Mars by 2040

By Dawn Chmielewski and Lisa Richwine

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -Walt Disney Co Chief Executive Bob Iger fired back at Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday, saying his apparent retaliation against Disney for taking a position on legislation was “anti-business.”

After initially trying to stay neutral, Disney opposed Florida’s Parental Rights in Education Act – referred to by opponents as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill – that restricts classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Soon after, DeSantis and the Florida legislature moved to eliminate the virtual autonomy the company enjoyed over a 24,000-acre (9,712-hectares) parcel surrounding the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando.

Iger, answering a question at the company’s annual shareholder meeting, said Disney may not have handled its position on the bill well, but added that corporations have a right to express opinions. He said it appeared DeSantis “decided to retaliate against us.”

“To seek to punish a company for the exercise of a constitutional right, that just seems really wrong to me,” Iger said.

He also noted that Disney employs 75,000 people in the state and will welcome 50 million visitors to Disney World this year. Iger said Disney plans to deepen its investment in Florida, spending $17 billion over the next decade and creating an additional 13,000 jobs.

“These efforts simply to retaliate for a position the company took sounds not just anti-business, but it sounds anti-Florida,” Iger said.

In February, Florida lawmakers supported a bill that granted DeSantis effective control of a board that oversees development in the special taxation district. The governor signed the bill into law, and named five supervisors to have oversight where Disney had operated with a high degree of autonomy.

Before the takeover by DeSantis’ appointees, Disney pushed through changes to limit the board’s action for decades. On Monday, DeSantis asked Florida’s inspector general to investigate what he described as a last-minute attempt by Disney and the outgoing board to “usurp the authority” of the new board.

“These collusive and self-dealing arrangements aim to nullify the recently passed legislation, undercut Florida’s legislative process, and defy the will of Floridians,” DeSantis wrote in a letter seen by Reuters.

At the Disney shareholder meeting, one attendee said the company has evolved from “a place of magic for children” to an “ideological company serving the LGBTQ” community that promoted a “woke agenda.”

Iger said he was sensitive to that criticism.

“Our primary mission needs to be to entertain … and to have a positive impact on the world,” he said. “I’m very serious about that. It should not be agenda-driven.”

Iger said he was aware that “parents have different levels of comfort” with Disney content, adding “we’re committed to delivering age-appropriate content for family audiences, while also telling stories that reflect the world around us and that foster a greater understanding, greater perspective, greater acceptance of all people.”

Disney shareholders supported the 11 nominees to the company’s board including Iger and Chairman Mark Parker, the executive chairman of Nike and its former CEO who replaces the retiring chairman, Susan Arnold at Disney.

Shareholders rejected a proposal that called for Disney to provide an annual report on its reliance on China for raw materials, finished products, theme park revenue and labor.

They also turned down a shareholder proposal asking the company to provide more information on charitable contributions.

(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Bill Berkrot)

A New York judge broke his silence after he was fired over a series of tweets & then had his OnlyFans account exposed, RadarONline.com has learned.

Gregory Locke, an openly gay man, began his position as a New York City traffic court judge in April 2022.

After city council member Vickie Paladino complained of Locke’s alleged “unprofessional behavior” online, he was removed from his position.

The former administrative judge and OnlyFans model fired back and accused the city of “taking the side of a documented bigot.”

A Twitter spat led to Paladino submitting a complaint about Locke to the city council.

Paladino posted her outrage towards a drag queen story hour on her Twitter, calling the event “an absolutely shameful display.”

Locke, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, responded harshly to Paladino and told her to “choke on a d—.”

While shocking, Locke had taken offense to similar anti-LGBTQ rhetoric from lawmakers before — and often used the social platform to call them out.

Regardless of Locke’s personal and political beliefs, his tweet struck a chord with Paladino, who turned in a complaint to the city council afterwards.

Locke issued a statement on the complaint that cost him his job on Twitter and vowed to use his legal skills to help others in similar positions.

“Last week, I was fired from my job as a New York City Administrative Law Judge,” Locke began his statement. “This came after a member of the City Council took issue with tweets I wrote in response to their bigoted and misguided statements about drag queens and about the queer community at large.”

Locke claimed that the complaint was used by council members and local media to “expose me for unrelated x-rated work, none of which occurred during or at work for the City.”

Locke insisted that his OnlyFans content and his job as an administrative judge did not overlap or interfere with one another, while he accused the city of siding with an alleged bigot.

“It is disappointing that the City of New York decided to take the side of a documented bigot instead of seizing an opportunity to stand against ever-growing anti-LGBTQ hatred, particularly the fervent hatred toward the trans and nonbinary communities,” Locke’s statement continued.

Locke also claimed that under the rules of his employment as an NYC administrative judge, he was not barred from politics or indulging in political speech.

“I remain steadfast in my insistence that my tweets, even if not polite, did not violate any ethical guidelines,” Locke continued.

Locke stated that he would use his legal background to provide representation and legal consultation for paid clients, as well as offer “pro bono services for members of the LGBTQ community who need it most.”

“Sex work, including porn, is not shameful, and I will not filter my thoughts and actions to appease those who enact harm on my community,” Locke stated. “This started not as a political disagreement, but as a human one.”

Madonna has a family of many talents!

On Sunday, April 2, the Queen of Pop took to Instagram to showcase how proud she is of her children — specifically her daughter Mercy James, 17, as well as twins Estere and Stelle Ciccone, 10.

Madonna’s social media spam started off with a video displaying Mercy’s photography skills.

The “Material Girl” singer hyped up her daughter, who she said was “slayingggggggg!” behind the camera during a photoshoot with model Ivy Mugler.

“Mercy did such a beautiful job of capturing me in my most authentic form — pics coming soon ,” Mugler expressed after the shoot, which appeared to take place at various subway stations across New York City.

A couple hours later, Madonna returned to her Instagram profile to share an adorable video of “Kween Estere’s remix,” as the 10-year-old stood behind some DJ equipment and played funky tunes.

Her daughters’ talents kept rolling in, as the pop star uploaded a photo of Estere and Stelle in “cute crochet fits,” which Madonna said were made by the twins themselves.

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“Girl Power!” Madonna wrote alongside a second photo of her little ladies in matching fashionable couture. One of the twins donned a full blue crochet outfit — including a hat and purse — while the other styled a purple and pink crochet look with an accent headband.

The 64-year-old’s eldest three children — Lourdes Leon, 26, Rocco Ritchie, 22, and David Banda, 17 — were not featured in Madonna’s proud mom moment.

The sweet uploads with her youngest girls come just a few months after Madonna opened up about the difficulties she has faced raising her children in the spotlight.

“Growing up with a mother like me is a challenge,” the singer — who has frequently been called out for her raunchy behaviors — admitted during an interview published Wednesday, January 18, as OK! previously reported.

“It has been the most difficult, the hardest battle,” Madonna expressed, noting, “today, I am still struggling to understand how to be a mother and do my job.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene’s appearance on 60 Minutesthis weekend brought the usually popular CBS program some of its lowest ratings yet this season, RadarOnline.com can confirm.

In a surprising development to come one day after the controversial congresswoman sat for an interview with CBS News correspondent Lesley Stahl on Sunday night, it was revealed 60 Minutes suffered its second-smallest audience this year.

According to TVLine, Greene’s appearance on 60 Minutes on Sunday night only garnered 6.7 million viewers.

The weekly Sunday night program also only scored an abysmal 0.3 demo rating – its lowest demo rating yet in the all-important 25-54 age demographic.

In comparison, Prince Harry’s interview with 60 Minutes in January brought the CBS program a whopping 11.2 million viewers – almost double the number of viewers who tuned in to watch GOP House Rep. Greene this past weekend.

As RadarOnline.com previously reported, both Greene and CBS came under scrutiny for the MAGA congresswoman’s interview on Sunday night.

Although many viewers apparently opted not to tune in to CBS because they did not agree with the network giving Greene a “platform” to “normalize” her “extremism,” others who did tune in slammed the network for a series of remarks the Georgia House Rep. made by comparing Joe Biden and the Democrats to pedophiles.

“I would definitely say so,” Greene responded when Stahl asked if she truly believes the Democrats are a party of pedophiles. “They support grooming children.”

“Democrats, Democrats support – even Joe Biden, the President himself, supports children being sexualized and having transgender surgeries,” Greene continued. “Sexualizing children is what pedophiles do to children.”

Greene also came under fire for claiming she only partakes in “name-calling” and “personal attacks” because the Democrats have insulted her “non-stop” since she first joined Congress in 2021.

“Well, I would ask the same question to the other side, because all they’ve done is call me names and insult me non-stop since I’ve been here, Lesley,” Greene said.

But while Greene received the brunt of the outrage after her interview aired on Sunday night, Stahl, 60 Minutes, and even CBS News came under fire for allowing the controversial congresswoman’s shocking remarks to be broadcasted across the country.

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“All around, it was a bizarre interview & exactly what I expected,” tweeted one angry viewer. “Nothing Leslie Stahl did got Marjorie Taylor Greene to walk back her past statements.”

“There was no intense pushback. The same old lies & fascist & racist statements,” the viewer continued. “CBS & 60 Minutes, do better.”

By Tom Hals and Blake Brittain

(Reuters) – Last year, Kris Kashtanova typed instructions for a graphic novel into a new artificial-intelligence program and touched off a high-stakes debate over who created the artwork: a human or an algorithm.

“Zendaya leaving gates of Central Park,” Kashtanova entered into Midjourney, an AI program similar to ChatGPT that produces dazzling illustrations from written prompts. “Sci-fi scene future empty New York….”

From these inputs and hundreds more emerged “Zarya of the Dawn,” an 18-page story about a character resembling the actress Zendaya who roams a deserted Manhattan hundreds of years in the future. Kashtanova received a copyright in September, and declared on social media that it meant artists were entitled to legal protection for their AI art projects.

It didn’t last long. In February, the U.S. Copyright Office suddenly reversed itself, and Kashtanova became the first person in the country to be stripped of legal protection for AI art. The images in “Zarya,” the office said, were “not the product of human authorship.” The office allowed Kashtanova to keep a copyright in the arrangement and storyline.

Now, with the help of a high-powered legal team, the artist is testing the limits of the law once again. For a new book, Kashtanova has turned to a different AI program, Stable Diffusion, which lets users scan in their own drawings and refine them with text prompts. The artist believes that starting with original artwork will provide enough of a “human” element to sway the authorities.

“It would be very strange if it’s not copyrightable,” said the 37-year-old artist of the latest work, an autobiographical comic.

A spokesperson for the copyright office declined to comment. Midjourney also declined to comment, and Stability AI did not respond to requests for comment.

SMASHING RECORDS

At a time when new AI programs like ChatGPT, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion seem poised to transform human expression as they smash records for user growth, the legal system still hasn’t figured out who owns the output — the users, the owners of the programs, or maybe no one at all.

Billions of dollars could hinge on the answer, legal experts said.

If users and owners of the new AI systems could get copyrights, they would stand to reap huge benefits, said Ryan Merkley, the former chief of Creative Commons, a U.S. organization that issues licenses to allow creators to share their work.

For example, companies could use AI to produce and own the rights to vast quantities of low-cost graphics, music, video and text for advertising, branding and entertainment. “Copyright governing bodies are going to be under enormous pressure to permit copyrights to be awarded to computer-generated works,” Merkley said.

In the U.S. and many other countries, anyone who engages in creative expression usually has immediate legal rights to it. A copyright registration creates a public record of the work and allows the owner to go to court to enforce their rights.

Courts including the U.S. Supreme Court have long held that an author has to be a human being. In rejecting legal protection for the “Zarya” images, the U.S. Copyright Office cited rulings denying legal protection for a selfie snapped by a curious monkey named Naruto and for a song that the copyright applicant said had been composed by “the Holy Spirit.”

One U.S. computer scientist, Stephen Thaler of Missouri, has maintained that his AI programs are sentient and should be legally recognized as the creators of artwork and inventions that they generated. He has sued the U.S. Copyright Office, petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court and has a patent case before the U.K. Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, many artists and companies that own creative content fiercely oppose granting copyrights to AI owners or users. They argue that because the new algorithms work by training themselves on vast quantities of material on the open web, some of which is copyrighted, the AI systems are gobbling up legally protected material without permission.

Stock photo provider Getty Images, a group of visual artists and owners of computer code have separately filed lawsuits against owners of AI programs including Midjourney, Stability AI and ChatGPT developer OpenAI for copyright infringement, which the companies deny. Getty and OpenAI declined to comment.

Sarah Andersen, one of the artists, said granting copyrights to AI works “would legitimize theft.”

‘HARD QUESTIONS’

Kashtanova is being represented for free by Morrison Foerster and its veteran copyright lawyer Joe Gratz, who is also defending OpenAI in a proposed class action brought on behalf of owners of copyrighted computer code. The firm took on Kashtanova’s case after an associate at the firm, Heather Whitney, spotted a LinkedIn post by the artist seeking legal help with a new application after the “Zarya” copyright was rejected.

“These are hard questions with significant consequences for all of us,” Gratz said.

The Copyright Office said it reviewed Kashtanova’s “Zarya” decision after discovering the artist had posted on Instagram that the images were created using AI, which it said was not clear in the original September application. On March 16, it issued public guidance instructing applicants to clearly disclose if their work was created with the help of AI.

The guidance said the most popular AI systems likely do not create copyrightable work, and “what matters is the extent to which the human had creative control.”

‘COMPLETELY BLOWN’

Kashtanova, who identifies as nonbinary and uses “they/them” pronouns, discovered Midjourney in August after the pandemic largely shut down their work as a photographer at yoga retreats and extreme-sports events.

“My mind was completely blown,” the artist said. Now, as AI technology develops at lightning speed, Kashtanova has turned to newer tools that allow users to input original work and give more specific commands to control the output.

To test how much human control will satisfy the copyright office, Kashtanova is planning to submit a series of copyright applications for individual images chosen from the new autobiographical comic, each one made with a different AI program, setting or method.

The artist, who now works at a start-up that uses AI to turn children’s drawings into comic books, created the first such image a few weeks ago, titled “Rose Enigma.”

Sitting at a computer in their one-bedroom Manhattan apartment, Kashtanova demonstrated their latest technique: they pulled up on the screen a simple pen-and-paper sketch they had scanned into Stable Diffusion, and began refining it by adjusting settings and using text prompts such as “young cyborg woman” and “flowers coming out of her head.”

The result was an otherworldly image, the lower half of a woman’s face with long-stemmed roses replacing the upper part of her head. Kashtanova submitted it for copyright protection on March 21.

The image will also appear in Kashtanova’s new book. It’s title: “For My A.I. Community.”

(Reporting By Tom Hals and Blake Brittain; editing by Noeleen Walder, Amy Stevens and Claudia Parsons)

The backlash to Donald Trump’s indictment has just begun.

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg claimed to be inundated with racist death threats against him and his family over the decision to indict the former president in the Stormy Daniels hush-money case.

Several typo-laden emails were obtained by Daily News showing a number of Trump supporters throwing out racist and antisemitic epithets towards the New York DA.

One email said, “Hay George Soros a–hole puppet. If you want President Trump. come and get me to … Remember we are everywhere and we have guns.”

Another wrote, “How do we get a n—– like you removed from office?”

The emails were sent through Bragg’s own campaign website where a number of Trump supporters signed up to receive updates about the DA’s work using various racial slurs as names such as “B—- Trash F—–” and “Aids Infested N—–.”

Braggs voted to indict Trump in relation to a number of hush-money payments to Daniels to keep her quite about an affair between her and the at-the-time republican nominee for president.

Trump could face up to 25 charges related to the case, but they’ve been kept under seal until he appears in court later next week.

He’s expected to stand before Bragg on Tuesday after the ex-president’s lawyers negotiated his surrender soon after the indictment was announced.

According to Politico, Trump is expected to be photographed and have his fingerprints taken.

His lawyer Joe Tacopina made it clear that his client “will not be put in handcuffs” when turning over to the authorities.

Trump vehemently denied any wrongdoing throughout the probe and threatening “death and destruction” if any indictments were to happen.

In a statement posted on Truth Social Trump wrote, “This is Political Persecution and Election Interference at the highest level in history.”

“I believe this Witch-Hunt will backfire massively on Joe Biden. The American people realize exactly what the Radical Left Democrats are doing here. Everyone can see it,” Trump continued. “[I will] vigorously fight this political prosecution in court.”

Trump’s lawyer Chris Kise referred to the indictment as “the lowest point in history for our criminal justice system.”

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Stormy Daniels admitted she is “scared” for her safety since ex-president Donald Trump’s indictment.

On Thursday, March 30, a grand jury indicted the 45th president in Manhattan for his alleged hush money payment to Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election. After the indictment, the porn star weighed in on the situation.

“Trump is no longer untouchable,” Daniels told a news outlet. “A person in power is not exempt from the law. And no matter what your job is, or what your bank account says, you’re held accountable for the things you’ve said and done, and justice is served.”

“It’s bittersweet. He’s done so much worse that he should have been taken down [for] before. I am fully aware of the insanity of it, being a porn star. But it’s also poetic; this p**** grabbed back,” she continued, referring to the former commander-in-chief’s offensive quote “Grab ’em by the pussy.“

“It’s monumental and epic, and I’m proud,” the 44-year-old added.

Although Daniels is happy about the indictment, she has become a victim of threatening messages via “all social media platforms, and email, and phone.” She admitted that she is fearful “for the first time ever.”

“Part of me is hesitant to say that, because you don’t want blood in the water. It kind of encourages the sharks. It’s especially scary because Trump himself is inciting violence and encouraging it,” Daniels mentioned, referencing Trump’s recent call for his fans to “protest” against the jury’s decision.

She then clarified that Trump is not who she is afraid of, but rather his supporters, saying, “The country is more divided and people are more desperate. I’m not afraid of him, or of the government, but it just takes one crazy supporter who thinks they’re doing God’s work or protecting democracy.”

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“The other side of it is that it’s going to continue to divide people and bring them up in arms. He’s already gotten away with inciting a riot, and causing death and destruction. Whatever the outcome is, it’s going to cause violence, and there’s going to be injuries and death. There’s the potential for a lot of good to come from this. But either way, a lot of bad is going to come from it, too,” she continued about the aftermath of the decision.

The adult film maker also joked she’s not “as scared” to see Trump during the trial, adding, “I’ve seen him naked. There’s no way he could be scarier with his clothes on.”

The Sunday Timesreported on Daniels comments.

Lady Gaga has been swooning over her costar Joaquin Phoenix while portraying DC comic book-inspired characters Harley Quinn and the Joker in the highly anticipated sequel, RadarOnline.com has learned.

Insiders claim the Bad Romance hitmaker is sweet on Phoenix following a string of crumbling romances, although he is off the market and happily taken.

He and his longtime love, actress Rooney Mara, met in 2012 on the set of Her, in which Mara played Phoenix’s ex-wife. They got engaged in 2019 and welcomed a son in 2020.

Fans can hardly wait to see Phoenix and Gaga hit the big screen in Joker 2: Folie a Deux, which is set for an October 2024 release.

The first promotional image of the film showed a bleach-blonde Quinn gazing into the eyes of the villainous Joker with his smeared red, white, and blue face paint.

In August 2022, she was cast to star opposite the Oscar-winning actor, who first captivated audiences as the Clown Prince of Crime in the blockbuster 2019 thriller.

As we reported earlier this month, Gaga and her boyfriend, Michael Polansky, recently called it quits after two years of dating.

“They broke up a few months ago,” spilled a source. “It was amicable. They’re still friends.”

The source said they didn’t see eye to eye about getting married and starting a family. As a result, RadarOnline.com exclusively learned “their relationship hit a wall.”

“Gaga is a true romantic who wears her heart on her sleeve,” added the insider. “She’s been on a few dates here and there since splitting from Michael and is open to being in a long-term relationship should the right man come along.”

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The 13-time Grammy winner has made it clear she is just fine riding solo, telling Wallpaper magazine in a recent interview that she likes to “have time to be alone” every so often to recharge.

“I’m actually really interested in living more of a life of solitude,” said Gaga. “It’s really nice to just have time to be alone, and be expansive, and know that you’re enough. I wish I could tell myself that.”

RadarOnline.com has reached out to a rep for Gaga for comment.