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10-07-21  08:22am - 1078 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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Location: CA


After finding her mother is an alien, Joe Biden vows to deport both the girl and her mother.
Can the US Supreme Court step in to save the girl and her mother, or will the US Federal Government be allowed to follow in the steps of the Evil Emperor Palpatine?
Is Joe Biden really Palpatine with a face mask?
Stay tuned for further news updates.
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5-Year-Old Girl Thinks Her Mom Is An Alien After Finding Her Passport
September 28, 2021 / Humor / By Amelia Finefrock

This adorable 5-year-old was beyond upset when she found her mom’s passport. Why? Because she thought it meant she was an alien.

Shaakira Brandon posted a video on Sept. 20 of her 5-year-old daughter, Nala-Joye, crying over the passport at their home in Houston, Texas.

The image of a planet printed on the inside of the documentation is what left the little girl frightened as she believed it was planet Earth. Bradon believes the reaction is due to watching the film “Men in Black.”


In the science-fiction comedy films, Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith play two agents of a secret organization called the “Men in Black,” who monitor aliens living on Earth and hide their existence from humans.

“My daughter found my passport today & she thought it was paperwork to show I’m an alien,” Brandon wrote on Twitter. “Shoulda never let her watch (‘Men in Black’).”

“Why are you crying?” Brandon can be heard asking Nala-Joye in the video, who replies by opening up the passport to the page with the planet image.

“And what do you think that means?” Brandon asks her.

“You’re an alien!” Nala-Joye yelps through tears. Her mother then attempts to explain the images in the passport to her daughter in an effort to calm her child down.

The Twitter clip has since gone viral with. over2.7 million views, including one from Ed Soloman, the screenwriter of the first 1997 “Men in Black” film.

“My bad,” Solomon wrote in response to the video. “I’m sorry.”

Others were quick to jump in on the fun, with one user saying: “She should have told her that that makes her an half alien.”

Followed by: “This how I know I can’t have kids cuz I would have started speaking beep bop and trolling her harder lmaooooo.”

While others shamed the mom for not being more thoughtful of her actions.

“This is a prime example of the parents should be very careful with what they allow their children to watch. This child was very much upset and serious and could be affected for a very long time,” one user said.

While another commented: “Not really funny, this child is frightened; even if, through adult eyes, it seems absurd, she needs someone to reassure her.”

09-30-21  09:03am - 1085 days #6
LKLK (0)
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I was in the hospital for about 6 days.
Health issues.
Non-covid issues.
Weak, but getting better, and am now at home.
Hospital blocks all porn-related access to the internet.
Thanks for the concern.

09-18-21  07:43pm - 1097 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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Trump's Extra Secret Service Protection For Allies, Kids Cost Taxpayers $1.7 Million: Report
Mary Papenfuss
Fri, September 17, 2021, 9:32 PM


Former President Donald Trump’s order to extend Secret Service protection to key allies and all of his adult children cost taxpayers $1.7 million, The Washington Post reported Friday.

Secret Service protection once a president is out of office is typically provided for the former president and first lady for life, and for any children until they reach age 16.

But Trump ordered the protection provided for six months after he left office for all four of his adult children and their spouses. He also extended protection to former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former national security adviser Robert O’Brien.

Secret Service agents racked up costs trailing Trump’s wealthy adult children at “ski vacations, weekend houses, a resort in Cabo San Lucas, and business trips abroad,” the Post noted.

“Who wouldn’t enjoy continuing their free limo service and easy access to restaurant tables?” asked Jim Helminski, a former Secret Service executive. “Even if there was a credible risk to family and associates of Trump, these people are now private citizens who can afford to hire ... private security firms for their personal protection,” he told the Post.

The most jaw-dropping expenditures were the $52,000 spent to guard Mnuchin, a multimillionaire, during a trip in June to Israel to scout new business opportunities, followed by a trip to a conference in Qatar. Costs included $11,000 for agents’ rooms at Qatar’s St. Regis Doha, according to government spending records, the Post reported.

Mnuchin’s total Secret Service tab hit $479,000, and included $114,000 for rooms at a W Hotel in Los Angeles, Vanity Fair noted.

Mnuchin told the newspaper that he didn’t ask for the extra protection. But he was free to turn it down, which he didn’t, the Post noted.

No one else covered by extra protection responded to the Post’s requests for comment.

This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.

09-17-21  09:07am - 1098 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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I'm getting lots of porn sites discounts today.
I don't think it's a holiday.
So I don't know why the special discounts.
But check your inbox, or check the internet, to see lots of special discounts to porn sites.
Some of them are worth viewing.
LOL.

09-17-21  08:05am - 1098 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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I've been abused by cops, neighbors, and random people.
How can I claim my $500 million reward for abuse?
And this couple is willing to settle too cheap: The emotional damage suffered by the child, as well as the parents, is worth much more than $1 million.
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Lawsuit seeks $1M after Michigan teacher cuts girl's hair
Associated Press
September 17, 2021, 4:39 AM
This undated photo provided by Jimmy Hoffmeyer shows his daughter Jurnee Hoffmeyer before a classmate and a teacher cut her hair on separate occasions. Jimmy Hoffmeyer has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the school district, a librarian and a teacher assistant, Thursday, Sept. 16, 2021. The lawsuit alleges that the girl’s constitutional rights were violated, racial discrimination, ethnic intimidation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and assault and battery.(Jimmy Hoffmeyer via AP)

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. (AP) — The father of a 7-year-old Michigan girl whose hair was cut by a teacher without her parents’ permission has filed a $1 million lawsuit against the school district, a librarian and a teacher's assistant.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Grand Rapids against Mount Pleasant Public Schools, MLive.com reported. It alleges that the biracial girl’s constitutional rights were violated, racial discrimination, ethnic intimidation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and assault and battery.

Jimmy Hoffmeyer, who is Black and white, said that in March his daughter arrived home from Ganiard Elementary with much of the hair on one side of her head cut. Jurnee said a classmate used scissors to cut her hair on a school bus, Hoffmeyer told The Associated Press in April.

Two days after the bus incident — and after complaining to the principal and having Jurnee’s hair styled at a salon with an asymmetrical cut to make the differing lengths less obvious — Jurnee arrived home with the hair on the other side cut.

“I asked what happened and said ‘I thought I told you no child should ever cut your hair,’” Hoffmeyer said at the time. “She said ‘but dad, it was the teacher.’ The teacher cut her hair to even it out.”

Jurnee's mother is white. Hoffmeyer said the girl who cut Jurnee’s hair and the teacher who cut it are white.

The district “failed to properly train, monitor, direct, discipline, and supervise their employees, and knew or should have known that the employees would engage in the complained of behavior given the improper training, customs, procedures, and policies, and the lack of discipline that existed for employees,” according to the lawsuit.

In July, the Mount Pleasant Public Schools Board of Education said the staffer who cut Jurnee’s hair was reprimanded and an independent third-party investigation determined that despite “good intentions” of the worker who cut the girl’s hair, doing so without permission from her parents and without the knowledge of district administrators violated school policy.

Two other employees were aware of the incident but didn’t report it. All three employees have apologized, the board said.

The school board said the independent investigation found no racial bias and included interviews with district personnel, students and families and a review of video and photos, including posts on social media. District administrators also performed an internal review of the incident.

But Hoffmeyer said the district never questioned him or Jurnee. She now attends another school.

Amy Bond, Mount Pleasant Public Schools Board of Education president, said Thursday that the district has not received the complaint.

“We are confident that the facts will prevail given our district’s appropriate and aggressive response to the incident and the findings of the third-party investigation that was conducted,” Bond said in a statement. “We will aggressively defend against these baseless allegations in court and will not allow this to distract us from our mission to provide every child a world-class education that prepares them for college and careers.”

The district is located about 150 miles (241 kilometers) northwest of Detroit. About 4% of Mount Pleasant’s 25,000 residents are Black, according to the U.S. Census.

09-13-21  11:36am - 1102 days #3
LKLK (0)
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Originally Posted by careylowell:


I thought Bond fought Spectre and maxwell smart fought Chaos?


My bad.
Bond did fight Spectre.
I had a brain fart, and all the evil villains got mixed around.
That's why we need to keep our hard drives defragmented and in proper working order.
So we can keep up with the current situation.
I had a definite crush on Agent 99 back in the day.
LOL.

09-10-21  08:35am - 1105 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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Except when you have problems.
State Farm uses a loophole to deny coverage to Hurricane Ida victims.
State Farm says it will not pay homeowners who were not ordered to leave their homes due to the hurricane.
Says the homeowners should have stayed in their houses, even though it was dangerous to stay.
Says that no electricity, heat over 100 degrees Fahrenheit, are simply part of life.
Says that homeowners should tough out life's little problems.
But State Farm stands behind its people 100%, except when it doesn't.
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WH senior adviser blasts State Farm for using loophole to deny coverage to Hurricane Ida victims
Yahoo TV
Stephen Proctor
September 10, 2021, 12:45 AM


Cedric Richmond, senior adviser to President Biden, appeared Thursday on Don Lemon Tonight to speak about the devastation left by Hurricane Ida and the need for insurance companies to take care of their policyholders. While certain companies, like Allstate and USAA, have agreed to cover some additional costs, State Farm has reportedly refused to cover any extra costs for homeowners who were not under a mandatory evacuation order.

“We have companies like State Farm, and I call them by name, that have decided that they're still going to use that loophole or that technicality or fine print, to deny coverage,” Richmond said. “People left because it was a storm bigger than Katrina. Then it knocked out the power [for] over a million people and southern heat, 102, 105 heat advisories, and State Farm's position is that people could have went home and lived in that house.”

Biden urged insurance providers late last week to step up and cover extra costs without naming any companies, but Richmond specifically called out State Farm’s leadership.

“My opinion is that the CEOs and the leadership at State Farm would not stay in a house with damage, without power in 105-degree heat,” Richmond said, “and they should not expect Louisiana citizens or Mississippi citizens to do that.”

Richmond, a Louisiana native and former congressman from the state, also spoke about the financial hardships people in his home state are now facing.

“The amount of calls that I get from people who find themselves in a position of having to replace all the food in their refrigerator, pay for hotel rooms, pay for travel back home and pay for the food,” Richmond said, “this is not a game, this is real, and the money adds up.”

09-09-21  01:51pm - 1106 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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The Eternals were sent to Earth to protect us from Evil Villains.

Why didn't they protect us from Thanatos and his Evil Puppet, Donald Trump?
Did the Eternals fear that Trump would destroy planet Earth, if they admitted they voted for Joe Biden?

The Eternals movie will be released in theaters on November 5, 2021.
Unless there is a nuclear holocaust, that Donald Trump unleashes on the US nation, along with his buddies Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un of North Korea, and Vladimir Putin, Supreme Leader of Chaos (the Evil Clique that James Bond has been fighting for over 20 years).

I heard a rumor that the Black Widow was assassinated recently. But then I saw Scarlett Johansson on the red carpet strutting her stuff. You can't keep a good woman down.

09-07-21  03:50am - 1108 days #2
LKLK (0)
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I just saw a link for $5 for a first month sub to MetArt.
That's the lowest price I've ever seen for MetArt.
It's advertised as a Labor Day special, so I don't know if it's still available.
(I'm a current member of MetArt, so if I click on the link, I automatically enter the MetArt site, instead of seeing the offer details.)

09-06-21  11:55am - 1109 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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My hero, Aquaman Jason Momoa, defender of the free world from Commies, Ruskies, and any Hell-born Evil, has a new suit.
To protect his gloroious body from the slings and arrows of Evil-doers that want to destroy our hero.

Jason Momoa reveals new 'Aquaman' suit
Yahoo Movies
Erin Donnelly
September 5, 2021, 10:34 AM

Jason Momoa is going dark in the next Aquaman film — sartorially, at least.

On Sunday the 42-year-old action star showed off his new look for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which is currently in production ahead of its Dec. 2022 release date. While Momoa made a splash in gold and green for the 2018 DC Comics original, the sequel will see his aquatic action hero also sport a less colorful, more streamlined suit featuring scaly, dark teal material with steel-gray armor-like accents and built-in washboard abs — not that he needs them.

"Second round," Momoa wrote on Instagram, sharing his new costume alongside its splashier predecessor. "New suit. More action."

Director James Wan confirmed that the new "stealth suit" worn by Momoa's Aquaman/Arthur Curry is inspired by the blue suit the superhero wore in the 1980s. The filmmaker described the look as "Atlantean tech based on cephalopod’s camouflaging ability."

The svelte and somber update got praise from fellow action star Dwayne Johnson, whose young daughter is an Aquaman enthusiast.
"Hell yeah looking great," Johnson commented on Momoa's post, while actor Leslie Jordan couldn't resist quipping, "Come save me. It’s raining over here."

Meanwhile, Candyman star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who will play Black Manta in the upcoming film, teased his own look: "I know a suit that might give you a run, player!!"

Amber Heard, Patrick Wilson, Dolph Lundgren and Temuera Morrison will reprise their Aquaman roles in the sequel.

09-06-21  11:06am - 1109 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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I've seen some pretty good discounts for porn sites this weekend.
Rabbits Reviews has a link for a special to Nubiles Porn for $12.95 for the first month, recurring at $14.95.

There are plenty of other fine deals.
I wish that PU and Rabbits Reviews would create a page highlighting the best deals that was easy to scan, making it easy to see what's available, for those of us that want everything easy to see.
For the holiday specials that are here today, and gone tomorrow.

LOL.

09-03-21  10:58am - 1112 days #2
LKLK (0)
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I've read that younger people don't download and save files.
They stream files.
So if you want to be young and hip, go for the streaming option.
That saves buying hard drives and other storage devices that might soon be outdated as technology advances.

Me, I'm older, so I like the security and pride of "owning" things, even though the porn you download is not owned by you, but by the copyright holder.
LOL.

Porn is a hobby. Or in some cases an obsession.
I enjoy going through my porn stash and looking at the images.
So I think downloading is still worthwhile.
JMHO, of course.

08-31-21  10:14am - 1115 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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Beware, all you testosterone he-men.
She-Hulk, the femmy green monster, has been unleashed on the United States of America.
Will she triumph over do-gooders and evil-doers throughout the American landscape?

Will she kick butt if she ever meets the original hulk?
Or will it be love at first sight?

Enquiring minds want to know: is She-Hulk a villain, or a hero?

And what is the next Marvel Super-Duper-Thing to crawl out of the swamp?

08-30-21  04:11pm - 1116 days #3
LKLK (0)
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You need an expert to value anything old.
And then you have to depend he will give an honest opinion.

Vinyl records, VHS tapes, coins, whatever. They can be worth a fortune, or very little. I remember seeing a one-ounce China platinum coin listed on ebay for about $32,000, when the melt value was was around $1700.

08-29-21  04:26pm - 1117 days #15
LKLK (0)
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I'm sure there are a number of one-and-done girls that only appeared in one porn video. Or maybe if the model appeared in softcore photosets, that would be a different category.
Whatever.

You could start a thread on one-and-done models, but it would probably take a lot of time and effort to make such a list.
Because girls can have different names, depending on which sites they appear at.

Porn can be a tough business.
The models need to have teflon-skins, to put up with the abuse they probably get from within and outside the industry.

08-29-21  01:44pm - 1117 days #2
LKLK (0)
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Off Topic:
This has nothing to do with your request.
But "The Last American Virgin", released in 1982, was an interesting and enjoyable teen sex comedy.
Starring Diane Franklin and Lawrence Monoson.
Teen angst, but done in a believable manner.

08-29-21  01:17pm - 1117 days #13
LKLK (0)
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I can't disagree with you on the one-and-done policy.
But that's the policy of some sites.
However, for the models that are really special, or have an excellent premiere, I wish the sites would have the girls back.

There was one video at this site I really liked.
The model was Erin.
A cute blonde.
I think she only appeared at maybe one other porn site.
So some of these models have a very short porn career.

08-28-21  03:33am - 1118 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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Parents must pay $30,441 for getting rid of son's porn cache
Associated Press
August 27, 2021, 1:20 PM


GRAND HAVEN, Mich. (AP) — A judge has ordered a western Michigan couple to pay $30,441 to their son for getting rid of his pornography collection.

U.S. District Judge Paul Maloney's decision this week came eight months after David Werking, 43, won a lawsuit against his parents.

He said they had no right to throw out his collection of films, magazines and other items. Werking had lived at their Grand Haven home for 10 months after a divorce before moving to Muncie, Indiana.

The judge followed the value set by an expert, MLive.com reported. Werking's parents also must pay $14,500 to their son's attorney.

After moving to Indiana, Werking learned that his possessions were missing.

“Frankly, David, I did you a big favor getting rid of all this stuff," his dad said in an email.

08-19-21  07:07pm - 1127 days #4
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The article states Only Fans is trying to raise money from outside investors.
Only Fans is currently trying to establish a value of $1 billion or more.

I assume that Only Fans is probably extremely profitable.
The loss of porn revenue will hit revenues and any profits, but remember, Amazon went for many years without showing any earnings, and was still valued in the billions.
So the chances of Only Fans declaring bankruptcy in the near future (without any hard details on the company's finances) are slim to none, is my guess.

So fuck the sex workers, because Only Fans figures they will make more money and have less problems without the sex.

08-19-21  01:19pm - 1127 days #2
LKLK (0)
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Can the affected accounts movie to PornHub or a different tube site, at the same fee structure or lower?
That seems to be the easiest solution for the upcoming change.
If Only Fans doesn't want their money, why stay at Only Fans?

08-16-21  07:01pm - 1130 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
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Ryan Reynolds reveals that his "Mr. Nice Guy" image is a facade.
Inside his body and soul lies a dangerous monster that will destroy innocent people without a second's hesitation.

He recently revealed that one of his favorite acts is to bury his own daughter up to her neck in the sand at an unnamed beach. The beach is unnamed, because he doesn't want anyone to find his daughter before he can come back to claim her body.

LAPD and the sheriff's department are cooperating in their investigations into the behavior of this formerly adored movie star.
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https://graziamagazine.com/articles/blak...y-ryan-reynolds-shy/


Blake Lively says she and Ryan Reynolds are “really shy people”

Entertainment celebrity

By Erin Van Der Meer

Blake Lively says she and Ryan Reynolds are “really shy people”
She says the actor couple find being famous “very weird emotionally”

Successful, attractive and by all accounts happy: from the outside, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds seem like the most confident couple you could imagine.

But according to Lively, that’s not necessarily the case.

The actress has confessed to US Glamour there’s more to she and Reynolds than meets the eye – they’re actually both quite shy.

“We’re really shy people who express ourselves best when we’re acting, when we’re hiding as someone else,” the 29-year-old The Shallows star said.

“So the fact that very shy people have to share that shy person with the world—and are sometimes hurt by it—it’s very weird emotionally,” she explained.

But not wanting to be accused of being ignorant of her privilege, Lively was sure to add that her and Ryan’s issues are “champagne problems.”

Blake also dropped a bombshell for fans of Reynolds often darkly comic tweets that sometimes talk about their daughters James and Ines: they’re totally made up.

“When he says ‘my daughter,’ he’s never, ever talking about her,” Blake explained.

“Everything is a completely made-up scenario. He’ll run them by me sometimes just to make me laugh. But oh, I’m so in love with him when he writes that stuff. I mean, I’m in love with him most of the time, but especially with that.”

A recent update from the Green Lantern star read “My daughter loves being buried up to her neck in sand at the beach. Her little face lights up when I come back to get her the next day.”

It’s unlikely anybody thought that one was for real, but thanks for clarifying anyway, Blake.


© 2021 Mondadori Media S.p.A. All rights reserved.

08-12-21  11:52am - 1134 days Original Post - #1
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12 August 2021
by Zack Sharf
Indiewire

‘Venom: Let There Be Carnage’ Delayed Three Weeks, Becomes First Fall Tentpole to Move
Sony is moving “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” from September 24 to October 15 as the delta variant of the Covid-19 pandemic continues to increase cases and hospitalizations across the country. Will the “Venom” sequel be the first domino to fall and set off a chain reaction of release delays? It’s a question the industry is surely asking now that “Let There Be Carnage” has been delayed by three weeks. Marvel and Disney’s “Shang-Chi” remains set for a theatrical release September 3, while the James Bond tentpole “No Time to Die” remains set for October 8. The “Venom 2” move to October 15 puts it on the same date as Universal’s launch of “Halloween Kills.”

“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” is the latest directorial effort from motion capture genius Andy Serkis. A sequel to the critically-panned but hugely successful 2018 comic book tentpole “Venom,” which earned over $800 million at the worldwide box office.

08-08-21  04:23am - 1138 days #2
LKLK (0)
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Slayed.com
A new lesbian site from the Blacked/Vixen/Tushy people.
Should be a high-gloss site with plenty of glam models and high production values.

08-05-21  05:41am - 1141 days #15
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Donald Trump, guilty of under-reporting the value of gifts he received as President of the United States.
While President, Trump received gifts from foreign leaders.
Some of the gifts were photographs or portraits of himself that collectively were valued at more than $10,000.
That is a case of blatant under-reporting of foreign gifts.
Obviously, a portrait of Trump is priceless.
Who would not want to have a photo or portrait of our glorious Leader-For-Life-Of-Trumpland?
Such images are worth millions. Or billions.
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Pompeo got $5,800 whisky gift from Japan. Where is it?
AOL Associated Press
MATTHEW LEE
August 4, 2021, 6:55 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) — The State Department said Wednesday it’s looking into the apparent disappearance of a nearly $6,000 bottle of whisky given more than two years ago to then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo by the government of Japan. Pompeo knows nothing about the gift or an inquiry, a representative said.

In a notice filed in the Federal Register, the department said it could find no trace of the bottle’s whereabouts and that there is an “ongoing inquiry” into what happened to the booze. The department reported the investigation in its annual accounting of gifts given to senior U.S. officials by foreign governments and leaders.

The department's Office of Protocol is required to record gifts given to U.S. officials and keep track of their disposition. Recipients have the option of turning gifts of a certain value over to the National Archives or another government entity or purchasing them for personal use by reimbursing the Treasury Department for their value.

The Japanese whisky was valued at $5,800 and was presented to Pompeo in June 2019, presumably when he visited the country that month for a Group of 20 summit that was also attended by President Donald Trump. But unlike other gifts, the department said there was no record of what had become of the bottle.

“The department is looking into the matter and has an ongoing inquiry,” it said in the Federal Register notice. The notice offered no additional detail. A representative for Pompeo said Pompeo “has no knowledge of the gift and has not been contacted by anyone regarding an investigation of it.”

Pompeo also reported receiving two carpets worth a total of $19,400 from the president of Kazakhstan and the foreign minister of the United Arab Emirates. Both floor coverings were transferred to the General Services Administration, the notice said.

The filing said Trump and his wife, Melania, received more than $120,000 worth of presents from foreign leaders in 2019, compared with $88,200 the year before. In Trump's first year in office, in 2017, they reported receiving more than $140,000 in gifts.

There was no significant common theme to the 2019 gifts. At least three foreign leaders — from Australia, Egypt and Vietnam — presented Trump with photographs or portraits of himself that collectively were valued at more than $10,000.

Trump received a painting of himself on “dual pane glass” from then-Vietnamese President Nguyen Phu Trong that was worth an estimated $5,250, according to the filing. It also says Trump got a “large double frame carved from black stone with image of President Donald J. Trump in precious metal on one side and the coat of arms of Egypt on the reverse” worth $4,450 from Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison gave Trump a framed photo of himself and his wife worth $470.

Other more expensive gifts Trump received included an Ottoman Empire rifle valued at $8,500 from the prime minister of Bulgaria, a bronze sculpture of an Arabian horse from the crown prince of Bahrain worth $7,200 and a gold, onyx, emerald and diamond statue of an Arabian oryx worth $6,300 from the emir of Qatar.

All of those gifts, including the portraits and photograph, were turned over to the National Archives, according to the report.

Another significant recipient of gifts was now-retired Gen. Joseph Votel, commander of U.S. Central Command until March 2019; that command oversees American military operations in the Middle East. The government of Qatar lavished Votel with nearly $37,000 in luxury watches in 2019, including one Rolex timepiece valued at $14,995, according to the report. Votel turned those watches over to the GSA.

08-05-21  05:11am - 1141 days #14
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White woman had no choice but to call police for protection against black man who was threatening her life.
The black man had dog treats for the woman's dog.
The black man was trying to seduce the woman's dog, and then he would probably have attacked the woman with the bike helmet he had in his hand.
Bike helmets can be used to kill.
The black man was not charged with possession of a murder weapon, because he did not have the opportunity of killing the woman, before the police arrived.
But he might have done it anyway, if the woman hadn't been brave enough to call the cops.
Be prepared!
This woman deserves a medal for knowing the evil that lurks in the hearts of men.

Better safe than sorry.
Whites against black violence.
We shall overcome.
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White woman in viral video says she had no choice but to call police on Black bird-watcher
NBC Universal
Wilson Wong
August 4, 2021, 8:59 AM

The white woman who was recorded on video calling police to claim that a Black bird-watcher was threatening her in New York City's Central Park last year said she felt she was backed into a corner.

In Tuesday's episode of "Honestly," a podcast by former New York Times writer Bari Weiss, the woman, Amy Cooper, said she had no other choice but to call 911 when the bird-watcher, Christian Cooper, offered her dog a treat after he asked her to keep the pooch on a leash.

"He's holding these dog treats in one hand and a bike helmet in his other hand, and I'm thinking, 'Oh, my God, is this guy going to lure my dog over and try to hit him with his bike helmet?'" she told podcaster Kmele Foster. "And if I end up over there, am I going to get hit by this bike helmet?"

Tuesday's interview was a departure from her initial remarks after video of the encounter on May 25, 2020, recorded by Christian Cooper, went viral and drew widespread outrage as an example of police being called on an African American who was not committing any crime. Amy Cooper said then that she overreacted and was sorry.

She told NBC New York at the time: "When I think about the police, I'm such a blessed person. I've come to realize, especially today, that I think of [the police] as a protection agency, and unfortunately, this has caused me to realize that there are so many people in this country that don't have that luxury."

On the podcast, however, she said, "I don't know that as a woman alone in a park that I had another option" but to call police.

Christian Cooper declined to comment about Amy Cooper's latest remarks. He has previously said that he approached to ask her to put her dog on a leash, which is the policy for the Ramble area of Central Park. He said he is often in the Ramble and asks for dogs to be leashed to preserve the area's environment and wildlife. He added that he carries treats with him to get owners to leash their dogs, "because they don't want their dog eating treats" from a stranger.

In video shared on social media by Christian Cooper's sister and viewed by millions, Amy Cooper could be heard saying: "I'm taking a picture and calling the cops. I'm going to tell them there's an African American man threatening my life."

NBC News does not know what happened before the recording begins.

After the incident went viral, Amy Cooper was fired by the investment management company Franklin Templeton and charged with falsely reporting an incident in the third degree. Prosecutors dropped the case in February after she completed five "psychoeducation and therapy" sessions that helped her "appreciate that racial identities shape our lives" and that "we cannot use them to harm ourselves or others," Assistant District Attorney Joan Illuzzi said.

Illuzzi added: "Mr. Cooper did not wish to participate in the criminal justice process, but we determined that the defendant's offense wasn't solely against one individual but was a threat to the community if allowed to go unchecked.

"The simple principle is that one cannot use the police to threaten another and, in this case, in a racially offensive and charged manner," she said. "Given the issues at hand and Ms. Cooper's lack of criminal background, we offered her, consistent with our position on many misdemeanor cases involving a first arrest, an alternative, restorative justice resolution, designed not just to punish but to educate and promote community healing."

In May, Amy Cooper sued her former employer, alleging that the company did not properly consider her fear for personal safety before it fired her. She also alleged in the federal complaint that Franklin Templeton terminated her based on her race and gender while failing to properly investigate the incident, which made national headlines.

Franklin Templeton has previously characterized the lawsuit's claims as "baseless."

08-04-21  11:49pm - 1142 days #13
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Mexico needs to speak with Donald Trump.
Trump stated that when a shooter killed school children in an unprovoked attack, that he wouldn't need a gun: he would run in and take down the shooter himself, without a gun.

On February, 2018, President Trump said he would have run in to the Florida high school where 17 people were shot dead even if he was not armed.

"I really believe I'd run in there even if I didn't have a weapon," Mr Trump told a group of state governors gathered at the White House.

Mr Trump also said it was "disgusting" that officers reportedly did not confront the suspect on 14 February.

So stop giving guns to cops, who use them to kill people.
Cops with guns are dangerous.
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Mexico sues US gun manufacturers over arms trafficking toll
AOL Associated Press
E. EDUARDO CASTILLO
August 4, 2021, 1:30 PM


MEXICO CITY (AP) — The Mexican government sued United States gun manufacturers and distributors Wednesday in U.S. federal court, arguing that their negligent and illegal commercial practices have unleashed tremendous bloodshed in Mexico.

The unusual lawsuit was filed in U.S. federal court in Boston. Among those being sued are some of the biggest names in guns, including: Smith & Wesson Brands, Inc.; Barrett Firearms Manufacturing, Inc.; Beretta U.S.A. Corp.; Colt’s Manufacturing Company LLC, and Glock Inc. Another defendant is Interstate Arms, a Boston-area wholesaler that sells guns from all but one of the named manufacturers to dealers around the U.S.

The manufacturers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Mexican government argues that the companies know that their practices contribute to the trafficking of guns to Mexico and facilitate it. Mexico wants compensation for the havoc the guns have wrought in its country.

The Mexican government “brings this action to put an end to the massive damage that the Defendants cause by actively facilitating the unlawful trafficking of their guns to drug cartels and other criminals in Mexico,” the lawsuit said.

The government estimates that 70% of the weapons trafficked to Mexico come from the U.S., according to the Foreign Affairs Ministry. And that in 2019 alone, at least 17,000 homicides were linked to trafficked weapons.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, the U.S. firearm industry’s trade association, said in a statement that it rejected Mexico’s allegations of negligence.

“These allegations are baseless. The Mexican government is responsible for the rampant crime and corruption within their own borders,” said Lawrence G. Keane, the group's senior vice president and general counsel. The Mexican government is responsible for enforcing its laws, he said.

The group also took issue with Mexico’s figures for the number of guns recovered at crime scenes and traced back to the U.S. It said that traces were attempted on only a fraction of the recovered guns and only on the ones carrying a serial number, making them more likely to have originated in the U.S.

Alejandro Celorio, legal advisor for the ministry, told reporters Wednesday that the damage caused by the trafficked guns would be equal to 1.7% to 2% of Mexico’s gross domestic product. The government will seek at least $10 billion in compensation, he said. Mexico's GDP last year was more than $1.2 trillion.

“We don’t do it to pressure the United States,” Celorio said. “We do it so there aren’t deaths in Mexico.”

Ebrard said the lawsuit was another piece of the government’s efforts against guns. “The priority is that we reduce homicides,” he said. “We aren’t looking to change American laws.”

Mexico did not seek the advice of the U.S. government on the matter, but advised the U.S. Embassy before filing the lawsuit.

Steve Shadowen, the lead attorney representing Mexico, said that in the early 2000s about 30 U.S. cities brought similar litigation against gun manufacturers arguing that they should be responsible for increased police, hospitalization and other costs associated with gun violence.

As some cities started winning, gun manufacturers went to Congress and got an immunity statute for the manufacturers. Shadowen said he believes that immunity doesn’t apply when the injury occurs outside the United States.

“The merits of the case are strongly in our favor and then we have to get around this immunity statute which we think we’re going to win," he said. "That statute just simply doesn’t apply. It only applies when you’re in the United States.”

He said he believes it is the first time a foreign government has sued the gun manufacturers.

The sale of firearms is severely restricted in Mexico and controlled by the Defense Department. But thousands of guns are smuggled into Mexico by the country’s powerful drug cartels.

There were more than 36,000 murders in Mexico last year, and the toll has remained stubbornly high despite President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's pledge to pacify the country. Mexico’s nationwide murder rate in 2020 remained unchanged at 29 per 100,000 inhabitants. By comparison, the U.S. homicide rate in 2019 was 5.8 per 100,000.

In August 2019, a gunmen killed 23 people in an El Paso Walmart, including some Mexican citizens. At that time, Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said the government would explore its legal options. The government said Wednesday that recent rulings in U.S. courts contributed to its decision to file the lawsuit.

It cited a decision in California allowing a lawsuit against Smith & Wesson to move forward, a lawsuit filed last week against Century Arms related to a 2019 shooting in Gilroy, California, and the $33 million settlement reached by Remington with some of the families whose children were killed in the Newtown, Connecticut, mass school shooting.

08-04-21  12:09am - 1143 days Original Post - #1
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32 TB of storage for $1500.
That should allow most of us to store enough porn to last a few years.
Unless you're into 4K or 6K definition, which cuts down the number of files you can store on most systems.

I think 720p definition is fine for most 27" monitors.
But if you have the real high definition equipment, I can see why people might go for 4K or 6K.
But that is out of my budget.
LOL.

On Amazon for $1500. Probably other sources as well.

08-03-21  11:45pm - 1143 days #12
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Missouri governor pardons gun-waving St. Louis lawyer couple
AOL Associated Press
JIM SALTER
August 3, 2021, 6:18 PM


O'FALLON, Mo. (AP) — Missouri Gov. Mike Parson announced Tuesday that he made good on his promise to pardon a couple who gained notoriety for pointing guns at social justice demonstrators as they marched past the couple's home in a luxury St. Louis enclave last year.

Parson, a Republican, on Friday pardoned Mark McCloskey, who pleaded guilty in June to misdemeanor fourth-degree assault and was fined $750, and Patricia McCloskey, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor harassment and was fined $2,000.

“Mark McCloskey has publicly stated that if he were involved in the same situation, he would have the exact same conduct,” the McCloskeys' lawyer Joel Schwartz said Tuesday. “He believes that the pardon vindicates that conduct.”

The McCloskeys, both lawyers in their 60s, said they felt threatened by the protesters, who were passing their home in June 2020 on their way to demonstrate in front of the mayor's house nearby in one of hundreds of similar demonstrations around the country after George Floyd's death. The couple also said the group was trespassing on a private street.

Mark McCloskey emerged from his home with an AR-15-style rifle, and Patricia McCloskey waved a semiautomatic pistol, according to the indictment. Photos and cellphone video captured the confrontation, which drew widespread attention and made the couple heroes to some and villains to others. No shots were fired, and no one was hurt.

Special prosecutor Richard Callahan said his investigation determined that the protesters were peaceful.

"There was no evidence that any of them had a weapon and no one I interviewed realized they had ventured onto a private enclave,” Callahan said in a news release after the McCloskeys pleaded guilty.

Several Republican leaders — including then-President Donald Trump — spoke out in defense of the McCloskeys’ actions. The couple spoke on video at last year's Republican National Convention.

Mark McCloskey, who announced in May that he was running for a U.S. Senate seat in Missouri, was unapologetic after the plea hearing.

“I’d do it again,” he said from the courthouse steps in downtown St. Louis. “Any time the mob approaches me, I’ll do what I can to put them in imminent threat of physical injury because that’s what kept them from destroying my house and my family." He echoed those comments in a statement issued Tuesday by his campaign and added: "Today we are incredibly thankful that Governor Mike Parson righted this wrong and granted us pardons.”

Because the charges were misdemeanors, the McCloskeys did not face the possibility of losing their law licenses or their rights to own firearms.

The McCloskeys were indicted by a grand jury in October on felony charges of the unlawful use of a weapon and evidence tampering. Callahan later amended the charges to give jurors the alternative of convictions of misdemeanor harassment instead of the weapons charge.

Parson’s legal team has been working through a backlog of clemency requests for months.

He hasn't yet taken action on longtime inmate Kevin Strickland, who several prosecutors now say is innocent of a 1978 Kansas City triple homicide. Parson could pardon Strickland, but he has said he’s not convinced he is innocent.

Missouri's Democratic leader contrasted Parson's treatment of Strickland's case with the McCloskeys in bitter denunciations of the governor's action.

“It is beyond disgusting that Mark and Patricia McCloskey admitted they broke the law and within weeks are rewarded with pardons, yet men like Kevin Strickland, who has spent more than 40 years in prison for crimes even prosecutors now say he didn’t commit, remain behind bars with no hope of clemency,” Missouri House Democratic Minority Leader Crystal Quade said in a statement.

Democratic state Rep. LaKeySha Bosley said, “The governor’s stunt ominously underscores that under his watch, justice belongs only to the privileged elite in this state.”

_____

Associated Press writer Summer Ballentine contributed to this story from Columbia, Missouri.

08-03-21  10:15am - 1143 days #11
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Olympics bans swim caps designed for blacks.
Says that regular caps are good enough for white people, they are good enough for black people.
Why give unfair advantage to black people who might wear swim caps designed for them?
Make America great again.
Let white people go the the Olympics.
Who needs people of color?
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Ban on 'Soul Caps' sparks concern about swimming's lack of inclusivity
Yahoo Sports
Jeff Eisenberg
August 1, 2021, 11:13 AM


When she competes in next week's women's 10k marathon swim, the first Black female swimmer on Great Britain's Olympic team won't have on the swim caps that she endorses.

Swimming's international governing body has forbidden Alice Dearing from wearing them during the Tokyo Games.

The British brand Soul Cap designed swim caps for “thick, curly and voluminous hair” in hopes of encouraging more Black women to begin swimming and making a majority-white sport more inclusive. FINA last month rejected Soul Cap’s attempt to gain approval for use at the Olympics and questioned the need for such a product.

In its decision, FINA said the caps did not fit “the natural form of the head.” The governing body insisted that to its “best knowledge, the athletes competing at the international events never used, neither require to use caps of such size and configuration.”

On July 2, FINA subsequently announced it is “reviewing the situation.” The governing body pledged to include Soul Cap in “initiatives aimed at ensuring there are no barriers to participation in swimming.”

When the Olympics began nine days ago, 14 U.S. senators signed a letter to the president of FINA demanding "immediate action. The letter called on Husain Al-Musallam to reverse a ban on the caps designed for natural Black hair.
Swimmer Alice Dearing models a Soul Cap swim cap. (Via SoulCap.com)
Swimmer Alice Dearing models a Soul Cap swim cap. (Via SoulCap.com)

“This is an opportunity for FINA to realize its stated commitment to inclusivity and to begin to address issues of diversity and representation in competitive swimming,” the letter stated. “It is actions such as these that can move us toward the vision of a more fair and equitable society.”

Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey led the letter to FINA. Booker’s letter follows on the heels of a similar one that Congresswomen Bonnie Watson Coleman and Barbara Lee wrote to FINA the previous week.

“This is an incredibly clear example of the ways in which systemic racism impacts every facet of life for black people, especially black women,” Lee said in a press release. “We are urging that FINA take steps to reform this discriminatory policy and align themselves with the intended spirit of inclusion and diversity the Olympic games represent.”

Concerns about FINA’s stance stem from swimming’s history of racial inequality. A study published last year in the International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education links “a systematic exclusion from public pools” with Black children being 2.6 times more likely to drown than white children.

The disparity at the Olympic level is even more stark. It wasn’t until Simone Manuel in 2016 that an African-American woman won a gold medal in an individual swimming event.

In its July 2 statement, FINA countered that “there is no restriction on 'Soul Cap' swim caps for recreational and teaching purposes.” Since then, prominent Black swimmers have pushed for the caps to also be approved for competitive use.

08-03-21  07:58am - 1143 days #10
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Trump fighting to keep his tax returns private.
Says the tax he pays, and the money he makes, is private.
And no one is allowed to know his business.
That's a secret, that only Trump can know.
Even though he vowed many times to release his tax returns to the public.
Guess you can't depend on Trump to follow through with his promises.
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Trump to object to release of tax returns - lawyer
Reuters
Jan Wolfe
August 3, 2021

(Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump will challenge a recent U.S. Justice Department order that his tax returns should be turned over to a House of Representatives committee, one of his personal lawyers signaled on Monday.

"There is no evidence of any wrongdoing here and I object to the release of the returns not only on behalf of my client but on behalf of all future holders of the Office of the President of the United States," said Trump lawyer Ronald Fischetti in a statement.

"This politicization and harassment of Mr. Trump is uncalled for and outrageous," Fischetti said, adding that he had "never seen anything like this" in his career as a lawyer.

The Justice Department on Friday ordered the Internal Revenue Service to hand over Trump's tax returns to a House committee, saying the panel has offered "sufficient reasons" for requesting the material.

House Democrats have said they need Trump's tax returns to see if the IRS is properly auditing presidential tax returns in general and to assess whether new legislation is needed.

The order marked a reversal for the Justice Department. In 2019, when Trump was still in office, the department's Office of Legal Counsel declared that the request for his taxes by the Democratic-led House Ways and Means Committee was based on a "disingenuous" objective aimed at exposing them to the public.

Unlike other recent presidents, Trump did not publicly disclose his tax returns.

In 2019, the House Ways and Means Committee filed a lawsuit in hopes of forcing the Trump administration to comply with its request for the tax returns.

That lawsuit, which is still pending, provides a vehicle for Trump to argue that the Justice Department's order from last week is unlawful.

U.S. District Court Judge Trevor McFadden, who is hearing the case, has given Trump and his lawyers a Wednesday deadline for explaining their view of how the case should proceed.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe; Additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis)

08-02-21  10:21am - 1144 days #3
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Rudy Giuliani says he was working for the Son of God to protect Donald Trump.

He says evil Democrats are trying to bring down Donald Trump, God's choice to lead Americans back to greatness.
And that Giuliana is willing to sacrifice himself for God's glory, to fight these evil Democrats.
Glory be to Rudy Guiliani, and to Donald Trump, who will make America great again.
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Giuliani says he's willing to go to jail but those who put him there will have to suffer 'consequences in heaven'
Tom Porter
Sun, August 1, 2021, 9:16 AM·3 min read

Rudy Giuliani said he's willing to go to jail but those who put him there would suffer "consequences in heaven."

Giuliani is entangled in legal woes over his work as Donald Trump's personal attorney.

Giuliani has denied he committed any crimes while working for Trump.



Rudy Giuliani, who faces legal jeopardy for his work as Donald Trump's personal attorney, said he has committed no crime but is "more than willing" to go to jail.

The former New York City mayor was interviewed last week by a local NBC News station about the forthcoming 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

In the interview, Giuliani veered off-topic to discuss more recent issues, including the federal investigation into allegations that he failed to register as an agent for pro-Russian Ukrainians while pushing damaging claims about President Joe Biden back in 2019.

Giuliani's bid to smear Biden and his son, Hunter, over their work in Ukraine resulted in Trump's first impeachment.

"I committed no crime," said Giuliani. "And if you think I did commit a crime, you're probably really stupid because you don't know who I am."

"As the guy who put the mafia in jail, terrorists in jail, put [former mayor] Ed Koch's commissioners in jail and the worst people on Wall Street, I'm not going to file [as an agent]?" Giuliani asked, referring to several of the most famous cases he pursued as a prosecutor before his political career.

He also said he was "more than willing to go to jail if they want to put me in jail. And if they do, they're going to suffer the consequences in heaven. I'm not. I didn't do anything wrong."

When asked why he would be willing to go to jail if he is not guilty, Giuliani replied, "Because they lie, they cheat."

He alleges that Democrats accused of serious wrongdoing, including New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, had been given lenient treatment.

08-02-21  09:52am - 1144 days Original Post - #1
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Republican scientists, the only scientists you can trust to give you the truth, report that the Covid virus was developed and targeted to bring down President Donald Trump.
Trump fought to keep America safe and drug free.
But evil Communists from China, a foreign nation, were able to send a virus to the United States on the backs of Mexicans entering the United States illegally.
That is why Trump was trying to build a wall: to keep out these illegal Mexicans, who were being used by the evil Chinese to infect Americans.
But foolish Democrats stopped Trump from building his wall. The wall that would have kept us safe from the Covid epidemic that killed over 600,000 Americans.
That's why Trump was forced out of the White House.
Trump really won the 2020 election.
But evil Democrats used fake ballots and dead persons voting to put Joe Biden, a ruthless and loyal acolyte of the Dark Lord Barack Obama, as head of our glorious nation.
Long live Donald Trump, God's personal leader of the United States of Trumpland.
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U.S. Republican report says coronavirus leaked from Chinese lab; scientists still probing origins
Reuters
August 2, 2021, 4:37 AM
Scroll back up to restore default view.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A preponderance of evidence proves the virus that caused the COVID-19 pandemic leaked from a Chinese research facility, said a report by U.S. Republicans released on Monday, a conclusion that U.S. intelligence agencies have not reached.

The report also cited "ample evidence" that Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) scientists - aided by U.S. experts and Chinese and U.S. government funds - were working to modify coronaviruses to infect humans and such manipulation could be hidden.

Representative Mike McCaul, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, released the report by the panel's Republican staff. It urged a bipartisan investigation into the origins of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic that has killed 4.4 million people worldwide. (Graphic on global cases and deaths) https://tmsnrt.rs/34pvUyi

China denies a genetically modified coronavirus leaked from the facility in Wuhan - where the first COVID-19 cases were detected in 2019 - a leading but unproven theory among some experts. Beijing also denies allegations of a cover-up.

Other experts suspect the pandemic was caused by an animal virus likely transmitted to humans at a seafood market near the WIV.

"We now believe it's time to completely dismiss the wet market as the source," said the report. "We also believe the preponderance of the evidence proves the virus did leak from the WIV and that it did so sometime before September 12, 2019."

The report cited what it called new and under-reported information about safety protocols at the lab, including a July 2019 request for a $1.5 million overhaul of a hazardous waste treatment system for the facility, which was less than two years old.

In April, the top U.S. intelligence agency said it concurred with the scientific consensus that the virus was not man-made or genetically modified.

U.S. President Joe Biden in May ordered U.S. intelligence agencies to accelerate their hunt for the origins of the virus and report back in 90 days.

A source familiar with current intelligence assessments said the U.S. intelligence community has not reached any conclusion whether the virus came from animals or the WIV.

(Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

08-01-21  06:11pm - 1145 days #9
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Republicans slammed for saying it's OK to hit on Nancy Pelosi.
Pelosi is a Democrat, and any thinking person knows it's fine to knock Democrats to the ground and pulverize them. Democrats are scum, especially the women Democrats, who give birth to evil Democrat babies from Hell.
So go ahead and make America great again, by burying a few Democrats in the back yard. Preferably, the back yard of a Democrat. You wouldn't want to lower the resale value of your own house by having any Democrats buried on your property.
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McCarthy slammed for joking 'it would be hard not to hit' Pelosi with a gavel
NBC Universal
Leigh Ann Caldwell and Teaganne Finn and Haley Talbot
August 1, 2021, 2:48 PM

WASHINGTON — Democrats blasted House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for saying “it will be hard to not hit” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi with a gavel if he becomes speaker.

McCarthy, R-Calif., made the comments Saturday night at a Tennessee Republican Party fundraiser, where he was handed an oversized gavel by members of the state's Republican members of Congress.

“I want you to watch Nancy Pelosi hand me that gavel. ... It’ll be hard not to hit her with it," he said, according to audio posted on Twitter by Main Street Nashville.

A spokesman for McCarthy said he was “obviously joking.”

McCarthy and Pelosi, D-Calif., have been feuding over appointments to the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and the reinstatement of a mask mandate in the House after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued new guidance.

McCarthy and other Republican members have spoken out against the rules, and many are refusing to wear masks. Pelosi called McCarthy a “moron” last week over his comments that the new requirement wasn't supported by science.

McCarthy responded by telling reporters, “Well, if she’s so brilliant, can she tell me where the science in the building changes between the House and the Senate?" — referring to the lack of a mandate in the latter chamber.

In response to McCarthy's gavel remarks, Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, tweeted, “A threat of violence to someone who was a target of a #January6th assassination attempt from your fellow Trump supporters is irresponsible and disgusting.”

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., demanded an apology, saying, "Violence against women is no laughing matter."

And Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., went further, saying McCarthy should resign.

Following the CDC's announcement of the new mask guidance last week, the attending physician of Congress, Dr. Brian Monahan, said in an alert to House members that people are required to wear masks again inside the chamber and office buildings and at committee meetings. He sent a similar letter to Senate leaders recommending that senators and staff members wear masks indoors on Capitol Hill.

07-31-21  10:50am - 1146 days Original Post - #1
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Police arrest woman after finding 2 dead children inside car
AOL Associated Press
July 30, 2021, 6:46 PM


BALTIMORE (AP) — A 33-year-old Maryland woman with temporary custody of her young niece and nephew has been charged with child abuse that resulted in their deaths after officers found their severely malnourished bodies stuffed in the trunk of her car, according to charging documents.

A Friday police statement said the two dead children are siblings and Nicole Johnson, 33, was their aunt. They identified the youngsters as Joshlyn Johnson, 7, and Larry O’Neil, 5. A statement of probable cause said the severely decomposed body of the girl was found to weigh just 18 pounds. The boy was only 21 pounds at the time of his autopsy.

Doctors reported it "would have taken several months of malnourishment to attain these weights," according to the charging documents.

Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt issued a statement calling the crime “atrocious.” Baltimore County Executive Johnny Olszewski Jr.'s statement calls it a “horrific and a heartbreaking loss of life.”

Johnson faces numerous charges, including neglect and first degree child abuse that resulted in the deaths of children under the age of 13. No attorney was listed in court documents to comment on her behalf.

Specifics of the case outlined in a statement of probable cause are chilling. Law enforcers stopped Johnson's speeding car just after 11 p.m. Wednesday on a major thoroughfare in the town of Essex, police said. They allege that the 2008 Ford Focus had fake temporary tags and was found to be unregistered and uninsured. When an officer told Johnson that she had to report to court within five days for the various infractions, she reportedly told them she wouldn't be around and they would see her making her “big debut” on the news.

When she was told her car would be towed and she could remove any personal belongings, she then removed a tote bag and something wrapped in a trash bag from the trunk. The officer reported smelling a powerful stench.

When the officer saw maggots in the trash bag and discovered the decomposing body of a young child, Johnson allegedly attempted to run away. She was swiftly caught and detectives say they found the other child's body in a tote bag.

According to the charging documents, she initially told officers she had no idea the bodies of her niece and nephew were in the trunk. She thought the stench was from a “rat in the engine,” officers wrote. She later told investigators that she was staying at a motel when she hit the girl. The child hit her head, and Johnson put the body in a suitcase and carried it around in the car “for many months,” the charging documents state.

Some two months ago, according to the charging documents, the other child was “tired,” went to lie down in the car and never woke up. Police allege Johnson then put his body in a tote bag and stuffed him in the trunk next to the body of his dead sister.

Investigators say the children's biological mother, Dachelle Johnson, told detectives that she left her youngsters in her sister's care because she was unable to care for them. The transfer of the children occurred at some point after the mother moved from Ohio to Maryland in July 2019.

“We will continue to provide every resource to support our Department’s ongoing investigation into this devastating case,” Olszewski said.

Baltimore County is a collection of suburban communities that ring the city of Baltimore.

07-31-21  10:32am - 1146 days Original Post - #1
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Taika Waititi’s ‘Flash Gordon’ Movie Shifts Fron Animation To Live-Action
Christopher Marc
July 31, 2021 9:28 am

20th Century Studios has been trying to get a new “Flash Gordon” movie in development years before the merger with Disney with directors such as Matthew Vaughn (“X-Men: First Class“) and Julius Avery (“Overlord“) attached at various points to bring a fresh incarnation of the pulp sci-fi hero after multiple incarnations over the years including the beloved/campy film from 1980 that featured a score and theme song from the British rock band, Queen.

Last we heard, the studio pivoted to an animated version with Kiwi director Taika Waititi (“Thor: Ragnarok“) set to helm it. However, producer John Davis has given Collider a huge update on the project; it will be live-action.

“Taika is writing it. It was a movie that was a huge influence on him growing up. It is one of his favorite movies. He initially said to me, ‘Let’s do it animated.’ I said, ‘Okay.’ Then we got into it and started developing it, and he said, ‘No, let’s do it live-action.’ I said, ‘Even better.'”

The basic gist of “Flash Gordon” is that the crack quarterback and reporter Dale Arden find their way on the crudely crafted spaceship made by Doctor Zarkov that lands on the planet Mongo, ruled by the intergalactic tyrant Ming The Merciless and is a ruthless overlord many different alien creatures/humanoids that inhabit Mongo. Ming desires to destroy Earth as Flash attempts to unite Mongo’s multiple kingdoms against the cosmic villain.

An update on Ming is needed, as the character takes a lot of cues from the racist Fu Manchu imagery based on Asian villain stereotypes. We also hope that a modern take will give the female characters a bit more to do than show skin and be rescued.

Like many serials and other sci-fi projects, “Flash Gordon” directly influenced George Lucas’s “Star Wars” franchise as Han Solo’s archetype is very similar to Flash. Waititi is the perfect director as “Thor: Ragnarok” is obviously inspired by the movie’s weirdness from 1980.

We don’t expect “Flash Gordon” to happen anytime soon as Taika is a little busy. His sports drama “Next Goal Wins” will be released soon by Searchlight Pictures (2021?); he’s currently in post on Marvel‘s “Thor: Love & Thunder” and is still attached to direct an untitled “Star Wars” movie for Lucasfilm.

07-30-21  02:02pm - 1147 days #4
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Jul 30, 2021 1:47pm PT
Gerard Butler Sues for $10 Million in Profits From ‘Olympus Has Fallen’


Gerard Butler filed a lawsuit on Friday alleging he is owed at least $10 million in backend compensation for the 2013 action film “Olympus Has Fallen.”

Butler sued Nu Image/Millennium Films, claiming that the producer had understated domestic and foreign receipts by tens of millions of dollars and had failed to report $8 million that went to its own executives.

The lawsuit comes a day after Scarlett Johansson filed a blockbuster compensation lawsuit against the Walt Disney Co., claiming that the simultaneous release of “Black Widow” on Disney Plus cut into her box office participation.

Butler’s suit is a more traditional “Hollywood accounting” case. Butler starred as Mike Banning, a Secret Service agent who has to rescue the president from hostage-takers.

The film grossed $170 million worldwide, and spawned two successful sequels, “London Has Fallen” and “Angel Has Fallen,” in which Butler reprised the role.

“Producers have earned tens of millions of dollars from ‘Olympus,’ but refuse to pay Butler a penny of the grosses and profits promised to him in the parties’ agreement,” the lawsuit states. “Butler refuses to tolerate Defendants’ misrepresentations and other wrongful conduct. Butler worked with Defendants to create a highly successful movie franchise. He demands his fair share.”

According to the suit, Butler’s contract entitled him to 10% of net profits, plus 6% of domestic adjusted gross receipts above $70 million and 12% of foreign adjusted gross receipts above $35 million. His production company was also entitled to 5% of net profits, and Butler was to receive certain bonuses for hitting box office thresholds.

The suit alleges that Butler has received irregular accounting statements from the producer and that Butler has objected to the statements. According to the suit, Butler hired an auditor who found that domestic receipts were understated by $17.5 million, and producers’ receipts were understated by $12 million, including the $8 million that went to the executives.

The suit also claims that the producers deducted the full cost of foreign publicity from foreign receipts, even though foreign distributors picked up half the cost. The suit also claims that Nu Image/Millennium instructed distributors to deduct certain expenses, such that receipts would be underreported.

07-30-21  01:55pm - 1147 days #8
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Donald Trump knew in his heart of hearts that he was the real winner of the 2020 election.

But a Deep State US government failed to protect the true President of the United States.
Instead, the Deep State allowed a fake president, Joe Biden, to take the White House away from the most honest, God-fearing President the US has ever had.
God bless Donald Trump, the most honest, courageous, and honorable President we've ever had.
And God bless Ivanka Trump, who will emerge as the next President of the United States, and will take revenge by putting Joe Biden and Barack Obama in jail, where they belong.
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Trump urged Justice officials to declare election 'corrupt'
AOL Associated Press
ERIC TUCKER
July 30, 2021, 9:22 AM

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump urged senior Justice Department officials to declare the 2020 election results “corrupt” in a December phone call, according to handwritten notes from one of the participants in the conversation.

The notes of the Dec. 27 call, released Friday by the House Oversight Committee, underscore the lengths to which Trump went to try to overturn the results of the election and to elicit the support of law enforcement officials and other government leaders in that effort. Emails released last month show that Trump and his allies in the last weeks of his presidency pressured the Justice Department to investigate unsubstantiated claims of widespread 2020 election fraud, and the department's inspector general is looking into whether department officials tried to subvert the results.

“Just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the R. Congressmen,” Trump said at one point to then-Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, according to notes taken by Richard Donoghue, a senior Justice Department official who was on the call.

The pressure is all the more notable because just weeks earlier, Trump's own Attorney General William Barr, had declared that the department had found no evidence of widespread fraud that could have overturned the results.

The Dec. 27 call took place just days after Barr had resigned, leaving Rosen in charge of the department during a turbulent final weeks of the administration that also included the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol in which pro-Trump loyalists stormed the building as Congress was certifying the election results.

“These handwritten notes show that President Trump directly instructed our nation’s top law enforcement agency to take steps to overturn a free and fair election in the final days of his presidency,” committee chairman Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, said in a statement.

She said the committee had begun scheduling interviews with witnesses. The Justice Department earlier this week authorized six witnesses to appear before the panel, citing the public interest in the “extraordinary events” of those final weeks.

07-30-21  09:47am - 1147 days #3
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My question: why is the guy who did the actual killing let off with such a lenient sentence?
An innocent girl was sentenced to prison for 26 years.
But the real murderer was only sentenced to 16 years.
And the Italian courts ruled that the murderer could complete his term by doing community service.
Was the murderer doing a public service by killing an innocent girl?
What the fuck is the Italian court thinking?
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Amanda Knox Slams Matt Damon’s ‘Stillwater’ as ‘Rip Off’ of Her Life Story

Knox was wrongly convicted in the murder of her roommate and acquitted in 2013
Samson Amore | July 29, 2021 @ 5:05 PM

In an essay Thursday, Amanda Knox called out the upcoming Matt Damon-led crime drama “Stillwater” — a fictional story similar to Knox’s own harrowing experience being wrongly convicted of the 2007 murder of her roommate Meredith Kercher, and her six-year-long legal battel to prove her innocence — for using her life story as inspiration without her consent and in a way she argues is a slander.

Knox then used the matter as a jumping off point for a wide ranging discussion of sexism, erasure of victims from their own stories, and the often abusive and unfair treatment she’s received in the press and popular culture since she was first became a public figure following her arrest.

The 34-year-old lambasted the film and its director Tom McCarthy in a detailed Twitter thread and Medium article published Thursday afternoon, questioning why her unfortunate experience as the victim of a gross miscarriage of justice overseas is still fodder for Hollywood more than a decade later.

Focus Features, which produced “Stillwater,” declined to comment. Knox did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

“This new film by director Tom McCarthy, starring Matt Damon, is ‘loosely based’ or ‘directly inspired by’ the ‘Amanda Knox saga,’ as Vanity Fair put it in a for-profit article promoting a for-profit film, neither of which I am affiliated with,” Knox wrote. “I want to pause right here on that phrase: “the Amanda Knox saga.” What does that refer to? Does it refer to anything I did? No. It refers to the events that resulted from the murder of Meredith Kercher by a burglar named Rudy Guede.”

Knox continued, “in those four years of wrongful imprisonment and 8 years of trial, I had near-zero agency. Everyone else in that ‘saga’ had more influence over the course of events than I did. The erroneous focus on me by the Italian authorities led to an erroneous focus on me by the press, which shaped how I was presented to the world. In prison, I had no control over my public image, no voice in my story.”

McCarthy told Vanity Fair his goal with “Stillwater” was to “take this piece of the story—an American woman studying abroad involved in some kind of sensational crime and she ends up in jail—and fictionalize everything around it.”

In a separate interview with Yahoo, McCarthy said, “all I wanted was that bit of the story – American woman, student rather even, in jail for a crime she may have or may not have committed. Beyond that, there is not really much comparison that I know of to the Amanda Knox story.”

To be clear, there is no ambiguity about Knox’s case. She did not commit the crime she was falsely accused of.

Knox also called out Deadline reviewer Pete Hammond directly in her note; she was angry that Hammond’s review of “Stillwater” described her as “the American convicted in an Italian court of murdering her roommate.” As Knox noted, she was convicted but it is inaccurate to describe her case that way, since she didn’t kill Kercher and was exonerated by Italy’s highest court in 2013.

“Don’t do what Pete Hammond did when reviewing Stillwater for Deadline, referring to me as a convicted murderer while conveniently leaving out my acquittal. I asked him to correct it. No response,” Knox said.

Knox added that “Stillwater” is “by no means the first thing to rip off my story without my consent at the expense of my reputation,” and pleaded with McCarthy and other directors to stop using her name as the impetus for telling grisly true-crime stories centered around women. “If you’re going to ‘leave the Amanda Knox case behind,’ and ‘fictionalize everything around it,’ maybe don’t use my name to promote it,” Knox said. “You’re not leaving the Amanda Knox case behind very well if every single review mentions me. You’re not leaving the Amanda Knox case behind when my face appears on profiles and articles about the film.”

“Stillwater” isn’t a direct representation of Knox’s case, but it’s very similar. Matt Damon plays Bill, a father who travels from Oaklahoma to France to help his daughter Allison get out of a murder charge that she says she’s innocent of.

Here’s a refresher on Knox’s case: She was a 20-year-old American exchange student living in an apartment in the college town of Perugia, Italy, with several roommates including Kercher, an exchange student from the U.K., and was eventually wrongfully convicted of Kercher’s murder in 2007.

After failing to get in contact with Kercher for roughly a day, Knox alerted her parents to call the authorities as she suspected Kercher was in trouble and no one in the apartment could successfully open Kercher’s locked bedroom door. Kercher was found dead in the bedroom of stab wounds and blood loss after a violent break-in.

The case was subsequently pinned on Knox despite no substantial evidence. Knox became an immediate suspect along with her boyfriend at the time, Raffaele Sollecito, despite having spent the night at his home while Kercher was murdered and voluntarily going to the Italian police station.

In a true miscarriage of justice, Italian authorities zeroed in on Knox and refused to adequately investigate other actual suspects like Guede for years. Knox was arrested and imprisoned for four years and was convicted by Italian courts of Kercher’s murder (and charges of faking a break-in, defamation, sexual violence, which amounted to a 26 year sentence). Knox was then acquitted, convicted again and finally fully acquitted for the last time by the Italian Supreme Court of Cassation in 2013. After she was released Knox returned to the U.S., so her acquittal technically happened in abstentia.

Guede was eventually convicted of killing Kercher; he was a known burglar around Italy and was arrested once his bloodstained fingerprints were found on Kercher’s belongings. Guede was sentenced to a 16-year prison sentence, though an Italian court ruled in 2016 the killer could complete the term by doing community service.

Read Knox’s full remarks on Medium here or on Twitter here. Edited on Jul 30, 2021, 09:54am

07-29-21  02:48pm - 1148 days #2
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Disney, the Mouse with a Heart of Gold (or maybe solid stone), fires back at Scarlett Johansson, asking why should be unhappy with her salary, because actors are only supposed to act, not worry about their salary.

Also, Scarlett should be worrying about the Covid epidemic, instead of worrying about her salary.
Does Scarlett have her heart in the right place?
Why does she want more money from Disney, which wants to keep its money to pay the executive bonuses their execs deserve?

Thank God for lawyers, who will fight to keep the peace between these actors and Disney, the studio that employs them.
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Jul 29, 2021 2:16pm PT
Disney Fires Back at Scarlett Johansson, Calls ‘Black Widow’ Lawsuit ‘Sad and Distressing’

The Walt Disney Company clapped back at “Black Widow” star Scarlett Johansson, slamming the actress’s breach of contract lawsuit for showing “callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

In a court filing on Thursday, Johansson said that Disney’s decision to send the Marvel movie to Disney Plus at the same time it was released in theaters cost her millions of dollars in backend compensation. Those bonuses were tied to hitting box office benchmarks that “Black Widow” likely won’t achieve. Disney is countering that it complied with the terms of Johansson’s deal to star in the Avengers spinoff film.

“There is no merit whatsoever to this filing,” Disney said in an unusually fiery statement. “The lawsuit is especially sad and distressing in its callous disregard for the horrific and prolonged global effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

The company went on to state that the star has already received $20 million for her work and argued that “…the release of Black Widow on Disney+ with Premier Access has significantly enhanced her ability to earn additional compensation on top of the $20M she has received to date.” Disney did not provide any information about whether or not Johansson’s pact was renegotiated so that she could share in streaming rental revenue.

In March, Disney announced that “Black Widow” and several of its 2021 films such as “Cruella” and “Jungle Cruise” would premiere on the studio’s subscription-based streaming service at the same time they hit theaters. Those films were made available for a $30 rental fee to Disney Plus subscribers. The studio positioned the move as a concession to the damage COVID-19 had inflicted on the theatrical distribution landscape.

On July 9, “Black Widow” set a pandemic-era box office record with a $80 million in North America. It earned an additional $78 million overseas and $60 million on Disney Plus. Despite those impressive numbers, ticket sales steeply declined in subsequent weeks and the film’s gross currently stands at $319 million globally. Given that many Marvel movies top $1 billion at the worldwide box office, “Black Widow” is on pace to become one of the company’s lowest-grossing releases.

“It’s no secret that Disney is releasing films like Black Widow directly onto Disney Plus to increase subscribers and thereby boost the company’s stock price – and that it’s hiding behind Covid-19 as a pretext to do so,” John Berlinski, an attorney for Johansson, said in a statement to Variety. “But ignoring the contracts of the artists responsible for the success of its films in furtherance of this short-sighted strategy violates their rights and we look forward to proving as much in court. This will surely not be the last case where Hollywood talent stands up to Disney and makes it clear that, whatever the company may pretend, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts.”

As Berlinski suggests, Johansson’s lawsuit could impact the way that movie stars are compensated in the streaming era and may inspire a wave of fresh legal action by actors upset that their films are not exclusively debuting in theaters.

07-29-21  02:08pm - 1148 days Original Post - #1
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Yahoo Movies
Ethan Alter
July 29, 2021, 1:43 PM


Scarlett Johansson may have retired as the Avengers's resident Black Widow and passed the torch to Florence Pugh, but it appears that the actress still has some unfinished business with Marvel Entertainment and its parent company, Walt Disney. As originally reported in the Wall Street Journal, the actress — who played Natasha Romanoff over a 10-year period from 2010's Iron Man 2 to the Black Widow solo adventure that opened in July after a year-long delay — has filed a breach of contract lawsuit against her former employers.

At issue is the way that Disney ultimately chose to release the movie. Originally scheduled to open exclusively in theaters in May 2020, Black Widow was repeatedly delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Eventually, the studio made the decision to pursue a hybrid release, opening the massively-budgeted movie in multiplexes the same day it premiered on the Disney+ streaming as a Premier Access title. (Premier Access films are available to Disney+ subscribers for an extra $29.99 surchage.)

According to the lawsuit that Johansson filed on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, that hybrid release plan breached her original contract with Marvel Entertainment and Disney, which reportedly guaranteed an exclusive theatrical release. Furthermore, her salary for the film would be based largely on how it performed at the box office. Although Black Widowgrossed more than $200 million worldwide during its opening weekend — including $80 million at the U.S. theatrical box office, and $60 million via Disney+ — the film experienced a significant drop-off in subsequent weeks.

"Disney intentionally induced Marvel’s breach of the agreement, without justification, in order to prevent Ms. Johansson from realizing the full benefit of her bargain with Marvel," the lawsuit states. Sources told the Journal that the actress could stand to lose upwards of $50 million in bonuses over the move. (Requests for comment from Walt Disney were not returned at press time.)

As the Wall Street Journal notes, Johansson's lawsuit could be the opening salvo in a looming battle between the creative and business sides of the industry as studios explore other release models beyond theatrical exclusivity. (Warner Bros., for example, is jointly releasing all of this year's slate simultaneously in studios and on HBO Max, a movie that has infuriated many filmmakers and stars.) "This will surely not be the last case where Hollywood talent stands up to Disney and makes it clear that, whatever the company may pretend, it has a legal obligation to honor its contracts," John Berlinski, an attorney at Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP who represents Ms. Johansson, told the newspaper.

Notably, Marvel's next two movies, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Eternals, will open only in theaters on Sept. 3 and Nov. 5 respectively. (Spider-Man: No Way Home, which is made in collaboration with Sony Pictures, will also be a theatrical exclusive when it arrives on Dec. 17.) But with the continued success of Marvel Cinematic Universe streaming shows like WandaVision and Loki, the future of the Marvel multiverse will inevitably encompass screens of all sizes.

Black Widow is currently playing in theaters and streaming on Disney+.

07-29-21  01:09am - 1149 days #7
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Also, if Republicans lie, which they often do, do not try to argue with them.
They are only expressing political opinions.
Which can be explained or twisted into many different meanings.
So don't argue with Republicans. It's not worth it.
They will win, because they are the party of Truth, Justice, and the Trumperland way of thought.

07-29-21  01:06am - 1149 days #6
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House Republican defends idea that the January 6, 2021 riots were normal tourist visits.
In other words, if people attack the police, and try to destroy the Congressional building, it's only good, clean fun.
And if a few cops die in the fighting, so what?
They are only cops.
The people that count are Republicans, fighting to save America.
To make America great again.
So stick that in your pipe and smoke it.
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House Republican defends 'normal tourist visit' comment
Yahoo News
Jon Ward
July 28, 2021, 9:26 AM

A House Republican is defending a statement he made about how some video footage of the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol looked like a “normal tourist visit.”

“I stand by that exact statement as I said it,” Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., said during a tense hearing of the House Rules Committee Tuesday evening.

Clyde, a first-term House member who is a Navy combat veteran and gun store owner, was pressed on his comments repeatedly by Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., a constitutional lawyer who is a member of the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.

Raskin is on the Rules Committee, and Clyde was appearing as a witness before it to talk about an amendment he is proposing to legislation unrelated to Jan. 6. Raskin, however, had spent the morning in the select committee’s first hearing, listening to four police officers describe the horrific hand-to-hand combat they experienced with Trump supporters who were attempting to stop Congress from certifying the results of the 2020 election.


So when Clyde appeared before the Rules Committee later on Tuesday, Raskin quizzed the Republican about his “tourist” comment and about his vote against legislation awarding Congressional Gold Medals to Capitol Police for their defense of the U.S. Capitol.

The 10-minute back-and-forth between the two lawmakers exposed the raw anger that many in Congress feel toward a group of Republicans who are trying to minimize, downplay or distract from the gravity of the attack on the Capitol, which was egged on and incited by then-President Donald Trump.

Raskin began by asking Clyde if he had watched the testimony of the police officers. Clyde said that question was “irrelevant” to the amendment he was there to discuss. Both members began raising their voices, leading House Rules Committee Chairman Jim McGovern, D-Mass., to ask them to lower the volume.

Raskin noted that Rep. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Pa., had opened the door to discussing “quotations” by alleging that other members of the committee had made “anti-police” comments. Raskin then asked Clyde about his “tourist” comment and noted it had come up during the select committee hearing.

“Those officers said they weren’t tourists, they were terrorists. Do you stand by your statement that they were tourists?” Raskin said.

“I would like you to quote my exact statement, not your interpretation of my statement,” Clyde replied.

Raskin then read a lengthy portion of Clyde’s comments from a May committee hearing in which he and other Republicans argued that the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol was not an insurrection, which is a violent revolt against an established government. Many of the Republicans objecting to calling Jan. 6 an insurrection continue to perpetuate Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was unfairly decided.

Here is what Clyde said that day: “It was not an insurrection and we cannot call it that and be truthful. The House floor was never breached and it was not an insurrection. This is the truth: There was an undisciplined mob, there were some rioters and some who committed acts of vandalism. But let me be clear. There was no insurrection and to call it an insurrection is in my opinion a bold-faced lie. ... Watching the TV footage of those who entered the Capitol and walked through Statuary Hall showed people in an orderly fashion staying between the stanchions and ropes, taking videos and pictures. You know, if you didn’t know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit.”

Two days after that hearing, Clyde wrote an op-ed in a local Georgia newspaper saying that “the events of Jan. 6 were horrendous.”

“Since my fourth day in office, when these events occurred, I have stated that violence is never an acceptable form of protest,” Clyde wrote in the Gainesville Times. But he also complained that “the Swamp” and the media were taking his comments out of context.

But in his exchange with Raskin, Clyde refused to even clarify his comments to the extent he had in the op-ed. When Raskin read the “tourist” remark, Clyde doubled down on it. When Raskin asked if Clyde agreed or disagreed with the police officers who said they were fighting against terrorists, Clyde said his comments did not apply to those who committed acts of violence.

“That statement did not say that those people were tourists,” Clyde said.

Raskin and Clyde went back and forth several more times and the hearing became increasingly contentious, with multiple people shouting and speaking over one another, until McGovern once again restored order.

Raskin then pressed Clyde on why he was one of only 12 Republicans who voted in March against awarding Congressional Gold Medals to the Capitol Police “and those who protected the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

Clyde said that bill was “not appropriate” because it did not recognize service by the Capitol Police beyond Jan. 6, “back in the 1970s, the 1980s, the 1990s, not just one incident.”

“There were Capitol Police officers that died from gunshot wounds back earlier, did you know that?” Clyde said, in an apparent reference to the 1998 shooting deaths of two Capitol Police officers. Both of those officers were memorialized by lying in honor in the Capitol Rotunda.

Raskin ended the exchange by encouraging Clyde to watch Tuesday’s testimony by the officers. “I find the rhetoric dangerous describing anything that took place that day as analogous to tourism,” he said.

07-28-21  08:33pm - 1149 days Original Post - #1
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Starting a new thread for sites not listed on the PU site as of 2021.

The old thread for 2020 seems to have lost interest.
With no updates for a while.

Maybe this thread will have more of a response. Hopefully.

Starting off with:
superbemodels.com

This is a glamour site with many familiar and also new models, that can be extremely attractive.

The site currently has a discounted price for membership:
$72/year.
Not sure how often the site updates.
So maybe a monthly membership is better:
$20/month.

Ooops. The site is already listed at PU.
And those are the normal PU discounted prices.

But some of the models are really gorgeous.
I'm thinking of joining.
I'm sucker for lovely young models in glamour style. Edited on Jul 29, 2021, 12:51am

07-28-21  01:38pm - 1149 days #5
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Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi abuses Kevin McCarthy by calling him a moron.

Although some people might think McCarthy is a fool for speaking his thoughts, other true-blue Republicans think McCarthy is a shrewd and inventive thinker for how he can twist the facts when speaking.
And in today's politically correct world, it's no longer acceptable to call someone a moron because you think they are foolish.
Shame on Pelosi, for abusing her Republican colleague, who has blamed the Capital insurrection on Pelosi for not supporting law enforcement and putting Congress at risk during this time of troubles.
Previously, Republicans thought the rioters of January 6 were merely innocent tourists who were behaving in a peaceful and orderly manner.
But further studies have shown that the tourists were acting in a dangerous and non-peaceful manner.
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Pelosi calls McCarthy 'a moron' for objection to mask mandate
Dylan Stableford·Senior Writer
Wed, July 28, 2021, 8:36 AM

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday called House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy a “moron” over his objection to the return of a mask mandate on Capitol Hill.

Pelosi was asked by reporters about the backlash from some Republicans to the requirement that all lawmakers and staff members must once again wear masks inside the Capitol amid growing fears about the spread of the Delta variant, which has caused coronavirus cases to spike across the country.

“That’s the purview of the Capitol physician. I have nothing to say about that except we honor it,” Pelosi said, holding up her mask.

The House speaker was then asked about McCarthy’s assertion that the return of the mandate was “not based on science.”

“He’s such a moron,” Pelosi said as she climbed into an SUV.

In a memo issued late Tuesday night, Dr. Brian Monahan, Congress’s top doctor, announced the change in policy based on new guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommending that masks should be worn indoors by all Americans — vaccinated or unvaccinated — who are in areas with high COVID transmission rates.

“For the Congress, representing a collection of individuals traveling weekly from various risk areas (both high and low rates of disease transmission), all individuals should wear a well-fitted, medical-grade filtration mask (for example an ear loop surgical mask or a KN95 mask) when they are in an interior space,” Monahan wrote in the memo.

McCarthy, the top Republican in the House, voiced his objection in a tweet

“Make no mistake,” McCarthy tweeted, “the threat of bringing masks back is not a decision based on science, but a decision conjured up by liberal government officials who want to continue to live in a perpetual pandemic state.”

Asked at her weekly press conference about her disparaging characterization of McCarthy on Capitol Hill, Pelosi did not repeat it.

“I said earlier in my comments, science, science, science and science,” Pelosi said. “On almost every subject you can name, science is the answer, whether it’s the climate crisis, whether it’s a health crisis, whether it’s our preeminence in the world of technology, science, science, science, science. To say that wearing a mask is not based on science, I think, is not wise, and that was my comment.”

07-25-21  11:40pm - 1152 days Original Post - #1
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Not only was Captain America not a virgin before he got married (I don't know if he ever was married, because I haven't read comic books in many years, and the comic books back in the 1960s and before never mentioned or showed any sex, other than a kiss once in a great while).
But Superman was also a virgin before he got married (if he ever did get married).
But in the 1980s and the 1990s comic books rewrote history: there was now sex in the comic books.
And Superman had a baby with Lois Lane, even though they weren't married.

But now it appears that Captain America was having sex with women, while representing the United States of America, during WW2.

The shame. The updated version of Captain America.
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'Captain America: The First Avenger' Writers Finally Settle Whether Steve Rogers Was a Virgin

“Steve Rogers isn’t a prude! He may be occasionally presented that way, but ... he’s not a choir boy,” writer Christopher Markus says
Umberto Gonzalez | July 23, 2021 @ 10:26 AM
Captain America The First Avenger Steve Rogers

"Captain America: The First Avenger" was released in theaters 10 years ago this week, but the question still persists: Was Steve Rogers a virgin in the film?

In a new interview with Yahoo! Entertainment, writers Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely finally have an answer and are convinced Steve Rogers saw some action during that first USO tour in the movie.

“I think he loses his virginity! Why do people think he’s a virgin? I think if you look like that, and you’re going city to city, and you’re signing autographs… The likes of the ladies you’re signing autographs for… I gotta imagine that…" McFeely said.

“Steve Rogers isn’t a prude! He may be occasionally presented that way, but he’s a guy who believes in right and wrong and all these things – but he’s not a choir boy. He’s a WWII veteran,” Markus added.

Chris Evans originated the role in the MCU as WWII-era soldier-turned-superhero Steve Rogers in 2011’s “Captain America: The First Avenger” — but retired the Captain America shield at the end of 2019’s “Avengers Endgame.”

Earlier this year however, TheWrap reported that Evans was in talks to reprise his role as Captain America in some capacity for the MCU. Evans’ return was reported as unlikely to be a new “Captain America” installment, but rather an appearance in an untitled Marvel project with an option for a second film.

07-25-21  09:18am - 1152 days #4
LKLK (0)
Active User

Posts: 1,583
Registered: Jun 26, '19
Location: CA
President Trump reveals the truth: He is still the real, official President of the United States. Joe Biden is a fake President, just like Obama was a fake President. Both of those men deserve to be put in jail for crimes against the United States of Trumpland.
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Fact check: Trump is relentless in election fabrications
AOL Associated Press
JONATHAN J. COOPER and CALVIN WOODWARD
July 25, 2021, 2:55 AM

PHOENIX (AP) — In mid-May, partisan investigators hired by Arizona state lawmakers backed off their allegation that the state's most populous county had destroyed its 2020 election database. Confronted with proof that the data still existed, they admitted everything was there.

Two months later, the tale lives on. At an event Saturday, former President Donald Trump presented the debunked allegation as a key piece of evidence that the state's electoral votes were stolen from him in 2020.

It was one of a number of fabricated and familiar stories Trump told the crowd in his relentless effort to deny the well-established legitimacy of his defeat at the hands of President Joe Biden.

Over nearly two hours, Trump revisited his touchstones of grievance, leveling allegations of fraud that election officials and judges have systematically refuted or brushed aside. It was Trump’s most explicit effort to insert himself into the widely discredited Arizona audit as he tries to increase the pressure on other states to embark on similar efforts.

He spoke of untold thousands of dead people voting — no such phenomenon surfaced in postelection audits. He alleged 168,000 Arizona ballots were fraudulent — there is no support for that.

A look at his remarks in Phoenix:

TRUMP: “Unbelievably, the auditors have testified that the master database for the election management system, I’m sorry to tell you, has been deleted.... Meaning the main database for all of the election-related data in Maricopa for 2020 has been illegally erased. It’s been erased.”

THE FACTS: Wholly false. The database was never deleted.

At first, auditors hired by Republican state senators sympathetic to Trump reported that a database directory was deleted from an election management server. The official Twitter account tied to the audit said the deletion amounted to “spoliation of evidence.”

The Republican-dominated Maricopa County Board of Supervisors responded by calling the auditors incompetent and threatening to file a defamation lawsuit. Board Chairman Jack Sellers said the auditors “can’t find the files because they don’t know what they’re doing.” Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican who took over the elections office after defeating a Democrat, called the allegation “unhinged."

The next day, Ben Cotton, founder of a digital forensics firm working on the audit, confirmed he had recovered all of the files. “I have the information I need,” he acknowledged, and the auditors deleted their tweet.

___

TRUMP: “There were 18,000 people who voted in Arizona in 2020 who were then purged from the rolls immediately after the election.”

THE FACTS: This didn't happen. His insinuation that people were stricken from the rolls because they voted for him is baseless.

Actually, 13,320 voters were removed from the rolls in the two months after the election, not 18,000 right away, and there were routine reasons why.

Voting rolls are updated constantly as people move, die, get convicted of felonies or have their voting rights revoked because of incapacitation. Trump was repeating a claim made by Doug Logan, CEO of Cyber Ninjas, the inexperienced firm leading the state Senate Republicans’ audit of the 2020 election.

Maricopa County officials said their analysis of the data shows 7,916 voters were removed from the rolls because they moved out of the county or died between Nov. 3, which was Election Day, and Jan. 2. An additional 5,404 people were removed for other reasons, including felony convictions, incapacitation or the voters' own request to cancel their registration.

The county has about 2.6 million registered voters.

Overall, Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes out of 3.4 million cast. That's vastly more than the number of votes where fraud is truly suspected.

County election officials only identified 182 cases where voting problems were clear enough that they referred them to investigators for further review, according to an Associated Press investigation. So far, only four cases have led to charges. No one has been convicted. No person’s vote was found to have been counted twice.

___

Woodward reported from Washington. Associated Press writers David Klepper in Providence, Rhode Island, and Jill Colvin in Washington contributed to this report.

07-24-21  02:22pm - 1153 days #3
LKLK (0)
Active User

Posts: 1,583
Registered: Jun 26, '19
Location: CA
Your government in action.
If people are sick or dying from the Covid virus, why should states report on the facts?
Instead, leave the people (us, in other words) ignorant of the dangers.
Several states are now reporting Covid cases on a weekly basis, instead of on a daily basis.
This means the states will spend less money on updating the public, who don't need to know what is happening with Covid-related deaths anyway.
Power to the people, instead of power to the states???

Only 600,000+ people have died in the United States.
Remember, Donald Trump said the count would go to zero in a very short time.
Maybe he was wrong?
But some state governors are sick of the Covid scare. And wish it would go away. That's why they don't want to report on it any more.
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States scale back virus reporting just as cases surge
AOL Associated Press
JOSH FUNK
July 24, 2021, 10:15 AM

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Several states scaled back their reporting of COVID-19 statistics this month just as cases across the country started to skyrocket, depriving the public of real-time information on outbreaks, cases, hospitalizations and deaths in their communities.

The shift to weekly instead of daily reporting in Florida, Nebraska, Iowa and South Dakota marked a notable shift during a pandemic in which coronavirus dashboards have become a staple for Americans closely tracking case counts and trends to navigate a crisis that has killed more than 600,000 people in the U.S.

In Nebraska, the state actually stopped reporting on the virus altogether for two weeks after Gov. Pete Ricketts declared an end to the official virus emergency, forcing news reporters to file public records requests or turn to national websites that track state data to learn about COVID statistics. The state backtracked two weeks later and came up with a weekly site that provides some basic numbers.

Other governments have gone the other direction and released more information, with Washington, D.C., this week adding a dashboard on breakthrough cases to show the number of residents who contracted the virus after getting vaccines. Many states have recently gone to reporting virus numbers only on weekdays.

When Florida changed the frequency of its virus reporting earlier this month, officials said it made sense given the decreasing number of cases and the increasing number of people being vaccinated.

Cases started soaring soon after, and Florida earlier this week made up up one-fifth of the country's new coronavirus infections. As a result, Florida's weekly releases — typically done on Friday afternoons — have consequences for the country's understanding of the current summer surge, with no statewide COVID stats coming out of the virus hotspot for six days a week.

In Florida's last two weekly reports, the number of new cases shot up from 23,000 to 45,000 and then 73,000 on Friday, an average of more than 10,000 day. Hospitals are starting to run out of space in parts of the state.

With cases rising, Democrats and other critics have urged state officials and Gov. Ron DeSantis to resume daily outbreak updates.

“There was absolutely no reason to eliminate the daily updates beyond an effort to pretend like there are no updates,” said state Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from the Orlando area.

The trend of reducing data reporting has alarmed infectious disease specialists who believe that more information is better during a pandemic. People have come to rely on state virus dashboards to help make decisions about whether to attend large gatherings or wear masks in public, and understanding the level of risk in the community affects how people respond to virus restrictions and calls to get vaccinated.

“We know that showing the data to others actually is important because the actions that businesses take, the actions that schools take, the actions that civic leaders take, the actions that community leaders take, the actions that each of us individually take are all influenced by our perception of what the risk is out there,” said Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, who leads the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco.

But reporting the numbers on a weekly basis still allows people to see the overall trends while smoothing out some of he day-to-day variations that come from the way cases are reported and not the actual number of new cases. And experts have long advised that it makes sense to pay more attention to the seven-day rolling average of new cases because the numbers can vary widely from one day to the next.

And Florida health officials say that they have not curtailed the sharing of data with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Maintaining daily updates on the virus does require significant resources for states. For instance, Kansas went to reporting virus numbers three times a week in May because the state health department said providing daily statistics consumed too much time for its already overwhelmed staff.

In Nebraska, officials decided that continuing to update the virus dashboard daily wasn’t the best use of state resources now partly because there had been a steady decline in the number of views of the website indicating less interest in the numbers, spokeswoman Olga Dack said. The state could return to providing daily updates if the governor's office decided that was needed, she said.

“Now that Nebraska is back to normal, some of the staff that has been dedicated to the dashboard has been able to focus on some of the other important issues,” Dack said.

State health departments have a long history of providing the public regular updates on other diseases like flu and West Nile, but those viruses have none of the political baggage associated with COVID-19.

In Florida, a former health department employee was fired last year after publicly suggesting that managers wanted her to manipulate information on coronavirus statistics to paint a rosier picture. The employee, Rebekah Jones, did not allege any tampering with data, but her comments sowed doubts about the reliability of the metrics.

Infectious disease specialist Dr. David Brett-Major said that for many people, national websites such as the one run by the CDC can be a good source of data on the latest state trends and weekly updates could be OK. The World Health Organization often uses weekly updates, but he said they do that for practical data management reasons, not political ones.

He said the message Nebraska sent when it ended its dashboard that the state emergency was over and conditions were returning to normal was troubling.

“The main problem is that it reflects a disinterest in pandemic risk management,” said Brett-Major, with the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha.

Janet Hamilton, executive director of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists, said part of the problem is that public health officials generally don’t have sophisticated data systems so it is more labor intensive to produce the daily dashboards. Even though public health agencies have money for operations at a time when pandemic government spending is flush, they haven’t necessarily had the chance to upgrade.

“It would be great if daily reporting could be made widely available, but public health would have to be funded better to do that and right now that is just not the case,” said Hamilton.

And even in states where virus numbers aren’t being reported publicly every day health officials are still looking at the latest data, Hamilton said.

But at a time when the delta variant is, in the words of the CDC director, “spreading with incredible efficiency,” Bibbins-Domingo said it is important that everyone can see the latest trends and understand the risks.

“Even if we know that they are available to decisionmakers on a daily basis, there is considerable value to providing the data to the public,” she said.

—-

Associated Press Writer Bobby Caina Calvan contributed to this report.

07-24-21  12:27am - 1154 days #2
LKLK (0)
Active User

Posts: 1,583
Registered: Jun 26, '19
Location: CA
How "news" sources are lying to the public. Spreading false information.
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NOT REAL NEWS: A look at what didn't happen this week
AOL Associated Press
July 23, 2021, 4:31 PM

A roundup of some of the most popular but completely untrue stories and visuals of the week. None of these are legit, even though they were shared widely on social media. The Associated Press checked them out. Here are the facts:

___

Video misrepresents voluntary vaccine clinic outside Idaho school

CLAIM: A video shows U.S. government agents forcing students at an Idaho middle school to receive COVID-19 vaccines behind the building.

THE FACTS: An incendiary video circulating widely on social media this week weaponizes footage from a voluntary, health district-run vaccine clinic to push the false narrative that the U.S. military is forcibly vaccinating children. “You’re about to see some disturbing footage,” the video’s narrator says over suspenseful music. “You’re going to see government agents escort children to their execution, to a little shed behind the school in secrecy. They pull these children out of class, they force them into getting the vaccine and they inject them in broad daylight.” The narrator refers to immunizing children as a “genocide,” even though the FDA has declared that the Pfizer vaccine is safe and offers strong protection to children as young as 12. The narrator also claims the press wasn’t invited “to witness the lethal injection.” As the narrator speaks, a video clip shows students milling in and out of a tent outside their school. The Panhandle Health District arranged the voluntary vaccine clinic at Coeur d’Alene’s Canfield Middle School on May 28 to “reduce barriers individuals may have to receiving the vaccine” and “make it convenient for students and parents,” said Katherine Hoyer, public information officer for the health agency. It was one of several clinics held at local schools in the spring, according to Scott Maben, communications director for Coeur d’Alene Public Schools. Maben confirmed that the event was “completely voluntary and with parent permission” and that it was organized by the Panhandle Health District, with the middle school as a venue. Maben also explained there was no truth to claims that this or other vaccine clinics at local schools were hidden from the public. “The health department announced these clinics publicly weeks in advance, and we shared the sign-up links and parental permission form with middle and high school parents,” Maben said. “A few weeks prior to this I invited local media to attend the first vaccination clinic at a high school.” Members of the Idaho National Guard helped facilitate the clinics because they were deployed by Idaho Gov. Brad Little to assist local health districts with the COVID-19 response, which includes vaccination efforts, Hoyer said.

— Associated Press writer Ali Swenson in Seattle contributed this report.

___

Inaccurate data spreads about COVID hospitalizations in the UK

CLAIM: Sixty percent of people being admitted to the hospital for COVID-19 in England have had two doses of coronavirus vaccine.

THE FACTS: The opposite is true. Sixty percent of people who are hospitalized with COVID-19 in the U.K. are unvaccinated. Sir Patrick Vallance, chief scientific advisor for the U.K., gave the wrong statistic at a press conference Monday, but issued a correction later that day. “Correcting a statistic I gave at the press conference today, 19 July,” Vallance wrote in his post. “About 60% of hospitalisations from covid are not from double vaccinated people, rather 60% of hospitalisations from covid are currently from unvaccinated people.” Nevertheless, social media users quickly ran with the inaccurate information without acknowledging the correction. An Instagram post with 21,000 likes shows a screenshot of a tweet from media site Disclose.tv that says, “JUST IN- 60% of people being admitted to the hospital with #COVID19 in England have had two doses of a coronavirus vaccine, according to the government’s chief scientific adviser.” The user who posted the image to Instagram captioned it, “This is playing out just as many predicted…” Emma Griffiths, head of communications at the U.K. Government Office for Science, also affirmed the corrected statistic in an email to The Associated Press. “Chief Scientific Adviser Patrick Vallance yesterday clarified, 60% of hospitalisations from COVID-19 are currently from unvaccinated people,” Griffiths said. Neither the Government Office for Science nor Public Health England immediately responded to inquiries about what caused the initial error.

— Associated Press writer Terrence Fraser in New York contributed this report.

___

Canada does not ban vaccinated pilots from flying

CLAIM: Canada prohibits vaccinated pilots from flying because the COVID-19 vaccine is a “medical trial” and there are health risks involved with such trials.

THE FACTS: Canada’s transportation agency allows pilots to receive any vaccine that’s been approved by the country’s health regulator, Health Canada, according to Transport Canada Senior Communications Adviser Sau Sau Liu. All four COVID-19 vaccines available in Canada — vaccines made by Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca — went through extensive clinical trials, were found to be safe and effective, and were authorized for use by Health Canada. Therefore, pilots are allowed to get the vaccines. The false claim started with a screenshot of a 2020 web page from Transport Canada. Text on the page stated that while Transport Canada Civil Aviation Medicine “places no restrictions or limitations on vaccines approved by Health Canada, it remains the general position of TC CAM that participation in medical trials is not considered compatible with aviation medical certification.” The screenshot circulated on Twitter, Facebook and various Canadian websites and message boards with claims Canada had banned pilots from flying if they were vaccinated for COVID-19. Twitter users claimed the COVID-19 vaccines were categorized as medical trials. However, receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is not grounds for pilots to be blocked from flying in Canada, nor are the vaccines considered medical trials, according to Liu. The outdated screenshot circulating online is a relic from early in the pandemic, when pilots were asking Transport Canada if they could take part in early-stage COVID-19 vaccine trials, Liu said. At that time, the agency reminded pilots that participation in medical trials is typically not considered compatible with aviation certification. “Now that Health Canada has approved the vaccines, the comment regarding medical trials is less relevant,” Liu said. The web page has been updated to clarify that pilots won’t be grounded or denied certification for getting one of the four COVID-19 vaccines approved by Health Canada.

— Ali Swenson

___

Photo of flooding manipulated to add anti-Thunberg sticker on car

CLAIM: Photo shows German car caught in floodwaters with anti-Greta Thunberg sticker on rear window.

THE FACTS: Last week, as severe floods in Germany and Belgium turned streets into raging torrents, a manipulated photo circulated on social media that appears to show a BMW half-submerged in the floodwaters with a sticker on the rear window saying “F— you Greta.” The sticker, which was added digitally to the original image, was an apparent reference to Greta Thunberg, the well-known Swedish environmental activist. Twitter users shared the manipulated photo and claimed it was “ironic” and an example of “karma.” The photo was also shared widely on Facebook. The original, unaltered photo, which does not include the sticker, was featured in a July 16 article about car water damage during severe weather by German media outlet Bild. Photographer David Young captured the photo for Bild in the city of Wuppertal last week. The sticker does not appear in the original photo. “It is my photo and it has been manipulated,” Young told the AP in a call. “The sticker is fake.”

— Associated Press writer Arijeta Lajka in New York contributed this report.

___

Satire fuels false claims of ‘quarantine camps’ for unvaccinated in US

CLAIM: President Joe Biden recently announced that Americans not vaccinated for COVID-19 before 2022 will be sent to quarantine camps until they get their shots.

THE FACTS: An image circulating widely on Instagram this week pushes the false claim that Biden is planning on sending Americans to “quarantine camps.” Biden has not made any such announcement. The image shows a screenshot of an article from the website ValueWalk.com, featuring an illustration of the president. “Announces Americans Not Vaccinated Before 2022 Will Be Put In Camps,” reads the visible part of the story’s headline. The text of the story claims Biden will detain people “indefinitely until they get their shots.” An internet search finds the story does appear on ValueWalk.com, which bills itself as a nonpartisan financial news website. However, at the bottom of the story, the text reveals the post is satire and originated on The Stonk Market, a financial satire website. The COVID-19 vaccine is not mandatory in the United States and Biden has not announced any plans to detain people who choose not to get vaccinated. Biden continues to encourage Americans to get vaccinated as the nation sees rising COVID-19 case numbers driven by large pockets of infection among people who have yet to get shots.

— Ali Swenson

07-23-21  08:58am - 1154 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
Active User

Posts: 1,583
Registered: Jun 26, '19
Location: CA


The truth is slowly coming out.
The FBI did not investigate Brett Kavanaugh before he was put on the US Supreme Court, a lifetime appointment.
Instead, they passed some tips on to Donald Trump's lawyers.
Trump, who was pressing to have Kavanaugh appointed.
And the FBI itself admits it was not investigating Kavanaugh, but instead, did a background check, which means that the FBI only checked what it wanted to, and ignored whatever it didn't want to investigate.
The FBI, the source of truth, justice, and the American way of life, built on lies and falsehoods and double dealing when speaking to the US public.
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FBI ignored tips on Brett Kavanaugh, Senate Democrats charge
Reuters
Jan Wolfe and Mark Hosenball
July 22, 2021, 4:34 PM

By Jan Wolfe and Mark Hosenball

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Seven Democratic senators on Thursday said that newly released materials show the FBI failed to fully investigate sexual misconduct allegations against U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh when he was nominated to the court in 2018.

The senators, including Sheldon Whitehouse and Chris Coons, said a letter they received from the FBI last month shows the agency gathered over 4,500 tips relating to Kavanaugh without any apparent further action by investigators.

According to that June 30 letter, written by FBI Assistant Director Jill Tyson, the most "relevant" of the 4,500 tips were referred to lawyers in President Donald Trump's White House whose handling of them remains unclear.

The agency was conducting a background check, not a criminal investigation, so "the authorities, policies, and procedures used to investigate criminal matters did not apply," Tyson's letter said.

"If the FBI was not authorized to or did not follow up on any of the tips that it received from the tip line, it is difficult to understand the point of having a tip line at all," the Democratic lawmakers said in a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray sent on Wednesday night, which they released to the public on Thursday.

Kavanaugh was the second of three jurists Republican Trump appointed to lifetime spots on the top court during his term, cementing a 6-3 conservative majority.

His nomination blew up into a personal and political drama when university professor Christine Blasey Ford accused Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her in Washington in 1982. Two other women accused him in the media of sexual misconduct in the 1980s.

Kavanaugh fought back against the accusations, denying them in angry and tearful testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that was viewed live on television by around 20 million people.

Trump, ceding to a request from Senate Republican leaders, ordered the FBI to conduct a background investigation of Kavanaugh.

The FBI completed its probe after speaking with 10 people, according to the Senate Judiciary Committee. Potentially key witnesses, including Ford and Kavanaugh, were never interviewed as part of the investigation, and Democratic lawmakers have long said the probe was a sham.

Democrats have also alleged that the Justice Department, which the FBI is part of, was politicized under Trump and sought to advance the former president's interests.

A FBI spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday. Beth Wilkinson, a lawyer who represented Kavanaugh during his confirmation battle, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ford's lawyers, Debra Katz and Lisa Banks, said in a statement that the new revelations show the FBI investigation was of limited value.

"Because the FBI and Trump's White House Counsel hid the ball on this, we do not know how many of those 4,500 tips were consequential, how many of those tips supported Dr. Ford's testimony, or how many showed that Kavanaugh perjured himself during his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee," the lawyers said.

(Reporting by Jan Wolfe and Mark Hosenball; Editing by Scott Malone and Rosalba O'Brien)

07-21-21  09:15am - 1156 days Original Post - #1
LKLK (0)
Active User

Posts: 1,583
Registered: Jun 26, '19
Location: CA


Porn star Dahlia Sky found dead in vehicle in Los Angeles
NY Daily News
Nancy Dillon
July 15, 2021, 5:23 PM

Adult film star Dahlia Sky was found dead in a vehicle in Los Angeles two weeks ago, and authorities have since ruled her death a suicide.

Sky, 31, died June 30 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to her head, the Los Angeles County Medical-Examiner said.

A GoFundMe page set up by her family said she was living in her car in the Northridge section of the San Fernando Valley at the time.

She recently posted on Twitter that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Industry publication Adult Video News was first to report Sky’s death, calling her a veteran performer with hundreds of credits and a nomination as female performer of the year.

A friend told AVN that Sky had been suffering from depression related to her cancer battle.

“During her last year I spoke to her several times about life. It was not an easy ride for her,” the friend, identified only by the name Hans and his association with JHP Films, told AVN.

Fellow performer and director Axel Braun called Sky’s death “extremely heartbreaking.”

“She was a really sweet girl. I shot her dozens of times and not only did she always bring her A game as a performer, but she was also a very talented actress and a real trooper,” he told AVN.

“She was super funny and she had a big heart, but unfortunately her battle with breast cancer took a toll on her mental health and she struggled with depression, as most people would,” he said. “My heart goes out to her family and loved ones, we lost a beautiful soul.” Edited by Staff on Aug 09, 2021, 05:50am

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