Author: Reporter

Will Smith: “Emancipation” and the lesson his role as “Whipped Peter” taught him post-Oscar slap

While filming “Emancipation,” Will Smith routinely drew inspiration from the words “sacred motivation” that were written on the front page of a script. But the Oscar winner heavily leaned on the phrase even more in recent months, as he tried to overcome the backlash to his Oscars slap and banishment from the ceremony. “It’s like when you can locate and center yourself in your divine purpose, you can withstand anything and everything,” Smith said of the phrase that greeted him when he took on the lead role in Antoine Fuqua’s “Emancipation,” which is currently in theaters and will be...

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Historic Federal legislation protecting same-sex marriages and interracial unions clears Congress

The House gave final approval on December 8 to legislation protecting same-sex marriages, a monumental step in a decades-long battle for nationwide recognition of such unions that reflects a stunning turnaround in societal attitudes. President Joe Biden is expected to promptly sign the measure, which requires all states to recognize same-sex marriages. It is a relief for hundreds of thousands of couples who have married since the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision that legalized those marriages and have worried about what would happen if the ruling were overturned. The bipartisan legislation, which passed 258-169 with almost 40 Republican votes, would...

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House committee investigating January 6 attack will make criminal referrals to DOJ by end of year

The House committee investigating the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol will make criminal referrals to the Justice Department as it wraps up its probe and looks to publish a final report by the end of the year, the panel’s chairman said December 6. Representative Bennie Thompson, D-MI, told reporters that the committee has decided to issue the referrals recommending criminal prosecution, but did not disclose who the targets will be or if former President Donald Trump will be among them. “At this point, there’ll be a separate document coming from me to DOJ,” Thompson told reporters at...

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Lethal Force: San Francisco becomes first American city to approve police deployment of killer robots

Supervisors in San Francisco voted on November 29 to give city police the ability to use, in emergency situations, remote-controlled robots capable of potentially lethal force. By December 6, the Supervisors held another vote in the aftermath of public backlash to halt the policy. The original resolution followed an emotionally charged debate that reflected divisions on the politically liberal board over support for law enforcement. The vote was 8-3, with the majority agreeing to grant police the option despite strong objections from civil liberties and other police oversight groups. Opponents said the authority would lead to the further militarization...

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A year after omicron: The ever-morphing coronavirus mutant continues its assault on families

A year after omicron began its assault on humanity, the ever-morphing coronavirus mutant drove COVID-19 case counts higher in many places just as Americans gathered for the holidays. It was a prelude to a wave that experts expect to soon wash over the United States. Phoenix-area emergency physician Dr. Nicholas Vasquez said his hospital admitted a growing number of chronically ill people and nursing home residents with severe COVID-19 this month. “It’s been quite a while since we needed to have COVID wards,” he said. “It’s making a clear comeback.” Nationally, new COVID cases averaged around 39,300 a day...

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China announces rollback of draconian anti-COVID measures in stunning reversal after public protests

In a sharp reversal, China announced a series of measures rolling back some of its most draconian anti-COVID-19 restrictions, including limiting harsh lockdowns and ordering schools without known infections to resume regular classes. The dramatic change to an unpopular strategy that confined millions of people to their homes and sparked protests and demands for President Xi Jinping to resign came on December 7. The recent protests included calls for leader Xi Jinping to step down. The protests began November 25 after at least 10 people died in a fire in an apartment building in Urumqi in the northwest. Authorities...

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