Categories
Sites

Celine Dion’s epic Vegas comeback in the works: Source


Welcome to The Scoop — the ultimate back-to-the-office water cooler cheat sheet, your go-to source for all things everyone really wants to know! Get the latest on everything from the political swamp maneuvering in D.C. to Hollywood drama to jaw-dropping small-town shenanigans from Paula Froelich. Subscribe to her newsletter here. 

(NewsNation) — Come hell or high water, stiff-person syndrome or not, Celine Dion will get back on stage in Las Vegas … and talks are already underway with Resorts World for her to take back her Vegas throne as Queen of the Strip. 

“Celine has a deal with AEG at Resorts World — they essentially built that theater for her,” my Vegas source said. “They say 90% of (her SPS attacks) is mental. So if she can overcome that…”

“She is considering doing some dates at Resorts World under her deal, which would make sense,” my source added. “With today’s technology, she could easily do a show that has limited movement and enough vocal support to make it through a 75-to-90-minute show.”

Dion’s rep didn’t return emails.

Dion had been set to rule the roost at Resorts World three years ago, but in October 2021, the residence was canceled, with the casino saying at the time: “As Celine Dion has been preparing for the November 5 opening of her brand-new show in the beautiful, new Resorts World Theatre in Las Vegas, unforeseen medical symptoms have forced the singer to delay the opening and cancel the performances scheduled  November 5 to 20, 2021 and January 19 to February 5, 2022.”

This was the beginning of Dion’s battle with severe SPS.

I, for one, will be first in line if this Herculean feat takes place.

  • NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 17: Céline Dion attends the “I Am: Celine Dion” New York special screening at Alice Tully Hall on June 17, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
  • Celine Dion performs on the opening night of her Courage World Tour on Sept. 18, 2019, in Quebec City, Quebec. (Alice Chiche/AFP via Getty Images)
  • WATCH WHAT HAPPENS LIVE WITH ANDY COHEN — Episode 16187 — Pictured: Celine Dion — (Photo by: Charles Sykes/Bravo/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
  • Celine Dion announced Thursday she will have to delay her upcoming tour dates following a diagnosis of stiff-person syndrome, a rare neurological disorder. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)

The legendary singer took to the stage at NYC’s Alice Tully Hall in New York on Monday for the premiere of her Amazon/MGM documentary “I am Celine Dion” and, fighting back tears, told the crowd: “This is by far the biggest crowd I’ve had in a few years. … I hope to see you all again very, very soon.”

The documentary is set to debut on Amazon June 25.

Monday was Dion’s first public appearance on stage in front of an audience in more than three years as a packed crowd, including Kelly Clarkson, Gayle King and Laverne Cox, fought back their own tears after watching the movie, which chronicled Dion’s journey from world-famous singer with sold-out shows for years … to a recluse whose body has turned against her. 

“All I have ever wanted to do is sing,” she said in the doc. “I love being on stage. It is my life.” 

In one scene, she is finally able to record a new song, despite having almost no control over her throat and vocal muscles … and immediately her body seizes up into horrific, painful cramps that paralyze her (she told Hoda Kotb of “Today” that the seizures get so bad they have broken ribs).

After the seizure, she is told the cramps started because she was so “stimulated” by joy. 

But despite the pain, Dion wants to return to performing, saying in the movie, “(I will go back on stage). If I can’t run, I will walk. If I can’t walk, I will crawl.”  

Dion’s rep didn’t return calls or emails. 

The post Celine Dion’s epic Vegas comeback in the works: Source first appeared on The News And Times.

The post Celine Dion’s epic Vegas comeback in the works: Source first appeared on Trump And The FBI – The News And Times.


Categories
Sites

Man struck by roller coaster at Ohio’s Kings Island, officials believe


MASON, Ohio (WDTN) – A man who accessed a restricted area within the Kings Island amusement park in Ohio was critically injured this week, having possibly been struck by a roller coaster, park officials said.

The Mason Police Department responded to a call concerning the Banshee roller coaster at Kings Island, in Mason, on Wednesday night. Officers said the report concerned “a subject down on the ground in one of the restricted areas,” per a Mason Police Department press release.

The victim, a 28-year-old male, was determined to have suffered a critical injury. He was transported to a local hospital and then flown to the University of Cincinnati Medical Center for treatment.

Police in Mason did not reveal the circumstances surrounding the man’s injury. A representative for Kings Island, however, told Nexstar that the man may have been struck by the coaster after accessing the restricted area.

“On Wednesday at approximately 8:00 p.m., a guest entered a restricted, fenced area of the Banshee roller coaster and is believed to have been struck by the ride,” a representative for the park wrote in an emailed statement. “The park’s safety and first aid personnel responded immediately to the situation and contacted local emergency responders.”

The ride remained closed as of Thursday afternoon, Kings Island confirmed.

“Kings Island’s focus continues to be on the welfare of the guest and his family. There is no additional information to share at this time.”

A couple of park-goers on Reddit, who claimed to have seen the man before and after the accident, detailed their experiences at Kings Island on Wednesday night.

“We were in the front row and towards the end of the ride, there was a man’s body laying face down in the grass below the coaster,” one attendee wrote. “We don’t know if he was alive.”

Close

Thank you for signing up!

Subscribe to more newsletters here.

Subscribe Now

On Balance: Vittert’s War Notes

Submit

The same person, prior to getting on the roller coaster, said they had observed a man “frantically” asking employees “about keys he lost on the ride.”

“We saw him go in that door for employees,” another claimed. “People tried telling him no but he kept going.”

This incident is currently under investigation by the Mason Police Department in coordination with Kings Island.

The post Man struck by roller coaster at Ohio’s Kings Island, officials believe first appeared on The News And Times.

The post Man struck by roller coaster at Ohio’s Kings Island, officials believe first appeared on Trump And The FBI – The News And Times.


Categories
News Review from The World Web Times

Is it even possible to cash paper savings bonds in person anymore …


Has anyone had any success cashing bonds in person recently? If there is a bank that is more willing to do it I can check with them. UPDATE: Wells Fargo was happy to cash them out, at a limit of $1000/day since I wasn’t a customer.

Categories
News Review from The World Web Times

My top 25 Fleetwood Mac songs : r/FleetwoodMac – Reddit


25. Songbird 24. Tusk 23. Second hand news 22. Love In Store 21. Don’t stop 20. I don’t want to know 19. Landslide 18. Gold Dust Woman 17. Never going back again 16. Say you love me 15. No questions asked 14. Big Love From here on out, the songs are very close and interchangeable depending on mood. 13. Family Man 12. The Chain 11. Gypsy 10 …

Categories
Sites

DeSantis Signs Law: Up To 1.5 Million Florida Condo Owners Could Be Forced to Move – MSN


The post DeSantis Signs Law: Up To 1.5 Million Florida Condo Owners Could Be Forced to Move – MSN first appeared on The Condo Law.


Categories
Sites

Judge Aileen Cannon is at it again


19121c5c768fb6ee35d5576afe2d9a7f?s=100&d

Donate to Democratic candidate Adam Frisch.

Donate to Palmer Report.



In the world of never-ending beauty that is American wildlife, it is common for many of our outdoor and under water friends to teach, nurture, and educate their young. When babies are born, whether that baby is a vivid dolphin, a playful elephant, or even a grizzly bear, they come into this world as newbies, delicate and unaware, really knowing little to nothing about how to survive, how to make the right decisions, decisions that will guide them in their habitats.

So they are shown how by people who care. Would it not be lovely if this were to happen ALL OVER America, including at work? Let’s take, for example, an inexperienced Court Judge. Let’s say this person, this judge, has little trial experience and then gets assigned a case so significant, historical, and crucial that many wonder if this inexperienced fledgling, has the experience needed to handle this extremely complicated case.

Recently, two federal judges with lots of experience were concerned about a particular judge who’d been given a case they were reportedly not sure she could handle. That Judge is Judge Cannon.

Her inexperience was glaringly evident, which might explain why these two federal judges reportedly felt compelled to urge Cannon to step away from overseeing the case. They simply felt she lacked experience. So, both judges had little talks with Cannon at separate times. It did not seem to go well.

One of the judges who voiced their concerns about Cannon’s handling of the case is Cecilia M. Altonaga. She holds the esteemed position of chief judge for the southern district of Florida, lending weight to her opinion.

Altonago reportedly told Cannon how bad the optics looked and to think about letting the case go. Cannon refused to heed the advice.

This is just another scandalous story in a sea of them for Judge Cannon. However, this report is particularly alarming as it reveals that even experienced, high-profile judges believed Cannon was in over her head.

Judge Cannon is going to have to fish or cut bait sometime soon, and I’ll tell you why.

She can’t go on this way indefinitely. Contrary to what many are saying., I do not think she will try to throw Jack Smith off the case. However, this news is terrible for her. Cannon is under a microscope.

She is not in control here, no matter what some people might think. I would gladly wait a week, two weeks or two MONTHS if Jack Smith needs more time.


. . .



I want any request to the eleventh circuit to be flawless and perfect, and I’ll gladly — very gladly — take quality over speed. Judge Cannon is on borrowed time in this case. I genuinely believe that. I wonder if she knows how much trouble she is in.

The post Judge Aileen Cannon is at it again appeared first on Palmer Report.

The post Judge Aileen Cannon is at it again first appeared on The News And Times.


Categories
Sites

Trump to Putin: what key challenges face Rutte at NATO? – Miami County Republic


The post Trump to Putin: what key challenges face Rutte at NATO? – Miami County Republic first appeared on Trump And The FBI – The News And Times.


Categories
Sites

Trump’s Campaign Message About Inflation Is Wrong on His Promises—And on Biden’s Success


cash register

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump has been hammering away at President Joe Biden for the “nightmare” of “disastrous inflation.” He has made inflation one of his key attacks against the incumbent President, even blaming Biden for food prices increasing by up to 50% or 60%. (They have not.)

Trump’s attack conveniently ignores the economic facts: as Nobel Prize Laureate Paul Romer wrote this week, inflation as measured by CPI is about 2.8% and still falling, which Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell celebrated last week as down from a high of over 7%.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Romer chart: Monthly Inflation

And this falling inflation is not just matched by record low unemployment but also 2.5% economic growth. Last week, the World Bank reported that this—the world’s biggest economy—accounted for 80% of their upgraded global outlook. Plus, while not the case cumulatively over the course of the Biden Presidency, the U.S. has seen wage growth finally outpacing inflation, a reversal from a trend that has persisted for much of the last 40 years.

To be sure, for many consumers, prices are still too high. But a benchmark of Trump’s last year in office, when inflation averaged 1.2%, is misleading, as lower prices were a consequence of the collapse of the economy under Trump. The unprecedented and rapid economic growth reacceleration under Biden was a revived economy coming out of the Trump term’s COVID-19 shutdown, which had led to the deepest economic recession in the post-World War II era according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, which certifies recessions. Under Trump, in November of 2020, unemployment was 6.7%—the highest since President Gerald Ford’s administration 50 years earlier.

Some argue that Biden’s early fiscal policies contributed to inflation, but there is no doubt that Biden’s vow to respect central bank independence in tightening monetary policy, cutting the budget deficit, and more restrained fiscal spending have been helpful in bringing inflation down since then. And despite such restraint, the World Bank reported last week that “The U.S. economy, in particular, has shown impressive resilience. Growth has remained buoyant in the teeth of the fiercest monetary policy tightening in four decades.”

In stark contrast, one of the most underappreciated ironies is that despite Trump’s aggressive attacks, his own economic policy promises are extremely inflationary, far in excess of Biden’s policies.

Read more: Women Could Be the Key to Solving Biden’s Inflation Perception Problem

In fairness, Trump has not been a model of cogent clarity on his economic policy platform so far, and it’s likely that Trump is just throwing pasta against the wall to see what sticks—so not all his promises are likely to make it to the table.

Nevertheless, the ideas Trump has tossed out provide a decent sense of where his headspace is—and it’s clear that his overarching goal does not seem to be combating inflation. Consider the key tenets of Trump’s trade policy, fiscal policy, and monetary policy promises so far, and their hyperinflationary effects:

  • On trade policy, Trump has promised to levy universal 10% tariffs on all imports as well as 60% tariffs on all imports from China—and the higher costs would be, in turn, passed on to U.S. consumers. According to objective, impartial Bloomberg Economics modeling, these tariffs would raise U.S. consumer prices at least 2.5% higher and reduce GDP by 0.5%. This does not even factor in the fact that America’s top trade partners would almost certainly impose retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products as well, which would significantly reduce U.S. exports and hurt U.S. manufacturers.
  • On the fiscal policy side, Trump’s primary fiscal priority seems to be tax cuts without commensurate cuts in government spending—which would stand to raise deficits to their highest peacetime levels ever. While it is easy to cheer for tax cuts, record deficit spending—in other words, unsustainable government borrowing—will artificially turbocharge demand and increase inflationary pressures. In particular, Trump has pledged to extend permanently all the expiring provisions of the 2017 Trump Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which the Congressional Budget Office has estimated will cost $4.6 trillion over 10 years. But even beyond that, Trump has pledged to cut the corporate tax rate to 20%—apparently because “it is a round number,” as he told the Business Roundtable last week. Already, Trump left office with the highest deficits in history; though deficits are still higher than pre-pandemic levels, Biden has presided over a reduction in the federal deficit by over $1 trillion during his time in office.

  • Perhaps the most brazenly bizarre, idiosyncratic, and hyperinflationary parts of Trump’s economic platform manifest in his monetary policy views. Trump and his advisors have floated the idea of stripping the Federal Reserve of its independence and letting Trump himself set rates arbitrarily. Trump, across his entire life, has almost always favored lower interest rates, irrespective of where we are in the economic cycle, and keeping interest rates down through de facto yield-curve control would prove massively inflationary at a time of already strong demand. Trump’s monetary policy views are so wacky that even his fellow Republican Senators repeatedly thwarted Trump’s efforts to appoint pliant allies such as pizza salesman Herman Cain and gold-standard advocate Judy Shelton to the Fed Board; and protected Chair Jerome Powell from Trump’s repeated efforts to fire him during his first term.
  • Trump and his advisors have also pledged to devalue the dollar—a sudden reversal of a century-long pillar of global business, which would not only reignite inflation but reduce the purchasing power of U.S. consumers.

Trump’s other complaints about inflation veer toward empty cliches. For example, Trump has promised to unleash American energy amidst spirited cries of “drill, baby, drill”—ignoring the fact that under Biden, the U.S. has become the single largest producer of crude oil in the world by far, producing well over 13 million barrels per day. That’s more than the U.S. ever pumped under Trump, more than any country in history, and 50% more than the runners-up, Saudi Arabia and Russia, with oil and natural gas prices lower today than they were during Trump’s first term. In fact, despite ire from greens and progressives, Biden has approved 50% more oil and gas drilling permits for wells on federal lands compared to Trump.

Read more: How the Inflation Reduction Act Has Reshaped the U.S.—and The World

And what about those skyrocketing food prices? The outlier increase—a more than 70% jump in egg prices since Biden took office, which Trump surrogates have seized upon to criticize the President—shows the yolk is on Trump. Unless he has any cures for the bout of avian flu that led to the destruction of 100 million hens, it is unlikely he, or any elected official, can do anything about egg prices.

Despite all the noise Trump makes about Biden’s inflationary policies, Trump’s own prescription—much higher tariffs, a politicized Fed, a devalued dollar, and record federal deficits—is sure to make inflation much worse.

Exactly 50 years ago when inflation was over 12% under President Gerald Ford, humorist George Gobel lamented, “We now have to work like a dog to live like a dog.” Happily, those days are long gone.

The post Trump’s Campaign Message About Inflation Is Wrong on His Promises—And on Biden’s Success first appeared on The News And Times.

The post Trump’s Campaign Message About Inflation Is Wrong on His Promises—And on Biden’s Success first appeared on Trump And The FBI – The News And Times.


Categories
Sites

Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Law Couldn’t Have Happened Without Trump


Donald Trump Campaigns For President In Racine, Wisconsin

This article is part of The D.C. Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox.

Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry knew the score when he signed into law a requirement that every classroom in his state—from kindergarten classrooms to college chemistry labs—must post a copy of the Ten Commandments. In fact, the ambitious Republican seemed to be trolling his critics even before he sanctified the work of the GOP-controlled legislature.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

“I’m going home to sign a bill that places the Ten Commandments in public classrooms,” he said Saturday night as he headlined a Republican Party fundraiser in Nashville. “And I can’t wait to be sued.”

Lawsuits were at the ready as soon as Landry signed the bill on Wednesday. It is abundantly clear this effort seems on a glide path toward the Supreme Court, which for decades has ruled such expressions of faith collide fatally with the First Amendment’s prohibition from state-sanctioned faith. But given the new tilt of the bench, conservatives’ credo might be reduced to a simple profession: In Trump They Trust.

That’s right. Donald Trump has been out of official power since early 2021 but his presence continues to be felt at every level of government. His legacy is most firmly established through his three picks to the Supreme Court, part of the record-breaking 231 federal judges Trump successfully nominated to federal roles. The Trump cohort of judges—mostly young conservatives with a bent to treat the roles as political callings rather than academic exercises—stand to shape American jurisprudence for a generation. And the Supreme Court is the most obvious and impactful of any of those levels thanks to 56-year-old Neil Gorsuch, 59-year-old Brett Kavanaugh, and 52-year-old Amy Coney Barrett.

That Trumpian trio is why Louisiana’s governor sounded so excited about being sued. While the Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that a similar Kentucky law was unconstitutional, a majority of the current justices may see things differently. They’ve already shown an openness to the Christian conservatives’ argument that faith and government can co-exist if not thrive in a symbiotic relationship. Notably, in 2022, Justices sided with a high school coach who argued his players had the right to pray at the 50-yard line and that Maine could not block religious schools from receiving a state subsidy. A year earlier, in a unanimous ruling, the Court said a Catholic group in Philadelphia could refuse to work with same-sex couples on fostering children.

By one study’s count, parties arguing on the basis of so-called religious liberty found success four out of five times. That’s no accident on a bench stacked by Trump with the explicit call to arms to blend religion—specifically, Christianity—with the rule of law.

This, in no small measure, helps to explain how self-described Values Voters have fallen into line behind the less-than-pious Trump and his bid to return to power in this November’s election. A Pew Research Institute study finds 43% of Trump supporters think government policies should support religious values, and 69% who say the Bible should influence U.S. laws. A second Pew study finds Trump riding high among white Evangelical protestants by a 2-to-1 margin.

While the Ten Commandments are important pieces of Jewish and Christian teachings and compatible with Islam, the play in Louisiana—and elsewhere, to be clear—have clear linkages to the current Republican Party’s courtship of Christian conservatives, especially white Christian nationalists. That first Pew survey found 22% of Trump supporters say the government should declare Christianity the official national religion and 59% who say the government should promote Christian morality.

So while Trump is out of sanctioned power—at least for the moment—there is still no credible way to argue that he’s without tremendous sway over the Republican Party and the laws it is passing.  Louisiana may be the first test case of these omnipresent reminders of religious teachings, but it most certainly will not be the last. The current political environment is one that rewards such audacious acts, and it’s no accident that Landry chose to taunt his critics while signaling his national ambitions during a dinner more than 500 miles from home. For any GOP politician looking to make inroads with the party’s conservative Christian base—be it a first-term Governor or a convicted ex-President—pandering like this works to build lists, credibility, and fundraising tallies. If secular voters—or even those who think the place for expressions of faith are better served in a sanctuary than a Nashville convention hall—stopped rewarding such trolling, perhaps the sanctimonious performance art would stop. One can only pray.

Make sense of what matters in Washington. Sign up for the D.C. Brief newsletter.

The post Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Law Couldn’t Have Happened Without Trump first appeared on The News And Times.

The post Louisiana’s Ten Commandments Law Couldn’t Have Happened Without Trump first appeared on Trump And The FBI – The News And Times.


Categories
Sites

Anthropic Touts New AI Model as ‘Most Intelligent Yet’


Photo Illustrations - Stock Pictures

Anthropic launched a new AI model Thursday which it says is its “most intelligent model yet.”

The new model, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, is reportedly twice as fast as Claude 3 Opus, the company’s previous best-in-class AI, and five times cheaper to run. Following a trend set by its competitor OpenAI—which just last month released the newest version of ChatGPT, GPT-4o—Claude 3.5 Sonnet is free for all users on the web and iOS to access. It has also been made available to developers.

[time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”]

Claude 3.5 Sonnet is “now the most intelligent model in the world,” claims Michael Gerstenhaber, a product manager at the company. “We are at the beginning of a Cambrian explosion of this industry,” Gerstenhaber told TIME ahead of the release.

Looking at the pace of model releases, it’s easy to see why. Claude 3.5 Sonnet comes just three months after the release of Anthropic’s previous suite of models, Claude 3, and just under a year after the release of its ancestor, Claude 2.

Unlike GPT-4o, the latest version of Claude cannot search the internet or generate image files. Its “intelligence” is measured by its performance on a series of benchmarks, which, while imperfect, do show that it is currently at the front of the pack. But it’s the qualitative aspects of the model, rather than its performance on benchmarks, that Gerstenhaber is most excited about. Early users of 3.5 Sonnet singled out its intelligence and the humor it displayed in interactions, he said. This is likely the result of Anthropic’s efforts to give Claude a distinctive character, and to have the model “display a genuine curiosity about the views and values of the people it’s talking with,” according to the company’s website.

Read More: Inside Anthropic, the AI Company Betting That Safety Can Be a Winning Strategy

In addition to its improved coding and image transcription abilities, 3.5 Sonnet has a new feature that changes how chatbots work—what Anthropic calls “artifacts.” When users ask Claude to draft documents, generate code, or assist with something like web design, it displays the requested content in a separate panel that sits next to the chat. Ask it to make changes to the content, and you can see it update in real-time.

Artifacts offer a glimpse into how Anthropic is thinking about the future of its models, where they go beyond chatbots and act more as sandboxes where teams of people can collaborate on work, “with Claude serving as an on-demand teammate,” according to the company’s press release. This suggests that future models may have more in common with collaborative software tools like Notion and Google Docs than the chatbot interfaces proliferating today.

Anthropic says Sonnet 3.5 was subject to rigorous safety testing. Concerns about the capabilities of current and future models are on the minds of virtually all major AI labs, most of which have published documents detailing what actions they will take based on how dangerous they deem their models to be—often called “responsible scaling policies” (RSPs). Despite the increase in intelligence, the model is still considered to be at ‘AI Safety Level 2’ according to Anthropic’s RSP; the same level that Claude 3 Opus was at in March.

Sonnet 3.5 was shared with the United Kingdom’s AI Safety Institute for pre-deployment testing ahead of its release. The results of this testing were also shared with the United States’ AI Safety Institute, as part of a partnership between the two institutions.

Further information about how Sonnet 3.5 performed under safety tests reveals that the model “does not pose risk of catastrophic harm,” for example by increasing risks related to bioweapons or nuclear war. However, the documentation does note that Anthropic “observed an increase in capabilities in risk-relevant areas compared to Claude 3 Opus.”

Regarding privacy, Anthropic says they “do not train [their] generative models on user-submitted data unless a user gives us explicit permission to do so.” They also note that “to complete the Claude 3.5 model family,” updated versions of Opus and Haiku (respectively bigger and smaller versions of Sonnet), will be out later this year. 

-With additional reporting by Billy Perrigo/London

The post Anthropic Touts New AI Model as ‘Most Intelligent Yet’ first appeared on The News And Times.

The post Anthropic Touts New AI Model as ‘Most Intelligent Yet’ first appeared on Trump And The FBI – The News And Times.