defeats since Election Day, Trump continues to insist that he won the presidential race. In a written statement regarding “safe harbor day,” Tuesday’s federally mandated deadline by which states must resolve legal challenges to the certification of elections, Trump lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis said the president would press on with his effort to overturn the results.
WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 27: (L-R) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) speaks as House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) U.S. President Donald Trump listen during a signing ceremony for H.R. 748, the CARES Act in the Oval Office of the White House on March 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. Earlier on Friday, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the $2 trillion stimulus bill that lawmakers hope will battle the the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.; and President Trump at the White House, March 27. (Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images)

“The ‘Safe Harbor Deadline’ is a statutory timeline that generally denotes the last day for states to certify election results. However, it is not unprecedented for election contests to last well beyond December 8,” the Giuliani-Ellis statement read, adding, “Despite the media trying desperately to proclaim that the fight is over, we will continue to champion election integrity until legal vote [sic] is counted fairly and accurately.”

Giuliani is hospitalized with COVID-19, and Ellis has tested positive for the virus.

Hoyer also noted the arrival of the safe harbor deadline.

“Today is the safe-harbor deadline, and states have now certified their results, confirming that Joe Biden will be the forty-sixth President of the United States and Kamala Harris will be the first woman and the first Black and South Asian American to serve as Vice President,” Hoyer said in his statement. “It is imperative that JCCIC proceed with plans for their inauguration and coordinate with the Biden Presidential Inaugural Committee.”

Blunt explained his vote against the measure by saying, “It is not the job of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies to get ahead of the electoral process and decide who we are inaugurating.”

Multiple news organizations declared Biden the winner of the 2020 election on Nov. 7, and the tallies of votes have confirmed those projections. In the popular vote, Biden beat Trump by more than 7 million votes. In the Electoral College, which meets next Monday to formally cast its votes, Biden is set to earn 306 votes to Trump’s 232. Congress will meet on Jan. 6, just two weeks before Inauguration Day, to count the electoral votes and certify a winner.

According to a survey by the Washington Post, just 27 Republican members of Congress are willing to go on record acknowledging Trump’s loss, although Biden began receiving presidential daily briefings on Nov. 30 and has announced his nominees for Cabinet posts and other officials.

12-08-20  09:18am - 1381 days #3
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Texas, one of the few states that knows the truth, asks the US Supreme Court to declare Donald Trump as the true winner of the 2020 election.
Donald Trump, affectionately known as General Bonespurs to his intimate friends, was the winner of the 2020 election, once you throw out the fake votes for Biden.
Therefore, in the interests of honesty and decency, you must put Donald Trump in the White House for 4 more years.

Go, Trump, man of the hour, the country's choice to be President For Life of the United States.
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Texas asks U.S. Supreme Court to help Trump upend election
Reuters
By Makini Brice
December 8, 2020, 8:23 AM

By Makini Brice

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The state of Texas, aiming to help President Donald Trump upend the results of the U.S. election, said on Tuesday it has filed suit against the states of Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin at the Supreme Court, calling changes they made to election procedures amid the coronavirus pandemic unlawful.

The lawsuit, announced by the Republican attorney general of Texas Ken Paxton, was filed directly with the Supreme Court, as is permitted for certain litigation between states. The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority including three justices appointed by Trump.

The lawsuit represents the latest legal effort intended to reverse the Republican president's loss to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden in the Nov. 3 election.

Republican-governed Texas in the lawsuit accused election officials in the four states of failing to protect mail-in voting from fraud, thus diminishing "the weight of votes cast in states that lawfully abide by the election structure set forth in the Constitution."

State election officials have said they have found no evidence of such fraud that would change the results. There was a surge in voting by mail in the election due to the pandemic, as many Americans stayed away from polling places to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

Texas is asking the Supreme Court to block the Electoral College votes in the four states - a total of 62 votes - from being counted. Biden has amassed 306 electoral votes - exceeding the necessary 270 - compared to 232 for Trump in the state-by-state Electoral College that determines the election's outcome, while also winning the national popular vote by more than 7 million votes.

Texas also is asking the Supreme Court to delay the Dec. 14 deadline for Electoral College votes to be cast.

Paul Smith, a professor at Georgetown University's law school, said Texas did not have a legitimate basis to bring the suit.

"There is no possible way that the state of Texas has standing to complain about how other states counted the votes and how they are about to cast their electoral votes," Smith said.

Trump's campaign and his allies have pursued unsuccessful lawsuits in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and other states, making unfounded claims of widespread election fraud. Trump lost those four states after winning them in 2016.

The Supreme Court is not obligated to hear the case and has said in previous decisions that its "original jurisdiction" that allows litigation between states to be filed directly with the nine justices should be invoked sparingly.

(Reporting by Makini Brice, Jan Wolfe and Lawrence Hurley in Washington; Additional reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Will Dunham and Noeleen Walder)

12-07-20  12:56pm - 1382 days Original Post - #1
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Melinda Coleman dies by suicide months after daughter Daisy's death

ET Online
Paige Gawley‍
Dec 7th 2020 12:59PM


Melinda Coleman, the mother of late sexual assault survivor and advocate Daisy Coleman, died by suicide on Sunday. The tragic news comes four months after Daisy, who appeared in the 2016 Netflix documentary Audrie & Daisy, died by suicide at age 23.

SafeBAE, the sexual assault prevention organization Daisy co-founded prior to her death, shared the news of Melinda's passing on Instagram.

"We are in shock and disbelief to share with our SafeBAE family, that we lost Melinda Coleman to suicide this evening," the organization wrote on Sunday. "The bottomless grief of losing her husband, [her son,] Tristan, and Daisy was more than she could face most days."

The post went on to remember Melinda as a "gifted veterinarian, devoted mother and wife, and talented body builder."

"More than anything, she loved and believed in her children. It is no accident that she created some of the most gifted, passionate, and resilient children. Our hearts are forever with Logan & Charlie," the post concluded of Melinda's sons.

On Sunday, before Melinda's death, the grieving mom posted about Daisy on Facebook.

"There aren’t enough I love yous I could have said when I was holding your cold, broken, dead body," Melinda wrote alongside photos of Daisy. "I held you like a baby anyway, my baby. The baby I held when you first came into this world. It has always been my greatest honor and joy to be your mother and best friend. Mama bear!"

Daisy was 14 years old when she alleged in 2012 that she was sexually assaulted at a house party in Missouri after drinking alcohol. Her accusation led to a felony sexual assault charge against teenager Matthew Barnett, which was later dropped, though he pleaded guilty to a lesser charge. He claimed their sexual encounter was consensual. The Netflix documentary focused on the backlash Daisy and her family faced in her small town and the cyberbullying she received amid the case.

Melinda shared the news of Daisy's suicide in an August Facebook post.

"She was my best friend and amazing daughter," Melinda wrote in part. "I think she had to make it seem like I could live without her. I can't. I wish I could have taken the pain from her! She never recovered from what those boys did to her and it's just not fair. My baby girl is gone."

If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

12-07-20  05:23am - 1383 days #2
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Donald Trump, the man with a heart of gold.

Donald Trump loves all people, even the criminals.
That's why he wants to have criminals put to death.
What a man.
What a crook.
Of course, he's a criminal himself.
But if he kills enough other criminals, that leaves more pie that he can grab for himself.
What other reason does he have, for pushing for the execution of criminals?
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Trump cementing death penalty legacy up to Biden inaugural
AOL Associated Press
MICHAEL TARM and MICHAEL BALSAMO
December 7, 2020, 4:41 AM

CHICAGO (AP) — As Donald Trump’s presidency winds down, his administration is ratcheting up the pace of federal executions despite a surge of coronavirus cases in prisons, announcing plans for five starting Thursday and concluding just days before the Jan. 20 inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden.

If the five go off as planned, it will make 13 executions since July when the Republican administration resumed putting inmates to death after a 17-year hiatus and will cement Trump's legacy as the most prolific execution president in over 130 years. He'll leave office having executed about a quarter of all federal death-row prisoners, despite waning support for capital punishment among both Democrats and Republicans.

In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Attorney General William Barr defended the extension of executions into the post-election period, saying he’ll likely schedule more before he departs the Justice Department. A Biden administration, he said, should keep it up.

“I think the way to stop the death penalty is to repeal the death penalty," Barr said. “But if you ask juries to impose and juries impose it, then it should be carried out.”

The plan breaks a tradition of lame-duck presidents deferring to incoming presidents on policy about which they differ so starkly, said Robert Durham, director of the non-partisan Death Penalty Information Center. Biden, a Democrat, is a death penalty foe, and his spokesman told the AP that he'd work to end the death penalty when he is in office.

“It’s hard to understand why anybody at this stage of a presidency feels compelled to kill this many people … especially when the American public voted for someone else to replace you and that person has said he opposes the death penalty,” Durham said. “This is a complete historical aberration.”

Not since the waning days of Grover Cleveland’s presidency in the late 1800s has the U.S. government executed federal inmates during a presidential transition, Durham said. Cleveland’s was also the last presidency during which the number of civilians executed federally was in the double digits in a year, with 14 executed in 1896.

Anti-death penalty groups want Biden to lobby harder for a halt to the flurry of pre-inaugural executions, though Biden can't do much to stop them, especially considering Trump won't even concede he lost the election and is spreading baseless claims of voting fraud.

One, the Ohio-based Death Penalty Action, has garnered some 3,000 signatures on a petition calling on Biden to make “a clear and strong statement” demanding the executions stop.

The issue is an uncomfortable one for Biden given his past support for capital punishment and his central role crafting a 1994 crime bill that added 60 federal crimes for which someone could be put to death.

Activists say the bill, which Biden has since agreed was flawed, puts added pressure on him to act.

“He is acknowledging the sins" of the past, said Abraham Bonowitz, Death Penalty Action's director. "Now he’s got to fix it.”

Several inmates already executed on death row were convicted under provisions of that bill, including ones that made kidnappings and carjackings resulting in death federal capital offenses.

The race of those set to die buttresses criticism that the bill disproportionately impacted Black people. Four of the five set to die over the next few weeks are Black. The fifth, Lisa Montgomery, is white. Convicted of killing a pregnant woman and cutting out the baby alive, she is the only female of the 61 inmates who were on death row when executions resumed, and she would be the first woman to be executed federally in nearly six decades.

The executions so far this year have been by lethal injection at a U.S. penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, where all federal executions take place. The drug used to carry out the sentences is sparse. The Justice Department recently updated protocols to allow for executions by firing squad and poison gas, though it’s unclear if those methods might be used in coming weeks.

Barr suddenly announced in July 2019 that executions would resume, though there had been no public clamor for it. Several lawsuits kept the initial batch from being carried out, and by the time the Bureau of Prisons got clearance the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. The virus has killed more than 282,000 people in the United States, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Critics have said the restart of executions in an election year was politically motivated, helping Trump burnish his claim that he is a law-and-order president. The choice to first execute a series of white males convicted of killing children also appeared calculated to make executions more palatable amid protests nationwide over racial bias in the justice system. The first federal execution on July 14 was of Daniel Lewis Lee, convicted of killing an Arkansas family in a 1990s plot to build a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest.

Barr has insisted the reinstatement of federal executions was driven by adherence to laws. He noted that under Democratic presidents, including Barack Obama, U.S. authorities sought death sentences, they just didn't carry them out.

“I don't feel it is a political issue," Barr told the AP.

Trump has been a consistent supporter of the death penalty. In a 1990 Playboy interview, he described himself as a strong supporter of capital punishment, saying, “Either it will be brought back swiftly or our society will rot away."

Thirty years later, not even the worsening pandemic has slowed his administration's determination to push ahead with executions, rejecting repeated calls to freeze the policy until the pandemic eases.

Many states with death penalty laws have halted executions over concerns that the rampant spread of the coronavirus in prisons would put lawyers, witnesses and executioners at too great a risk. Largely as a consequence of the health precautions, states have executed just seven prisoners in the first half of the year and none since July. Last year, states carried out a combined 22 executions.

The expectation is that Biden will end the Trump administration's policy of carrying out executions as quickly as the law allows, though his longer-term approach is unclear.

Durham said that while Obama placed a moratorium on federal executions, he left the door open for future presidents to resume them. Obama, for whom Biden served as vice president, never employed the option of commuting all federal death sentences to life terms.

As president, Biden could seek to persuade Congress to abolish the federal death penalty or simply invoke his commutation powers to single-handedly convert all death sentences to life-in-prison terms.

“Biden has said he intends to end the federal death penalty,” Durham said. “We’ll have to wait and see if that happens.”

___

Balsamo reported from Washington.

___

12-07-20  05:14am - 1383 days Original Post - #1
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Former Trump Org. exec thinks Trump might leave the country before he leaves office
Yahoo TV
Stephen Proctor
December 6, 2020, 10:44 PM

Barbara Res, former executive Vice President of The Trump Organization, appeared on CNN Newsroom With Ana Cabrera on Sunday where she raised questions about how, and where, President Trump will end his term.

Trump and his finances, and that of The Trump Organization, are the focus of multiple investigations in the state of New York. Res believes that if it appears those investigations could lead to charges, Trump may decide to leave the country before he leaves office.

“I think catastrophe comes except for Donald. You know, as much as it’s almost impossible to think how he’s gonna weasel his way out of it, I think he will,” Res said. “If there are real legitimate charges leveled against him or hanging over his head the minute he becomes a citizen, I think he may leave the country. I think he may leave the country before the end of his presidency.”

The president’s niece, Mary Trump, author of Too Much and Never Enough, agreed that Trump leaving the country is a real possibility.

“I do also think that’s a possibility. I don’t know if it’s the most likely thing, but again, we don’t know how the next 45 days are gonna play out,” Mary said. “If the walls really do start closing in on him, right before the inauguration will be his last, best opportunity to get away unscathed. So it’s gonna be fascinating, but also pretty terrifying.”

If the president stays in the country, Mary Trump doesn’t believe there’s any way he goes to President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration.

“I don’t think there’s anything on the planet that would get him to—one, that would be a concession,” Trump said. “Two, would be an acknowledgement that the incoming administration is legitimate, and Donald wants to avoid that at all cost. And three, it would be missing an opportunity to take the spotlight from President Biden and to himself.”

12-06-20  12:31pm - 1383 days Original Post - #1
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Reuters
December 6, 2020, 6:22 AM

(Reuters) - Mastercard Inc said on Sunday it was investigating allegations against Pornhub.com following a newspaper column which said many videos posted on the adult website depicted child abuse.

The New York Times column, written by Nicholas Kristof, described videos on Pornhub that the author said were recordings of assaults on unconscious women and girls.

"The issue is not pornography but rape. Let's agree that promoting assaults on children or on anyone without consent is unconscionable," Kristof wrote in the column published on Friday. (https://nyti.ms/2JXiqSw)

Pornhub denied the allegations.

"Any assertion that we allow CSAM (child sexual abuse material) is irresponsible and flagrantly untrue," it said in a statement emailed to Reuters.

Mastercard told Reuters in a statement that it was investigating the allegations with Pornhub's parent MindGeek's bank. "If the claims are substantiated, we will take immediate action," Mastercard said.

Billionaire investor Bill Ackman called on Mastercard and Visa Inc to temporarily withhold payments to Pornhub following the newspaper column.

Ackman also asked American Express Co to take action, though the company's cards aren't accepted on the site.

Visa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

American Express said it has a longstanding global policy that prohibits acceptance of its cards on digital adult content websites.

Ackman suggested it should be made illegal for porn sites to post videos before they are reviewed by a monitor, and until the ages and consent of participants have been validated.

In its response, Pornhub said it has a vast team of human moderators who manually review "every single upload," as well as automated detection technologies. It did not say how many people were part of its review team.

Kristof's column also drew reactions from politicians including Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who said his government was working with police and security officials to address the issues it raised.

In the United States, Senator Josh Hawley said he will introduce legislation to create a federal right to sue for every person "coerced or trafficked or exploited by sites like Pornhub."

(Reporting by Shubham Kalia and Juby Babu in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
More From Reuters:

12-06-20  08:56am - 1383 days Original Post - #1
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Report finds microwave energy likely made US diplomats ill
AOL Associated Press
December 6, 2020, 4:17 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new report by a National Academy of Sciences committee has found that “directed” microwave radiation is the likely cause of illnesses among American diplomats in Cuba and China.

The study commissioned by the State Department and released Saturday is the latest attempt to find a cause for the mysterious illnesses that started to emerge in late 2016 among U.S. personnel in Havana.

The study found that “directed, pulsed radio frequency energy appears to be the most plausible” explanation for symptoms that included intense head pressure, dizziness and cognitive difficulties. It found this explanation was more likely than other previously considered causes such as tropical disease or psychological issues. The study did not name a source for the energy and did not say it came as the result of an attack, though it did note that previous research on this type of injury was done in the former Soviet Union.

In its report, the 19-member committee noted that it faced significant challenges in trying to get to the bottom of the medical mystery. Among them, not everyone reported the same symptoms and the National Academy of Sciences research did not have access to all the previous studies on the illnesses, some of which are classified.

“The committee found these cases quite concerning, in part because of the plausible role of directed, pulsed radiofrequency energy as a mechanism, but also because of the significant suffering and debility that has occurred in some of these individuals,” said committee chairman David Relman, a professor of medicine at Stanford University. “We as a nation need to address these specific cases as well as the possibility of future cases with a concerted, coordinated, and comprehensive approach.”

The health effects were experienced by about two dozen Americans affiliated with the U.S. Embassy in Cuba as well as Canadian diplomats and personnel at the U.S. consulate in Guanghzhou, China, in early 2017.

Some of the Americans have been critical of the U.S. government's response to their health complaints and at least one has filed suit against the State Department.

Between late 2016 and May 2018, several U.S. and Canadian diplomats in Havana complained of health problems from an unknown cause. One U.S. government count put the number of American personnel affected at 26.

Some reported hearing high-pitched sounds similar to crickets while at home or staying in hotels, leading to an early theory of a sonic attack.

12-06-20  02:33am - 1384 days Original Post - #1
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Variety
Janet W. Lee
December 5, 2020, 12:32 PM

Actor David Lander, best known as Squiggy on the ABC sitcom “Laverne & Shirley,” died Friday evening at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his family confirmed to Variety. He was 73.

Lander died of complications related to multiple sclerosis, which he battled for 37 years. Since he went public with his diagnosis in 1999, Lander has worked closely with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, speaking out about his experience at related conferences.

The actor was best known as Squiggy from “Laverne & Shirley,” which he starred in opposite Michael McKean, who portrayed Lenny. The characters were developed by the longtime friends and collaborators while they were students at Carnegie Mellon University.

On Saturday morning, McKean responded to the news by tweeting an old photo of him and Lander.

12-05-20  12:02am - 1385 days Original Post - #1
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Note: for adults only.

The scene described is ultra-graphic, and the performers' comments are not endorsed by the PU staff.

Watch at your own risk.
You could be dis-illusioned on pornography in a mind-altering experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z3U0udLH974

The scene following the above video shows a mother's love for her children, cautioning them about the dangers of a career in porn.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQFWjsNElKM Edited on Dec 05, 2020, 05:10am

12-04-20  12:43pm - 1385 days #8
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Exotics has/had some personal issues that were dragging him down.

His mother died this week, from the corona virus and other health issues.

And he's been fighting the virus himself.

Plus other issues.

So I imagine he is trying to get himself together, and doesn't have the time or energy to visit the PU site.

Perhaps he will be back, when he is better off.
Until then, we can all wish him well.

12-04-20  01:01am - 1386 days #3
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Variety

Dec 3, 2020 10:57am PT
HBO Max Ends Free Trial Offer Ahead of ‘Wonder Woman 1984,’ Warner Bros. 2021 Film Slate Premieres

WarnerMedia launches 22% discount on streaming service for six-month prepaid price

WarnerMedia has terminated its seven-day free trial offer for HBO Max — a move coming three weeks before the streaming service is set to premiere “Wonder Woman 1984” day-and-date with theatrical release.

In addition to the Dec. 25 debut of “Wonder Woman 1984,” starring Gal Gadot in the title role, on HBO Max and in theaters, Warner Bros. just announced that its entire 2021 film slate will be released simultaneously on HBO Max and theatrically.

WarnerMedia had offered the free trial period since HBO Max launched in May 2020. But it killed that off so it can boost its base of paying subscribers by leveraging the “WW84″ tentpole event and next year’s day-and-date film releases from Warner Bros. Those are expected to include “The Matrix 4,” Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” remake, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s adaptation of “In the Heights,” “The Suicide Squad,” “Space Jam: A New Legacy” and “The Many Saints of Newark” (a prequel to HBO’s “Sopranos”).

At the same time, WarnerMedia has introduced a new special HBO Max deal: It’s offering a 22% discount to new subscribers who prepay for six months at $69.99 (about $11.66 per month, versus the regular $14.99 monthly price). The six-month special price is available from Dec. 3, 2020, through Jan. 15, 2021, available to new and returning HBO Max subscribers.

“We frequently update and iterate our offers to provide flexible ways for potential subscribers to access all that HBO Max has to offer,” a WarnerMedia rep said in a statement.

In June, Disney Plus similarly killed off its seven-day free trial promo just ahead of the July 3 premiere of the movie of musical “Hamilton” on the streamer. And in the U.S., Netflix this fall ended its longstanding 30-day free trial period for new subscribers as it tries out different promotional strategies, including making the service free in a market over one weekend.

For now, HBO Max is still unavailable on the Roku platform, which had about 46 million active accounts at the end of September. Industry sources speculate that WarnerMedia’s move to release “Wonder Woman 1984” and Warner Bros.’ 2021 titles day-and-date on HBO Max are part of trying to gain leverage in deal discussions with Roku.

Last month, WarnerMedia clinched a deal with Amazon to bring HBO Max to Fire TV and Fire tablet customers; it’s possible that the “Wonder Woman 1984” decision played a part in that. In a concession, Amazon agreed to discontinue offering the legacy HBO service through Prime Video Channels as of next year, as first reported by CNBC. Apple similarly pulled HBO from its channel store when it signed on to distribute HBO Max.

Roku currently offers the legacy HBO service through the Roku Channel; like Amazon, Roku has wanted to retain the ability to sell HBO as a “channel” to maintain direct customer relationships instead of distributing the HBO Max app. In the absence of a deal, Roku users on recent-model 4K devices can now use Apple AirPlay 2 to cast from the HBO Max app to their Roku players.

As of the end of the third quarter, WarnerMedia said 28.7 million customers were eligible to get HBO Max. The Amazon deal should immediately boost that number to at least 33 million, given that Amazon has said it had nearly 5 million HBO subscribers through Prime Video Channels.

12-04-20  12:31am - 1386 days #2
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Warner Bros strikes huge blow to movie theaters, will send all its 2021 movies simultaneously to HBO Max
Yahoo Finance
Daniel Roberts
December 3, 2020, 11:27 AM

AT&T-owned WarnerMedia shook up Hollywood when it announced on Thursday that it will release all of its 2021 Warner Bros. films to its HBO Max streaming platform at the same time the movies hit theaters.

The news sent shares of AMC (AMC) down 14%, Cinemark (CNK) down 17%, and IMAX (IMAX) down 7%.

After one month of streaming on HBO Max, the films will leave the platform and continue to play in theaters, the company said, calling the plan a “unique, consumer-focused distribution model” and a “strategic response to the impact of the ongoing global pandemic.”

Yahoo Finance industry sources say the move was driven by Jason Kilar, the founder and former CEO of Hulu, who became CEO of WarnerMedia in May and quickly initiated an executive shakeup.

The experiment will begin with “Wonder Woman 1984,” which WarnerMedia had previously announced will hit HBO Max and U.S. movie theaters simultaneously on Dec. 25.

The 2021 Warner Bros. lineup has 17 movies, including “Dune,” “Matrix 4,” “In The Heights,” “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” and the “Sopranos” prequel film “The Many Saints of Newark.”

WarnerMedia’s move is an effort to boost subscriptions to HBO Max, which launched in May, but it is also the latest pandemic-prompted salvo by film studios and content creators against the traditional “theatrical window” theaters enjoyed.

A survey last month by Yahoo Finance and Harris Poll found that 81% of Americans have not gone to a movie theater since before March, even if theaters have reopened in their area. 56% of respondents said they are concerned about getting COVID-19, while 20% said they fear theaters are not being cleaned well enough, and 12% said they don’t want to wear a mask while watching the movie. But another 22% said there was no movie they wanted to go see, and 19% said they’d rather stream movies at home.

Early on in the pandemic, Universal made waves when it put “Trolls World Tour” straight to digital rental for a $20 fee. Universal made more from rentals in three weeks than the first Trolls movie made in theaters in five months. Movie theater chains were furious.

Since then, Disney followed suit in September by pushing “Mulan” straight to Disney+ for a $30 digital purchase fee (with limited success) and delayed three Marvel movies deep into 2021, while Warner Bros. delayed “Wonder Woman 1984” for a third time, both studios signaling that they do not see moviegoers returning to theaters in large numbers for a long time, even though theaters have been permitted to reopen in most of the U.S.

As COVID-19 cases have continued, the situation for AMC and other chains like Cinemark is dire, and WarnerMedia’s latest move makes the outlook worse.



Daniel Roberts is an editor-at-large at Yahoo Finance and closely covers the streaming wars.

12-03-20  12:02pm - 1386 days Original Post - #1
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Variety

Dec 3, 2020 10:30am PT
Warner Bros. to Debut Entire 2021 Film Slate, Including ‘Dune’ and ‘Matrix 4,’ Both on HBO Max and In Theaters

By Rebecca Rubin, Matt Donnelly

Dune
YouTube Screenshot

When Warner Bros. announced that “Wonder Woman 1984” would land on the streaming service HBO Max on Christmas, the same time it debuts in theaters, many expected it to be an isolated case in response to an unprecedented pandemic.

Instead, the studio will deploy a similar release strategy for the next 12 months. In a surprising break from industry standards, Warner Bros.’ entire 2021 slate — a list of films that includes “The Matrix 4,” Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” remake, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical adaptation of “In the Heights,” “Sopranos” prequel “The Many Saints of Newark” and “The Suicide Squad” — will debut both on HBO Max and in theaters on their respective release dates. The shocking move to simultaneously release movies day-and-date underscores the crisis facing movie theaters and the rising importance of streaming services in the wake of a global health crisis that’s decimated the film exhibition community.

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Warner Bros.’ 2021 release slate also includes Denzel Washington’s thriller “The Little Things,” biographical drama “Judas and the Black Messiah,” a remake of “Tom and Jerry,” “Godzilla vs. Kong,” video game adaptation “Mortal Kombat,” “Those Who Wish Me Dead,” “The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It,” “Space Jam: A New Legacy,” “Reminiscence,” James Wan’s “Malignant” and sports drama “King Richard.”

In the short term, the move will inject some welcome buzz into HBO Max, a Netflix challenger that launched last spring without generating much sizzle. One of WarnerMedia’s key rivals, the Walt Disney Company has strengthened its share price because of its investment in streaming offerings such as Disney Plus even as its core theme parks and film businesses have cratered. WarnerMedia and its corporate parent AT&T are likely making the move with an eye towards pleasing Wall Street.

Like “Wonder Woman 1984,” the films that Warner Bros. plans to release in 2021 will be available to HBO Max subscribers for 31 days. After the one-month mark, those movies will only play in theaters until they reach the traditional home entertainment frame. From there, people can rent through online platforms like Amazon, iTunes or Fandango. It’s unclear when the titles will return to HBO Max.

WarnerMedia chair and CEO Ann Sarnoff referred to the model as a “unique one-year plan.” Executives at the company have stressed the initiative isn’t expected to continue into 2022 or beyond — it’s considered a temporary solution in response to the ongoing global heath crisis.

“We’re living in unprecedented times which call for creative solutions, including this new initiative for the Warner Bros. Pictures Group,” Sarnoff said in a statement. “No one wants films back on the big screen more than we do. We know new content is the lifeblood of theatrical exhibition, but we have to balance this with the reality that most theaters in the U.S. will likely operate at reduced capacity throughout 2021.”

“With this unique one-year plan, we can support our partners in exhibition with a steady pipeline of world-class films, while also giving moviegoers who may not have access to theaters or aren’t quite ready to go back to the movies the chance to see our amazing 2021 films,” she continued. “We see it as a win-win for film lovers and exhibitors, and we’re extremely grateful to our filmmaking partners for working with us on this innovative response to these circumstances.”

Variety reported earlier this week that Warners. was considering sending several films to HBO Max and theaters day-and-date. But the studio opted to move forward with the rest of its upcoming slate because the film landscape is getting rockier as the pandemic worsens and parts of the United States consider implementing new stay-at-home orders. The idea that people will return to the movies anytime soon is looking more distant as the pandemic nears the one-year mark. It’s also unclear what kind of distribution footprint will await studios on the other end of the pandemic. More than 60% of U.S. theaters have closed down again, and that number could continue to rise if cases continue to spike around the holidays. Those that remain open are teetering on the edge of bankruptcy. As a sign of these troubles, just hours before Warner Bros. disclosed its plans, AMC announced that it was selling up to 200 million shares of stock in an effort to raise as much as $834 million and shore up its liquidity.

To get theaters on board and allow Warners to break the theatrical contract for “Wonder Woman 1984,” the studio is giving cinemas a more generous cut of ticket sales. Theater chains are receiving as much of 60% of revenues. But sources say that won’t be the case for upcoming releases.

Thursday’s announcement from Warner Bros. is yet another example of just how dramatically the coronavirus crisis has shifted the power dynamic between studios and theater operators. Even with effective vaccines starting to be approved, the latest move by Warner Bros. suggests the balance may never return in favor of exhibitors.

Months ago, Universal Pictures took an axe to the theatrical window — industry parlance for the amount of time a new release plays exclusively in theaters. But in comparison, Universal’s terms of agreement with movie theater chains AMC and Cinemark make them look like downright martyrs. Under those pacts, the studio can put new movies on premium video-on-demand platforms in as little as 17 days. Films that generate at least $50 million in opening weekend ticket sales, however, will have to play exclusively in theaters for 31 days, or five full weekends. Traditionally, new releases remain on the big screen for 75 to 90 days before they move to digital platforms for a $19.99 rental fee. Universal has agreed to give the two circuits a cut of digital sales to get them to play ball. It’s not clear if theaters will receive any benefits from Warner Bros.

Warner Bros., perhaps more than any of its rivals, knows how unforgiving the theatrical market can be amid a pandemic. When the studio released Christopher Nolan’s “Tenet” in September in an attempt to revive a nationwide return to moviegoing, the $200 million-budgeted sci-fi epic mostly fell flat. “Tenet” generated substantial ticket sales overseas, but returns were lackluster in the United States. As a result, the movie is expected to lose many millions.

In an interview with Variety, studio chief Toby Emmerich said the hybrid plan came about after exploring various options for “Wonder Woman 1984.” The international box office has significantly rebounded and even fielded some big hits in China and Japan. Alternatively, the domestic market hasn’t seen any movie come close to blockbuster levels in terms of ticket sales. HBO Max is only available in the U.S.

“We thought it could be a win-win and give the consumers the best choice,” he said. “Unfortunately, the U.S. has been one of the most hobbled markets in terms of theatrical. Outside the U.S., in places like China, South Korea, Japan, parts of Western Europe, our films will only be available in theaters. We think those markets can perform better.”

“After considering all available options and the projected state of moviegoing throughout 2021, we came to the conclusion that this was the best way for WarnerMedia’s motion picture business to navigate the next 12 months,” said WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar. “More importantly, we are planning to bring consumers 17 remarkable movies throughout the year, giving them the choice and the power to decide how they want to enjoy these films. Our content is extremely valuable, unless it’s sitting on a shelf not being seen by anyone. We believe this approach serves our fans, supports exhibitors and filmmakers, and enhances the HBO Max experience, creating value for all.”

12-03-20  11:40am - 1386 days #5
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tangub,

Send me your name and email address to
fakesharen009 (the at sign) yahoo.com

And I will send you $50 (the equivalent amount in British pounds) through paypal.

If you don't have a paypal account, they are free.
And you can disable to account once you get the money, if you wish.

Need your first and last name to send money.
And the email address should be in the email you send me.

The $50 is in recognition of the fine reviews you have written, which are among the best reviews I seen at PU.
Also, because I won first place this week in the raffle, and feel that first place is overweighted, and the prizes should be spread more evenly.

So take the money and spend it on something useful or fun.
It's Christmas already.

But you're right. I've tried sending you emails through the PU private email system, and they've never gone through.
And I never got a reply from my emails from you.

Just another bug in the PU software, I guess. Edited on Dec 03, 2020, 11:55am

12-03-20  07:06am - 1386 days #3
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tangub,

I sent you a email through the PU email system.
Hope you got it.
If you did, reply to the email address shown on the private email.

If you didn't get it, I will try to contact you through the PU thread.

12-03-20  02:01am - 1387 days Original Post - #1
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Hope everything is OK with him.
He's one of the most active members at the PU site.
Wishing him well, in this time of the covid epidemic.

12-01-20  12:24pm - 1388 days Original Post - #1
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Ellen Page is now Elliot Page.

Ellen Page is now Elliot Page, a trans person who is now "he/they".
Does this mean Elliot Page is really more than one person, since he is now a "they"?

"Page uses both he/him and they/them pronouns, and describes himself as transgender and non-binary, meaning that his gender identity is neither man nor woman."

Not to be snarky, but if his gender identity is neither man nor woman, why describe himself as "he". I thought "he" referred to a male, not to some person who is neither man or woman.

In the modern world, it seems that people are making new classifications and divisions that are still being formed.

Is Elliot Page male, female, both, or neither? Or does it depend on the time of day and the mood of the actor?


----------
----------
Oscar-Nominated ‘Umbrella Academy’ Star Elliot Page Announces He Is Transgender
Variety
Matt Donnelly
December 1, 2020, 9:14 AM

Elliot Page, the Oscar-nominated star of “Juno” and Netflix’s “The Umbrella Academy,” has announced he is transgender.

Elliot, formerly known as Ellen Page, addressed his social media followers saying:

“Hi friends, I want to share with you that I am trans, my pronouns are he/they and my name is Elliot. I feel lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life. I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible people who have supported me along this journey. I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self. I’ve been endlessly inspired by so many in the trans community. Thank you for your courage, your generosity and ceaselessly working to make this world a more inclusive and compassionate place. I will offer whatever support I can and continue to strive for a more loving and equal society,” he wrote.

“I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive. To all the trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse, and the threat of violence every day: I see you, I love you, and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better,” Page continued.

Page uses both he/him and they/them pronouns, and describes himself as transgender and non-binary, meaning that his gender identity is neither man nor woman.


Nick Adams, GLAAD’s Director of Transgender Media, said “Elliot Page has given us fantastic characters on-screen, and has been an outspoken advocate for all LGBTQ people. He will now be an inspiration to countless trans and non-binary people. All transgender people deserve the chance to be ourselves and to be accepted for who we are. We celebrate the remarkable Elliot Page today.”

Page broke out from his native Canada in 2005 with the revenge thriller “Hard Candy.” Two years later, he starred in Jason Reitman and Diablo Cody’s landmark indie “Juno,” for which Page received an Academy Award nomination among other accolades.

His notable roles include Kitty Pryde in the “X-Men” series, Christopher Nolan’s “Inception,” “Whip It!” and Sony’s reboot of “Flatliners.” He has produced and starred in films such as “Tallulah” and “Freeheld,” and last year marked his directorial debut examining environmental racism faced by people of color and the First Nations communities of Canada.

Prior to transition, Page was one of the most visible out gay actors in Hollywood. The Tuesday announcement further enriches his legacy, and adds him to a small but growing number of out trans creators and stars in Hollywood. This includes performers (Laverne Cox, Trace Lysette, Brian Michael Smith) and creators (The Wachowski Sisters, “Transparent” creator Joey Soloway).

Last year, Variety broke the news of the groundbreaking overall content production deal that Netflix signed with Janet Mock, a noted trans storyteller and director of shows like “Pose” and “Hollywood.”

12-01-20  04:28am - 1389 days Original Post - #1
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Sean Hannity says Trump needs to pardon himself and his whole family.

The US legal system says you are innocent of crimes until proven guilty.
So what crimes is Trump guilty of?
Or, is Hannity implying you don't need to have committed a crime to be prosecuted, and that the Democrats will pursue Trump just like the Republicans pursued innocent people who opposed the Republican regime?

In other words, politics does not follow the traditional ideals of justice?

Trump libelled and slandered numerous people under the shield of political speech.

But that's not all he did.

Can Trump get away from all his illegal actions?
A pardon only works for federal crimes.

Even with a pardon, Trump can still be pursued for state crimes.

Trump, probably the most corrupt president the US has ever had.
=================================

Sean Hannity says Trump 'needs to pardon' himself and his 'whole family'
HuffPost
Mary Papenfuss
November 30, 2020, 10:46 PM

President Donald Trump “needs to pardon his whole family and himself” as he walks “out the door” of the White House, Fox News host Sean Hannity said on his radio show Monday.

“I assume that the power of the pardon is absolute and that he should be able to pardon anybody that he wants to,” Hannity declared as he interviewed fringe lawyer Sidney Powell.

Powell was bounced from Trump’s election legal team earlier this month after spouting bizarre conspiracy theories claiming that Venezuela, Cuba, “antifa,” George Soros, the Clinton Foundation and the deceased Hugo Chávez, among others, were responsible for shifting November’s presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden.

Hannity did not specify what criminal charges Trump or his family could face.

He insisted Trump needs to pardon himself and his family to protect him from unspecified “witch hunts.”

Powell told Hannity that she didn’t know the details of Trump’s “authority to pardon himself.” But she insisted it wouldn’t be unnecessary because “the president is going to get another four years in office” — despite losing to President-elect Biden.

Generally, someone granted a pardon has been convicted of a federal crime and has shown remorse or made reparations. Pardons typically are granted after an application is presented five years after a conviction or release from prison and is approved by the Department of Justice’s pardon attorney.

A president has never pardoned himself. In 1974, former President Richard Nixon was pardoned after his resignation by his successor, Gerald Ford.

Trump last week pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn, who was represented by Powell, after Flynn had pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about secret calls with Kremlin officials as Trump was coming into office.

Flynn was granted a “full and unconditional pardon” from “any and all possible offenses” arising out of the investigation into possible Kremlin collusion by former special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump pardoned Flynn after the Department of Justice failed to get his case thrown out in court.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

11-30-20  06:13am - 1390 days #3
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President Donald Trump, our Glorious-President-For-Life, has revealed that the FBI has been penetrated by criminal elements.
That is why he is fighting to stay in office, when he won both the popular vote and the legally-binding electoral college vote.

To claim your prize money, you must contact President Trump directly, where he can authorize the transfer of the prize money you won. There will be a handling fee of 2.5% of the prize to the office of Donald Trump, to satisfy the legal requirements of monetary transfers.

Hail Trump, fighting corruption in the US legal system.

11-25-20  07:35am - 1394 days #2
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NBC News
CDC to shorten quarantine for those exposed to Covid-19
Sara G. Miller and Jane Weaver and Erika Edwards and Denise Chow
Tue, November 24, 2020, 2:01 PM PST·2 min read

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is finalizing plans to shorten the recommended length of quarantine for those exposed to Covid-19.

The CDC currently recommends that individuals quarantine for 14 days after being exposed to people with the coronavirus. The two weeks is based on how long scientists believe it can take the virus to incubate in the body.


"CDC is always reviewing its guidance and recommendations in the light of new understandings of the virus that causes Covid-19, and will announce such changes when appropriate," a spokesperson for the agency told NBC News on Tuesday. The updated approach will likely incorporate testing.

It's a potential change the CDC has been considering for weeks.

What the eventual recommendation will be is unknown, but CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield said in an October briefing that the agency was considering shortening the length of quarantine by up to a week.

At the time, Redfield said researchers were looking at whether "you can use testing during the quarantine to determine if you can shorten the quarantine to seven or 10 days." Without testing, he said, you could miss a percentage of infectious cases.

"Obviously we don’t want people to be quarantined 14 days unnecessarily," Redfield said.

Dr. Tom Frieden, former head of the CDC, agreed that it may be necessary to make quarantines more palatable to the general public.

"We need to optimize quarantine," said Frieden, who currently serves as president of the global public health initiative, Resolve to Save Lives. "We know that the biggest risk is from days four to seven. After that, the risk is lower" for transmission, he said.


The CDC gave an indication of the changing quarantine strategy on Nov. 20 with its updated international travel guidance. The agency advised international travelers to "get tested three to five days after travel and stay home for seven days after travel."

11-25-20  05:30am - 1395 days Original Post - #1
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It took a pandemic to change the movie business

Why you can see Wonder Woman 1984 at home on Christmas Day.
By Peter Kafka Nov 19, 2020, 1:15pm EST

On Christmas Day, you can see Wonder Woman 1984 in movie theaters — if theaters are open where you live — or you can watch it at home on HBO Max.

That’s a remarkable thing. It’s the first time you’ve ever been able to decide exactly when and where you want to watch a big, would-be-blockbuster Hollywood movie on opening day.

Distribution plans for a superhero movie aren’t the most important news at the moment — we are, after all, battling a pandemic that has killed 250,000 Americans. But it’s also worth noting that this modestly pro-consumer move — giving people the chance to see a comic book movie wherever they want to see it — is only happening because of the pandemic.

The move also tells you a lot about the state of both the movie theater business (it’s in a lot of trouble) and the streaming business, which is in a desperate race for scale.

Quickish background: Hollywood movie studios and the big movie theater chains have been fighting for years over “windows”: the amount of time between when a movie comes to theaters and when you can watch it at home. Most of the studios have been trying to shrink that window. They want you to be able to rent a big movie at home weeks, not months, after it debuts in theaters. Theaters, for obvious reasons, want to keep that gap as big as possible.

And since theaters represent a big chunk of the revenue a movie can generate, they’ve been able to more or less hold the line. You could sometimes see an indie movie at home at the same time it debuted in theaters, but for big movies and big studios, it never happened.

Even attempts to experiment with alternative models — in 2011, Universal studios proposed letting you rent Tower Heist, a terrible Eddie Murphy/Ben Stiller movie, for $60 while it was still in theaters — haven’t gone anywhere.

Enter the pandemic, which closed theaters and forced studios to try different strategies. Most studios moved most of the big movies they planned to debut this year, like Dune or the latest Fast & Furious sequel, to 2021. Then they experimented a bit with everything else: Universal allowed people to rent Trolls 2 and other movies at home. Other studios took movies that were supposed to go into theaters and folded them into their own streaming services: Hamilton debuted on Disney+, The Witches went to HBO Max. Disney also tried a hybrid option by letting Disney+ subscribers watch Mulan at home — if they paid an extra $30.

But until now no one has let you pick if you want to watch a true blockbuster in a theater with other people, or at home with friends and family. (The first Wonder Woman movie, released in 2017, grossed more than $800 million worldwide, which means WarnerMedia, the unit of AT&T that owns both Warner Bros. studio and HBO Max, expect the sequel to be a giant hit as well.)

The fact that this is happening now reveals a couple things:

The movie theaters have completely lost the leverage they once had. In the past, WarnerMedia would have never tried this because the big theater chains would have made credible threats, including refusing to show the movie in their theaters. (This is why, by the way, you could see Netflix’s The Irishman in theaters last year only in small chains and indie theaters. The big chains, like AMC, simply refused to show the movie because they are angry at and threatened by Netflix in general.) But the big chains can’t threaten the movie studios anymore.

That’s because they’re either not open, period, or because people don’t want to see movies in theaters, even when they can. WarnerMedia did try bringing Tenet, a would-be blockbuster, to theaters earlier this year, and pandemic-scarred US audiences simply refused to go. And while movie theaters expect to open again in 2021, they will do so in a very weakened state. They have spent this year bleeding money and trying to stave off bankruptcy. There’s a good chance many of the theater chains will have to close many of their locations in the near future; there’s also a good chance some of them will end up with new owners after filing for Chapter 11.

One indication of how weak the theaters are: Earlier this year, Universal cut a deal with AMC, the world’s biggest theater chain, to shorten — but not eliminate — the theater-to-home window. That pact was considered astonishing, and it required Universal to give AMC a cut of its home rental sales.

But a PR rep for WarnerMedia says the company isn’t changing its existing deals with theaters in any way for Wonder Woman 1984. The theaters that show it can get the cut of box office revenue they always get, and nothing more. That is: WarnerMedia is betting that the big chains will show the movie, on their terms, which they hate. And that they won’t be able to do anything to retaliate.

Big media desperately wants to catch up to Netflix. WarnerMedia executives are fully aware that giving people the chance to watch Wonder Woman 1984 at home means that many people are going to watch Wonder Woman 1984 at home, which means they’re going to sell many fewer tickets. Meaning: This is going to cost WarnerMedia a bunch of money.

But the company clearly thinks that giving audiences a reason to subscribe to HBO Max is worth it. The streaming service — a mix of the old HBO plus a bunch of new stuff — got off to a slow start when it launched this spring, and it is hoping that a new, family-friendly superhero movie will be a reason for people to subscribe over the holidays.

And WarnerMedia needs a lot of people to do that: Its owner, AT&T, has promised Wall Street that it is going to become one of the dominant streaming services, along with Netflix and Disney. It will ultimately be either rewarded or punished based on that performance, rather than the near-term performance of its studio. So cutting off some movie revenue now — and making theaters upset along the way — will be worth it for WarnerMedia if it can turn HBO Max into a real Netflix competitor. And if it can’t, the money it loses on Wonder Woman 1984 won’t matter much anyway.

11-24-20  05:03am - 1396 days Original Post - #1
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Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the top experts in infectious diseases, is warning that we are not finished with the coronavirus.

About 257,000 people in the US have already died from the disease.
Because of the holidays ahead, the cold weather, you need to take precautions (wear a face mask, don't congregate in large crowds, etc.). Because the virus is real, and can be deadly.
A vaccine should be released soon, but until you get yours, better safe than sorry.
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Fauci warns of 'stunning number of deaths' from coronavirus
Yahoo News
Alexander Nazaryan
November 24, 2020, 4:24 AM

WASHINGTON — The nation is entering “a very vulnerable period” that could see the number of coronavirus deaths rise rapidly, Dr. Anthony Fauci warned in conversation with Yahoo News on Monday.

The warning comes at a time when the virus is already causing widespread devastation, averaging close to 1,500 deaths per day, according to the COVID Tracking Project. About 257,000 people have succumbed in the United States to COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

Asked if that number could double, Fauci expressed concern about the onset of colder weather and the “sequential holiday seasons” of Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year’s Eve.


“You do the math on that,” Fauci said. “Two to three thousand deaths a day times a couple of months, and you’re approaching a really stunning number of deaths.”

Three thousand deaths per day for the next two months would bring the total number of American deaths to above 400,000, with plenty of devastation still ahead. Although coronavirus vaccinations will begin within a matter of weeks, the inoculations will not stem the viral tide in the near future. That means thousands more could die during the winter months, even as the end of the pandemic starts to come into view.

“It isn’t inevitable that that will happen,” said Fauci, a veteran of the HIV/AIDS epidemic whose previous dire predictions about the path of the coronavirus pandemic have come true. He said that people should not panic but ought instead to take basic precautions, such as seeing people outside the household in outdoor settings only and wearing masks.

“We can blunt the curve and blunt that trajectory, which is almost exponential,” he said. “It’s possible.” Fauci has been making that case more or less since the pandemic began, but he has routinely been undermined by President Trump, who has dismissed the coronavirus as a minor threat inflated by Democratic foes. He has turned face masks into an object of the divisive culture wars on which he thrives.

Fauci excoriated governors who have consistently downplayed the dangers of the coronavirus, even as thousands fall seriously ill and die in their states. The virus has proved a political challenge for elected leaders regardless of party, but Republican governors have, for the most part, been more reluctant than their Democratic counterparts to institute mask mandates or other restrictions that could slow the spread of the virus.

“It’s beyond stunning to me, it’s almost incomprehensible, how in places where you have the intensive care beds completely full,” Fauci said, “and intensive care patients needing to be housed in other places, and you have the possibility of pending shortages of staff — that in those same places they’re still saying it’s fake news, it’s a hoax.”

Speaking to Yahoo News on Monday, Fauci marveled at those who insisted on such an approach. “How could you possibly do that when it’s staring you right in the face in the place where you live?” he wondered. “That people are dying in intensive care units. I don’t get that. At all.”
_____

11-23-20  05:43pm - 1396 days #5
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There are a lot of sites that are offering deep discounts right now, calling it Black Friday deals.

RabbitsReviews.com (a sister site of the PU site) lists some of them.

TheBestPorn.com (another sister site, or at least run by the same management team, I guess) also lists some discounted sites.

Otherwise, if you click on a link from PU, rabbitsreviews, TheBestPorn sites, to go to a porn site, you can sometimes see a special discount that is not listed at PU, rabbitsreviews, or TheBestPorn.

For example, you hit the link to fullpornnetwork.com, and you see an offer of $60 for the first year.
The regular price for one year is $119.88.

So the discounts are out there. You just have to find the ones you are interested in.

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