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Published by Reuters By Nathan Layne (Reuters) – Pro-Trump operatives are flooding local officials with public-records requests to seek evidence for the former president’s false stolen-election claims and to gather intelligence on voting machines and voters, adding to the chaos rocking the U.S. election system. The Maricopa County Recorder’s Office in Arizona, an election battleground state, has fielded 498 public records requests this year – 130 more than all of last year. Officials in Washoe County, Nevada, have fielded 88 public records requests, two-thirds more than in all of 2021. And the number of requests to North Carolina’s state elections board have already nearly equaled last year’s total of 229. The surge of requests is overwhelming staffs that oversee elections in some jurisdictions, fueling baseless voter-fraud allegations and raising concerns about the inadvertent release of information that could be used to hack voting systems, according to a dozen election officials interviewed by Reuters. Republican and Democratic election officials said they consider some of the requests an abuse of freedom-of-information laws meant to ensure government transparency. Records requests facing many of the country’s 8,800 election offices have become “voluminous and daunting” since the 2020 election, said Kim Wyman, head of election security at the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Last year, when she left her job as Washington secretary of state, the state’s top election official, her office had a two-year backlog of records requests. “You still have a group of people in each state that believe that the election was stolen,” said Wyman, a Republican. In April, the official in Arizona’s Maricopa County in charge of responding to public records requests, Ilene Haber, assigned four of her nine staffers to pull 20,000 documents out of holding boxes, sort them for scanning, and then carefully return them to their proper place. It took four days. The staffers were filling just one of several records requests from Haystack Investigations, who had asked for chain-of-custody records for all 2.1 million ballots cast in the election. The firm says on its website that it conducts a variety of investigations for companies, law firms and individuals. The company worked on Arizona’s “forensic audit,” the examination of Trump’s defeat in the county by pro-Trump partisans that ended last year without uncovering voter fraud. The labor-intensive Haystack requests illustrate the growing challenge facing stretched election offices across the country. In Maricopa County, which includes Phoenix, extensive requests like the one submitted by Haystack make up about one-quarter of the total the office has received this year, said Haber, the director of communications and constituent services in the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office. “The requests are getting bigger, more detailed, more burdensome, and going back even further” in time, she said. Heather Honey, who heads Pennsylvania-based Haystack, said the requests were unrelated to the firm’s work on the Arizona audit and were for her own research. “All are meaningful and contribute to specific professional research activities,” said Honey, who has sought similar election-related records in Pennsylvania. The local officials told Reuters that the surge in requests from election deniers is drowning their staffs in extra work at a time when they are struggling to recruit and retain voting administrators vital to democracy. Election workers have already endured an onslaught of death threats and harassment from Trump activists. Reuters has documented more than 900 such hostile messages since the 2020 vote. “The concern is burnout,” said Jamie Rodriguez, the interim registrar of voters in Washoe County, Nevada. “With burnout does come the potential for mistakes.” Rodriguez took over this week from the former registrar, who resigned after being targeted with death threats and other harassment. Ryan Macias, an election security consultant for CISA, likened the swarm of records request to a denial-of-service cyber-attack, in which hackers attempt to overwhelm a network with internet traffic, and said it was creating potential security risks given the stresses already weighing on election workers. “We have the attrition rate; we have people who are under threat from the community, people who are getting death threats, people who are overworked,” Macias said at a gathering of state election directors in Wisconsin on July 19. SECURITY RISKS All 50 U.S. states have freedom-of-information laws that are used routinely by journalists, advocates, academics and everyday citizens to access records on government. Such statutes aim to ensure the public has the information needed to hold their leaders accountable. Local officials told Reuters they believe in the importance of such laws and said they are trying to find creative ways to lessen the burden of the election-related requests on their staffers. Rather than ask for a bigger budget, Haber of Maricopa County said she has trained her whole team to help respond. Washoe County temporarily halts the production of documents at a certain point prior to the election, to ensure staff can focus on administering the vote, Rodriguez said. Donald Palmer, a commissioner on the federal Election Assistance Commission, told a gathering of secretaries of state on July 8 in Baton Rouge that they should help local officials more efficiently respond to the deluge of requests by, for instance, creating a “reading room” site to simultaneously respond to duplicative requests from different people. Rodriguez said most of her nine current staffers joined in 2021 or 2022 after a rash of staff departures. She is trying to limit their overtime to keep them fresh for November. But the records requests aren’t letting up. One request sought various information on the county’s election workers during the 2022 primary, including their phone number, mailing address and party affiliation. Another one was filed in late June by Robert Beadles, a businessman who moved from California to Reno in 2019 and is now leading a movement to push election-fraud theories and target politicians who don’t support his agenda. Beadles requested 38 different data sets. Beadles tells visitors to his website, operationsunlight.com, to send requests to their county clerks for a list of voters in the November 2020 election, broken down by voting method, and the total number of ballots cast for each candidate. He asks them to email the records to Shiva Ayyadurai, a leading purveyor of election fraud conspiracies. Neither Beadles nor Ayyadurai responded to emails seeking comment. As strapped government staffs struggle to keep up with the extensive inquiries, some election officials express concern about slipping up and releasing information that could compromise election security. Samuel Derheimer, director of government affairs at voting-equipment manufacturer Hart InterCivic, said his company has seen an explosion of requests from election officials for help determining when releasing certain records threatens election integrity. Public records requests sometimes target operational manuals containing security protocols that should not be released to the public, he said. Karen Brinson Bell, executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said one of the challenges is analyzing whether seemingly separate individuals or groups might be working together to piece together sensitive information about voting equipment and processes. “That’s when your antenna starts going up,” she said. “We are having to spend a lot of extra time thinking in those terms.” (Reporting by Nathan Layne; editing by Jason Szep and Brian Thevenot) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Whoopi Goldberg says pioneering actress Nichelle Nichols inspired her to appear in ‘Star Trek’. The comic, 66, added her late friend, who died at the weekend aged 89 and played lieutenant Nyota Uhura on the bridge of the show’s starship, showed her black people could make it “to the future”. Whoopi said on Monday’s (01.08.22) episode of The View: “Nichelle Nichols was a trailblazer, a heroine, and an extraordinary woman – somebody who inspired millions and millions of people, but who inspired me because I explained when I went to get my gig at ‘Star Trek’ that Nichelle was the first black person I’d ever seen who made it to the future. “She was head of communications. And this show and this woman was the one beacon that said, ‘Yes, we’ll be there.’ “And it just made me feel like that was an amazing thing. She helped propel other women to go into space. She was extraordinary and I was lucky enough to spend time with her over the years. “She was my friend. She’ll be missed.” Whoopi went on to play Guinan in ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation’ and in 2018, Nichelle recalled a time when the comedian’s agent reached out to series writer and producer Gene Roddenberry about getting her on the show. Nichelle said: “This is what Gene told me. Whoopi said, ‘It’s all Nichelle Nichols’ fault’. “Whoopi said, ‘Well, when she first came on the screen, I was nine years old. I thought she was the most beautiful thing that ever happened on television or anywhere else. And she was a black woman playing in the future and I knew we had a future’.” When Nichelle was cast in 1966 on the show it was one of the first major roles for a black woman in a US television series and among the first portrayals of a black woman in a military-style command role in any format. It later culminated in one of the first interracial on-screen kisses, between Nichelle and Admiral James T Kirk actor William Shatner. She passed away Saturday (30.07.22), with her son Kyle Johnson confirming on Sunday (31.07.22) via Instagram: “Last night, my mother, Nichelle Nichols, succumbed to natural causes and passed away. “Her light however, like the ancient galaxies now being seen for the first time, will remain for us and future generations to enjoy, learn from, and draw inspiration. “Hers was a life well lived and as such a model for us all.” View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega Donald Trump‘s family tree could have looked very different. In Jared Kushner‘s soon-to-be released book, Breaking History: A White House Memoir, the dad-of-three recounted his and now-wife Ivanka Trump‘s relationship, revealing his father-in-law used intimidation tactics of sorts to try and dissuade him from popping the question. mega After two years of dating, Kushner, 41, began discussing the proposal with the former POTUS, explaining that the blonde beauty, 40, was going to convert to his religion of Judaism. “I could feel my voice shake as I managed to say that Ivanka and I were getting more serious and that she was in the process of converting,” he writes, per a published excerpt. Trump’s response? “Well, let me ask you a question. Why does she have to convert? Why can’t you convert?” mega Kushner replied by noting it was Ivanka’s decision, to which Trump, 76, countered by proudly reminding him that NFL superstar Tom Brady still had his eyes on the model, so he better step up his game. IVANKA TRUMP SHARES SWEET PHOTO WITH LATE MOTHER IVANA TRUMP AFTER HER UNTIMELY PASSING AsOK! has shared, Kushner and the businessman weren’t on the best of terms, as when Kushner’s publication, The New York Observer, released their annual Power List, the Apprentice host didn’t even crack the top 20, ranking at No. 38. mega In 2020, Brady was asked about a potential romance between him and Ivanka, but he played down the buzz. “That was a long time ago in my life,” he told Howard Stern. “No … [we never] dated or anything like that.” In the end, Ivanka and Kushner walked down the aisle in 2009, which coincidentally, is the same year the athlete wed Gisele Bündchen. Kushner and the former White House senior advisor share daughter Arabella, 11, as well as sons Joseph, 8, and Theodore, 6. Last summer, it was reported that the parents-of-three were trying to distance themselves from the business guru. “This sounds like a rehab tour on the part of Jared and Ivanka,” said journalist Jim Acosta. “They want to rehabilitate their image somewhat, because as you and I both know, they’re just not as welcome in polite society as they once were.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Actor Joe Manganiellogot a surprise of a lifetime when he uncovered his family’s hidden past, including that his fifth great-grandfather was an enslaved Black man and his famous last name isn’t his surname at all, Radar has learned. The double bombshell came when the Magic Mike star, 45, was featured on PBS’ Finding Your Roots. Before the episode aired, the show’s host, Henry Louis Gates Jr., called Manganiello with the explosive news. Mega “My family and I had a betting pool of what it is, like what’s so bad that you can’t announce it on the episode?” Manganiello, who is married to Sofía Vergara, said during a TV critics meeting on Thursday. The True Blood actor was told the man he had always believed to be his paternal grandfather really wasn’t. “My grandfather was a Black man of mixed race,” said Manganiello, who is white. “That was fascinating.” The show’s research went through his family line and discovered the actor’s fifth great-grandfather was a slave who was freed before slavery was abolished in Massachusetts. Manganiello’s father was born in Boston. Mega Besides the shock about his grandfather, Gates also told him, “You are zero percent genetically related to anyone named Manganiello in the world.” Reflecting on the bombshell, Manganiello stated, “If Manganiello’s not my last name, what is?” “None of us would have guessed that if we’d had 10 years of guessing,” he said about the news. Manganiello’s paternal side wasn’t the only one who got a shakeup. The show also discovered shocking information about his mother’s side of the family. His maternal great-grandmother was a survivor of the Armenian genocide. She lost her husband and 7 of their children during World War I. She survived because she played dead after being shot, only to escape with the couple’s eighth child, who later drowned to death. Mega Manganiello was told his great-grandma was captured and met a German officer at camp, who got her pregnant. Researchers on Finding Your Roots uncovered that the actor’s mom and aunt were the children of his great-grandmother’s half-German baby. “That was a really profound moment for me,” he said. “To think that I don’t look like the other people in m family is because I look like the Germans, OK, now that makes sense,” Manganiello stated. “It’s really wild what we uncovered.” The new season of Finding Your Roots starts on January 3. Besides Manganiello, episodes will also feature Julia Roberts, Viola Davis, Carol Burnett, Danny Trejo, and more. View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Reality star-turned-convicted criminal Todd Chrisley opened up about his obsession with money, revealing his fixation got so bad that he “couldn’t tell the difference in my self-worth and my net worth.” As Radar reported, theChrisley Knows Best star and his wife, Julie Chrisley, are facing up to 30 years in prison after being found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and tax fraud. Julie was also hit with an additional conviction — wire fraud. Mega During a recent episode of Chrisley Confessions, Todd admitted that he got obsessed with increasing his net worth and keeping up with the Joneses. “I got lost when I couldn’t tell the difference in my self-worth and my net worth,” he said. “And the bigger my net worth became, the less I focused on my self-worth because everything was being built around that net worth. Around stuff.” Todd continued by stating he felt pressure “to keep up with everyone” around him, and began purchasing “all these cars and all these houses.” “You become a slave to the things that you thought were going to bring you peace,” the reality TV dad claimed. “So I got lost in that and for my whole life because I think I was too ignorant — and when I use the word ignorant [I mean] I [didn’t] know that I understood how to differentiate self-worth and net worth.” Mega Todd told his viewers he finally realized he wasn’t competing with those around him, he was battling himself because his “self-worth is low.” Despite the possibility of being locked behind bars for decades, the Chrisley Knows Best star claimed his relationship with Julie has never been better. “I said in my perspective it has drawn me closer to my wife. I feel like my marriage for me personally, internally, is the strongest that I’ve ever felt that it’s ever been — that’s for me, that’s how I feel,” Todd said about his 26-year marriage to Julie. Despite admitting his obsession with money, Todd continued to point the finger at someone else for the crimes. Mega According to him, an unnamed ex-employee is responsible for “so much of the stuff that has happened.” “People will get what’s coming to them, but it’s in God’s time,” Julie added. “We want to hurry it up because we’re hurting so badly that we just want to see an ounce of love from someone else because we feel like we’re hemorrhaging.” In June, RadarOnline.com obtained legal documents revealing Todd and Julie are on house arrest until their sentencing. They must also inform their probation officer of any spending over $1,000. The Chrisleys will find out their fate when the judge hands them their sentence on October 6. View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States sued Idaho on Tuesday over a state law that it says imposes a “near-absolute ban” on abortion and also sought to block the Western state from prosecuting or disciplining doctors, according to a court filing. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for Idaho, seeks a preliminary and permanent injunction against the state prohibiting enforcement of the law and asked the court to rule that the state law violates federal statutes. The lawsuit also alleges the state law interferes with the United States’ pre-existing agreements with hospitals under Medicare, referring to the federal health care program for seniors. “Today, the Justice Department’s message is clear… if a patient comes into the emergency room with a medical emergency jeopardizing the patient’s life or health, the hospital must provide the treatment necessary to stabilize that patient,” U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said at a news conference in Washington announcing the filing. “This includes abortion, when that is the necessary treatment,” Garland added. Tuesday’s lawsuit marks the Justice Department’s first legal battle over reproductive rights since the Supreme Court in June overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling which recognized women’s constitutional right to abortion. Idaho in March became the first state to enact a six-week abortion ban modeled on a Texas law that empowers private citizens to sue abortion providers. The law bans abortion before many women know they are pregnant and is modeled after Texas’ six-week abortion ban. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch and Doina Chiacu; editing by Jonathan Oatis) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jacqueline Thomsen (Reuters) – Clergy members of five religions sued the state of Florida on Monday over a new law criminalizing most abortions in the state after 15 weeks of pregnancy, saying it violates their religious freedom rights. The five separate lawsuits https://tmsnrt.rs/3BBEdIr, filed in Miami-Dade County, claim the state’s ban curtails their ability to counsel congregants about abortion in accordance with their faiths, since Florida law prohibits counseling or encouraging a crime. The plaintiffs are three rabbis, a United Church of Christ reverend, a Unitarian Universalist minister, an Episcopal Church priest and a Buddhist lama. They asked the court to declare that the state’s abortion law violates Florida and U.S. constitutional protections for freedom of speech and religion. They also claim the abortion ban violates a Florida religious freedom law that prohibits the government from “substantially burdening” the exercise of religion, unless there is a compelling state interest that cannot be met with fewer restrictions. A spokesperson for Florida attorney general Ashley Moody did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuits. Marci Hamilton, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania representing the plaintiffs, said the cases are “absolutely essential” to address the tension between abortion restrictions and religious freedom. A Florida synagogue has also filed a lawsuit challenging the abortion law. That case is pending in a different state court. The Florida law, which bans abortions after 15 weeks with few exceptions, went into effect on July 1. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the law in April, before the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling overturning the constitutional right to abortion nationwide. An appeal is now pending over a judge’s ruling last month that the state ban violates the Florida constitution’s privacy rights guarantees. The state’s high court previously said those guarantees protect the right to abortion. (Reporting by Jacqueline Thomsen in Washington; Editing by David Bario and David Gregorio) View the full article

Published by Al-Araby From Istanbul to Izmir, thousands of Turkish activists took to the streets in protest to commemorate lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) Pride month in June. In response, Turkish authorities launched a series of attacks against LGBT rights activists, lawyers, and journalists. Kaos GL, a Turkish LGBT rights group, reported that the government banned 10 LGBT-related events and detained over 530 people in just 37 days. Many of those detained at Istanbul Pride reported being held and handcuffed, in hot vehicles without food or water for long periods. The majority were detained overnight… Read More View the full article

Published by The Philadelphia Inquirer You’ve probably heard the expression that the cover-up is always worse than the crime — a notion that was cemented by the mother of all U.S. political scandals, Watergate. Think about it — only five burglars were nabbed by D.C. cops inside the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex on June 17, 1972. But when the dust finally settled over the next couple of years, an astonishing 69 Nixon administration officials or allies of the 37th president were indicted, and 48 were convicted of crimes. How did Watergate metastasize? As the scope of the investigation grew, more … Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden is set to name top officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to head the response to monkeypox, the Associated Press reported on Monday. Robert Fenton, acting administrator at FEMA who helped lead mass vaccination effort for COVID-19 in February 2021, will serve as the White House coordinator to head the monkeypox response. Fenton’s deputy will be Demetre Daskalakis, the director of the CDC’s HIV prevention division, the news agency reported. The duo will coordinate on “strategy and operations to combat the current monkeypox outbreak, including equitably increasing the availability of tests, vaccinations and treatments,” the White House told AP. The White House did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment. More than 3,500 monkeypox cases have been reported in the United States since the first case was confirmed in Massachusetts on May 20. The disease, which causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, has been declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization. (Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Alex Alper in Washington) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jamie Lee Curtis is to star in Disney’s remake of ‘Haunted Mansion’. The ‘Halloween’ star has shared a headline from an article reporting that she is set to take on the role of psychic medium Madame Leota. Hollywood legend Jamie, 63, simply captioned the Instagram post with the emoji for a crystal ball, appearing to confirm the casting. Justin Simien is directing the upcoming live-action movie adaptation of the legendary Disney theme park ride. The Hollywood Reporter confirmed over the weekend that it is slated for release on March 17, 2023. The starry cast also includes LaKeith Stanfield, Tiffany Haddish, Owen Wilson, Rosario Dawson, and Danny DeVito. The movie will focus on a mother and her son as they stumble on a mansion with a mysterious past. They then find themselves meeting a whole host of eclectic characters. The movie – which will be the second adaptation of the Disney ride after 2003’s ‘Haunted Mansion’ starring Eddie Murphy, Nathaniel Parker and Jennifer Tilly – is being directed by Justin Simien from Katie Dippold’s script. ‘Aladdin’ co-producers Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich are on board via their Rideback company. Production got underway in Atlanta and New Orleans last year, and the latter city hints at the original attraction which is set in New Orleans Square. While Jamie’s character requires her to look into a crystal ball, the ‘Freaky Friday’ star recently revealed she avoids looking in the mirror. The movie star checks her reflection when she’s carrying out tasks that require her to do so, but she doesn’t spend a lot of time scrutinising her appearance because she doesn’t want to be critical of herself. She said earlier this year: “When I brush my teeth, of course, I look in the mirror. When I pluck my eyebrows, of course, I look in a mirror. But when I get out of a shower, I just don’t stare at my now 63-year-old body in the mirror, “I’m not denying what I look like, of course I’ve seen what I look like. I am trying to live in acceptance. If I look in the mirror, it’s harder for me to be in acceptance. I’m more critical. Whereas, if I just don’t look, I’m not so worried about it.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English George Takei says Nichelle Nichols wanted to be “best lady” at his wedding. The ‘Star Trek’ actor reminisced about the time he asked his co-star – who died aged 89 on Sunday (31.07.22) – to be the matron of honour at his 2008 wedding to his husband, Brad Altman but the actress had other ideas. In a Facebook post, a follow up to his original tribute to the trailblazing television star, the 85-year-old actor wrote: “When my husband Brad and I got married, we asked Walter Koenig, who played ensign Chekov on the show, to be our best man at the wedding. We asked Nichelle to be our matron of honour. In her characteristic fashion, Nichelle declared, ‘I am not a matron! If Walter can be best man, why can’t I be best lady?’ Noting that Walter’s “best man” title implied the awkward title of “best woman,” she was determined to be known as the “best lady” to the guests. I told her, ‘Of course you are’.” George also remarked how “truly moved” he was by the outpouring of love and tributes to Nichelle, a “lifelong” pal of his. He also wrote: “I have been truly moved by the tributes and messages honouring the life and work of Nichelle Nichols, our very own Lieutenant and later Commander Uhura on Star Trek. Although our original series ran only three seasons, we became bonded as the fans of our show organised, convened and ultimately pressed for movies and spin-offs of the groundbreaking show. Nichelle and I spent the following decades together as not only colleagues from the bridge of the Enterprise, but as lifelong friends.” He continued, noting what she meant to “so many young Black women” for her work on the 60s sci-fi series. George added: “Much has been said about what a trailblazer and role model Nichelle was for so many young Black women, who saw in her hope and promise for their own future. I wanted to take a moment to share some stories about Nichelle that aren’t as well known, and which highlight her lively spirit, her incredible kindness, and her warm generosity.” He admitted he would “never forget” their first encounter, which predated ‘Star Trek’. George said: “Our friendship began six decades ago, before Star Trek, when she came backstage after a performance of a civil rights musical I was doing called ‘Fly Blackbird’ in Los Angeles. I will never forget that first meeting. She was stunningly beautiful. But beyond her beauty, she stood out. It was a time when many African American women “conked” their hair, which meant straightening it, as was the current fashion. Instead, Nichelle wore an enormous natural “Afro” sphere on her head. It was natural, it was proud, and it was glorious. I knew right then that she was a singular individual.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jessica Alves is “95 percent happy” after transitioning from Human Ken to Human Barbie. The 38-year-old TV star – who was born male as Rodrigo Alves but underwent sex reassignment surgery in 2021 after coming out as a trans woman the year before – became known as the Human Ken Doll but spent a reported £1 million on cosmetic work to look like the Mattel doll’s famous girlfriend and has had her eyes tailored in the style of supermodel Bella Hadid. She said: “After so many plastic surgeries I changed my appearance. There is an association that I look like Barbie but I was nicknamed Ken for ten years. Surgery after surgery I am the woman that I am today. This is the final product. I feel 95% happier. I think that I look great. I look good and when I wake up in the morning I look in the mirror and say thank you to God, my family and my doctor. So basically I had a facelift but a facelift upwards so the doctor instead of making cuts, he did four incisions and he was able to go through my skin, tighten the muscles on my face and lift my eyes, my cheeks and my forehead. He calls the eye surgery Bella eyes, after Bella Hadid.” However, the former ‘Celebrity Big Brother star – who recently posed as the iconic fashion doll and unveiled the transformation to her 6.4 million Instagram followers – went on to explain that while she is “really happy” with her look, it has been “impossible” to find a surgeon to shape her nose in the way she would like despite having had more than ten operations. Speaking on ITV’s ‘This Morning’, she told hosts Vernon Kay and Rochelle Humes: “I lost a lot of things during COVID, and coming back to life post-COVID I’m really happy. I had more than ten plastic surgeries on my nose. It has been impossible to find a surgeon that can actually fix my nose. If you know any good doctors I would like to fix it but if I can’t then I will just have to live with it. I’m very happy with everything else, my curves, my body.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jack Queen (Reuters) – U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is expected to take the stand on Tuesday to defend against claims that he must pay the parents of a child killed in the Sandy Hook massacre for falsely claiming the shooting was a hoax. Jones, founder of the Infowars radio show and webcast, is on trial in a Texas court to determine how much he must pay for spreading falsehoods about the killing of 20 children and six staff at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, on Dec. 14, 2012. Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, the parents of slain 6-year-old Jesse Lewis, are seeking as much as $150 million from Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems LLC. A lawyer for Jones said he had already paid a price after being deplatformed in 2018 and losing millions of viewers. Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting took place. He was expected to take the stand on Tuesday in his defense, a lawyer for the parents said. The parents are also expected to testify on Tuesday. The defamation suit in Austin, Texas, where Infowars is based, is one of several brought by families of victims who say Jones’s followers harassed them as a result of his false claims. The Sandy Hook gunman, Adam Lanza, 20, used a Remington Bushmaster rifle to carry out the massacre. It ended when Lanza killed himself with the approaching sound of police sirens. (Reporting by Jack Queen; Editing by Noeleen Walder, Howard Goller and Bradley Perrett) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Joseph Ax (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s ongoing effort to play Republican kingmaker faces fresh tests on Tuesday as voters in five states choose candidates in high-profile races for U.S. Congress, governor and other offices ahead of November’s midterm elections. In Arizona and Michigan, candidates who have embraced the former president’s false claims of voter fraud could win the Republican nominations for governor, even as some in their party worry they could be too extreme to win on Nov. 8. Kansas voters will decide whether to amend the state constitution to allow the Republican-controlled legislature to ban or limit abortion, the first such ballot initiative since the U.S. Supreme Court eliminated the nationwide right to abortion in June. Two Republican U.S. representatives who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol by his supporters, Peter Meijer of Michigan and Jamie Herrera Beutler of Washington, also face Trump-endorsed primary challengers. On Monday, Meijer published an opinion piece decrying Democrats for running ads to boost his far-right opponent after warning such candidates are dangerous, part of a risky political strategy to improve Democrats’ chances of victory in November. With an economy teetering on the brink of recession and inflation surging, just 37% of Americans approve of President Joe Biden’s job performance. That is weighing on Democrats heading into the November general election, when Republicans are favored to win control of the House of Representatives and perhaps the Senate. Control of either chamber would give Republicans the power to stymie Biden’s legislative agenda while launching politically damaging hearings. Democrats have also been dealt a spate of policy defeats by the heavily conservative Supreme Court, particularly on abortion, that they were powerless to stop even with control of Congress and the White House. TRUMP ENDORSEMENTS As he continues to flirt publicly with the possibility of running for president again in 2024, Trump has endorsed more than 100 candidates in this year’s elections. Most are safe bets — incumbent Republicans in conservative districts — but even in competitive races he’s had a winning record. Trump-backed nominees have won Republican primaries for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina and Ohio, though his picks lost nominating contests for Georgia governor and for U.S. House in South Carolina. “Trump remains really popular with Republican primary voters. I don’t think you can underestimate how he has remade the party in his image,” said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist. “Republicans who run against Trump tend to get trampled.” On Tuesday, Arizona voters will pick between Trump-backed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake and Karrin Taylor Robson, who has the backing of Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence. Lake, a former news anchor, echoes Trump false claims that his 2020 election defeat was the result of fraud and has said she would not have certified Biden’s statewide victory in 2020. At a recent campaign stop, Lake claimed without evidence that fraud has already occurred during early voting, suggesting she may not accept a defeat on Tuesday. The race for secretary of state – the state’s top election official – also includes a Trump-endorsed candidate, state Representative Mark Finchem. Finchem, who was present at Trump’s Jan. 6, 2021, speech in Washington that preceded the U.S. Capitol attack, wrote on Twitter on Thursday, “Trump won,” prompting a Democratic candidate, Adrian Fontes, to call him a “traitor.” Arizona Republicans will also pick a challenger to take on Democratic U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, seen as one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents. Blake Masters, a former tech executive who has backed Trump’s false fraud claims, has Trump’s endorsement and the backing of tech billionaire Peter Thiel. He is leading in polls against Jim Lamon, a former power company executive, and Attorney General Mark Brnovich, whom Trump blames for not reversing Biden’s 2020 statewide victory. Chuck Coughlin, a veteran Republican strategist in Arizona, said there’s “no doubt” that candidates such as Lake and Finchem will have a harder time winning in November. His firm conducted a recent poll that found two-thirds of Republican voters believe wrongly that the 2020 election had serious integrity problems – but the general electorate will look quite different, he said. “To win a statewide election in Arizona, you have to win unaffiliated voters,” he said. “Those people do not like Trump.” In Missouri, former Governor Eric Greitens, who resigned in the midst of sexual assault and campaign finance fraud scandals, is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate despite calls from many within his party to withdraw out of concern that he might cost Republicans a safe seat in November. Having promised to endorse in that race, Trump on Monday recommended voters choose either Greitens or one of his rivals, state Attorney General Eric Schmitt, with a statement that simply endorsed “Eric.” In Michigan, a chaotic Republican campaign for governor will draw to a close, with several candidates vying for the right to take on Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who became a frequent target for conservatives after her aggressive approach to shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump last week endorsed former Republican commentator Tudor Dixon in the race. But at a rally this weekend in Troy, some Trump-supporting backers of one of Dixon’s rivals, businessman Kevin Rinke, said they would not be swayed. One attendee, Steve Moshelli, 57, said he voted for Trump twice but was sticking with Rinke. “Honestly, I think his star is kind of fading,” Moshelli, a businessman from Royal Oak, Michigan, said of Trump, adding that he thought the Jan. 6 committee’s hearings had chipped away at Trump’s power. “It’s his credibility. It’s starting to fade.” (Reporting by Joseph Ax in Princeton, New Jersey, additional reporting by Moira Warburton in Washington and Nathan Layne in Troy, Michigan; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Megan Fox has asked fans if she should start an OnlyFans account with Kourtney Kardashian. The actress’ question came as she posted a range of raunchy images of her and the model from behind-the-scenes at a photoshoot last year, including a photo of Kourtney straddling Megan on a toilet. She posted the caption alongside the photos of the scantily-clad pair: “BTS of my skims shoot with Kourtney. Should we start an OnlyFans?” One fan joked back: “Nah, y’all have plenty of money already.” The first shot showed Kourtney, 43, crouching on the floor in a revealing one piece alongside Megan. In the next image, ‘Transformers’ actress Megan sat on the edge of a toilet seat with Kourtney in her lap. They stuck out their tongues as Kourtney raised her arm into the air and Megan placed her hands on her back and leg. The third shot showed them posing up on the ground, with Kourtney laying out her hair on the floor and Megan in a black sports bra and underwear. The images were from a shoot the women took part in last year for Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand Skims. Final images for the campaign showed the pair posing in bras, crop tops, and underwear. Megan said at the time: “I love that Skims really understands what women want to wear and that they want to feel sexy, confident and empowered. “I loved being in this campaign with Kourtney, we had so much fun shooting together.” Megan has been engaged to Machine Gun Kelly, 32, since October 2021 while Kourtney recently married 46-year-old Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker. The couple held a third ceremony in Italy after getting legally married in Santa Barbara and a holding a practice wedding in Las Vegas. View the full article

Published by Reuters (Refiles to fix typo in first paragraph) (Reuters) – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that any talks on a possible prisoner exchange involving U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner needed to be discreet and that “megaphone diplomacy” would not achieve results. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Washington has made a “substantial offer” to Moscow to release American citizens held in Russia. A source said that the United States was willing to exchange convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death.” (This story fixes typo in first paragraph) (Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge) View the full article

Published by Reuters KHIMKI, Russia (Reuters) -The Russian drugs trial of U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner should be over “very soon”, her lawyer said on Tuesday, as the Kremlin warned the United States that megaphone diplomacy would not secure a prisoner swap for the 31-year-old Texan. Griner, a two-time Olympic gold medallist and a Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) star, was detained at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport on Feb. 17 with vape cartridges containing hashish oil in her luggage. She has pleaded guilty to the drugs charges against her but has denied that she intended to break Russian law. She faces up to 10 years in prison. Lawyer Maria Blagovolina, partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners law firm, said a verdict in the case was expected “very soon.” The defence and prosecution are expected to deliver their closing arguments on Thursday. The case against Griner has highlighted Russia’s fraught relations with the United States, which have plunged to a new post-Cold War low over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. Blagovolina said Griner heard that Washington had made what Secretary of State Antony Blinken called a “substantial offer” to Moscow to release American citizens held in Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who had expressed surprise at the public nature of Blinken’s comments at the time, said on Tuesday that any talk of a possible swap needed to be discreet. “We still believe that any exchanges of information on this topic should be discreet,” Peskov told reporters on a conference call. “Megaphone diplomacy and the public exchange of opinions will not lead to results.” ‘THE END IS NEAR’ Griner, who appeared in Khimki District Court outside Moscow in a plain khaki T-shirt and round-rimmed glasses, was both focused and nervous as her trial approaches its end, her lawyer said. “She still knows that the end (of her trial) is near and of course she heard the news, so she is hoping that sometime she could be coming home,” Blagovolina said. A source said that Washington was willing to exchange convicted arms trafficker Viktor Bout, known as the “Merchant of Death”. Blagovolina said a swap was “legally possible” after the verdict, which is expected no later than mid-August. Griner testified last week that she could not understand how the vape cartridges had ended up in her luggage, speculating that she had inadvertently packed them as she rushed to leave. Griner had been her way to join her Russian team, UMMC Ekaterinburg, for the playoffs after spending time at home in the United States. (Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge) View the full article

Published by The Sacramento Bee SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In February 2018, as organizers of the so-called “CalExit” campaign to have California secede from the union and form its own country, a Russian national named Aleksandr Ionov sent electronic messages to a secession supporter, court documents say. Ionov offered funding for a protest that would have supporters make their way into then-Gov. Jerry Brown’s office. Ionov and the organizer traded proposed designs for posters for the event, and eventually wrote that he sent $500 to the organizer, who on Valentine’s Day led a demonstration at the state Capitol “in support of Calif… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Obi-Wan Kenobi appears to hint he may be bisexual in a new young adult ‘Star Wars’ spin-off novel. The book ‘Padawan’ by Kiersten White, published by Disney-Lucasfilm Press, has got fans in a frenzy as they believe an ambiguous conversation about the Jedi being “curious” over kissing reveals his true sexuality. First played by Sir Alec Guinness in the original ‘Star Wars’ films, the character has been portrayed by Ewan McGregor in the prequel trilogy and Disney+ mini-series. Disney Books’ description of ‘Padawan’ says: “Romantic complications, startling revelations, and a looming threat to both the planet and his new friends will bring Obi-Wan face-to-face with his worst fear: that maybe he was never supposed to be a Jedi at all.” The book sees Obi-Wan attempting to prove himself to Jedi master Qui-Gon Jinn, portrayed on screen by Liam Neeson. He speaks to another teen Casul about the idea of kissing another boy, while also discussing his Jedi beliefs. Casul says: “Not many choices around here. I don’t think love is in my future, either, and I’m fine with that. As long as I have the Power to keep my family safe, that’s enough for me. “Though I will admit I’ve been curious about kissing and why Audj and Zae-Brii enjoy it so much. So if you’re ever curious, too, let me know.” The novel, published last week, goes on: “Obi-Wan blushed. ‘I will. Let you know, I mean. Not that I will do that, right now, with you. Or anyone’. “Would he ever get to a point where kissing someone felt like anything less than a betrayal of himself and the Jedi? And if he did get to that point, who would he want to kiss? The Lenahrans were confident and charismatic, which was attractive. “But he couldn’t imagine just… kissing any of them. Maybe he didn’t want to be with any of them but rather to be more like each of them. Or maybe he wanted to kiss all of them.” Young fans have taken to social media to share theories the passage means Obi-Wan would be open to kissing a man. Others believed it points to the character being asexual as he said he may not want to kiss “anyone”. The writer has not yet commented on the conclusions readers are drawing from the book. View the full article

Hope for a quick vote on the Respect for Marriage Act in the U.S. Senate this week has faded, but U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin said over the weekend that she has 10 Republican senators willing to vote for the measure and believes that vote could take place in September. The U.S. House passed the Respect for Marriage Act on July 19, by a vote of 267 to 157, just one day after Rep. Jerrold Nadler introduced it. Even though only three Republicans voted for the Equality Act in the House last year, and only two Republicans voted for an LGBTQI+ Data Inclusion Act in June, 47 Republicans voted for the Respect for Marriage Act. Shannon Minter, legal director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, points to polling that shows 55 percent of Republicans support marriage equality. A poll in June indicated that 72 percent of registered voters opposed the idea of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning a decision that enabled same-sex couples to marry. Baldwin told a Wisconsin media outlet July 29 that she has five Republicans publicly committed: Senators Susan Collins (of Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio), Thom Tillis (North Carolina), and Ron Johnson (Wisconsin). “Five additional members have indicated they are leaning in support,” But popular support for legislation has not translated into bipartisan votes on other LGBT legislation. Nearly that same percentage in another poll said they would favor laws protecting LGBT people against discrimination in jobs, housing, and public accommodations, yet only 3 conservative Republicans voted for the Equality Act. Nor are all 47 in tight mid-term elections this year. Only 17 had single digit margins of victory in 2020. Of the 27 who were scored by the Human Rights Campaign’s rating of their votes on LGBT issues, 20 scored between zero and 11. U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin told National Public Radio that she thinks same- sex marriage is more acceptable now because “it’s now part of most people’s everyday reality to know somebody who has married in order to provide legal protections for their family.” Until recently, she hoped the Senate would vote before August 8, when Congress takes its summer recess. And she has emphasized that the Respect for Marriage Act has become critical because of the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision overturning Roe v. Wade has “implicated” other decisions based on similar grounds. Among those cases is Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 opinion striking down state bans on marriage licenses for same-sex couples. Baldwin, the U.S. Senate’s first openly LGBT senator, is leading the charge to get the Senate to vote on the Respect for Marriage bill. With the Senate split 50-50 between Democratic votes and Republican votes, she needs all 50 Democrats and at least 10 Republicans to agree to break the inevitable Republican filibuster that would ensue with any attempt to bring the Respect for Marriage to the floor. Baldwin told a Wisconsin media outlet July 29 that she has five Republicans publicly committed: Senators Susan Collins (of Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Rob Portman (Ohio), Thom Tillis (North Carolina), and Ron Johnson (Wisconsin). “Five additional members have indicated they are leaning in support,” said Baldwin, “but I think because of how crowded the [Senate] calendar is for next week, which is our last week before the August recess, and in light of the fact that we can’t have any absences — we need everybody there, and we have a few members with COVID– this is probably going to be a vote that occurs, what I would hope would be early September.” Meanwhile, it’s not clear that some recalcitrant Democrats –like Joe Manchin of West Virginia—are on board. Senator Collins told The Hill newspaper that Manchin’s recent agreements to go along with Democratic bills on climate change might cause the Respect for Marriage bill to lose Republican votes. But openly bisexual Senator Kyrsten Sinema is supporting the bill. What Respect for Marriage Act says Baldwin introduced the Respect for Marriage Act (S. 29) in the Senate on July 18, along with U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). The House bill, H.R. 8404, was introduced the same day and is slightly longer. Both bills have language to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), a federal law that barred federal recognition of same-sex marriages. That law was ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 via U.S. v. Windsor. Both bills also include language to makes it clear that a marriage validly obtained in one state shall be recognized by the federal government and by other states. Neither bill says that all states must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Charles Moran, president of the national Log Cabin Republican group, said he thinks the House bill got 47 Republican votes because “the GOP is calling the Democrats bluff on this issue and that’s why we saw 47 yes votes.” “The antics of [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and Nadler, in dropping this bill with less than 24 hours notice before a full floor vote, no committee hearings, etc. rankled a lot of GOP members…and some voted no as a protest to that style of governance…not because of their opposition to gay marriage,” said Moran. I believe that if I had an additional 24 hours to whip votes, we could have gotten 70+ yes votes. If I had 48 hours? Probably 100 yes votes.’ But Moran said he also thinks the 47 Republican votes are a reflection of the huge differences between the Equality Act and the Respect for Marriage Act. “The Respect for Marriage Act was a clean bill. The Equality Act is messy, [and] tramples over a lot of things like religious freedom that GOP’ers won’t go along with,” said Moran. Some ultra conservatives affiliated with religious groups say they believe the Respect for Marriage bill is an attack on them. In a July 26 letter to Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, representatives of Alliance Defending Freedom and 79 other anti-LGBT and conservative religious groups write that the Respect for Marriage bill is an attempt to silence people who believe marriage can be only one man and one woman. Photo by ipse dixit on Unsplash View the full article

Published by Reuters By Gabriella Borter (Reuters) – A Michigan court on Monday ruled that county prosecutors can enforce an abortion ban that has been on the books since 1931, exempting them from a different court’s ruling that blocked state officials from enforcing the law. The decision by the three-judge Court of Appeals panel marks a victory for anti-abortion county prosecutors in Michigan, who have sought to enforce the ban after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade case and enabled states to outlaw abortion. Michigan’s law, one of several state abortion bans enacted before the Roe v. Wade ruling legalized abortion nationwide nearly 50 years ago, makes it a felony to perform an abortion except to save the pregnant woman’s life. In May, Michigan Court of Claims Judge Elizabeth Gleicher issued a temporary injunction blocking Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and other state officials from enforcing the ban. The Court of Appeals on Monday ruled that county prosecutors, however, were not bound by Gleicher’s order. “The core nature of a county prosecutor is that of a local, not a state official. Because county prosecutors are local officials, jurisdiction of the Court of Claims does not extend to them,” presiding Judge Stephen Borrello wrote. David Kallman, a lawyer representing Kent and Jackson County prosecutors Christopher Becker and Jerry Jarzynka, said they were “very pleased” with the order. Both prosecutors have abortion providers in their county, and Kallman said his clients would likely prosecute in cases where abortion providers appear to have violated the 1931 law by performing abortions outside a medical emergency. Democratic Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who filed a lawsuit in April to prevent the 1931 law from taking effect, has made protecting abortion access in Michigan a central part of her campaign for re-election this fall. “As we review the Court of Appeals decision, know that I will continue to fight like hell to protect a woman’s ability to make her own medical decisions with her trusted health care provider,” Whitmer wrote on Twitter on Monday. Concerned that the Republican-controlled legislature will try to restrict abortion, Whitmer is pressing the state Supreme Court to recognize the right to abortion under the state constitution. Abortion rights supporters also have filed a petition to put a state constitutional amendment on the ballot this fall, which would allow Michigan voters to decide if abortion rights are protected. Opinion polls show the majority of Michigan residents support the right to abortion. (Reporting by Gabriella Borter; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by AFP Six years after she shook the culture with her powerful visual album 'Lemonade,' Beyonce's seventh solo studio work is a pulsating, sweaty collection of club tracks aimed at liberating a world consumed by ennui Los Angeles (AFP) – Beyonce will remove a derogatory term for disabled people from her new song “Heated,” a spokesperson said Monday, after its use was condemned as offensive by campaigners. The US pop megastar will re-record the track from her latest album “Renaissance” on which she originally sang the lyrics “Spazzin’ on that ass, spazz on that ass.” “The word, not used intentionally in a harmful way, will be replaced,” a spokesperson for Beyonce told AFP via email. Co-written with Canadian rapper Drake, the dance track appears to use the word “spaz” in the colloquial sense of temporarily losing control or acting erratically. But disability campaigners noted that the word is derived from “spastic.” According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, spasticity is a movement disorder involving stiff muscles and awkward movement, suffered by 80 percent of people with cerebral palsy. In June, US singer Lizzo re-recorded her song “Grrrls” to remove the same term following complaints that it was derogatory. Australian disability campaigner Hannah Diviney said the inclusion of the word by Beyonce “feels like a slap in the face to me, the disabled community & the progress we tried to make with Lizzo.” “Guess I’ll just keep telling the whole industry to ‘do better’ until ableist slurs disappear from music,” she tweeted. Beyonce’s eagerly anticipated seventh solo studio album “Renaissance” was released Friday, drawing mainly positive reviews with its nods to disco and electronic dance. Other collaborators on the album — which leaked online in the days prior to its official release — include Nile Rodgers, Skrillex, Nigerian singer Tems, Grace Jones, Pharrell and Beyonce’s rap mogul husband Jay-Z. In an Instagram post published soon after the album’s release, Beyonce said creating the album “allowed me a place to dream and to find escape during a scary time for the world. “My intention was to create a safe place, a place without judgment,” she wrote. “A place to be free of perfectionism and overthinking. A place to scream, release, feel freedom.” View the full article