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Published by Reuters By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland on Friday named Jack Smith, a war crimes prosecutor, to serve as special counsel to oversee Justice Department investigations tied to Donald Trump involving the former president’s handling of sensitive documents and efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Garland’s announcement came three days after Trump, a Republican, announced he would run for president again in 2024. Garland said Trump’s candidacy, as well as Democratic President Biden’s stated intention to run for re-election, made the appointment of a special counsel necessary. Special counsels are sometimes appointed to investigate politically sensitive cases and they do their jobs with a degree of independence from the Justice Department leadership. “The pace of the investigations will not pause or flag under my watch,” Smith said in a statement. “I will exercise independent judgment and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.” Smith will oversee the investigation into Trump’s handling of government documents after leaving the White House last year and the probe into attempts to interfere with the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 election, Garland said. “Appointing a special counsel at this time is the right thing to do,” Garland said at a news conference. Trump, in a statement to Fox News, said he “won’t partake” in the special counsel’s investigations. “For six years I have been going through this, and I am not going to go through it anymore,” Trump said. Biden, who appointed Garland, did not respond to shouted questions from reporters about the special counsel during his only public appearance of the day. The White House was not involved in the decision to appoint Smith, an official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. This marks the second time in the span of five years that the Justice Department has appointed a special counsel to probe Trump’s conduct. Former FBI director Robert Mueller, appointed as a special counsel in 2017, documented contacts between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russia, but found insufficient evidence to bring a charge of criminal conspiracy. Smith’s appointment was made at a time when FBI agents across the country have faced threats in the aftermath of the law enforcement agency’s seizure of thousands of government records, some marked as highly classified, during a court-approved Aug. 8 search of Trump’s Florida estate. The search was part of a criminal investigation that Trump has called politically motivated witch hunt. Investigators also are examining Trump for possible obstruction of the probe. Trump filed a civil lawsuit in an effort to delay the documents investigation and keep some records from investigators, claiming they are privileged. The other investigation is a sprawling probe into a failed plot by Trump’s allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election by submitting batches of phony slates of electors to the U.S. National Archives and trying to block Congress from certifying Biden’s election victory. A grand jury is hearing evidence in that case, with prosecutors issuing subpoenas for testimony to top former White House attorneys and close advisers to Vice President Mike Pence. While Garland ultimately has authority over the special counsel, the appointment of an independent third party will allow Garland to create some political distance that could bolster public confidence in the integrity of the two investigations. Career prosecutors are expected to continue working on the two investigations alongside Smith. Smith, a political independent, until recently served as the chief prosecutor for the special court in The Hague, tasked with prosecuting war crimes in Kosovo. He previously oversaw the Justice Department’s public integrity section and worked as a federal and state prosecutor in New York. Smith recently underwent surgery after injuring a knee in a biking accident. He did not attend the news conference. The raft of criminal and civil state and federal investigations against Trump also includes a civil lawsuit by New York state’s attorney general involving his business practices. Smith is the Justice Department’s third special counsel to be appointed since 2017 to handle a politically sensitive case. Mueller in his investigation did not explicitly reach a conclusion on whether Trump obstructed justice, prompting then-Attorney General William Barr to make his own determination that there was not a basis for such a charge. In 2019, Barr appointed John Durham as special counsel to investigate the origins of the FBI’s probe into Trump’s 2016 campaign. Of the three criminal prosecutions Durham brought, two resulted in acquittals earlier this year. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Rami Ayub; additional reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Joey Ax; Editing by Andy Sullivan and Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Elon Musk had a meltdown on Twitter after it was revealed his newly acquired social media company is in danger of being investigated by the Federal Trade Commission, RadarOnline.com has learned. As RadarOnline.com previously reported, upwards of 75% of Musk’s Twitter workforce departed the company this week after the 51-year-old billionaire gave his workers until 5 PM Thursday to decide whether they wanted to stay on or leave the platform he is now in charge of. Mega To make matters worse, Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) revealed on Thursday that he and six of his Senate colleagues have penned a letter to the FTC requesting the commission open an investigation into Twitter following Musk’s acquisition of the company on October 27. “We write regarding Twitter’s serious, willful disregard for the safety and security of its users, and encourage the Federal Trade Commission to investigate any breach of Twitter’s consent decree or other violations of our consumer protection laws,” Senator Markey and his colleagues wrote. The lawmakers also requested the FTC launch an investigation into the “alarming steps that have undermined the integrity and safety of the platform,” as well as Musk’s alleged newly implemented “growth-at-all-costs strategy” that has left Twitter users openly exposed to “fraud, scams, and dangerous impersonation.” Following Markey’s revelation to Politico on Thursday, and after 75% of Musk’s workforce left the company, the Tesla and SpaceX founder took to his own Twitter account to fume about the potential investigation into his company while the now-bankrupt and defunct crypto-currency company FTX goes unchecked. “FTX losing over a billion dollars of clients funds,” Musk captioned a meme of two rhinoceroses mating while a wildlife photographer looks the other way. “Senators calling for the FTC to investigate Twitter,” Musk added in a caption above the oblivious photographer. As RadarOnline.com reported, Twitter is now on the verge of collapse as a result of three quarters of its workforce opting to depart the company on Thursday. “The team that maintains Twitter’s core system libraries that every engineer at the company uses is gone after Thursday,” one employee revealed. “You cannot run Twitter without this team.” Mega “I know of six critical systems (like ‘serving tweets’ levels of critical) which no longer have any engineers,” said another employee who has since the company. “There is no longer even a skeleton crew manning the system.” “It will continue to coast until it runs into something, and then it will stop.” Meanwhile, Musk has also been trolled online and at Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco after one anonymous individual projected a digital banner on the side of the company’s main building Thursday night. “Elon Musk: mediocre manchild, pressurized privilege, petty racist, megalomaniac, worthless billionaire, bankruptcy baby, supreme parasite, petulant pimple, apartheid baby,” the digital banner read. View the full article

Published by AFP US Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee the criminal investigations former president Donald Trump Washington (AFP) – The US Justice Department on Friday named a former war crimes investigator as a special counsel to oversee criminal probes into Donald Trump, three days after the former president announced a new White House run in 2024. The dramatic move sets up the prospect of a drawn-out legal battle, with Trump likely to claim he is being targeted by the administration of Joe Biden to prevent him winning back the presidency. At a press conference, Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the appointment of Jack Smith, until recently a chief prosecutor in The Hague charged with probing Kosovo war crimes, to take over the two ongoing federal investigations into Trump. One is focused on the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election and the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol by his supporters. The other is an investigation into a cache of classified government documents seized in an FBI raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida in August. Garland said naming a special counsel was in the public interest because both the Republican Trump and his Democratic successor Biden have stated their intention to run in 2024 — although only Trump has officially declared for now. “Appointing a special counsel at this time is the right thing to do,” Garland said. “Such an appointment underscores the department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters. “The extraordinary circumstances presented here demand it,” he said, adding that Smith was the “right choice to complete these matters in an even-handed and urgent manner.” In a statement, Smith, who previously headed the Justice Department’s Public Integrity section, said he would conduct his investigation “independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice.” “The pace of the investigations will not pause or flag under my watch,” he said. “I will exercise independent judgement and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate.” Delicate matter Trump’s entry into the White House race on Tuesday makes indicting him a much more delicate matter. The appointment of an independent prosecutor to oversee the twin investigations could serve to help insulate Garland, a Biden appointee, from charges that the probe is politically motivated. The special counsel will determine whether the former president — who says he is a victim of political persecution — should face any charges in connection with either investigation. The special counsel would still report to the attorney general, who would have the ultimate say on whether charges should be brought. Even if charged, the 76-year-old Trump can still run for president — nothing in US law bars a person charged with or convicted of a crime from doing so. While in office, Trump was investigated by special counsel Robert Mueller over obstruction of justice and possible 2016 election collusion with Russia but no charges were brought against him. In addition to the federal investigations, Trump faces other legal woes. New York state’s attorney general Letitia James has filed a civil suit against Trump and three of his children, accusing them of business fraud. And Trump is being investigated for pressuring officials in the southern swing state of Georgia to overturn Biden’s 2020 victory — including a now-infamous taped phone call in which he asked the secretary of state to “find” enough votes to reverse the result. Trump’s unusually early announcement that he was running for president in 2024 was seen by some analysts in Washington as an attempt to stave off potential criminal charges. Trump was impeached by the Democratic-majority House of Representatives in 2019 for seeking political dirt on Biden from Ukraine and again after the January 6 attack on the Capitol but was acquitted by the Senate. A series of explosive hearings by a House committee investigating the attack on Congress by Trump supporters offered a roadmap for potentially charging the ex-president with a crime. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Brendan Pierson (Reuters) – Anti-abortion groups on Friday filed a lawsuit asking a court to overturn U.S. regulators’ approval of the drug mifepristone for medication abortion, which could hobble access to medication abortion nationwide. The lawsuit, filed in Amarillo, Texas, federal court by the Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine, American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists and others, said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration lacked authority to approve the drug for abortion when it did so in 2000 and that it failed to study its risks for minors adequately. The FDA “failed America’s women and girls when it chose politics over science and approved chemical abortion drugs for use in the United States,” the lawsuit said. The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. President Joe Biden’s administration earlier this year moved to expand access to medication abortion after the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision guaranteeing abortion rights nationwide. Mifepristone is a prescription drug approved by the FDA to induce an abortion up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy. It must be followed by a second drug, misoprostol. Both drugs also have other uses. The plaintiffs in Friday’s lawsuit said the FDA improperly approved mifepristone for abortion in 2000 under an expedited process intended to allow patients quicker access to better treatments for an illness, even though pregnancy is not an illness, and waived a requirement to study it separately for pediatric patients. The Supreme Court’s June ruling put a spotlight on medication abortion, which accounts for more than half of U.S. abortions. A Dutch supplier of abortion pills by mail saw demand surge in the wake of the decision, which has allowed more than 20 states to begin enforcing new restrictions on abortion. (Reporting By Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Daniel Wallis) View the full article

Published by The Street By Luc Olinga The new boss has revealed clues about the direction that his content management policy will take. Elon Musk began to lift the veil Friday on the messages that will be deemed acceptable on Twitter, thus drawing a content management policy eagerly awaited by many advertisers. The billionaire also lifted for the first time permanent suspensions affecting certain accounts. The account of comedian Kathy Griffin, which he himself suspended on November 7 after she impersonated him, is active again. Musk also said the accounts of Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson and conservative-lea… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Antoni Porowski has got engaged. The ‘Queer Eye’ star has revealed he and Kevin Harrington are making plans to marry after three years together. Sharing an out-of-focus photo of himself and Kevin on Instagram, Antoni wrote: “I really hope the wedding photos are less blurry [prayer emoji] (sic)” And Kevin shared a carousel of images that began with a photo of him and Antoni holding hands and ended with them dressed in zombie make-up. He captioned the post: “Officially together until we look like the last pic #engaged (sic)”. Antoni joked in the comments: “Don’t worry I’ll prolly be dabbling w Botox by then (sic)” The 38-year-old culinary expert and his partner were quickly congratulated by the other stars of ‘Queer Eye’. Karamo Brown posted: “Yessssssssss!!!! So excited for you two! This is amazing.” Jonathan Van Ness joked: “So cute, love soy much [heart emojis] Already sourcing my flower girl looks!!!(sic)” Tan France offered: “I volunteer as wedding selfie-photographer.” And Bobby Berk wrote: “So damn happy for you two! You both got a good one!!! [crying emojis] (sic)” The couple’s friend and neighbour, Gigi Hadid, also shared her excitement. Along with emojis of two dark-haired men and one blonde woman, all in tuxedos, she wrote: “So excited for our wedding.” She repeated the sentiment on her own Instagram Story over a photo of the three of them together and also wrote: “Congrats @antoni and @kevharrington so excited for our wedding [and] cheers to being neighbors forever. You’re stuck with me. Love you both.(sic)” Antoni previously spoke of how he and Kevin grew closer during the COVID-19 lockdown after his partner’s planned four-day visit being extended, and they eventually fostered a dog together. He said: “We went from being in a relationship and each having our own apartments and not having a dog, to living in the same place with a dog. It escalated quickly. “But I don’t have any complaints, which is kind of nice. When something is stable and really good — and you communicate a lot, and you check in with each other and with your own therapist about it — I feel like that’s kind of the key.” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega As AMC’s The Walking Dead approaches its series finale, set to premiere on Sunday, November 20, Ross Marquand, who plays Aaron in the hit zombie drama, teamed up with The Sexton® Single Malt to create a special cocktail meant to represent the show’s epic end. North Coast Photographer “We had a lot of fun coming up with the naming for this and everything. We floated around a few different ideas,” Marquand tells OK! in an exclusive interview. “There was a lot of talk about ‘Blood in the Water’, ‘Saving Gracie,’ and I feel like ‘The Final Showdown’ was the most logical choice because it is in fact the last episode and the final showdown for these characters.” ‘THE BEST THING’: WHY ‘THE WALKING DEAD’ STAR ROSS MARQUAND BELIEVES HELPING INSPIRE LGBTQ+ FANS IS HIS LIFE GOAL The alcoholic beverage featuring smooth Sexton whiskey, fresh fruit juice, agave syrup and red wine — Marquand reveals the incorporation of wine is an “on the nose” representation of all the “blood in the show” — is the perfect finale sip for diehard fans. The Sexton “It’s a fun, light cocktail that I think a lot of people would enjoy, but it’s also got a lot of complexity,” the Avengers: Endgame actor says, noting that he’s usually a “purist when it comes to whiskey,” but he was very “impressed” with the layers of flavors. ‘THE WALKING DEAD’ STAR NORMAN REEDUS CANCELS CONVENTION APPEARANCE AFTER SUFFERING A CONCUSSION IN ON-SET ACCIDENT “It’s gonna be a nice send off to the final episode, which is so insane that we’re coming up upon this after all these months of filming, and years and years of planning,” he continues. “It’s very bittersweet, but we’re grateful to be kind of sending it off like a Viking ship lit on fire … saying goodbye to this beautiful show that’s been so important to so many of us for so many years.” mega Marquand also comments on how Sexton wants fans to remember to enjoy the simple things in life with their mantra “You Have a Single Life. Drink A Single Malt,” noting that idea was largely what drew him to the partnership with Sexton. TheInvincible voice actor believes the message perfectly complements moments in The Walking Dead, specifically in the episode “One More” in which Aaron and Gabriel bond over a bottle of whiskey in the midst of the many dangers of the zombie apocalypse. “These two characters are relishing in this fine whiskey that they find in the stock room before they square off with Mays,” he continues, referring to a single-episode antagonist played by Robert Patrick. “I think it’s just such a beautiful reminder of just how fragile life is. You know?” “We don’t know how long we have on this earth,” he adds. “We don’t know how long we’re gonna see these characters on the show.” Catch the series finale of The Walking Dead on AMC on Sunday, November 20. View the full article

Published by Kaiser Health News Among the more remarkable legacies of the covid-19 pandemic is how quickly federal regulators, the health care industry, and consumers moved to make at-home testing a reliable tool for managing a public health crisis. But that fast-track focus is missing from another, less publicized epidemic: an explosion in sexually transmitted diseases that can cause chronic pain and infertility among infected adults and disable or kill infected newborns. The disparity has amplified calls from researchers, public health advocates, and health care companies urging the federal government to greenlight at-home… Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story A defense attorney representing Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes on Friday tried to soften the far-right militia’s image for jurors by criticizing past media reports that depicted them as some kind of white nationalist organization. As reported by Politico’s Kyle Cheney, Rhodes attorney Lee Bright said that the Oath Keepers’ reputation as a group of bigots was completely unwarranted, and he pointed to some of its own members as showing its tolerance of diversity. Specifically, Bright pointed out that Oath Keeper Michael Greene is a Black man and that Oath Keeper Jessica Watkins, who along wi… Read More View the full article

Published by New York Daily News NEW YORK — Fresh off of winning a Tony Award for the recently canceled “Paradise Square,” Joaquina Kalukango has landed a plum gig in one of this Broadway season’s hottest shows. The acclaimed actress will weave her magic into the role of the Witch in the hit revival of Stephen Sondheim’s beloved musical “Into the Woods.” Kalukango will begin performances on Dec. 16 until the limited engagement’s extended run ends Jan. 8 at the St. James Theatre, producers said Thursday. “It’s the greatest playground for an actor to get to interpret the lyrical genius that is Sondheim. How fortunate am I that … Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sheila Dang, Paresh Dave and Hyunjoo Jin (Reuters) -Hundreds of Twitter Inc employees are estimated to have decided to quit the beleaguered social media company following a Thursday deadline from new owner Elon Musk that staffers sign up for “long hours at high intensity,” or leave. The departures highlight the reluctance of some of Twitter’s 3,000 or so employees to remain at a company where Musk earlier fired half of the workforce including top management, and is ruthlessly changing the culture to emphasize long hours and an intense pace. Musk took to Twitter late on Thursday and said that he was not worried about resignations as “the best people are staying.” The billionaire owner also added: “We just hit another all time high in Twitter usage…,” without elaborating. Musk met some top employees on Thursday to try to convince them to stay, said one current employee and a recently departed employee who is in touch with Twitter colleagues. The company also notified employees that it will close its offices and cut badge access until Monday, according to two sources. Security officers began kicking some employees out of one office on Thursday evening, one source said. Over 110 Twitter employees across at least four continents had announced their decision to leave in public Twitter posts reviewed by Reuters, though each resignation could not be independently verified. About 15 employees, many in ad sales, posted their intention to stay at the company. In Twitter’s internal chat tool, over 500 employees wrote farewell messages on Thursday, a source familiar with the notes said. A poll on the workplace app Blind, which verifies employees through their work email addresses and allows them to share information anonymously, had showed 42% of 180 respondents opting for “Taking exit option, I’m free!” A quarter said they had chosen to stay “reluctantly,” and only 7% of the poll participants said they “clicked yes to stay, I’m hardcore.” The exact number of employees intending to leave the company could not be immediately established. Twitter did not respond to a request for comment. PLATFORM STABILITY The departures include many engineers responsible for fixing bugs and preventing service outages, raising questions about the stability of the platform amid the loss of employees. On Thursday evening, the version of the Twitter app used by employees began slowing down, according to one source familiar with the matter, who estimated that the public version of Twitter was at risk of breaking during the night. “If it does break, there is no one left to fix things in many areas,” the person said, who declined to be named for fear of retribution. Reports of Twitter outages rose sharply from less than 50 to about 350 reports on Thursday evening, according to website Downdetector, which tracks website and app outages. In a private chat on Signal with about 50 Twitter staffers, nearly 40 said they had decided to leave, according to the former employee. And in a private Slack group for Twitter’s current and former employees, about 360 people joined a new channel titled “voluntary-layoff,” said a person with knowledge of the Slack group. A separate poll on Blind asked staffers to estimate what percentage of people would leave Twitter based on their perception. More than half of respondents estimated at least 50% of employees would leave. Early on Wednesday, Musk had emailed Twitter employees, saying: “Going forward, to build a breakthrough Twitter 2.0 and succeed in an increasingly competitive world, we will need to be extremely hardcore”. The email asked staff to click “yes” if they wanted to stick around. Those who did not respond by 5 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday would be considered to have quit and given a severance package, the email said. As the deadline approached, employees scrambled to figure out what to do. One team within Twitter decided to take the leap together and leave the company, one employee who is leaving told Reuters. Blue hearts and salute emojis flooded Twitter and its internal chatrooms on Thursday, the second time in two weeks as Twitter employees said their goodbyes. Notable departures included Tess Rinearson, who was tasked with building a cryptocurrency team at Twitter. Rinearson tweeted the blue heart and salute emojis. In an apparent jab at Musk’s call for employees to be “hardcore,” the Twitter profile bios of several departing engineers on Thursday described themselves as “softcore engineers” or “ex-hardcore engineers.” As the resignations rolled in, Musk cracked a joke on Twitter. “How do you make a small fortune in social media?” he tweeted. “Start out with a large one.” (Reporting by Sheila Dang in Dallas, Hyunjoo Jin in San Francisco and Paresh Dave in Oakland, Calif.; Additional reporting by Martin Coulter and Akanksha Khushi; Editing by Sam Holmes and Mark Potter) View the full article

Published by Al-Araby This week on The New Arab Voice, we have a special audio version of an investigation from The New Arab. In March 2022, a group of wild Namibian elephants landed in the UAE. The New Arab’s investigation reveals that the sale serves only to simulate an African safari experience in Emirati zoos with no benefit for the animals and Namibian locals. This investigation tracked the elephants, from the initial auction and sale, to their removal, and ultimate transfer to facilitates in the UAE, whose suitability has been questioned. Along the way, the investigation team looked at the people involved in … Read More View the full article

Published by XXL Mag Beyoncé and Jay-Z are reportedly dropping another collab project as the third act of her Renaissance album. News of the joint project was reported on Thursday night (Nov. 17), by New York Times journalist Kyle Buchanan who shared the information via Twitter, as turmoil continues to surround the transitioning social media app. “Before Twitter goes down, instead of making you follow me somewhere else, I’ll just tell you what I’ve heard about the other 2 acts of Beyonce’s 3-part ‘Renaissance’ project (2nd act is an acoustic album, 3rd act is a collaboration with Jay-Z),” Buchanan shared in his mo… Read More View the full article

Published by Kaiser Health News ELKO, Nev. — When Elko County commissioners rejected a $500,000 grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that could have helped the county create a health department or health district, Kayla Hopkins pleaded with them to reconsider. Hopkins, who has lived for nearly nine years in the sprawling rural county that forms the northeastern corner of Nevada, told the board how she struggled through postpartum depression and needed mental health resources. “I was unable to get the help that I needed,” Hopkins said during a public meeting in late 2021, adding that she fell into what co… Read More View the full article

Published by DPA A retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum is showing the works of French fashion designer Thierry Mugler, who died in January 2022. Milo Hess/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa For visitors to New York with a soft spot for fashion, the Brooklyn Museum should be on the agenda: The late star designer Thierry Mugler is getting his own show here. The museum is celebrating the French fashion designer who died in January with a major retrospective featuring garments, photographs and other exhibits in the show “Thierry Mugler: Couturissime” from November 18 until May 7, 2023. Born in Strasbourg in 1948, Mugler was one of the great French fashion designers, like Yves Saint Laurent or Jean Paul Gaultier, establishing his brand in the 1970s and strongly influencing fashion trends, especially in the 1980s. Stars like Beyoncé and Lady Gaga wore his dresses – often huge, outlandish and colourful gowns with corresponding accessories. “The constant innovations, inventions, and avant-garde architectural silhouettes in the work of Mugler have marked an era,” says Thierry-Maxime Loriot, curator of the exhibition. “His singular style found a place in the history of fashion that still has a powerful influence on today’s generation of couturiers, not only because of its designs, but also because of the strong message of inclusivity, diversity, and empowerment in his body of work.” The Brooklyn Museum, which opened in 1887, is the second-largest exhibition house in New York. It houses natural science and ethnological collections as well as design and art from the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Freddie Mercury can be heard bantering with his Queen bandmates in newly released studio recordings. The late singer’s voice features on previously unheard tapes made at Townhouse and Olympic studios in London and Mountain Studios in Wales while the band were recording their 1989 album ‘The Miracle’ and outtakes from the sessions have been included on a new collector’s edition version of the record. In the recordings, Freddie can be heard having lively conversations with his bandmates and even nudging guitarist Brian May to re-record one of his solos, saying: “I’m not sure it was dead on. Let’s hear that last bit back.” He sounds chatty and enthusiastic throughout and is heard delightedly shouting: “Oh I love it! Love that one!” after nailing his vocals on the track ‘Breakthru’. Freddie also adds: “You know something if this song would stop right now, this would really be a great breakthrough for me. I mean if I were to drop dead that would be a breakthrough honey.” Roger Taylor is also heard cracking a joke after the rest of the band messed up a take of ‘Dog With A Bone’, chiding them: “You’re supposed to be professionals.” ‘The Miracle Sessions’ CD also features five unreleased songs plus ‘Face It Alone’ which emerged for the first time last month. The original sessions took place in 1989 after Freddie had been diagnosed with HIV. He had yet to go public with the news but his bandmates were aware and they’d decided to stop touring and focus on studio work so the singer could focus on his heath. Freddie died aged 45 in 1991 after a battle with AIDS. View the full article

Published by AFP Pelosi rips up the State of the Union speech delivered by President Donald Trump in February 2020 Washington (AFP) – When Nancy Pelosi stunned the world by ripping up Donald Trump’s speech to Congress in 2020, the veteran lawmaker cemented the no-nonsense leadership style that made her perhaps the most effective US House speaker in history. The longtime leader of Democrats in Washington has been a master strategist in the role, chastening the unbridled Trump and twice leading his impeachment, but also shepherding historic legislation as she navigated America’s bitter partisan divide. As Pelosi announced she would be standing down from the leadership when Republicans take over the lower chamber, allies hailed her achievements as its first — and so far only — female speaker, while foes cheered her exit. But there is little doubt the 82-year-old Californian has left an extraordinary mark over a career that established her as one of the most powerful, and polarizing, figures in American politics. As a child, “never would I have thought that someday I would go from homemaker to House speaker,” Pelosi told fellow lawmakers Thursday, drawing applause from both sides of the aisle. Come January, she said, it will be time to let “a new generation” take the reins. San Francisco liberal A San Francisco liberal and multimillionaire, Pelosi is far from universally popular. She has long been a hate figure for the right — an animosity that seemed to reach shocking new levels when an intruder, apparently looking for the speaker, violently assaulted her husband in the runup to the November 8 midterms. During the deadly 2021 assault on the US Capitol, supporters of then-president Trump ransacked her office, and a crowd baying for blood chanted “Where’s Nancy?” as they desecrated the halls of Congress. The violence came after Trump refused to admit defeat and urged a rally to march on the Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s win. Pelosi moved quickly after that to try to oust the man she called the “deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States.” Corralling Democrats with the tight grip she maintained on the party for two decades, she secured a second impeachment of the president days before he left office. For as speaker, Pelosi was nothing if not effective. She was instrumental in passing then-president Barack Obama’s key health care reforms as well as massive economic packages after both the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Pelosi’s goal may have been partisan but she succeeded thanks to cold-eyed realism, including working when needed with then-president George W. Bush even while fiercely opposing his invasion of Iraq. Supporters believe she was vindicated on her anti-war stance and she was rewarded in 2007 when Democrats reclaimed the House and elected her speaker, making her the highest-ranking woman in US history until the inauguration of Vice President Kamala Harris in 2021. “I want women to see that you do not get pushed around. You don’t run away from the fight,” Pelosi said in a 2018 interview — the year before she began her second term as speaker. “If you’re effective as a woman, then they have to undermine you, because that’s a real threat.” The one congressional job mentioned in the Constitution, the prestigious speaker position brings almost unfettered control over the day-to-day legislative process. Pelosi had resisted Democratic calls to impeach Trump, the first time around, fearing the effects of overreach. But she felt she had no choice after he was caught holding up US aid to Ukraine as he pressed a conspiracy theory about Biden. That impeachment in 2019 poisoned her relationship with Trump, and as he wrapped up his State of the Union address later in the House chamber, Pelosi coolly tore up his speech — in an image that went instantly around the world. Pelosi has often hit back at Trump rhetorically, and was captured on video reacting furiously to suggestions he might join his supporters during the Capitol insurrection. “If he comes, I’m going to punch him out. I’ve been waiting for this,” she seethed. “For trespassing on the Capitol grounds, I’m going to punch him out. And I’m going to go to jail, and I’m going to be happy.” Steeped in politics The granddaughter of Italian immigrants, Pelosi was born in Baltimore where her father, Thomas D’Alesandro, was a mayor and congressman who schooled her in “retail politics” from a young age and staunchly backed Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal. Pelosi has said her family taught her two political lessons. “One is to know how to count — count your votes to win the election. The other is listen to your constituents.” Pelosi attended her first Democratic National Convention before hitting her teens and was pictured with John F. Kennedy at his inaugural ball when she was 20. She moved to San Francisco and raised five children with businessman Paul Pelosi while delving into Democratic politics before being elected to Congress at age 47. Taking up causes important to a city with major LGBTQ and Asian-American communities, she fought to fund AIDS research and pressed human rights in China. She remains a vocal ally of Tibet’s spiritual leader the Dalai Lama and won eternal antipathy from China’s communist leaders when, on a 1991 visit, she defiantly unfurled a banner in Tiananmen Square honoring pro-democracy students killed in a crushed uprising. While easily reelected to Congress every two years, the self-styled “mother, grandmother, dark chocolate connoisseur” became seen as a centrist by the standards of proudly left-wing San Francisco as she sought legislative compromise. She will be stepping down at the end of a vexed congressional session in which she struggled to keep a lid on infighting between moderate and progressive Democrats. This year she still managed to burnish her political legacy with a controversial trip to Taiwan — amid warnings from Beijing of “serious consequences.” Defending the visit, she asked Americans to protect democracy worldwide and “make clear that we never give in to autocrats.” And in her outgoing speech, Pelosi aimed once last barb at her presidential adversary. Saying she has “enjoyed working with three presidents,” Pelosi named George W. Bush, Obama and Biden — but left out Trump. View the full article

Published by AlterNet By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) may be headed to a recount, after her lead against Democrat Adam Frisch was cut in half to under 600 votes on Thursday, more than a week after Election Day. House elections expert Dave Wasserman of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report explains, “we’re headed to an automatic recount in #CO03, where Adam Frisch (D) more than halved Rep. Lauren Boebert’s (R) lead from 1,122 votes to 557 votes.” The Associated Press offered a slightly different take, reporting, “Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert’s lead has decreased again… Read More View the full article

Published by AlterNet By Alex Henderson Republican leadership will remember the 2022 midterms for, among other things, the tensions between Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Rick Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC). Scott took offense when McConnell, over the summer, commented on the “quality” of U.S. Senate candidates who were being promoted by the NRSC and former President Donald Trump. Scott’s allies were hoping that he would replace McConnell as GOP leader in the Senate, which didn’t happen. McConnell will still be Senate minority leader in 2023 no matter how much… Read More View the full article

Published by DPA Germany goalkeeper captain Manuel Neuer wears the captain's armband with the inscription "One Love" during the International friendly soccer match between Oman and Germany at the Sultan Qabus Sports Center, in the Germany's preparations for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Christian Charisius/dpa German football federation (DFB) president Bernd Neuendorf said he is “prepared” to accept a possible fine when keeper Manuel Neuer wears the multi-coloured One Love armband during the World Cup in Qatar. “Personally, I would be quite prepared to accept a fine,” Neuendorf said on Friday. “This is not a political statement, but a statement for human rights.” Goalkeeper Neuer and several other European team captains plan to wear a multi-coloured One Love armband at the tournament to support diversity. It’s still unclear whether football governing body FIFA will issue fines for the action. Neuendorf said the action stands “against racism, against anti-Semitism, for women’s rights and human rights in general.” Since it was awarded the right to host a World Cup, Qatar has been widely criticized due to the human rights conditions in the country and its handling of the LGBTQ community. Recently, former Qatar international Khalid Salman, one of several ambassadors of the tournament starting on Sunday, had in a documentary by public German broadcasters ZDF named being gay “damage in the mind.” Neuendorf didn’t rule out further socio-political actions from the German players during the tournament. On the pitch, he’s “firmly convinced” Germany can win their opening match against Japan on November 23. “We have the best prerequisites,” he said. View the full article

People gather to celebrate LGBTQ pride week in Washington, D.C. in June 2021. Paul Morigi/Getty Images Tim Lindberg, University of Minnesota While public opinion and different state laws on abortion rights are sharply dividing the country, there’s growing indication that most people agree on another once-controversial topic – protecting same-sex marriage. The U.S. Senate voted on Nov. 16, 2022, to initiate debate on legislation that would protect same-sex and interracial marriage, making it legal regardless of where these couples live and what state laws determine. Senators voted 62-37 to move forward on a final vote for the Respect for Marriage Act, with 12 Republicans joining Democrats in their support for the bill. The legislation would also repeal the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, a federal law that defines marriage as the legal union between a man and a woman. The U.S. House of Representatives already voted on July 19, 2022, to enshrine same-sex marriage into law with a bipartisan vote – all 220 Democratic representatives voted in favor, joined by 47 Republican colleagues. I am a scholar of political behavior and history in the U.S. I believe that it’s important to understand that the bipartisan support for this bill marks a significant political transformation on same-sex marriage, which was used as a contentious point separating Democrats and Republicans roughly 15 to 20 years ago. But over the past several years, same-sex marriage has become less politically divisive and gained more public approval, driven in part by former President Donald Trump’s general acceptance of the practice. This environment made it politically safe for nearly a quarter of Republican House members to vote to protect this right under federal law. U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is one of the 12 Republican lawmakers who voted to advance the same-sex marriage bill on Nov. 16, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images What makes opinions change? Seventy-one percent of Americans say they support legal same-sex marriage, according to a July 2022 Gallup poll. In 1996, when Gallup first polled about same-sex marriage, 27% supported legalization of same-sex marriage. This shift in public opinion has happened despite increasing polarization in the U.S. about gun control, racial justice and climate change. What becomes, remains or ceases to be a divisive political issue in the U.S. over time depends on many factors. Changes to laws, shifting cultural norms and technological progress can all shape political controversies. My research, for example, explores how Mormons in Utah territory – what would later become Utah state – were denied statehood by Congress until they gave up their religious belief in polygamy. Polygamy was outlawed under U.S. law, and known polygamists were excluded from voting and holding office. In the 1880s, an estimated 20% to 30% of Mormons practiced polygamy. Yet, political pressure led the Mormon Church president in 1890 to announce that polygamy would no longer be sanctioned. In 2011, 86% of Mormon adults reported that they consider polygamy morally wrong, nearly in line with general public opinion. Many political leaders, both on the left and right, were also largely hostile to same-sex marriage until the early 2010s. A rising controversy In 1993, the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled that the state must have a compelling reason to ban same-sex marriage, after a gay male couple and two lesbian couples filed a suit that a state ban on same-sex marriage violated their privacy and equal protection rights. Concern among conservatives that this legal reasoning would lead the Supreme Court to acknowledge a right to same-sex marriage led to a Republican Senator and Congressman introducing the Defense of Marriage Act. President Bill Clinton signed the bill in 1996 after 342 – or 78% – of House members and 85 senators voted for it. Polling at the time showed support among the general population for same-sex marriage was 27% overall, including just 33% among Democrats. Seven years later, in 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Court struck down a state ban on same-sex marriage. With a strong majority nationally of Republicans and independents opposed to same-sex marriage, former President George W. Bush used conservative reactions to that decision to encourage voter turnout in 2004. Bush’s campaign highlighted state amendments to ban same-sex marriage, all of which easily passed. Although voters prioritized other issues in the 2004 elections, the opposition to same-sex marriage helped Bush win reelection, while Republicans picked up seats in both the House and Senate. A political change The legal and political landscape on same-sex marriage became much more liberal in the years following 2004. In 2008, state courts in California and Connecticut struck down bans on same-sex marriage. Vermont became the first state in 2009 to pass legislation and legalize same-sex marriage. A major national shift occurred in 2012 when then-Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama openly supported same-sex marriage. This was a major change for both men. Biden had voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Actin 1996. Obama publicly supported marriage as being between a man and a woman in his 2004 senatorial campaign. In 2015, the Supreme Court struck down all national and state restrictions on same-sex marriage, making same-sex marriage the law of the land. Rainbow-colored lights shine on the White House after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage in June 2015. Mark Wilson/Getty Images The Trump effect The lack of attention Trump paid to same-sex marriage is one factor that contributed to it becoming a less divisive issue. While Trump’s actual record on LBGTQ rights generally aligns with conservative Christian values, Trump had said in 2016 that he was “fine” with legalizing same-sex marriage. Still, despite the legality of same-sex marriage, many conservative Midwestern and Southern states deny other legal protections to LBGTQ persons. Twenty-nine states still allow licensed professionals to conduct youth gay-conversion therapy, a discredited process to convert LGBTQ people into no longer being queer. More than 20 states allow discrimination in both housing and public accommodations based on sexual orientation. A woman participates in a protest in Washington after the Supreme Court’s ruling on same-sex marriage in 2015. Drew Angerer/Getty Images Respect for marriage Sens. Mitt Romney of Utah, Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski, representing Alaska, are among the 12 moderate Republican politicians who voted to advance the same-sex marriage bill. “I have long supported marriage equality and believe all lawful marriages deserve respect,” Murkowski said in a statement on Nov. 16, 2022. “All Americans deserve dignity, respect and equal protection under the law.” Some Republican leaders, though, have grown bolder in their opposition to same-sex marriage since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. These Republicans have said that codifying federal law same-sex marriage is not necessary since they don’t believe the Supreme Court is likely to overturn federal protections for same-sex marriage. Democrats first moved to protect same-sex marriage in federal law because Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a concurring opinion in the Dobbs case that the court should reconsider, “all of this Court’s substantive due process precedents, including Griswold, Lawrence, and Obergefell,” the latter being the case that legalized same-sex marriage. But despite public opinion polls showing that most people favor legalizing same-sex marriage – including nearly half of Republicans – the issue could still be a liability for Republican politicians. Should the Senate approve the bill – it is to hold a final vote by the end of November 2022 – Republicans will then have to answer to their core conservative constituents who largely oppose the practice. This could mean that Senate Republicans may have to consider splitting from their own base, or stepping away from moderate voters. This is an updated version of an article originally published on Aug. 2, 2022. Tim Lindberg, Assistant professor, political science , University of Minnesota This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article

Achieving equity in global health requires addressing the root sources of inequity. Sabrina Bracher/iStock via Getty Images Plus Reya Farber, William & Mary While transgender people might be more culturally recognized in the U.S. than ever, visibility is not the same as justice. Transgender is an umbrella category that emerged in the U.S. in the 1990s to encompass diverse gender identities that don’t fully correspond with an individual’s assigned sex at birth. Although local communities worldwide have adopted this term, it can also erase and collapse other diverse gender identities people have used across time, location and culture. People who are today called trans, nonbinary and intersex have existed for centuries throughout the world. The rights of trans people have not always been up for debate in mainstream society, and nonnormative sex and gender categories appear in ancient Buddhist texts, as well as Jewish rabbinic literature. Yet colonial conquests have violently stamped out sexual and gender diversity globally. Trans people’s right to exist has been challenged throughout time and across the world in multiple ways. Worldwide, trans people face disparities across many areas, including access to health care, legal support and economic security. Governments, global organizations and the legacies of colonialism also enact high levels of violence and stigma against them. At the same time, 95% of global health-related organizations do not recognize or mention the needs of gender-diverse people in their work, resulting in the “near-universal exclusion” of trans people from health practices and policies. There is also a lack of holistic trans-inclusive research around the world. For instance, searching for the word “transgender” on the website for the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, the global health metrics giant of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation that collaborates with the World Health Organization to improve global health data, currently returns zero results. As a sociologist, I study how health outcomes are affected by various social conditions, including global economic policies, institutions and cultural values. In particular, I analyzed how government-endorsed medical tourism, or health-related travel, has affected Thai transgender women. Broadly, I seek to understand how the body acts as what French philosopher Michel Foucault calls an “inscribed surface of events,” imprinted upon by an ever-changing social context that can afford or withhold resources, rights, recognition and power. With their health and well-being shaped by the social context worldwide, the bodies of transgender people are no exception. History of gender-affirming care Medical institutions and authorities are a major pathway to health and how one lives in one’s body. They define, classify and pathologize a range of human conditions, from male pattern baldness to fatness. The German physician Magnus Hirschfeld coined the now antiquated term “transvestite” in 1910 to define those who desired to express themselves in opposition to their sex assigned at birth. At his Institute for Sexual Science, Hirschfeld offered people hormone therapy and performed the first documented genital transformation surgery. Adolf Hitler deemed Hirschfeld “the most dangerous Jew in Germany,” and the Nazis burned his research center after he fled for his life. Despite this violence toward trans medicine, endocrinology in the U.S. and Europe advanced in the 1930s with the use of synthetic testosterone and estrogen for medical transitioning. Estrogen was first purified in 1923 and used for hot flashes, bone loss prevention and other reproductive health issues. Testosterone was isolated and synthesized in 1935 and first used to treat hypogonadism in men as well as tumor growth in women. Puberty blockers, or gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, were first approved by the U.S. FDA in 1993 for children undergoing puberty too early. For trans adolescents experiencing gender dysphoria, or distress from a mismatch between their gender identity and sex assigned at birth, these medications can be critically important for their well-being. Far from being experimental, the medications have strong evidence for their overall beneficial effects for trans youths. [This post contains video, click to play] There is debate about whether trans youths are able to determine whether they are ready for gender-affirming care.Christine Jorgensen was the first American to undergo what was then called “sex change” surgery, in Denmark in 1952, making headline news. Doctors in other parts of the world also started to gain clinical expertise in vaginoplasty, sparking global networks of transgender health care. For instance, surgeons in Thailand developed their own techniques in the 1970s for Thai trans women. Soon, trans people from other countries learned of Thai surgical techniques and began to travel to Thailand for care. With strong government support, Thailand has become a global hub for gender-affirming services. Subsequently, foreign travelers “crowded out” some Thai trans people from quality care as the market shifted to accommodate medical tourists. For some health travelers, services are more affordable in Thailand than in their home country. Traveling for health services can also provide greater anonymity. For those in the U.K. seeking gender-affirming care, traveling abroad is an alternative to long wait times. Medical tourism is more dire for those living in countries where trans people face criminalization, such as Brunei, Lebanon and Malawi, or where gender-affirming surgeries are religiously prohibited, such as Saudi Arabia. What does global health equity mean? Globally, trans people experience issues accessing culturally competent and equitable health care services, both generally and for gender-affirming services. Trans and gender-diverse people experience greater mental distress and everyday violence and discrimination than their cisgender peers. A 2019 report of nearly 200 health organizations around the world found that 93% do not recognize trans people in their work on gender equality, and 92% do not mention trans health in their programmatic services. Decolonizing global health means including marginalized people in decisions and knowledge production around global health. It also includes and addresses the needs of trans and gender-diverse people worldwide. Including trans people in health care policies and practices can help reduce disparities. FG Trade/E+ via Getty Images Global trans health equity means providing resources to target the root causes of gender-based health disparities. This involves legal gender recognition, government support and anti-discrimination laws. While medical and public health support is necessary for trans women, who are disproportionately affected by HIV worldwide, global trans health equity also means addressing other areas that contribute to this disparity, such as poverty, economic exclusion and workplace discrimination. For countries with universal health coverage, medical and public health researchers recommend that gender-affirming services be included as essential services. They are not cosmetic, but are necessary for those who want them. Better alternatives for all Amid everyday injustices, violence and vulnerabilities are countless forms of trans resilience and resistance, activism, collective care and knowledge sharing. There are even some “bubble[s] of utopia,” or clinics and health care settings where trans people can access services with reduced delay. These alternatives open the possibility for transgender bliss, or liberation from restrictive colonial gender constructs, and transgender joy, or improving one’s quality of life and forming meaningful connections by embracing a marginalized identity. How can policies, institutions and society cultivate trans bliss and joy worldwide? All human bodies are “sociocultural artifacts.” How they are expressed and lived in is determined by social contexts and shaped by available resources. Sex and gender are points in a vast “multi-dimensional space” of anatomy, hormones, chromosomes, environment and culture. Global health equity for trans people holds accountable the institutions and decision-makers responsible for the health and safety of all human beings. It is oriented toward the freedom to flourish in a world that celebrates sex and gender diversity as a natural fact of life. Reya Farber, Assistant Professor of Sociology, William & Mary This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. View the full article