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Published by BANG Showbiz English Lady Gaga is “very much in love” with Michael Polansky. The chart-topping pop star has been dating Michael, 44, for more than two years, and she’s “serious” about their romance. A source shared: “Lady Gaga and Michael are still together and enjoying their relationship.” Gaga, 35, and Michael made their romance Instagram official in February 2020, when she shared a photo of them on a yacht in Miami, Florida. The loved-up couple are as happy now as they ever have been. The insider told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “Gaga and Michael are serious and are very much in love.” Gaga – whose real name is Stefani Germanotta – is said to see her boyfriend as being a pillar of strength in her life. A source previously explained: “He is such a grounding and guiding presence for her.” Last year, meanwhile, Gaga played the part of Patrizia Reggiani in ‘House of Gucci’. The singer-turned-actress – whose on-screen character was convicted of hiring a hitman to kill her ex-husband – revealed that she drew on her own “real” trauma for the role. The ‘Bad Romance’ hitmaker said: “I think I’m just like everybody else really. I’m imagining, sure. I’m creative, sure. But I think that being imaginative comes from a real place, it’s just how you choose to synthesise who you are. “When I think about my real-life experiences, there was a lot of things that I’ve been through in my life, traumatic experiences, that I drew upon to play Patrizia, and it’s not necessarily imaginative in that way. “I mean I’m calling upon myself. Now, it might be imaginative to you, you might see it and say ‘oh that looks like it possesses imagination’, but for me it’s not imaginative, it’s real.” View the full article

Published by AFP Aquil Abdullah, an employee of the Hydrow rowing fitness company, demonstrates a rowing machine at the CES technology show in Las Vegas on January 7, 2022 Las Vegas (AFP) – Interactive comment sections and virtual reality headsets: internet-connected fitness gear and services have boomed during the pandemic as at-home athletes seek a proxy for gym life. While home workouts long predate the coronavirus, they have taken on a social aspect that looks set to become the standard in a world reshaped by the pandemic. “A big part of going to the gym together is sort of suffering together… you build a camaraderie around that,” Jeremy Needham, who does customer education for US boxing fitness company Liteboxer, told AFP at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas. “And now that we don’t share that space, at least in real time, we have to do it virtually,” he added. Like other companies that sell internet-connected fitness gear, Liteboxer offers customers access to workouts, competitions and other features for a monthly charge — on top of the roughly $1,200 wall-mounted machine. The market for fitness tech has been growing for years, but the industry has gotten a boost in the last couple of years, similarly to how the pandemic accelerated e-commerce and remote working trends. “Connected equipment exploded onto the scene in a big way as consumers had to shift the way to work out during the pandemic,” CES organizer Consumer Technology Association (CTA) noted in an industry forecast. Internet-connected exercise equipment was a nearly $3.8 billion market in 2021, and double-digit percentage growth is expected this year, CTA’s forecast said. “(Customers) want connectivity,” said Richard Kowalski, an analyst with CTA. “They want to engage with other people online.” Need for pandemic release Connected rowing machine maker Hydrow allows customers to comment and like others’ workouts, and users have developed their own social media groups. “You start talking to each other and then all of a sudden, you have a group of maybe six guys, you know, from all over the world,” Aquil Abdullah, who leads workouts on the system, told AFP. “A guy is in London, a guy is out in California, a guy is down in Florida, and you have this community.” The machines, which sell for $2,295, have the usual rowing bar and seat, but also a screen that allows clients to exercise along with instructors on the water, in locales from Miami to London. “We do these workouts, and so that’s part of building community and building those connections,” said Abdullah, who rowed for the US at the 2004 Olympics in Athens. But the connected fitness industry has shown some sensitivity to the changing conditions of the pandemic and the way it affects equipment users’ lives. Fitness firm Peloton’s shares have been under pressure since early November, when the company cut its forecast as more consumers returned to reopening gyms. Credit Suisse downgraded the firm in December, saying the market shifts have forced Peloton to increase advertising and discounting. However, as cases of Covid’s Omicron variant break records around the world, many are again hunkering down at home. That shift could work in favor of home fitness tech companies. CTA took a bullish perspective, saying “the growth trajectory suggests that health-conscious consumers are finding practicality and convenience in exercising at home, even as gyms and workout classes reopen.” And exercise of any kind has offered some people a relief from the pandemic’s impacts — as work, school and travel disruptions and simmering health worries offer plenty to stress about. “The pandemic locked us inside… we couldn’t do the things that we loved,” said Needham. “But the human body still needs cardiovascular activity, it’s quite simple. You just need a really engaging way… to release that energy that builds up in you.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Susan Heavey and Brendan O’Brien WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Floods hit parts of the Northwestern United States on Friday after heavy rains, while a winter storm brought more than a half a foot (15 cm) in snow in the eastern parts of the country, closing schools, offices and busy roads. Flood and gale warnings are in place across many coastal areas in the Pacific Northwest, whilst winter storm warnings remained for eastern parts of Maine, according to the National Weather Service. “One final storm system will move across the Northwest today with heavy coastal rain and heavy mountain snow,” it said. Several alerts were affecting a number of major roads in Washington state, with “hazardous water conditions” closing a number of sections, the Washington State Department of Transportation said. Some properties, roads and fields were seen deep in water in images and videos posted on social media and by local news outlets. Around 2,600 flights to, from and within the United States were canceled on Friday, according to Flightaware.com, with COVID-19 also affecting airlines. More than 50,000 customers along the west Coast are currently without power whilst Virginia is the worst-hit state in east, data from poweroutage.us showed. Earlier, a storm in the east left some parts of Kentucky, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and Maryland under 6 to 8 inches (15 to 20 cm) of snow with coastal New England hardest hit as some towns saw more than a foot (30 cm) of snow on Thursday and into Friday. Federal government offices in Washington were closed, and dozens of school districts across the eastern half of the country canceled classes due to the snow and bitter cold. The storm was the second this week to slam into the eastern United States. On Monday, the region was blanketed by up to a foot (30 cm) of snow, stranding thousands of people for up to 27 hours when nearly 50-mile (80-km) stretch of Interstate 95 in northern Virginia became impassable. (Reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington, Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Additional reporting by Tyler Clifford in New York; writing by Costas Pitas; editing by Jonathan Oatis, Cynthia Osterman and Sandra Maler) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Courtney Walsh SYDNEY (Reuters) – Novak Djokovic’s legal challenge to the Australian government’s decision to cancel his visa on arrival this week says a certified COVID-19 infection in December meant he qualified for a medical exemption to the county’s vaccination requirements.A 35-page document lodged in the Federal Circuit and Family Court by his legal team on Saturday outlines the Serbian’s case for challenging the visa cancellation which would prevent him from playing in the Australian Open. The challenge will be heard in court on Monday morning. The tennis world number one has been held in immigration detention in a hotel in Melbourne since Thursday morning after border officials rejected his claim for a medical exemption. The filing shows Djokovic said he had received a letter from Tennis Australia’s Chief Medical Officer on Dec. 30 stating he had a medical exemption from vaccination on the basis that he had recently recovered from a COVID infection. The documents show he had tested positive to COVID on Dec. 16, and by Dec. 30 had been free of symptoms or fever in the previous 72 hours. The application said he had a valid visa to travel and also received an assessment from the Department of Home Affairs stating “responses indicate(d) that (he met) the requirements for a quarantine-free arrival into Australia where permitted by the jurisdiction of your arrival”, with Victoria the nominated jurisdiction. The legal documents state that early on Thursday morning, after being informed at Melbourne Airport his visa would be rescinded, a confused Djokovic pleaded to be given time to be able to contact Tennis Australia and his agent. But he said he was “pressured” by authorities to agree to an interview shortly after 6 a.m., despite accepting an earlier offer than he could rest until 8:30 a.m. and saying he “wanted some help and legal support and advice from [his] representatives”, who were still sleeping at the early hour. CHALLENGED CANCELLATION The application says Djokovic challenged an official at the airport when told a recent COVID-19 infection was not considered a substitute for a vaccination in Australia. “That’s not true, and I told him what the Independent State Government medical panel had said and I explained why. I then referred to the two medical panels and the Travel Declaration,” the legal filing quotes the Serbian as saying. “I explained that I had been recently infected with COVID in December 2021 and, on this basis, I was entitled to a medical exemption in accordance with Australian Government rules and guidance.” He said he had provided his medical evidence to Tennis Australia for its two-stage independent assessment process, had made his travel declarations correctly and satisfied all requirements to legally enter Australia on his approved visa. Among the arguments lawyers for the Serbian superstar raised was a section from the Australian Immunisation Register which states a person can apply for a temporary vaccine exemption due to a recent “acute major medical illness”. Djokovic’s legal team said that, among a series of what it says are jurisdictional errors, a delegate for the minister for home affairs did not have “a skerrick of evidence”, using an Australian term for a tiny amount to suggest the 20-time major champion’s recent infection did not constitute a contraindication. Tennis Australia’s chief medical officer, Dr Carolyn Broderick, was one of three medical practitioners on a panel that approved an exemption consistent with guidelines outlined by Australian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation, the filing says.The document says the first decision was then assessed by a second independent medical panel set up by the Victorian state government, consistent with the process that has been outlined publicly by Tennis Australia. The case is Djokovic V Minister for Home Affairs. Djokovic is represented by legal firm Hall & Willcox, and the government is represented by the Australian Government Solicitor. (Reporting by Courtney Walsh; Additional reporting by John Mair; Editing by William Mallard) View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s $1.8 trillion spending offer he proposed to the White House in late 2021 appears to be no longer on the table following a breakdown between the Democratic lawmaker from West Virginia and the White House, the Washington Post reported on Saturday. Manchin told reporters this week that he is no longer involved in discussions with the White House and has signaled privately that he is not interested in approving any legislation like President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Package, the newspaper said, citing three people with knowledge of the matter. Manchin’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The legislation is one of Biden’s signature domestic priorities. Manchin’s vote is critical in the evenly divided Senate. His opposition torpedoed Build Back Better in December, drawing ire from Democratic progressives and sending the political party scrambling to find a way to resurrect the package. The plan includes funding for high-priority issues for many Americans, including free preschool, support for soaring childcare costs, coverage of home-care costs for the elderly and expansion of free school meals. Manchin has spoken with a raft of officials and others seeking to garner his support for the legislation, including senior White House aide Steve Ricchetti, Larry Kudlow, former economic adviser to ex-president Donald Trump, and Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, according to the Washington Post. (Reporting by Chris Prentice in Washington; Editing by Matthew Lewis) View the full article

Published by Radar Online MEGA Sinead O’ Connorhas lost her 17-year-old son, Shane, who reportedly died by suicide two days after he went missing. The incident occurred almost five years after the singer herself tried to take her own life in 2017. MEGA Police confirmed the heartbreaking news, issuing a statement, saying, “Following the recovery of a body in the Bray area of Wicklow on Friday 7 January 2022, a missing person appeal in respect of Shane O’Connor, 17 years, has been stood down.” According toreports, the teenager was put on suicide watch at a hospital in Ireland prior to his death, but he managed to escape, prompting the authorities to launch a search. “Like, how has a seventeen year old traumatised young person WHO WAS ON SUICIDE WATCH in Tallaght Hosputal’s Lynn Ward been able to go missing???” Sinead tweeted on Thursday. “Hospital of course so far refusing to take any responsibility. Anything happens to my son on their watch? Lawsuits.” MEGA After learning about her son’s disappearance, The Nothing Compares 2 U singer later pleaded for her son to return via Twitter. “This is a message for my son, Shane,” she wrote. “Shane, it’s not funny any more all this going missing. You are scaring the crap out of me. Could you please do the right thing and present yourself at a Gardai station. If you are with Shane please call the Gardai for his safety.” The 55-year-old singer continued, “My world would collapse without you. You are my heart. Please don’t stop it from beating. Please don’t harm yourself. Go to the Gardai and let’s get you to hospital.” However, on Friday, she announced her son had passed. “My beautiful son, Nevi’im Nesta Ali Shane O’Connor, the very light of my life, decided to end his earthly struggle today and is now with God,” she explained. “May he rest in peace and may no one follow his example. My baby. I love you so much. Please be at peace.” In 2017, Sinead made headlines after posting a video alluding to suicide. The 12-minute footage she filmed from a motel room in New Jersey included her rant suggesting she had suicidal thoughts. “There’s absolutely nobody in my life except my doctor, my psychiatrist – the sweetest man on earth, who says I’m his hero – and that’s about the only things keeping me alive at the moment…And that’s kind of pathetic.” She added an alarming statement claiming, “this is no way for people to be living.” The singer was found safe later after friends helped her. MEGA Sinead has three other children, Jake Reynolds, Roisin Waters, and Yeshua Francis Neil Bonadio. She shared custody of her late son Shane with her ex, an Irish folk singer, Donal Lunny. View the full article

Kornbread came to slay on RuPaul’s Drag Race. The return of RuPaul’s Drag Race is typically cause for celebration, but thanks to the steady drip of All Stars, Secret Celebrity and several many international iterations, it feels like Drag Race never really ends. There’s something to be said for the familiar — especially in the throes of Omicron chaos. The first installment of the fourteenth season was a showcase of some of the show’s familiar premiere episode elements — an opening talent show, quippy queens not here to make friends, RuPaul lazily step-touching while lip-syncing her latest single. That doesn’t mean there’s no gimmicks; we’re getting a two-part premiere with one queen sashaying away from each starting group. It’s my preferred way to start a season, and it makes it much easier to get to know the queens quickly. There’s plenty to savor with this cast, who have already proven to be a talented, twisted bunch. We’ll get into the individual workroom lewks in our rankings below, but suffice to say, it’s clear these queens came to play. (Even Willow Pill in her lil’ platform sandals.) There are a lot of strong presentations, and the jokes are already flying fast and furious. This week’s mini-challenge is another standard: the photoshoot with a twist. We’ve seen pillow fights, flying leaps, giant tanks of water, powerful wind machines and now they’re strapped to a spinning wheel. RuPaul picks Texas-native Kerri Colby as the mini-challenge winner, but, I don’t know, all these photos always look roughly the same to me? Luckily, the talent show maxi challenge is a much more meaningful measure. RuPaul’s Drag Race season 14 queens size up the competition. First up is June Jambalaya, performing an African dance number in traditional dress. She gives a passionate performance, but a slipping headband and unflattering undergarment sort of kill the illusion. Next up, Bosco, a Seattle weirdo that knows how to balance sexy, spooky and chic. For her talent, she performs a burlesque striptease that picks the petals off her floral dress until she’s down to nothing but a few well-placed sparkles. It’s not ground breaking, but it’s executed with precision and a little wink at the end (a rose seemingly blooming out of her rosebud). Puerto Rican pageant queen Alyssa Hunter rocks the stage with an edgy, rock ‘n’ roll lip sync. It’s a genre we don’t dip into nearly enough on the show, but the lip sync leaves plenty to be desired. At one point she uses a prop guitar but doesn’t really play it, and the whole thing just looks sort of silly. Things pick up with Kerri Colby. It begins as another lip sync (this time to Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda”), but her true talent is in jump rope. This ain’t yo mama’s Double Dutch. Kerri is a former competitive jump roper, so there are enough kicks, tricks and splits to delight the judges. Then there’s Michigan’s first RuPaul’s Drag Race queen, Orion Story, and, well, alright, they all can’t be winners. Orion is doing a trailer park yoga instructor character that’s part Drop Dead Gorgeous, part Jerri Blank. There’s a funny idea here, but, as the judges would later point out, the whole act needs to be workshopped a bit more before it’s ready for primetime. There’s hardly a laugh to be found, and the bit never finds a rhythm. Thankfully, Kornbread follows up with a banger. Yes, it’s a lip sync, and, yes, it’s to an “original track” (two things that usually tank a talent performance for me), but the song slaps, the lyrics are sharp and Kornbread is bursting with star power. It’s easily the most entertaining performance of the night. Willow Pill gets weird on RuPaul’s Drag Race. Finally, we’ve got to talk about Willow Pill. The young queen gets a lot of spotlight during the premiere. The gals can’t stop dunking on her choice of arrival footwear (the aforementioned platform sandals). She reveals some of her backstory to Ru, including a lifelong battle with illness. Then, the ladies struggle to understand what talent she’s presenting, and, honestly, even after watching it, I do, too. But, as it is my job, let me try. I guess you would call it “performance art,” and I don’t mean that to be an insult. As Enya plays, Willow prepares a bubble bath, then dumps red wine in, then a plate of spaghetti, then a toaster. It’s strange and funny and has a point of view. Ru goes absolutely gaga for it. If nothing else, Willow has our attention. After a solid Signature Show-stopping Drag runway, the judges give the win, rightfully, to Kornbread. Guest judge Lizzo makes a strong case to give Kornbread the win, even if some of the lyrics went over Michelle’s head. The win feels justified and earned. So, too, are our bottom two. Nothing against June Jambalaya nor Orion Story, but they were clearly this week’s weakest performers. June had that unfortunate headband issue during her dance, and, again, Michelle could see her undergarments through her runway. Orion’s character was more cringe than a Ché Diaz comedy concert. There’s been a lot of questionable judging across the greater RuPaul’s Drag Race Cinematic Universe lately, so to see a bottom two make clear sense in itself was comforting. They lip sync to Lizzo’s “Water Me,” and Orion does the absolute worst thing a drag queen can do to a Lizzo song, which is dance like a white guy. It just feels like awkward, middle school moves. Chet Haze vibes. It’s … not good. June takes a straightforward, passionate approach and easily performs circles around Orion. No surprises here, June gets the save, and Orion sashays away. We’ve still got seven queens to meet next week. Let’s see where the first batch stands in our rankings below. Leave your rankings in the comments! I’m all in on Kornbread. She’s giving me excellent talking head interview quips. She’s firing off one-liners in the workroom. She looks polished and beautiful. She’s got a sense of humor and a point of view. She came PREPAPRED (including a fully-produced new single). I can see Michelle’s point about wanting more height on her show-stopping runway, but it’s really a small quibble. All in all, a great intro.Kerri Colby‘s jump rope skills will only take her so far, so it’s a good thing she’s also gorgeous with a great sense of style. We got a tiny taste of her backstory while chatting with Ru, so we know there’s more to this queen than just a pretty face and banging bod. (Though that bod was definitely banging in that barely-there runway.)Bosco is bringing camp, fashion and a little spook to the competition. So far, she’s stayed in the Dita Von Teese/Bettie Page lane, but she’s doing it with a lot more polish than we’re used to from the alternative queens. The trick will be not to fall into the trap of being too one-note.Yes, Willow Pill‘s entrance look was very bad. Yes, she wore the precise, specific shade of green that makes Michelle Visage violently ill. No, the green latex did not even fit properly. And yet? None of it was bad enough to overpower her charming weirdness. I get what she was trying to do when she arrived, including the misspelled “angel”/”angle” and the full early-aughts Paris Hilton fantasy. But it was still basically a walking Forever 21 bargain bin. Ru clearly has a fondness for her, though, and that will take her far.I feel like there’s a lot more to June Jambalaya than we saw in this first episode. Hopefully she finds her footing (and some more subtle undergarments) for next week.I don’t want Alyssa Hunter to go home soon (if for no other reason than to look at that pretty face out of drag), but I have some concerns. She looked beautiful in both the talent show and the runway, but they both just felt like pretty clothes and not a performance. I want her to loosen up.It’s not that I think Orion Story’s signature show-stopping drag shouldn’t be a mushroom-themed ensemble with three prosthetic breasts — by all means — but if you’re going to do that you better make sure all three boobs are securely in place! Is that so much to ask? I could see the ends popping up on the left-most, and it was very distracting on the runway. It’s a point so small, it’s not even mentioned as one of this week’s deciding factors. She’s positioning herself as a comedian, but she ain’t funny. Her entrance catchphrase was another bomb. Although it may not be the end of her tale, this is the conclusion of this chapter of Orion’s RuPaul’s Drag Race story.What did you think of the premiere? Catch up on our RuPaul’s Drag Race coverage. View the full article

Published by Reuters By Trevor Hunnicutt WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris was at Democratic committee headquarters in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, when a pipe bomb was discovered outside, according to a White House official familiar with the matter. Harris, then the vice-president elect and senator from California, evacuated the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters on Capitol Hill after law enforcement officers discovered the device, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. The U.S. Secret Service, which provides Harris’ security, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. For a year, the FBI has been looking for a suspect wearing a gray hooded top who they say planted an explosive device next to a park bench outside the DNC and another in an alley behind the Republican National Committee (RNC) headquarters. The devices, which officials believe were planted the night before, were defused. Their discovery came on the same day as supporters of then-President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol in an attempt https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-call-trump-threat-democracy-us-capitol-attack-anniversary-2022-01-06 to overturn the Nov. 3, 2020, election of Joe Biden and Harris. Harris, Biden and other lawmakers observed the anniversary with speeches at the Capitol on Thursday. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien) View the full article

Published by Radar Online When Lucille Ball first met Desi Arnaz she had a black eye and was wearing a slinky gold lame dress slit halfway up the thigh. She was in costume as a stripper for the 1940 movie Dance, Girl, Dance, and Desi thought she “looked like a two-dollar whore who had been badly beaten by her pimp.” Lucille barely gave him a thought as they were introduced at the studio commissary by director George Abbott. She couldn’t even remember the Cuban’s funny Spanish sounding name. It was an inauspicious start to one of Hollywood’s most tumultuous romances. Several hours later, however, Lucille wandered back on set for a script reading, freshly showered and wearing a yellow sweater and tight-fitting beige slacks. Both she and Desi had been signed up to star in the college football musical Too Many Girls. Not recognizing her, Desi turned to the piano player and exclaimed in his rich accent, “Man, that’s a hunk of woman!” The pianist reminded him they’d already met, but just to make sure, Desi called out, “Miss Ball?” “Why don’t you call me Lucille? And I’ll call you Dizzy,” she replied, according to biographer Stefan Kanfer in his book Ball of Fire. “It was like Wow! A bolt of lightning! Lucille fell like a ton of bricks,” said her Dance, Girl, Dance co-star Maureen O’Hara. Two days later, Lucille split with her older boyfriend, movie director Alexander Hall, and Desi called off his engagement to dark-haired dancer Rene de Marco. “A Cuban skyrocket,” Lucille would write later, had “burst over my horizon.” Mega Then 28, she’d found time for romance during her RKO B-movie days. There was a brief 1938 engagement to tough-guy actor Broderick Crawford. But the betrothal was a cover for her adulterous relationship with married Hollywood producer Pandro Berman. She’d also dated William Holden, George Raft and Raft’s bodyguard Mack ‘Killer’ Grey, who was said to have organized crime connections. But Desi was different. Friends and studio execs privately expected the fling to flame out just as quickly as it began. Lucille had previously shown a penchant for older, powerful partners. What could she see in a 23-year-old conga king six years her junior with a slick line and a checkered history with women, Betty Grable among them. But Lucille had already decided Desi was the one. “It was not until I met Desi that I knew I was in love with the man I wanted for the father of my children,” she said. The world would one day grow to love “Lucy,” but off-screen Desi was the only person who would call her by that name and not Lucille. “I didn’t like the name Lucille,” he said. “That name had been used by other men. Lucy was mine alone.” Right from the start, sexual jealousy haunted their relationship. They spent an estimated $30,000 in long-distance calls as lengthy periods apart – he touring with his band and she making movies – inevitably led to suspicions of cheating. It didn’t help that Desi was an inveterate womanizer used to getting his own way. Mega Born on March 2, 1917, in Cuba in the city of Santiago de Cuba. Desi’s father, Desiderio, was the mayor, his uncle was police chief and his mother, Dolores, was said to be one of the ten most beautiful women in Latin America. As a young teenager, he had his own boat, car and a stable of horses, but that was all about to change. The 1933 political revolution left his father in jail and forced his mother to flee with him to Havana. His father was sentenced to six months behind bars and was eventually allowed to leave for Miami, where Desi joined him in 1935. His mother followed. After working a string of menial jobs, he won a big following with his explosive follow-the-leader conga performances just at a time when Latin music was sweeping the United States. His success led him from Miami to Manhattan to Broadway…and ultimately to Lucille. Initially, the battles over Desi’s wandering eye only served as an aphrodisiac for the fledgling romance. Making up was as fiery as the fall-outs. The big marriage proposal, when it came six months after that fateful first meeting, would be like a scene out of I Love Lucy, the show that would later make them the world’s best known TV spouses. In their book Desilu: The Story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, authors Coyne Steven Sanders and Tom Gilbert wrote how the comedian talked in the interview about why she and her Cuban beau could never marry. “It could never work,” she said. “I wouldn’t want to end up one of those neglected musician’s wives who sit home doing needlepoint while their husbands are barnstorming around the country.” But less than one hour later, when they were finally alone, Desi proposed. Not only that, he revealed he’d already made all the plans for them to elope to Connecticut the next morning. They would leave at 6 a.m. to get hitched and make it back in time for his 11 o’clock matinee. Mega On the marriage license, Lucille listed her age as 26 – three years younger than she really was – and Desi, who was 23, added two years to close the age gap even further. Ominously, the bridge wore black. The wool dress was the only thing she had packed that was remotely suitable on such short notice. Desi had forgotten to buy a wedding band so his manager ran into a Woolworth’s and bought a brass ring from the costume jewelry counter. She wore it for the rest of their marriage. “My friends gave the marriage six months,” said Lucille. “I gave it six weeks.” Yet, flushed with excitement and head over heels in love with the handsome, charming bandleader, Lucille hoped the match would last forever. Considering their mercurial temperaments, their age difference and his Casanova reputation, few would bet on the marriage capturing the hearts of the nation and enduring, albeit with many rocky moments, for two decades. “It’s amazing that two people from such different backgrounds and geographical origins ever got together,” said Desi later. “That was perhaps part of our attraction and also, I am sure, the cause of many of our arguments, fights and other problems.” After years of struggling to be a star she was back playing a supporting role in the relationship. Even on their wedding night, according to Kanfer, Desi asked Lucille to get up and fetch him a glass of water because he was thirsty. “I was out of bed and running the tap in the bathroom before I woke up sufficiently to wonder why in the hell he didn’t get it himself,” she recalled. If they went out to a restaurant, it would be Desi who chose what they would eat. He banned her from riding in taxis because it put her too close to a strange man. A year into the marriage Lucille became obsessed with her husband’s philandering and upset over the time they were spending apart. As she would tell her friends, “You can’t get pregnant down a telephone.” In 1942, during World War II, Desi joined the Hollywood Victory Caravan to raise war bonds, along with such stars as James Cagney, Bob Hope and Olivia de Havilland. His skirt-chasing shocked even the practiced adulterers of Hollywood. Mega As Kathleen Brady wrote in her biography Lucille: The Life of Lucille Ball, “Desi felt that as long as he truly loved Lucille alone, his blatant promiscuity in the presence of her colleagues was irrelevant.” By 1944, Lucille couldn’t put up with it any longer. She filed for divorce, convinced he was ‘screwing everybody’ at the hospital near Los Angeles where he was stationed with the Army Medical Corps. But before long Desi charmed his way back into his wife’s affections and in 1946 they even went through with a second marriage ceremony, this time in a church, because his mother believed the reason they hadn’t yet had children was because they were never wed in a proper Catholic service. It’s not that Lucille believed she could ever reform Desi. But she admitted, that she would “rather quarrel and make up with him than anyone else in the world.” In 1950, having been dropped by RKO and too old to be groomed as a bona fide leading lady, Lucille was starring on the radio in the popular show My Favorite Husband with actor Richard Denning. The comedy was so successful CBS decided to launch a version on the brand-new medium of television. Never one to miss an opportunity, Lucille jumped on the plan as a way to get what she wanted – to work with Desi. Lucille reckoned that by having Desi as her husband on-screen and off, she would keep him away from the temptations of the road, put some real effort into starting a family and create a massively successful TV show to showcase her slapstick genius. In almost every respect her scheming paid off. CBS was reluctant at first, worrying American audiences wouldn’t relate to a Cuban husband. But Lucille and Desi were unbowed. They started their production company, Desilu, and took their own show on the road, turning it into such a hit that the network decided to buy it and put it on the air. I Love Lucy went into production in 1951 when Lucille was still 39 years old. After having three miscarriages, Lucille finally gave birth to her first child, Lucie Desiree Arnaz, just one month before her 40th birthday. A year and a half later, her son, Desiderio Alberto Arnaz, known as Desi Jr., was born. Lucille finally had the perfect Hollywood vehicle for her considerable comedic talents, she had the kids she yearned for and her husband by her side. It really was all too good to last. View the full article

Published by OK Magazine Mega Breaking news alert: An insider tells OK! Matt Lauer has been quietly waiting for the opportunity to drop a bombshell tell-all — and 2022 will be the year he finally speaks out. Since the disgraced formerToday host was fired in 2017 after a colleague accused him of sexual assault, “Matt has kept his head down because he knew the timing wasn’t right,” dishes the insider. “Now he feels the dust has settled, and there will be more sympathy for him at long last.” Mega KATIE COURIC TO FACE THE MUSIC ON ‘TODAY’ AFTER BASHING FEMALE COLLEAGUES, SUPPORTING DISGRACED HOST MATT LAUER IN EXPLOSIVE TELL-ALL Lauer, 64, who has been dating PR execShamin Abas since finalizing his divorce from longtime wife Annette Roque, “will spare no truth about the people he feels have betrayed him,” the insider shares. While Today cohost Savannah Guthrie is too popular and powerful for him to take down, “she’ll be worth a mention at least,” predicts the insider, adding that he’ll also likely take a jab at controversial interview guests like Tom Cruise. “He’s already plotting out the book,” continues the insider. “Matt will pick his targets carefully, but he figures he has no chance of making a TV comeback and has nothing to lose by getting his revenge.” MATT LAUER LENDS SUPPORT TO AXED CNN HOST CHRIS CUOMO FOLLOWING SEXUAL MISCONDUCT CLAIM: HE MIGHT BE THE ONLY PERSON ‘WHO UNDERSTANDS’ AsOK! previously reported, Lauer felt so bitter about the scandal and his subsequent firing that he only talks to old friends he believes will be on his side. Mega “He just stays to himself, he doesn’t really reach out to people very much anymore or engage them and so he’s been losing touch with a lot of people,” an insider explained. “When he left the Today show, he didn’t get paid a penny after he got fired. NBC stuck with that. He’s presumably sitting on mountains of money but then again, he had a lot of money in real estate.” “He only wants to talk to people who are gonna take his side,” the insider added candidly. “He still feels like he got railroaded.” View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Andy Cohen thinks the outfits in the early days of the ‘Real Housewives’ franchise were “just terrible”. The 53-year-old television personality – who also serves as executive producer of the Bravo reality TV brand, which has series set all over the world – compared their style to something you “might wear to a PTA meeting” instead of the glamorous events they are known for attending. Andy told Vanity Fair: “In the early of ‘Orange County’, the fashion was just terrible. If you look at the first few years of reunions, ‘Orange County’, ‘Atlanta’ and ‘New York’, they were basically wearing — I don’t even think what they would wear to a cocktail party. I think it was more what they might wear to a PTA meeting.” As the show has developed – with settings ranging from Beverly Hills and New Jersey to international editions in Cheshire, UK and Melbourne, Australia – so has the style game of the ladies, which is something the ‘Watch What Happens Live’ host acknowledged. He said: “I think people have loved seeing what they wear now. They were meant to be aspirational and that’s what they are.” Meanwhile, the reunions – where cast members answer questions and confront each other for shady comments said in confessionals – have become such an iconic fashion event in reality television. Andy – speaking about the crossover with ‘Project Runway’ where competing designers made outfits for some of the cast – added: “For the Housewives, getting ready for a reunion — this is like their prom dress. “So in that same way, I think it makes for a logical challenge. I love the dynamics that play out when you have a Housewife as a client to a designer and seeing the interaction between the Housewives and the designer who wants to win the challenge.” Recently, Andy came under fire for presenting CNN’s New Year’s Eve (31.12.21) coverage – which he fronted with friend and veteran journalist Anderson Cooper – under the influence of alcohol, but he refuses to be “shamed” for his behaviour. He argued: “Listen, I will not be shamed for having fun on New Year’s Eve. That’s why I’m there. That’s why they bring me there.” The ‘Superficial’ author did express remorse for his disparaging comments about Ryan Seacrest. Andy said: “The only thing that I regret saying, the only thing is that I slammed the ABC broadcast and I really like Ryan Seacrest and he’s a great guy.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday began hearing arguments over requests by Republican state officials and business groups to block President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate for employers with more than 100 workers and a similar requirement for healthcare facilities at a time of surging COVID-19 cases nationwide. The nine justices are scheduled to hear at least two hours of arguments in two cases that present a test of presidential powers to combat a public health crisis that has left more than 830,000 Americans dead. Justice Sonia Sotomayor has chosen to participate in the arguments from her chambers, and two arguing attorneys, the solicitors general of Ohio and Louisiana, will also participate remotely by telephone, a court spokeswoman said. Ohio Solicitor General Benjamin Flowers tested positive for the coronavirus, his office said. The justices spent most of the pandemic working remotely but returned to in-person arguments in October. All nine are fully vaccinated, the court said. The court remains closed to the public due to the pandemic. The White House has said the two temporary mandates will save lives and strengthen the U.S. economy by increasing the number of vaccinated Americans by the millions. The challengers have argued that the federal government exceeded its authority by imposing requirements not specifically authorized by Congress and failed to follow the proper administrative processes for issuing emergency regulations. The court’s 6-3 conservative majority in the past has shown skepticism toward sweeping actions by federal agencies. Under one of the policies, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) required that workers at businesses with 100 or more employees be vaccinated or tested weekly, a policy applying to more than 80 million workers nationwide. The state of Ohio and the National Federation of Independent Business are taking the lead in seeking to block that mandate. Religious groups including the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary are among those also challenging the policy in separate cases. Under the second policy being reviewed by the Supreme Court, vaccination is required for an estimated 10.3 million workers at about 76,000 healthcare facilities, including hospitals and nursing homes, that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid government health insurance programs for elderly, disabled and low-income Americans. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the federal agency responsible for administering the two programs, issued the rule. The states of Missouri and Louisiana are taking the lead in the arguments before the justices seeking an order blocking it. The Supreme Court has dealt with several pandemic-related cases already and rejected religious-based challenges to state vaccine requirements. Friday’s cases for the first time test the federal government’s authority to issue vaccine mandates. The court in other pandemic-related cases has backed religious challenges to certain restrictions and ended the federal government’s residential eviction moratorium, originally imposed under former President Donald Trump. As in many countries, vaccination has become a divisive issue in the United States, with some people adamantly opposed and many Republicans critical of mandates imposed by governments and businesses. The United States and countries around the world are facing an upswing in COVID-19 cases driven by the Omicron coronavirus variant. Biden’s administration is asking the justices to lift orders by federal judges in Missouri and Louisiana blocking the healthcare worker mandate in half the 50 states while litigation on the legal merits of the policy continues. The Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Dec. 17 lifted an injunction issued by another court that had blocked the OSHA rule regarding large businesses, prompting challengers to ask the Supreme Court to intervene. Biden’s administration is arguing that Congress gave federal agencies broad leeway to require employers to protect workers and Medicare and Medicaid patients from health and safety hazards. Decisions in both cases are expected quickly, with the administration’s deadlines for compliance looming. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung; Additional reporting by Tom Hals; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Sidney Poitier, who broke through racial barriers as the first Black winner of the best actor Oscar for his role in “Lilies of the Field,” and inspired a generation during the civil rights movement, has died at age 94, an official from the Bahamian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Friday. Eugene Torchon-Newry, acting director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, confirmed Poitier’s death. Poitier created a distinguished film legacy in a single year with three 1967 films at a time when segregation prevailed in much of the United States. In “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” he played a Black man with a white fiancee and “In the Heat of the Night” he was Virgil Tibbs, a Black police officer confronting racism during a murder investigation. He also played a teacher in a tough London school that year in “To Sir, With Love.” Poitier had won his history-making best actor Oscar for “Lilies of the Field” in 1963, playing a handyman who helps German nuns build a chapel in the desert. Five years before that Poitier had been the first Black man nominated for a lead actor Oscar for his role in “The Defiant Ones.” His Tibbs character from “In the Heat of the Night” was immortalized in two sequels – “They Call Me Mister Tibbs!” in 1970 and “The Organization” in 1971 – and became the basis of the television series “In the Heat of the Night” starring Carroll O’Connor and Howard Rollins. His other classic films of that era included “A Patch of Blue” in 1965 in which his character ias befriended by a blind white girl, “The Blackboard Jungle” and “A Raisin in the Sun,” which Poitier also performed on Broadway. Poitier was born in Miami on Feb. 20, 1927, and raised on a tomato farm in the Bahamas, and had just one year of formal schooling. He struggled against poverty, illiteracy and prejudice to become one of the first Black actors to be known and accepted in major roles by mainstream audiences. Poitier picked his roles with care, burying the old Hollywood idea that Black actors could appear only in demeaning contexts as shoeshine boys, train conductors and maids. “I love you, I respect you, I imitate you,” Denzel Washington, another Oscar winner, once told Poitier at a public ceremony. As a director, Poitier worked with his friend Harry Belafonte and Bill Cosby in “Uptown Saturday Night” in 1974 and Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder in 1980’s “Stir Crazy.” STARTED ON STAGE Poitier grew up in the small Bahamian village of Cat Island and in Nassau before he moved to New York at 16, lying about his age to sign up for a short stint in the Army and then working at odd jobs, including dishwasher, while taking acting lessons. The young actor got his first break when he met the casting director of the American Negro Theater. He was an understudy in “Days of Our Youth” and took over when the star, Belafonte, who also would become a pioneering Black actor, fell ill. Poitier went on to success on Broadway in “Anna Lucasta” in 1948 and, two years later, got his first movie role in “No Way Out” with Richard Widmark. In all, he acted in more than 50 films and directed nine, starting in 1972 with “Buck and the Preacher” in which he co-starred with Belafonte. In 1992, Poitier was given the Life Achievement Award by the American Film Institute, the most prestigious honor after the Oscar, joining recipients such as Bette Davis, Alfred Hitchcock, Fred Astaire, James Cagney and Orson Welles. “I must also pay thanks to an elderly Jewish waiter who took time to help a young Black dishwasher learn to read,” Poitier told the audience. “I cannot tell you his name. I never knew it. But I read pretty good now.” In 2002, an honorary Oscar recognized “his remarkable accomplishments as an artist and as a human being.” Poitier married actress Joanna Shimkus, his second wife, in the mid-1970s. He had six daughters with his two wives and wrote three books – “This Life” (1980), “The Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography” (2000) and “Life Beyond Measure: Letters to My Great-Granddaughter” (2008). “If you apply reason and logic to this career of mine, you’re not going to get very far,” he told the Washington Post. “The journey has been incredible from its beginning. So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.” Poitier wrote three autobiographical books and in 2013 published “Montaro Caine,” a novel that was described as part mystery, part science fiction. Poitier was knighted by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II in 1974 and served as the Bahamian ambassador to Japan and to UNESCO, the U.N. cultural agency. He also sat on Walt Disney Co’s board of directors from 1994 to 2003. In 2009, Poitier was awarded the highest U.S. civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, by President Barack Obama. The 2014 Academy Awards ceremony marked the 50th anniversary of Poitier’s historic Oscar and he was there to present the award for best director. (Reporting by Katharine Jackson; Editing by Doina Chiacu and Howard Goller) View the full article

Alan Turing statueExpanding Turing’s Law Pardons are now available for anyone in the U.K. convicted for homosexual activities under previous British laws. A new amendment to the nation’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill broadens the range of pardon-eligible offenses to any charge related to consensual same-sex sexual activity. Previously only people in England and Wales convicted under nine specific since-repealed laws, including anti-sodomy measures, could apply for a pardon. The pardon program is commonly referred to as Turing’s Law, after famed British mathematician Alan Turing. Turing became famous for breaking the German Enigma code during World War II but was later chemically castrated by the state as punishment for homosexual activity. “Parliament has a duty to wipe away the terrible stains which they placed, quite wrongly, on the reputations of countless gay people over centuries,” they added. “In a matter of weeks, legislation will be in place to enable thousands of gay people to whom grave harm was done to wipe their records clean. We are delighted our long campaign will at last bring many gay people, both living and deceased, the restitution they deserve.” Former Royal Air Force soldier David Bonney, who believes himself to be the last person jailed for being gay, told the BBC that pardoning affected individuals “could be sorted within a couple of years” thanks to the now-broadened bill. “They’ve got the records, they know who we are,” he added. The U.K. decision spotlights the use of anti-sodomy legislation to effectively criminalize LGBTQ people as multiple legal challenges to similar laws in the U.S. remain ongoing. Lawsuits in Idaho, Montana and South Carolina challenging parameters of those laws are currently pending. Pardon: Previously on Towleroad The 100,000 (est) Men Convicted for Same-Sex Contact Under UK’s Maze of Sodomy Laws Over The Last Few Hundred Years Can Get Pardons Now. Bit Late For Some. Brian Bell January 6, 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 Texas’ Hostile Supreme Court LGBT Rights Case Against California Won’t Be Heard, Nor Will Texas’ 4 Trumped-up Cases To Overturn Biden’s Election Towleroad April 26, 2021 Read More New President of Tanzania Likely to Reject Predecessor’s Anti-LGBTQ Policies, Among Most Repressive in World: A TERRIFYING TIMELINE Michael Goff March 20, 2021 Read More Florida Congressional Candidate Sorry for Saying ‘Lucifer’ Gave Gay People ‘Unnatural Lusts’ John Wright July 30, 2020 Read More Taxpayer-Funded Tenn. School Revokes Gay Student’s Admission, Citing Ban on ‘Sexually Impure Relationships’ John Wright July 23, 2020 Read More Photo courtesy of Tess Reddington/Creative Commons View the full article