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Published by Raw Story By Travis Gettys The Department of Justice must release a full copy of a March 2019 memo supporting then-attorney general William Barr’s conclusion that Donald Trump should not be prosecuted in the Russia investigation. The District of Columbia Circuit court affirmed a 2021 decision by U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson ordering the release of the Justice Department memo, which concluded the former president should not be prosecuted for obstruction of justice by special counsel Robert Mueller. “The court determined that the Department had failed to carry its burden to show the delibe… Read More View the full article

Published by AlterNet By David Badash Donald Trump has a long list more than 200 hand-picked candidates he’s endorsed, and he’s very proud of his record – for the most part. Dr. Oz is going to “fucking lose” his race for a U.S. Senate seat “unless something drastically changes, Trump has said privately of his chosen man in the Keystone State, according to two sources who’ve discussed the midterm election with the ex-president,” Rolling Stone reports. The magazine adds, “the former president is coming to the same conclusion that numerous party consultants and conservative bigwigs arrived at earlier this summer: Oz i… Read More View the full article

Published by Al-Araby The United Nations voiced outrage on Friday at a Saudi court decision to sentence a woman to 34 years behind bars for tweets critical of the government, demanding she be released. “We are appalled by the sentencing of Saudi doctoral student Salma Al-Shehab… in connection with a series of tweets and retweets on political and human rights issues in Saudi Arabia,” Liz Throssell, spokeswoman for the UN rights office, said in a statement. “We urge the Saudi authorities to quash her conviction and release her immediately and unconditionally,” she said. “She should never have been arrested and charge… Read More View the full article

Los Angeles County health officials found out Tuesday that the federal government slashed the county’s requested and expected monkeypox vaccine allotment by 60%. Last week, the FDA told health care providers to split a one-dose vial of the monkeypox vaccine into five doses. The shift was good news for vaccine-strapped cities throughout the country because it meant what little supply is available could be stretched much further. But then L.A. County and other cities and states were told that they would get significantly less vaccine than they’d requested. L.A. County expected to receive 14,000 vials of the vaccine this week, which would have yielded, when split, 70,000 doses for eligible residents. Instead, the county will receive 5,600 vials, which will yield only 28,000 doses. At a news conference last week, L.A. County health officials said they expected the full shipment and with it could fully vaccinate up to 90,000 people — about half of what it believes to be the at-risk population. Now with far fewer vaccine doses, that goal may take weeks to achieve. Monkeypox cases in L.A. County have climbed to more than 990. Most cases are among men who have sex with men. California has reported 2,358 cases statewide, ranking it second among states in case numbers after New York, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vaccine, named Jynneos, is a smallpox vaccine that can also be used to prevent monkeypox amid the ongoing outbreak. The full-vial dose is injected into muscle tissue, but giving a smaller dose between layers of the skin — known as an intradermal injection — is also effective in preventing the painful viral infection. The shift by federal officials from allotting vials to allotting doses took local public health officials by surprise. The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response within the Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for vaccine distribution. Other places with active outbreaks also got word to expect significantly fewer vaccine vials in the next shipments. Philadelphia officials expected to receive 3,600 vials but will instead receive just over 700. “We have thousands of people who are at risk that should be vaccinated preventively before they get exposed,” Philadelphia Health Commissioner Dr. Cheryl Bettigole said Tuesday. “We are advocating to our federal partners to reconsider and restore Philadelphia’s allocation of vaccine, which is urgently needed.” L.A. County was an early adopter of the new dosing and injection strategy. “We communicated that Public Health would implement these changes when the next tranche of doses were received, but if providers felt ready to implement the new strategy, they could proceed,” said the department’s statement. The L.A. County Public Health department said it received assurances from federal leadership that more doses would be available in the coming weeks. But fewer doses means eligibility for the scarce vaccines will remain tight. L.A. County has a population of 10 million people, and public health officials estimate about 180,000 are at elevated risk for monkeypox. The virus causes painful skin lesions and is spread through skin-to-skin contact with someone who has the lesions. Although anyone can contract monkeypox, gay and bisexual men who have had multiple partners in the past two weeks are at the highest risk in this outbreak. The U.S. has more than 13,500 identified cases as of Aug. 17, according to the CDC. This story is part of a partnership that includes KPCC/LAist, NPR, and KHN. KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.Subscribe to KHN’s free Morning Briefing. View the full article

Published by AlterNet By David Badash Citing the Book of Leviticus a Florida K-12 private Christian school is telling parents any student found to be LGBTQ will be asked to leave “immediately.” NBC News reports it “obtained an email from the Grace Christian School in Valrico, about 20 miles east of Tampa, sent before the beginning of the school year by Administrator Barry McKeen.” The school’s email lumps being LGBTQ, or engaging in acts including “bestiality, incest, fornication, adultery and pornography” as “lifestyles.” “We believe that any form of homosexuality, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgender identity/lif… Read More View the full article

Published by DPA Buildings tower into the sky in Mexico City, which is home to more than 9 million people with a population density of 6,163.3 inhabitants per square kilometer. Axel Hid/dpa Mexico City — Fernando Bustos Gorozpe was sitting with friends in a cafe here when he realized that – once again – they were outnumbered. “We’re the only brown people,” said Bustos, a 38-year-old writer and university professor. “We’re the only people speaking Spanish except the waiters.” Mexico has long been the top foreign travel destination for Americans, its bountiful beaches and picturesque pueblos luring tens of millions of US visitors annually. But in recent years, a growing number of tourists and remote workers – hailing from Brooklyn, New York, Silicon Valley and points in between – have flooded the nation’s capital and left a scent of new-wave imperialism. The influx, which has accelerated since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and is likely to continue as inflation rises, is transforming some of the city’s most treasured neighbourhoods into expat enclaves. In leafy, walkable quarters such as Roma, Condesa, Centro and Juarez, rents are soaring as Americans and other foreigners snap up houses and landlords trade long-term renters for travellers willing to pay more on Airbnb. Taquerias, corner stores and fondas – small, family-run lunch spots – are being replaced by Pilates studios, co-working spaces and sleek cafes advertising oat-milk lattes and avocado toast. And English – well, it’s everywhere: ringing out at supermarkets, natural wine bars and fitness classes in the park. At Lardo, a Mediterranean restaurant where, on any given night, three-quarters of the tables are filled with foreigners, a Mexican man in a well-cut suit recently took a seat at the bar, gazed at the English-language menu before him and sighed as he handed it back: “A menu in Spanish, please.” Some chilangos, as locals are known, are fed up. Recently, expletive-laced posters appeared around town. “New to the city? Working remotely?” they read in English. “You’re a f—ing plague and the locals f—ing hate you. Leave.” That sentiment echoed the hundreds of responses that poured in after a young American posted this seemingly innocuous tweet: “Do yourself a favor and remote work in Mexico City – it is truly magical.” “Please don’t,” read one of the kinder replies. “This city is becoming more and more expensive every day in part because of people like you, and you don’t even realize or care about it.” Hugo Van der Merwe, 31 – a video game designer who grew up in Florida and Namibia and has spent the last several months working remotely from Mexico City, Montreal and Bogota, Colombia – said he understands why locals are vexed by the growing population of “digital nomads.” “There’s a distinction between people who want to learn about the place they are in and those who just like it because it’s cheap,” he said. “I’ve met a number of people who don’t really care that they’re in Mexico, they just care that it’s cheap.” Clear financial incentives are drawing Americans to Mexico City – where the average local salary is $450 a month. For the cost of a $2,000 one-bedroom in Koreatown, an Angeleno can rent a penthouse here. Despite growing tensions, Mexico City is not Paris, where an American stumbling over French in a boulangerie will get a dose of hostility along with her croissants. It’s not Berlin or Barcelona, where locals in recent years have mounted major protests over excessive tourism and the gobbling up of urban properties by global investment firms. The vast majority of people in this crowded, colourful metropolis are unwaveringly kind and patient with international visitors, who in the first four months of this year spent $851 million on hotels alone, according to tourism records. But there is friction beneath the surface, as more locals consider what gentrification means for the city’s economics, culture and even race relations. Over a weekend in July, a tenant advocacy group hosted a walking tour of “places we have lost to gentrification, touristification and forced displacement.” “Our homes,2 the event flier read, “now house digital nomads.” The dynamic playing out here is, in many ways, an old-world problem colliding with tech-age mobility, one that is forcing Mexico to confront its own history and traits. After his revelation at the cafe, Bustos uploaded a video to his popular TikTok account, complaining that the influx of foreigners in Mexico City “stinks of modern colonialism.” Nearly 2,000 people posted comments in agreement. His critique is multilayered and speaks to generations of injustices. There’s the problem of newcomers’ “indifference as to how their actions are affecting locals,” he said, but also the fact that Mexicans cannot migrate to the US with the same ease. He also believes that Americans, many of whom are white, are reinforcing the city’s pervasive – if infrequently discussed – caste system. Indigenous Mexicans are more likely to be poor than lighter-skinned Mexicans and are largely unrepresented in film, television and advertisements. A growing social movement called Poder Prieto (“Brown Power”) has demanded that Netflix, HBO and other streaming platforms feature dark-skinned actors. “Mexico is classist and racist,” Bustos said. “People with white skin are given preference. Now, if a local wants to go to a restaurant or a club, they don’t just have to compete with rich, white Mexicans but with foreigners too.” Greater Mexico City’s 3,000 square miles are ringed by mountains and home to 21 million people. Most Americans stick to a few neighbourhoods in the centre, some of which were first gentrified by Mexicans. After the 1985 earthquake devastated neighbourhoods in and around downtown, middle-class residents fled by the hundreds of thousands to areas on the city’s periphery that they deemed safer. In Roma and Condesa, artists lured by cheap rents moved in, turning the area into a creative and intellectual hub. The flood of American visitors began in earnest around 2016, when the New York Times named Mexico City the world’s top travel destination, and magazine writers wondered whether it was the “new Berlin.” International artists, chefs and designers arrived, scooping up inexpensive studio spaces, opening restaurants and integrating themselves into the city’s imaginative nightlife. The pandemic pushed it into overdrive. As much of Europe and Asia shut their doors to Americans in 2020, Mexico, which adopted few Covid-19 restrictions, was one of the few places where gringos were welcome. Making it easier: Americans have long been able to stay here up to six months without a visa. The State Department says there are 1.6 million US citizens living in Mexico, although it doesn’t know how many are based in the capital. Mexican census data track only foreigners who have applied for residency, and most remote workers don’t. But the anecdotal evidence is compelling. In the first four months of the year, 1.2 million foreigners arrived at Mexico City’s airport. Alexandra Demou, who runs the relocation company Welcome Home Mexico, said she gets 50 calls a week from people contemplating a move. “We’re just seeing Americans flooding in,” she said. “It’s people who maybe have their own business, or maybe they’re thinking of starting some consulting or freelance work. They don’t even know how long they’re going to stay. They’re completely picking up their entire lives and just moving down here.” There is plenty to love about Mexico City. Wide, tree-lined boulevards call to mind the capitals of Europe and each Sunday are closed to cars and filled with bicyclists. A hodgepodge of architecture – Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modernist – stitch together in artful ways. And the food is superb: Street vendors sell spit-grilled al pastor pork tacos, delicate quesadillas stuffed with squash blossoms and stewed corn topped with mayonnaise and lime — sometimes all on the same block. Sarah Lupton, a 35-year-old from North Carolina who came to Mexico City last year, as soon as she got her second Covid-19 vaccine, said she fell in love with the “romantic yet gritty” aesthetic. She ended up selling her video production company and relocating here in January with her Shih Tzu. Now she’s learning Spanish, applying for residency and exploring a new path as a life and career coach. “I came for a new set of possibilities for how I experience my life and what I get to create in it,” she said. “I feel like this city has everything I need to build a life of creativity, connection, adventure and stability.” Lauren Rodwell, 40, also moved down in January after spending several months here last year. A marketer who works a tech job that is remote, she was tired of living in San Francisco, where every conversation began with, “What do you do?” “I like being in vibrant cities that have multiple cultures that mix well, where there’s good food and good energy and dancing and art,” she said. “It reminds me of being in a more friendly, more clean at times, Brooklyn.” Lupton and Rodwell both said they are sensitive to concerns about gentrification. In San Francisco, Rodwell lived in the Mission, a neighborhood that became emblematic of the sweeping change wrought by the tech industry there. “I try and frequent local businesses and not go with the big conglomerates,” said Rodwell. “I try to give money back to my community and be involved in my community.” Rodwell, who is Black, said she doesn’t feel guilty. “I kind of feel like, as a person of color from America, I’m so economically disadvantaged that wherever I go and experience some advantage or equity, I take it,” she said. In Mexico, which has a relatively small population of Afro-Mexicans and abolished slavery decades before its northern neighbor, Rodwell said she does not experience the same racism as she does in the U.S.. “Being Black in America,” she said, is exhausting. “It’s nice to take a break from it.” Much of the criticism in the growing debate about foreigners comes down to economic inequality. “Americans can come here, and they can afford everything and live like kings and queens,” said Dan Defossey, an American who moved to Mexico a dozen years ago and owns a popular barbecue joint. But they need to understand, he said, that “Mexico is not cheap for Mexicans.” Omar Euroza, a barista at a coffee shop in Roma, said rent for his apartment in the city’s historic center, another place where foreigners are flocking, has more than doubled over the last five years. Nearby, renters have been pushed out as entire buildings are turned into upscale apartments. A recent study showed that Mexico City residents spend an average of 60% of their income on housing, and nearly a third of residents moved during the pandemic, the majority because they couldn’t afford rent. Euroza said he was sick of feeling like an outsider in his city. Around 60%-70% of his clients are foreigners, he said. “Some people order in English and get mad when I don’t understand them.” A chef who had just taken a sheet of warm cookies out of the oven shook his head. “That’s unfair,” he said. “If we go to the U.S., we’re expected to speak English.” There is a growing movement to help newcomers understand the impact they’re having — such as a poster campaign that, during the peak of the pandemic, coaxed foreigners to mask up. “Dear guests, we are genuinely happy you’re vaccinated,” the posters read. “Please consider that many of us are not.” Some Mexicans aren’t unhappy about the American inundation, like Sandra Hernández, a real estate agent who said all of the recent deals she has closed have involved Americans. They mostly want houses or apartments in the Art Deco style, she said, and are all willing to pay the asking price. Ted Rossano Jr., whose parents two decades ago opened a taco stand in Centro, said income from foreigners has helped save the business, which suffered during the pandemic. Ricos Tacos Toluca is a stop on several of the “taco tours” that have emerged in recent years, and he said foreigners now supply about 15% of the stand’s revenue. “It’s cool. We’re proud of it,” Rossano said. “Who would have thought that a simple business like this would get international recognition?” On a recent afternoon, three Americans and a Brit were contentedly munching the stand’s famous green chorizo tacos as their guide, Tyler Hansbrough, explained the chef’s handiwork. “See, she has to render all that,” he said, as Rossano’s mom moved chorizo around a griddle. Hansbrough taught Spanish at a San Francisco high school before moving here in 2016. He married a Mexican man and opened Tyler’s Taco Tours to show visitors authentic Mexican food — not the upscale stuff they might find in restaurants in Roma or Condesa. He has been struck by the number of remote workers flooding in and worries that they are different. The nature of their jobs means they don’t necessarily have to learn Spanish or integrate into Mexican society, he said. It allows a certain aloofness that wasn’t possible a few years ago. “So many people come here and think, ‘Oh, Mexico City is so cheap. I could move here.’ And they are. They’re renting my Airbnb for months at a time,” he said. “But I’m starting to be worried. It’s great for business, but it’s also kind of scaring me.” As his group finished the tacos and ventured into the cacophonous city for their next meal, another taco tour sidled up to Rossano’s stand. View of the streets of Mexico City, which is home to more than 9 million people with a population density of 6,163.3 inhabitants per square kilometer. Axel Hid/dpa View the full article

Published by Reuters By Karen Freifeld NEW YORK (Reuters) -A longtime senior executive at Donald Trump’s family business pleaded guilty on Thursday to helping the company engineer a 15-year tax fraud, in an agreement that will require him to testify about its business practices at an upcoming trial. Allen Weisselberg, 75, the former chief financial officer at the Trump Organization, entered his plea to all 15 charges he faced in a New York state court in Manhattan. Weisselberg, who has worked for Trump for about a half-century, is not expected to cooperate with Manhattan prosecutors in a larger probe they are conducting into Trump. But his plea will likely strengthen their case against the former president’s company, which manages golf clubs, hotels and other real estate around the world. “This plea agreement directly implicates the Trump Organization in a wide range of criminal activity and requires Weisselberg to provide invaluable testimony in the upcoming trial,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement. “We look forward to proving our case in court.” In a statement, a Trump Organization spokeswoman called Weisselberg a “fine and honorable man” who has been “harassed, persecuted and threatened by law enforcement, particularly the Manhattan district attorney, in their never ending, politically motivated quest to get President Trump.” She also said the company did nothing wrong, and looked forward to its day in court. The Trump Organization has pleaded not guilty, and faces possible fines and other penalties if convicted. Donald Trump, who is embroiled in many legal battles, has not been charged or accused of wrongdoing in the case. Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Oct. 24, two weeks before the Nov. 8 midterm elections, where Trump’s Republican Party hopes to recapture both houses of Congress from Democrats. Trump has yet to say whether he plans another White House run in 2024. FIVE MONTHS AT RIKERS Prosecutors charged The Trump Organization and Weisselberg in July 2021 with scheming to defraud, tax fraud and falsifying business records for awarding “off-the-books” perks to senior executives. Weisselberg was accused of concealing and avoiding taxes on $1.76 million of income. This included rent for a Manhattan apartment, lease payments for two Mercedes-Benz vehicles, and tuition for relatives, with Trump signing the tuition checks. Weisselberg’s plea agreement calls for him to serve five months at the Rikers Island jail, though he could be freed after 100 days. It also include five years of probation, and the payment of $1.99 million in taxes, penalties and interest. The jail sentence would begin after the Trump Organization’s trial concludes. Weisselberg could have faced 15 years in prison if convicted at trial, including on a grand larceny charge. During Thursday’s hearing, Weisselberg removed his mask as Justice Juan Merchan described each count of the indictment. Weisselberg agreed that the accusations against him were true. Nicholas Gravante, a lawyer for Weisselberg, said in a statement: “In one of the most difficult decisions of his life, Mr. Weisselberg decided to enter a plea of guilty today to put an end to this case and the years-long legal and personal nightmares it has caused for him and his family.” Weisselberg gave up the CFO job after being indicted, but remains on Trump’s payroll as a senior adviser. Last Friday, Merchan denied defense motions to dismiss the indictment, rejecting arguments that the defendants had been “selectively prosecuted” and that Weisselberg was targeted because he would not turn on his longtime boss. PROBE ‘ONGOING’ The indictment arose from an investigation by former Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, but lost steam after Bragg became district attorney in January. Two prosecutors who had been leading the investigation resigned in February, with one saying felony charges should be brought against Trump, but that Bragg indicated he had doubts. In his statement on Thursday, Bragg said the investigation remained ongoing. His office declined to comment on the Trump Organization’s harassment accusation. Trump faces several probes into his business and political activities. Last week, FBI agents searched his home for classified and other documents from his time in the White House. Two days later, Trump was deposed in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil probe into whether he misled banks and tax authorities about his business’s assets. He repeatedly refused to answer questions, citing his Fifth Amendment U.S. Constitutional right against self-incrimination. James is assisting Bragg in his criminal probe. “Let this guilty plea send a loud and clear message: we will crack down on anyone who steals from the public for personal gain,” James said in a statement. (Reporting by Karen Freifeld in New York; Additional reporting by Jonathan Stempel; Editing by Alistair Bell and Daniel Wallis) View the full article

Published by Euronews (English) The World Health Organization (WHO) is looking to rename monkeypox after scientists criticised its current moniker as “discriminatory and stigmatising” which has resulted in reportedly vicious attacks on monkeys in Brazil last week. In a public call issued by 29 biologists and researchers on the website virological.org on June 10, scientists decried the fact that information around monkeypox has been spread on international media together with the perception that the virus is endemic in some African countries, despite the fact that before the 2022 outbreak there have been only a few reports of… Read More View the full article

Published by AFP US cases have quickly soared to 13,500 since May, when the current outbreak began in Europe Washington (AFP) – Monkeypox vaccines will be made available at Gay Pride and other events as part of a new pilot program to stem the fast spread of the virus, US health authorities said Thursday. US cases have quickly soared to 13,500 since May, when the current outbreak began in Europe. Latest official data shows 98 percent of cases have been among men, and 93 percent among men reporting recent sexual contact with other men. Hispanic and Black people are both disproportionately impacted. The federal government “is launching a pilot program that will provide up to 50,000 doses from the national stockpile to be made available for Pride and other events,” White House monkeypox response coordinator Bob Fenton told reporters. Notable upcoming events include Black Pride in Atlanta and Southern Decadence in New Orleans, both around Labor Day on September 5 and the preceding weekend. The reopening of colleges this fall is also expected to accelerate the spread. State health departments can put in orders based on the size of the event and its ability to reach attendees at highest risk, added Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Rochelle Walenksy. But she added that since the Jynneos monkeypox vaccine comes in two doses, recipients will be advised that they won’t receive instant protection at the event itself and must follow up on their second shot. Overall, the US has delivered around one million vaccine doses to state and other local jurisdictions, and will start to make available for order an additional 1.8 million doses from next week, said Fenton. The federal government will also be sending out 50,000 courses of antiviral treatment TPOXX. Last week, the Food and Drug Administration authorized a new procedure for injecting the vaccine — in between the upper layers of the skin rather than deeper, beneath it — to get five times more out of the same amount of substance. View the full article

Published by City AM By Adam Bloodworth Cruise is one of only a handful of West End openings this August, so thank goodness it’s a hit. A lucky few were already privy to how good Cruise is, with the show making headlines in July 2021 when it opened as the first post-pandemic West End production. “I knew that a solo show would be eminently fundable because the overheads are very low,” Holden told me when the show opened. He was right, but this second run, upgraded from the 494-seater Duchess Theatre to the 775-seater Apollo, proves this one-man show is worth funding not just in a crisis, but in ordinary times when … Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lee Pace has revealed he’s married his longtime partner Matthew Foley. The ‘Bodies Bodies Bodies’ star not only confirmed he and the Thom Browne Vice President of Communications had tied the knot but that they are keen to start a family. In an interview with GQ Hype, the 43-year-old actor – who lives in New York with his now-husband and their pet pooch Gus – compared being married to “an endless sleepover with your weirdest friend”. He shared: “I said to my friend, Nick, ‘You know a lot of people, who do you have for me?’ And it luckily has worked out. “What I’ll say about being married, it was once described to me as an endless sleepover with your weirdest friend. In our experience, that is absolutely true.” He added: “If you’ve found one person you can be weird around, hold on tight.” When asked if the pair would like children, he replied: “I’d love to have kids. I think there’s nothing better than little kids running around.” It was reported in November last year that the couple – who were first known to be dating in 2017 – had secretly gotten hitched. No further details such as the venue or location of the ceremony are known. Lee previously opened up about his sexuality and revealed he has dated men and women. The ‘Hobbit’ star explained how he thinks it’s important that gay actors are cast in gay roles – but he doesn’t identify with any sexual orientation and doesn’t think anyone should care about his sexuality. Speaking to W magazine in 2018, he said: “Our understanding of what it means to be gay is just so different. It’s culturally different. It’s just so much further down the road. It’s an interesting thing for me to think about in this moment while working on this play ‘[Angels in America’]. I’ve dated men. I’ve dated women. “I don’t know why anyone would care. I’m an actor and I play roles. To be honest, I don’t know what to say – I find your question intrusive.” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega Not ready to give up. As Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt continue to fight tooth and nail against each other in their many legal battles, the Maleficent star is “desperately trying to find something new” to take down her A-List ex-husband, claimed an insider. This comes after the FBI failed to file charges against Pitt in connection with a physical altercation that allegedly occurred during a private flight in 2016. mega Earlier this year, Jolie filed an anonymous lawsuit against the FBI, asking to be given access to documents connected to their investigation surrounding the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actor’s alleged domestic violence. BRAD PITT PUSHING TO SEE KIDS ‘WHEREVER THEY ALL ARE IN THE WORLD’ DESPITE ‘HOSTILE’ SITUATION WITH EX ANGELINA JOLIE: SOURCE According to the suit, Pitt is said to have drunkenly lashed out at his then-wife while aboard a private plane with their brood. The actor “grabbed [Angelina] by the head, shaking her,” the FBI documents read. When their children asked if she was alright, Pitt yelled, “No, she’s not OK, she’s ruining this family, she’s crazy.” mega Jolie claimed she’s experienced other moments of domestic violence from her estranged ex, including him pushing her and pouring his beer on her. She also stated in the original court filing that Pitt hit their son Maddox. ANGELINA JOLIE IS HAPPY EX BRAD PITT ‘STEPPED UP’ TO MAKE TRIP TO ROME WHERE HE VISITED THE KIDS, SOURCE SHARES: ‘A HUGE WEIGHT OFF HER SHOULDERS’ Authorities reviewed the details of the case the following year in November 2017, eventually coming to the decision not to charge Pitt with a crime. mega This is only one of many legal spats between the volatile exes. Aside from their lengthy custody battle — the pair shares Maddox, 21, Pax, 18, Zahara, 17, Shiloh, 16, and 14-year-old twins Knox and Vivienne — the former spouses are also embroiled in a heated battle over their Château Miraval winery. Jolie and Pitt first bought the sprawling French winery in 2008. Prior to their 2016 split, Pitt claimed they agreed they would not sell off their interest in the property without both of them agreeing on the future buyer. However, theTroy actor is accusing Jolie of selling her cut in the business to Russian oligarch Yuri Sheffler in an attempt to “undermine Pitt’s investment in Miraval.” Page Six was first to report Jolie was “desperate” to dig up new dirt on Pitt. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Gwyneth Paltrow is joining the ‘Shark Tank’ panel. The ‘Shakespeare in Love’ star will be joining the ABC reality show – which sees business titans Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Lori Greiner, Robert Herjavec, Daymond John and Kevin O’Leary hear about potential investments from eager entrepreneurs – as a guest shark. Gwyneth – who founded the upscale lifestyle brand GOOP – will not be the only guest shark as DoorDash founder Tony Xu will also be featured on the lineup, along with previous guest sharks like Emma Grede, co-founder of Kim Kardashian’s shapewear line Skims, Daniel Lubetzky, the co-creator of Kind and British import Peter Jones, who appears on the UK edition of the same programme, which goes by the name ‘Dragon’s Den’ on the BBC. The series is heading into its 14th season with a kick off live episode on September 23. Recently, the Academy Award winner – who is married to producer Brad Falchuk and has two kids, daughter Apple, 18, and son Moses, 16, with her ex Coldplay frontman Chris Martin – called her ex Ben Affleck’s recent marriage to his rekindled love, Jennifer Lopez “so romantic”. During an Instagram question and answering session, Gwyneth gushed about it, writing “Love!!! So romantic!!!”. The ‘Iron Man’ star also recently enthused she “found the Brad I was supposed to marry” during a Goop interview to promote her ex Brad Pitt’s new line of shirts. Brad – who dated ‘The Royal Tenenbaums’ star for three years until they called off their engagement in 1997 – gushed it was “lovely” to be on such good terms with Gwyneth, adding that “I do love you”, to which she replied “I love you so much”. View the full article

Published by AFP Strippers are not typically members of a union, but dancers at a club in Los Angeles are moving to change that Los Angeles (AFP) – Performers at a Los Angeles strip club took their first steps toward unionization Wednesday, becoming the latest US workers to seek collective bargaining power. Dancers at the Star Garden Topless Dive Bar submitted a petition with the federal government, beginning a process that could see them represented by performers union Actors’ Equity, in what officials described as a first. “We like what we do,” said Velveeta, a Star Garden dancer. “We would like our jobs even more if we had basic worker protections.” Equity already represents over 51,000 performers and stage managers across the United States, many of them in and around Los Angeles. “Strippers are live entertainers, and while some aspects of their job are unique, they have much in common with other Equity members who dance for a living,” said Actors’ Equity Association President Kate Shindle. “These dancers reported consistent compensation issues — including significant wage theft — along with health and safety risks and violations. “They want health insurance and other benefits, like workers’ compensation. They need protection from sexual harassment, discrimination and unjust terminations.” The petition was filed with the National Labor Relations Board, who will now need to schedule a vote for the 30 or so eligible strippers. If a majority votes to unionize, Equity will begin negotiating a new contract with Star Garden on their behalf. In the meantime, the exotic dancers say they will picket the club in the North Hollywood area of the city, with what Equity called “a public information campaign to engage Star Garden’s patrons.” The campaign is being supported by Strippers United, a non-profit group advocating for dancers’ rights. No one at Star Garden, which has an average four stars on Yelp, picked up the phone when AFP called on Wednesday. While Equity has never had stripper members before, this is not the first time ecdysiasts have organized in the United States. Dancers working at San Francisco’s Lusty Lady formed the Exotic Dancers Union in 1996, Equity noted. That club shut its doors in 2013. Wednesday’s move comes amid an uptick in interest among workers across the United States in unionization, with staff at several branches of Starbucks among the most high profile. Through the first three quarters of fiscal year 2022 — from October 1 to June 30 — there were 1,935 unionization campaigns filed with the National Labor Relations Board, up 56 percent from the prior year. View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Ellen DeGeneres has opted to celebrate the love in front of her instead of sulking over the one she lost. The 64-year-old former talk show host paid tribute to her wife Portia de Rossion their 14th wedding anniversary, which fell just days after her ex-girlfriend Anne Heche‘s death. DeGeneres didn’t hold back, posting a lovely video montage of her life with de Rossi and revealing how nice it feels to be in love. “‘It’s good to be loved. It’s profound to be understood.’ I love you, @portiaderossi. Happy 14!” she captioned the clip on Tuesday. Mega DeGeneres’ anniversary and post come on the heels of Radar’s exclusive story that she won’t be at Heche’s funeral. “Anne’s funeral will be this week and Ellen will not be invited. It’s just close family and friends. It will be small and private,” sources told us. Heche was taken off life support on Friday after she fell into a coma following an accident in which her car imploded into a home and burst into flames on August 5. The 911 call revealed horrific details of the incident, including that several neighbors tried to rescue the actress from her burning car — but she was trapped inside. Mega Heche had severe burns, an anoxic brain injury, and never came out of her coma. Her family let her die peacefully by taking her off machines after she was paired with an organ-donation recipient. DeGeneres released a statement about her death. Peaks & Pitfalls: Anne Heche Reflects On Romance With Ellen DeGeneres & Being ‘Blacklisted’ From Hollywood “This is a sad day,” the ex-professional gabber tweeted. “I’m sending Anne’s children, family and friends all of my love.” Heche dated DeGeneres from 1997-2000. Mega “Ellen felt the need to say something after Anne died. They hadn’t spoken in years but given what their relationship meant to so many people around the world, she understands why she had to speak out,” sources spilled to RadarOnline.com at the time. Heche left behind two sons — Homer, 20, and Atlas, 13. She was only 53 years old. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Maria Alejandra Cardona ATLANTA (Reuters) -Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump’s onetime personal lawyer, testified before a special grand jury in Atlanta on Wednesday in a Georgia criminal probe examining attempts by the former U.S. president and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results. Giuliani, who helped lead Trump’s election challenges, spent more than six hours in the Fulton County courthouse after a judge ordered him to comply with a subpoena. His lawyers, who declined to comment on his testimony, said he would refuse to answer questions that violate attorney-client privilege. The former New York City mayor, 78, appeared before Georgia state lawmakers in December 2020, echoing Trump’s false conspiracy theories about stolen ballots and urging them not to certify Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory over the Republican Trump. “It’s a grand jury and grand juries, as I recall, are secret,” Giuliani told CNN on his arrival at the courthouse, when asked to comment on his testimony. “They ask the questions and we’ll see.” Giuliani left the courthouse through one of the building’s side entrances, local media in Atlanta reported. “We were ordered to be here, we showed up, we did what we have to do,” said Giuliani’s lawyer, Bill Thomas. “The special grand jury process is a secret process, and we’re gonna respect that process.” The Fulton County probe began after a January 2021 recorded phone call in which Trump urged the state’s top election official to “find” enough votes to alter the outcome. The former president has asserted falsely that he won Georgia, as well as the 2020 presidential contest. The special grand jury was convened in May at the request of county District Attorney Fani Willis. Giuliani, a former crime-fighting U.S. Attorney, was among several Trump advisers and lawyers who received subpoenas from the grand jury last month, including U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. (Writing by Rami Ayyub, editing by Ross Colvin, Howard Goller and Deepa Babington) View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – Federal prosecutors examining the role of former President Donald Trump and allies in events ahead of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol have subpoenaed National Archives documents provided to a House of Representatives committee, the New York Times reported. The subpoena was issued in May, sought “all materials, in whatever form” that were given to lawmakers and was signed by the prosecutor leading the Justice Department’s inquiry, according to the report. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to an out-of-hours request for comment from Reuters. The select committee investigating the Capitol assault asked for multiple records from the National Archives including photographs, videos, communications, calendars, schedules, movement logs and visitor records among other files. Trump has repeatedly denied wrongdoing. The onslaught on the Capitol by Trump supporters led to several deaths, injured more than 140 police officers and delayed certification of Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory over Republican Trump in the November 2020 election. Trump falsely claims his election defeat was the result of fraud. (Reporting by Costas Pitas in Los Angeles; editing by Grant McCool) View the full article

Published by Reuters By David Thomas (Reuters) – A Florida state attorney on Wednesday sued Governor Ron DeSantis after he was suspended earlier this month for saying he would not prosecute anyone who sought or provided abortions. In a lawsuit filed in Tallahassee, Florida, federal court, prosecutor Andrew Warren said his suspension by DeSantis violated his First Amendment rights as well as Florida’s constitution and demanded to be reinstated. DeSantis’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. “Today we took action against Ron DeSantis’ abuse of power and unlawful suspension,” Warren wrote in a Twitter post. His lawyer Jean-Jacques Cabou of the Perkins Coie law firm did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Warren is the top prosecutor in Florida’s 13th Judicial Circuit in Tampa, an elected position. He was among a group of prosecutors who have pledged not to use their offices to criminalize reproductive health decisions following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June that overturned the constitutional right to abortion. In suspending the state attorney, DeSantis said Warren cannot “pick and choose which laws to enforce based on his personal agenda.” The governor has been courting conservatives as part of an potential presidential bid in 2024. Florida law bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. Warren argued in the lawsuit that he was suspended in retaliation for exercising his First Amendment rights. Under the Florida Constitution, state attorneys can pick and choose which cases they pursue, the lawsuit said. A handful of lawsuits have been filed challenging Florida’s 15-week ban, including one by a group of abortion providers and others filed by clergy members of five religions. (Reporting by David Thomas in Chicago; Editing by Rebekah Mintzer and Matthew Lewis) View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega Two years before her tragic death, Princess Diana confided in her legal advisor, telling him that she believed she may be killed or injured in a car accident. The shocking revelation was disclosed in a sneak peek of The Diana Investigations, a four-part Discovery+ docuseries set to premiere on Thursday, August 18. mega The beloved royal informed legal advisor, Victor Mishcon, that “reliable sources” had told her that a “car accident might be staged” leaving her “dead” or “seriously injured” while discussing the matter in a private meeting in October 1995. ‘IT LITERALLY ALMOST COST THE MONARCHY’: HOW THE DEATH OF PRINCESS DIANA NEARLY SPARKED A BRITISH ANTI-ROYAL ‘REVOLUTION’ On August 31, 1997, Diana was pronounced dead from injuries sustained in a car crash that occurred in the Paris’ Pont de l’Alma tunnel. Her driver, Henri Paul, and her and her partner, Dodi Al-Fayed, also died in the crash. mega Mishcon then gave the detailed notes taken during their meeting to Sir Paul Condon, who served as London’s Metropolitan Police commissioner at the time. However, word of the existence of the notes was not released to the public until sometime later, when John Stevens took over the role of commissioner. PRINCE HARRY BEGS FRENCH INVESTIGATOR TO REVEAL DETAILS OF DIANA’S DEATH FOR HIS NEW TELL-ALL BOOK “When the coroner announced his inquest, I made sure that letter was immediately given to the royal coroner, who at that time was Michael Burgess and then subsequently became Lord Justice Scott Baker,” Stevens explained. mega “I interviewed Lord Mishcon on three occasions and took further statements on that letter, because it’s something that caused me great concern,” Stevens continued. “I saw Lord Mishcon about a month before he died, in about the spring of 2005, and he held course to the fact that he thought [Diana] was paranoid, and he hadn’t held much credence to [the note].” Diana is also believed to have written her own letter in October 1996, sharing similar fears, according to the book A Royal Duty written by a former royal butler, Paul Burrell, and published in 2003. This wasn’t the only time Diana expressed chilling concerns about potentially being murdered. The royal once tearfully told her bodyguard that she was worried she may be assassinated like her friend Gianni Versace. “She asked if I thought his murder outside his home was a professional killing. I thought it was,” former bodyguard Lee Sansum shared in a recent interview. “Then she said something that always stayed with me — ‘Do you think they’ll do that to me?’ She was shaking and it was clear from her tone that she really thought that they might, whoever ‘they’ might be.” The Daily Beast was the first to report Stevens’ recollections regarding the Mishcon notes. View the full article

Published by AFP The Federal Bureau of Investigation seal at the bureau's headquarters, the J. Edgar Hoover FBI building, in Washington Washington (AFP) – Agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation are used to criticism, but never in the agency’s history have they faced anything like the attacks from conservatives after last week’s raid on former president Donald Trump’s Florida home. Over its more than 100-year history, the FBI has been excoriated by southerners committed to racist segregation, by civil libertarians defending political activists and especially by African Americans whose 1960s liberation movement was treated as an acute national threat by the agency. But the extraordinary threats of the past week originate in the FBI’s political bedrock: conservative Republicans. “It’s the world turned upside down,” said Kenneth O’Reilly, a retired University of Alaska historian, who has written books about the FBI and politics. According to O’Reilly, the FBI has historically been a “deeply conservative institution” with a bipartisan constituency in Washington. But since Trump condemned the FBI as corrupt and fascist after they searched his Mar-a-Lago estate on August 8 for illegally retained top secret documents, the attacks have kept coming — and his supporters have fanned the flames. Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel accused the bureau of “abuse of power.” Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, compared the agency to secret police in a Marxist dictatorship, while Representative Paul Gosar declared: “We must destroy the FBI.” Online, including on Trump’s own Truth Social network, the threats were more violent — and turned real. On August 11, an armed 42-year-old man attacked the FBI’s branch in Cincinnati after writing on social media accounts attributed to him that people should “respond with force” to the raid on Trump and “kill the FBI on sight.” The man failed to enter the office in the Ohio city, and was later shot dead by police. One day later, a 46-year-old man in Pennsylvania was arrested for making similar threats. “If You Work For The FBI Then You Deserve To Die,” he wrote on social media. “My only goal is to kill more of them before I drop.” Criticism, but no violence Long mythologized in film and television, the FBI — the storied home of the 1930s G-Men and the powerful, inscrutable J. Edgar Hoover — has regularly fielded criticism from all sides, O’Reilly told AFP. “Among southern racists in the early 60s, there was a big backlash against the FBI, treating it like the Gestapo” when it investigated the lynchings of African Americans. The worst period, O’Reilly said, was in the 1960s when the FBI spied extensively on and sought to undermine the civil rights movement, smearing Martin Luther King Jr. and stoking violence between rival groups to discredit them. But the reactions at the time, said O’Reilly, who documented the FBI’s war on the Black nationalist movement, were outrage and litigation, and then a sweeping Congressional probe that exposed the abuses. “You didn’t have violence directed at FBI agents,” he said. Popular support until now In 1995, FBI actions did spark a violent attack. Anti-government extremists bombed a federal office building in Oklahoma City that included the regional FBI headquarters, killing 168 people. The two extremists were motivated in part by the FBI’s poor handling of two hostage-like sieges in 1992 and 1993 that turned deadly. But through all of that, the FBI maintained general political and popular support. The current anti-FBI turn has its roots in Trump’s long battle with the bureau’s investigations, and specifically its probes into hundreds of his supporters who violently stormed the US Capitol on January 6, 2021. For O’Reilly, the open threats by Trump supporters and politicians are what makes the current moment shocking. “I would guess the overwhelming majority of FBI agents voted for Trump,” he said. “So it’s just a wild idea that the most conservative elements of the Republican Party see the FBI as a tool of the radical left.” Climate of violence The strong response by US justice authorities to the threats has also been extraordinary. Fences were erected to protect the FBI headquarters in Washington “Violence and threats against law enforcement, including the FBI, are dangerous and should be deeply concerning to all Americans,” warned FBI Director Chris Wray. The Department of Homeland Security alerted in a special bulletin that agents could be in danger. “I don’t recall a threat stream similar to this in the last many years,” Brian O’Hare, the president of the FBI Agents Association, told NPR. “It’s troubling. It’s unacceptable. And it should be condemned by all who are aware of it,” he said. “It’s a climate of acceptance of violence that needs to be changed.” View the full article

Published by The Sacramento Bee SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A member the far-right group Proud Boys who recently lost a bid for the California state Assembly has filed papers to run for a seat on a Sacramento-area school board. Jeffrey Erik Perrine, 38, plans to challenge San Juan Unified School District Board of Education member Michael McKibbin in the November election. Tanya Kravchuk, who works at Children’s Receiving Home of Sacramento, is also running against McKibbin. They’re competing to represent the district Area 5, which represents the Orangevale area. San Juan Unified serves more than 40,000 students from Sacramento’s Ar… Read More View the full article

Published by The Mercury News A monkeypox case reported in the San Francisco Bay Area adds to the growing evidence that people can contract the virus in multiple ways — and raises questions about just how easy it is to get infected during casual encounters with others. A case investigation released this week by the Centers for Disease Control reveals that a man in his 20s who sought care at Stanford Hospital tested positive for monkeypox even though he hadn’t recently engaged in sexual activity. Epidemiologists have long thought the virus was primarily being transmitted through close skin-to-skin contact. The case also hig… Read More View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Sarah K. Burris A person purporting to be a Chicago police officer has been posting on the anonymous message board 4chan in the politics board. It has prompted a conversation over whether the poster is an actual officer, reported Fox23. Users of the site only get a serial number when they post Many of the posts are racist or homophobic and they include photos of the Chicago police uniforms, ID badge and a gun, but they’re covered so that the owner can’t be identified. “The person making the posts claimed to be a military veteran and a beat cop who worked in the Rogers Park and Chicago Lawn … Read More View the full article

Published by DPA Chanté Adams (left) as Max and Gbemisola Ikumelo as Clance in Amazon Prime’s “A League of Their Own.” Nicola Goode/Prime Video/Amazon Studios/dpa Penny Marshall’s 1992 “A League of Their Own” movie introduced the world to a group of women who fought their way onto a baseball field, but it only featured women who were straight, white, presentable. The new series, which premiered Friday on Prime Video, does much more. “Our intention here is to tell the stories that the film overlooked and did not focus on and really open up the lens to a generation of women who played baseball and who played it so f—ing well,” co-creator Abbi Jacobson, the 38-year-old actress who also stars as Rockford Peaches catcher Carson Shaw, told the Daily News. “The reality is that the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, there’s so much that we love, but it’s so important that we show the flaws of that institution. We’re not trying to critique the film, but we’re examining and critiquing the time.” The series sets itself in the same world as Marshall’s film: the AAGPBL, founded in 1943 when the men went to fight abroad in World War II. A group of men, including chewing gum manufacturer Philip K. Wrigley and Branch Rickey, who broke MLB’s color barrier when he signed Jackie Robinson, founded the league. But the series branches out from between the lines, with the luxury of eight one-hour episodes and freedom to tell a wider story. “There was a much bigger story to tell about this generation of women who wanted to play ball,” co-creator Will Graham told The News. “That story has the same humour and heart and fun and flawed characters as the movie, but it’s telling the story of a whole generation.” Now, “A League of Their Own” has expanded its team. There are gay women, including first baseman Greta (D’Arcy Carden). There are Hispanic women, including Izzy (Priscilla Delgado), a young prodigy who left Cuba and landed in the Illinois cornfields to play baseball without speaking a word of English. Roberta Colindrez, who plays another Hispanic player, says she grew up watching the movie and picturing herself in the story, “even though I didn’t have any business really seeing myself in there because they didn’t have Latin people.” That, the cast says, is the beauty of their show. “For Penny Marshall, for a woman filmmaker to make stories about women, it was an impossible act, a huge feat in 1992,” Kelly McCormack, the 31-year-old actress who plays outspoken pitcher Jess, told The News. “All props to Penny Marshall, who was probably up against stuff that we will never understand and never know. The industry is so male-dominated that even just making a movie as a woman is impossible, but women are always change-makers. We’re always the ones who make room for progress.” “We’re the ones who are going to make the show that’s more diverse, that’s telling the truth about segregation at the time, telling the truth about diversity,” McCormack added. “We’re just happy to be another notch in the belt of moving things forward.” Carden, the “Good Place” alum who plays Greta, echoed the same sentiment: Marshall’s work was “revolutionary,” she told The News. “Looking back on it, you can say, ‘Oh, I wish they explored this or that,’ but they really did a lot for the time,” the 42-year-old actress said. “And now we are able … to really tell the story.” That truth opens the new “A League of Their Own” to a darker side of the time period than the movie showed, one rife with sexism, racism and homophobia. Maxine Chapman (Chanté Adams), a Black woman with a pitching arm to die for, isn’t even allowed to try out for the AAGPBL because of her skin colour. A secret gay nightclub is raided by police, brutally and violently. The women are expected to look right, with their dresses and heels and hair and makeup. “A League of Their Own” doesn’’t want to hide that, but it doesn’t want to focus on it, either. “This story is about finding joy and falling in love with the person you want to fall in love with or doing the thing that you want to do when the world doesn’t want you to,” Graham told The News. “That’s heroic and it’s hard. But like Tom Hanks says in the movie, the hard is what makes it great.” Melanie Field as Jo in Amazon Prime’s “A League of Their Own” series. Anne Marie Fox/Prime Video/Amazon Studios/dpa View the full article

Published by Reuters By Liliana Salgado and Nathan Layne JACKSON, Wyo. (Reuters) -U.S. Representative Liz Cheney, a fierce Republican critic of Donald Trump who has played a prominent role in the congressional probe of the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, lost to a Trump-backed primary challenger in Wyoming on Tuesday. But Senator Lisa Murkowski, another Republican who has defied the former president, cleared a hurdle in Alaska. She was set to face Trump-endorsed challenger Kelly Tshibaka in the Nov. 8 congressional election, as the two candidates advanced in that state’s non-partisan primary. Cheney’s defeat, by Trump-endorsed Harriet Hageman, marks a significant victory for the former president in his campaign to oust Republicans who backed impeaching him after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol building last year. In conceding the race, Cheney said she was not willing “go along with President Trump’s lie about the 2020 election” to win a primary. “It would have required that I enable his ongoing efforts to unravel our democratic system and attack the foundations of our republic. That was a path I could not and would not take,” she told supporters. Cheney told NBC’s “Today” show on Wednesday she was considering running for president and “will be doing whatever it takes to keep Donald Trump out of the Oval Office”. “It is something that I am thinking about, and I’ll make a decision in the coming months,” she told “Today” when asked about a presidential run, adding that she had a lot of work left to do with the Jan. 6 committee investigating the assault on the Capitol. With 99% of expected ballots counted in Wyoming, Hageman led the Republican field with 66.3% of the vote, followed by Cheney with 28.9%, according to Edison Research, an election monitoring firm. The results were less clear cut in Alaska. With 72% of expected ballots tallied, Murkowski narrowly led with 42.7% of the vote, followed by Tshibaka at 41.4% and Democrat Patricia Chesbro at 6.2%, according to Edison. The non-partisan primary format in that state weeds out all but the top four vote-getters. Murkowski, a moderate who is one of the more independent voices in the Senate, has held the seat since 2003. Also in Alaska, Edison predicted that no candidate would emerge as a clear winner in the three-way contest to complete the term of Representative Don Young, who died in March. That race pits Sarah Palin, a former governor and 2008 vice presidential nominee who has been endorsed by Trump, against fellow Republican Nick Begich III and Democrat Mary Peltola. The winner will be announced on Aug. 31. Both Wyoming and Alaska are reliably Republican, making it unlikely that the results will influence whether President Joe Biden’s Democrats lose their razor-thin majorities in Congress. Republicans are expected to retake the House and also have a chance of winning control of the Senate. WEEDING OUT TRUMP CRITICS The ousting of Cheney is the latest sign of Trump’s enduring sway over the Republican Party. Trump, who has hinted that he will run for president in 2024, made ending Cheney’s congressional career a priority among the 10 House Republicans he targeted for supporting his impeachment in 2021. Cheney, the daughter of Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney, has used her position on the Jan. 6 committee investigating the circumstances surrounding the Capitol riot to keep attention on Trump’s actions that day and his false claims that he won the 2020 election. Republican leaders are expected to dissolve the Jan. 6 investigation if they win control of the House in November. The representatives in the new Congress take their seats in January. Hageman, a natural resources lawyer who has embraced Trump’s election lies, criticized Cheney’s concession speech, saying it showed she cared little about the issues facing her state. “She’s still focusing on an obsession about President Trump and the citizens of Wyoming, the voters of Wyoming sent a very loud message tonight,” Hageman said on Fox News. Cheney, in the House, voted to impeach Trump on a charge of inciting the Capitol riot, while Murkowski, in the Senate, voted to convict him on that charge. Trump was ultimately acquitted. Of the 10 Republicans who supported impeachment, it is possible that only one – Dan Newhouse of Washington – will be in Congress after November’s election. (Reporting by Liliana Salgado in Jackson, Wyoming, and Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut, additional reporting by Kanishka Singh, Eric Beech, Moira Warburton and Chris Gallagher; Editing by Andy Sullivan, Scott Malone, Alistair Bell, John Stonestreet and Alex Richardson) View the full article