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Published by BANG Showbiz English John Cleese says cancel culture has led to the “death of creativity”. The 82-year-old comedy legend has come out in support of ‘Harry Potter’ author J.K. Rowling after she faced the wrath of cancel culture when she was accused of transphobia. And the BAFTA winner has also mocked modern comedies for lacking creativity due to writers being fearful of insulting anyone. During the FreedomFest conference in Las Vegas, the ‘Monty Python’ star told Fox News Digital: “There’s always been limitations on what they’re allowed to say. “I think it’s particularly worrying at the moment because you can only create in an atmosphere of freedom, where you’re not checking everything you say critically before you move on. What you have to be able to do is to build without knowing where you’re going because you’ve never been there before. That’s what creativity is — you have to be allowed to build. And a lot of comedians now are sitting there and when they think of something, they say something like, ‘Can I get away with it? I don’t think so. So and so got into trouble, and he said that, oh, she said that.’ You see what I mean? And that’s the death of creativity.” He went on: “You can do the creation and then criticise it, but you can’t do them at the same time. So if you’re worried about offending people and constantly thinking of that, you are not going to be very creative. So I think it has a disastrous effect.” The ‘Shrek the Third’ star insists it all comes down to the audience and what’s appropriate. He added: “My audience is much older, and they’re simply not interested in most of the woke attitudes. I mean, they just think that you should try and be kind to people and that’s no need to complicate it, you know? “If you go to a Republican convention and tell anti-Democrat jokes, you’ll get a very good response. If you tell anti-Republican jokes, you won’t. So you’ve got to fit your material to some extent to your audience. And that’s part of it … If you go to see your granny and to have tea with her, you don’t start telling her sex jokes. Now that’s not because it’s illegal, it’s just bad manners.” Cleese says taboo subjects, such as sex, always get the biggest laughs. He explained: “So I think you would think what the audience is and then you might shock them a little bit because that’s fun. And also, as I point out on stage, if you get into areas that are a little bit taboo, you actually get the biggest laughs, which is why sexual humour is often greeted with huge laughs when it’s not particularly funny. It’s to do with anxiety and the release of anxiety when people relax or laugh with spare energy that comes from the fact that they just laughed at something they’ve been anxious about before.” The former ‘Fawlty Towers’ star added how comedy films are all about making big bucks these days, rather than providing the biggest laughs. He said: “What I feel now is that very few people understand how to plot the comedy, so the comedies in America are really aimed at young men because they’re the ones who go to the cinema on Friday night, which means that the box office looks good. “And it’s all done ultimately to money because we now have studios that are more interested in money than in making great movies and in the old days, they wanted to make great movies too.” Cleese added how 1988’s ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ is one of the last flicks in the genre he enjoyed. It’s not the first time the writer has spoken out about cancel culture. He previously criticised the removal of an episode of his classic 1970s sitcom ‘Fawlty Towers’ from streaming service UKTV due to a racial slur. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Kim Novak has turned to painting to cope with grief. The 89-year-old actress is still mourning the loss of her husband of 44 years, Robert Malloy, in 2020 but Kim feels closer to her late spouse when she is painting. She told Closer US: “I find my art is very prolific since my husband passed. I have a sense of him looking over my shoulder and watching me with that little smile on his face. “Painting a picture of him felt like we could still communicate in a warm and intimate way. It made me feel less lonely. “You have to be patient. Don’t be afraid to let those emotions out and then let go.” While dealing with her grief has been difficult, Kim also admitted the practicalities of being a widow, such as being solely responsible for her business affairs, have also been an adjustment. She said: “I learned how little I knew and did not fully appreciate just how hard my husband had to work. I never had to deal with business before, but now I have to do it all. Sometimes it’s hard to keep from feeling sorry for myself.” But the ‘Vertigo’ actress is grateful for the time she had with her second husband Robert. She said: “I had been married once before [to her ‘Moll Flanders’ co-star Richard Johnson] but it just didn’t suit me being married to an actor. “My love of animals and Bob’s love of animals that bonded us. Bob also had a wonderful sense of humour.” View the full article

Published by Chicago Tribune CHICAGO — A far northwest suburban bakery has received a stream of harassment after selling tickets to a family-friendly drag show scheduled at the shop on Saturday, while protesters and counterprotesters plan to rally outside during the show, according to the owner and police. Corinna Sac, owner of UpRising Bakery and Cafe in Lake in the Hills, Illinois, planned what she said is a fun and child-friendly event, replete with costumes, dancing, breakfast food and a celestial theme. Sac, a baker, opened the shop with the goal of creating a space for everyone, she said. The space holds live music,… Read More View the full article

Published by OK Magazine Mega Agency All products featured on OK! Magazine are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, OK! Magazine may earn an affiliate commission. Actor Brad Pittreturned to his 1999 Fight Club roots this week when he wore a skirt to the Bullet Train premiere in Berlin. Even though this isn’t the first time the Oscar winner wore what is seen as womenswear, he is amongst a group of men in popular culture challenging the intersection between gender and clothing. Back in 1999, Pitt was a Rolling Stone cover star, and after starring in Fight Club, a film that explores themes of masculinity, the handsome hunk wore several miniskirts, hoop earrings and gloves. His choice of wearing a skirt on the red carpet isn’t a surprise to fans, but it’s a statement that aligns with the fashion principles of Harry Styles, Jaden Smith and more. Why Are Skirts So Controversial? Clothing being seen as a tool for making a political statement isn’t new to history. Most images of Civil Rights leaders and the overall movement include reverends, teachers and more wearing their Sunday best. It is rare to find images of Civil Rights activists in casual clothing such as denim. At the time, denim was seen as the workwear for the sharecropper. Due to its association with both poverty and the rural worker, James Brown never wore it and didn’t allow his band to sport it. However, understanding that denim was the workwear of the working class, Martin Luther King Jr. wore denim and a work shirt when he was arrested in Birmingham, Ala. Wearing workwear instead of a suit was a conscious decision to show his allyship with the rural Black southerner. The images that were taken of Dr. King prior to being arrested were highly publicized and continue to be analyzed in classrooms all over the country. His arrest in Alabama was not only King making a statement, but shortly after his arrest, he wrote A Letter From a Birmingham Jail. With the current political climate surrounding both women and LGBTQ rights, there has been an increase in cis-men wearing what has been considered women’s clothing. When Styles’ December Vogue cover was released, the musician was met with both praise and backlash for wearing a dress. But it was clear to many fans that the former One Direction member was making it known that his identity isn’t defined by what he wears. For Kid Cudi, his decision to wear dresses and skirts was his way of not only paying homage to rock icon Kurt Cobain, who also wore dresses, but it’s another form of self-expression. In an interview with GQVirgil Abloh, who designed Cudi’s dress for an SNL performance last year, told the publication, “For me, it represents personal empowerment despite any social norm, it vehemently represents confidence. It’s Cudi knocking on your television screen saying, ‘Hey! Be yourself.'” As politicized as the male skirt has become, similar garments are still common amongst men in various cultures. But, in today’s climate, it looks as though the skirt is becoming the norm for menswear, and ultimately, the clothing binary we have associated with it will become obsolete. Keep scrolling to shop for male skirts! Amazon SHOP NOW AITFINEISM’s retails for $39.99 at amazon.com. Amazon SHOP NOW NGTEVOO’s Skirt retails for $21.58 at amazon.com. Amazon SHOP NOW Kangma’s Pleated Skirt retails for $22.27 at amazon.com. Incerunmen SHOP NOW Incerunmen’s Pleated Wide-leg Loose Skirt Pants retail for $39.89 at incerunmen.com. View the full article

Published by NJ.com WASHINGTON — The House Jan. 6 committee closed out its set of summer hearings with its most detailed focus yet on the investigation’s main target: former President Donald Trump. The panel on Thursday examined Trump’s actions on Jan. 6, 2021, as hundreds of his supporters broke into the U.S. Capitol, guiding viewers minute-by-minute through the deadly afternoon to show how long it took for the former president to call off the rioters. The panel focused on 187 minutes that day, between the end of Trump’s speech calling for supporters to march to the Capitol at 1:10 p.m. and a video he released a… Read More View the full article

Vote Clark Kent or Jimmy Olsen… for most compelling witness… View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Tom Boggioni Former President Donald Trump went on a massive tirade late Thursday night after the House select committee on the Jan 6th riot concluded their latest public hearing, with Trump ending his night by trashing Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) as a “disloyal sleaze bag!” After the committee displayed irrefutable evidence that the former president did nothing for three hours while watching on TV as rioters stormed the Capitol building, Trump appeared to be trying to place blame everywhere but in his own lap and included House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in his Truth Soc… Read More View the full article

Published by Tribune News Service I thought, naively it turns out, we might get to a point in my lifetime where we stop saying same-sex marriage. Where we just say marriage. Where a qualifier that points out the sex of two people in a union is so utterly, presposterously unrelated to the spirit and beauty and point of that union that we’d eventually realize it’s the equivalent of putting air quotes around something and we’d stop saying it altogether. Now I wonder if same-sex marriage will become outlawed in my lifetime. When the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade last month, Justice Clarence Thomas argued in his concurring opi… Read More View the full article

Published by Hong Kong Free Press LGBT activist Jimmy Sham has launched a new legal bid to force Hong Kong to recognise the status of same-sex couples who were married overseas, with his lawyer arguing that differential treatment from heterosexual couples violates people’s right to equality. Sham, who failed in his initial judicial challenge in September 2020, appealed against the lower court’s ruling before a three-judge panel, consisting of Chief Judge of the High Court Poon Shiu-chor, Vice President of the Court of Appeal Susan Kwan and Justice of Appeal Carlye Chu. Sham is currently detained under the national security law… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English ‘My Policeman’ will have its world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival. The romantic drama – starring Harry Styles, David Dawson and Emma Corrin – will get a theatrical release from October 21, before it is available globally on Amazon Prime Video from November 4, but it will premiere first at TIFF in September. ‘My Policeman’ has been directed by Michael Grandage and written by Ron Nyswaner, and is based on the book of the same name from Bethan Roberts. Set in 1950s Brighton, it tells the story of Tom (Styles), a gay policeman who marries a school teacher named Marion (Corrin) while being in a relationship with Patrick (Dawson), a museum curator. It also flashes forward to the 1990s, where Tom (Linus Roache), Marion (Gina McKee) and Patrick (Rupert Everett) are still reeling with regret over the past, but have one last chance to repair the damage. Meanwhile, Harry, 28, previously warned that ‘My Policeman’ and his other upcoming movie ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ are “not family friendly”. He said: “I don’t know if you can watch either with your parents! I’m going to have to do another one!” Asked if it is true there are some “pretty saucy scenes” in both movies, he confirmed: “Yes.” Harry – who appears opposite Florence Pugh in ‘Don’t Worry Darling’ and Emma and David in ‘My Policeman’ – also revealed he felt “very lucky” to have built a “trusting” relationship with his co-stars when shooting their sex scenes, so there was no awkwardness. He said: “I think it depends very much on who you’re working with and what the situation is, all I can say from my own experience is that I was very lucky to have a very trusting relationship within the people we were working with and that kind of came first, so it was all discussed and all of it was very, kind of, ‘OK above the filming, above anything that is happening, it’s the cameras, it’s me and you, we’re doing his together, and we trust each other and if at any point, you know, we can stop whenever’ and all that kind of stuff. “I’d never done that before on camera – at least I don’t think!” View the full article

Published by The Spun By Chris Rosvoglou Earlier this week, the Democrat-led House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that would codify same-sex marriage into federal law. The bipartisan final vote for this bill was 267 to 157. In order for this bill to pass the Senate, at least 10 Republicans would need to join all 50 Democrats. U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama recently shared his thoughts on same-sex marriage. At first, Tuberville told reporters there’s “no need for legislating on gay marriage.” When asked if he supports same-sex marriage, Tuberville responded: “Yeah, if that’s what you want to do, f… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden will lay out plans on Thursday to ask Congress for $37 billion for crime prevention programs as he seeks to address one of the top concerns among Americans ahead of congressional elections in November. Biden will outline details of his Safer America Plan in a visit to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The $37 billion will be included in his budget request to Congress for fiscal 2023, which begins Oct. 1. His plans include $13 billion over the next five years to hire and train an additional 100,000 police officers, a White House fact sheet said. Biden has long rejected some progressive Democrats’ drive to “defund the police.” Polls show Americans consider crime one of the top challenges facing the country, and Biden is attempting to bolster Democrats in what are expected to be closely fought midterm elections in November that will determine whether they remain in control of Congress. Biden would spend $3 billion to help communities clear court backlogs and set up task forces to share intelligence, with an eye toward reducing gun violence. His plan would also impose tougher penalties for fentanyl trafficking amid an epidemic of drug overdoses. To tackle organized retail theft, the plan calls on Congress to pass legislation to require online marketplaces like Amazon to verify third-party sellers’ information, and to impose liability on online marketplaces for the sale of stolen goods on their platforms. Biden’s plan establishes a $15 billion grant program called Accelerating Justice System Reform that cities and states could use over the next 10 years to pursue strategies to prevent violent crime and to ease the burden on police by identifying non-violent situations that may merit a public-health response, the White House said. (Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Leslie Adler) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Lizzo hopes her Yitty brand will make fashion more inclusive for plus-size women. The 34-year-old singer revealed that while she is happy to have her clothes custom made, she wants to make the world of fashion accessible for everyone, not only those who can afford to spend more on clothing. She told Elle UK: “I’ve had a lot of shoots with people making outfits from scratch for me. And I’m not mad at it. Thank you. But what about the millions of people who are my size or bigger who can’t get access to chic and glamorous clothing? I don’t want to be the token big girl for the fashion world. I want to open the door. I want this for everybody.” And Lizzo said shapewear was the obvious place to start. She explained: “More than any piece of clothing, shapewear can make people feel ways about their bodies and, most of the time, it’s bad. I want to revolutionise shapewear. I want to change how people think when they hear the word ‘snatched’. I don’t want people to ever have to deal with a girdle again in their lives.” While Lizzo is now happy with her body, she admitted it took time, and the support of her friends, for her to accept herself. She said: “In doing the fake it till you make it method, I began attracting a lot of people who thought I was beautiful. In the past, a lot of people were my friend because they knew that having me around would make them feel better about themselves. But [my best friend] genuinely thought I was beautiful and helped me believe it and say it out loud. “I was like, ‘Oh no, my [beauty] is real.’ And I think that’s an important thing. You start attracting people who see you the way you see yourself. Anyone around you is going to notice you how you view yourself.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Steven Soderbergh has revealed that ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ is inspired by the stage show. The 59-year-old director is returning to helm the third film in the ‘Magic Mike’ franchise – billed as the final movie for Channing Tatum’s stripper Mike Lane – and explained that the theatre show has influenced the flick. Speaking to Variety, Steven said: “The movie is sort of a fictionalised procedural on how Mike comes up with the idea of a show – and then the obstacles, of which there are many, to trying to realise his vision of what this new thing could be. “It’s a variation of ‘All That Jazz’.” ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ is set to premiere on the streaming service HBO Max but Steven suggested that it could still have a run in the cinema. The ‘Traffic’ director said: “We’re talking about it. “It’s certainly hard to argue that this isn’t a movie that’s best seen in a theatre, because we have the data. People, primarily women, were going in packs, in large groups, to see the ‘Magic Mike’ movies.” Steven revealed that ‘Magic Mike’s Last Dance’ is likely to be the final film in the series but suggested that spin-offs could be developed with characters other than Mike Lane. He explained: “I think there are other things to be done within what I consider now to be a larger ‘Magic Mike’ universe. “There are stories that can be told that have the same sort of ethos and are tackling the same subjects that still involve dance but don’t have Mike Lane in them.” The film’s production hit a rocky patch when Thandiwe Newton was replaced by Salma Hayek after shooting began but Steven says the actress has been a capable member of the cast. Soderbergh said: “I hadn’t seen Salma in 22 years after she did a little bit part in ‘Traffic’. “She just brings so much to the table. Anybody that spent any amount of time with Salma will see that there is so much of Salma in this movie.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By David Morgan WASHINGTON (Reuters) – During weeks of hearings about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Donald Trump’s supporters, Republican Representative Liz Cheney has sat shoulder-to-shoulder with Democrats eager to portray the former president as a danger to democracy. Her role as vice chair of the congressional panel investigating the 2021 assault has won her national praise from Trump critics on both sides of the political aisle, amid mounting evidence that the former president sought to remain in power by spreading falsehoods about a stolen 2020 election. “President Trump is a 76-year-old man. He is not an impressionable child. Just like everyone else in our country, he is responsible for his own actions and his own choices,” Cheney said at a Jan. 6 committee hearing last week. But after the committee’s upcoming hearing on Thursday, Cheney will learn whether voters back home in Wyoming view her opposition to Trump as a principled stand against lies and insurrection, or as an unwarranted act of disloyalty to their party’s charismatic leader. Of the nine lawmakers on the Jan. 6 committee, Cheney is one of just two Republicans and the only one seeking reelection. Her fate will become plain on Aug. 16, when deep red Wyoming holds a Republican primary election that will effectively choose the state’s next member of the House of Representatives. The 55-year-old daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney is Trump’s biggest midterm election target in a revenge campaign against perceived enemies in the Republican Party. Despite a campaign cash advantage of more than $5.5 million, she is trailing Trump-backed Republican challenger Harriet Hageman by more than 20 points in opinion polls and has had to appeal to voters outside the Republican Party, including Democrats, to switch parties and vote for her in the primary. Cheney’s opposition to Trump has led to her ouster from the House Republican leadership, a Republican National Committee censure and a decision by the Wyoming Republican Party to no longer recognize her as a member. “Instead of fighting for us, she’s fighting against President Trump. She betrayed us. She betrayed our values,” a Hageman campaign ad says of Cheney. COUNTRY FIRST Trump won 70% of the vote in Wyoming in 2020, his biggest margin among U.S. states. Cheney, a three-term incumbent who has voted in line with Trump 92.9% of the time, polled just below the 70% mark. This time, as she weathers attacks from a Trump-backed Super PAC and the conservative Club for Growth group, Cheney is still hoping to win the day with her vow to put duty to the U.S. Constitution and the national interest above party loyalty. A recent poll for the Casper Star-Tribune put her support at 30%, vs. 52% for Hageman. The winner of the primary will almost certainly be elected to Congress in November. “Even people who dislike Liz Cheney, even people who are going to vote against her, will tell you that they are impressed with somebody willing to stand up on their convictions, so much so that they risk their political career,” said state Representative Landon Brown, a member of the Cheney campaign’s state leadership team. “The only thing people can’t get past is this Donald Trump discussion,” he added. Cheney’s best hope is to draw a large turnout from a coalition of voters including independent-minded Republicans from cities such as Cheyenne, Casper and Gillette, according to political analysts and her own supporters. “There is one path to victory. I think it’s narrow, and I think it’s uphill. But I think there is one,” said Tim Stubson, a former state legislator who lost his bid for Congress to her in the 2016 Republican primary. Her defeat would mean a symbolic win for Trump, as he considers whether to run for the White House again in 2024. But Elaine Kamarck, a Brookings Institution senior fellow, said Cheney could still emerge victorious over the former president as part of the Jan. 6 committee, even if she loses reelection next month. “The one thing they’re doing is convincing people that Donald Trump should not be president again. And I think Cheney is achieving that objective,” said Kamarck, who cited recent polling data showing that a large number of Republican voters want someone else for president in 2024. Many also believe that Cheney will launch her own presidential campaign, if she loses next month in Wyoming. “The fringe right and the fringe left all hate her. But you’ve got this overwhelming, massive majority of people in the center who believe that what she’s doing is the right thing,” Brown said. “Frankly, it’s the type of person that we need in the White House.” (Reporting by David Morgan, additional reporting by Rose Horowitch; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by DPA Klaus Mueller, President of the Federal Network Agency, stands in front of the house of the Federal Network Agency. Mueller says that Germany continues to be "at the mercy of Russia" despite the fact that gas is flowing through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline again after a maintenance-related halt. Oliver Berg/dpa The environmental organization Greenpeace says that Germany will be under Russia’s thumb until it decides to phase out its gas consumption altogether. “No one should be reassured” by the fact that Russian gas is flowing to Germany through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline again after a 10-day beak for maintenance work, said Greenpeace’s Reenie Vietheer. “There is only security from (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s power games with fossil energies by phasing out gas as quickly as possible,” aid Viethier. The head of Friends of the Earth Germany (BUND), Olaf Bandt, said that though gas was flowing again, “the problems for autumn remain. The situation painfully demonstrates how heavily we depend on fossil fuels, first and foremost natural gas.” View the full article

Published by DPA "Tropical Zone" by Kenneth Noland is among the works on display in a New York Jewish Museum show exploring the tumultuous mid-1960s period. Christina Horsten/dpa Even in the city that never sleeps, some periods have been more vibrant than others. Manhattan’s Jewish Museum is now putting the spotlight on the time between 1962 and 1964, “a pivotal three-year period in the history of art and culture in New York City.” Dubbed “New York: 1962-1964,” the exhibit showcases paintings and sculptures by artists like Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Nancy Grossman alongside everyday objects from the period like TVs, furniture and jukeboxes. The show examines “how artists living and working in New York responded to their rapidly changing world,” marked by events such as the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 which culminated in Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, and the assassination of then President John F. Kennedy that same year. According to the museum, this is the last exhibition conceived and curated by late Italian art historian Germano Celant, who passed away in 2020 at the age of 79 after contracting coronavirus. View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Ricky Martin has come out victorious in his battle against his nephew, who accused the superstar of harassing him following a torrid affair. Radar can confirm that Martin’s nephew dismissed the allegations; therefore, the judge has dropped the temporary restraining order against the singer. Martin’s attorneys, Joaquín Monserrate Matienzo, Carmelo Dávila and Harry Massanet Pastrana, tell RadarOnline.com, “Just as we had anticipated, the temporary protection order was not extended by the Court. The accuser confirmed to the court that his decision to dismiss the matter was his alone, without any outside influence or pressure, and the accuser confirmed he was satisfied with his legal representation in the matter.” They continue, “The request came from the accuser asking to dismiss the case. This was never anything more than a troubled individual making false allegations with absolutely nothing to substantiate them. We are glad that our client saw justice done and can now move forward with his life and his career.” View the full article

Published by AFP Amazon expands health care push New York (AFP) – Amazon is buying US primary health care provider One Medical for $3.9 billion, the companies announced Thursday, in a big step for the online retail giant’s move into the medical sector. The massive firm has steadily gone far beyond e-commerce, and earlier this year said its telemedicine service was expanding nationwide in the United States. “We think health care is high on the list of experiences that need reinvention,” said Neil Lindsay, senior vice president of Amazon Health Services. “We see lots of opportunity to both improve the quality of the experience and give people back valuable time in their days,” he added. One Medical, which has a network of primary care practices across the United States as well as telemedicine services, has grown to 767,000 members, according to its latest results. “There is an immense opportunity to make the health care experience more accessible, affordable, and even enjoyable for patients,” said One Medical CEO Amir Dan Rubin. The acquisition further grows Amazon’s broader ambitions, which expanded from its origins in e-commerce to streaming media, cloud computing, robotics, artificial intelligence and groceries. Like other big tech firms, its ubiquity and size have drawn scrutiny from regulators and lawmakers concerned about things like privacy and fair competition. Amazon’s deepening health push Tech world observers were quick to reflect some of the discomfort over Amazon’s broad involvement in people’s lives. “I think it will be really helpful if my doctor can look at my package order history and the food I get at Whole Foods before making any diagnoses,” tweeted Josh Elman, a Silicon Valley investor and product builder. In the health field, Amazon has already launched an online pharmacy for US consumers, who will be able to order prescription medications directly from its website or mobile app. That came after Amazon acquired PillPack, an internet pharmacy offering pre-sorted dose packaging and home delivery. Buying One Medical will also build on Amazon’s announcement in February that it was expanding Amazon Care, which was first launched in 2019 to provide its employees with access to doctors. The service combines virtual doctor or nurse visits using an Amazon Care mobile app with in-person care by medical personnel dispatched to patients’ homes, the tech company said. Like its telemedicine service, Amazon says it wants to develop a more modern health care offering that is increasingly responsive to today’s lifestyles, more personalized and less time-consuming. The telemedicine industry soared amid coronavirus restrictions and Americans’ use has since held steady at about 38 times over pre-pandemic levels, according to a McKinsey & Company report from July. At the same time, Americans typically get their health insurance through their jobs, so the current US hiring crunch has pushed employers to offer increasingly attractive benefits. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. congressional probe of the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by Donald Trump supporters wraps up its summer hearings on Thursday with a prime-time presentation focused on the former president’s actions during the three hours of rage after his raucous speech that day. The hearing will detail both the scenes of violence that played out as Trump supporters fought their way into the Capitol and Trump’s actions in the 187 minutes between his speech urging the crowd to “fight like hell” and the final release of a video urging rioters to go home. Ahead of the hearing, Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger released a video on Twitter in which former White House aides and officials described Trump watching television footage of the crowds that stormed the Capitol in a private dining room at the White House. “To the best of my recollection, he was always in the dining room,” said former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in the clip, which also showed former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone saying footage of the riot was visible on the screen. Scheduled at 8 p.m. EDT (0000 GMT Friday) to reach a broad television audience, the public hearing is expected to be the last eight the House of Representatives Select Committee has held since mid-June. “The focus of this hearing is what was going on here on Capitol Hill as that mob breached barriers and stormed the Capitol and caused a delay in certification of the Electoral College vote,” a committee aide told journalists, speaking on condition of anonymity to preview the hearing. “We are going to remind people that there was this inaction at the White House,” the aide said, noting that Trump did not release his video telling his followers to go home until after 4 p.m. The panel of seven Democratic and two Republican House members has been investigating the attack on the Capitol for the past year, interviewing more than 1,000 witnesses and amassing tens of thousands of documents. It has used the hearings to build a case that Trump’s efforts to overturn his defeat by Democrat Joe Biden in the November 2020 presidential election constitute illegal conduct, far beyond normal politics. The Washington Post reported that the committee could show outtakes from Trump’s effort to record a video the day after the riot. The newspaper said Trump resisted holding the rioters to account, to call them patriots and refused to say the election was over. Spokespeople for Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PENCE, MILITIAS AND FRAUD ALLEGATIONS Questioning of witnesses will be led by Kinzinger and Democratic Representative Elaine Luria. Committee aides declined to name witnesses, citing security concerns, but according to media reports they will include Matthew Pottinger, a deputy national security adviser under Trump, and Sarah Matthews, a deputy press secretary in his White House. Democratic Representative Bennie Thompson, the Select Committee’s chairperson, will lead the hearing remotely, after testing positive for COVID-19. Previous hearings have focused on the run-up to the riot, Trump’s pressure on Vice President Mike Pence to deny Biden the victory, militant groups whose members participated in the Capitol attack and Trump’s interactions with close advisers questioning his false allegations of massive voter fraud. Committee members said Trump incited the riot by refusing to admit he lost the election and through comments including a December Twitter post calling on supporters to flock to Washington for a “big protest” on Jan. 6, saying, “Be there, will be wild.” The Republican one-time reality television star, who has hinted he will seek the White House again in 2024, denies wrongdoing. He continues to claim falsely that he lost because of widespread fraud. Trump and his supporters – including many Republicans in Congress – dismiss the Jan. 6 panel as a political witch hunt, but the panel’s backers say it is a necessary probe into a violent threat against democracy. The attack on the Capitol injured more than 140 police officers and led to several deaths. More than 850 people have been charged with taking part in the riot, with more than 325 guilty pleas so far. While Thursday’s hearing is expected to be the last of the current series, the panel left the door open for more in the coming months. The panel has said it had collected far more information than it could present in one series of hearings. “There is no reason to think that this is going to be the Select Committee’s final hearing,” the aide said. The committee is also expected to have some sort of event to mark the release later this year of a report on its findings. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle; Editing by Scott Malone, Andy Sullivan and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The defense in Steve Bannon’s trial said it will rest its case on Thursday without calling any witnesses and asked the judge to dismiss the contempt of Congress charges against Donald Trump’s noted former presidential adviser for defying a subpoena by the panel investigating last year’s attack on the U.S. Capitol. A day after the prosecution rested its case, having called only two witnesses, David Schoen, one of Bannon’s lawyers, told U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols that the defense has no plans to put on a case for the jury. That came after Evan Corcoran, after of Bannon’s defense attorneys, made the motion to dismiss. Bannon, 68, has pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor counts after rebuffing the House of Representative select committee’s subpoena requesting testimony and documents as part of its inquiry into the Jan. 6, 2021, rampage by Trump supporters trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. “We would ask the court to grant our motion for judgment of acquittal. The government has rested its case and they have not presented evidence upon which a reasonable person can find beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Bannon is guilty of the charges of contempt of Congress,” Corcoran told the judge. Bannon’s primary defense is that he believed the subpoena’s deadline dates were flexible and subject to negotiation between his attorney and the committee. Kristin Amerling, a senior committee staff member, testified on Wednesday that the deadlines were not flexible and that a lawyer for Bannon had never sought any extensions. Corcoran on Thursday told the judge that even though Amerling testified the subpoena dates were inflexible, she was unable to articulate why those dates were selected or who picked them. “No reasonable juror could find that Mr. Bannon refused to comply with dates that we now understand were open – were in flux,” Corcoran told the judge. The prosecution asked the judge to reject the defense motion. “The government has presented sufficient evidence,” prosecutor Amanda Vaughn said. “The reasons for the dates are irrelevant. The dates are on the subpoena. The committee made clear in its letters to the defendant that those were the dates and they had violated them.” The prosecution’s two witnesses testified on Tuesday and Wednesday. Amerling testified that Bannon disregarded the subpoena’s two deadlines, sought no extensions and offered an invalid rationale for his defiance – a claim by Trump involving a legal doctrine called executive privilege that can keep certain presidential communications confidential. The other prosecution witness was FBI special agent Stephen Hart, who investigated the circumstances of Bannon’s defiance of the subpoena. On Wednesday, the judge let the defense inform jurors that Trump this month gave the green light for Bannon to testify before the committee after previously asking him not to cooperate. The judge also allowed him to introduce other recent correspondence between Bannon and the committee related to Bannon’s abrupt offer to testify. Nichols told jurors they cannot consider Bannon’s belief about executive privilege as an excuse or consider future offers of compliance as a defense against prior non-compliance. Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol and attacked police in a failed effort to block formal congressional certification of his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden, which Trump falsely claims was the result of widespread voting fraud. Bannon was a key adviser to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, then served in 2017 as his chief White House strategist. (Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Will Dunham and Aurora Ellis) View the full article

Published by AFP The annual arts Honors are normally a major fundraiser for The Kennedy Center, Washington's performing arts complex that serves as a living monument to slain president John F. Kennedy. Washington (AFP) – Film icon George Clooney and soul legend Gladys Knight are among this year’s crop of Kennedy Center honorees, one of America’s most prestigious arts awards. Irish rockers U2, Cuban-born American composer Tania Leon and the contemporary Christian and pop artist Amy Grant round out the 45th class, which will be feted at the center’s annual gala on December 4. The Kennedy Center — Washington’s performing arts complex that serves as a living monument to slain president John F. Kennedy — has like all arts institutions suffered during the pandemic and been forced to cancel, postpone or rein in previous celebrations. But barring the unexpected this year’s appeared to be on track to bring the glitz to Washington, where such red carpet events are rare. Last winter President Joe Biden attended, marking the first time a sitting president had attended the event in five years. Donald Trump bucked tradition and did not attend during his presidency, after several of the honored artists threatened to boycott the gala in his first year in office if he were present. This year’s event promised a slate of star-studded tributes to those being inducted. “Growing up in a small town in Kentucky I could never have imagined that someday I’d be the one sitting in the balcony at the Kennedy Center Honors. To be mentioned in the same breath with the rest of these incredible artists is an honor,” Clooney, star of “Michael Clayton” and “Gravity,” said in a statement. “Midnight Train to Georgia” singer Knight echoed the sentiment, saying she’s “humbled beyond words to be included amongst this prestigious group of individuals, both past and present.” “The Kennedy Center’s commitment to the arts is unparalleled and I am so very grateful for this moment.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Rose Horowitch WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday passed a bill to protect access to contraception, responding to concerns that it could be threatened by a conservative Supreme Court that revoked the ruling that guaranteed a nationwide right to abortion. The bill passed the Democratic-controlled House on a vote of 228-195, with all 220 Democrats and eight of the chamber’s 211 Republicans supporting it. It faces uncertain odds in the evenly divided Senate. The bill would create a federal right for people to access contraceptives and for doctors and pharmacists to provide them. Contraceptives are used by 88% of U.S. women of childbearing age who are not trying to get pregnant, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy group. Some state legislatures have introduced bills to restrict access to contraceptives, though they have not passed. In addition, 12 states allow health providers to refuse contraception, according to the Guttmacher Institute. “We need federal legislation to make it absolutely clear that people have the right to use and buy birth control,” Democratic Representative Kathy Manning, the bill’s sponsor, said in an interview. Republican Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers said the right to contraception was not at risk and that Republicans understood there is a “clear distinction” between contraception and abortion. The bill would force healthcare providers to “violate their religion,” she said in debate on the House floor. Democrats introduced the bill after the Supreme Court ended the nationwide right to abortion in June by overturning its 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas wrote that the court should reconsider other rulings that established rights to contraception and same-sex marriage because they were based on the same legal argument as Roe. Democrats hope the bill will draw a contrast with Republicans ahead of the Nov. 8 midterm elections, when control of Congress is at stake. The House on Wednesday passed a bill to protect same-sex and interracial marriage with bipartisan support. Last week, the House passed bills to establish nationwide abortion rights and to protect the right to travel between states for an abortion, with votes largely along party lines. It is unclear whether any of these bills will pass the Senate for Democratic President Joe Biden to sign into law. (Reporting by Rose Horowitch; editing by Andy Sullivan and Jonathan Oatis) View the full article