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Published by The Sacramento Bee President Gavin Newsom? Watch California’s newly reelected Democratic governor closely in 2023. He has been making unmistakable moves that signal his interest. He’s taken on the conservative governors of Florida and Texas and won accolades from Democratic Party insiders for his aggressive, unapologetic stands on issues like gun violence and abortion rights. He’s suggested that President Joe Biden, who turns 80 this month, is not suited for the brutal political climate. The nonpartisan book on Newsom, though, is split. “Ballot box poison,” said Tobe Berkovitz, associate professor of advertising… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Tan France is “much more emotional” since becoming a father. The ‘Queer Eye’ star – who welcomed 16-month-old son Ismail into the world via surrogate with husband Rob – admitted he’s discovered a new side to himself through parenthood. He told PEOPLE magazine: “I have only cried a couple of times on [‘Queer Eye’]. But ever since I had my baby, it’s made me much more emotional. Much more emotional.” The 39-year-old fashion designer is currently in the UK filming ‘Say Yes To The Dress’, and he admitted being away from his son is “the hardest part, without a doubt, of being a working parent”. He added: “I’m working a lot of hours. And so sometimes I only get to just see him as we’re putting him to bed. “And that makes me really emotional because I really hate not having a lot of time with him. I just really miss him all the time.” Meanwhile, Tan found himself crying more than ever during the new series of ‘Queer Eye’, which he shot in New Orleans alongside co-stars Antoni Porowski, Jonathan Van Ness, Karamo Brown and Bobby Berk. He recently explained that his emotion was triggered by the lingering impact of Hurricane Katrina, which hit the city in 2005. Tan – who was born and raised in the UK – said: “I didn’t live in America when Katrina happened. “Seeing the devastation, seeing what it did to families, seeing how much poverty it created, that’s what got me. “Some of our heroes have just never been able to recover. And so that’s why the transformations were so special, because it’s as if many of them have stood still in time.” Tan also revealed that he and his co-stars have been forced to become more creative over the years. He added: “We were all talking about it – how hard that was the first couple of episodes – and then we realised it’s actually pushing us to work harder and try something new that’s gonna shock ’em, or say something that they wouldn’t expect to say, or share some information about something we’ve never shared before.” View the full article

Published by PsyPost A series of 6 studies in Brazil found that people oriented towards social dominance are more willing to engage in corruption and are more likely to see the world as a competitive jungle, in which people ruthlessly struggle for survival. People with pronounced right-wing authoritarian views were more likely to have negative attitudes towards corrupt people and more prone to perceive the world as dangerous and threatening, but were not more willing to engage in corrupt behavior. The study was published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Corruption, “the misuse of entrusted powe… Read More View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Staff writers are boycotting an upcoming episode of Saturday Night Live after the program announced Dave Chappelle would be the next host, RadarOnline.com has learned. In a surprising development to come just days before the 49-year-old controversial comedian is set to host SNL alongside musical guest Black Star, several writers for the popular sketch comedy show are refusing to work the episode if Chappelle will be hosting. Mega That is the revelation shared by an inside source who recently told Page Six that while some writers are boycotting, none of the program’s actors have a problem with Chappelle’s upcoming appearance. “They’re not going to do the show,” a well-placed source told the outlet. “But none of the actors are boycotting.” But despite reports SNL staff writers are boycotting this Saturday’s episode, Chappelle’s own reps suggested “there was no evidence of a boycott” when they met with writers and producers at 30 Rock on Tuesday to prepare for the weekend’s show. “The room was full of writers. They all pitched ideas and they seemed very excited about it,” a rep for Chappelle revealed. “Dave is looking to have some fun.” Mega At least one SNL writer, Celeste Yim, took to Instagram following the announcement Chappelle would be hosting and called for transphobia to be condemned. “I’m trans and non-binary,” Yim wrote. “I use they/them pronouns. Transphobia is murder and it should be condemned.” As RadarOnline.com previously reported, this is not the first time Chappelle has caused waves in the entertainment industry over his history of making both “transphobic” and “homophobic” jokes during his popular comedy routines. Roughly one year ago, in October 2021, the Half Baked comedian and actor came under fire after Netflix premiered his comedy special The Closer – a performance that angered the Trans community due to a number of “transphobic” jokes made during the routine. Mega One trans Netflix employee, Terra Field, openly condemned Chappelle’s comments in The Closer and was rumored to have been suspended from her role at the streaming giant for speaking out against his remarks. “I work at [Netflix]. Yesterday we launched another Chappelle special where he attacks the trans community, and the very validity of transness – all while trying to pit us against other marginalized groups,” Field wrote before the alleged suspension. “You’re going to hear a lot of talk about ‘offense.’” Chappelle came under fire once again months later when, during a live show in May of this year, he was attacked by a man armed with a fake gun while the comedian was midperformance. “It was a trans man!” Chappelle quipped after the attack while laughing off the incident. He was quickly condemned on social media for remark. View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Residents of five U.S. states voted in Tuesday’s elections on whether to legalize recreational marijuana for adults. A growing number of states have legalized marijuana in recent years despite the drug remaining illegal under federal law. The proposals passed in Maryland and Missouri, according to vote tallies by the Associated Press. ARKANSAS Voters rejected Ballot Issue 4, which proposed legalizing marijuana use for adults over 21. MARYLAND Voters approved an amendment to the state’s constitution allowing the use of cannabis for adults over 21 beginning in July 2023. MISSOURI Voters approved Constitutional Amendment 3, allowing the use of marijuana by adults over 21. The amendment also allows people convicted of nonviolent marijuana-related offenses to petition to have their records expunged, and it imposes a 6% tax on marijuana sales. NORTH DAKOTA Voters rejected Ballot Measure 2, which proposed legalizing marijuana use for adults over 21. SOUTH DAKOTA Voters rejected Ballot Measure 27, which proposed legalizing marijuana use for adults over 21. (Compiled by Jonathan Allen; editing by Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Tim Reid and Nathan Layne PHOENIX, Ariz. (Reuters) -Republicans made modest gains in U.S. midterm elections but Democrats did better than expected, leaving control of Congress and the future of President Joe Biden’s agenda unclear on Wednesday morning. Many of the most competitive races were too close to call and Republicans acknowledged that the election was not producing the sweeping “red wave” victory they had sought. The results appeared to show voters punishing Biden for presiding over an economy hit by steep inflation, while also lashing out against Republican moves to ban abortion. And poor performances by some candidates allied to Donald Trump indicated exhaustion with the kind of electoral and governing chaos fomented by the former Republican president. In the House of Representatives, Republicans were favored to win a narrow majority that would allow them to block Biden’s legislative priorities and launch investigations into his administration and family. By early Wednesday, Republicans had flipped a net six Democratic House seats, Edison Research projected, one more than the minimum they need to take over the chamber. But Democrats were doing much better than many had expected. In a critical win for, Democratic candidate John Fetterman flipped a Republican-held U.S. Senate seat in Pennsylvania, beating celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz and bolstering his party’s chances of holding the chamber. The mood at the White House improved as the night wore on, with once-nervous aides celebrating Fetterman’s victory and saying they still hoped to hold the Senate. Biden posted a photo of himself on Twitter happily congratulating some of the Democratic winners by phone. Control of the Senate depended on tight races in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada, where ballots were still being counted. The Georgia race appeared to be headed for a runoff vote on Dec. 6 because both the Democratic and Republican candidates were falling short of the 50 percent needed for victory. If the Republicans do take control of Congress, they will have the power to cripple Biden’s agenda and could also block aid to Ukraine, although analysts say they are more likely to slow or pare back the flow of defense and economic assistance. With a House majority, Republicans would try to use the federal debt ceiling as leverage to demand deep spending cuts. They would also seek to make Trump’s 2017 individual tax cuts permanent and protect corporate tax cuts. House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy had hoped to celebrate a resounding victory that would propel him into the top job of speaker. Instead, he had to settle for a promise to his supporters: “When you wake up tomorrow, we will be in the majority and (Democratic Speaker) Nancy Pelosi will be in the minority,” he said on Tuesday night. Only 13 of the 53 most competitive races, based on a Reuters analysis of the leading nonpartisan forecasters, had been decided, raising the prospect that the final outcome may not be known for some time. U.S. stock index futures ticked lower on Wednesday as investors kept a close eye on the results in expectation of a divided Congress that would make it harder for the passage of drastic policy changes. “Having a balanced ticket in terms of Republicans, if they get the House and Senate, or just the House, will help slow some of the government spending which many have seen as one of the major contributors to inflation,” said JJ Kinahan CEO, of IG North America in Chicago. NO ‘RED WAVE’ The party that occupies the White House almost always loses seats in elections midway through a president’s first four-year term, and Biden has struggled with low public approval. But Republican hopes for a “red wave” of victories faded as Democrats showed surprising resilience in several key races. Democrats were projected as the winners in 11 of the 13 close contests that had been decided. “Definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for darn sure,” Republican U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham told NBC in an interview. Trump, who took an active role in recruiting Republican candidates for Congress and is strongly hinting at a third run for the presidency in 2024, had mixed results. He notched a victory in Ohio, where author J.D. Vance won a Senate seat to keep it in Republican hands. But television host and heart surgeon Mehmet Oz failed to win his Pennsylvania Senate race, and Doug Mastriano, another Trump ally, was handily defeated in the Pennsylvania governor’s race. Trump allies also were struggling in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada Senate races, where ballots were still being counted. Meanwhile Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who could be a main Republican challenger to Trump in 2024, added to his growing national profile, defeating Democratic challenger Charlie Crist by nearly 20 percentage points, Edison projected. SENATE A TOSS-UP The Senate was still a toss-up, with the pivotal battles in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada still in play. The Georgia Senate race could end up in a runoff, possibly with Senate control at stake. Democrats currently control the 50-50 Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris able to break any ties. Thirty-five Senate seats, all 435 House seats and three dozen governors’ races were on the ballot. More than 46 million Americans voted ahead of Election Day, either by mail or in person and state election officials caution that counting those ballots will take time. (Live election results from around the country are here.) COMPETITIVE DISTRICTS In a possibly embarrassing defeat for House Democrats, Representative Sean Maloney narrowly trailed a Republican challenger in his bid for a sixth term. Maloney chairs the Democratic campaign committee charged with electing more Democrats to the House. His was one of a couple of races in New York state where Republicans were performing better than expected. Both parties notched victories in competitive districts. Local officials reported isolated problems across the country, including a paper shortage in a Pennsylvania county. In Maricopa County, Arizona – a key battleground – a judge rejected a Republican request to extend voting hours after some tabulation machines malfunctioned. The problems stoked evidence-free claims among Trump and his supporters that the failures were deliberate. Scores of Republican candidates have echoed Trump’s false claims that his 2020 loss to Biden was due to widespread fraud, raising fears among Democrats that they could interfere with the 2024 presidential race. Democratic governors also fended off strong Republican challenges in Michigan and Wisconsin, two states likely to remain political battlegrounds in the 2024 presidential race. The primary issue weighing on Democrats was stubbornly high annual inflation, which at 8.2% stands at the highest rate in 40 years. Voters in California, Michigan and Vermont approved referendums enshrining abortion rights in their state constitutions. Deeply conservative Kentucky looked poised to reject a constitutional amendment that would have declared there was no right to abortion. (Reporting by Joseph Ax, Jason Lange, Doina Chiacu, Susan Heavey, Moira Warburton, Gram Slattery, Makini Brice and Trevor Hunnicutt in Washington, Gabriella Borter in Birmingham, Michigan, Nathan Layne in Alpharetta, Georgia, Masha Tsvetkova in New York, Tim Reid in Phoenix and Ned Parker in Reno, Nevada, and Lucy Raitano and Amanda Cooper in London; Writing by Joseph Ax, Richard Cowan and Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone, Howard Goller and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Humeyra Pamuk WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Russian authorities last week transferred U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner from a detention centre outside Moscow and she is now on her way to an undisclosed penal colony, her legal team said on Wednesday. The two-time Olympic gold medallist was arrested on Feb. 17 – a week before Russia invaded Ukraine – at a Moscow airport, where she was found to have vape cartridges containing cannabis oil, which is banned in Russia, in her luggage. Griner, 32, was sentenced on Aug. 4 to nine years in a penal colony on charges of possessing and smuggling drugs. She had pleaded guilty, but said she had made an “honest mistake” and had not meant to break the law. She was transferred from a detention center near the Russian capital on Nov. 4 in order to be taken to a penal colony, but neither her current location nor her final destination are known, her legal team said in a statement. In line with Russian procedures, they said her attorneys and the U.S. Embassy should be notified upon her arrival, but that it would take up to two weeks for that to happen. Reuters has requested comment from Russia’s federal prison service on where Griner is being taken and where she is now. Transfers to penal colonies can be time-consuming as groups of prisoners are assembled and moved to different locations across the world’s largest country. U.S. President Joe Biden has directed his administration to “prevail on her Russian captors to improve her treatment and the conditions she may be forced to endure in a penal colony.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Griner was being transferred to a “remote penal colony” and said the United States expects Russian authorities to provide its embassy officials with access to Brittney and other Americans detained in Russia. The Biden administration in late July proposed a prisoner swap with Russia to secure Griner’s release, as well as that of former U.S. marine Paul Whelan, but said Moscow had yet to respond positively to the offer. Russia has refused to comment on the state of negotiations, saying such diplomacy should not be conducted in public. The souring of ties between Russia and the West over the war in Ukraine has complicated the talks. “Despite a lack of good-faith negotiation by the Russians, the U.S. government has continued to follow up on that offer and propose alternative potential ways forward with the Russians through all available channels,” White House spokeswoman Karinne Jean-Pierre said. Griner’s lawyers have not yet said if they will attempt a further appeal against her conviction after a Russian court rejected an attempted appeal on Oct. 25. HARSH CONDITIONS Inmates in Russian penal colonies face a harsh regime of tedious manual work, poor hygiene and lack of adequate access to medical care. Maria Alyokhina, who served nearly two years for her part in a 2012 punk protest in a Moscow cathedral by feminist group Pussy Riot, told Reuters in an interview last week she had been one of 80 women sleeping in one room with just three toilets and no hot water. She compared conditions to a Gulag labour camp under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. “Our primary concern continues to be BG’s health and well-being,” Griner’s agent, Lindsay Colas, said in a separate statement, referring to the player by her initials. “As we work through this very difficult phase of not knowing exactly where BG is or how she is doing, we ask for the public’s support in continuing to write letters and express their love and care for her,” Colas said. (Additional reporting by Mark Trevelyan and Filipp Lebedev; Editing by Andrew Osborn and Paul Simao) View the full article

Published by AFP Democratic Massachusetts Governor-Elect Maura Healey celebrates victory and delivers a speech during a watch party at the Copley Plaza hotel in Boston, Massachusetts on November 8, 2022 New York (AFP) – From the first openly lesbian governor to the first Generation Z member-elect of Congress, early results in the US midterms heralded a good night for diversity. – ‘Proud’ – In Massachusetts, voters elected Democrat Maura Healey as America’s first out lesbian governor, TV networks projected. The 51-year-old defeated Geoff Diehl, who had been endorsed by ex-president Donald Trump, to flip the office from the Republicans. She said she was “proud” of her historic victory, telling cheering supporters that it sent a message “to every little girl and every LGBTQ person out there, you can be anything you want to be.” Healey will also become Massachusetts’ first ever female governor. Her victory with running mate Kim Driscoll means that women will serve as both governor and lieutenant governor of a state for the first time. – Gen Z – In Florida, Democrat Maxwell Frost became the first member of Generation Z to be elected to Congress when he won a seat in the US House of Representatives. The 25-year-old defeated Republican Calvin Wimbish in a district that leans solidly Democratic. “We made history for Floridians, for Gen Z, and for everyone who believes we deserve a better future,” the African American tweeted. In New Hampshire, another Gen Z candidate, 25-year-old Karoline Leavitt, is also running for Congress, although she hails from the opposite side of the political spectrum — and was in a more competitive race. Transgender man New Hampshire, meanwhile, became the first in US history to elect a transgender man to a state legislature, the Washington Post reported. Democrat James Roesener was one of a record number of trans candidates on the ballot this year. Roesener won’t become the first openly trans lawmaker as a number of transgender women have been elected before. Other notables Alabama elected Republican Katie Britt as its first female senator while Sarah Huckabee Sanders was projected to win the gubernatorial race in Arkansas to become its first female governor. Maryland elected its first Black governor, Democrat Wes Moore, while Markwayne Mullin will serve as the first Native American senator from Oklahoma in almost 100 years. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sam Smith thought fame would make them immune to homophobia. The ‘Too Good At Goodbyes’ hitmaker – who identifies as non-binary and uses gender neutral pronouns – thinks it is “still hard to be queer” and claimed they are abused in the street because of their sexuality. Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music, Sam said: “It’s still hard to be queer. There’s still backlash. “I still get things said to me on the street, even now. The weirdest thing is you can be famous, you can be a pop star and you still get it. “Because I thought I’d become a pop star and I’d never get a bad word said to me ever again. I’d never have homophobia. I’d never experience it if I became a star. And then it happens and it’s still there. It’s still there.” Sam is happy to be a voice for the LGBTQ+ community because they know they are in a “powerful” position thanks to their public platform. They added: “You have to talk about it all. And I’ve stepped into that because I’ve now realised how powerful that is. And there’s kids out there that need this. They need us to talk about it.” The 30-year-old star recently claimed they have lost fans due to “homophobia and transphobia”. Sam said last month: “In terms of music I definitely feel like there are some people that have turned away, I think purely down to homophobia and transphobia. “That’s a hard thing to take on, that people are digesting your music in a different way. “My music has always been queer. ‘In The Lonely Hour’ was all about being in love with a straight guy. It’s fascinating how people’s politics sometimes can leak into their love of music.” View the full article

Published by Fadeaway World By Divij Kulkarni Magic Johnson sounded off on Karl Malone not wanting him in the NBA after he got HIV. Magic Johnson went through a unique struggle to end his career after he was diagnosed to be HIV positive in the early 90s. The Lakers legend was far from done with basketball at this point, but the disease had a huge stigma surrounding it. Despite attempting a comeback later in his life, for all intents and purposes, Magic’s career essentially ended following the Dream Team run. A large reason why Magic could no longer play in the NBA was that players were afraid to play against him. While H… Read More View the full article

Published by NJ.com By Marc Levy Democrat John Fetterman won Pennsylvania’s pivotal race for U.S. Senate, flipping a Republican-held seat as he recovers from a stroke during the bare-knuckled campaign and giving Democrats hope they can retain control of the closely divided chamber. Fetterman, Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor, defeated Dr. Mehmet Oz, the smooth-talking and wealthy heart surgeon-turned-TV celebrity in the presidential battleground state. Fetterman credited his “every county, every vote” campaign strategy in which the tattooed and hoodie-wearing candidate sought to bring the Democratic Party back … Read More View the full article

Published by The Philadelphia Inquirer PHILADELPHIA — Josh Shapiro won his bid Tuesday for governor in swing-state Pennsylvania, where he pledged to fend off Republican “extremists” who he said threatened to roll back rights for voting, gay marriage and access to abortion. The Associated Press had not yet called the race when Shapiro took the stage at the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center near Valley Forge National Park in Montgomery County, after 11:25 p.m. The wire service declared him the winner nearly an hour later. “Real freedom won tonight,” Shapiro told his supporters. “No matter where you come from, who you love, who you pra… Read More View the full article

Published by AFP John Fetterman, a burly champion of progressive economic policies, triumphed in Pennsylvania, handing a first Senate pickup to Joe Biden's Democrats Washington (AFP) – Republican hopes for a sweeping rebuke of President Joe Biden in congressional elections failed to materialize with both parties picking up seats following a campaign fought against a backdrop of stubbornly high inflation and fears for US democracy. Republicans needed one seat to wrest control of the evenly-divided Senate but by early Wednesday the only one to change party hands went to the Democrats, with John Fetterman, a burly champion of progressive economic policies, triumphing in Pennsylvania. In the House of Representatives, early results suggested Republicans were on track to wrest control from Democrats — but only by a handful of seats, a far cry from their predictions. Top Republican Kevin McCarthy — who hopes to be the lower chamber’s next speaker — struck an upbeat note as he addressed supporters in the early hours, telling them: “It is clear that we are going to take the House back.” But Senator Lindsey Graham, a top Trump ally, bluntly conceded to NBC that the election is “definitely not a Republican wave, that’s for darn sure.” With Biden’s favorability ratings hovering in the low 40s and Republicans pounding him over inflation and crime, many pundits had predicted a drubbing that would have raised new questions on whether America’s oldest-ever president, who turns 80 this month, should run again. The president’s party has traditionally lost seats in midterm elections — and all eyes have been on a handful of Senate races including in Georgia, Nevada, Arizona and Wisconsin. In Pennsylvania — one of the election’s highest-profile races — Fetterman limited campaign appearances as he recovered from a stroke that impeded his speech but he still edged out Mehmet Oz, a celebrity doctor endorsed by Donald Trump. “This campaign has always been about fighting for everyone who’s ever been got knocked down that ever got back up,” the two-meter (six-foot-eight) Fetterman, clad in his trademark hoodie, told a rally in Pittsburgh. Florida swings right On a night of close contests, one of the most decisive wins was for rising Republican star Ron DeSantis, who won by a crushing margin in Florida, cementing his status as a top potential White House candidate in 2024. DeSantis, who has made a name in Florida by railing against Covid mitigation measures and transgender rights, was projected to have won by up to 20 points against a folksy former governor, four years after squeaking by in his longtime swing state. “We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob,” DeSantis told a victory rally, using a derisive term for social justice campaigners. “Florida is where woke goes to die,” he said. But if the 44-year-old views his victory as a mandate for the White House in 2024, he will likely face a stiff challenge from another Florida resident — former president Trump, who has teased an “exciting” announcement on November 15. Among other races, Maura Healey will make history as the first openly lesbian governor in the United States and in New York, where recent polls gave Democrats a scare, Governor Kathy Hochul fended off a Republican challenge. Trump again alleges fraud Trump, who is facing criminal probes over taking top secret documents from the White House and trying to overturn the 2020 election, returned to his playbook of airing unsubstantiated claims of fraud. In Arizona, Trump and his chosen candidate for governor, Kari Lake, alleged irregularities after problems with voting machines. Officials in the most populous county of Maricopa said about 20 percent of the 223 polling stations experienced difficulties related to printers but that no one was denied the right to vote. Biden has warned that Republicans pose a dire threat to democracy with more than half their candidates repeating Trump’s debunked claims of cheating in the 2020 election. In the runup to the vote, an intruder espousing far-right beliefs broke into the San Francisco home of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and bludgeoned her husband with a hammer. In his closing pitch, Biden vowed that Democrats would defend pensions, health care and the freedom to have an abortion, after a Supreme Court transformed by Trump rescinded the right to choose. Voting in Phoenix, Kenneth Bellows, a 32-year-old law student, said runaway inflation is “hurting Americans who are just trying to get by.” “We don’t need any of the crazy woke rhetoric that’s going on right now. What we really need is focusing on everyday kitchen-table politics, to make sure taxes are low,” he said. But at a restaurant serving up soul food in Pittsburgh, Lasaine Latimore, 77, said Democrats were best placed to help people. “I just want my medical insurance and more money for dental and glasses,” she said. A Republican victory could scuttle Biden’s legislative agenda, with Congress scuttling his ambitions on climate change and scrutinizing the billions of US dollars to help Ukraine fight Russia. View the full article

Published by Reuters UK By Lewis Jackson SYDNEY (Reuters) -Climate protesters glued themselves to an Andy Warhol painting at the National Art Gallery of Australia in Canberra on Wednesday, the latest in a spate of activist demonstrations in art galleries around the world. Video footage released by the Stop Fossil Fuel Subsidies group showed two female protesters using an adhesive to stick their hands to Andy Warhol’s “Campbell’s Soup I”, on display at the national gallery in Canberra. Several blue scrawls were also seen across the series of 10 paintings, which are behind glass. “Andy Warhol depicted consumerism gone … Read More View the full article

Published by AFP Maura Healey makes her way into a room full of politicians and supporters in Boston, Massachusetts on November 8, 2022 Boston (AFP) – The US state of Massachusetts on Tuesday elected Democrat Maura Healey as America’s first openly lesbian governor, TV networks said. Healey, 51, flipped the seat from the Republicans, comfortably defeating opponent Geoff Diehl, NBC and Fox News projected. LGBTQ+ rights group the Human Rights Campaign hailed Healey’s historic victory. “Massachusetts embraced a platform of equality and inclusion by electing a pro-equality champion,” the organization’s interim president Joni Madison, said in a statement. Healey’s triumph returns the state’s governorship to Democrats after eight years of Republican leadership under Charlie Baker who opted not to seek a third term. Healey, who will also become Massachusetts’ first ever female governor, was on track to heavily beat Diehl, who had been endorsed by former president Donald Trump. The result had been widely expected, with Healey — Massachusetts’ attorney general since 2014 — comfortably ahead in the polls in the runup to the vote. LGBTQ candidates are running in all 50 states and the capital Washington for the first time in this year’s midterm election, as the community becomes an increasingly powerful voting constituency. Democrat Tina Kotek, who is also lesbian, was bidding to match Healey’s win in Oregon on Tuesday in a governor’s race regarded as a toss-up. Almost 90 percent of the LGBTQ candidates who entered this year’s primary races are Democrats. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Daniel Trotta (Reuters) – Republican Ron DeSantis was re-elected governor of Florida on Tuesday, Edison Research projected, setting him up for a possible presidential run in 2024. DeSantis, who won office by less than half a percentage point four years ago, easily defeated Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, a former Republican governor who switched parties and won a congressional seat as a Democrat. DeSantis, 44, is widely expected to seek the Republican nomination for the White House in 2024. That likelihood has already drawn the ire of Republican former President Donald Trump, 76. Trump has nicknamed him Ron De-Sanctimonious. Trump said he would make a major announcement next Tuesday, when he is widely expected to declare his candidacy. In all, 36 states will elect a chief executive in the U.S. midterm elections on Tuesday, with the future of abortion rights and democratic elections at stake in competitive elections across the country. The high stakes brought increased money and attention to the state-level races, which typically get overshadowed in midterm elections by the fight for control of Congress. Democrats are fighting to keep control of governorships in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to maintain the power to veto any legislation by the Republican-controlled legislatures that might curb abortion rights and voting access. Republican victories in those presidential battleground states and Arizona could have implications for the 2024 White House election. The party’s nominees have embraced Trump’s false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. In Arizona, which has one of the country’s closest gubernatorial races, Trump-backed candidate Kari Lake has repeated his assertions about voter fraud and said she would not have certified President Joe Biden’s victory in that state. Her opponent is Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who rose to national prominence in 2020 when she defended Arizona’s election victory for Biden. Michigan’s Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer has made abortion a focal point of her re-election campaign. Her Republican opponent, Trump-backed conservative commentator Tudor Dixon, supports a near-total ban on abortion. In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott is expected to win a third term despite a lively campaign by his Democratic opponent, former U.S. congressman Beto O’Rourke. Georgia’s Republican governor, Brian Kemp, also looks likely to prevail against Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams in a rematch of their 2018 race. A three-way race in Oregon could result in a Republican winning the state’s governorship for the first time in 40 years. Democrat Tina Kotek and Republican Christine Drazan are locked in a close battle for the open seat, and independent candidate Betsy Johnson, a former Democrat, could potentially siphon votes from Kotek. While Democrats have stressed abortion rights and democracy, Republicans have focused largely on fears of rising crime and inflation, which they blame on Democratic policies. The crime issue appears to have dragged on the campaign of New York’s Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul, who saw her lead in polls shrink to single digits as Republican challenger Lee Zeldin campaigned on crime and controversial bail reform laws. No Republican has won the governor’s office in New York since 2002. Wisconsin’s Democratic incumbent Tony Evers faces a strong challenge from Republican construction magnate Tim Michels, who has promised to enforce a 19th-century abortion ban that Evers is challenging in court. In Pennsylvania, Republican candidate Doug Mastriano has echoed Trump’s false claims of voter fraud. Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro has cast Mastriano as too extreme. (Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Howard Goller) View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Republicans have picked up a net four seats in the U.S. House of Representatives that had previously been held by Democrats with 228 of 435 races not yet called, Edison Research projected on Tuesday. For House races, Edison Research is tracking the net number of seats that flip from one party to another, as opposed to the net gain or loss of overall seats by either party. The number of flips does not take into account seven new seats created during congressional redistricting and two races in which an incumbent Democrat and an incumbent Republican are facing each other due to redistricting. So far, Republicans have won 132 seats in the 435-seat House and Democrats have won 75 seats, Edison projected. (Reporting by Katharine Jackson and Dan Burns) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Katie Paul and Sheila Dang (Reuters) – Election experts reported the spread of new falsehoods across Twitter and other social media services on Tuesday as Americans voted in midterm elections, four days after Twitter Inc fired half its staff and new owner Elon Musk tweeted a recommendation to vote for Republican candidates. The nonpartisan watchdog group Common Cause, which monitors social media for voter suppression efforts, said that Twitter took no action on high-profile posts that the organization flagged on Tuesday as problematic. The U.S. congressional elections posed a fresh test for social media companies, which for years have struggled to balance free expression against amplifying potentially harmful commentary. Though company policies enable them to restrict misinformation, enforcement has been spotty, and the recent upheaval at Twitter has put it under particular scrutiny. Voices on the right sought on social media on Tuesday to falsely blame Democrats for voting glitches reported in some places. Common Cause said Twitter posts from Republican candidates Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kari Lake should have included warning labels under the company’s civic integrity policy, which governs misleading tweets about elections. Posts by Greene and Lake drew tens of thousands of likes and retweets on Twitter. Common Cause also noted a “big slowdown” in Twitter’s response time since Friday, when layoffs gutted many of the company’s teams responsible for elevating credible information. “Twitter is hopeless and not responding beyond replying that they are looking into something and then going dark on it for days,” the group said, noting that the company’s response time was normally about one to three hours. Twitter, which lost many members of its communications team in the layoffs, did not respond to requests for comment. Before Tuesday, both Musk and Twitter’s head of safety and integrity Yoel Roth tweeted that the company would uphold and enforce its election integrity policies through the midterms. More than 120 advocacy organizations including Common Cause in May urged – without success – social media companies to introduce “circuit breakers” to curtail the rapid spread of misleading election information by popular accounts. Discussion on Twitter on Tuesday focused on real voting problems in states with closely watched races such as Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Pennsylvania, according to research groups studying online election information. The activity surged after popular commentators on Twitter attributed the malfunctions – without providing evidence – to attempts by Democrats to suppress Republican voters, according to the Election Integrity Partnership, a coalition of research outfits. Former U.S. President Donald Trump, who has made false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud, posted on his social media app Truth Social that the issues in some states amounted to a fresh round of deliberate misbehavior. Election officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County said that the issues experienced on Tuesday would not affect vote counting. Officials in Pennsylvania’s Luzerne County extended voting hours to compensate for the problems. After officials in Georgia’s Cobb County extended the deadline for receipt of absentee ballots because some voters did not receive ballots, false claims spread – mainly on Twitter – that the extension was meant to help “steal” the election, according to a spokesperson at the Southern Poverty Law Center activist group. Also drawing engagement were posts baselessly warning voters that Wi-Fi networks at polling locations could enable hacking of voting machines, Jesse Littlewood, vice president for campaigns at Common Cause, told a news briefing. The falsehoods appeared to originate on messaging app Telegram before spreading to more mainstream social media services, according to Common Cause. A Reuters review found examples on Twitter, TikTok and Meta’s Facebook. (Reporting by Katie Paul and Sheila Dang; additional reporting by Paresh Dave and Martin Coulter; Editing by Kenneth Li, Will Dunham, Ana Nicolaci da Costa and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

[This post contains video, click to play] Published by Raw Story By Sarah K. Burris The Republican Party once stood for freedom and liberty, but according to former Rep. David Jolly, of Florida, that is no longer the case. Speaking with a panel of political experts, MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace played clips of the Pennsylvania rally with former President Barack Obama and current President Joe Biden. After rousing segments of Obama’s fiery needling against Mehmet Oz and Doug Mastriano, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is running for governor, gave a barn-burning speech of his own. Shapiro called out specific things that Republicans are doing now, like stoppi… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – A senior U.S. cybersecurity official said on Tuesday the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) had not seen any evidence of foreign influence in the ongoing congressional election. The CISA official, who briefed journalists on condition of anonymity halfway into the first day of voting, said the agency had also not seen any specific or credible threat to disrupt election infrastructure. (Reporting by Zeba Siddiqui in San Francisco; Editing by Franklin Paul) View the full article

Published by Reuters BERLIN (Reuters) – Former Pope Benedict XVI plans to defend himself in a civil lawsuit lodged at a German court by a man who accuses him of helping to cover up historical abuse, a court spokesperson said on Tuesday. In the latest twist in a long-running scandal engulfing the Catholic Church, a so-called declaratory action was brought in June on behalf of a man, then 38-years old, who said he was abused by a priest as a child. The complaint targets a priest, identified as Peter H., and Benedict who was Archbishop of Munich and Freising from 1977 to 1982, as well as his successor Cardinal Friedrich Wetter and another church official. The Archdiocese of Munich and Freising declined to comment on an ongoing case. A spokesperson for the Traustein court confirmed a report by the DPA press agency that the former Pope would defend himself through a law firm. The move avoids a so-called default ruling from the court. That does not mean that Benedict, now 95, will himself appear in court in his defense. But a court spokesperson said that the court can demand that defendants appear. The defendants have until Jan. 24 to respond to the complaint. No date has been set for a hearing. Andreas Schulz, the lawyer who filed the case, said it sought to establish culpability, arguing that the Catholic Church and defendants had a Christian duty to acknowledge injustices committed. “If they don’t, the reputational damage will grow and the Catholic Church will hasten the erosion of faith,” said Schulz, confirming comments he made to DPA. A report published in January on sexual abuse in the archdiocese from 1945 to 2019 accused Benedict of failing to take action against clerics in four cases when he was Archbishop of Munich. Benedict, who resigned as pontiff in 2013, acknowledged errors had occurred in the handling of cases while he held that position and asked for forgiveness. His lawyers argued that he was not directly to blame. (Reporting by Madeline Chambers; Editing by Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega;@davidbeckham/instagram Athlete David Beckham gave fans what they really, really want this weekend — a sweet glimpse at a mini Spice Girls reunion! On Monday, November 8, the star athlete took to Instagram with an adorable video depicting wife Victoria Beckham celebrating bandmate Geri Halliwell Horner’s 50th birthday alongside fellow Spice Girls Melanie Chisholm and Emma Bunton, all dancing to their hit song “Say You’ll Be There.” @davidbeckham/instagram “Special celebrating Ginger this weekend and even more special to capture this moment of the girls A friendship for Life ,” Beckham captioned the adorable clip, shared with his 75 million Instagram followers before offering a special shoutout to Melanie Brown — a.k.a Mel B. VICTORIA BECKHAM WAS HUNGOVER DURING 1997 SPICE GIRLS PRESS CONFERENCE: WATCH! “You were missed,” he wrote of the “Spice Up Your Life” songstress. @davidbeckham/instagram Despite their cool dance moves, it seems relations within the famous girl group haven’t always been smooth sailing. Just last month, Mel C — a.k.a Sporty Spice — revealed she was once almost ejected from the chart-topping band after lashing out at Posh Spice amid the 1996 Brit Awards. MEL C ALMOST GOT KICKED OUT OF THE SPICE GIRLS AFTER SHE TOLD VICTORIA BECKHAM TO ‘F**K OFF’ “As we were all leaving, you know we’d all had a little bit of champagne. We were all a little tipsy, probably quite drunk and there was a little incident,” Mel C, now 48, recalled of the ordeal during a recent podcast appearance. @davidbeckham/instagram “I told Victoria to f**k off,” she remembered. “We all have these kerfuffles in our lives. It was under my breath. It wasn’t an aggravated or aggressive thing that I did.” Despite initially dismissing the incident as “nothing huge,” Mel C was ultimately presented with the reality of the situation. “But the next day the girls told me under no uncertain terms that it was unacceptable,” she said. “Then Simon Fuller, who was our manager at the time, wanted to speak to me. And I was threatened with being ousted from the band if any behavior like that happened again.” And as evidenced through their decades-spanning career, it seems it never did. After all, friendship never ends! View the full article

Published by Reuters By Gabriella Borter and Nathan Layne ROYAL OAK, Mich./ATLANTA, Ga. (Reuters) -Americans on Tuesday cast the final ballots in closely fought elections that will determine whether Republicans win control of Congress, which would give them the power to block much of President Joe Biden’s agenda in the next two years. Motivated by concerns about high inflation and crime, voters were poised to usher in an era of divided government in Washington, despite warnings from Democrats about the erosion of abortion rights and the undermining of democratic norms. Thirty-five Senate seats and all 435 House of Representatives seats are on the ballot. Republicans are widely favored to pick up the five seats they need to control the House, while the Senate – currently split 50-50 with Democrats holding the tie-breaking vote – could come down to a quartet of toss-up races in Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and Arizona. Even before the midterm elections were completed, the 2024 presidential election was taking shape. Former President Donald Trump on Monday sent his strongest hint yet that he would be kicking off his third consecutive White House campaign soon, telling supporters in Ohio that he would be making a “big announcement” on Nov. 15. Hundreds of Republican candidates have echoed Trump’s false claims that his 2020 loss to Biden was due to widespread fraud are on the ballot this year, including several seeking positions that would give them direct oversight of the 2024 presidential elections in competitive states. But many voters said they were motivated by frustration with inflation, which at 8.2%, stands at the highest rate in 40 years. Retiree Robert Sump, 65, said he planned to vote for Republican Tudor Dixon in Michigan’s gubernatorial race, as he thought she would do a better job on economic issues. “I think that’s the biggest issue right now with the inflation that we’re fighting,” he said. Polls close starting at 6 p.m. Eastern time (2300 GMT) but the results in close races might not be known for days or even weeks. More than 46 million Americans voted ahead of Election Day, either by mail or in-person, according to data from the U.S. Election Project, and state election officials caution that it will take time to count all of those ballots. Control of the Senate might not be not known until a potential Dec. 6 runoff in Georgia. As Election Day began, a senior U.S. cybersecurity official said there is “no specific or credible threat” to disrupt election infrastructure. But officials in Maricopa County, Arizona, said about 20% of their vote tabulation machines were malfunctioning. There are 36 governors’ races, including campaigns in the swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona and Georgia. In Congress, a Republican-controlled House would be able to block bills addressing Democratic priorities such as abortion rights and climate change. Republicans could also initiate a showdown over the nation’s debt ceiling, which could shake financial markets, and launch investigations into Biden’s administration and family. Republicans will have the power to block aid to Ukraine if they win back control of Congress, but analysts say they are more likely to slow or pare back the flow of defense and economic assistance. A Republican Senate would hold sway over Biden’s judicial nominations, including any Supreme Court vacancy, intensifying the spotlight on the increasingly conservative court. FINAL PUSH Some Democratic candidates deliberately distanced themselves from the White House as Biden’s popularity languished. On Monday, the final day of campaigning, Biden headed to Democratic-leaning Maryland, rather than a swing state. “It’s Election Day, America. Make your voice heard today,” Biden, who cast his ballot in early voting in Delaware, said in a Twitter post on Tuesday morning. At a polling station in Florida, Trump predicted success for his Republicans. “I think we’re going to have a great night,” he said. He said he voted for the re-election of the state’s governor, Ron DeSantis, a potential rival for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. The Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn the nationwide right to abortion had galvanized Democratic voters around the country, temporarily raising the party’s hopes they could defy history. But stubbornly rising prices have left voters dissatisfied despite one of the strongest job markets in history. A Reuters/Ipsos poll this week showed more than two-thirds of Americans believe the country is on the wrong track, with just 39% approving of the way Biden has done his job. Trump’s polling is similarly low, with just 41% of respondents to a separate recent Reuters/Ipsos poll saying they viewed him favorably. The prognosis has left some Democrats questioning the party’s campaign message, which centered on protecting abortion rights and American democracy. “What we’ve seen over the last month is political gravity begin to reassert itself,” said Jacob Rubashkin, an analyst at the nonpartisan forecaster Inside Elections. “Voters care a lot about the economy, and they blame Biden for inflation.” Biden and other Democrats have sounded the alarm over Republican contenders who have either echoed or refused to contradict Trump’s false claims that he lost the 2020 election due to widespread fraud. The prevalence of election deniers among Republican candidates has elevated down-ballot races that typically receive little attention. In swing states such as Nevada, Arizona and Michigan, the Republican nominees to head up the states’ election apparatus have embraced Trump’s falsehoods, raising fears among Democrats that, if they prevail, they could interfere with the 2024 presidential race. Those concerns swayed even some Republican leaning voters like Henry Bowden, 36, an Atlanta lawyer who said he voted for a mix of Republican and Democratic voters. “I was really trying not to vote for any of the Republicans that are too much in Trump’s pocket and all the election denial stuff. I was very tired of that,” he said. (Reporting by Joseph Ax, Doina Chiacu and Gram Slattery in Washington, Gabriella Borter in Royal Oak, Michigan, Nathan Layne in Atlanta and Tim Reid in Phoenix; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone, Mary Milliken and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by AlterNet By Alex Henderson Over the years, Howard Stern has never been a straight-down-the-line liberal or progressive. The New York City-based shock jock leans liberal on social issues like abortion and gay rights, and he’s never been shy about having adult film stars on his show. But Stern is more conservative/libertarian on economics and has endorsed some moderate Republicans in the past. Stern, however, is a scathing critic of the MAGA movement and the evangelical Christian right. And on Monday, November 7 — the day before the 2022 midterms elections — Stern lambasted Herschel Walker, who is trying… Read More View the full article

Published by Euronews (English) The foreign minister of the Faroe Islands has been sacked by the territorial government after making homophobic remarks. Jenis av Rana was widely criticised for stating that he could not support the leader of the Danish conservative party Søren Pape Poulsen, who is openly gay, as prime minister. “Living as a so-called homosexual is against the basic law that I, my party, and I think the Faroe Islands follow,” he said during a radio broadcast in late October. The comments — made ahead of Denmark’s parliamentary elections, won by Mette Frederiksen’s Social Democrats — caused outrage and led to… Read More View the full article