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Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Some Eli Lilly and Co employees have requested transfers from the drugmaker’s Indiana operations after the U.S. state’s lawmakers approved a bill that would ban most abortions there, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Some staff had asked to relocate outside the state even though an Indiana judge has temporarily halted the ban, the Indiana-based pharmaceutical firm’s chief executive David Ricks told the newspaper in an interview. His comments come after the Republican-controlled Indiana Senate passed a law in August banning most abortions. The U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned the national right to the procedure it had recognized in its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. An Indiana judge blocked the state in September from enforcing the new law while Planned Parenthood and other healthcare providers challenge it in court. Ricks said the new restrictions had created challenges for people to come to work in Indiana and that if Eli Lilly wanted to attract and retain the best staff, it had to grow in other locations, the FT said. Eli Lilly did not provide details on how many staff have asked to move from Indiana, the FT said. But it quoted Rick as saying the restrictions would not become an impediment to working for the company and that the drugmaker would consider factors such as abortion when considering relocation requests. (Reporting by Anirudh Saligrama in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Tom Cruise and the late Queen Elizabeth are said to have “really hit it off” when the monarch invited him for tea in her final weeks. The ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ actor, 60, was also allowed to land his helicopter on Her Majesty’s lawn, according to The Times. It said on Sunday (06.11.22) the Queen had been disappointed she was unable to meet Tom during an event for her Platinum Jubilee, which celebrated her history-making 70 years on the throne. But an insider told The Times the late monarch, who died aged 96 on September 8 at her home in Balmoral, “loved seeing him” when she invited him for tea over the summer. They added Tom was invited back for lunch, but the Queen passed away before it could happen. The pair were said to have originally been due to meet in May at an equestrian event on the Windsor Castle grounds called ‘A Gallop Through History’. A source told The Times about his visit after they missed each other: “The Queen let it be known she was really disappointed not to have met Tom at the pageant. “So he was invited to have a special tour of Windsor Castle with everything laid on for him. Afterwards, just the two of them had tea together. “She loved seeing him and they really hit it off, so much so that she invited him back for lunch.” Tom, who filmed his latest ‘Mission Impossible’ film in Britain, said earlier this year about the Queen: “She’s just a woman that I greatly admire. I think she is someone who has tremendous dignity and I admire her devotion. “What she has accomplished has been historic. I just remember always as a kid seeing photos of her.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Amy Schumer linked Kanye West to Nazis during her comeback to hosting ‘Saturday Night Live’. The 41-year-old comic made the reference in a gag while hosting the show at the weekend (05.11.22) for her first time since 2018. She said in her opening monologue while mentioning how her husband Chris Fischer, 42, was on the autism spectrum and how his condition used to be referred to as Asperger’s Syndrome: “It used to be called Asperger’s, but then they found out that Dr Asperger had Nazi ties, Kanye… .” The ‘Inside Amy Schumer’ stand-up then appeared to pretend she hadn’t made the remark by tapping her microphone to see if anyone could hear her, saying: “That’s weird.” She later appeared on the show in a baseball T-shirt that read: “ 3 Jews”. It was a reference to 45-year-old rapper Kanye’s anti-Semitic tweet: “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” He added: “The funny thing is I actually can’t be Anti Semitic because black people are actually Jew also. You guys have toyed with me and tried to black ball anyone whoever opposes your agenda.” Kanye, diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2016, has claimed the uproar in the wake of his remarks cost him $2 billion in just one day due to big-name brands cancelling his fashion and advertising deals. GAP, Balenciaga and Adidas are among those who have severed ties with the dad-of-four, while banking giant JP Morgan Chase and his talent agency have also dropped the musician. When Kanye was asked by Piers Morgan if he regretted his tweet he said: “No – absolutely not, absolutely not… I fought fire with fire. “I’m not here to get hosed down – that’s a different type of freedom fighter.” But he added: “I will say I’m sorry for the people that I hurt. I feel like I cause hurt and confusion, and I’m sorry for the families of the people that had nothing to do with the trauma that I had been through and that I use my platform where you say, ‘Hurt people hurt people,’ and I was hurt.” View the full article

Published by Taste of Country They’re married! In a special destination wedding in Mexico on Thursday (Oct. 27), Brooke Eden and Hilary Hoover held the second of two special ceremonies to celebrate their marriage, according to People. The couple’s legal wedding ceremony took place on Aug. 27, in a small Nashville-area church ceremony attended by close family members — and a couple of special superstar friends: Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. The brides had a longstanding relationship with the country superstar couple, as Brooks employed Hoover, a radio promoter and music industry member, until she left to manage Eden’s t… Read More View the full article

Published by Chicago Tribune CHICAGO — The buses filled with migrants from the Texas border continue to arrive in Chicago, but it’s easy to forget that people are on those buses, people with stories often overshadowed by politics and conversation around the flawed immigration system in America, or by the desperate need to find shelter, warm food and clean clothes for the new arrivals. Nearly 4,000 migrants arrived in the city directly from Texas on the buses sent by Gov. Greg Abbott, according to city officials, but many more refugee seekers — mainly from Venezuela — have also been coming, on their own, to the promise of … Read More View the full article

Published by AFP Duran Duran performs at the 37th Annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony Los Angeles (AFP) – The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was meant to serve as a reunion for 2022 inductee Duran Duran, but former member Andy Taylor was unable to attend, with the band revealing his cancer diagnosis during their onstage speech Saturday. In accepting the honor, frontman Simon Le Bon read an open letter from Taylor, who said that just over four years ago he was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic prostate cancer. “Many families have experienced the slow burn of this disease and of course, we are no different,” Taylor wrote. “So I speak from the perspective of a family man but with profound humility to the band, the greatest fans a group could have, and this exceptional accolade.” Taylor said the disease was “not immediately life-threatening” but “there is no cure.” “Despite the exceptional efforts of my team, I had to be honest in that both physically and mentally, I would be pushing my boundaries,” Taylor said. “However, none of this needs to or should detract from what this band (with or without me) has achieved and sustained for 44 years.” Speaking to journalists backstage at the ceremony, Le Bon called the news “absolutely devastating.” “We love Andy dearly,” he said. “I’m not gonna stand here and cry, I think that would be inappropriate, but that’s what it feels like.” The 1980s hit British band broke ties with Taylor in 2006, citing an “unworkable gulf” between him and the New Wave innovators. Former member Warren Cuccurullo, who was initially expected to attend, also did not go to the 2022 ceremony in Los Angeles. View the full article

Published by Ultimate Classic Rock Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee Dolly Parton performed her signature hit “Jolene” at Saturday’s induction ceremony, leading an all-star ensemble that included fellow inductees Rob Halford, Pat Benatar, Duran Duran‘s Simon Le Bon, Eurythmics‘ Annie Lennox and many more. Backed throughout her performance by Zac Brown Band, Parton traded lines to her 1973 hit single with Pink (who inducted her), Sheryl Crow and Brandi Carlile along with the aforementioned inductees. The country icon shared her microphone with Halford during the song’s chorus, and her sparkly leather jumpsuit matched the Metal G… Read More View the full article

[This post contains video, click to play] Published by Loudwire The 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Hall of Fame induction ceremony was special because there was finally some heavy metal representation: Judas Priest were the recipients of the Musical Excellence Award. Though Priest weren’t one of the Rock Hall’s official Class of 2022 Inductees – which includes Pat Benatar, Eminem, Dolly Parton, Duran Duran and a few others – the Musical Excellence Award is presented to “artists, musicians, songwriters and producers whose originality and influence creating music have had a dramatic impact on music.” In addition, they had the opportunity to perform during t… Read More View the full article

Published by Euronews (English) Thousands of people took part in Argentina’s 31st Pride Parade in Buenos Aires on Saturday, demanding more rights for the LGTBQ community. The crowds gathered before noon in Plaza de Mayo, the square facing the presidential palace, and marched 2 kilometres towards the Congress building. This year’s parade’s motto is “The debt is owed to us,” comparing Argentina’s substantial financial debt to the social and legal dues the LGBTQ community argues are owed to them. Trans women are particularly vulnerable in Argentina, where they are the main target of hate crimes motivated by sexual discriminatio… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Helen Coster (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s stolen-election falsehoods have thrust America’s voting machine suppliers into a national struggle to protect their businesses. Industry leaders Dominion Voting Systems and Election Systems & Software are waging a political and public relations ground war to beat back threats to their state and local government contracts, rooted in bogus conspiracy theories about vote manipulation. Dominion has also turned to the courts, filing eight defamation lawsuits against Trump allies and media outlets including Fox News. The efforts to fight misinformation have so far blocked any significant loss of business, in part because many counties and states are locked into long-term contracts for voting systems. But the companies are nonetheless taking the election-denial movement seriously as the belief in voter-fraud fictions continues to gain mainstream acceptance on the right. About two-thirds of U.S. Republicans say they believe the election was stolen from Trump, Reuters polls show. Whenever companies “face a tsunami of suspicion and distrust of their products, that poses an existential threat to their livelihood and survival,” said Mark Lindeman, policy and strategy director at Verified Voting, a U.S. nonprofit that promotes the use of secure voting technology. Dominion faces the most intense opposition because the company has featured prominently in right-wing theories alleging its equipment flipped votes from Trump to Biden in 2020. In all, Dominion has faced campaigns in at least a dozen jurisdictions across eight states by officials or activists seeking to replace Dominion voting systems based on unproven fraud allegations, according to a Reuters review of government records and interviews with local officials. Among the risks: a statewide voting-systems contract Dominion holds in Louisiana, which Trump won handily. Officials there have indefinitely delayed awarding a new contract worth about $100 million amid pressure from pro-Trump, anti-machine activists. In Tuesday’s U.S. midterm elections, five counties facing voting-machine protests — in the states of Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and Minnesota — plan to institute hand-counting of ballots as a check on their machine counts by Dominion or ES&S tabulating equipment. Among them is Nye County, Nevada, where commissioners voted unanimously to recommend dumping Dominion touch-screen voting machines after a pressure campaign by nationally prominent election deniers. Voting vendors also face including well-funded national campaigns targeting their machines. Such protests could gain steam nationally depending on the election outcome. Election deniers who support ending the use of electronic voting systems are campaigning in battleground states such as Arizona, Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania for governor or secretary of state — the top voting administrator. Dominion declined to comment on its financial performance since the 2020 election and did not answer detailed questions about its campaign to battle misinformation. The company told Reuters that it has been “active” in “refuting the harmful lies spread about us.” Stolen-election activists, the company said, have “damaged our company, harmed elections officials, and diminished the credibility of U.S. elections.” ES&S also declined to provide financial specifics but said it has not lost customers because of the voting-machine protests. “Jurisdictions continue to need to seek trustworthy support of their elections,” the company said in a statement. Both companies managed to grow their revenue in 2021, after the contested 2020 election, according to data provided by PrivCo, which tracks private company financial information in a proprietary database. The assault on voting machines is at the center of a broader offensive on the U.S. election system by a loose network of right-wing activists. Across the country, election officials have received hundreds of threats or menacing messages that cite debunked conspiracies involving the machines. And pro-Trump officials and activists, on the hunt for fraud evidence, have been accused of gaining or trying to gain unauthorized access to voting equipment in at least 18 security breaches since the 2020 election, Reuters has previously reported. Debunking the torrent of misinformation is costly, forcing voting-machine companies to expand investments in litigation and public relations, according to more than two dozen interviews with election officials, voting-system vendors and their representatives. Dominion has vocally rebutted voting-machine conspiracy theories in public statements and in its defamation lawsuits. But it has kept a lower profile in the local political fights over its contracts. The company said it prefers to provide information and expertise to local officials who are dealing directly with voting-machine protesters. ES&S executives travel multiple times a month to states like Kentucky, Wyoming and Idaho, where they participate in equipment demonstrations for the public, according to the company. They confront questions such as whether the machines are connected to the Internet (they aren’t) and whether the company has foreign owners (it doesn’t). The executives include Chris Wlaschin, the company’s senior vice president and chief of security. ES&S also says it helps public information officers field questions from voters and the media even in jurisdictions where it has no business — such as Antrim County, Michigan, where a quickly corrected error in the initial reporting of 2020 results from Dominion machines was seized on by conspiracy theorists to baselessly allege widespread fraud in the state. “When we are able to sit at that table and respond to questions, it shows that we are not hiding,” Wlaschin said. CHINA, VENEZUELA AND ANTIFA Right-wing activists’ nonsensical claims about systemic vote-rigging have overshadowed a more useful and long-running debate about legitimate issues with U.S. voting systems, according to four election technology experts interviewed by Reuters. Experts have long scrutinized Dominion, ES&S and other voting technology firms over issues including security, usability and interoperability, accessibility for people with disabilities, and a lack of transparency around pricing and contracts. The systems are “far from perfect,” said Lindeman, of Verified Voting, but the torrent of pro-Trump vote-manipulation claims “make no sense whatsoever.” Attacks on voting machines exploded after the 2020 election, led by Trump himself. He tweeted on Nov. 12, days after the election, that Dominion “deleted” votes or “switched” them to his Democratic rival, Joe Biden. As Trump’s misinformation went viral, Denver-based Dominion faced an onslaught of Republican voter rage. Since then, false claims about Dominion and other voting-technology companies have caught fire, spread by local and national politicians, aspiring pro-Trump congressional candidates, Republican activists and right-wing media. Some have alleged without evidence that Dominion machines were rigged in plots involving Chinese communists, Venezuelan socialists or Antifa, the loosely organized U.S. anti-fascist movement. Dominion is fighting back in court. Since the 2020 election, it has filed eight defamation lawsuits against Trump allies and conservative media outlets. None has yet been resolved. The company has sued Fox News for $1.6 billion in Delaware Superior Court, alleging that Fox defamed the firm by amplifying false claims about its technology in an effort to boost ratings. In a statement to Reuters, Fox called the damages claims “outrageous” and “nothing more than a flagrant attempt to deter our journalists from doing their jobs.” A trial is set for April 2023. To fight local political battles, Dominion arms state and county election officials with data and other information to counter conspiracy theorists. Kay Stimson, Dominion’s vice president of government affairs, often calls in to local meetings when voting machine issues arise, to keep abreast of the accusations or to answer questions from officials. In Nevada, Dominion employs a high-profile consultant, former Republican Nevada governor Robert List, who appears at county meetings as the face of the company – someone who can sympathize with Trump supporters but deflect blame for his loss away from Dominion. At an April board of commissioners meeting in Elko County, for example, List told residents that he shares their “rural values” and, as a Trump supporter himself, was disappointed in the outcome of the election. “But I know it wasn’t the fault of the machines,” he said, before debunking some common claims by election conspiracy theorists. $100 MILLION ON THE LINE Some of the highest-profile attacks on voting machines have originated with MyPillow chief executive and Trump ally Mike Lindell. In June, at a Louisiana Voting System Commission meeting, he told state officials that America will be lost “if we keep even one machine in this country going forward.” The commission was created by law in 2021 amid widespread claims of voter-fraud and machine-rigging in the 2020 election. The law also banned a type of voting machine that does not create an auditable paper trail, according to a September report on the effort from the Public Affairs Research Council of Louisiana (PAR), a nonprofit public policy organization. Lindell said in an interview that his goal in Louisiana and nationally is to force the removal of all voting and voting-counting machines and return to counting paper ballots by hand. Election officials and experts overwhelmingly reject that idea, saying the laborious process would make elections more vulnerable to fraud and error, not less. Many voting security experts recommend a middle-ground approach that already is used in the majority of U.S. jurisdictions: hand-marked ballots, completed in private by voters and counted by machines, which create a paper trail for audits or recounts. Among those calling for Louisiana to ditch Dominion machines is the state’s Republican National Committeewoman, Lenar Whitney. At a Republican Party meeting last year, she described Dominion as committing “illegal and treasonous acts” in the 2020 election. Whitney did not respond to a request for comment. In the spring of 2021, Dominion launched a public relations campaign in Louisiana, including ads on the radio and a conservative political website, to fend off opposition to its bid for a new state contract, worth about $100 million. Its executives – along with those from other vendors – appeared at the June Voting System Commission meeting where Lindell gave his presentation attacking the machines. The executives provided technical answers to address common fears of machine skeptics — reassuring them that Dominion was U.S.-owned, and that its machines could not be remotely accessed or rigged through components imported from China. Authorities in the heavily Republican state acknowledge that their aging Dominion machines, most of them bought in 2005, are outdated. The machines Louisiana uses are no longer manufactured, requiring the state to scavenge for parts when they break and to lease some new Dominion machines as temporary replacements, according to the PAR report. The machines also do not create a paper trail for auditing, which most states now require. Nonetheless, Republican Secretary of State Kyle Ardoin last year abandoned a state effort to buy new machines amid protests from anti-machine activists and complaints about the fairness of the bidding process. The Louisiana secretary of state’s office did not make Ardoin available for an interview or answer questions about the delayed contract and the pressure from stolen-election activists. The Republican state election chief, who chairs the Voting System Commission, invoked a “chairman’s privilege” to allow Lindell more time to speak at its June meeting, where the pillow magnate addressed the board for 17 minutes. A couple of months later, on August 14, Ardoin appeared on an episode of “The Lindell Report,” a show on Lindell’s website. Ardoin said in the 40-minute conversation that he had sent a letter on Aug. 10 ordering local Louisiana election officials to preserve records from the 2020 election as potential fraud evidence. The secretary of state stopped short of alleging widespread voter fraud in 2020 but said a “travesty of manipulation” had “changed the outcome.” He referred to election law changes before the vote, which included expansions of mail voting and ballot drop boxes meant to protect voters amid the coronavirus pandemic. Asked about voting machines, Ardoin said he had told the chief executives of at least two machine suppliers that they needed to be more “transparent” about the internal workings of the equipment. Otherwise, he recalled telling them, “You’re going to go out of business and our Republic is going to go to hell in a handbasket.” HAND-COUNTING IN NEVADA Dominion’s business is also precarious in Stark County, Ohio. The local Board of Elections voted in December 2020 to replace aging Dominion machines with more than 1,400 new ones at a cost of $6.5 million. After Trump supporters protested, citing false voter-fraud claims, the county’s all-Republican Board of Commissioners voted in March of 2021 to withhold funding for the machines, arguing the county could save money by using other voting-equipment vendors. The county’s Board of Elections sued the commissioners in April last year to try to force them to buy the machines in time for primary elections. The Ohio Supreme Court ruled in May 2021 that the elections board has authority to select voting technology, and that the county must go ahead with the purchase of Dominion machines. The county complied with the ruling. Members of the elections board and the county commission did not respond to requests for comment. In Nevada, a critical election battleground, seven county commissions have considered changing their election systems, by switching voting-equipment vendors or getting rid of the machines altogether. Five of the counties have not moved forward on the proposals, but two have started making changes. In December 2021, officials in Nevada’s rural Lander County voted to switch from Dominion to ES&S – a vendor used by just one other Nevada county. A Lander County elections technology official told an October board of commissioners meeting that replacing Dominion machines was a “positive change to help regain trust in the system.” County officials approved spending more than $223,000 on new ES&S equipment and an additional $69,000 for equipment installation, training and maintenance. In Nye County, where Trump won 69% of votes in 2020, commissioners voted 5-0 in March to request that the county clerk ditch Dominion touch-screen voting machines and require voters to submit paper ballots. The county plans to continue using Dominion vote-counting machines, but also to separately hand-count the ballots to confirm the result. Newly elected County Clerk Mark Kampf in September called the continued use of Dominion tabulators a “stopgap measure” as the county researches whether it can exclusively hand-count in the future. Commissioners were persuaded after a presentation led by Jim Marchant, a Republican candidate for Nevada Secretary of State who falsely claimed voting machines were rigged against Trump in 2020. Marchant is running in a close race and could become the state’s top election official. “Why is it even a possibility we would even use any of these electronic voting machines at all?” Marchant asked in a March 3 email to Nye’s commission chair, obtained by Reuters in a public records request. Marchant did not respond to requests for comment. The decision by Nye’s commissioners amounted to a recommendation. Only the county clerk could legally implement it. Nye’s longtime Republican clerk, Sandra Merlino, said she took early retirement in August out of frustration with the move to scrap the machines. Her replacement, Kampf, has claimed Trump won the 2020 election. He moved quickly to implement the hand-counting plan. Kampf did not respond to a request for comment. Nye’s move to paper ballots and its possible switch to exclusively hand-counting could cost Dominion. The company had been receiving more than $50,000 annually for maintenance and other services, according to Merlino, the former clerk. Dominion machines remain in use in 14 of Nevada’s 17 counties. Merlino said she was stunned the commissioners voted for junking the machines and returning to old-fashioned hand counts. “I thought: My commissioners are not going to go for this,” she said. “But they did.” (Reporting by Helen Coster; editing by Kenneth Li, Jason Szep and Brian Thevenot) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Wes Bentley has thanked Robert Downey Jr. for saving him from drug addiction. The ‘Yellowstone’ actor has revealed that Robert opening up about his drug use inspired him to get help when he was in the grip of a heroin addiction. Wes told the New York Post newspaper’s Page Six column: “I was in the deepest throes of my addiction and in the worst place and at death’s door, I guess, or at risk of it and I saw him be so bold and brave and open and it saved me. “So I thought if I do that too, I can maybe pass that on to somebody else.” Wes recalled how his problems with substance abuse began after he starred in the 1999 film ‘American Beauty’ as he was unprepared for the trappings of fame and fortune. The 44-year-old star, who has been clean since 2009, said: “I never had money before. So there was a lot of combination of things I wasn’t prepared for. “I also knew as an actor that I wasn’t going to be really ready to do good roles until in my 30s and 40s. So I didn’t really want it to happen like that too early. I tried to go with it and hang with it, but I wasn’t ready.” Wes recalled how a meeting with a former addict helped him end the drug habit for good. He said: “I met a guy who had been sober and didn’t know that I was struggling. “He just talked about what a beautiful life he had now, and how he’s looking out the window at the trees, and I missed that. And I thought I want that back. “So that’s how that happened. So I just went to meetings and the 12-step meetings really helped me a lot. I already had a belief in God, so that kind of helps – the higher power thing. “I feel lucky I’ve gotten a second chance.” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine Aaron Carter was found dead at his home in Lancaster, Calif., on Saturday, November 5. He was 34-years-old. Police received a 911 phone call to his home on Saturday morning, and according to law enforcement, the singer’s body was discovered in his bathtub with the unnamed caller claiming he had drowned. mega Homicide detectives were immediately sent to the scene, but it has not been confirmed if there was any reason to believe there was foul play involved in his unexpected passing. TMZ was first to report Carter’s shocking death. More to come… View the full article

Published by DPA Elon Musk, looking to diversify Twitter’s revenue streams, has launched a subscription service that allows any user to get the coveted blue tick. Karl-Josef Hildenbrand/dpa Twitter has launched a subscription service allowing users to buy blue-tick verification for a monthly fee of $7.99 in a major change under its new owner, Elon Musk. The system was designed to help users identify authentic and influential users on the platform, including government figures, sports stars, entertainment figures, journalists and major brands and organisations. But in an update to Apple iOS devices on Saturday, the social media company said any users who “sign up now” to its premium “Twitter Blue” service for $7.99 a month will get a blue tick. Available in the UK, as well as the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the update said the service will provide: “Power to the people: Your account will get a blue checkmark, just like the celebrities, companies, and politicians you already follow.” Other features promised to be “coming soon” include half the number of adverts, the ability to post longer videos and priority ranking for content posted on the platform. Musk appears to be looking to diversify Twitter’s revenue streams and seeking to drastically reduce costs at the company after completing his $44 billion takeover of the platform last week. The firm began widespread staff cuts around the world on Friday, with suggestions as many as half of its more than 7,500 staff could be axed. View the full article

Published by uInterview.com It’s finally here! What will undoubtedly be the best biopic in the history of cinema WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story had its New York premiere at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in Brooklyn. Weird Al himself was present for the premiere, as well as the actor who brought him to life: Daniel Radcliffe. > WATCH DANIEL RADCLIFFE’s uINTERVIEW NOW! The film, which is based on a Funny or Die sketch of the same name, is likely as much a parody of biopics as Al’s most famous songs are parodies of prior hits. Based on the trailers, Radcliffe looks like he as committed 1000% to the role. Also present at the pre… Read More View the full article

Published by Taste of Country Dolly Parton and Jimmy Fallon are calling attention to the awkward post-Halloween period in a new song titled “Almost Too Early for Christmas.” The track brings to light what many people ponder during this time of year. Halloween is in the books and Thanksgiving is on the horizon; however, many jump right into the spirit of Christmas. They poke fun at the juxtaposition that puts jack-o-lanterns and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer on the same aisle at the store. “It’s almost too early for Christmas / Too soon to be singing this song / There’s still Halloween decorations / And haters will say tha… Read More View the full article

Published by AFP Florida's state senate in March passed a controversial bill banning lessons on sexual orientation and gender identity in elementary schools Miami (AFP) – Florida’s medical boards on Friday voted for a rule that will ban doctors from providing gender-affirming treatment or surgeries to patients under the age of 18, media reports said. The measure, which will take effect after a three-week period for public comment, will prevent doctors in the southern state from performing sex-reassignment surgeries on minors or prescribing them drugs, including puberty blockers, as part of a course of gender transition, the New York Times reported. The decision by Florida’s boards of medicine and osteopathic medicine will not apply to patients who have already started one of those treatments. The board of medicine’s 14 members were appointed by Republican state Governor Ron DeSantis, who in March signed a law prohibiting the discussion of sexual orientation or gender identity in elementary school classrooms. Equality Florida criticized the move to ban treatment as putting transgender youth at risk. “With young lives on the line, another state agency has placed the political ambitions of Ron DeSantis over its duty to protect Floridians,” Nikole Parker, the group’s director of transgender equality, said in a statement. “These rules, as written, put transgender youth at higher risk of depression, anxiety, and suicidality.” DeSantis, a darling of right-wing Republicans who is seeking re-election and is also believed to harbor presidential ambitions, has spent months criticizing gender transition treatments for adolescents. During a televised debate last week with his Democratic rival Charlie Crist, DeSantis claimed that “a lot of the dysphoria resolves itself by the time they become adults” and compared gender treatments to “chemically castrating” teenagers. In August, his administration banned funding for gender transition treatment through Medicaid, a major US government public health program for low-income people. In the United States, several medical organizations such as the American Academy of Pediatrics have defended current treatments for gender dysphoria. The states of Arkansas and Alabama have passed laws prohibiting doctors from performing gender-affirming treatments on teenagers, but these measures are currently blocked by court rulings. View the full article

Published by Euronews (English) Worried about the role Elon Musk will have in ruining Twitter? It looks like everyone’s old favourite social media platform is trying to lure back in its user base. This week, Tumblr announced that it will revisit its content guidance rules, allowing nudity back on the platform. “We now welcome a broader range of expression, creativity, and art on Tumblr, including content depicting the human form (yes, that includes the naked human form),” a Tumblr staff post announced. Content that includes “nudity, mature subject matter, or sexual themes,” is allowed once again. It’s not a full-on return to… Read More View the full article

Published by The Kansas City Star KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Steve West, a Kansas City Independent candidate for Missouri House who has repeatedly been denounced by his family and the Missouri Republican Party for espousing bigoted views, has been charged for allegedly assaulting a Gladstone woman by trying to rip a campaign sign out of her hands. The 68-year-old candidate was charged with third-degree assault, a class E felony, on Wednesday, according to court records. The Gladstone Police Department’s citation alleges West committed assault on Oct. 25 “by grabbing at her arms and attempting to rip a sign out of her hands, causing he… Read More View the full article

Published by Morning Honey TV star Kristen Kish has managed to achieve a lot in her career — something she is grateful for. “Whatever anyone can take of my life and career and use for inspiration, I am all for it. I find great inspiration in people simply by admiring who they are, not always just by a successful career. I am proudly gay, an adoptee, Korean American — and a woman in the kitchen. Many paved the way for me to step into the space, and I just hope that I can leave a path for others. The work is not over — however, if you can leave it a kinder place than when you came into it, that can move mountains,” the To… Read More View the full article

Published by PsyPost Men (but not women) tend to be more opposed to same-sex marriage after being led to believe that weddings are cheap, according to new research published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior. Surprisingly, this effect remained even after controlling for the men’s sexual orientation. The findings provide further support to the notion that one’s perceptions of the local mating market can influence sociopolitical attitudes. The new study also explored whether widespread promiscuity cheapened the “value” of sexual relationships. In particular, the study’s authors examined how perceptions of promiscui… Read More View the full article

Published by Orlando Sentinel ORLANDO, Fla. — Two state medical boards voted Friday to prohibit gender-affirming treatment for patients in Florida under the age of 18, despite warnings from some parents and practitioners that the ban will harm transgender youth. The decision by the Florida Board of Medicine and the Florida Board of Osteopathic Medicine to prohibit puberty blockers, cross-hormonal treatment and gender-affirming surgery as methods to treat gender dysphoria in minors followed a pair of acrimonious public meetings in Orlando. Even as they approved the ban on Friday, the boards differed on whether to grant an e… Read More View the full article

Published by AFP Rapper Eminem and country icon Dolly Parton are among the 2022 class of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Los Angeles (AFP) – The music world descended on Los Angeles Saturday for a star-studded concert gala honoring the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s newest class of top artists, among them Dolly Parton and Eminem. The country queen and rap agitator are joined by pop futurists Eurythmics, smooth rocker Lionel Richie, new wave Brits Duran Duran, confessional lyricist Carly Simon and enduring rock duo Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo in entering the music pantheon. The Cleveland-based Hall of Fame — which surveyed more than 1,000 musicians, historians and industry members to choose the entrants — will honor the seven acts in a gala at Los Angeles’s Microsoft Theater. More supergroup concert than ceremony, the evening will see music legends honor their peers with performances of their time-tested hits. The lineup is usually kept under wraps until showtime, but Rock Hall Chairman John Sykes spilled some of the guest appearances in an interview this week with Forbes. Olivia Rodrigo and Alanis Morissette will be among the attendees, while Bruce Springsteen and Sheryl Crow are set to figure among those introducing the honorees, Sykes told the outlet. ‘Sound of young America’ Over the years, a number of rappers, pop, R&B and country stars have been brought into the hall’s fold. “Rock and roll, like music culture itself, never stays in one place. It’s an ever-evolving sound to reflect culture,” Sykes said. “So you look at these different artists that you’re going to see inducted this year — they’re different genders, they’re different colors, they’re different sounds but they have one thing in common, they created the sound of young America.” This year’s inclusion of Parton, 76, prompted a characteristically humble response from the beloved icon, who initially requested her name be taken out of the running, saying that she was far from a rock star. But voting had already begun, and the organization explained to Parton — whose prolific body of work includes the classics “Jolene” and “I Will Always Love You” — that her body of work was worthy. Sykes said Parton is now making a rock and roll album and will debut one of its songs during a performance Saturday. Eminem’s manager Paul Rosenberg told Billboard the inclusion of rappers in the hall also reflected music’s continuous evolution. “If it were just strictly rock and roll by traditional standards, I think they would be hard-pressed to find enough people to induct 10, 15, 20 years from now,” he said. Eclectic group The 2022 group of hall of famers is among the organization’s most eclectic in years. Detroit rapper Eminem burst onto the world stage in the late 1990s with darkly comical hits off his major label debut “The Slim Shady LP” including “My Name Is.” “The Marshall Mathers LP” cemented his superstar status, becoming one of the best-selling albums of all time and setting up the rapper as one of pop’s master provocateurs with a blistering flow. He joins fellow rappers including Jay-Z, Tupac Shakur, Ice Cube and Grandmaster Flash along with his loyal producer and mentor Dr Dre in the hall. Eminem gained the recognition in his first year of eligibility: acts can be inducted 25 years after their first commercial music release. Lionel Richie, the crooner behind enduring love songs “All Night Long” and “Hello,” earned the distinction after already scoring the majority of music’s top honors. The 73-year-old artist has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame as well as designated a Kennedy Center Honoree and a winner of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. Eurythmics — the duo comprised of Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart — earlier this year also entered the Songwriters Hall of Fame. The synthpop innovators behind “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)” will now take their place among rock’s greatest. Duran Duran is set to reunite with their former guitarists Andy Taylor and Warren Cuccurullo. Simon, the singer-songwriter behind the 1970s classic “You’re So Vain,” will finally be inducted following almost two decades of eligibility. And power couple Benatar and Giraldo, who dominated the 1980s with hits like “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” will also finally get rock hall recognition for their vast output. Judas Priest along with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis will also receive awards for musical excellence, while Harry Belafonte and Elizabeth Cotten will be recognized for early influence prizes. The gala begins at 7:00 pm (0200 GMT Sunday), and will be broadcast on November 19 on HBO. View the full article

Published by AlterNet By Brandon Gage Former Republican half-term Alaska Governor and failed 2008 vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin suggested to right-wing Newsmax anchor Eric Bolling on Saturday that only white suburban women care about keeping their kids safe. “But yeah. White suburban women – they’re the ones in the grocery store. They’re the ones making sure that their kids are safe walking to school and getting home. And they see that the trajectory that we are on, Eric, in our country, it’s not good. It’s going down. Something has to change,” said Palin, who also lost a special election to the United Stat… Read More View the full article