RadioRob

Published by Reuters By Mark Hosenball and Steve Gorman WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A California man charged with assaulting police in the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol and using a metal barricade as a battering ram has fled the United States and is believed to have taken refuge in Belarus, federal prosecutors said on Friday. Evan Neumann, 49, was indicted on Friday on 14 criminal counts stemming from the deadly Capitol siege by supporters of then-President Donald Trump, expanding on charges originally contained in a criminal complaint filed against Neumann in March. Neumann, of Mill Valley, California, near San Francisco, was seen in video footage donning a gas mask while standing near police in front of barricades set up at the base of the West Front of the Capitol Building, prosecutors said in a statement. According to documents filed in the case, Neumann later removes his gas mask and shouts at the police, “I’m willing to die, are you?” before he physically assaults several officers and rushes into them using a barricade as a battering ram. Neumann, who has yet to make a court appearance in the case, fled from the United States on Feb. 16 and “is currently believed to be in Belarus,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia said in a statement. According to an account published by news outlet the Daily Beast, Neumann was featured last month in a Belarusian state television special titled “Goodbye, America,” recounting his journey to the former Soviet republic and its capital, Minsk. He said on the program that he was seeking political asylum in Belarus because the United States, in his opinion, is no longer a country of law and order, the Daily Beast reported. Neumann is one of more than 220 individuals charged with assaulting or impeding law enforcement during the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which disrupted a joint session of Congress meeting to formally certify the November 2020 presidential election victory of Democrat Joe Biden over Trump, the Republican incumbent. Neumann is believed to be the only international fugitive charged in connection with the Capitol riot. The siege followed a rally near the White House earlier that day in which Trump exhorted supporters to march on the Capitol during a speech in which he repeated false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud. Four people died the day of the riot, and one Capitol police officer died the next day of injuries sustained while defending Congress. Hundreds of police were injured during the multi-hour melee and four officers have since taken their own lives. (Reporting by Mark Hosenball in Washington; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien) View the full article

Published by AFP Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis (center, L-R) poses with the cast and crew of the New York (AFP) – Carrie, Miranda and Charlotte are 20 years older, and their beloved New York has been ravaged by Covid-19, but the sassy women are back — without Samantha — in HBO Max’s “Sex and the City” revival, which premieres Thursday. The hotly anticipated “And Just Like That…” picks up long after the landmark series and two so-so movies left off, with the forever friends taking on a new phase of life — their 50s. In the 10 new episodes, onetime sex and dating columnist Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) is married and learning to work with her podcast co-host (Sara Ramirez) — one of several new characters created to widen the cast’s diversity. Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) is back in school for a new Master’s degree and Charlotte (Kristin Davis) is the uber power mom – a far cry from the characters’ amusing sexcapades that made the show must-see TV in the late 1990s and early 2000s. “We don’t try to make a point of: “Look, they’re mature, they’re better, they’re smarter’,” Parker told The New York Times. “Sex and the City” broke ground with its frank portrayal of female friendships and sexual relationships, spawned fashion trends, and generated tours of locations made famous by the show. Can lightning strike again with this reimagining? For journalist and author Candace Bushnell, whose columns for the New York Observer were the basis for the original show, the series is about empowerment. “I think what ‘Sex and the City’ brought to women is really the message that I’ve been trying to give women since I was eight years old. And that’s really a message of feminism, of behaving independently, of having your own money and of becoming your own Mr. Big as opposed to looking for a Mr. Big to marry,” Bushnell told AFP. Michael Patrick King, who worked on the original series, returns as a writer and director for the new episodes. But one major contributor to the success of the original is missing this time — Kim Cattrall, who played the sexed-up Samantha, announced after the second film that she would no longer portray the character. “We did everything we could to make it be worth a trip back,” King told The Hollywood Reporter. “The city’s different, the world’s different and the conversations are different.” View the full article

Published by Reuters By Peter Szekely NEW YORK (Reuters) -The New York City Council on Thursday passed a measure that would enable hundreds of thousands of non-citizen immigrants who are in the country legally to vote in municipal elections. If the bill is signed into law by Mayor Bill de Blasio, New York would become the largest U.S. city to allow non-citizens to participate in elections. It would enable more than 800,000 permanent U.S. residents, or green-card holders, and other legally documented non-citizens to take part in elections for city leaders, including the mayor. Non-citizen residents would not be allowed to vote in state or federal elections. “I am proud to be voting on legislation that will give the right to vote to green card holders and people who are authorized to work in the United States of America,” Council Speaker Corey Johnson said before the vote. “Immigrants pay taxes,” he said. “They use city services. Their kids go to our public schools. They are part of our community, and they deserve a say in local government.” The measure, which passed 33-to-14, just short of a veto-proof two-thirds majority, sparked an debate that was often emotional, with many members invoking their own immigrant family histories. Some said the bill’s 30-day residency requirement was too short. The 51-member body defeated an effort by the council’s three Republican members and several Democrats to send the bill back to a committee to lengthen the residency requirement. “Thirty days is not enough for someone to decide who’s going to represent the greatest city in the world,” said Council Member Paul Vallone, a Democrat who voted with Republicans. Some members also questioned whether the bill would pass legal muster, asserting that the state constitution bestows voting rights to “every citizen.” Those concerns were shared by de Blasio, who cited misgivings over “outstanding legal questions” about the city’s authority to enact such a measure. But he suggested on Wednesday that he would still sign the legislation. “I respect the City Council,” de Blasio told a reporter at a briefing. “My assumption is I’m just going to respect whatever they do.” A report last year by the mayor’s office estimated that nearly 10% of the city’s 8.8 million residents were green-card holders or other immigrants with legal status. New York would join at least 14 U.S. cities, including San Francisco, already allow non-citizens to vote in their municipal elections. (Reporting by Peter Szekely in New York; Editing by Aurora Ellis) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Mega Don Lemon is throwing his one-time friend Jussie Smollett under the bus after the actor claimed the CNN host had tipped him off with police information prior to his arrest. On Thursday, hours after a Chicago jury found Jussie guilty on 5 counts related to him staging his own hate crime, Don appeared on air to discuss the verdict. When talking about Jussie he said, “He had to make up too many lies on why he didn’t want to do certain things. To cover, another lie. I guess he got caught up in that.” Don Lemon All Smiles As Calls For Him To Be Fired From CNN Grow Over Jussie Smollett Texts Mega He added, “Because he took the stand himself, he got angry with the prosecutor, as the prosecutor poked holes in his story.” During the show, Don also accused Jussie of making it harder for other victims to come forward. Don didn’t address the fact that Jussie testified during the trial that the CNN host had texted him before he was charged. The texts reportedly told the actor the police involved in the investigation didn’t believe his story. Sources claim the CNN host is furious with Jussie for name-dropping him in court. Chris Cuomo And Don Lemon Are No Longer Talking Mega After the fake hate crime went down, Jussie and Don were texting every day with the journalist providing the actor with inside information from his sources. Don’s involvement with Jussie has infuriated viewers who are now demanding CNN terminate his contract. Many are wondering why the network hasn’t taken action against Don but was swift to fire Chris Cuomo for meddling in his brother Andrew‘s scandal. Jussie Smollett Claims CNN’s Don Lemon Warned Him Cops Didn’t Believe His Story Via Text, Host Accused Of Unethical Behavior Days After Chris Cuomo’s Firing One political commentator wrote, “If Don Lemon tipped off Jussie Smollett about police investigating the hate crime hoax, CNN should fire him immediately!” Mega CNN has yet to comment on the calls for Don to be fired. View the full article

Democracy Defenders (US, UK, Canada and others could join) put sanctions on China and others in an attempt to message that human rights violations and threats to democracy will be responded to during President Biden’s Democracy summit. Published by Reuters WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The United States on Friday imposed extensive human rights-related sanctions on dozens of people and entities tied to China, Myanmar, North Korea and Bangladesh, and added Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime Group to an investment blacklist. Canada and the United Kingdom joined the United States in imposing sanctions related to human rights abuse in Myanmar, while Washington also imposed the first new sanctions on North Korea under President Joe Biden’s administration and targeted Myanmar military entities, among others, in action marking Human Rights Day. “Our actions today, particularly those in partnership with the United Kingdom and Canada, send a message that democracies around the world will act against those who abuse the power of the state to inflict suffering and repression,” Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said in the statement. The North Korean mission at the United Nations and the Chinese, Myanmar and Bangladesh embassies in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it added Chinese artificial intelligence company SenseTime to a list of “Chinese military-industrial complex companies”, accusing it of having developed facial recognition programs that can determine a target’s ethnicity, with a particular focus on identifying ethnic Uyghurs. As a result it will fall under an investment ban for U.S. investors. U.N. experts and rights groups estimate more than a million people, mainly Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities, have been detained in recent years in a vast system of camps in China’s far-west region of Xinjiang. China denies abuses in Xinjiang, but the U.S. government and many rights groups say Beijing is carrying out genocide there. The Treasury said North Korea’s Central Public Prosecutors Office had been designated, along with the former minister of social security and recently assigned Minister of People’s Armed Forces Ri Yong Gil. U.S. President Joe Biden gathered over 100 world leaders at a virtual summit this week and made a plea to bolster democracies around the world, calling safeguarding rights and freedoms in the face of rising authoritarianism the “defining challenge” of the current era. (Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis, Simon Lewis, David Brunnstrom, Matt Spetalnick, and Tim AhmannEditing by Chris Sanders and Alistair Bell) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Luc Cohen NEW YORK (Reuters) -A fourth Ghislaine Maxwell accuser testified at the British socialite’s sex abuse trial on Friday, recalling that late financier Jeffrey Epstein climbed into bed with her at his New Mexico ranch when she was 16. The testimony by the woman, Annie Farmer, comes as the prosecution has said it could rest its case by the end of the week. Maxwell has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of sex trafficking and other charges for her alleged role in recruiting and grooming four teenagers for Epstein to abuse between 1994 and 2004. Her attorneys say she is being scapegoated because Epstein is no longer alive. Farmer said she was 16 when she visited Epstein and Maxwell at the ranch in the spring of 1996. Her older sister, Maria, worked for Epstein in New York at the time, and Farmer said she believed he would help her pay for her college education. While at the ranch, Maxwell offered to give Farmer a massage, Farmer testified. Farmer agreed to receive the massage and got undressed, she said. Maxwell touched Farmer’s breasts during the massage, Farmer said. “Once she pulled down the sheet I felt kind of frozen,” Farmer said. Later on during the trip, Farmer said Epstein came into her room and climbed into bed with her. “Suddenly Epstein kind of opened my door, bounding into the room in a playful way, saying that he wanted to cuddle,” Farmer said, adding that Epstein “pressed his body into me.” She said she became uncomfortable and said she had to use the bathroom, which she described as an “excuse” to get away from Epstein. The financier killed himself at age 66 in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex abuse charges. (Reporting by Luc Cohen in New YorkEditing by Frances Kerry, Noeleen Walder, Alistair Bell and Mark Porter) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday allowed abortion providers to pursue a legal challenge to a ban on most abortions in Texas but left the nation’s strictest abortion law in place, with the fate of the Republican-backed measure that allows private citizens to enforce it still hanging in the balance. The justices, who heard arguments on the case on Nov. 1, lifted a block on lower court proceedings, which may pave the way for a federal judge to block the law at least in part. The conservative-majority court on Sept. 1 had declined to halt the measure. The justices in a separate case dismissed a separate challenge brought by President Joe Biden’s administration. The law bans abortions at around six weeks, a point in time when many women do not yet realize they are pregnant, and has no exception for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. The Supreme Court has yet to decide another major abortion rights case from Mississippi that could lead to the overturning of the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the procedure nationwide. The abortion providers and the Biden administration had asked the Supreme Court to block the Texas law while the litigation continues, but the justices opted to leave it in place for now. “We won, on very narrow grounds. Our lawsuit can continue against the health department, medical board, nursing board and pharmacy board. We’d hoped for a statewide injunction, but no clear path to it. Rest assured, we will NOT stop fighting,” Whole Woman’s Health, the abortion provider that challenged the law, wrote on Twitter. The Texas measure, the nation’s most restrictive, is one of a series of restrictive abortion laws passed by Republicans at the state level in recent years. Abortion opponents welcomed the Supreme Court’s decision not to block the law. “We celebrate that the Texas Heartbeat Act will remain in effect, saving the lives of unborn children and protecting mothers while litigation continues in lower courts,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List. The court in the Texas case, in an 8-1 decision authored by conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch, ruled that a narrow challenge was allowed under a 1908 Supreme Court precedent that said state laws can be challenged in federal court by suing state government officials. Texas had sought to exploit a loophole in that earlier ruling by saying no state officials could enforce it, but the Supreme Court said the challengers could pursue their case by naming state licensing officials as defendants. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas dissented on that part of the ruling, saying he would have dismissed the lawsuit altogether. The Texas law, known as S.B. 8, enables private citizens to sue anyone who performs or assists a woman in getting an abortion after cardiac activity is detected in the embryo. Individual citizens can be awarded a minimum of $10,000 for bringing successful lawsuits under the law. Biden’s administration has called it a “bounty.” That feature made it more difficult to directly sue the state to challenge the law’s legality, helping shield the measure from being immediately blocked. ‘THE FEDERAL RIGHT’ Conservative Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by the court’s three liberal justices, agreed that licensing officials can be sued, but said the providers could also target other officials, including state court clerks and the attorney general. Roberts criticized the Texas law as specifically designed to “nullify” the Supreme Court’s precedents on abortion, effectively denying women a constitutional right. The court cannot allow legislatures to evade federal court judgments, Roberts added. “The nature of the federal right infringed does not matter; it is the role of the Supreme Court in our constitutional system that is at stake,” Roberts wrote. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, while agreeing with the court’s decision to allow the challenge, wrote a partial dissent blasting her colleagues for failing to “put an end to this madness” and warning that other states could still try to copy Texas’ enforcement mechanism because the state’s attorney general and state court judges could not be named as defendants in court challenges. “The court thus betrays not only the citizens of Texas but also our constitutional system of government,” Sotomayor added in an opinion joined by the other two liberal justices, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan. Gorsuch said in the ruling that state judges and clerks are improper proper targets for lawsuits against the abortion ban. “Judges exist to resolve controversies about a law’s meaning or its conformance to the federal and state constitutions, not to wage battle as contestants in the parties’ litigation,” Gorsuch wrote. Abortion providers and the Biden administration argued that the law violates a woman’s constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy recognized in the Roe v. Wade ruling and is impermissibly designed to evade federal judicial review. The Mississippi law – blocked by lower courts – bans abortions starting at 15 weeks of pregnancy. The court’s conservative justices during oral arguments in the Mississippi case on Dec. 1 indicated sympathy toward the Mississippi measure and potential support for overturning Roe. How the conservative justices voted in the Texas case may not guide how they vote on the Mississippi law because the legal issues differed, particularly relating to its unusual enforcement mechanism. (Reporting by Lawrence Hurley and Andrew Chung; Editing by Will Dunham) View the full article

Published by AFP Trump supporters are seen outside the US Capitol during the violent attack on January 6, 2021 Washington (AFP) – A US federal appeals court on Thursday rejected former president Donald Trump’s bid to prevent the release of White House records relating to the January 6 attack on the Capitol. The appeals court agreed with a lower court ruling that President Joe Biden could waive executive privilege on the records, so that they could be handed over to a Congressional panel investigating the violence by Trump supporters. Trump, who has been accused of fomenting the attack on the US Congress, sought to exercise his privilege as a former president to keep the documents and phone records that might relate to the attack a secret. But the court said Biden’s judgment carried more weight in the case. “The right of a former president certainly enjoys no greater weight than that of the incumbent,” the appeals court said in its ruling. “In this case, President Biden, as the head of the Executive Branch, has specifically found that Congress has demonstrated a compelling need for these very documents and that disclosure is in the best interests of the nation,” the court said. Supreme Court appeal expected The ruling did not trigger the immediate release of the records. The appeals court said that Trump’s lawyers would have two weeks to appeal the case to the Supreme Court. There, Trump’s attorneys are expected to request a new freeze on the release while the high court reviews the unprecedented case. “Regardless of today’s decision by the appeals court, this case was always destined for the Supreme Court,” said Trump spokeswoman Liz Harrington. “President Trump’s duty to defend the Constitution and the Office of the Presidency continues, and he will keep fighting for every American and every future administration.” The appeals court said the public interest was greater than Trump’s own in relation to the records, which are held by the National Archives. “That public interest is heightened when, as here, the legislature is proceeding with urgency to prevent violent attacks on the federal government and disruptions to the peaceful transfer of power,” it said. The records are sought by the House Select Committee investigating the January 6 violence, in which hundreds of Trump supporters forced the shutdown of Congress and delayed a joint session to confirm that Joe Biden had won the November 2020 election over Trump and would become president. “We applaud the Court’s decisive ruling, which respects the Select Committee’s interest in obtaining White House records and the President’s judgment in allowing those records to be produced,” the special committee’s Democratic chairman Representative Bennie Thompson and Republican vice chair Liz Cheney said in a joint statement Thursday. Documents that Trump hoped to block include records from his top aides and memos to his former press secretary. The more than 770 pages include records of his former chief of staff Mark Meadows, his former senior advisor Stephen Miller and his former deputy counsel Patrick Philbin. Trump had also hoped to block the release of the White House Daily Diary — a record of his activities, trips, briefings and phone calls. Another trove of documents Trump does not want Congress to see includes memos to his former press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, a handwritten note on the January 6 events and a draft text of his speech at the “Save America” rally, which preceded the attack. “Today, the Courts have once again rejected the former President’s campaign to obstruct Congress’s investigation into the January 6th insurrection,” Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi said in a statement after the ruling. “No one can be allowed to stand in the way of the truth – particularly not the previous President, who incited the insurrection.” Investigation advances The January 6 committee meanwhile continued to push ahead in its investigation. Witness and document requests indicate it is seeking to determine whether the White House played a role in encouraging or even plotting the January 6 attack as part of Trump’s effort to prevent Biden from taking office. Cheney, the committee’s vice-chair, said it had now heard from nearly 300 witnesses, including four on Thursday: former Trump aide and Pentagon official Kash Patel; Ali Alexander, who helped organize the pro-Trump rally at the White House before the Capitol attack; and two others. When Trump political consultant Steve Bannon refused to testify on his role on January 6, he was held in contempt, and then arrested by the Justice Department. Next week, the committee is expected to also rule Meadows in contempt for refusing to testify. “The investigation is firing on all cylinders,” Cheney said on Twitter. “President Trump is trying to hide what happened on January 6th and to delay and obstruct. We will not let that happen.” View the full article

Published by Radar Online MEGA Luke Evans is living all of our best lives. While the vast majority of us are at work or working from home on these dreary December days, the 42-year-old actor is half-naked in sunny Florida, getting friendly with a mystery man. MEGA The shirtless and chiseled celebrity was photographed on Wednesday rocking a tiny black speedo on the warm sands of Miami Beach. It’s evident Luke was working on his tan, as he was seen lying on a beach chair among a small crowd of equally relaxed-looking beachgoers. At one point, an unidentified man wearing a coral T-shirt, black basketball shorts and a black baseball cap swooped in to say hello to the Hobbit star – not with a handshake or even a hug, but with two kisses on each cheek. How very European! But such a greeting makes sense given that Evans was born and raised in Wales. His career has taken him from singing to broadway performing to acting. But these days, you can catch him stocking up on some vitamin D and showing off his anti-dad bod, which he surely worked hard to obtain. MEGA The Welsh star, who is openly gay, confirmed earlier this year that he and his boyfriend, Rafael Olarra, had broken up, following speculation that began in October 2020 that the two had split. Of course, it all started with Luke unfollowing Rafael on Instagram. Since then (and even before, let’s be real) Evans has been focused on perfecting his physique, which may have something to do with the filming of his Apple TV+ action thriller series, Echo 3. Set in South America, Echo 3 follows the story of a young American scientist who goes missing at the Colombia–Venezuela border. Earlier on Wednesday, the actor posted a photo to his Instagram page that appeared to have been taken on set. Sitting on top of a wall and holding a soccer ball in his hands, he quipped, “No one wanted to play with me that day….” Needless to say, his Instagram followers wish they had been given the opportunity. MEGA View the full article

Published by AFP People protest in front of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington, DC for Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist killed by a team of assassins at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul in 2018 Washington (AFP) – The street in front of the embassy of Saudi Arabia will be called “Jamal Khashoggi Way,” after the Washington city council voted to honor the Saudi journalist murdered by government agents. The council voted unanimously on Tuesday to symbolically name the 700-foot (213-meter) stretch of New Hampshire Avenue that runs between the embassy and the Watergate complex for Khashoggi, a dissident journalist working for The Washington Post at the time of his murder in Turkey. “Through his journalism, Jamal Khashoggi was a fierce advocate for democracy, human rights, and the rule of law,” said a council report on the bill. “By designating the street fronting the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia after Jamal Khashoggi, the District is creating a memorial in his honor that cannot be covered up or repressed,” it said. Khashoggi, a vocal critic of the Saudi monarchy, was murdered and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2, 2018 after traveling there from the United States to file paperwork to marry his Turkish fiancee. The killers were a team of men closely connected to the palace of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is accused by Western intelligence of authorizing the murder. The Saudi embassy did not respond to request for comment on the move. The bill from the council is expected to be signed by Washington Mayor Muriel Bowser and not meet objection in the US Congress, which reviews all legislation from the US capital city government. In 2018, Washington named a street outside the Russian embassy in honor of prominent Vladimir Putin critic Boris Nemtsov, who was assassinated in Moscow in three years earlier. View the full article

Published by AFP US actor Jussie Smollett leaves the Leighton Criminal Court Building between his mother Janet Smollett (L) and sister Jurnee Smollett (R), after his trial on disorderly conduct charges on December 8, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois Washington (AFP) – A jury in Chicago on Thursday found US actor Jussie Smollett guilty of five felony counts of disorderly conduct for falsely telling police he was the victim of a racist and homophobic hate crime in 2019 — an attack prosecutors said he himself staged. Smollett, who was one of the stars of the popular television drama “Empire” at the time, told police in January 2019 that he was attacked in the middle of the night by two masked men while walking near his Chicago home. But investigators eventually concluded — based on examination of closed circuit television images and the cell phone data of Smollett and his two alleged attackers — that he had orchestrated the whole thing. “The jury in the case of Jussie Smollett have found Mr Smollett guilty of five of six counts of disorderly conduct,” Cook County Circuit Court spokeswoman Mary Wisniewski said in a statement to reporters. The actor faces up to three years in prison, but could instead be sentenced to probation and community service. No sentencing date was set. Smollett’s lawyer Nenye Uche said the actor would appeal the conviction, according to US media. “The verdict is inconsistent,” he said, referring to Smollett’s conviction on five charges and acquittal on a sixth. “We feel 100 percent confident that this case will be won on appeal,” Uche told reporters during a press conference after the verdict. Smollett, who is gay and African-American, maintained his innocence in the face of a damning public account from authorities of their case against him and pleaded not guilty on all counts. Prosecutors accused Smollett of hiring two acquaintances, brothers Olabinjo and Abimbola Osundairo, to stage the attack while invoking Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan, after the actor had received a legitimate piece of hate mail which he felt was not taken seriously by his employers. The case took a strange turn when Cook County prosecutors dropped the initial 16 felony counts against him in March 2019. But he was again indicted in February 2020 by a grand jury in Cook County, which handles crimes in Chicago, on six counts of disorderly conduct related to the alleged false reporting. Smollett — who was dropped from “Empire” after the allegations against him — was acquitted on a sixth count. ‘I was supposed to punch him’ “There was no hoax,” the 39-year-old Smollett insisted during the trial, local media reported. He denied having spoken about a staged attack at any time with his alleged accomplices. Smollett and his lawyer then acted out the fight between the actor and the brothers in front of the court, with Smollett playing the role of the attacker. The Osundairo brothers testified they had been paid to stage the assault. Abimbola Osundairo said Smollett “talked about how the studio was not taking… hate mail seriously.” “Then he proceeded to tell me he wanted me to beat him up,” he said. “I was supposed to punch him but not too hard.” The brothers had flown to Nigeria, where they are from, after the alleged attack. They were arrested upon their return to Chicago in mid-February. The episode initially sparked outrage, with many politicians and celebrities jumping to Smollett’s defense. The case also revived America’s long-simmering debate about how just the country’s criminal justice system really is, whether the rich get off easy — and whether prosecutors should have so much discretion. View the full article

Published by Radar Online MEGA The prosecutor in Jussie Smollett‘s hoax trial has put his foot in his mouth once again. 76-year-old Dan Webb — who is a white attorney — claimed the actor “monkeyed around” with the noose that was found around his neck during an alleged hate crime in 2019. The former Empire actor is currently on trial after being hit with six felony disorderly conduct charges for allegedly filing a false police report about being a hate crime victim. Chicago police believe he staged the attack in order to gain attention. As of this post, the jury is currently deliberating their verdict, but Webb reportedly used the cringe-worthy terminology during his closing argument on Wednesday. The prosecutor has been trying to paint a picture that Jussie stagged the attack. Webb’s noose reference was an attempt to prove the star tried the rope around his own neck. According to reports, his poorly chosen phrase led to groans of displeasure from the packed courtroom. MEGA Webb’s “moneyed around with noose” reference comes one day after he repeatedly dropped the n-word in court while questioning Jussie on the stand. He used the slurs when reading an Instagram conversation between Jussie and Abimbola Osundario on the night of the January 29, 2019 attack. The actor couldn’t take it anymore and interrupted the lawyer mid-sentence. Jussie asked the attorney not to say the word anymore “out of respect for every African American in the courtroom.” Webb apologized then suggested, “Why don’t you read it?” to Jussie before adding, “I don’t want to mispronounce anything.” Jussie has been accused of paying Abimbola $3,500 to stage a hate crime against him. The star denies the accusation, claiming the money was for training and nutrition advice. Jussie claims he was attacked near his apartment by two masked men wearing MAGA hats. He says they shouted homophobic and racial slurs while beating him up and tying a noose around his neck. While on the stand, he repeatedly denied the attack was a hoax. If found guilty, Jussie’s six felony counts could lead to three years behind bars, but experts think he’ll get off with a fine and community service. The jury’s verdict could come in as early as today. MEGA View the full article

[This post contains video, click to play] Published by AFP A manatee is seen here at a zoo in Tampa in January 2021 Miami (AFP) – Florida’s manatees — which are increasingly facing starvation, largely as a result of pollution — are going to be fed directly by wildlife officials, in what they called an “unprecedented” step to prevent further die-off. The pilot program will start with Indian River Lagoon, on the Sunshine State’s east coast southeast of Orlando, federal and state authorities announced Wednesday. Many manatees migrate to this area in winter, to bask in the warm water discharged by a nearby power plant and to graze on seagrass. But over the last decade, heavy runoff from nearby farms and urban areas has caused algae blooms to explode, which increasingly threaten the sea mammals’ main food source. The algae blocks out sunlight, which seagrass needs to grow, while also releasing poisonous toxins. At least 1,017 manatees have died so far in 2021, with the most deadly winter months still to come. “This unprecedented event is worth unprecedented actions,” announced Thomas Eason, the deputy director of Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. Under the new program, only a small number of individuals will be authorized to feed the manatees in the Indian River Lagoon, and only if necessary, Eason explained, reiterating that the general public should not do so. In captivity, manatees are fed a diet of salad, cabbage and other vegetables. Also known as sea cows, manatees are large animals of about 10 feet (three meters) in length and weighing between 800 and 1,200 pounds (360-540 kilos). They can eat up to 10 percent of their weight every day, so any decrease in seagrass growth can have dire consequences. Save the Manatee, a local non-governmental organization, praised the new program, with executive director Patrick Rose calling it a “significant move to help prevent another severe loss of manatees due to starvation.” Florida Man Florida Manatees on Towleroad Sarah Jessica Parker reveals challenges reviving Sex and the City role in And Just Like That More US Supreme Court leans toward public funding of religious schools More Jennifer Coolidge Wasn’t One To Emerge From COVID Lockdown With Renewed Zest, In Shape, With New Skills More Number of jailed journalists reached global high in 2021, at least 24 killed for their coverage – CPJ report More Groups push to make California a haven for abortion rights More Keanu Says: Neo Trinity Romance Was Key to Matrix 4; Jonathan Groff Cried Reading Script: ‘Iconic Actors…Iconic Parts …Fighting to Have their Love Again’ : TRAILER More People with health issues or inactivated vaccine should get COVID-19 booster – WHO More Georgia Republicans purge Black Democrats from county election boards More House Jan. 6 panel has ‘no choice’ but contempt charge against former Trump aide Meadows More Don Lemon All Smiles As Calls For Him To Be Fired From CNN Grow Over Jussie Smollett Texts More Drag Pastor Loses Ministry; Has No Regrets For Brief HBO Moments in Thigh High Boots, Pink Wig, Sequins; Was ‘powerful, spiritual’: ‘May Acceptance of LGBTQ… continue’ More Load More View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Sarah Jessica Parker has insisted it wasn’t “simple” resurrecting ‘Sex and the City’ characters in ‘And Just Like That’. The 56-year-old actress – who reprises her role as Carrie Bradshaw in HBO’s revival of the comedy drama – has opened up on the challenges she and her cast mates Kristin Davis and Cynthia Nixon faced on set. She told ‘Entertainment Tonight’: “I think, actually, every day figuring out who Carrie is, who is Charlotte, who is Miranda? “Putting that back together is probably not quite as simple as some might think. “You may recall how they sound and walk and talk, but more so who are they now, and what has time given them? How do you reveal that? And what do they dress like, and what matters to them?” Sarah insisted fans of the show will get a feel for the differences in the characters – and their world – as the 10-episode series gets underway. She added: “It will become abundantly clear that, like for many people, time and experiences and cities and environment and circumstances tend to dictate who you are when you walk out the door.” And when it comes to the timing of the revival, the star insisted it wasn’t a case of finding the “right or wrong” moment, but instead it was about an “appropriate” reason to make a new series. She explained: “I don’t know that there is a right or wrong time. I think for us… we felt excited about the kind of stories that we were interested in telling. “We found that home again at HBO, so we were encouraged that this year or next year, it just felt appropriate somehow. “That we had left these women, and we were curious about where they were, and who they were, and what was their life like, and who they were surrounded by. “It gave us a lot of opportunities to make the family larger and start telling new stories.” View the full article

Published by AFP The US Supreme Court seen on December 4, 2021 Washington (AFP) – The US Supreme Court on Wednesday appeared poised to accept that public funds can be used to support families sending their children to religious schools, challenging longstanding principles of separation of church and state. Two evangelical Christian families in the northeastern state of Maine sued to be able to use state-provided education subsidy funds to send their kids to schools with religion as the basis of their teachings. As Maine is sparsely populated, more than half of its school districts have no publicly funded high schools. So families receive subsidies that allow them to send their children to schools of their choice, including privately-run schools. But schools where religious beliefs are at the core of instruction are not covered in the aid program, because, under the regulations for the program — and those similar in other states — the teaching is “sectarian.” One of the families wanted to send their children to a school that was disqualified because, local authorities argued, it “teaches children that the husband is the leader of the household” and encourages kids to recognize “God as Creator of the world.” The school chosen by the second family in the case makes use of the Bible in all academic subjects. And both schools do not accept LGBTQ students or employees. The parents who sued — with the backing of Republican senators, 20-odd conservative-led states and many religious institutions — insist on that the constitution’s First Amendment freedom of religion clause gives them the right to choose a school that reflects their values. If they are denied the subsidies, they argue, they are suffering discrimination because of their religious views. The state of Maine argues that under the constitution government money cannot be used to support religious schools that discriminate, for example, against LGBTQ students. The administration of President Joe Biden, Democratic-run states and teachers and human rights associations have backed Maine in this fight. With six of the court’s nine justices in the conservative camp, several appeared sympathetic to the families’ arguments that the state must include the parents’ preferred religious schools in the funding program. When a government official decides which schools can benefit from subsidies and which cannot, Justice Neil Gorsuch said, “How does that not discriminate against minority religious viewpoints? Or ones that are unorthodox?” The three progressive justices warned that ruling against Maine would spark conflicts. “These schools are overtly discriminatory, they’re proudly discriminatory,” said Elena Kagan. “Other people won’t understand why in the world their taxpayer dollars are going to discriminatory schools.” The case is a part of a much wider and very hot debate in the United States on the role of parents and school choice in education, and how tax funds dedicated to schools are allocated. Issues of Covid-19 policies, acceptance of transgender students, and teaching about African-American history have deepened divides in communities and encouraged some to look to private and religious schools for their children. The Supreme Court is expected to decide the case by June 2022. View the full article

Published by BANG Showbiz English Jennifer Coolidge thinks the COVID-19 lockdown was “like an acid trip”. The 60-year-old actress found lockdown to be a surreal experience, likening it to taking “some really weird drug”, and Jennifer admitted that she feared for her life amid the pandemic. The Hollywood star told the Los Angeles Times newspaper: “Being locked up during COVID was sort of like an acid trip or something … I felt like I had taken some really weird drug because all of these scenes in my life were being played out. And I wasn’t taking any drugs, I was just eating a lot. “I wasn’t drinking alcohol. I just … I felt like each day was sort of like I was hallucinating because my mother’s death came up [in] all of these things. And I think it was just because, you know, I didn’t really think we were going to survive the COVID thing. “I mean, I really didn’t. I thought it was just a matter of time before it got all of us. And I felt like the moment was just lingering outside.” Jennifer recently confessed that she was “eating [herself] to death” and put on “between 30 to 40 pounds” amid the pandemic. The actress admitted to “excessive” comfort eating during the global health crisis, and revealed she didn’t want to film after over-indulging on Vegan pizzas. Jennifer – who played Jeanine Stifler in the ‘American Pie’ film franchise – said: “I just didn’t want to be on camera that fat because of my excessive eating during COVID. “I thought we were all going to die, I really did, so I was just eating myself to death. Vegan pizzas, sometimes five or six in a day.” Jennifer Coolidge on Towleroad Number of jailed journalists reached global high in 2021, at least 24 killed for their coverage – CPJ report More Groups push to make California a haven for abortion rights More Keanu Says: Neo Trinity Romance Was Key to Matrix 4; Jonathan Groff Cried Reading Script: ‘Iconic Actors…Iconic Parts …Fighting to Have their Love Again’ : TRAILER More People with health issues or inactivated vaccine should get COVID-19 booster – WHO More Georgia Republicans purge Black Democrats from county election boards More House Jan. 6 panel has ‘no choice’ but contempt charge against former Trump aide Meadows More Don Lemon All Smiles As Calls For Him To Be Fired From CNN Grow Over Jussie Smollett Texts More Drag Pastor Loses Ministry; Has No Regrets For Brief HBO Moments in Thigh High Boots, Pink Wig, Sequins; Was ‘powerful, spiritual’: ‘May Acceptance of LGBTQ… continue’ More Jussie Smollett Claims CNN’s Don Lemon Warned Him Cops Didn’t Believe His Story Via Text, Host Accused Of Unethical Behavior Days After Chris Cuomo’s Firing More LGBTQ groups cheer Tokyo’s same-sex partnership move as huge step forward More Is The Prosecution Throwing The Sex Trafficking Trial Of Ghislaine Maxwell? It Has Reason To (Conspiracy Rampant Version) More Load More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Helen Coster (Reuters) – The number of journalists worldwide who are behind bars reached a global high in 2021, according to a new report from the nonprofit Committee to Protect Journalists, which says that 293 reporters were imprisoned as of Dec. 1 this year. At least 24 journalists were killed because of their coverage, and 18 others died in circumstances that make it too difficult to determine whether they were targeted because of their work, the CPJ said on Thursday in its annual survey on press freedom and attacks on the media. (GRAPHIC: Journalists killed in 2021 -https://graphics.reuters.com/RIGHTS-JOURNALISTS/dwpkrzkryvm/cpj-2021_killed-2021.jpg) While the reasons for jailing reporters varies between countries, the record number reflects political upheaval around the world and a growing intolerance of independent reporting, according to the U.S.-based nonprofit. “This is the sixth year in a row that CPJ has documented record numbers of journalists imprisoned around the world,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon in a statement. “The number reflects two inextricable challenges – governments are determined to control and manage information, and they are increasingly brazen in their efforts to do so.” (GRAPHIC: Journalists imprisoned since 1992 – https://graphics.reuters.com/RIGHTS-JOURNALISTS/jnpweajeypw/cpj-2021_imprisoned-total.jpg) The journalists who were killed in 2021 include Danish Siddiqui, a Reuters photographer who died in a Taliban attack in Afghanistan in July, and Gustavo Sanchez Cabrera, who was shot and killed in Mexico in June. China imprisoned 50 journalists, the most of any country, followed by Myanmar (26), which arrested reporters as part of a crackdown after its Feb. 1 military coup, then Egypt (25), Vietnam (23) and Belarus (19), the CPJ said. (GRAPHIC: Journalists imprisoned in 2021 – https://graphics.reuters.com/RIGHTS-JOURNALISTS/zdpxoxqylvx/cpj-2021_imprisoned-2021.jpg) For the first time, the CPJ’s list includes journalists incarcerated in Hong Kong – a byproduct of the 2020 national security law, which makes anything Beijing regards as subversion, secession, terrorism or colluding with foreign forces punishable by up to life in prison. Mexico, where journalists are often targeted when their work upsets criminal gangs or corrupt officials, remains the Western hemisphere’s deadliest country for reporters, according to the CPJ. (GRAPHIC: Journalists killed around the world – https://graphics.reuters.com/RIGHTS-JOURNALISTS/xmvjonbowpr/cpj-2021_killed-total.jpg) (Reporting by Helen Coster in New York, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Sharon Bernstein SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) – California must prepare for an influx of women seeking abortions in the liberal state if the U.S. Supreme Court ends the constitutional right to the procedure, dozens of women’s health and rights groups said in a report released on Wednesday. The report by the Future of Abortion Council is aimed at positioning California as place where women from conservative states can get abortions. It comes as the Supreme Court considers overturning or weakening its landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized the procedure nationwide. Last week, the conservative-dominated court signaled a willingness to dramatically curtail abortion rights in America and possibly overturn Roe during oral arguments for a Mississippi case. “It is imperative that California take the lead, live up to its proclamation as a ‘Reproductive Freedom State,’ and be ready to serve anyone who seeks abortion services,” Democrat Toni Atkins, president pro tem of the state Senate, wrote in a letter introducing the report. The council made more than 40 recommendations, including a call for the state to fund programs to train additional abortion providers and legal protections for women from states where abortion becomes illegal. Twenty-six states are certain or likely to ban abortions if the court limits or overturns Roe, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which studies abortion rights. More than 40 health care providers, women’s rights groups and Democratic politicians formed the council in September after the Supreme Court refused to block a Texas law that effectively bans abortion at about six weeks and allows people to sue doctors or others who have helped a woman end a pregnancy after fetal cardiac activity can be detected. The Guttmacher Institute predicted in September that as many as 1.4 million women may drive in to California for abortion services if neighboring states outlaw or severely limit access to the procedure. That estimate doesn’t include women who might fly to the West Coast for abortions. When the new Texas law took effect in September, Planned Parenthood clinics in California began treating two to three Texans per day, said Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for the clinics. “We started to see an immediate impact on our health centers in California,” Richards said. (Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and David Gregorio) View the full article

Matrix Resurrections Trailer. [This post contains video, click to play] Published by BANG Showbiz English Keanu Reeves has revealed that the romance between Neo and Trinity was a key reason behind his return in ‘The Matrix Resurrections’. The 57-year-old actor and Carrie-Anne Moss are both returning as the main characters in the latest instalment of the sci-fi action series and Keanu was gripped by the prospect of reviving the story between the pair in the first ‘Matrix’ movie for 18 years. Keanu told Entertainment Weekly: “When (director Lana Wachowski) approached me, she spoke about having a story to tell which centred around Neo and Trinity, and that sounded really exciting to me. “Neo’s getting a second chance at his life, and he’s getting a second chance with the person that he says is ‘the only person I ever loved.'” The ‘John Wick’ star previously said that the new project is a “love story” between Neo and Trinity. He explained: “The depth of why this film got made is the sense of it being a love story between Trinity and Neo.” Jonathan Groff – who will star in the new movie as Matt Hinges – admitted that the scenes between Keanu and Carrie-Anne in the blockbuster reduced him to tears. The 36-year-old star said: “When I read the script for this movie I cried, because the idea of watching these two iconic actors in these two iconic parts coming back and fighting to have their love again just wrecked me.” Fellow cast member Priyanka Chopra Jonas revealed that she and the other actors on the project were left in awe by the chemistry between the two lead stars. She said: “They both are like well-oiled machinery. Their characters, the way they speak, the way they know each other even as people – it’s just so wonderful to see their camaraderie.” Keanu Neo Trinity Romance Matrix 4 on Towleroad People with health issues or inactivated vaccine should get COVID-19 booster – WHO More Georgia Republicans purge Black Democrats from county election boards More House Jan. 6 panel has ‘no choice’ but contempt charge against former Trump aide Meadows More Don Lemon All Smiles As Calls For Him To Be Fired From CNN Grow Over Jussie Smollett Texts More Drag Pastor Loses Ministry; Has No Regrets For Brief HBO Moments in Thigh High Boots, Pink Wig, Sequins; Was ‘powerful, spiritual’: ‘May Acceptance of LGBTQ… continue’ More Jussie Smollett Claims CNN’s Don Lemon Warned Him Cops Didn’t Believe His Story Via Text, Host Accused Of Unethical Behavior Days After Chris Cuomo’s Firing More LGBTQ groups cheer Tokyo’s same-sex partnership move as huge step forward More Is The Prosecution Throwing The Sex Trafficking Trial Of Ghislaine Maxwell? It Has Reason To (Conspiracy Rampant Version) More And Just Like That… won’t ignore Kim Cattrall’s absence More ‘The Facts Of Life’ Cast Has Good Vibes For ‘Marijuana Bust’ Episode, Now; Helen Hunt Joined And Topic Was Tough, New Doc More ‘Love is love:’ Chile legalizes same-sex marriage in historic vote More Load More View the full article

Published by Reuters By Stephanie Nebehay and Josephine Mason GENEVA (Reuters) -The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended on Thursday that people who are immunocompromised or received an inactivated COVID-19 vaccine should receive a booster dose to protect against waning immunity. Many countries have been rolling out booster shots, targeting the elderly and people with underlying health issues, but worries about the new, more transmissible Omicron variant have prompted some to expand their use to larger portions of their populations. With vaccination rates worryingly low in much of the developing world, the WHO has said in recent months that administering primary doses – rather than boosters – should be a priority. The recommendation comes after the Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunisation held a meeting on Tuesday to evaluate the need for COVID-19 boosters and was largely in line with guidance given in October https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-advises-additional-covid-shot-immunocompromised-people-2021-10-11. Speaking in a briefing, SAGE chair Alejandro Cravioto said vaccines provide a robust level of protection against severe disease for at least six months, although data shows immunity wanes against severe disease in older adults and those with underlying health conditions. “For the time being we continue to support the need for equity in distribution (of vaccines) and the use of a third dose only in those” with health problems or people who have received an inactivated vaccine, he said. COVID-19 vaccines protect “very well” through six months after the last dose with some “minor, modest reduction” in protection, Kate O’Brien, director of the WHO’s immunisation department, said. Inactivated vaccines which take the SARS-CoV-2 virus and inactivate or kill it using chemicals, heat or radiation, are made by Chinese manufacturers Sinovac Biotech, state-owned Sinopharm and India’s Bharat Biotech. They have been granted emergency use approval by the WHO. The WHO executives did not name the vaccines in Thursday’s briefing. In October, the United Nations agency recommended that people over 60 who received the Sinopharm and Sinovac shots should get an extra dose. A single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is still effective, but data from the company’s clinical trials using two doses clearly show the benefit of having further vaccination, Cravioto said on Thursday. Some countries including Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Thailand have been giving a booster shot to those inoculated with Chinese vaccines amid concerns that they may not be as effective against more transmissible coronavirus variants. (Reporting by Stephanie NebehayWriting by Josephine MasonEditing by Alison Williams, Mark Potter and Angus MacSwan) View the full article

Published by Reuters By James Oliphant and Nathan Layne GRIFFIN, Georgia (Reuters) – Protesters filled the meeting room of the Spalding County Board of Elections in October, upset that the board had disallowed early voting on Sundays for the Nov. 2 municipal election. A year ago, Sunday voting had been instrumental in boosting turnout of Black voters. But this was an entirely different five-member board than had overseen the last election. The Democratic majority of three Black women was gone. So was the Black elections supervisor. Now a faction of three white Republicans controlled the board – thanks to a bill passed by the Republican-led Georgia legislature earlier this year. The Spalding board’s new chairman has endorsed former president Donald Trump’s false stolen-election claims on social media. The panel in Spalding, a rural patch south of Atlanta, is one of six county boards that Republicans have quietly reorganized in recent months through similar county-specific state legislation. The changes expanded the party’s power over choosing members of local election boards ahead of the crucial midterm Congressional elections in November 2022. The unusual rash of restructurings follows the state’s passage of Senate Bill 202, which restricted ballot access statewide and allowed the Republican-controlled State Election Board to assume control of county boards it deems underperforming. The board immediately launched a performance review of the Democratic-leaning Fulton County board, which oversees part of Atlanta. The Georgia restructurings are part of a national Republican effort to expand control over election administration in the wake of Trump’s false voter-fraud claims. Republican-led states such as Florida, Texas and Arizona have enacted new curbs on voter access this year. Backers of Trump’s false stolen-election claims are running campaigns for secretary of state – the top election official – in battleground states. And some Republicans in Wisconsin are seeking to eliminate the state’s bipartisan election commission and threatening its members with prosecution. The stakes are high in Georgia, which last year backed a Democrat for president for the first time since 1992. Its first-term Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock will be up for reelection in 2022, a contest that could prove pivotal to which party controls Congress. The governor’s race next year pits incumbent Republican Brian Kemp against Trump-endorsed candidate David Perdue in a primary. The winner will likely face Democrat Stacey Abrams, a voting rights advocate. Both Warnock and Abrams are Black. The county board restructurings and statewide voting restrictions, Democrats and voting-rights groups say, represent the most sweeping changes in decades to Georgia’s electoral system. Until 2013, Georgia elections operated under federal oversight to ensure fair participation for Black voters in this once-segregated Southern state. Democrats say Republicans are trying to expand their control over election administration functions that should be nonpartisan. That could result in suppression of votes, they said, and could give Republicans control over certification of results, along with recounts and audits of contested elections. “We are talking about a normalization of Republican takeovers of local functions,” says Saira Draper, director of voter protection for the Georgia Democratic Party. Republicans say the changes aim to restore public trust in elections after many problems during the 2020 elections. “What we want to make sure is that we have election integrity,” said Butch Miller, the No. 2 Republican in the Georgia Senate, a leading advocate for Senate Bill 202 and a sponsor of the bill to reconstitute the Lincoln County election board. In five of the Georgia counties that restructured election boards – Troup, Morgan, Pickens, Stephens and Lincoln – the legislature shifted the power to appoint some or all election board members to local county commissions, all of which are currently controlled by Republicans. Previously, the appointments had been split evenly between the local Democratic and Republican parties, sometimes with other local entities controlling some appointments. The intent of the old system: To ensure a politically balanced or nonpartisan board. In the sixth county, Spalding, the parties still choose two members each, but the fifth member is now chosen by local judges. (It used to be decided by a coin flip.) Those judges tend to be politically conservative; they appointed a white Republican to replace a Black Democrat on the election board, giving Republicans a 3-2 majority. In Morgan County, the majority-Republican county commission reconstituted its election board, ousting two outspoken Black Democrats. In Troup County, a Black Democratic member claims the board shake-up was aimed at ousting her after she fought to increase voting access. Reuters could not determine the exact split of Democrats and Republicans in the five counties that handed control to county commissions before and after their restructurings. That’s because board members’ party affiliation is not public information in Georgia, and board representatives declined to identify their allegiances. RESTRICTING ACCESS The county election boards have broad authority over voter access, such as polling locations and early-voting procedures. They also have considerable sway over post-election provisional-ballot tallies, audits and recounts. Reconstituted boards in two of the six counties have already moved to restrict voting access. In addition to Spalding’s termination of Sunday voting, Lincoln County has proposed consolidating its seven precincts into one voting center, which critics say would discourage voting by people traveling from remote areas. Proponents say it would make voting more efficient and secure. The proposal is set for a vote on Thursday. In Lincoln County, the new law removes appointments by political parties and gives the Republican-led county commission discretion to appoint the board’s three-member majority. County Republicans say the changes are meant to comply with a 2018 state Supreme Court ruling, which dictated that private entities cannot appoint members to government bodies. That decision, however, involved boards of ethics, not elections, and many other Georgia counties continue to allow political-party appointments to election boards. The changes come in the wake of Trump’s false claims of election fraud. Trump won Spalding County with 60% of the 2020 vote. But his margin of victory declined by 4 percentage points from 2016 as turnout among Black voters jumped 20% in a county where the population is 35% black. Trump supporters rifled through the dumpsters behind Spalding’s election office, looking for tossed ballots. None were found. Others demanded to watch the vote-counting. Sheriff’s deputies had to escort election workers to their cars. In Georgia and nationwide, some Trump supporters have threatened election officials with violence. With conservative judges now choosing the county election board’s fifth member, the previous fifth member, Vera McIntosh, a Black Democrat, has been ousted. She was replaced by James Newland, who is also vice-chair of the county Republican Party. In September, he voted to end Sunday voting. The board’s new chair is Ben Johnson, a former official of the county Republican party. Johnson declined to comment on his social media posts endorsing Trump’s false voter-fraud claims. He would not answer questions about whether he acknowledged that Biden won the 2020 election fairly. McIntosh, the ousted Democrat, called the changes a “power grab” by local Republicans who wanted to “go back and prove the ‘Big Lie’ was real,” referring to Trump’s election-fraud claims. “They wanted control,” she said. “They got control.” The law restructuring Spalding’s board also required the elections supervisor to live in the county, a change that forced out the incumbent supervisor, Marcia Ridley. Two other Black Democrats on the board quit: Margaret Bentley and Glenda Henley, who cited objections to the law and harassment from Trump supporters. Henley said the board’s meetings were increasingly attended by Trump supporters crying fraud. She called the tensions “exhausting” and said: “I have never been afraid in this town, but I am now.” The restructured board still includes two Democrats, one of whom is Black. Republican state representative David Knight from Spalding, who co-sponsored a bill to reconstitute the board, said the changes had nothing to do with race or partisanship. They aimed, he said, “to restore the integrity of our election board and voter confidence.” On Election Day in 2020, voting machines malfunctioned in all 18 precincts, resulting in long waits. Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger called for Ridley’s resignation, and the Republican-controlled State Election Board referred her handling of the problems to the state attorney general, who has to date not taken any action. Ridley denies any mismanagement, saying her staff “worked hard to ensure that no voter got disenfranchised and all were able to vote.” FREE AND FAIR? In western Georgia’s Troup County, the Republican-controlled county commission now appoints all election board members, a power previously shared by three cities and the two political parties. Lonnie Hollis, one of two Black female members, will leave the board at year-end. Hollis, who has served since 2013, said the restructuring was aimed at unseating her because she fought to increase voter access. Her efforts included advocating for the first voting location in a predominantly Black church in the county, which she said has multiple precincts in predominantly white churches. Patrick Crews, the Republican chairman of Troup County commissioners, denied Hollis was targeted for removal. “Our goal is to be inclusive and appoint members who are concerned about having fair and honest elections,” Crews said. In Morgan County, two Black Democrats on the board, Helen Butler and Avery Jackson, were removed after the new law eliminated political-party appointments and handed appointment power to the Republican-dominated commission. Butler and Jackson sought reappointments but were denied. The commission chair, Philipp von Hanstein, did not respond to a comment request. Butler has long advocated for voting rights and social justice. Testifying before a special U.S. Senate subcommittee in July, she said she was ousted for fighting the closure of polling locations and advocating for ballot drop boxes. Butler warned that the restructurings could “enable members of the majority party to overturn election results they do not like.” (Reporting by James Oliphant and Nathan Layne; editing by Soyoung Kim and Brian Thevenot) View the full article

Published by Reuters By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Donald Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows could become the third person to face a criminal contempt https://www.reuters.com/world/us/whats-stake-trump-allies-facing-contempt-congress-2021-10-14 charge for refusing to cooperate with the U.S. House of Representatives panel probing the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, the committee said on Wednesday. Representative Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Select Committee, said in a letter to Meadows’ attorney, George Terwilliger, that Meadows – a former House member – had failed to cooperate https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-ex-chief-staff-meadows-no-longer-cooperating-with-capitol-riot-panel-2021-12-07 with the panel. “The Select Committee is left with no choice but to advance contempt proceedings and recommend that the body in which Mr. Meadows once served refer him for criminal prosecution,” Thompson wrote in the letter, which was released by the committee. Thompson later told reporters he expected the committee to meet next week on whether to cite Meadows for contempt. “We have every intention to move forward with a contempt citation on Meadows and we’ll go from there,” he said. Terwilliger did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Meadows refused to appear for a deposition scheduled on Wednesday, instead filing a lawsuit against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the nine members of the Select Committee. The suit alleges that subpoenas sent to Meadows violate legal protections for senior advisers to a president, and charge the committee with using excessively broad subpoenas to obtain Meadows’ mobile telephone data. “Mr. Meadows’s flawed lawsuit won’t succeed at slowing down the Select Committee’s investigation or stopping us from getting the information we’re seeking,” Thompson and Committee Vice Chair Liz Cheney, a Republican, said in a statement. The Justice Department, at the House’s request, has already brought similar charges https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-justice-department-indicts-bannon-not-complying-with-jan-6-subpoena-2021-11-12 against Trump’s former chief strategist, Steve Bannon. The House is also considering similar action against former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark. Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone told the committee that he would not testify, citing his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination, his lawyer said. ‘I LOVE IT’ Meadows told the committee last week that he would hand over some documents and appear for a deposition. He changed his mind by https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/trump-ex-chief-staff-meadows-no-longer-cooperating-with-capitol-riot-panel-2021-12-07 Tuesday. Thompson said documents were handed over but that Terwilliger also argued that hundreds of emails and text messages are subject to privilege. On Jan. 6, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol in a bid to prevent formal congressional certification of the then-president’s 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Before the riot, Trump, speaking at a rally, repeated his false claims that the election was stolen from him through widespread voting fraud. Thompson said documents the committee has received from Meadows’ attorney include communications with organizers of that rally and with a member of Congress, who was not identified, about the possibility of replacing some state electors with handpicked candidates to keep Trump in power. In response, Meadows apparently said: “I love it,” according to Thompson’s letter. While more than 250 witnesses have testified to the committee, Trump has urged associates not to cooperate, calling the Democratic-led investigation politically motivated and arguing that his communications are protected by executive privilege. Many legal experts have said, however, that legal principle does not apply to former presidents. Thompson has noted that even as the committee and Trump’s attorneys battle in court over executive privilege issues, Meadows disclosed details about circumstances surrounding the Jan. 6 attack, including conversations with Trump, in a new book Meadows is currently promoting. (Reporting by Patricia Zengerle in Washington; Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by Scott Malone, Sonya Hepinstall and Peter Cooney) View the full article

Published by Radar Online Don Lemonposted a picture of himself seemingly unbothered by the allegations lodged against him that could potentially cost him his job at CNN. The journalist is accused of tipping off Jussie Smollet prior to the actor’s arrest for allegedly faking a hate crime. Don told provided the Empire actor with inside information that the police on the case did not believe his story. MEGA In his latest Instagram post, Don was seen with a big grin on his face while posing in front of a Van Gogh Exhibit in Manhattan, New York. Lemon wrote in the caption, “Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit in #Manhattan. Amazing! Have you been?” The CNN host has been under fire since the news broke of his involvement in helping Jussie behind the scenes. He was also criticized after failing to mention his involvement while covering his friend’s trial. Despite posting an image of himself looking all smiles at the art show, some followers were not ready to let go of their opinions on his latest scandal. One Instagram user asked, “Have you been feeding info to Jussie Smollet to influence his trial @donlemoncnn?” Another commented, “All smiles right now, until you end up like Chris Cuomo.” A third user even called for the news anchor to be terminated from the network, “@donlemoncnn I HOPE U GET FIRED AND LOSE YOUR PENSION NEXT,” followed by several exclamation marks. MEGA Speaking of firing, this revelation also comes after his former co-worker Chris Cuomowas axed from CNN. Chris was accused of helping his brotherAndrew Cuomo cover up his sexual harassment allegations. He was also hit with sexual harassment allegations by a former co-worker. Radar previously reported that Chris and Don are currently not on speaking terms following the firing. An insider revealed Don was left with no choice other than to take his boss CNN President Jeff Zucker‘s side. “Don is clearly Team Jeff all the way,” the source claimed. “Jeff has changed Don’s life. Not only making him into a star but also making him very rich. Don has ambitions of having his own talk-show on CNN and isn’t about to burn that dream because of Chris Cuomo.” The new information regarding Lemon’s role in Smollet’s case had sparked comparisons between Lemon and Chris’ situation. On Saturday, Dec. 4, CNN announced their decision to fire Chris. “Chris Cuomo was suspended earlier this week pending further evaluation of new information that came to light about his involvement with his brother’s defense,” the network released a statement. “We retained a respected law firm to conduct the review, and have terminated him, effective immediately. MEGA View the full article

Published by AFP Craig Duke, 62, made a big splash on the HBO show 'We're Here' Washington (AFP) – A US pastor who made a brief television appearance in drag, wearing a huge pink wig and sequined leotard, has been removed from his ministry, a local church official in Indiana said Wednesday. Wearing high-heeled thigh boots, lipstick and purple eyeshadow and with a crucifix around his neck, Craig Duke, 62, made a big splash on the HBO show “We’re Here,” at least among his horrified parishioners. The Methodist reverend described the appearance as “an incredibly wonderful, refreshing, deepening, powerful spiritual experience,” in an interview with the Religion News Service. But he quickly found himself in hot water with his flock. Having received “numerous calls and emails that are highly critical of Craig’s actions,” Mitch Gieselman, the district superintendent of the church in Evansville, Indiana, said he had decided to relieve Duke of pastoral duties and “significantly reduced” his salary. But Gieselman said he had not been fired nor had he resigned. “He has not been found to have committed any chargeable offense or other violation of the United Methodist Book of Discipline,” Gieselman said in a letter to parishioners. Contacted by AFP on Wednesday, Gieselman declined to make any further comments. The pastor’s fate caused a surge of emotion, sparking an online fundraiser that raised nearly $60,000 in donations on Wednesday. “May the bridge of understanding and acceptance of the LGBTQ community continue to expand across our community and beyond as God’s love shines through,” the pastor and his partner Linda said in a statement. He did not regret his moment in the spotlight. “I was surrounded and immersed in a culture that I’ve never been immersed in, and one of the things in ministry, if you want to involve people different than yourself in your ministry, you have to go to where people different than you are,” he said. View the full article