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Published by Reuters By Julie Steenhuysen and Jeff Mason CHICAGO/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. government is ramping up efforts to staunch the spread of monkeypox by sending hundreds of thousands of vaccine doses to states in the coming months, expanding access for those most at risk and increasing supply to areas with high case numbers. The plan, announced on Tuesday, involves rapidly expanding access to doses of Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos vaccine – which has so far been limited – to prevent monkeypox in areas with the highest transmission and need. State and local health departments can also order supplies of Emergent BioSolutions’ ACAM2000 vaccine, which is in much greater supply but which has more side effects and cannot be used by everyone, including those who are immunocompromised. The Biden administration will allocate 296,000 doses of Jynneos from a national stockpile to states and territories in the coming weeks, with 56,000 allocated immediately and 1.6 million doses made available over the coming months, officials said. The United States has 306 cases of monkeypox, a viral infection related to smallpox that causes painful skin lesions. Although the virus is endemic in parts of Africa, the current outbreak has hit countries where the virus does not usually spread, sparking concern that it could become more widespread. “As additional supply becomes available, we will further expand our efforts, making vaccines available to a wider population,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky told reporters. Those at highest risk have been men who have sex with men. Demand for the vaccine has been growing. Last week, a New York clinic started offering the vaccine and quickly ran out of available shots. Previously, health officials have been focused on offering the vaccine to individuals with direct contact with a person who has had a confirmed case of monkeypox. The new strategy will expand that definition to include presumed exposures, said Jennifer McQuiston, Deputy Director of CDC’s Division of High Consequence Pathogens and Pathology. These would include those who had close contact with someone diagnosed with monkeypox, those who know their sexual partner was diagnosed with monkeypox, and men who have sex with men who have recently had multiple sex partners in a venue where there was known to be monkeypox or in an area where monkeypox is spreading. The goal of the initial phase of the strategy is to slow the spread of the disease, administration officials said. (Reporting by Julie Steenhuysen and Jeff Mason; Editing by Shri Navaratnam and Richard Pullin) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal have been cast in ‘Strange Way of Life’. The ‘Black Phone’ and ‘Mandalorian’ actors will star in the Western short film – known as ‘Extraña Forma de Vida’ in Spanish – from writer and director Pedro Almodóvar, with filming set to get underway in late August. As reported by Variety, the movie will be shot in English and follows gunslingers Silva and Chieff Jake, who worked together as hired gunmen 25 years earlier. The film will begin with Silva riding a horse across the desert to Bitter Creek, where he has come to meet Jake with the pretext of a reunion, but there is more than meets the eye. In a statement, Almodóvar teased: “I won’t say any more because I don’t want to reveal all the script’s surprises.” The movie will also star Jason Fernández, José Condessa, George Steane, Manu Ríos, Pedro Casablanc and Sara Salámo. The movie will be shot in the Tabernas desert in Almeria in southern Spain, as well as the settlement built 50 years ago by Sergio Leone for his ‘Dollars’ spaghetti Western trilogy. Meanwhile, production company El Deseo is working on building a ranch near Madrid which will also be used for filming. Saint Laurent by Anthony Vaccarello will be in charge of costume design on the project as well as serving as an associate producer. Producer Agustín Almodóvar described the film as “another exercise of freedom in the line of ‘The Human Voice'”, and praised Almodóvar for the way he “reinterprets genres, questioning their codes”. He added: “We’ll look to self-finance and recuperate later. “This is shot with the freedom we had when we made Super 8 movies in the ‘70s, but with 40 years experience in the sector.” View the full article

Published by DPA Airbnb is trying to make its platform more sustainable for local communities by ending the "party house" phenomenon with a permanent ban on large gatherings in rented stays. Jens Kalaene/dpa Two years after introducing a temporary ban on parties in rented homes during the pandemic, Airbnb is making made the ban permanent for all accommodation worldwide. The ban, which Airbnb made officially permanent in a Tuesday announcement, was first introduced amid fears that parties would shift to rented flats when bars and clubs were closed during pandemic lockdowns. Airbnb says the ban has since proven effective in combatting disruptive gatherings and “party house” events with open invitations advertised on social media. Since the ban was introduced in August 2020, reports of parties have decreased by 44% year-over-year, according to the company. With the move, Airbnb is also trying to make their business model more compatible with local communities by ending the “party house” phenomenon that has become a dreaded arrival to apartment buildings, where a constant turnover of noisy guests can burden nearby tenants. “Over time, the party ban became much more than a public health measure,” Airbnb said. “It developed into a bedrock community policy to support our hosts and their neighbours.” At the same time, the company is also lifting its cap on 16 people per home, after introducing the limit over social distancing concerns during the pandemic. Guests who ignore the party ban are threatened with having their account suspended and even being completely kicked from the platform, and Airbnb says that in 2021 alone, more than 6,600 guests around the world were banned from Airbnb for violating the party ban. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Luc Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters) – Lev Parnas, a onetime associate of Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, will be sentenced on Wednesday for violating U.S. campaign finance laws during the 2018 elections. Parnas, 50, was convicted in October of seeking funds from Russian businessman Andrey Muraviev to donate to candidates Parnas believed could help secure licenses to operate cannabis businesses. U.S. law bars foreign individuals from contributing to campaigns. The Manhattan federal court jury also found that Parnas had concealed that he and former associate Igor Fruman were the true source of a donation to a group supporting Trump. U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken is scheduled to sentence Parnas at a hearing starting at 11 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT). Prosecutors last week said Parnas deserved to serve between six and eight years in prison, arguing the Ukraine-born American businessman “put himself above this country” and lacked true remorse. A lawyer for Parnas had urged Oetken not to send Parnas to prison, arguing he deserved credit for his post-arrest cooperation with the U.S. House of Representatives’ investigation leading to Trump’s 2019 impeachment. Parnas and Belarus-born U.S. citizen Igor Fruman are best known for helping Giuliani investigate Democrat Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential campaign. While Trump was impeached for abusing his powers to investigate political rivals, he was later acquitted by the Senate. Both Fruman, who pleaded guilty, and Andrey Kukushkin, a Muraviev associate who was convicted on some counts alongside Parnas, received one-year sentences. Giuliani, a former New York City mayor, has not been accused of wrongdoing. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by David Gregorio) View the full article

Published by uPolitics.com In a packed White House room, President Joe Biden, several officials from his administration and leaders of the LGBTQ community gathered to celebrate the signing of an executive order guaranteeing federal protection of LGBTQ rights. The President, Vice President Kamala Harris and other cabinet members, including Pete Buttigieg, joined a crowd of cheering activists and representatives of the LGBTQ community. “My message to all the young people: Just be you, you are loved,” Biden said. “I want you to know that as your president, all of us on this stage have your back. We have your back.” The exe… Read More View the full article

Published by Al-Araby A potato crisps brand in Lebanon has pulled a long-standing logo on packets of chips depicting the seven colours of a prism after coming under fire by people falsely accusing the makers of promoting homosexuality. Master Chips released a statement after “rumours” about the motive for including a small rainbow on the cover of its long-running ‘Snackers’ products. Some Lebanese homophobic campaigners from across the religious spectrum had falsely claimed the prism was included to promote homosexuality leading to the company buckling under the criticism The makers said: “The company wants to clar… Read More View the full article

Published by uInterview.com The writer and star of the upcoming gay romantic comedy Bros, Billy Eichner, made his high school dream come true when he hosted a screening of his film in New York City hosted by none other than Mariah Carey. Eichner celebrated the occasion on Twitter, writing in all caps “I WILL NEVER RECOVER!!!!!” The day after the event. Eichner and Carey posed for photos on the red carpet, with Carey even pinching the Bros star’s butt for one of the shots. Eichner added in another excited tweet, “I LITERALLY HAD MY FIRST KISS WHILE LISTENING TO THE @MariahCarey EMOTIONS ALBUM IN JUNIOR HIGH AND NOW THIS I… Read More View the full article

North Idaho Pride Alliance “Pride In The Park”FBI Monitored Multiple Hate Groups In Idaho The arrest of 31 Patriot Front members, including the white-nationalist group’s leader Thomas Rousseau, for allegedly conspiring to assault an Idaho LGBTQ event was a big leap in the evolution of alt-right hate groups escalating planned mass violent actions against LGBTQ populations and gatherings. A new report in Rolling Stone shows that the arrests in Coeur d’Alene, ID on June 11 were a product of the FBI’s monitoring of Patriot Front, and that the agency has been monitoring multiple similar xenophobic hate groups over the last year. Coeur d’Alene Plot Unraveled According to the report, the FBI monitored and shared details of Patriot Front activities with Idaho law enforcement as far back as August of last year. Those included data on increasing acts of vandalism in Coeur d’Alene specifically. Complaints about Patriot Front posters and stickers promoting the white-nationalist organization rolled in from residents of the city at that time. The FBI and local police updated each other as the propaganda campaign continued, trying to identify individuals that posted the material. “We need to catch these people. Disgusting,” said Coeur d’Alene Mayor Steve Widmyer in an email exchange with law enforcement obtained by nonprofit organization Property of the People. According to NIPA organizers, the Coeur d’Alene event “was a great success, According to NIPA organizers, the Coeur d’Alene event “was a great success,” with roughly 2,000 people in attendance, many of which weren’t even aware of the Patriot Front arrests until seeing news reports. “The energy that was felt throughout the venue was overwhelmingly positive and full of love and connection,” Jessica Mahuron, NIPA outreach director, told The Spokesman-Review last week. “It was safe, even given some of the challenges on the fringes of our event and sometimes interfering in our event.” Though the Pride event didn’t experience violence or major disruption, Mahuron noted that the tactics and hateful rhetoric of the various hate groups that organized and motivated others to participate in such actions deserve serious attention. “It’s something that a lot of different agencies in the community need to have a conversation about: Where things go from here,” Mahuron said. “I personally would like for us to see the hope that is in our story, about a small community organization that faced enormous challenges that are not normal for even a Pride organization to experience.” Idaho LGBTQ: Previously on Towleroad New Documents On Foiled Patriot Front Attack Of Idaho LGBTQ Pride Event Show FBI Monitored Multiple Hate Groups A Year Prior Brian Bell June 29, 2022 Read More More ‘Don’t Say Gay Bills’ Are Being Prioritized In Multiple States As The Anti-Gay Bill in Florida Passes to Governor Brian Bell March 17, 2022 Read More Idaho, Alabama, Wisconsin Advance Anti-Trans Youth Bills, Including Life In Prison Punishment For Providing Puberty Blockers Brian Bell March 10, 2022 Read More At 18, Gay Sex Got Him 7 Years in Prison. Montana Made him Register as a Sexual Offender Until This Week — though Sodomy Laws Were Tossed 17 Years Ago Brian Bell May 13, 2021 Read More Nation’s Only Anne Frank Memorial Vandalized with Swastikas and Signs Reading ‘We Are Everywhere’ Andy Towle December 10, 2020 Read More Idaho Official Ends Zoom Call with Health Board Because COVID Deniers are Outside Her House, Terrorizing Her Family: WATCH Andy Towle December 9, 2020 Read More Image via North Idaho Pride Alliance View the full article

Published by Reuters By Moira Warburton WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The sixth day of congressional hearings into the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol featured Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to then-President Donald Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows. Hutchinson’s testimony focused on what Meadows and Trump knew about the attack in the days before and on Jan. 6, informed by her close working proximity to both men. Here are some takeaways from the hearing: TRUMP RALLY ATTENDEES WERE ARMED Many Republicans – including Trump and Republican Representative Louie Gohmert – have said the rioters were not armed, but Hutchinson’s testimony contradicted this claim. She testified that both Meadows and Trump knew many in the crowd were armed with AR-15s, handguns, brass knuckles and batons and equipped with body armor. Trump was irate that many rally attendees were having to go through metal detectors, a standard security procedure for people near the president, because it gave the appearance of fewer people attending the rally. “They’re not here to hurt me,” Hutchinson recalled Trump as saying. “Let them in, let my people in. They can march to the Capitol after the rally’s over.” WHITE HOUSE LAWYERS HAD LEGAL CONCERNS ABOUT JAN. 6 Hutchinson testified that White House lawyer Pat Cipollone told her on Jan. 3, 2021, that it would be “legally a terrible idea” for Trump to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6. “He said to me, ‘We need to make sure that this doesn’t happen,” Hutchinson testified. “‘We have serious legal concerns if we go up to the Capitol that day.'” TRUMP GRABBED STEERING WHEEL OF PRESIDENTIAL LIMO Trump was so furious that the Secret Service and White House lawyers were planning to return him to the White House rather than allow him to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6 that he tried to grab the steering wheel from the back seat of the presidential limo, Hutchinson said. “‘I’m the effing president, take me to the Capitol now,'” Hutchinson testified Trump said. Trump denied that assertion in a statement posted on Truth Social, his social media app.”Her Fake story that I tried to grab the steering wheel of the White House Limousine in order to steer it to the Capitol Building is ‘sick’ and fraudulent,” he wrote and denied her testimony that he threw food and plates against the wall on several occasions. TRUMP THREW LUNCH AT WALL AFTER BARR INTERVIEW According to video testimony shown on Tuesday by the committee from Kayleigh McEnany, Trump’s White House press secretary at the time, Trump was so enraged by then-Attorney General Bill Barr’s interview with the Associated Press saying there was no evidence of election fraud that Trump threw his lunch at the wall, breaking a porcelain dish and leaving ketchup dripping down the wall. “There were several times throughout my tenure with the chief of staff that I was aware of him either throwing dishes or flipping the tablecloth to let all the contents of the table go onto the floor and likely break or go everywhere,” Hutchinson told the committee. (Reporting by Moira Warburton, Richard Cowan, Rose Horowitch and Doina Chiacu in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller) View the full article

Published by OK Magazine mega Beckett’s Spirits has officially dropped Todd Chrisley. Tinley Beverage Company Inc stated in a press release via Us Weekly on Monday, June 27, that it “has served notice and has terminated” their agreement with the Chrisley Knows Best star, 53, on being their brand ambassador. Meanwhile, the reality star still has Beckett’s Spirits listed in his Instagram bio. mega The According to Chrisley host, and his wife, Julie, 49, were convicted of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy to defraud the United States and tax fraud, with Julie also being charged with a count of wire fraud. More To Come… View the full article

Published by OK Magazine @therealmeribrown/instagram;@mariahbrwn/instagram The famous offspring of Meri and Kody Brown is sharing their truth. On Tuesday, June 28, Sister Wives star Leon Brown came out as transgender, opening up about their journey to self discovery in a candid Instagram post. “someone recently told me that i didn’t have to have all of my s**t figured out in order for me to share myself with the world,” they captioned two photos of themself posing in front of intricate oversized doors. @mariahbrwn/instagram “so here’s me,” they announced, “definitely not having almost any of my s**t figured out, to let you know that i am trans. my name is Leon or Leo (i love both) and my pronouns are they/them.” MERI BROWN POSTS CRYPTIC MESSAGE ABOUT REMAINING POSITIVE FOLLOWING KODY SPLIT: ‘NEW DOORS ARE OPENING’ The TLC star, formerly known as Mariah, then reflected on the first time they knew they weren’t a girl. “i was pretty young & unfortunately i grew up in a context that was incredibly gendered & restrictive,” Leon noted, seemingly referring to their nontraditional lifestyle as part of a polygamous family, as Kody is also married to Robyn and Janelle Brown. (Sister wife Christine Brown announced in November 2021 that she was leaving her husband after more than 25 years together.) “so i continued to be socialized as a girl & later a woman,” Leon pointed out, noting that after all that time, they are now ready to “share my favorite self with the world.” “and that self is incredibly genderqueer, trans, and unapologetic,” the reality star, 26, gushed. “being queer & trans are definitely some of my favorite parts of myself.” @therealmeribrown/instagram ‘SISTER WIVES’ STAR MERI BROWN STRIKES SULTRY POSE ON INSTAGRAM, SAYS SHE’S TRYING TO ‘EMBRACE CHANGE’ AMID MARITAL WOES As they continue on this process of self discovery, Leon explained, “there are so many things that i am learning to love about myself.” Leon concluded: “here’s to me getting to know myself, share myself, and continually evolve to be the person i am, to be my favorite self in all contexts.” Leon is Meri and Kody’s only child, and while their dad has yet to address his child’s announcement, their mom praised them by sharing Leon’s post to her own Instagram Story. Leon’s fiancé, Audrey Kriss, also came out as transgender back in December 2021. The lovebirds got engaged in 2019 after two years of dating. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Richard Cowan and Moira Warburton WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Donald Trump tried to grab the steering wheel of his presidential limousine on Jan. 6, 2021, when his security detail declined to take him to the U.S. Capitol where his supporters were rioting, a former aide testified on Tuesday. The then-president dismissed concerns that some supporters gathered for his fiery speech outside the White House that day carried AR-15-style rifles, instead asking security to stop screening attendees with magnetometers so the crowd would look larger, the aide testified. “Take the effing mags away; they’re not here to hurt me,” Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to Trump’s then-White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, quoted Trump as saying that morning. Trump struggled with Secret Service agents who insisted he return to the White House rather than join supporters storming the Capitol where Congress was meeting to certify his rival Democratic President Joe Biden’s victory, Hutchinson testified. “‘I’m the effing president. Take me up to the Capitol now,'” Hutchinson quoted an enraged Trump as saying. She said Trump tried from the back seat to grab the steering wheel of the heavily armored presidential vehicle. It was one of several of Hutchinson’s disclosures in testimony at the sixth day of House hearings into the deadly Jan. 6 Capitol assault by Trump’s followers, roused by his false claims his 2020 election defeat was the result of fraud. On social media Trump denied having grabbed the wheel. “Her Fake story that I tried to grab the steering wheel of the White House Limousine in order to steer it to the Capitol Building is ‘sick’ and fraudulent,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media app. Dozens of courts, election officials and reviews by Trump’s own administration rejected his fraud claims, including outlandish stories about an Italian security firm and the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tampering with U.S. ballots. Four people died the day of the attack, one fatally shot by police and the others of natural causes. More than 100 police officers were injured, and one died the next day. Four officers later died by suicide. WITNESS TAMPERING? At the end of about two hours of testimony, Representative Liz Cheney, one of two Republicans on the nine-member House panel, presented possible evidence of witness tampering and obstruction of justice. She showed messages to unidentified witnesses advising them that an unidentified person would be watching their testimony closely and expecting loyalty. Republican Mick Mulvaney, who served as Trump’s chief of staff before Meadows, said on Twitter: “There is an old maxim: it’s never the crime, it’s always the cover-up. Things went very badly for the former President today. My guess is that it will get worse from here.” Hutchinson told the committee that Meadows and Trump’s former attorney Rudy Giuliani had sought pardons from Trump. Giuliani told WSYR radio in Syracuse, New York, on Tuesday that he had not sought a pardon: “The only time a pardon came up between the president and me, there were two witnesses present including the president, and I told them I did not want a pardon because I didn’t need one.” The hastily called hearing marked the first time this month, during six hearings, that a former White House official appeared for live testimony. Speaking in soft but assured tones, Hutchinson painted a picture of panicked White House officials bristling at the possibility of Trump joining what was to become a violent mob pushing its way into the Capitol, hunting for then-Vice President Mike Pence, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other lawmakers who were then certifying the victory of Biden over the Republican Trump. ‘EVERY CRIME IMAGINABLE’ Their worries focused on the potential criminal charges Trump and others could face. “We’re going to get charged with every crime imaginable,” Hutchinson said White House counselor Cipollone told her if Trump were to go to the Capitol on Jan. 6. “‘We need to make sure that this doesn’t happen, this would be a really terrible idea for us. We have serious legal concerns if we go up to the Capitol that day,'” Cipollone said, Hutchinson testified. Hutchinson, who sat doors away from Trump’s Oval Office, testified that days before the attack on the U.S. Capitol, Meadows knew of the looming violence that could unfold. “‘Things might get real, real bad on Jan. 6,'” she quoted him as saying inside the White House on Jan. 2 with her boss. She testified that Giuliani had said of Jan. 6: “‘We’re going to the Capitol, it’s going to be great. The president’s going to be there; he’s going to look powerful.'” At that point, she told the House committee of seven Democrats and two Republicans: “It was the first moment that I remembered feeling scared and nervous of what could happen on Jan. 6.” This month’s hearings featured videotaped testimony from figures including Trump’s oldest daughter, Ivanka Trump, and his former attorney general, Bill Barr. They and other witnesses testified that they did not believe Trump’s false claims of widespread fraud and tried to dissuade him of them. (Reporting by Richard Cowan and Moira Warburton, additional reporting by Doina Chiacu, Rose Horowitch and Costas Pitas; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jason Lange WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A majority of Americans hold a negative opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court following its decision last week to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that recognized a right to abortion, says a Reuters/Ipsos survey completed on Tuesday. The two-day public opinion poll found 57% of Americans had an unfavorable view of the U.S. top court, while 43% viewed it favorably. That puts approval of the court, which is meant to be a nonpartisan entity, on a par with Americans’ views of Congress, which has long been viewed negatively. It also marks a significant shift from a June 6-7 Reuters/Ipsos poll that showed 48% had an unfavorable view and 52% a favorable view. Some 27% of respondents had a very unfavorable view of the court, up from 14% who held that view earlier in the month. The reversal was almost entirely because of increasingly dismal views of the court among Democrats, often more supportive of abortion rights than Republicans are. Sixty percent of Democrats said they had a less favorable view of the Supreme Court than they had six months ago, compared to 23% of Republicans. The conservative-dominated Supreme Court on Friday overturned the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling recognizing women’s constitutional right to abortion. The decision, hailed by conservative activists as a great victory, will dramatically change life for millions of women in America. In a concurring opinion on Friday, conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, an appointee of Republican President George H.W. Bush, suggested that the same reasoning that led the court to overturn Roe could be used to rethink other rights, such as same-sex marriage and access to birth control. President Joe Biden, a Democrat, has condemned the ruling. Democratic lawmakers hope the abortion rights setback will help drive Democrats to the polls in the Nov. 8 midterm elections, when Republicans have good odds of winning control of one or both congressional chambers. Some 55% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, according to a separate Ipsos poll conducted on Monday and Tuesday. Both polls were conducted online in English throughout the United States. Each gathered responses from 1,005 adults and had a credibility interval – a measure of precision – of four percentage points. (Reporting by Jason Lange; Editing by Scott Malone and Howard Goller) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Steve-O admits ‘Jackass’ was a “bad influence” on kids. The hit MTV series – which later became a film franchise – saw the 48-year-old star and his fellow cast members, including Bam Margera, Johnny Knoxville, the late Ryan Dunn, Chris Pontius, Preston Lacy and Dave England, carry out daring stunts and pranks on each other or the public. It ran for three seasons between 2000 and 2001, and had a number of spin-offs, including ‘Viva La Bam’, ‘Homewrecker’ and ‘Dr. Steve-O’, plus several movies. And Steve-O has confessed that they were “genuinely worth vilifying” for encouraging a generation of viewers to do their own pranks and wind up in hospital. Speaking on the ‘Hotboxin with Mike Tyson’ podcast, he said: “We were genuinely worth vilifying because back then they didn’t have YouTube or video on the Internet and we were legitimately a bad influence. “When ‘Jackass’ came out, little kids were showing up in hospitals all over the country and maybe the world because they saw us doing this crazy s*** and they wanted to do it themselves.” These days, pranks are a big business on the likes of YouTube and TikTok, so Steve-O says they can no longer take the blame. The stand-up comic added: “At that time, you could really point to us as being a bad influence. “But I think over the years because now that there’s so much YouTube, [MTV’s], so much, it’s not our f****** fault anymore.” The latest film in the franchise is ‘Jackass Forever’, which was released earlier this year. The film stars original members Johnny, Steve-O, Dave England, Wee Man, Danger Ehren, Chris Pontius, Preston Lacy, plus newcomers and celebrity guests. Leftover footage from the film was used in Netflix’s ‘Jackass 4.5’. What’s more, a new series is in the works for Paramount+ following the box office success of the latest film, which grossed more than $80 million worldwide. Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish said last month: “Based off the success of ‘Jackass Forever,’ we’re working with the creators to continue the partnership with a new series, bringing even more ridiculous antics straight to Paramount+.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Luc Cohen and Brendan Pierson NEW YORK (Reuters) -Ghislaine Maxwell’s sentencing hearing for helping sex offender and globetrotting financier Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls kicked off on Tuesday. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of at least 30 years for Maxwell, 60, who was convicted in December of recruiting and grooming girls to have sexual encounters with Epstein, then her boyfriend, between 1994 and 2004. [nL1N2YA05K] U.S. Circuit Judge Alison Nathan will sentence the British socialite at the conclusion of the hearing in Manhattan federal court. Two of the victims who testified at her trial, Annie Farmer and a woman known as “Kate,” are expected to make statements at the hearing. Maxwell’s monthlong trial was widely seen as the reckoning that Epstein – who killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell in 2019 at age 66 while awaiting his own sex trafficking trial – never had. It was one of the highest-profile cases in the wake of the #MeToo movement, which encouraged women to speak out about sexual abuse, often at the hands of wealthy and powerful people. In often emotional and explicit testimony during the trial, Farmer, Kate, and two other women testified that Maxwell was a central figure in their abuse by Epstein. (Reporting by Luc Cohen and Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by Mark Porter and Noeleen Walder) View the full article

Published by AFP Former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson has already featured in videotaped depositions at two of the committee's hearings Washington (AFP) – A former top White House aide with unique access to Donald Trump and inner workings of the West Wing was expected to testify publicly Tuesday before the committee probing the attack on the US Capitol. Cassidy Hutchinson, an executive assistant to Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows, was a central figure in the White House around the period of the insurrection on January 6 last year. She has already been the source of several blockbuster revelations, appearing in videotaped depositions at two previous hearings and memorably naming a group of House Republicans who sought pardons from Trump following the violence. She was also in contact with officials in the battleground state of Georgia, where Trump infamously pressured officials to “find” enough votes to overcome Joe Biden’s victory margin in a phone call that is the subject of a criminal probe. Hutchinson testified behind closed doors in February, March and May, revealing she saw Meadows incinerate documents in his office after meeting a Republican congressman implicated in the plot to overturn the election. The lawmaker, Scott Perry, was pivotal in Trump’s failed effort to install his own pliant attorney general as part of a plan to co-opt the Justice Department into his scheme to cling to power. It was Hutchinson, according to CNN, who told the select committee that Trump voiced approval for the “hang Mike Pence” chants from rioters at the Capitol — an allegation that was among the many eye-popping claims to come out of the opening hearing on June 9. Hutchinson also testified that she remembered a Secret Service agent informing Meadows of intelligence reports saying there could potentially be violence on January 6. ‘Public spirit’ “I don’t know what Cassidy Hutchinson will say today,” conservative political commentator Bill Kristol, a founder of the advocacy group Defending Democracy Together, posted on Twitter. “But by agreeing to step forward and testify under oath, this young woman is showing far more public spirit, integrity and courage than many of her well-established elders who have chosen a far easier and less honorable path.” Meadows himself has refused to testify before the panel since handing over thousands of text messages and other documents in the early stages of the investigation. The House of Representatives held Meadows in contempt in December but the Justice Department decided not to charge him. The announcement of Tuesday’s hearing with less than 24 hours’ notice raised eyebrows across Washington, since the committee had said it was pushing the rest of its hearings to July and perhaps beyond. The panel revealed the about-face in a brief release which didn’t mention the purpose of the hearing or reveal who would appear, simply saying it would “present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony.” The reason for the change of plan remained a mystery hours ahead of Hutchison’s appearance, although US media reported she had become more cooperative since changing lawyers earlier this month. Congressional media outlet Punchbowl reported that there had been “sincere concerns” about Hutchinson’s safety because of what she knows and has already revealed. The committee did not say if there would be more than one witness and Washington insiders speculated that documentary filmmaker Alex Holder’s footage of Trump and his family could also figure. Meanwhile, Trump lawyer John Eastman, the architect of the former president’s scheme to overturn the election, revealed in a court filing Monday that the FBI had seized his cell phone. He said he was confronted by FBI agents as he was leaving a restaurant and called for a judge to have his phone returned. View the full article

Published by DPA The defendant (C) is brought to the Neuruppin Regional Court for sentencing. The 101-year-old man has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners at the Sachsenhausen Nazi concentration camp during World War II. For organizational reasons, the trial is being held at the defendant’s place of residence in Brandenburg an der Havel and not in Neuruppin. Fabian Sommer/dpa A 101-year-old man was sentenced by a German court on Tuesday to five years in jail on charges of aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners at the Sachsenhausen Nazi concentration camp during World War II. Throughout his trial in Brandenburg an der Havel, which lies to the west of Berlin, the accused denied that he had been a guard at the camp during the period in question, 1942 to 1945. The prosecution had produced documents identifying a Nazi SS guard with the accused’s name, date of birth and place of birth, among other evidence. It called for a five-year jail sentence. Lawyers acting for co-plaintiffs also called for a prison term. “The court is convinced that you worked as a guard at the concentration camp for around three years, despite your assertions to the contrary,” the presiding judge, Udo Lechtermann, said in handing down judgement. The defendant had supported the Nazi murder machinery in this way, Lechtermann added. “Through your work, you supported this mass extermination.” The defendant claimed to have been working as a farm labourer in Pasewalk, 100 kilometres to the north-east of Sachsenhausen. The Jewish human rights organization, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, welcomed Tuesday’s conviction and maximum jail sentence. It said in a statement that its Jerusalem office had “assisted the prosecution by finding Holocaust survivors from the camp, as well as first-degree relatives of the victims who can join the prosecution in accordance with German law.” “The center’s chief Nazi hunter, Holocaust historian Efraim Zuroff, praised the verdict as an unequivocal rejection of [the defendant’s] attempts to deny his service in the SS as a guard at Sachsenhausen,” read a statement. “He also praised the continued efforts of German lawyers, such as Thomas Walther, who represented the survivors as well as the relatives of the victims, several of whom were located by the Simon Wiesenthal Center.” More than 200,000 people were imprisoned in the concentration camp, located near Berlin, between the summer of 1936, when it was built, until the end of World War II in 1945. Among them were political opponents of the Nazi regime, as well as members of groups persecuted by the National Socialists such as Jews, Sinti and Roma. Tens of thousands of prisoners died of hunger, disease, forced labour, medical experiments and mistreatment as part of a systematic extermination plan. The elderly man was only fit to stand trial in the courtroom for limited periods, and participated for about two and a half hours each day. The trial was moved to a sports hall in the town where he lives out of consideration for his age. In accordance with Germany’s strict privacy laws, dpa is not naming the individual at this point in the legal process. The defendant (C) is brought to the Neuruppin Regional Court for sentencing. The 101-year-old man has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of aiding and abetting the murder of thousands of prisoners at the Sachsenhausen Nazi concentration camp during World War II. For organizational reasons, the trial is being held at the defendant’s place of residence in Brandenburg an der Havel and not in Neuruppin. Fabian Sommer/dpa View the full article

Published by Fort Worth Star-Telegram Given the nature of our third branch of government, the United States Supreme Court, the ruling is no surprise. Before the court goes after the gay marriage, interracial marriage and a woman’s right to vote, on Monday morning it ruled in favor of the high school football coach who took a knee to pray. As it should. One of the details that makes America America is the right to take a knee, and peacefully express themselves for whatever the reason. That includes taking a knee to protest the treatment of Black Americans by law enforcement or taking a knee to pray to God after a football game. If … Read More View the full article

Published by NJ.com In 1972, the year before Roe v. Wade was decided, 130,000 American women obtained illegal or self-induced abortions, according to the Centers for Disease Control. They risked infections, bleeding, and sterility. Some of them died. We are not going back to that, no matter what this radical Supreme Court says, because the landscape has changed. There are pills now that can safely do the job, and now account for more than half of all abortions. That changes things. But what is to be done about states, like Texas, that are building the legal machinery to prosecute those who help Texan women obtain… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Cara Delevingne loves being able to “represent” the queer community in ‘Only Murders in the Building’. The 29-year-old model – who identifies as pansexual and is currently thought to be dating singer Minke – stars as Selena Gomez’s love interest Alice in the second season of the show and admitted that she and the former Disney Channel actress had such an “easy” time together on set. She said: “It was honestly the best project I’ve ever done. I just didn’t want it to end. I really loved being able to represent the queer community. It was so easy and safe.[Selena and I] already have that relationship in terms of comfortability. But honestly, it was the best set to ever work on, it was so hard to end… it should just continue forever.” Cara was already a big fan of the show before she landed her role because she thinks the writing is so clever. She said: “The story that they write and how it unfolds, it’s just never expected and that’s what I love so much because I’m usually pretty good at that stuff and I really have still never got it right.” Meanwhile, pop star Selena, 29, – who has played the role of true crime obsessive Mabel on the mystery-comedy since it began in 2021 – echoed her new co-star’s thoughts and enjoyed working with Cara because they have been friends for several years. She told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “I’ve known her for so many years. It was honestly like working with a childhood friend. I just enjoyed it. She’s hilarious!” Cara is to star as sophisticated New York City art world insider Alice on the show, who becomes embroiled in the apartment building’s ongoing murder puzzles and will also be seen on screen alongside other regulars Steve Martin and Martin Short when the season premieres on Hulu this week. View the full article

Published by AFP Nadine Seiler was one of thousands of protesters attending weekend rallies for and against abortion rights across the United States Washington (AFP) – The US Supreme Court’s ruling ending the nationwide right to abortion was one of the most seismic domestic political shifts in a generation — upending the crucial midterm elections that will decide who controls Congress next year. Republicans are celebrating the culmination of almost 50 years of activism around the argument that Roe v. Wade — the 1973 landmark ruling guaranteeing federal protection of abortion rights — was wrongly decided. Democrats, too, have been galvanized by the scrapping of half a century of reproductive rights, and by fears Republicans will go further and introduce a federal abortion ban if they retake Congress — threatening legal access nationwide. Democratic President Joe Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi set out what they see as the stakes on Friday, with both saying abortion would be “on the ballot” in November. The issue has traditionally animated conservatives more than liberals but the Supreme Court may permanently have altered the political topography, analysts say. “By striking down Roe, this is likely to create a new constituency of pro-choice voters who are activated to turn out and donate in ways that they would not normally in a midterm election,” Shana Gadarian, a professor of political science at Syracuse University, told AFP. “The Roe decision not only has a major effect on the midterm elections, but it paved the way for greater implications on human rights as a whole,” Democratic political strategist Amani Wells-Onyioha added. “The conservative right has made it clear that it intends on coming for contraception, the LGBT+ community, and African Americans next.” Mixed messaging A new NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll out Monday showed a whopping 78 percent of Democrats believe the court’s decision made them more likely to vote in November — 24 points higher than Republicans. Democrats are leveraging this and several recent similar polls to make the case that the position adopted by Republicans across the country is far outside of the mainstream. The party sees it as galvanizing for its liberal base but also, according to Democratic pollster Carly Cooperman, a mobilizing issue for the moderate suburban women the party is trying to peel away from the Republicans in battleground House districts. “Republicans will do everything possible to turn the conversation back to inflation, the economy, and high gas prices,” Cooperman told AFP. “At a time when Democrats have consistently shown less enthusiasm for the midterms compared to Republicans, the question will be how much the court’s ruling will narrow this gap.” Gerard Filitti, senior counsel at the New York-based Lawfare Project think tank, argues that Democrats may be able to reframe the midterms as a battle over fundamental rights rather than the cost of living. “Concern over civil rights may well trump concerns over the economy, and the Republicans are no longer assured a clear path to victory in the November midterms,” he said. The Republicans’ messaging has been mixed, with many members of Congress and state governors rushing to celebrate a historic victory while others prefer to keep the focus on the cost of living and economic uncertainty. ‘Win for life’ Republican leader and former president Donald Trump called the decision “the biggest win for life in a generation” while Adam Laxalt, the Republican Senate nominee in Nevada, said the issue “won’t distract voters from unaffordable prices, rising crime or the border crisis.” The decision set off a frenzy of activity on both sides, with at least eight states imposing immediate bans and a similar number expected to follow suit within weeks. Dozens of arrests were reported during a weekend of nationwide protest — although incidents of violence and vandalism were isolated. Mississippi, Utah and Louisiana have been hit with lawsuits seeking to block their bans. The plaintiff in Mississippi, abortion provider Planned Parenthood, said it will spend $150 million on the midterm elections, alongside NARAL Pro-Choice America and Emily’s List. In Congress, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has suggested that a federal ban would be “possible,” although he has also acknowledged that no position on the issue has ever achieved the upper chamber’s 60-vote threshold. “It will be important to see how Republican candidates campaign after this Supreme Court decision,” Lyle Solomon, a California-based principal attorney at Oak View Law Group, told AFP. “If they campaign on abortion restrictions and focus a lot on the Supreme Court decision being a victory, it may backfire on them. On the other hand, Democrats will be looking to take full advantage of the Supreme Court decision and rally voters around the message of abortion rights and access to safe abortion.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Elliot Page has applauded producers of his show ‘The Umbrella Academy’ for the way they handled the transgender storyline. The 35-year-old ‘Juno’ star came out as a trans man back in 2020 and his character on the Netflix hit, Viktor Hargreeves, has also transitioned with Elliot insisting the story was handled sensitively and packed a real emotional punch. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he explained: “I think one of the most special things about this is how it’s handled. It’s not void of emotional moments … I’m experiencing all that, because I’ve stepped into this moment where I’m a trans person and perceived that way, and having all these new experiences I didn’t have before. “Then these scenes were resonating with that, which was really incredible. We don’t see that when we’re not in control of our stories a lot of the time. So it felt really special.” ‘The Umbrella Academy’ showrunner Steve Blackman added they are hoping to continue Viktor’s journey in future episodes, saying: “We have ideas for what we’d like to do if we’re lucky enough for Season 4. “What I thought was nice is that it didn’t become the storyline of the show, and with these lovely people that you’re talking to, we were able to craft something that felt very balanced and real, authentic. We want to continue to do that going forward.” The show has run for three seasons on Netflix with the latest instalment currently available to screen. It’s not yet known whether ‘The Umbrella Academy’ will return for a fourth run. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Chris Hemsworth used a sock to preserve his modesty during his Thor nude scene. The actor strips off in a saucy segment for new superhero film ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ and he’s now revealed he bared almost all on set aside from a tiny garment which he used to spare most of his blushes. During an appearance on US TV show ‘The Project’ on Monday (26.06.22), Chris was asked if he was given a “modesty garment” for the scene and he replied: “A sock. Just a sock.” The actor was being interviewed alongside the film’s director Taika Waititi and co-star Russell Crowe, and the star joked the two men joined him stripping off on-set. He said of Russell: “He does a great thing where he’s also naked from the waist down. That made me feel at ease.” Taika then added: “On set, it’s an agreement we have. I was naked too,” with Chris chiming in saying: “Taika took his pants off.” The director also joked that Chris didn’t understand the modesty sock and wore it on his ear instead, adding: “He wears a sock on one ear. That’s his thing. He thinks it’s a distraction.” Chris embarked on a gruelling health and fitness regime to get in shape for the role in the latest Thor sequel and said the nude scene was more than a decade in the making. He told Entertainment Tonight’: “I mean, it was kind of 10, 11 years in the making, that shot. “In each film we’ve taken off another item of clothing, and now we just kind of took it all off.” He added to Variety: “Well, I had (my butt) out in (2013 film) Rush many years ago, but in a Marvel film, it was a very large screen, it was a very big pair of cheeks.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Sarah Huckabee Sanders came under intense scrutiny over the weekend after she celebrated the reversal of Roe v. Wade during a rally in Arkansas, Radar has confirmed. The 39-year-old ex-White House press secretary held a rally on Sunday after winning the GOP primary for governor of Arkansas, and during the event, she made a bizarre comment about women’s abortion rights while simultaneously ignoring the mass school shootings plaguing the nation. Mega “We will make sure that when a kid is in the womb, they’re as safe as they are in a classroom, the workplace, a nursing home,” Sanders proclaimed, “because every stage of life has value. No one greater than the other.” Immediately following the untimely comment, social media was set ablaze with backlash and fervor over Sanders’ “insensitive” and “tone-deaf” comment. “Ah yes, classrooms in 2022, famous for safety,” one person sarcastically responded on Twitter. “I told my husband and he said, ‘everyone is misunderstanding. She means that pregnant women will be more likely to get shot.’ It makes more sense his way,” another user tweeted. “I’m not convinced that’s the winning line she thinks it is!” a third person wrote. Mega Sanders came under fire for her comment not only because of the recent anger and controversy over the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade on Friday but also because of the Robb Elementary School shooting that took place in Uvalde, Texas. As RadarOnline.com previously reported, an 18-year-old named Salvador Ramos entered the Uvalde elementary school on May 24 and fatally shot 19 young students and two teachers. The heartbreaking tragedy brought renewed focus to school shootings and created a renewed push for gun reform throughout the country. But, despite the tragedy and the controversy over SCOTUS’ decision on Friday, Sanders still chose to make the bizarre comparison while rallying her crowd. Mega “Over 200 mass shootings in America this year,” one angry Twitter user wrote. “More than 2 dozen school shootings. 19 dead kids in Uvalde. Guns are the leading cause of death of kids in America.” Even celebrities picked up on the irony of Sanders’ comment. Musician Sheryl Crow rushed to Twitter to call out the former WH press secretary for her outrageous comment. “This is the kind of hypocrisy that sways other people to become hypocrites,” Crow wrote. “The irony of her statement is such a joke that it scares me. And I certainly hope that the citizens of Arkansas are not stupid enough to fall for her rhetoric.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Nate Raymond (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday made it harder for prosecutors to win convictions of doctors accused of running “pill mills” and excessively prescribing opioids and other addictive drugs by requiring the government to prove that defendants knew their prescriptions had no legitimate medical purpose. The 9-0 ruling, authored by liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, sided with Xiulu Ruan and Shakeel Kahn, who argued that their trials were unfair because jurors were not required to consider whether the two convicted doctors had “good faith” reasons to believe the numerous opioid prescriptions were medically valid. While both doctors were registered under the a U.S. law called the Controlled Substances Act to prescribe such drugs to their patients, prosecutors at their trials argued that the prescriptions fell outside the usual course of professional practice. Breyer, who is retiring at the end of the court’s current term in the coming days, wrote that once the doctors produced evidence that they were authorized to dispense drugs like opioids, prosecutors needed to prove they knowingly or intentionally acted in an unauthorized manner. Breyer said a decision by a doctor registered with the Drug Enforcement Administration to intentionally prescribe addictive drugs in an unauthorized way would be illegal, not the prescriptions themselves. “We normally would not view such dispensations as inherently illegitimate; we expect, and indeed usually want, doctors to prescribe the medications that their patients need,” Breyer wrote. The justices, though, declined to decide whether jurors were sufficiently instructed in Ruan’s and Kahn’s cases or, if not, whether the mistakes were harmless. The Supreme Court sent the cases back to two federal appeals courts that had upheld the convictions for further proceedings based on Monday’s ruling. Justice Samuel Alito, writing on behalf of himself and fellow conservative Justices Clarence Thomas and Amy Coney Barrett, said he agreed with the decision’s bottom-line result but said its reasoning could result in “confusion.” The United States for more than two decades has struggled with an opioid epidemic that, according to federal health officials, has claimed the lives of more than a half million Americans. States have sued drug companies and pharmacies to hold them liable, but another key element in the public health crisis has been the role of doctors in prescribing massive volumes of the highly addictive pain medication. Some doctors have been accused of turning their medical practices into “pill mills” – routinely prescribing controlled substances without a medical necessity and outside the bounds of a normal professional practice. Ruan, who practiced in Alabama, and Kahn, who practiced in Arizona and then Wyoming, were sentenced to 21 and 25 years in prison, respectively, in separate criminal cases. Prosecutors said Ruan with a business partner ran a clinic in Mobile that issued nearly 300,000 controlled-substance prescriptions from 2011 to 2015 and was one of the top U.S. prescribers of certain fentanyl-based pain medications. Prosecutors said he accepted kickbacks from drugmaker Insys Therapeutics Inc to prescribe a fentanyl spray to patients. Insys’ founder, John Kapoor, was later convicted of conspiring to bribe doctors including Ruan to prescribe the drug and defraud insurers into paying for it. The Supreme Court on June 13 rejected Kapoor’s bid to overturn his conviction. Prosecutors said Kahn regularly sold prescriptions for cash and unlawfully prescribed large amounts of opioid pills, resulting in at least one patient dying of an overdose. Lawyers for the doctors did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment. (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article