RadioRob

Supreme Court Leak: Guerrilla Girls Poster on Abortion Traditional Values Buy Your OwnAccess to Abortion and LGBTQ Equality Overlap in Legal Arguments In an unprecedented development, a purported draft of what is believed to be the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling on abortion indicates not only that the court is poised to overturn its long-standing decisions protecting the right to abortion but that it is also laying the groundwork to overturn landmark pro-LGBT decisions. “LGBTQ people should recognize that we are once again in the crosshairs and that all of our hard-won protections are under serious threat,” said Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights. “If this really is the judgment of a majority of the Supreme Court,” said Jenny Pizer, law and policy director for Lambda Legal, “we have entered an era of arrogant judicial activism unlike anything this country has seen for a hundred years.” “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” –Draft Supreme Court Desicion Obtained by Politico Nan Hunter, a veteran of many legal battles for LGBT equality, said the draft would almost certainly unleash “a rush by right wingers to get a challenge before the court” to overturn Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 decision which struck down state bans on marriage for same-sex couples. The abortion decision draft, first reported by Politico.com Monday night, appears to be authentic. But it is dated February, leaving open the possibility that it is not finalized. At least five justices must sign onto the final decision to carry the majority. Votes on some decisions in the past have changed very late in the process. Justices have sometimes voted with a majority view at first, then later changed their vote after reading the majority’s proposed decision. Also in the past, attempts to report the outcome of cases before the decisions were released have turned out to be wrong. Supreme Court Leak Looks Legit 1977 Women’s Conference in Houston But most legal analysts Monday night said they believe the draft released Monday is authentic and that its being leaked represents a dramatic departure from the court’s efforts to avoid being influenced by political pressure. “We hold that Roe and Casey must be overruled,” states the draft decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, referring to Roe v Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Roe, in 1973, said there is an implied right to privacy and liberty guaranteed by the Constitution that covers the right to choose an abortion. Casey, in 1992, said that states could regulate abortion once a fetus becomes viable as long as the regulations did not create an undue burden to women who seek an abortion. “If this really is the judgment of a majority of the Supreme Court, we have entered an era of arrogant judicial activism unlike anything this country has seen for a hundred years.” –Jenny Pizer, law and policy director for Lambda Legal In language especially troubling to LGBT legal activists, the draft opinion in Dobbs, apparently penned by Justice Samuel Alito, states, “The Constitution makes no reference to abortion, and no such right is implicitly protected by any constitutional provision,” including the due process clause of the 14th Amendment. According to Alito, the only implicit rights the 14th Amendment due process clause protects must be “deeply rooted in this Nation’s history and tradition” and “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.” Alito’s draft says abortion is not one of those rights and, in language reminiscent of a 1986 decision that allowed states to ban same-sex sexual relations, he notes that three-fourths of states made abortion a crime when the 14th Amendment was adopted. The opinion further echoes the Bowers v. Hardwick decision when it notes that a right to abortion was “entirely unknown in American law” before the latter part of the 20th Century. Pro Choice with no nostalgia “If our due process rights to ‘ordered liberty’ are to be limited now to those rights respected by white male landowners wearing wigs and tri-cornered hats, the Constitution will fail utterly to do the job our founders intended it to do,” said Lambda’s Pizer. “And while it’s true that abortion is unique in some ways, its use as a political weapon to drive extreme-right voters is anything but, as state legislatures have proved again and again in recent times with frenzies of anti-LGBTQ bills.” Alito’s draft also says that abortion is “critically different” and “fundamentally different” from some other rights that have been protected by the 14th Amendment– such as intimate sexual relations, contraception, and marriage—because abortion takes the life of an “unborn human being.” But activists were not much comforted by that distinction. “Justice Alito badly wants to overrule Obergefell. What this opinion tells us is that he doesn’t have the votes to do so. If there were three other justices –beside him and Thomas– willing to end same-sex marriage, that would have been part of this decision.” Nan Hunter, LGBTQ Legal Veteran Evan Wolfson, a gay legal activist who was a key player in the legal and political battle for marriage equality, said Alito “leans on the distinctiveness of abortion and doesn’t necessarily go further (though we know he would like to).” Nan Hunter was more blunt: “Justice Alito badly wants to overrule Obergefell. What this opinion tells us is that he doesn’t have the votes to do so. If there were three other justices –beside him and Thomas– willing to end same-sex marriage, that would have been part of this decision.” The apparent leaking of the draft decision has stirred almost as much controversy as the 98-page draft decision itself. The U.S. Supreme Court has a long-standing protocol of not signaling to the public how its decisions are developing. The assumed motivation behind this tradition is to prevent outside politics from putting pressure on the court’s legal analysis and reasoning. Some legal commentators Monday night were characterizing this leak as a blatant attempt to play politics with the final formulation of the court’s abortion opinion. But the pressure could have come from either side –from Alito, attempting to discourage any justice from abandoning his politically aggressive opinion, or from a pro-choice justice hoping public pressure would rattle any majority justice who was concerned about the far-reaching consequences of the opinion. We don’t know if this will be the final decision, but it is shocking to read this assault on an established fundamental right. Shanon Minter“That someone leaked this opinion–violating the court’s most sacrosanct rule of confidentiality–speaks volumes about how extreme and dangerous much of the court’s jurisprudence has become,” said NCLR’s Minter. “We don’t know if this will be the final decision, but it is shocking to read this assault on an established fundamental right.” The case in question is Dobbs v. Jackson, in which an abortion clinic challenged a new law in Mississippi that banned abortion at any time after 15 weeks, unless there is a medical emergency or severe fetal abnormality. Most observers following the case and the court’s oral argument have predicted the Supreme Court majority would likely overturn Roe and Casey. But nearly everyone expected the decision to be released in late June, when the court typically releases its most controversial decisions. During oral argument December 1, the court discussed the implications for this case on two major LGBT decisions: Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges. Lawrence ruled that states could not ban sexual relations between same-sex couples; Obergefell ruled that states could not ban same-sex couples from marrying. “A court that would issue an opinion like this–if it does–is a court that has abandoned any pretense of protecting individual freedom,” said NCLR’s Minter. “…We have become too accustomed to counting on the courts for protection, and we must realize the days when we could safely do so are past. Our hope lies in joining forces with others who are fighting to protect democracy and the rule of law and to prevent our country from sliding into the same authoritarianism that is rising across the globe.” “Whether or not this draft makes it into a majority opinion, and whether or not it later gets invoked in assaults on other rights, it’s already a firebell in the night,” said Evan Wolfson. And he said it underscores “the importance of voting out the Republicans who have conspired, lied, and court-packed to get our country to this ugly, divisive, corrosive moment.” “The cure,” said Wolfson, “is to vote in representatives who will defend Americans’ rights and our constitutional democracy itself.” View the full article

Published by The Philadelphia Inquirer In the backroom of a popular Mexican restaurant in Chester County’s mushroom capital of Kennett Square, standing in front of florid Mexican folk paintings, a faux red-tile roof, and a half-finished Corona, state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta held court for 20 minutes to explain why Pennsylvania Democrats should pick him, a 31-year-old North Philadelphian with a surname forged in 1960s Black radicalism, as their U.S. Senate nominee. About 20 folks sated by chips and salsa gave their rapt attention as Kenyatta paid little mind to the political horse race that still pegs him as a long shot. Instead, he g… Read More View the full article

Published by Tribune News Service Debuting Tuesday, May 3, on HBO Max is a documentary taking a look at a reunion 15 years in the making. “Spring Awakening: Those You’ve Known” follows the reunion concert of the original cast of the eight-time Tony winning musical “Spring Awakening,” benefiting The Actor’s Fund. The film, directed by Michael John Warren, gives fans a taste of the concert, but also dives into the development and production of the show, a challenging and unique piece of work that struggled to find its producers, and its audience, before becoming a bona fide cultural phenomenon, thanks in large part to its young,… Read More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Kyan Douglas is retiring from television. The 51 -year-old star shot to fame as grooming expert on the original version of reality show ‘Queer Eye’ – which was rebooted by Netflix in 2018 – from 2003 to 2007 but is now stepping down from his television career after almost than 20 years on the box. Speaking on daytime chat show ‘Rachael Ray’, he said: “I’ve done more episodes of ‘Rachael Ray’ than I did of ‘Queer Eye’. But I just feel ready to move on to something else. I don’t know what that is yet, but things come to an end and the universe will fill a void, so it’s time to step away and see what’s next for me.” However, Kyan – who following his time on ‘Queer Eye’ went on to become a regular item presenter on ‘Rachael’ Ray – went on to thank his fellow TV star for working with him for over a decade and revealed that because of the show he was able to spend time with his mother before she passed away. He added: “I’ve worked for you for 13 years and because of you and working on this show, the flexibility that it gave me, the income that it gave me, I was able to spend the last year of my mother’s life with her at home. You gave that to me, so thank you so much.” Prior to his announcement, Kyan took to Instagram to alert fans that something “very special” was on the way. He said: “Hello friends! Forgive me for the last-minute post but I will be on The Rachael Ray show today with a very special announcement! Please watch when and where you can. Check your local listings. Love you guys!”(sic) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sophie Turner thinks that motherhood has made her a “better actress.” The 26-year-old star welcomed daughter Willa into the world with husband Joe Jonas back in July 2020 and has insisted that becoming a mother has improved her skills on screen because it has made her a “much more emotional person”. She said: “The concept of family has made me an entirely much more emotional person. The empathy is heightened; the feelings about family are just like overflowing.It’s made me a better actress for becoming, you know, becoming a mother.” The ‘Dark Phoenix’ actress – who has been married to former Disney star Joe, 32, since 2019 – went on to explain that the only way to become a “brilliant actor” is to experience life and noted that parenthood is “another part of her life” that she is able to incorporate into her work. Speaking on WrapWomen’s ‘UnWrapped’ podcast, she added: “Because as an actor, you know, the only way to become a really brilliant actor is to experience as much life as possible and to bring those experiences in, and so this is just another little part of life that I’m experiencing that I get to bring in and hopefully it helps my performance one way or another.” The former ‘Game of Thrones’ actress is set to make her return screens in HBO Max drama ‘The Staircase’ after a two year break from acting and explained that while the tone was different than what she initially expected, she ended up “preferring” the final cut. She said: “I wasn’t fully prepared for the tone and told it was a little more comedic than the script it ended up being. But I preferred the story as it was executed ultimately. It was very seductive from the get-go. I was pleasantly surprised about how emotional it was when I saw the first cut.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Bjorn Ulvaeus thinks that the ABBA comeback is an “immense risk.” The 77-year-old musician began his ascent to global fame when he won the Eurovision Song Contest for Sweden with the song ‘Waterloo’ alongside ex-wife Agnetha Faltskog as well as Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Benny Andersson back in 1974 and the four are set to reunite as digital avatars for a series of London concerts, and but Bjorn has been losing sleep over the comeback. He said: “It’s an immense risk and most people I talk to don’t appreciate that. They say, ‘Oh, it’ll be fine.’ Sometimes I wake up at four in the morning and think, ‘What the hell have we done?’” The show is being staged at the purpose-built ABBA Arena in London from May at an estimated cost of £15 million but the ‘Super Trouper’ hitmaker – who has sold 385 million records as part of the legendary pop group – explained that a lot of their fellow artists will be “studying” the format of the world-first style of digital concert and named rock band Oasis He told The Sunday Times: “Lots of artists are going to be studying us, definitely. I won’t name names, but I can think of a few. I wonder who’s going to be first.I couldn’t possibly comment.” Meanwhile, co-lead singer Anni-Frid, 76, – who was married to Benny during the latter years of the band’s heyday while Bjorn was married to Agnetha -explained that going on tour for them back in the day was an “odd experience” and left them feeling like “prisoners” in their hotel rooms. She said: “Our situation was so odd. Not in the studio, which was our second home, but going on tour, where we were more or less prisoners in our hotel.” ‘ABBA Voyage’ is set to kick off on May 27 and will run until December 2022. View the full article

Published by Radar Online mega Amber Heard fans who are planning to head to the movie theaters to see Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom when it premieres may be disappointed, as rumors are swirling that the actress is featured in mere minutes of the film. Heard was previously assumed to be starring in the popular comic book flick alongside costar Jason Momoa. mega The news was first dropped by film critic Grace Randolph, who has previously been a reliable source for a broad array of movie scoops. “I hear #AmberHeard has less than 10 min of screentime in #Aquaman2,” she tweeted on Thursday, April 28, leading to rampant fan speculation on whether she needed to be in the movie at all. Amber Heard Demanded Johnny Depp Pay For Her Range Rover, LA Apartment & Cough Up 125k Before She Filed Restraining Order “Still too much,” one user replied in the comment section. “Like seriously cut the ten minutes and reshoot no one will mind.” Another agreed they’d prefer it if she had, “0 min screentime.” A DC fan suggested the role be recast in future films, calling it a “shame” that such an incredible comic book character is now “tainted forever in the eyes of the general public” due to Heard’s less than favorable reputation. mega This comes after Radar reported an online petition to get Heard removed from the entirety of the Aquaman sequel reached over 2 million signatures as Heard and ex-husband Johnny Depp‘s shocking defamation trial continues. “In his $50 million lawsuit, Johnny Depp describes many incidents of domestic abuse that he suffered at the hands of his (then) wife Amber Heard,” the change.org petition summary read, going on to reference testimonies given in court alleging the All the Boys Love Mandy Lane star repeatedly physically abused Depp. “Also, Amber Heard was arrested in 2009 for abusing a former domestic partner, Tasya Van Ree.” “As Amber Heard is a known and proven domestic abuser, Warner Brothers and DC Entertainment should and must remove Heard from their Aquaman 2 film project,” the text continued. “They must not ignore the suffering of Heard’s victims, and must not glamorize a domestic abuser.” The petition currently has over 2,900,000 signatures. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Martha Stewart has recalled that Pete Davidson was a “young upstart” early on in his career. The 80 year-old businesswoman remembers sharing the stage with comedian Pete, 28, – who has been dating reality superstar Kim Kardashian since 2021 – for ‘Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber’ back in 2014 and took to Instagram to honour him after the power couple made their first red carpet appearance together at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in Washington D.C. on Saturday (30.04.22) night . Alongside a throwback of video of Pete, Martha wrote on Instagram: “seven years ago i was on the stage with a young upstart named pete who was doing comedy on saturday night live now that same pete is all grown up , squiring gorgeous women around and appearing everywhere! @petedavidson.93 and @kimkardashian were in washington for the correspondents dinner This clip is from the @justinbieber Comedy Central roast years ago.”(sic) In the throwback clip, the ‘Saturday Night Live’ star can be seen telling the camera: “I’m Pete and I’m very excited to be doing this roast with Martha because she’s adorable and doesn’t know that she’s gonna get abused.” Kim – who has North, eight, Saint, six, Chicago, four, and Psalm, two, with her ex-husband Kanye West whilst Pete has previously dated the likes of pop star Ariana Grande and Hollywood actress Kate Beckinsale – was invited to the prestigious event on behalf of ABC following the debut of her new Hulu series ‘The Kardashians’, while Pete came along as her guest. The couple arrived more than 90 minutes after the event began but they still found the time to stop and pose for photos, though they didn’t speak to reporters before heading into the ballroom. View the full article

Published by Reuters MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -The pressure Texas exerted on neighboring Mexican states last month to tighten border security was tantamount to “extortion”, Mexico’s foreign minister was quoted as saying on Sunday. Texas Governor Greg Abbott made deals with the governors of the border states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon after enhanced Texan security checks to prevent smuggling of people and contraband disrupted bilateral trade. The episode sparked a testy response from Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, who described Texas’ behavior as “despicable”, and his foreign minister, Marcelo Ebrard, this weekend weighed in with his own criticism. “Let me put this in quotation marks, it’s an extortion scheme, or rather it is extortion; I close the border and you have to sign whatever I say. That’s not a deal, a deal is when you and I are in agreement on something,” Ebrard was quoted as saying by news network Milenio during a visit to Nuevo Leon. Abbott’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment outside of normal business hours. Ebrard did not take issue with the Mexican governors, saying that they had been presented with no alternative. “But we’re not prepared to have a governor extorting Mexico. I will never allow that,” he said. A spokesperson for the Mexican foreign ministry said Ebrard had been interviewed by Milenio. Abbott, who is running for re-election as governor, said Texas had reached accords with the Mexican states to beef up security at the border in order to curb illegal immigration. Mexican media reported later on Sunday that Ebrard declared himself a candidate for the presidency in 2024 during a state election campaign event in the central region of Hidalgo. A foreign ministry official confirmed the reports, saying Ebrard had previously made it clear he intended to run. Record numbers of people have this year been caught trying to cross the Mexican border into the United States. (Reporting by Dave Graham; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Kenneth Maxwell) View the full article

Published by Reuters HELSINKI (Reuters) – Finland will decide to apply for NATO membership on May 12, Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported late on Sunday, citing anonymous government sources. The decision to join will come in two steps on that day, with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto first announcing his approval for the Nordic neighbour of Russia to join the Western defence alliance, followed by parliamentary groups giving their approval for the application, the paper reported. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has pushed Finland and Sweden to the verge of applying for NATO membership and abandoning a belief held for decades that peace was best kept by not publicly choosing sides. Reuters was not immediately able to verify the details provided by Iltalehti. Under the Finnish constitution, the president leads Finland’s foreign and security policy in cooperation with the government. The decision will be confirmed in a meeting between the President and the government’s key ministers after the President’s and the Parliament’s initial announcements, the paper reported. Russia, with which Finland shares a 1,300-km (810-mile) border and a pre-1945 history of conflict, has warned it will deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles in its Baltic coast enclave of Kaliningrad if Finland and Sweden decide to join the U.S.-led NATO alliance. (Reporting by Anne Kauranen, editing by Gwladys Fouche) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Joanne Froggatt insisted it is an “easy decision” to keep returning to ‘Downton Abbey’. The 41-year-old actress has portrayed Anna Bates in the TV series and both spin-off movies and she will always feel a “real loyalty” to the franchise and everyone who works on it. She said: “I love the people and feel a real loyalty to their show and our team. “We had a wonderful experience during the show so it’s an easy decision to keep coming back. “We get to hang out with our friends and revisit something that has been such a big and special part of our lives.” Joanne will always be grateful for the variety of storylines that showrunner Julian Fellowes has written for her over the years. She continued to Big Issue magazine: “I also love revisiting Anna. It’s never a tough decision to step back into her shoes. “Julian has put her through the mill over the years, which as an actor I’m very grateful for. “I wanted to be an actor for the versatility, to be able to play different roles and challenge myself. But to have the opportunity to pop back and revisit that character in a movie is so dreamy, and something that very rarely happens in the TV world.” The actress has promised the new movie, ‘Downton Abbey: A New Era’, will be a comforting watch. She said: “I think the second movie is even better than the first. “It is funny, it is poignant, it looks beautiful – it’s got all those things people love about ‘Downton’. “It feels like you are getting a warm hug. And I think that’s what everybody needs right now, after the last few years and with what’s happening in the world.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Serena Williams didn’t tell her daughter’s tennis instructor who she was. The 40-year-old sports star – who is often dubbed The Queen of the Court – has revealed she didn’t want four-year-old Alexis Olympia Ohanian Jr.’s coach to know they are training the Grand Slam champion’s offspring. Appearing on ‘The Ellen DeGeneres Show’ on Monday (02.05.22), she said of her little girl’s skills on the court: “Her ambition is playing princess games.” The host quipped: “You enrolled her in tennis classes with a coach but you did not tell the coach that you were the mother?” And Serena replied: “I don’t have the patience to teach tennis. “It drives me nuts.” Meanwhile, Serena recently admitted she didn’t feel any connection with her daughter during her pregnancy. She didn’t form a bond with her baby girl until the day she was born. In a personal essay for Elle, Serena explained: “I was nervous about meeting my baby. Throughout my pregnancy, I’d never felt a connection with her. While I loved being pregnant, I didn’t have that amazing ‘Oh my God, this is my baby’ moment, ever. It’s something people don’t usually talk about, because we’re supposed to be in love from the first second. “Yes, I was a lioness who would protect her baby at any cost, but I wasn’t gushing over her. I kept waiting to feel like I knew her during pregnancy, but the feeling never came. Some of my mom friends told me they didn’t feel the connection in the womb either, which made me feel better, but still, I longed for it.” However, the Olympic gold medallist – who is married to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian – added: “When I finally saw her – and I just knew it was going to be a girl, that was one thing I knew about her before we even had it confirmed – I loved her right away. It wasn’t exactly instantaneous, but it was there, and from that seed, it grew.” View the full article

Published by DPA Best friends beyond 70: Over seven seasons, Jane Fonda (Grace, left), and Lily Tomlin (Frankie, right) have brought an unusual friendship to life. Now the longest-running Netflix series is coming to an end. Suzanne Tenner/Netflix/dpa Well they certainly don’t act their age. Grace Hanson and Frankie Bergstein may be well past 70, but they would hardly fit (or approve of) the label “senior citizens”. Hanson still enjoys a martini with lunch and remains the feisty head of a cosmetics company at an age when others would have long since dozed off into retirement. Bergstein, on the other hand, is a lively art teacher who loves to paint nude in her studio and is still up for every esoteric trend even at her advanced age. The Netflix show “Grace and Frankie” deals with the narrow-minded ideas society has about older women and also raises a good question: In the final stretch of life, do friendships not matter, or even more, than our partnerships? In 2015, the hit producers Marta Kauffman (“Friends”) and John E. Morris (“Home Improvement”) had the right instinct to finally put older people at the centre of a series. The idea became Netflix’s longest-running fictional original production. After the first of four new episodes were previously released, the final 12 episodes of season seven appeared on Netflix at the end of April. The show started out with what felt like a cheesy TV drama: After decades of marriage, two women learn that their husbands are secretly in love with each other and have been having an affair for years. When their spouses move in together, Grace and Frankie also decide, out of necessity, to share a flat. At the beginning, critics were lukewarm at best and pointed to the lazy dialogue and a cliché-riddled plot. Gradually, however, the two women moved more and more into focus and with them the question: Is it ever too late to reinvent yourself? The acclaim from critics grew and grew. Lily Tomlin as Frankie, now 82, has since been nominated four times in a row for the best leading actress in a comedy series at the Emmy television awards Jane Fonda, 84, is credible as the dapper businesswoman Grace, even if many of us know the actor as a left-wing climate activist and protester against the Vietnam War. And Tomlin has proven in her career that a character like the absurdly over-the-top Frankie suits her well. After all, she gained fame from eccentric 1980s films like “The Incredible Shrinking Woman” and “9 to 5”. For anyone who knows the latter, a fitting finale awaits the leading duo at the end of the seven-season run. Cameo spoiler alert: Singer, songwriter and actor Dolly Parton makes a guest appearance in the last episode of “Grace and Frankie”, bringing the trio of Parton, Tomlin and Parton together again four decades their first joint appearance in the office satire “9 to 5”. View the full article

Published by AFP This file photo taken on March 26, 2022, shows the Netflix logo at the Anime Japan 2022 fair in Tokyo New York (AFP) – Netflix has canceled an animated series created by Meghan Markle as it makes cost-saving moves following disappointing first-quarter results. The TV streaming giant confirmed in an email to AFP on Monday that it was not moving forward with the Duchess of Sussex’s “Pearl,” which was announced in July last year. The cancellation is “part of the strategic decisions Netflix is making around animated series,” the company said, adding that it was scrapping other children’s series including “Dino Daycare” and “Boons and Curses.” Markle and her husband, Britain’s Prince Harry, signed a deal to produce content for the streaming platform after quitting their royal duties in Britain. The California-based couple formed a production company called Archewell Productions, named after their son Archie. “Pearl” was due to be about a 12-year-old girl who is inspired by historical female figures. In 2020, Harry and Meghan announced they would create a documentary series about the Invictus Games for wounded servicemen and women, which Prince Harry has long championed. Netflix said that Archewell Productions “remains a valued partner and we are continuing to work together on a number of projects, including the upcoming documentary series Heart of Invictus.” Last month, Netflix reported a drop in subscribers for the first time in a decade, sparking a plunge in its share price. The Silicon Valley tech firm said it ended the first quarter of this year with 221.6 million subscribers, a drop of around 200,000 users from the final quarter of last year. Netflix blamed the quarter-over-quarter erosion to suspension of its service in Russia due to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Disney showed earlier this year that it was closing the gap with market leader Netflix in America’s TV streaming wars. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Leah Douglas (Reuters) – Black farmers in the United States lost roughly $326 billion worth of acreage during the 20th century, according to the first study to quantify the present-day value of that loss. Land loss is a contributor to the racial wealth gap in the United States and an issue that has marred the relationship between the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and minority farmers. “Wealth and land is one way in this country that you’re able to grow opportunity for your family,” said Dr. Dania Francis, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and lead author of the study published on Sunday in the American Economic Association’s Papers and Proceedings journal. “When huge groups of African Americans were denied that opportunity, it speaks to the intergenerational wealth gap that opened up in part due to this type of land loss,” Francis added. The land loss was due to discriminatory USDA lending policies and forced sales of co-owned land called heirs’ property, among other factors, the study said. The study calculated the compounded value of declining acreage owned by African Americans between 1920 and 1997 in the 17 states where almost all Black-owned farms were documented, using data from the USDA Census of Agriculture. “This is not just theoretical, but this is empirical,” said Dr. Darrick Hamilton, economics professor at The New School and another of the study’s authors. “These are real losses that occurred.” In 1910, Black farmers owned more than 16 million acres of land, according to experts. In 2017, when the most recent agricultural census was done, that figure was just 4.7 million acres, about 0.5% of all farmland. The $326 billion figure is a conservative estimate, said the study authors, in part because it does not account for multiplier effects, like whether Black farmers could have used lost land as collateral to make other investments. A Biden administration effort to provide debt relief to farmers of color as part of the American Rescue Plan Act, framed as repair for past USDA discrimination, is currently stalled in court after white farmers argued it was discriminatory. [L1N2SY2JW] (Reporting by Leah Douglas; Editing by Bill Berkrot) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Jan Wolfe and Sarah N. Lynch WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A former New York City police officer was found guilty on Monday of assaulting a Washington, D.C., police officer during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, handing prosecutors another win at trial, a Justice Department spokesman confirmed. A federal jury in the District of Columbia rejected arguments by Thomas Webster, 56, that he was acting in self-defense when he struck a Washington officer with a flagpole and tackled him. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Webster will be sentenced on Sept 2. Webster was the fourth Capitol riot defendant to take his case to a jury trial. The Justice Department has secured convictions in all four of those cases. Of the four defendants to face a jury so far, Webster was the first to argue he was acting in self defense. Webster took the witness stand during the week-long trial. He told jurors that the officer had “incited” him by hitting him in the face. “I felt like I was dealing with a rogue cop,” Webster testified during the trial. Prosecutors had rejected Webster’s defense and portrayed the District of Columbia police officer, Noah Rathbun, as the victim in the altercation. Prosecutors said Rathbun made physical contact with Webster to create distance between the two men, who were on opposing side of a police barricade eventually overrun by Trump supporters. About 800 people are charged with a role in the Capitol riot, which disrupted a joint session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s presidential election victory and sent lawmakers scrambling for safety. About 250 have pleaded guilty so far. (Reporting by Jan Wolfe; additional reporting by Sarah N. Lynch, Editing by William Maclean) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Andrew Chung (Reuters) -Boston violated the free speech rights of a Christian group by refusing to fly a flag bearing the image of a cross at City Hall as part of a program that let private groups use the flagpole while holding events in the plaza below, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday. The 9-0 decision, authored by liberal Justice Stephen Breyer, overturned a lower court’s ruling that the rejection of Camp Constitution and its director Harold Shurtleff did not violate their rights to freedom to speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. President Joe Biden’s administration backed Camp Constitution in the case. Boston’s flag-raising program was aimed at promoting diversity and tolerance among the city’s different communities. In turning down Camp Constitution, Boston had said that raising the cross flag could appear to violate another part of the First Amendment that bars governmental endorsement of a particular religion. As a result of the litigation, Boston last October halted the program to ensure that the city cannot be compelled to “publicize messages antithetical to its own.” Boston has said that requiring it to open the flagpole to “all comers” could force it to raise flags promoting division or intolerance, such as a swastika or a terrorist group. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, has taken an expansive view of religious rights and has been increasingly receptive to arguments that governments are acting with hostility toward religion. At issue was whether the flagpole became a public forum meriting free speech protections under the First Amendment to bar discrimination based on viewpoint, as the plaintiffs claimed, or whether it represented merely a conduit for government speech not warranting such protection, as Boston claimed. Breyer, who is retiring at the end of the court’s current term, wrote that Boston’s “lack of meaningful involvement in the selection of flags or the crafting of their messages leads us to classify the flag raisings as private, not government, speech.” Denying Camp Constitution’s request “discriminated based on religious viewpoint” and violated the First Amendment’s free speech protections, Breyer added. In a concurring opinion, conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Neil Gorsuch agreed with the outcome of the case, but not Breyer’s reasoning, which they suggested may not always ferret out when a government is “surreptitiously engaged” in censorship of private speech. The dispute arose over Boston’s practice of allowing private groups to hold flag-raising events using one of three flagpoles on the plaza in front of City Hall. From 2005 to 2017, Boston approved all 284 applications it received before rebuffing Camp Constitution. The vast majority of flags were those of foreign countries, but also included one commemorating LGBT Pride in Boston. Camp Constitution, whose stated mission is “to enhance understanding of our Judeo-Christian moral heritage” as well as “free enterprise,” sued in 2018 over its rejection. It was represented in the case by Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal group. “This case is so much more significant than a flag,” Liberty Counsel attorney Mat Staver said. “Boston openly discriminated against viewpoints it disfavored when it opened the flagpoles to all applicants and then excluded Christian viewpoints. Government cannot censor religious viewpoints under the guise of government speech.” The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that the city’s control of the flag-raising program made it government speech. Breyer wrote that the ruling does not prevent Boston from changing its flag-raising policy to make clear it is intended for government speech not private expression. A city spokesperson said in a statement that “we will ensure that future City of Boston programs are aligned with this decision.” Among other topics, Camp Constitution’s website posts materials questioning the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines and claiming that last year’s U.S. Capitol attack was actually a cover up for “massive” 2020 election fraud. Its website also posts materials blaming Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on provocations by the “Biden and Obama administrations” seeking to integrate Ukraine into NATO and calling Japan’s 1941 Pearl Harbor attack and al Qaeda’s Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States “carefully orchestrated false flags.” (Reporting by Andrew Chung in New York; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by AFP Donald Trump has faced accusations — including from his own former Pentagon chief Mark Esper — that he sought to use excessive force to push back protesters demonstrating outside the White House in 2020 when he was president Washington (AFP) – Donald Trump vented fury at protesters outside the White House in 2020, saying “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” according to then defense secretary Mark Esper. In a new book, excerpts of which were reported Monday, Esper recalled sitting in the Oval Office with “the president red faced and complaining loudly about the protests under way in Washington” over the police killing of a Black man. “Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump is quoted as saying in a preview of the book seen by the Axios news website. The protests, which were marked by violence as protesters clashed with security forces, were part of a nationwide wave of demonstrations in the wake of the May 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. US Park Police and National Guard troops deployed tear gas and flash bangs to clear the largely peaceful protesters. Esper’s account appeared to confirm previous reports of Trump arguing that the military should intervene to quell the spiraling civil unrest. An earlier book by journalist Michael Bender quoted sources saying the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, argued with Trump against using the military as the president demanded a stronger response. Bender had quoted Trump as saying “shoot them in the leg — or maybe the foot… but be hard on them!” Esper publicly stated at the time that he opposed invoking the Insurrection Act, a rarely-used 200-year-old law which permits troops to be actively deployed within the United States. His stance reportedly enraged Trump, and he was sacked in November 2020. Axios said Esper’s book had been vetted by the Pentagon and reviewed by generals and cabinet members. View the full article

Published by DPA German police officer Leon Dietrich began his career in law enforcement as a woman but came out to his colleagues and boss as transgender in 2020. Ole Spata/dpa It was decades before German police officer Leon Dietrich felt able to come out. “Fourty-three years ago, no one knew much about being trans. My mother had never heard of it and early on, I was pushed into the binary system,” he says. “Of course I rebelled as I’d known something wasn’t right ever since I was born. My body didn’t fit.” He started his career as a woman, joining the police force in the state of North Rhine Westphalia. Only in 2020 did he find the courage to tell his boss, “I identify as trans, my pronoun is male and my first name is Leon.” His colleagues all stood by him and were really positive, Dietrich says. “That was really touching and it still gives me a lot of strength to this day.” He will never know how life might have been if he had come out right after high school. He probably wouldn’t have had a career in law enforcement, however, as the German police force only started accepting applications from trans or intersex people in 2021. Before then, breast implants or “the loss or atrophy of both testicles” were disqualifying criteria, according to police service regulations. Dietrich had been living as a lesbian, but the feeling that something was not right never went away. “It was overwhelming,” he says. Dietrich was appointed state coordinator of police contact persons for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in the nothern state of Lower Saxony in 2021, a state where the police have been committed to diversity for years. Doctors working for the Lower Saxony police force stopped checking whether applicants have certain gender-specific characteristics in 2012, even through federal service regulations officially required this up through to 2020, according to the state Interior Ministry. Dietrich’s new role is a full-time job, coordinating between 10 people who work in the regular police force. He is also the contact point for queer police officers, leads training sessions on diversity and handles public relations too. “Visibility creates trust and closeness,” he says. He also maintains networks with the queer community, in an attempt to counteract some of the long-held reservations many still have about the police force. After all, less than 30 years ago, homosexuality was still a punishable offence in Germany under some circumstances. Many in Germany still face abuse due to their sexual orientation or gender identity. Trans women are often insulted or molested on the subway, for example. The nation was shocked in 2020 when an Islamist attacked a gay couple in Dresden, killing one and seriously injuring the other. However, 80% to 90% of crimes targeting the LGBTI community go unreported, according to estimates. Germany’s new government has vowed to do better. Lawmakers have promised a programme to protect sexual and gender diversity and to transform the 1980 Transsexuals Act. The 40-year-old law stipulates that people may only officially change their first name and gender following a psychological assessment and a court decision, processes often requiring applicants to answer a lot of intimate questions. Much has changed since Dietrich took up the job as LGBTI coordinator at the Lower Saxony police force, partly thanks to the polls held in September 2021. Tessa Ganserer and Nyke Slawik, both members of the Green Party, became Germany’s first elected transgender lawmakers. In future, Dietrich’s main educational priority is to help people learn about sexual and gender diversity, saying many people don’t understand the issues. “I don’t blame them,” he says. What makes him angry is when people incite hatred against trans people for political reasons, he says, referring to far-right lawmaker Beatrix von Storch who attacked Ganserer in the Bundestag on International Women’s Day, sparking outrage across the political spectrum. Meanwhile German feminist Alice Schwarzer said the focus on trans identity could cause tens of thousands of girls to change their gender. Dietrich attributes this partly to ignorance about trans identity and intersexuality. Young people need to learn about sexual and gender diversity, education that has long been lacking in Germany. “If I had realized sooner, I wouldn’t have had such a difficult time,” says Dietrich, adding that it can be hard to comprehend for anyone without similar experience. Most of Germany’s 16 states have a contact person in the police for the LGBTI community, aside from Bavaria, Thuringia and North Rhine Westphalia, says VelsPol, an association of gay and lesbian police officers. However, many queer police officers are too afraid to come out at their workplace, particularly gay men, studies say. Joschua Thuir, who is also trans, campaigns for the rights of queer police officers on VelsPol’s board. “We are seeing greater openness,” he says. However, when it comes to the national authorities, there’s still a long way to go, he adds. Leon Dietrich, state coordinator of police contact persons for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in the nothern German state of Lower Saxony, during an interview with dpa. Ole Spata/dpa View the full article

Published by Reuters LONDON (Reuters) – Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre has upset opera and ballet fans by abruptly cancelling a series of shows this week by directors who have spoken out against the war in Ukraine. The theatre gave no reason for dropping Timofey Kuliabin’s production of the opera “Don Pasquale” and Kirill Serebrennikov’s ballet “Nureyev”. Kuliabin has used his Instagram account to express solidarity with Ukraine and ridicule Russia’s description of its actions there. In one post, he showed a mocked-up version of the cover of Leo Tolstoy’s “War and Peace”, replacing the first word of the title with “Special Operation” – the term used by the Kremlin to describe the invasion. Serebrennikov told France 24 in an interview last month that “it’s quite obvious that Russia started the war”, and that it was breaking his heart. “It’s war, it’s killing people, it’s the worst thing (that) ever might happen with civilisation, with mankind… It’s a humanitarian catastrophe, it’s rivers of blood,” he said. Both directors are currently outside Russia. The replacement of the two shows with “The Barber of Seville” and “Spartacus”, two longstanding staples of the Bolshoi’s repertoire, drew hundreds of mostly critical online comments from ticketholders. Many demanded in vain to know the reason. “What disrespect to the spectators and artists!” one woman, Valeria, wrote on the Bolshoi’s Telegram channel. There was particular outrage at the cancellation of Serebrennikov’s “Nureyev”, a controversial production that premiered at the Bolshoi in 2017. The story of dancer Rudolf Nureyev, who defected to the West in 1961, included a tender scene with his gay lover that tested the Kremlin’s tolerance for what it calls “homosexual propaganda”. (Reporting by Mark Trevelyan; Editing by Peter Graff) View the full article

Published by Raw Story By Sarah K. Burris John Oliver addressed three candidates running for reelection in 2022 that have adopted a campaign of how not to help the most people, but instead, how much can you hurt the people that your supporters hate the most. He began with Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who has waged war with Disney World because they dared to come out against the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill. The GOP legislature then voted to strip Disney of all of its benefits given by Florida. The problem that the state is now facing is that the deal that was made with Disney is that if Florida ever withdrew from the… Read More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Eduardo Simões and Lisandra Paraguassu SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro and his main rival, former leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, staged competing rallies on Sunday that were expected to become previews of their campaigns for presidential elections in October. Supporters of Bolsonaro had called during the week protests against the Supreme Court, after he pardoned a congressman sentenced to eight years in prison for threatening judges. The pardoned congressman, Daniel Silveira, said in a rally in Niteroi, in Rio de Janeiro state, that his arrest last year was “unconstitutional.” Silveira thanked fellow congressmen that helped him during his months in prison last year. He was freed in November, but the Supreme Court last month sentenced him to more than eight years of jail. Bolsonaro decided to pardon him. Bolsonaro went to a rally protesting against the Supreme Court in Brasilia on Sunday. In a video stream from one of his social media accounts, Bolsonaro said the demonstrations were “pacific, to defend the constitution, democracy and freedom.” In Sao Paulo, there were simultaneous demonstrations to support the president and Lula. In a 15-minute speech, Lula promised to supporters, including many union leaders, that he would “resume negotiations to get workers rights respected again” if elected. Lula said he was speaking before becoming an official candidate, with the announcement expected for May 7. The former president cited the recent U.N. human rights committee finding that Brazil graft investigators violated due process in bringing a case against Lula that led to his imprisonment and barred him from running for office in 2018. (Reporting by Eduardo Simoes and Lisandra Paraguassu, additional reporting by Sergio Queiroz and Rodrigo Viga Gaier, writing by Tatiana Bautzer; Editing by Marguerita Choy) View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Prince Charles once fled from a ghost at Sandringham. The 73-year-old royal – who is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II and is married to Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall – is said to have run away from the spooky presence at the monarch’s lavish estate in Norfolk, according to a new book. According to The Sun newspaper, ‘Britain’s Ghostly Heritage’ author John West claims: “Christmas cards move on mantlepieces, doors open on their own, lights turn on and off, and eerie footsteps have been reported at the Queen’s Norfolk retreat.” The outlet went on to claim that a young Charles and a footman once “fled in terror” from the library after they felt a cold presence and were convinced that a ghostly figure was behind them. The same book also alleges that Princess Margaret – the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II – had seen the ghost of Tudor monarch Elizabeth I in a corridor at Windsor Castle and that 18th century monarch King George III had been seen “looking longingly” out of the windows whilst confined in Buckingham Palace. Royal biographer Kenneth Rose claimed that back in 2000, the Queen had a “little service” for the supposed ghouls of Sandringham after learning from servants that one of the rooms was supposedly haunted. The service was said to have been attended by the Queen Mother and the Queen Mother’s lady-in-waiting Prue Penn, according to diary entries made by Rose and printed in the Daily Mail back in 2019. The diaries read: “Prue Penn [the Queen Mother’s lady-in-waiting] tells me that at Sandringham in the summer, the Queen invited her to attend a little service in one of its rooms conducted by the local parson. The only other person present was the Queen Mother. Some of the servants had complained that the room was haunted and did not want to work in it. The parson walked from room to room and did indeed feel some sort of restlessness in one of them.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega GOP Representative Madison Cawthorn found himself in hot water once again after a video of the young politician surfaced in which one of his male staffers appeared to place his hand on Cawthorn’s crotch while the two were riding together in a car, Radar has learned. That is the sensational development captured by recent footage obtained by Daily Mail, which is leaving his fellow congressmen and congresswomen questioning the 26-year-old politician’s potentially unethical behavior. Mega “I feel the passion and desire and would like to see a naked body beneath my hands,” Cawthorn said in the video while driving in a car alongside his 23-year-old aide Stephen Smith. “Me too,” Smith responded before intimately and provocatively placing his hand over the North Carolina Republican Congressman’s crotch and genitals. The video has since been used as one of many examples of evidence in a newly drafted ethics complaint against Cawthorn created by the political group Fire Madison Cawthorn. The complaint called for an investigation into the young politician and argued that Cawthorn’s repeated unethical behavior is in direct violation of House Rules. Mega But Cawthorn, who took to social media shortly after the explicit clip surfaced, argued that the incident was nothing but a joke between him and his young staffer before suggesting his fellow House of Representative colleagues are just as guilty of such questionable behavior. “Many of my colleagues would be nowhere near politics if they had grown up with a cell phone in their hands,” Cawthorn tweeted on Thursday after the scandal broke. As RadarOnline.com reported, the video of Cawthorn’s aide’s hand on his crotch surfaced just days after the North Carolina Rep came under fire after it was revealed he allegedly misappropriated taxpayer money during a retreat to a posh North Carolina resort in August. Earlier this month, a report by the Washington Examiner revealed that Cawthorn spent nearly $5,000 for “legislative planning food and beverage” that included not only food from Chick-fil-A, Bojangles chicken, and Joey’s NY Bagels, but also several non-detailed payments on the politician’s government credit card. Mega The report also suggested Cawthorn utilized North Carolina taxpayer money to pay for his stay at the luxurious Hendersonville getaway resort, although a spokesperson for the young politician insisted the money used during the August retreat was taken directly from Cawthorn’s authorized House Members’ Representational Allowance. “Our district retreat occurred on those dates; those expenses were for the district and D.C. staff on the retreat,” Luke Ball, Cawthorn’s spokesperson, said after the damning report was published. “Nearly every office on Capitol Hill has a district retreat and a budget specifically designated for one.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online mega Country star Naomi Judd has died at 76-years-old. The Kentucky native was known for being a member of the beloved, Grammy Award winning country duo The Judds. mega Naomi’s daughters, Ashley and Wynonna Judd, confirmed the singer’s tragic passing in a statement shared to the Associated Press on Saturday, April 30. “Today we sisters experienced a tragedy. We lost our beautiful mother to the disease of mental illness,” the statement read. “We are shattered. We are navigating profound grief and know that as we loved her, she was loved by her public. We are in unknown territory.” Naomi Judd Reveals Daughter Wynonna’s Shocking BETRAYAL During Depression Battle Although it has not been confirmed Naomi took her own life, only that she died due to “mental illness”, Radar previously reported she had opened up on her years-long struggles with depression in her 2016 memoir, River of Time. In an excerpt of the shocking tell-all, the singer detailed a period in her life when she contemplated death by suicide. Naomi explained she had made the decision to throw herself off of the Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge in Nashville, Tennessee in 2013. “I knew exactly how I was going to carry out my suicide. I would drive my car to the very center, the highest point, and in one swift motion open the car door and climb over the railing,” she penned the heartbreaking confessional. “I’d keep my focus on the beauty of the surrounding countryside, spread my arms out, and step off.” mega The Judds — a mother/daughter duo featuring Naomi and Wynonna — first shot to fame in 1983, and despite a period of estrangement, their careers seemed to be back on track. The country group not only announced a brand new tour scheduled for this Fall, but the duo was also scheduled to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame on Sunday, April 30 — the day of Naomi’s shocking passing. Naomi Judd Reveals Secrets About Her Estranged Relationship With Daughters Ashley & Wynona: They’re All In Therapy Together View the full article