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Published by BANG Showbiz English Cardi B says she’s had “95 per cent” of her bum fillers removed. The rapper has revealed she had a series of injections to boost her behind but she had most of it dissolved back in August and she has now warned young fans about the dangers of cosmetic treatments including Brazilian bum lifts – insisting anyone considering the procedure must consult a doctor first. In a video posted on Instagram, Cardi explained: “In August I got surgery and I removed 95 per cent of my biopolymers … if you don’t know what it is, it’s ass shots. It was a really crazy process. “All I’m going to say is that if you’re young, if you’re 19, 20, 21, and sometimes you’re too skinny, and you be like ‘OMG I don’t have enough fat to put in my ass,’ so you result to ass shots, DON’T!” She added of Brazilian bum lifts: “When it comes to BBLs, if y’all want advice from me, before you get your BBL done you have to make sure your blood levels are all right. If a doctor says your blood levels are too low or you have diabetes or whatever, don’t do it.” Cardi has previously been open about her body insecurities, revealing she got her first boob job when she was 18 and had the first work done on her bum two years later. In a chat with singer Mariah Carey for Interview magazine, Cardi explained: “Well, I’m from New York, right? And New York is a melting pot, especially where I grew up in the Bronx. I was really skinny when I was younger, and in the Bronx, it’s about being thick and having an ass so young boys would be like, ‘Look at your flat ass. You ain’t got no t******.’ And it would make me feel so ugly and undeveloped.” She went on to add of her first surgeries: “When I was 18 and became a dancer, I had enough money to afford to buy boobs, so every insecurity that I felt about my breasts was gone. “When I was 20, I went to the urban strip club, and in the urban strip clubs, you had to have a big butt. So I felt insecure about that. It took me back to high school. So I got my ass done.” View the full article

Published by DPA Dyson’s planned headphones that also filter the air you breathe will take some getting used to. Dyson/dpa Dyson is following through on its promise to sell a high-tech face mask and wants to launch its Zone headphone and air-filter combo in January 2023 with a design that leaves only the eyes uncovered. The pricetag of $949/£749 is about double that of the most popular high-end noise cancelling headphones, such as Apple’s $550 AirPods Max or Sony’s $399 WH-1000XM5. However Dyson is clearly setting itself apart with a removable air filtration unit. First introduced in spring as an idea, the headphones come with a filter unit that is attached to the headphones with magnets. This then pumps filtered air to the mouth and nose. You can also use just the headphones without the mouthpiece, meaning you don’t always need to walk around looking like Batman nemesis Bane from “The Dark Knight Rises”. Dyson says you can turn off the air supply by pushing down the headband or removing it completely. Dyson isn’t yet showing what it’s like to have a conversation with the headset on, but it does say that the visor doesn’t seal off the nose and mouth, and merely sits close to the face without touching it. Electrostatic filtration captures up to 99% of particles down to a size of 0.1 microns, such as dust, pollen and bacteria. A potassium-enriched carbon filter is said to purify the air we breathe of gases such as nitrogen dioxide or ozone. You will need to replace the filter once a year, Dyson says. In addition to air pollution, the Zone also works against noise pollution, and Dyson says its active noise cancelling (ANC) in the Bluetooth 5.0 headphones works with eight microphones and is supposed to be able to attenuate disturbing ambient noise by up to 38 decibels (dB). At 595 g, the headphones alone are quite heavy, and get only heavier when you attach the 75-g air filter. The Apple AirPods Max have already been criticized as noticeably heavy at 385 g, significantly more than the 250 g of Sony’s WH-1000XM5. The 2,600 mAh battery in the headphones charges fully via USB-C in three hours. This is enough for up to 50 hours of pure music listening or up to four hours of combined audio and filter operation at the lowest airflow speed. The combined time drops accordingly at medium (up to 2.5 hours) and high airflow speed (up to 1.5 hours). An accelerometer in the headphones monitors the user’s activity and automatically adjusts the airflow speed if desired. Dyson has also added a sensor to detect when you’re not wearing the device so that the Zone can save power and switch to standby when you take it off. It will also automatically switch to audio-only mode when the filter headband is pushed down slightly or removed completely. A built-in sensor monitors nitrogen dioxide levels. These are displayed in the MyDyson app, as is the level of ambient noise. The app also controls airflow, ANC, some audio equaliser modes and a volume limit. The Dyson Zone app lets you see what the current air quality and noise levels are like around you. Dyson/dpa View the full article

Published by Reuters By Richard Cowan and Doina Chiacu WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona said on Friday she is leaving the Democratic Party and registering as an independent, in an announcement just days after Democrats won a Senate race in Georgia to secure 51 seats in the 100-member chamber. “Like a lot of Arizonans, I have never fit perfectly in either national party,” Sinema said in an article for the Arizona Republic newspaper. Sinema intends to maintain her committee assignments from the Democrats, an aide told Reuters on condition of anonymity. The aide would not say whether or not Sinema would continue to caucus with Democrats. Sinema herself, however, said she would not caucus with the Republican Party, according to an interview published by Politico on Friday. If that holds, Democrats could still maintain greater governing control in the closely divided chamber. Sinema’s bombshell came as the future of President Joe Biden’s agenda in the second half of his term was already clouded by Republicans who are set to take majority control of the House of Representatives on Jan. 3 as a result of the Nov. 8 midterm elections. But Sinema’s statements so far indicate that she will continue working in the independent-minded way that she demonstrated over the past two years — collaborating with Democrats and Republicans to enact legislation, while unafraid of throwing roadblocks that frustrate the White House and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. Aides to Schumer and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell were not immediately available for comment. With her new status as an independent, Sinema has cemented her role in the Senate as a maverick, much in the way that the late Republican Senator John McCain was. Arizona has a legacy of trail-blazing senators, including Barry Goldwater, who served in the 1950s and 1960s and brought new life to the conservative political movement in the United States, only to suffer a resounding defeat when he ran for president in 1964 against Lyndon Johnson. Sinema has two years left in her six-year Senate term and would be up for re-election in 2024 if she decides to seek another term. If so, it was unclear whether Democrats would mount a challenge. Sinema and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin have kept Washington in suspense over the last two years as they have repeatedly withheld their needed votes for legislative initiatives sought by President Joe Biden. At the same time, they have worked in a bipartisan way on high-profile bills that have become law, including a major bill that will invest huge sums of federal dollars to combat climate change. Just this week, Sinema and Republican Senator Thom Tillis unveiled an immigration reform plan that is getting attention in the Senate. In the Arizona Republic article, Sinema described her disillusionment with what she described as a rigid two-party system that encourages partisanship over independence. “I have joined the growing numbers of Arizonans who reject party politics by declaring my independence from the broken partisan system in Washington. I registered as an Arizona independent,” Sinema wrote. Democrats had held the Senate with a 50-50 majority, as Vice President Kamala Harris has the power to cast tie-breaking votes. U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock’s victory in Tuesday’s run-off election in Georgia had handed them their 51st seat. Two other current senators – Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine – are registered independents but caucus with Democrats. Sinema on Friday said her shift came as a growing number of people in her Western U.S. state were also declaring themselves politically independent, rejecting both the Republican and Democratic political labels. “We don’t line up to do what we’re told, automatically subscribe to whatever positions the national political parties dictate or view every issue through labels that divide us,” she wrote. (This story has been corrected to fix the spelling of Schumer in paragraph 6) (Reporting by Richard Cowan, Susan Heavey, Doina Chiacu and David Morgan; Editing by Alison Williams, Chizu Nomiyama and Philippa Fletcher) View the full article

Published by DPA Berghain, the crown jewel in Berlin's world-famous nightlife, is celebrating its 18th birthday amid rumous that club is about to close. Christophe Gateau/dpa Berlin’s best-known nightclub is celebrating its 18th anniversary and, unlike the many clubs in Europe displaced by gentrification, Berghain is now coming of age, so to speak. Anyone born when the notorious techno club opened in 2004 has now reached the minimum age to be admitted there. The massive club, known to have Berlin’s strictest door policy, is celebrating its birthday with a club night starting on December 10. Announcing “Club Night – Eighteen Years of Berghain”, the exclusive club says it’s now “finally of age, but still not grown up.” The celebrations come amid rumours that the club is set to close down, in what would be a massive loss to the city’s nightlife and international profile for partygoing tourists. Besides its world-class sound system, large main dance hall and seedy lower areas, Berghain is perhaps best known for being a business that turns away the vast majority of its potential customers. Being one of the rare few allowed into the club is seen as an accollade by many locals and tourists in Berlin, with post-Berghain selfies being posted on social media by many of those who can show their stamp of admission. Over the years, the city landmark has regularly been ranked among the best clubs in the world, even though it fell out of the top ten in the Top 100 Clubs poll from DJ Mag in 2022, dropping to 12th place. In the meantime, it has been confirmed that Berghain, whose operators are extremely secretive, also wants to continue into the new year. In addition to the birthday party, a New Year’s Eve club night has been announced, although “night” is an understatement: The club night starts on December 31 and will “probably not end until the early noon hours of January 2.” At the turn of the year, not only two, but four dance floors will be used. Berghain, known for its basement debauchery and druggy toilets, has also announced a “XXX floor” among other things. The line-up for the three-and-a-half-day party lists around 60 DJ acts. Outside Berghain, which gets its name from its location in Berlin’s Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district, long queues are likely again. It was the “first regular New Year’s Eve club night since 2019,” they added. Like other clubs, Berghain (known in German as “das Berghain”) had to close for many months during the pandemic. At times, the labyrinthine club building – a former energy plant from early GDR times not far from the former Stalinallee (now Karl-Marx-Allee) – housed an art exhibition that people could view for an entrance fee without having to fall to the mercy of bouncers. On display were not only works permanently installed in the Berghain, for example by artists such as Norbert Bisky, Wolfgang Tillmans and Marc Brandenburg. Other renowned artists were also represented, including Olafur Eliasson, Katharina Grosse, Alicja Kwade and Rosemarie Trockel, to name but a few. A remnant of this exhibition can be found today in the toilet wing next to the main dance floor, of all places: A “Cockaigne” scene inspired by the Dutch Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder is engraved on a stainless steel wall. The work by Cyprien Gaillard is an allusion to ecstatic clubbing. It wasn’t only the pandemic that has weighed on Berghain. After reports of suspected needle-spiking attacks in several countries, in which party-goers were allegedly injected with knockout drops by needle, Berghain organisers – who apart from announcing the programme otherwise never make any public statements – saw themselves compelled to give safety advice on their website. After the coronavirus, another infectious disease, monkeypox, also caused concern among some partygoers this year. The Lab.oratory, a men-only area on the ground floor of Berghain building, gave prevention tips on its website against the spread of the monkeypox virus, which can be transmitted through close physical contact. Measured by the standards of Berlin’s club scene, the 18 years of Berghain are quite a stately age. While many clubs, especially in Berlin, see themselves threatened by gentrification and property developers, Berghain not only looks like a fortress with its building architecture in the style of socialist classicism, but it also somewhat upholds the myth of wild Berlin in the time after the fall of the Wall. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Keith Coffman DENVER (Reuters) -The man accused of killing five people at an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado was arrested last year on charges of threatening violence, but a judge dismissed that case because the alleged victims declined to cooperate, a prosecutor said on Thursday. El Paso County District Attorney Michael Allen provided details on the 2021 prosecution of Anderson Lee Aldrich after a judge ordered court files from last year’s case unsealed at the request of Allen, the local sheriff and several news outlets. Allen said he wanted to counter what he called a “false narrative” about the 2021 case suggesting authorities did not pursue it or missed an opportunity to prevent the deadly shooting nearly three weeks ago. Aldrich, 22, is being held without bail on more than 300 counts including murder, attempted murder, hate crimes and assault stemming from the Nov. 19 rampage at Club Q in Colorado Springs, which killed five and wounded 22. The El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said Aldrich had been arrested in June 2021 over allegations that the suspect had threatened to detonate a bomb and harm a family member with multiple weapons. Questions about the outcome of that arrest went unanswered under a Colorado law barring authorities from discussing a case in which charges are dismissed or never formally brought. At Thursday’s news conference, Allen said that after initially giving statements implicating Aldrich in the 2021 case, Aldrich’s mother and grandparents testified on the suspect’s behalf for a bail reduction. After the alleged victims declined to testify for the prosecution, the judge threw out the case, Allen said. Attempts by Reuters to reach the mother and grandparents for comment were not immediately successful. Allen said deputies seized a handgun and a rifle from Aldrich in the 2021 case, and those weapons were still in police custody when the nightclub massacre occurred. A different rifle and handgun were recovered from the Club Q shooting. Aldrich, whose lawyers have asserted in court documents that their client identifies as non-binary and prefers “they/them” pronouns, is due back in court in February for a scheduled three-day preliminary hearing. (Reporting by Keith Coffman in Denver; Editing by Steve Gorman, Donna Bryson and Gerry Doyle) View the full article

Published by AFP Basketball star Brittney Griner was freed by Russia in exchange for notorious arms trafficker Victor Bout, who was serving a 25-year sentence in the United States Washington (AFP) – Brittney Griner’s release from a prison ordeal in Russia sparked an outpouring of joy — but also raised tough questions for Joe Biden: was the US president right to trade a notorious arms dealer for the basketball star jailed on minor drug charges? The rival Republican Party quickly attacked Biden whose spokeswoman said he made no apologies for freeing Griner, a 32-year-old Olympic gold medalist and LGBTQ trailblazer who was locked up after being found with small quantities of cannabis oil in vape cartridges. Bout, the inspiration for the movie “Lord of War” who was accused of arming rebels in some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts, was handed 25 years in prison in 2012. Judge Shira A. Scheindlin, who sentenced him in a federal court in New York, said there was no equivalence between the two cases but welcomed the exchange for Griner. “I think Viktor Bout has served sufficient time, frankly, for the crimes of which he was convicted,” Scheindlin, now in private practice, told AFP. She said she was required to hand down a minimum sentence she considered excessive because Bout was convicted on terrorism charges. Bout was detained in Thailand in 2008 in a US sting for allegedly trying to sell arms to Colombia’s FARC rebels — an operation Scheindlin described as Bout having been “roped in.” “He himself wasn’t a terrorist. He was a businessman arms dealer. And there are arms dealers in every country including the United States of America.” ‘One or none’ But Scheindlin said she wished Bout were freed not only for Griner but for Paul Whelan, a former Marine detained in 2018 on espionage accusations. Although both Whelan and the US government deny the spying allegations, Scheindlin argued that trading him for Bout would have made “a little more sense” given the severity of the charges he faces. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who raised the prisoner swap in rare direct contact with his Russian counterpart in the midst of the Ukraine war, said that Russia treated the two cases differently as it saw Whelan “through the lens of sham espionage charges.” “This was not a choice about which American to bring home. The choice was, in this instance, one or none,” Blinken told reporters. Will Pomeranz, the director of the Wilson Center’s Kennan Institute, said Russia would see a victory in freeing Bout. “It demonstrates that the Russian state always has the back of their security services and that they will leave no one behind, even as it means long and protracted negotiation,” he said. He said that while Griner’s arrest was consistent with Russia’s strict drug laws, President Vladimir Putin “clearly had leverage” after Biden publicly put a priority on freeing Griner, whose plight has drawn wide interest in the United States. Pomeranz expected a difficult task ahead to free Whelan. “Paul Whelan’s best chance to get out of Russia was being part of the Brittney Griner swap,” he said. Incentive to adversaries? Republican Senator Marco Rubio, while welcoming Griner’s release, said the deal showed Putin “how detaining high-profile Americans on relatively minor charges can both distract American officials and cause them to release truly bad individuals who belong behind bars.” Republican Representative Nicole Malliotakis, pointing to Bout’s record, said Biden should have secured the release of both Whelan and Griner, writing on Twitter, “A US Marine is left behind in another bad deal made by Biden.” But the United States has repeatedly shown a willingness to carry out deals criticized as disproportionate to free citizens in response to public opinion. Other democracies have made similar decisions: in one of the most striking examples, Israel in 2011 freed more than 1,000 prisoners in exchange for the release of a single soldier, Gilad Shalit, by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The United States has set a government policy of not paying ransoms for its citizens, hoping to avoid incentives for hostage-taking. In a possible sign of the public mood, an American football player, Micah Parsons, voiced anger on Twitter that the United States “left a Marine” but backtracked and apologized after a deluge of criticism and said he was “extremely happy” for Griner. Paul Rieckhoff, a veterans advocate and commentator, said that Whelan should be released “full stop” but said Griner was “at unique risk in Russian prison” as a Black and LGBTQ woman. “When she gets home, I have no doubt she’ll be out in front leading the fight for the release of Paul Whelan. And we should all join her.” View the full article

Published by SI Swim By Ananya Panchal The USWNT Captain was featured in the 2019 Issue alongside fellow soccer players Alex Morgan, Crystal Dunn, and Abby Dahlkemper. Megan Rapinoe is a trailblazer. In 2019 alone, she appeared in the SI Swimsuit Issue as the franchise’s first openly gay model, led the U.S. women’s national soccer team to its second consecutive World Cup championship and was named SI’s Sportsperson of the Year for “playing the world’s game, on the world’s stage, under attack by a world leader” and “dominating without fear.” She knew that her involvement with SI Swimsuit would have an impact and ho… Read More View the full article

Published by Euronews (English) Day 9 of our Cultural Advent Calendar, in which we’re counting down our highlights of 2022 day-by-day all the way to Christmas and beyond. We’re currently listing our favourite TV shows and streams of the year… Today: The White Lotus – Season 2 (HBO). At this stage it’s a cliché to say that I’ve never seen myself represented on screen. But I’ve definitely never seen three versions of myself on screen in the same show until the second season of ‘The White Lotus’. A drunk white woman disassociating from her life; a whiny Zillennial with a Depop wardrobe; and a gay guy fawning over Jennifer Cooli… Read More View the full article

Published by AlterNet Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is spinning a new conspiracy theory about WNBA star Britney Griner being released from a Russian prison. According to Carlson, Griner was released instead of Paul Whelan simply because she is a Black lesbian. On Thursday, December 8, Carlson laid out his argument during a segment of “Tucker Carlson Tonight” hours after it was reported that President Joe Biden secured Griner’s release. As part of the agreement about her release, Mediaite notes that the U.S. “released arms dealer Viktor Bout, whom the U.S. convicted in 2011 of conspiring to kill Americans.” According to … Read More View the full article

Published by AFP Brittney Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, was arrested at a Moscow airport nine months ago against a backdrop of soaring tensions over Ukraine Washington (AFP) – American basketball star Brittney Griner was headed back to the United States on Thursday after being released from a Russian prison in exchange for an arms dealer known as the “Merchant of Death.” Griner, 32, who was arrested in Russia in February on drug charges, and Viktor Bout, 55, who was serving a 25-year sentence in a US prison, were exchanged at an airport in Abu Dhabi. In footage released by Russian state media, Griner, shorn of her distinctive dreadlocks, and a relaxed and animated Bout could be seen crossing paths on the airport tarmac and heading towards the planes that would take them home. President Joe Biden announced Griner’s release early Thursday in an address to the nation at the White House. “She is safe. She is on a plane. She is on her way home,” he said. The president said he had spoken to her and she was in “good spirits” after suffering “needless trauma.” Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medalist, WNBA champion and LGBT trailblazer, was arrested at a Moscow airport nine months ago against a backdrop of soaring tensions over Ukraine. She was accused of possession of vape cartridges with a small quantity of cannabis oil and sentenced in August to nine years in prison. Bout, who was accused of arming rebels in some of the world’s bloodiest conflicts, was detained in a US sting operation in Thailand in 2008, extradited to the United States and sentenced in 2012 to 25 years behind bars. He landed in Russia Thursday, state television said. “Don’t worry, everything is OK, I love you very much,” he told his mother Raisa. While Griner’s family and friends celebrated her release, another American held in Russia, Paul Whelan, a former US Marine detained since 2018 and accused of spying, was not part of Thursday’s exchange and he told CNN he was “greatly disappointed.” “I don’t understand why I’m still sitting here,” Whelan told the US television network in a phone call from the Russian penal colony where he is imprisoned. Biden pledged to obtain Whelan’s freedom, saying “we will never give up.” “Sadly, for totally illegitimate reasons, Russia is treating Paul’s case different than Brittney’s,” he said. As for Griner’s release, Biden said “this is a day we’ve worked toward for a long time. It took painstaking and intense negotiations.” ‘Family is whole’ Biden made the announcement flanked by Griner’s wife, Cherelle Griner, Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “I’m just standing here, overwhelmed with emotions,” Cherelle Griner said. She acknowledged Whelan’s fate, saying: “Today my family is whole, but as you all are aware there’s so many other families who are not whole.” In a statement late Thursday, the Griner family thanked President Biden and his administration again, and said they “pray for Paul and for the swift and safe return of all wrongfully-detained Americans.” “We ask that you respect our privacy as we embark on this road to healing,” they added. WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert said there was a “collective wave of joy and relief” in the women’s professional league where the 6’9″ (2.06 meter) Griner has been a star for a decade with the Phoenix Mercury. Biden thanked the United Arab Emirates for helping “facilitate” Griner’s release and the UAE issued a joint statement with Saudi Arabia saying it was the result of “mediation efforts” by leaders of the two Arab nations. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said, however, there was “no mediation involved” and “the only countries that negotiated this deal were the United States and Russia.” ‘Rescue our compatriot’ At the time of her arrest, Griner had been playing for a professional team in Russia, as a number of WNBA players do in the off-season. She pleaded guilty to the charges against her, but said she did not intend to break the law or use the banned substance in Russia. Griner testified that she had permission from a US doctor to use medicinal cannabis to relieve pain from her many injuries. The use of medical marijuana is not allowed in Russia. The Russian foreign ministry said it had been negotiating with Washington to secure Bout’s release “for a long time” and that initially the United States had “refused dialogue” on including him in any swap. “Nevertheless, the Russian Federation continued to actively work to rescue our compatriot,” it said. “The Russian citizen has been returned to his homeland.” The 2005 film “Lord of War” starring Nicolas Cage was based in part on Bout’s arms trafficking exploits and he has been the subject of several books and TV shows. Russia’s ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, told Bout in a video message that he was aware that the arms dealer had been subjected to “powerful physical and moral pressure” while in prison, Russian news agency TASS reported. “And you endured it with dignity,” the ambassador added, saying Moscow was “genuinely delighted by the fact that Russia’s efforts for your release have eventually succeeded.” Asked about Bout’s release, a senior US defense official said “there is a concern that he would return to doing the same kind of work that he’s done in the past.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online florida house of representatives/youtube Florida representative Joe Harding, who is known for his controversial “Don’t Say Gay” bill, was indicted on six counts of fraud for allegedly obtaining and misusing $150,000 in COVID relief funds, RadarOnline.com has learned. Rep. Harding, 35, was accused of misusing funds obtained from two applications to the Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan program. The program was intended to provide economic relief to small businesses that risked closure and layoffs due to severe financial loss brought by the impact of the pandemic. abc news/youtube In total, Harding was charged with six counts of fraud that included alleged money laundering and wire fraud, according to the Department of Justice’s statement on his indictment. “By this conduct, the indictment alleges that Harding fraudulently obtained and attempted to obtain more than $150,000 in funds from the SBA to which he was not entitled,” the DOJ stated in a press release. Harding is accused of applying for COVID financial assistance through The Vak Shack, a vacuum sealer company, as well as a cattle farm under the name Harding LLC. Both companies had been inactive since 2017 — three years prior to the pandemic that prompted the formation of the relief program. According to the indictment, Harding allegedly applied for the program during the time period of December 2020 to March 2021. Additionally, Harding was accused of falsifying other documented requested in the application. Harding allegedly falsified bank statements — and other supporting financial documents — that were requested on the application to secure tens of thousands of dollars. Harding denied the allegations of multiple counts of fraud against him and claimed that he already repaid the financial relief that he received from his accepted applications. Harding faces 20 years for alleged wire fraud, 10 years for alleged money laundering, and 5 years for allegedly making false statements. Harding was elected to represent Florida’s 24th District in the state’s House of Representatives in 2020. During Harding’s brief two-year stint, the lawmaker introduced Bill 1557 — also known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill. mega Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed Harding’s bill into law in March 2022. Along with Gov. DeSantis, Harding won his reelection in the November 2022 midterms. Harding’s trial for his indictment is scheduled for January 11 at 8:30 AM at the United States Courthouse in Gainesville, Florida. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Moira Warburton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday gave final congressional approval to legislation that provides federal recognition of same-sex marriages, a measure born out of concern that the Supreme Court could reverse its support for legal recognition of such relationships. The House vote was 258-169, with all of the chamber’s Democrats and 39 Republicans voting in favor – though 169 of the chamber’s Republicans voted against it and one voted “present.” The measure now goes to Democratic President Joe Biden’s desk for signature into law. The Respect for Marriage Act, as it is called, won Senate approval last month. The legislation won the support of LGBT advocates as well as a number of religious organizations and entities including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, though many American religious conservatives still oppose gay marriage as counter to biblical scripture. It is narrowly written to act as a limited backstop for the 2015 Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage nationwide, known as Obergefell v. Hodges. It would allow the federal government and states to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages as long as they were legal in the states where they were performed. It makes concessions for religious groups and institutions that do not support such marriages. The measure would repeal a 1996 U.S. law called the Defense of Marriage Act, which among other things denied federal benefits to same-sex couples. It bars states from rejecting the validity of out-of-state marriages on the basis of sex, race or ethnicity. The Supreme Court in 1967 declared prohibitions on interracial marriage unconstitutional. But the legislation would not bar states from blocking same-sex or interracial marriages if the Supreme Court allowed them to do so. It also ensures that religious entities would not be forced to provide goods or services for any marriage and protects them from being denied tax-exempt status or other benefits for declining to recognize same-sex marriages. In a speech on the House floor ahead of the vote, Democratic Speaker Nancy Pelosi condemned the “hateful movement” behind attacks on LGBT rights in the United States. The legislation “will help prevent right-wing extremists from upending the lives of loving couples, traumatizing kids across the country and turning back the clock on hard-won prizes,” Pelosi said. Republican Representative Jim Jordan said the bill was “dangerous and takes the country in the wrong direction.” When the Senate passed it by a vote of 61-36, 12 Republicans joined 49 Democrats in supporting it. Most Senate Republicans voted against it. A broader version of the bill – without the explicit protections for religious liberty – passed the 435-seat House in August, with the backing of all the Democrats and 47 Republicans. But to get the necessary 60 votes in the Senate to proceed with the legislation amid opposition by many Republican senators, its co-sponsors added an amendment clarifying that religious groups could not be sued under the it. The legislation was written by a group of Democratic and Republican senators in response to fears that the Supreme Court, with its increasingly assertive conservative majority, could someday strike down the Obergefell ruling, potentially jeopardizing same-sex marriage nationwide. The court has shown a willingness to reverse its own precedents as it did in June when it overturned its landmark 1973 ruling that had legalized abortion nationwide. The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Monday appeared ready to rule that a Christian web designer has a right to refuse to provide services for same-sex marriages in a case the liberal justices said could empower certain businesses to discriminate based on constitutional free speech protections. About 568,000 married same-sex couples live in the United States, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. (Reporting by Moira Warburton; Editing by Will Dunham and Scott Malone) View the full article

Burn in Hell on Earth Lyrics to Chris Houseman’s ‘Bible Belt’ Maybe you grew up a little like I did Maybe you knew someone like me as a kid Maybe you worked through your own shit Or learned that the one fix is Believing you can pray it away, cause hey They hit you over the head with it Stuff it down your throat Say ya need to be forgiven While they keep casting stones I know that they mean well They’re just trying to save ya from hell But I’m still bleeding from that beating I got from the Bible belt They told me Jesus would save me from my sin But they still paint pictures of Him with white skin They made some bad outta that Good Book And I hate that it took So long to get over what it did to me, cause They hit you over the head with it Stuff it down your throat Say ya need to be forgiven While they keep casting stones I know that they mean well They’re just trying to save ya from hell But I’m still bleeding from that beating I got from the Bible belt No there ain’t nothing wrong with having religion Ain’t trying to change no one’s mind Ain’t trying to look down or judge their convictions Just wish they would stop judging mine ‘Cause they hit you over the head with it Stuff it down your throat Say ya need to be forgiven While they keep casting stones I know that they mean well They’re just trying to save ya from hell But I’m still bleeding from that beating I got from the Bible belt Yeah I got from the Bible belt Published by The Boot Chris Housman has an uncanny knack for taking pop country tropes and spinning them into cutting, unvarnished truth. Housman’s breakout hit “Red State Blueneck” is a summery two-stepper that interrogates institutional racism with the catchiest chorus you can think of. (For the record, it’s the first country song to use the phrase “y’all means all.”) With his new song “Bible Belt,” Housman sets his sights on repressive religion backed by a hooky country crooner. On the surface, Housman isn’t doing anything different than most country singers: he’s setting his truth to three chords. But when your… Read More View the full article

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas by Secret Emchy Society Inflatable Menorah by Mya Byrne [This post contains video, click to play] Published by The Boot It’s beginning to feel a lot like the holidays. While we all eagerly await the opportunity to slow down, for many of us, the holidays can be stressful as well. Country music is all about yearning for family and hometown pride, but for many people, that nostalgia is a double-edged sword of anxiety and pain. But why wallow in it when you can laugh? Some of these queer country songs poke fun at the holidays, while others revel in winter nights of chosen family and togetherness. No matter the tone, these five songs get down to the holiday spirit: finding community when the nights get dark and cold… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online mega ’90s sitcom star Kirk Cameron claimed he was banned as a featured author at over 50 libraries across the public system, in addition to being prohibited from presenting his new faith-based children’s book at a storytime event. Cameron was allegedly told his book’s contents did not “align” with one library’s values, RadarOnline.com has learned. The child actor-turned-writer/producer, along with his publisher, Brave Books, condemned the banning and claimed the refusal was a threat to “our kids” and “this country.” mega The Rochambeau Public Library, based in Providence, Rhode Island, allegedly denied the 52-year-old’s request to promote his new book, As You Grow after he contacted them about the program. “No, we will pass on having you run a program in our space,” a staff member from the Providence library allegedly told the sitcom actor and his publisher during the phone call. Cameron and Brave Books claimed the library staff member elaborated on the reason, stating, “We are a very queer-friendly library. Our messaging does not align.” According to Brave Books, the publisher requested information on the library’s process to book Cameron for a future story hour slot. mega “You can fill out the form to reserve space, to run the program in our space — but we won’t run your program,” the library allegedly replied to Brave Book’s inquiry. In a statement released by Rochambeau Public Library on December 7, the facility claimed that Brave Books “mentioned no particular author or book in their call.” “Our libraries are free civic spaces, and our meeting rooms are available free of charge to the public,” the library’s statement read. “We provide space for many types of groups, including religious organizations.” The Growing Pains star and his publisher criticized the move by the public library system as an attempt to discriminate against Cameron’s strong beliefs. mega “This is proof that more than ever, we are getting destroyed in the battle for the hearts and minds of our children,” Cameron told Fox News. “Publicly funded libraries are green-lighting ‘gender marker and name change clinics’ while denying a story time that would involve the reading of a book that teaches biblical wisdom,” Cameron continued. “How much more clear can it get?” The actor then stated that “we have to start fighting back” or else “we will lose our kids and this country.” View the full article

Published by Raw Story Former Trump White House counselor Kellyanne Conway is apparently proud of the fact that she has not been caught up in any potential criminal conspiracies. While talking with Piers Morgan this week about her cooperation with the House Select Committee investigating the January 6th Capitol riots, Conway boasted about not being in the kind of legal jeopardy that has befallen so many of her other former colleagues in former President Donald Trump’s White House. “I’m the one Trump official with no subpoenas, indictments, scandals, and investigations,” Conway said. “And I plan to keep it that way.”… Read More View the full article

Published by AFP Park City, Utah's Old Main Street, where the 2022 Sundance Film Festival would have taken place had it not been cancelled in-person, is seen in January 2022 Los Angeles (AFP) – Documentaries exploring sexuality and fame via the life stories of supermodel Brooke Shields, singer Little Richard and author Judy Blume are among the lineup for next month’s Sundance film festival unveiled Wednesday. Co-founded by Robert Redford and renowned for launching major independent, art house and documentary films, the festival is set to return in-person to the mountains of Utah from January 19, after two previous editions were forced to take place online due to Covid. Stars including Anne Hathaway, Emilia Clarke, Jason Momoa and Chiwetel Ejiofor all have feature films in the lineup, while Emilia Jones returns to the festival that first played her best picture Oscar winner “CODA,” with two new movies of her own. On the documentary side, “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields” tells the story of the global supermodel and actress who first achieved fame aged 12, and reflects on the objectification, sexualization and commodification of women and young girls. “Judy Blume Forever” charts how the US young adult fiction author came under attack for sexual content and offensive language in the 1980s, leading her to take a stand against book banning and censorship. Both films “reflect the trends that we’ve seen in the last few years of biographically driven work” which allows viewers “to reopen history and to look at it from a different perspective,” said Sundance senior programmer John Nein. Similarly, “The Disappearance of Shere Hite” tracks the pioneering feminist author of “The Hite Report,” whose bestselling 1976 book on the female orgasm provoked a sexual revolution, but who was forced to vanish from the public eye afer drawing vicious criticism. And documentary “Little Richard: I Am Everything” tackles the Black queer origins of rock ‘n’ roll via the late, flamboyant singer, who renounced homosexuality and became a born-again Christian in later years. The films each provide “a chance to engage with history in a very different way” via “the framework of a notable person within the arts and culture field,” said Nein. Another prominent and topical theme in the lineup is films by and about Iranian women. Documentary “Joonam,” and feature films “The Persian Version” and “Shayda” all explore the stories of women in Iran and its diaspora communities, at a time when the country has been rocked by protests over its strict female dress code. And Hollywood A-listers are expected to return to the festival in force after two years of virtual Q&As and Zoom interviews. Former “Game of Thrones” star Clarke appears alongside Ejiofor in “The Pod Generation,” a near-future social satire in which a company has invented a detachable womb, enabling couples to share their pregnancy. Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie star in “Eileen,” about a young secretary working at a prison who befriends a glamorous counselor with a dark secret. “Aquaman” star Momoa narrates a documentary about the deep ocean and a mysterious organization planning to extract metals from the seabed. And Jones stars in dramas “Cat Person,” adapted from a famous New Yorker short story, and “Fairyland,” based on a best-selling memoir about San Francisco’s AIDS crisis. The 2023 Sundance Film Festival runs January 19–29. View the full article

Published by Raw Story Don’t expect Rep. Lauren Boebert to tone down her incendiary speech just because she nearly lost her first re-election bid. The first-term Colorado Republican beat Democrat Adam Frisch by only a few hundred votes, at least unofficially, but political experts aren’t expecting the right-wing lawmaker to move any closer to the moderate middle, reported the Denver Post. “It’s hard to imagine what a more-tempered, moderate, careful Lauren Boebert would look like,” said Kristin Kobes Du Mez, a professor of history and gender studies at Calvin University in Michigan. “I have a hard time envisioning w… Read More View the full article

Published by OK Magazine MEGA Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s 14-year-old daughter, Caroline, has been hospitalized for “self-inflicted stab wounds on the arms,” according to Houston police. A representative for Cruz released a statement about the serious situation on Tuesday night, December 6, which read, “This is a family matter, and thankfully their daughter is OK. There were no serious injuries.” MEGA “The family requests that the media respect their daughter’s privacy at this time,” the statement concluded. FIRST LADY WAR: JILL BIDEN STRIPPED MELANIA TRUMP’S ‘TACKY’ WHITE HOUSE RENOVATIONS, THOUGHT SHE ‘HAD AWFUL TASTE’ Caroline is the eldest daughter of the conservative politician and his wife, Heidi. The couple tied the knot in 2001 and also share daughter Catherine, 11. The upsetting news comes almost one year after the teen, then 13, publicly came out as bisexual and admitted to disagreeing with a majority of her father’s opinionated views. “A lot of people judge me based upon him at first glance,” Caroline said in a January TikTok video. “But I really disagree with most of his views.” The clip offered insight on the young girl’s highly profiled life, as she opened up about the “good and bad” things she has to deal with on a daily basis. “I literally have to have security following me everywhere,” Caroline noted. “Like if I want to go on a walk through the neighborhood or to my friend’s house or something, I have to have like two security guards behind me the entire time,” the seemingly annoyed teenager added. One social media user attempted to change Caroline’s views of her father by commenting, “your dad is awesome,” but she was not having it and curtly replied, “ok.” VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS’ BIGGEST SCANDALS: RUMORED FEUD WITH THE FIRST LADY, QUITTING EMPLOYEES & MORE Caroline did mention the bright side of her day-to-day life, saying, “Some of the good things are we get candy and gifts in the mail. We also get to travel sometimes.” ABC 13 Eyewitness News spoke to Houston police about the cause of Caroline’s hospitalization. If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). View the full article

Published by NJ.com A drag show meant to foster a sense of community among Hunterdon Central Regional High School’s LGBTQ+ students has become a point of controversy, with district officials and student organizers defending the show from backlash over whether it was “fair and equitable.” The drag show was an invitation-only event put on Oct. 27 by the high school P.U.L.S.E (People Understanding Love Serves Everyone) club and it was meant to provide a safe space for students to be themselves, club members said during a recent board of education meeting. But the event has exposed underlying tensions at the school a… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Don’t miss business with pleasure — something Kanye West learned from his alt-right buddy Milo Yiannopoulos, who allegedly billed him for more than $100k for the time they spent together over the past few weeks, RadarOnline.com has learned. Insiders revealed the rapper was blindsided by the bill because he never worked out a financial agreement with Milo to work as an advisor on the Ye 2024 presidential media blast. But Ye allegedly received an invoice from his extremest pal anyway. Mega Milo reportedly slapped the fallen musician with an invoice for a whopping $116k. The bill was dated December 1, according to TMZ. Ye and Milo’s friendship made headlines after they were first spotted hanging out in mid-November. Sources claimed Ye’s other right-wing friends — like white nationalist Nick Fuente— are working with the rapper-turned-politician hopeful as volunteers. It sounds like Ye was under the impression that Milo was a volunteer, too, until he got the bill. Mega While Ye’s been pushing his #Ye2024 hashtag amid his media blitz, the insider pointed out that he has yet to formally announce his campaign run — meaning, Milo can’t bill him for a campaign that isn’t real. Milo revealed to the Daily Beast that he and Ye had come to a “mutual conclusion” to part ways. It appears the hefty bill attributed to that choice. Let’s remember: Ye’s bank account isn’t what it used to be. The fashion designer lost his billionaire status in October following his antisemitic rant that forced several brands, including Adidas, to drop the star. Mega He’s also paying his ex-wife Kim Kardashian out of the wazoo. As RadarOnline.com reported, they finalized their divorce last week, and, as part of their settlement, Ye will be forking over $200k in child support on the first of every month to Kim for their four kids: North, 9, Saint, 7, Chicago, 4, and Psalm, 2. Ye also gave up the multimillion-dollar home that he purchased across the street from his ex. As for their children, they will share joint custody, and each parent will have “equal access” to them. It looks like the agreement is working out perfectly. Ye was even spotted at Kim’s home on Monday to celebrate their son Saint’s birthday like a modern family. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Diane Bartz WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The chair of the Federal Trade Commission, Lina Khan, on Tuesday said giant companies like Ticketmaster, which faces a tsunami of criticism for problems in selling tickets to a 2023 Taylor Swift tour, can become “too big to care.” Speaking at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council Summit, Khan said it was the Justice Department that approved the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation in 2010 and referenced a report that the department had a probe under way. “There can be concerns that when firms become (large) they can become too big to care,” she added, saying giant firms may feel no need to invest in innovation because they do not face tough competition. “There’s been public reporting that the Justice Department continues to look at this and I’m sure it’s top of mind for them, given all the incoming that they’re getting,” she added. Ticketmaster has drawn fresh heat from U.S. lawmakers over how it handled ticket sales for Swift’s first tour in five years. On Tuesday, a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the House Energy and Commerce Committee wrote to Michael Rapino, chief executive of Ticketmaster parent Live Nation, to raise concerns about the chaos in the Taylor Swift ticket sale and to request a briefing for staff on fees, dynamic pricing, ticket availability and transferability and scalping. There will also be a congressional hearing, likely this month, on the debacle in November when Ticketmaster put tickets on sale for Taylor Swift’s Eras tour, and some fans struggled for hours with the ticket sale website. Last month, U.S. lawmakers pressed the FTC to enforce a 2016 law against ticket scalpers using bots after Ticketmaster blamed the software for troubles selling tickets to Swift’s tour. Ticketmaster has blamed problems with presale ticketing for the tour on unprecedented demand and an effort to keep out bots run by ticket scalpers. For her part, Swift has said it was “excruciating” for her to watch fans struggle to secure tickets and that she had been assured that Ticketmaster could handle large demand. Neither Ticketmaster nor the Justice Department immediately responded to requests for comment. Khan also said that the FTC was not investigating cryptocurrency firm FTX, whose dramatic collapse sparked fears of contagion and prompted calls for more crypto regulation. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and David Gregorio) View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – More than 1,100 union employees at the New York Times Co are set to walk out on Thursday for 24 hours as negotiations with the news publisher for a “complete and equitable contract” failed on Tuesday, the union said in a tweet. The NYTimes NewsGuild last week had pledged to walk out on Dec. 8 if a contract was not reached by then. The NYTimes NewsGuild has sought “complete and equitable contract” wages that “keep up with inflation” as well as to preserve and enhance health insurance and retirement benefits that were promised during hiring, according to a letter signed by 1,036 members last week. The number of signatories has since topped 1,100, the union said on Tuesday. “Unless the company changes their tune and a deal is reached before Thursday, the work stoppage will officially start from midnight on December 8th and go for 24 hours,” the union said in a statement posted on Twitter. The union said the New York Times during a meeting earlier in the day refused to meet for additional negotiating sessions to resolve the contract dispute by Thursday. The New York Times in an emailed statement to Reuters said the union’s claims were inaccurate and negotiations were ongoing. The union said that the walkout would be the first full-day work stoppage at the New York Times since the late 1970s. The Times Guild represents journalists as well as ad sales workers, comment moderators, news assistants, security guards and staffers at The Times Center, the company’s events venue and virtual production studio. Tech employees of the Times voted last March to unionize and have been trying separately to negotiate their first contract. (Reporting by Akriti Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Leslie Adler) View the full article

Published by AFP The US Supreme Court is to hear a high-stakes elections case Washington (AFP) – The US Supreme Court hears a case on Wednesday that could fundamentally alter the way democracy operates in America by expanding the power of state legislatures over elections for the White House and Congress. The case, Moore v. Harper, would potentially give lawmakers in each of the 50 US states more authority in deciding who votes, where and how in federal elections. The prospect has raised concerns on the left in a bitterly divided country still reeling from Donald Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results. But it has also alarmed some on the right. The case focuses on a theory known as the “independent state legislature” doctrine advanced by Republican lawmakers in the southern state of North Carolina. Under the Constitution, the rules for federal elections are set by the state legislature. “The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof,” the Elections Clause says. State legislatures have used their authority to map out congressional districts, set poll hours and agree on rules for voter registration and mail-in ballots. Their laws have been subject, however, to legal scrutiny by the local courts and possible veto by the state governor. No longer, if the North Carolina lawmakers have their way. In their brief to the nation’s highest court, they say the Constitution “sets forth a detailed set of specific rights, specific procedures, and specific allocations of power. “Here, those carefully drawn lines place the regulation of federal elections in the hands of state legislatures, Congress, and no one else.” Amy Mason Saharia, a Washington lawyer who has argued a number of cases before the Supreme Court, said it “has never adopted that theory, but it has been floating around for a while” and the conservative-dominated court could embrace it. ‘Reshape American democracy’ North Carolina’s Democratic governor Roy Cooper warned that “the court’s decision on this alarming argument could fundamentally reshape American democracy. “Our democracy is a fragile ecosystem that requires checks and balances to survive,” Cooper wrote in an opinion piece published in The New York Times. “Republican leaders in the North Carolina legislature have shown us how the election process can be manipulated for partisan gain,” Cooper said. “And that’s what you can expect to see from state legislatures across the country if the court reverses course in this case.” Moore v. Harper stems from an electoral dispute in North Carolina. The 2020 census found that the state’s population had increased, earning it an extra seat in the US House of Representatives. North Carolina lawmakers redrew the congressional map to add a new district but the state supreme court threw it out in February, arguing that it favored Republicans by grouping Democrats in certain districts, diluting their vote. A second map was also judged to be unfair and the state high court finally named an independent expert to carry out the redistricting. North Carolina lawmakers appealed to the Supreme Court arguing that local courts were usurping their authority. The Supreme Court declined to intervene right away and the map drawn up by the expert was used in November’s midterm elections, resulting in seven House members from each party. ‘Nonsense’ Democrats, from the state level to President Joe Biden, law professors and leading civil rights organizations have filed briefs urging the Supreme Court to reject the doctrine. Sophia Lin Lakin of the American Civil Liberties Union warned of the dangers of an adverse ruling. “An extreme interpretation of the US Constitution by the Supreme Court in this case will make it even easier for state legislators to suppress the vote, fraud, gerrymander election districts and potentially sabotage election results,” she said. The Republican Party dismissed the criticism as alarmist. “Self-anointed constitutional law experts have convinced a healthy cross-section of armchair court watchers that, should the court decide this case the wrong way, it would signal the end of democracy,” the National Republican Committee said in a brief. “Nonsense.” A number of prominent conservatives did express concern. “Our political system would suffer harm if partisan gerrymanders were left entirely without state-level checks and balances,” said Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former Republican governor of California. The court is to deliver its ruling by the end of June. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Shawana Alleyne-Morris (Reuters) – Reduced access to infertility treatments early in the pandemic may have contributed to a drop in twin births, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggest. The number of twin births fell 7% between 2019 and 2020 – from 120,291 to 112,437 – compared to an average 2%-per-year decline from 2014 to 2019, researchers reported on Wednesday in the CDC’s National Vital Statistics Reports, based on data from 50 states and the District of Columbia. The twin birth rate dropped 3% between 2019 and 2020, from 32.1 to 31.1 per 1,000 births, versus an average annual decline of 1% from 2014-2019, the researchers said. The largest declines were in November and December of 2020 and January 2021, when twin birth rates dropped by 10%, 14% and 7%, respectively, compared to the year before. “The timing of the monthly declines in late 2020 and early 2021 coincide with a period of conception when the coronavirus pandemic began and (experts) recommended that reproductive medicine professionals temporarily limit infertility treatment,” Isabelle Horon and Joyce Martin wrote in the report. The number of births involving one baby declined by only 3% from 2019 to 2020, the authors said. Overall, twin births did not rise significantly in 2021 from 2020 levels, although rates began to increase near the end of the year. The largest decline in twin births was seen in women over age 40, the group most likely to use infertility treatment. The smallest decline was in women under age 30, who are least likely to use infertility treatment, the authors said. The study cannot prove pandemic lockdowns caused twin births to decline. In fact, the authors point out that Hispanic women had a larger decline in twin birth rate than non-Hispanic white women, even though Hispanic women are less likely to receive infertility treatments. Early in the pandemic, the number of babies born prematurely, or at dangerously low weights, was lower than usual, the researchers noted. Because twins are at higher risk for these outcomes, “the decline in twin births may have contributed, in part, to the reductions in preterm and low birthweight deliveries … between 2019 and 2020,” they said. (Reporting by Shawana Alleyne-Morris; editing by Nancy Lapid and Bill Berkrot) View the full article