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6 Healthy Coping Mechanisms for Dealing with Difficult Emotions

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July 29, 2019

6 Healthy Coping Mechanisms for Dealing with Difficult Emotions

We’ve all gotten to that point where you feel like you just can’t take anything more being piled on your mentally or emotionally. It’s just a fact of life that we will all get to that point at least once in our lives. It can be a lonely place as many of us are afraid to talk to anyone about it, so we just bottle it all up and try to deal with it on our own.

Mental wellbeing plays a crucial role in our daily behavior, viewpoint, and feelings. When we’re coping with difficult emotions, we have a hard time dealing with stress, overcoming challenges and building relationships.

It doesn’t matter how healthy, happy or resilient you may be, there are times in our lives when we’re faced with difficult experiences that may become too much for us to handle. And at times we try to work through it, other times we simply avoid whatever is bothering us, leaving it to fester and bubble inside. While it may be easier to just bury it all, it’s more productive if you accept them as a natural part of life.

Acknowledge

A crucial part of actually dealing with emotions is acknowledging them and then finding healthy coping skills to deal with them. Without this process you are left with unhealthy options that can only lead to more problems down the road.

Being brave and fearless enough to deal with your emotions through trial and error until you find what works with you. The following strategies will help you deal with the negative emotions and boost your mental health.

Identify your emotions.

Giving your emotions a name takes away their power and makes it easier for you to work through them. Feelings may vary in intensity; however, they fall basically into 4 groups:

anger
sadness
anxiety
happiness

Top 6 Healthy Tools

Write your feelings in a journal or diary.

Studies show that conveying your feelings through writing helps counteract make sense of our feelings and experiences and puts things into perspective. When you categorize your thoughts, you can begin processing your feelings, thus dealing with them becomes more accessible.

Share how you’re feeling with a trusted friend.

Talking also provides an outlet for self-expression without fear of rejection or judgment. It counterbalances the negativity and builds confidence and trust. A support group or therapist is also a great way to deal with difficult emotions and be surrounded with people who face similar difficulties.

You can also get in touch with the National Alliance on Mental Illness NAMI or Attitudes In Reverse AIR for someone to talk to as sometimes its easier to talk to a stranger.

Take a step back and look at the big picture.

This will help you empathize with others’ suffering and realize that you’re not alone. Compassion produces a constructive attitude on life and helps you connect with others on many levels.

When I used to wait tables at a busy restaurant, this technique really saved me. When you’re feeling overwhelmed, just stepping back to look at your situation and break it down piece by piece, it can feel more controllable. It’s like if you get overwhelmed cleaning a messy room, just go in every hour and only take one article out of the room at a time. You’ll find that by the fourth or fifth hour, you wind up jumping right in and cleaning. This works just as well here.

Relaxation breathing techniques.

Controlled breathing positively impacts your stress levels. Take in a breath while counting to 5, then hold it in for 5 counts and exhale for 5 counts. Repeat it several times. If you have a favorite color, imagine inhaling that color as it allows your mind to focus on something else.

Positive imagery.

Imagine someplace where you feel calm and at peace. It could be somewhere you’ve already been or wish to visit. Start with a mental image and try to concentrate on all the details, using all 5 senses. This is a great example of practicing mindfulness which helps reduce stress and anxiety.

One of the best exercises, hen you are feeling so overwhelmed you can’t think straight, is the 5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique. This helps you used all of your senses to bring you back to the present.

5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique

Sit in a comfortable position, close your eyes and take three deep breaths in through your nose (count to 3) and out through your mouth (to the count of 3). Sometimes even breathing in your favorite color can help (mine is always cobalt blue).

Now open your eyes and look around at your surroundings. Name these things out loud or softly to yourself.

5 things you can see (looking around the room or out the window).
4 things you can feel (your skin, the material on your chair, your hair, anything tactile to touch)
3 thing you can hear (like traffic, birds or noises in the room)
2 thing you can smell
1 thing you can taste. You might need to move around to find something to taste.

Throw away your negative emotions.

It may be symbolic, yet it gives such a strong sense of control over your detrimental feelings. Write down what’s bothering you on a piece of paper then scrunch it up and throw it away. This helps you mentally let go of whatever is bothering you and helps you regain control. It might sound silly, but it really does do wonders for you. If you’re somewhere that you can burn the list, it can be very cathartic.

Conclusion

These are just some ways to deal with your stressful, difficult emotions, but there are dozens of other ways through which you can find healing and a way to get through your negative experiences. The point is to find what makes you stronger and more capable of facing your fears.

While you may know by now that it’s not as easy as it sounds, all you need is to take that first, single step, and by time, you become more resilient and better at finding healthier, more constructive ways to cope with your difficult emotions.

‘The Magicians’ on Comic-Con, Quentin and Season 5

Lynn Zubernis

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July 29, 2019

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‘The Magicians’ on Comic-Con, Quentin and Season 5

Seeing the cast of “The Magicians” and chatting with them and with showrunners Sera Gamble and John McNamara is always one of the highlights of Comic-Con for me. I was disappointed that the show didn’t have a press room this year. Some people wondered if the cast and writers were avoiding the tough questions that might be forthcoming after the very controversial ending of last season that saw fan favorite character Quentin Coldwater (Jason Ralph) killed.

Not only was Quentin one half of the very popular Queliot ship (with fan-favorite Eliot) but he was also a character who many fans related to strongly. Quentin’s struggles with depression and his fluid sexuality made him a character who inspired many viewers; that his death was self-sacrificing made it even more difficult for some fans to accept.

jason ralph quintin mental health issues on magicians — Sad farewell to Jason Ralph

I admit to being pretty devastated by Quentin’s death too, and to being heartbroken at the ending of a ship I found compelling and quite beautiful. I still love the show and will still be watching, and who knows, death isn’t always forever on television (I’ve been watching “Supernatural” for fourteen years, so I’ve learned that lesson well). But I was very sad not to be able to ask some in-person questions at Comic-Con.

I did, however, manage to attend the panel, and it was entertaining and eased a bit of the sting of last season.

the magicians comic con panel banner 2019

Hale Appleman (Eliot) is one of my favorite actors (and people). The first year I did “The Magicians” press room, he and I ended up talking about our mutual love of Lou Reed and I’ve been a fan ever since. I saw Hale at Wizard World in my hometown of Philadelphia a few months ago, and was so touched when he invited a superfan up to sit with him onstage during his panel! (Shout out to @HighKingEliot!) Hale gave a shout out again during Comic-Con.

He also talked about how much representation means to him in playing a queer character, and also what it was like to not play Eliot last season and instead bring to life “the monster”.

Hale Appleman answers questions wtih Olivia Dudley Magicians Comic Con 2019

Hale: I felt like I had to start from scratch in a way. John told me that the monster is a child with incredible curiosity but lack of empathy, so I tried to play that. I also wanted to give him a need to belong and portray him as someone out of touch with social cues who feels like an outsider.

I think he did an amazing job. I felt like I could oddly relate to the monster, even when he was ‘monstrous’.

Olivia Dudley (Alice) also felt pulled away from the group last season.

Olivia: Things for Alice have always been hard, but it was a great opportunity to act, and to explore more of her. She’s such a complex woman. I also worked with a live cockroach, but he was great….

Magicians Hale Appleman Olivia Dudley laughing at comic con panel 2019

Stella Maeve (Julia) had kind words for her character.

Stella: Julia has been forged from her pain but hasn’t veered into bitterness. It hasn’t taken over. In fact, it makes her persevere and not give up.

Stella Maeve magicians comic con panel mttg interview 2019

Moderator Damian Holbrook added, “let’s acknowledge the female power of the show, powerful women not written as superheroes.”

Jade Tailor (Kady): Well, we have a badass woman at the top. (Showrunner Sera Gamble, who is, indeed, a badass). These badass women are human, and they channel their pain into the power to change.

Magicians Jade Tailor MTTG Interview Comic Com 2019

Brittany Curran (Fen): No one is strong all the time. You can have depression, you can have anxiety, and you can still be strong. Fen has a quiet strength.

Magicians Brittany Curran Fen with knives Comic Con MTTG 2019

Summer Bishil talked about Margo’s breakdown in the tent.

Summer: It was so important to me. It was me, and it was one of the most exhilarating experiences I’ve had as an actress. I just fully immersed myself. I’m not like Margo, I’m still finding my voice, but I understand everything she said in that tent. I hoped it would translate to the audience.

Summer bishil on mrago breakdown magicians comic con interview 2019

I think it’s safe to say it did.

Rick Worthy is another of my favorites (he also memorably played the Alpha Vamp on “Supernatural”).

Rick: I’ve been asked so many times, is Fogg a good guy or bad guy? And that’s how I play it. So many people also come up to me and want to drink with me…

Having had that pleasure, it’s a nice way to pass a little time.

Rick Worthy Magicians interview MTTG Comic Con panel

Arjun Gupta (Penny) said he really enjoyed the two Penny characters meeting.

Arjun: It was so fun when I got to have them meet. It turned into this big brother-little brother relationship almost.

The Magicians Arjun Gupta and Jade Tailor MTTG Comic Con Panel 2019

Trevor Einhorn (Josh) asked if anyone saw Josh and Margo coming?

Trevor: I didn’t! I thought oh, it’s about time! No, really I felt very lucky because Margo is so badass she makes Josh more badass.

Trevor Einhorn Magicians Comic Con MTTG Panel 2019 Josh

Damian: If we could all get a Margo…. And I don’t even like girls!

Me: I think we’re all there with you, Damian…

The elephant in the room question was how will the show move forward without Quentin?

John McNamara gave us some backstory of why they decided to tackle so much loss.

John: They’re grieving, and in a very real way. In our twenties, Sera (Gamble) and I both lost our fathers. And that broke us, but ultimately accepting it made us who we are. So, we always wanted to write about reality, and death is the ultimate reality. It’s the one thing we have in common. Every hour, we’re one hour closer to our death, we just are. So, I’m really enjoying just being here. You’re my family – and we’re all gonna die someday.

It was a sort of dark answer, but it did make sense.

The cast is still obviously raw and grieving too. They spoke of Quentin’s journey, how when he began he couldn’t advocate for himself, and at the end of his journey he could advocate for himself and for others – and for magic.

Olivia: The bonfire scene was cathartic. Loss is an opportunity for growth. And it was a very human moment for us as actors. It didn’t feel like acting, it felt real. We were saying goodbye to Jason too.

Hale: Eliot’s relationship with Quentin, he’ll be processing this for a long time. I’m so grateful Eliot got to experience love with Quentin, and to live a whole lifetime with him. When you lose someone so deeply connected to your heart…

Me: Oh, my heart…

Magicians Hale Appleman talking Quintin death comic con 2019

A fan asked a question about how the show tackles about the important themes of trauma, mental illness and queerness, and the cast and showrunners had thoughtful answers.

Sera: John and I talked about this. Quentin is contending with depression, because we understand that. [The show expresses] all kinds of inclusiveness. Who you love, who you are, how your brain works. The more things you can express that make you you, the better your experience.

Magicians Sera Gamble John McNamara Comic Con Panel 2019

The cast chimed in about their own struggles.

Brittany: I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and I always felt bad about it. But it’s just like if you hurt your arm, you go to the doctor. I’m a happy person, but I’m also horribly anxious a lot of the time, and people don’t always understand that.

Jade: The thing I’m learning, still, is that whatever I’ve dealt with, my issues, sexuality, etc, is that there’s nothing wrong with you.

Hale: Eliot is a hero despite the trauma, that I’ve never experienced. He means a lot to me for that reason. Growing up queer comes with its own kind of trauma.

Arjun: Therapy helped me realize what I needed to fix was the idea that I needed to fix myself.

Their candid answers made all of us emotional, including the fan who asked the excellent question.

Magicians fan crying about therapy quintin suicide comic con 2019

The cast and crew and writers have clearly bonded together to get through the rough spots, both personal and professional.

Trevor: We’re a close knit family. We’re grateful to the writers who give all the characters a voice.

They also mentioned the upcoming musical episode, which John described as a “plot intensive musical”. Brittany attempted to show off her swordsmanship. No one was injured, though it was a near thing… And Rick Worthy sang an inspired rendition of “Movin’ On Up” that had the entire cast laughing.

Magicains rick worthy tongue out comic con mttg panel 2019

I’m still sad about Quentin, but after this panel, I’m even more excited for more of “The Magicians” – stay tuned for Season 5 which will be back January 2020.

Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ hits but loses to ‘Lion King’

George Cando

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July 28, 2019

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Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ hits but loses to ‘Lion King’

Quentin Tarantino might have scored one of his biggest opening weekends ever with “Once Upon a Time In Hollywood,” but Disney still beat him with “The Lion King” in its second week at the box office. Luckily, Leonardo DiCaprio isn’t suffering from the same career stall that his character did.

“The Lion King” rode its circle of life into a second weekend atop the box office and “Once Upon A Time … In Hollywood,” while not quite doing fairytale numbers, gave director Quentin Tarantino his biggest opening ever.

“Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” sold about $40.4 million in tickets at theaters in the United States and Canada from Thursday night to Sunday. That’s a win for both Sony, the film’s distributor, and Tarantino, its director; it rivals “Inglourious Basterds” in 2009 for his best opening weekend ever. (Adjusted for inflation, the $38.1 million total for “Inglourious Basterds” comes out slightly ahead.)

Having two of the biggest names in Hollywood lead the new movie probably helped. The story centers on the professional relationship and friendship between a made-up TV actor, Rick Dalton (DiCaprio), and his longtime stunt double, Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt). Its splintered story mixes fact and fiction, and attempts to capture the energy of an era that saw Hollywood and hippie culture collide. The movie also features portrayals of many real-life figures, most notably the actress Sharon Tate, who is played by Margot Robbie.

Disney’s photorealistic remake of the Hamlet-themed tale of Mufasa, Simba and Nala, featuring the voices of Donald Glover and Beyoncé, brought in $75 million in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday. Its domestic total of $350 million makes it the year’s fourth highest-grossing film after just 10 days of release.

“Once Upon A Time … In Hollywood” finished a distant second with $40 million in its opening weekend for Sony, but it bested the 2009 opening of Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” by $2 some million and made a strong showing for an R-rated, nearly-three-hour film that was not a sequel or remake and was aimed solely at adults.

The film with Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt and Margot Robbie as denizens of a 1969 Los Angeles where old Hollywood was fading and the Manson family was rising was more star-powered than Tarantino’s previous eight movies, though the director himself was as big a draw as anyone.

“In our fan survey, over 40% of the audience went to see the movie because of the director,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for Comscore. “That’s incredible. You almost never see that. Sony did a great job of putting that cast and certainly Tarantino at the front of the marketing. That collective star power just paid huge dividends.”

It’s also the sort of film that’s unlikely to experience a major drop-off in the coming weeks, and its long legs could walk it into awards season given Hollywood’s persistent love for movies about itself.

But with all of that, the film’s opening take was still nearly doubled by “The Lion King” and its broad appeal.

″‘Lion King’ has appealed to everyone, that’s a second-weekend gross that would be the envy of most films on their opening weekend,” Dergarabedian said.

The two-week take is also a sign that audiences are not yet feeling fatigue for Disney’s live-action remakes in a year that has already seen “Dumbo” and “Aladdin.”

“The idea that remake burnout would be in effect for ‘The Lion King’ has not proven true,” Dergarabedian said. “Some brands are inoculated from that kind of negative speculation.”

That’s even more good news for the ever-dominant Disney, with a live-action “Mulan” slated for early next year and more remakes in the planning stages.

The rest of the box office top 10 remained essentially unchanged from a week earlier. Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home” was third with $12.2 million in its fourth weekend and has earned a cumulative $344 million, “Toy Story 4″ was fourth with $9.8 million, and “Crawl” fifth with $4 million.

“The Lion King” could reign for a third week. With major summer releases slowing as fall approaches the only real competition it has opening next weekend is “Fast & Furious: Hobbs & Shaw.”

Also notable was A24’s “The Farewell,” a subtitled dramedy from the filmmaker Lulu Wang that expanded from 35 to 135 theaters and brought in about $1.6 million this weekend, according to Comscore, which compiles box-office data. While that was only enough for 10th place overall, “The Farewell” had a per-screen average of $11,510, the second best of the weekend behind “The Lion King.” It outpaced the $11,028 average for “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.”

North American Box Office

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Where available, the latest international numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “The Lion King,” $75.5 million ($142.8 million international).

2. “Once Upon a Time … In Hollywood,” $40.3 million.

3. “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” $12.2 million ($21 million international).

4. “Toy Story 4,” $9.8 million ($19.4 million international).

5. “Crawl,” $4 million ($3.4 million international).

6. “Yesterday,” $3 million ($3.6 million international).

7. “Aladdin,” $2.8 million ($7.2 million international).

8. “Stuber,” $1.7 million ($1.6 million international).

9. “Annabelle Comes Home,” $1.56 million ($3.7 million international).

10. “The Farewell,” $1.55 million.

Worldwide Box Office

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at international theaters (excluding the U.S. and Canada), according to Comscore:

1. “The Lion King,” $142.8 million.

2. “Ne Zha” $83.1 million.

3. “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” $21 million.

4. “Toy Story 4,” $19.4 million.

5. “Looking Up,” $17.3 million.

6. “Aladdin,” $7.2 million.

7. “The Secret Life of Pets 2,” $7.2 million.

8. “Dancing Elephant,” $5.2 million.

9. “Annabelle Comes Home,” $3.7 million.

10. “White Storm 2: The Drug Lords,” $3.68 million.

Eric Kripke talks ‘The Boys’ and why ‘Supernatural’ fans should watch

Lynn Zubernis

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July 26, 2019

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Eric Kripke talks ‘The Boys’ and why ‘Supernatural’ fans should watch

I was very excited to attend the press conference for Eric Kripke’s new show, “The Boys,” after experiencing the activation installation at Comic-Con last weekend. Instead of round table interviews, invited press sat in front of the panel of cast and Kripke and took turns asking questions.

Eric recognized a few of us and gave us a friendly nod, which I admit made my fangirl heart happy. You were supposed to wait for the room person to give you the mic in order to ask a question, which meant I was having a near panic attack trying to get her attention while other people just yelled theirs out. Finally I got a turn to ask a question – one for Mr. Kripke.

Eric Kripke Seth Rogen talking The Boys at Comic Con 2019

Me: One of the things that sets your first baby, Supernatural, apart is that on the surface it’s a show about two brothers hunting monsters but it really is so much more. It’s a show about family and loyalty and how family don’t end with blood. Are there underlying themes on The Boys as well?

Eric thanked me for the “Supernatural” centric question and gave a thoughtful and interesting answer, which you can listen to below (once I managed to stop just smiling at him and push the record button…) But come on, SPN Family, it’s Kripke!

Eric: I think this show is also about family. It’s about ‘the boys,’ who are the heroes because they stick together and they’ve got each other’s backs, and they’re willing to admit vulnerability and weakness. They’re scared and outmatched and outgunned, but they’re taking on these powerful forces – not dissimilar to the way Sam and Dean take on monsters and demons. What I love is that the heroes of this show are the ones who can express vulnerability and weakness and be imperfect….

“Supernatural” has been unique in its exploration of masculinity, especially when it comes to emotional vulnerability. Sam and Dean have gone from “no chick flick moments” to being able to cry with each other and to have each others’ backs quite literally. The theme of the ordinary man taking on the super (natural) or super (heros) is a compelling one that is a part of “The Boys” as well as SPN. Finally, the theme of family – and especially that ‘family don’t end with blood’ seems to be woven into Kripke’s new show too.

Eric: We spend a lot of time building the iceberg under the water with the emotion, and with the satire…

That time and effort to build the ‘iceberg under the water’ is what has set “Supernatural” apart from the beginning, so if “The Boys” can pull it off, that bodes well for its longevity.

Karl Urban cast of the boys at comic con 2019 panel

The cast had some great things to say about why they also feel this show is unique, and especially that it breaks some molds and doesn’t stick to stereotypes or expectations. They also shared some inside information on what it was like to film some of the first shocking action-packed scenes that set ‘the boys’ on their journey.

Also like “Supernatural,” the actors talk about creating an atmosphere on set that’s conducive to experimentation and play, so they could push the boundaries and find out where they were. And they all trusted Eric.

Eric: Awwww.

Listen to some of the cast and Kripke’s insights here, and get ready for “The Boys” when it premieres Friday July 26 on Amazon Prime!

Janice Dickinson Cosby justification plus R Kelly charged up again

Jackie Warner

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July 25, 2019

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Janice Dickinson Cosby justification plus R Kelly charged up again

While Bill Cosby is a distant memory for many people, model and TV personality Janice Dickinson has been haunted by him for decades. On Thursday, she finally felt some justification for what he put her through decades ago, and then by defaming her when she stepped up about what the comedian had done to her.

Dickinson called the settlement in her defamation lawsuit against the now in prison Bill Cosby a victory that brings a measure of justice, but in the end, it is only a partial help.

“In reality, nothing can erase the experience and memory of an assault,” Dickinson said at a news conference. “Jail is where he belongs. There are not enough years left for him to pay for what he has done to so many, many women.”

Dickinson’s attorney, Lisa Bloom, said the case was settled for an “epic” amount, though the terms of the agreement keep the exact figure confidential.

“Janice will be fully and fairly compensated for being branded a liar,” Bloom said.

The deal allows Dickinson to continue to speak out against Cosby, which she said she intends to do.

“Sisters, my advice to you is never, ever give up ever, tell your story and stand up for your rights,” Dickinson said.

She also urged lawmakers to extend the existing statutes of limitations on sexual assault that have forced her and other Cosby accusers to sue the comedian for defamation.

Cosby insurer American International Group Inc. settled the case against his will, as it has with at least eight other women who filed similar lawsuits.

“AIG’s settlement of this lawsuit has no bearing whatsoever on the merit of Ms. Dickinson’s claims,” Cosby’s spokesman Andrew Wyatt said in a statement Thursday. He said Dickinson’s case is another example of “AIG robbing Mr. Cosby of the opportunity to clear his name in a court of law, where evidence and truthfulness are supposed to be elevated above headlines and gossip.”

Cosby has repeatedly denied both Dickinson’s allegations and the defamation allegations, saying that they were statements by his former attorney that he had no part in.

AIG declined comment through a spokesman.

The settlement, which Cosby’s spokesman first confirmed Wednesday, brings a long list of litigation involving sexual misconduct and defamation accusations lodged against Cosby around the country near an end. Only a single California claim remains.

Dickinson was among the first for whom the term “supermodel” was used in the 1980s and has become a reality TV regular in recent decades on show’s including “America’s Next Top Model” and “Celebrity Big Brother.”

She testified at Cosby’s criminal trial that he drugged and raped her in 1982. She was among several Cosby accusers who were allowed to take the witness stand at the Pennsylvania trial where Cosby was found guilty of drugging and molesting a woman who worked at his alma mater, Temple University, in 2004.

The 82-year-old comedian is serving a 3-to-10 year sentence.

We normally don’t identify people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, which Dickinson and other accusers have done.

r kelly facing new charges now with others 2019

R Kelly May Have Others Join In

A prosecutor has told a federal judge in Chicago that more charges and more defendants could be added to the case against R&B singer R. Kelly that alleges child pornography and other crimes.

Angel Krull said Thursday that a more far-ranging indictment could replace the initial indictment charging Kelly and two associates. She didn’t elaborate.

Kelly faces charges in Chicago accusing him of producing and receiving child pornography and coercing minors to engage in sex. The 52-year-old is being held without bond and wasn’t at Thursday’s hearing. He faces related charges in New York.

Krull also asked for an order protecting evidence and limiting what attorneys can say publicly about the evidence, saying Kelly’s fans have harassed potential witnesses.

Defense attorney Steve Greenberg said the proposed order is too restrictive. Another hearing is set for Wednesday.

r kelly crisis manager darrell johnson leaves singer 2019 — R Kelly, Darrell Johnson

R Kelly Manager Leaves

When your boss has been accused of pedophilia, and you’re his crisis manager, it’s maybe not a great idea to say that you’d never leave your own daughter alone with an accused pedophile—at least not as far as job stability is concerned. R. Kelly’s crisis manager, Darrell Johnson, said just that during an interview Monday, and within hours, Johnson was out. One of Kelly’s lawyers tweeted a statement Monday night reading, “As has been reported, Darrell Johnson has decided to take some time off, for personal reasons, from his efforts on behalf of R. Kelly. The defense wants to thank Mr. Johnson for his tireless assistance and looks forward to his return. He shares our confidence that this is an unprecedented assault against R. Kelly by others, for their own personal gain, and in the innocence of R. Kelly.”

But Johnson insisted to the Chicago Tribune Tuesday that this was his idea: “I resigned. I wasn’t pushed out. I wasn’t made to resign. It was my decision. I got a lot of clients and then I got a business in Atlanta that’s 200 employees. It’s a lot going on. I’m not running or stepping down because the show with Gayle hit. I’ve done my job.” He also told NBC News Tuesday that his interview with Gayle King did not air in its entirety, and that he actually would leave his daughter with Kelly, because “I got to know Mr. Kelly in a personal way” and “I believe Kelly 1,000%” in his profession of innocence.

Facebook easily overcomes $5 billion FTC fine, but will more scrutiny hurt?

Jeffrey Lang

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July 25, 2019

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When a company like Facebook can make $6 billion in a day, being slapped with a $5 billion fine makes breaking the law worth the small trouble. Sadly, the fact that their stock jumped up upon the announcement of the penalty only shows that on Wall Street, crime and violations are a profitable enterprise.

Google had a similar type case, but the FTC settlement wound up being several times the company’s profit from the violation. What was the difference? The FTC didn’t bother looking into that part of it.

Another difference was that the investigation was rushed and incomplete. Plus, none of the executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, were kept off the hot seat. There weren’t any citations of a deposition with Zuckerberg or Sheryl Sandberg. No charges were brought against either of the two, and they suffered no consequences.

In a nutshell, the new privacy measures are purely on the honor system proving that the oversight is just going through the motions. Facebook has stated they are going through other investigations, but if the outcome is like this one, they will gladly welcome them to make it look like they are complying and doing right by their users. Facebook will continue to make money off of user mass surveillance whether you like it or not.

Surviving A Historical Fine

Facebook survived its latest brush with U.S. privacy regulators, at the cost of a record $5 billion fine and other restrictions imposed by the Federal Trade Commission. But it’s far from home free.

While the company looks set to prosper in the wake of the FTC case, it faces a series of other investigations into its privacy practices in Europe and across the U.S. Concerns over the limits of the just-settled probe could fuel efforts to craft tougher privacy laws at the state and federal level.

The social network is also gearing up to fight investigations into its allegedly anticompetitive behavior, such as Facebook’s habit of buying would-be rivals like Instagram and blatantly duplicating features introduced by competing services.

The Department of Justice opened a broad antitrust probe focused on technology companies on Tuesday. On Wednesday Facebook disclosed that it also faces a fresh FTC investigation into alleged anticompetitive behavior. It didn’t provide details of the scope or focus of the probe. Representatives of the FTC confirmed the antitrust investigation but offered no additional information.

The outcome of these investigations may well determine whether the world’s governments can actually rein in a transnational corporation that directly touches almost a third of the world’s population.

“There is a lot more to come on the regulatory front for Facebook,” said Debra Aho Williamson, analyst with the research firm eMarketer. To pre-empt this and do things on its own terms, Williamson said the company is “going to do whatever it can” to change its business model and change the way it gathers data.

The FTC penalties, viewed by some as a stunning rebuke to the social network, might well crush a smaller firm. But they seem unlikely to faze Facebook — the fine, for instance, amounts to less than 10% of Facebook’s annual revenue and not even a quarter of its annual profits. Some critics charge that that the FTC didn’t deliver much more than a slap on the wrist.

“Facebook makes that much money in a couple of weeks,” said Siva Vaidhyanathan, a University of Virginia professor and author of “Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy.” The company is free to “get back to business as usual,” he said.

Wall Street seems to agree. Facebook’s stock price climbed higher Wednesday after the deal was announced. The company is worth much more than it was when its Cambridge Analytica privacy scandal erupted back in March 2018. On Wednesday, Facebook’s market value hovered around $575 billion — roughly $40 billion above where it stood before the news of the Cambridge abuses broke.

Ashkan Soltani, a former FTC chief technologist, said the settlement was effectively “a get-out-of-jail free card for Facebook.” The deal absolves Facebook of any consumer-protection claims prior to June 12 of this year, a highly unusual step that effectively wipes the slate clean where known historical privacy violations are concerned.

Soltani and other critics also note that the FTC settlement barely touches Facebook’s underlying business practices, which rely on the collection and analysis of its users’ activities and personal details to fuel the company’s lucrative advertising machine. In its formal legal complaint, the FTC used the word “deceptive” 14 times to describe Facebook’s practices and policies.

“There is a lot more to come on the regulatory front for Facebook,” said Debra Aho Williamson, analyst with the research firm eMarketer. To pre-empt this and do things on its own terms, Williamson said the company is “going to do whatever it can” to change its business model and the way it gathers data.

Facebook has already signaled that this is coming. Earlier this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg unveiled a new “privacy focused” vision for the company that centers on private messaging and encrypted communications. The details are scant. But it shows that the company is thinking years into the future even as regulators are investigating and punishing it for years-past violations.

As part of the FTC’s settlement with Facebook, Zuckerberg will have to personally certify his company’s compliance with its privacy programs. The FTC said that false certifications could expose him to civil or criminal penalties. But the settlement did not hold Zuckerberg personally liable for the past violations, as some had expected.

In a Facebook post Wednesday, Zuckerberg vowed to “make some major structural changes to how we build products and run this company” as a result of the settlement. “We have a responsibility to protect people’s privacy. We already work hard to live up to this responsibility, but now we’re going to set a completely new standard for our industry.”

In a similar tone, FTC Chairman Joe Simons, speaking at a news conference, said the settlement is “unprecedented in the history of the FTC” and is designed “to change Facebook’s entire privacy culture to decrease the likelihood of continued violations.”

Simons, however, acknowledged that the FTC’s powers were limited. It could not, for instance, fine Facebook $10 billion or target Zuckerberg personally for investigation. “We cannot impose such things by our own fiat,” he said at a news conference following release of the settlement.

Three Republican commissioners voted for the fine while two Democrats opposed it. Their wish list included specific punishment for Zuckerberg, strict limits on what data Facebook can collect and possibly even breaking off subsidiaries such as WhatsApp and Instagram.

Nonetheless, the regulators touted the agreement as imposing a “sea change” on how Facebook handles the privacy of people’s data. Simons called it “a belt-and-suspenders approach to compliance” — with five overlapping “channels” both inside and outside Facebook.

For instance, a new, independent committee of Facebook’s board that focus on privacy alone. As agreed, Zuckerberg and the new designated compliance officers must each, independently, certify to the FTC that Facebook is in compliance. Falsely certifying would subject Zuckerberg and the officers to personal liability, including civil and criminal penalties.

Commissioner Noah Phillips compared that to the regime imposed on corporate CEOs following the wave of accounting scandals in 2001-2002 that began with Enron. CEOs now are required by law to personally vouch for the accuracy of their financial reports.

ftc 5 billion dollar settlement with facebook slap on wrist

How Facebook FTC Settlement Affects You

New rules for sharing data with third-party apps and advertisers

The FTC ruling sets stricter standards for how Facebook deals with third-party apps and advertisers. Facebook is now required to remove third-party entities that don’t comply with Facebook’s policies or cannot reasonably justify their requests for specific data from Facebook’s users.

This means that these apps and advertisers no longer have carte-blanche access to user data and must explain exactly how and why that data will be used, but the exact standards for “justifying” requests are not defined. That lack of definition could lead to a lot of grey areas regarding these rules, but Facebook users have several tools for seeing how their data is brokered, and controlling access to it. Most importantly, this ruling doesn’t place limits on how Facebook can learn more about you; rather, it’s attempting to curb what Facebook sells to advertisers.

Better transparency for facial-recognition technology

Facebook now has to clearly alert users that it uses facial-recognition technology, be more forthcoming about how and why it’s used, and alert users if it updates its technology or functionality beyond what users were originally asked to agree to. The company also has to get express consent from users in order to opt them into facial recognition features in the first place—something it notoriously overlooked in the past.

We’ll likely see a better explanation of the technology and further refined opt-in/out user settings as a result of this ruling, but it’s important to point out that it doesn’t change current user settings—though we have a guide for reviewing and changing Facebook facial recognition settings.

New password storage requirements

Paradoxically, it was both shocking and unsurprising when reports exposed how Facebook’s poor password data protection. Thankfully, as per the FTC ruling, all password data must now be fully encrypted and the company is now required to regularly scan for plain text storage on its servers. Similarly, Facebook won’t be able to ask new users your email passwords to their other services, either.

Restricted collection of phone numbers

In the past, Facebook had ways of finding (and then distributing) your phone number, even if you didn’t supply such data in your profile. With this new FTC ruling, Facebook is now barred from “using” phone numbers it obtained through security features, such as two-step verification.

What’s unclear, however, is what exactly “using” means. Collecting them? Selling them? It’s hard to say, and that’s frustrating since Facebook has a habit of “accidentally” collecting phone numbers. Thankfully, there are ways to delete such information from your profile and keep Facebook from snooping around your device’s contact information.

Rafael Nadal’s new toy plus breaking a controversial rule

Luka Alario

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July 25, 2019

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Rafael Nadal’s new toy plus breaking a controversial rule

Rafael Nadal isn’t going to let a Wimbledon loss to Roger Federer get him down, so he has added another very impressive toy to his list.

That’s rights, Rafa has bought himself another luxury yacht, but he’s being smart and unloading the last one that he’s obviously outgrown.

The sea-loving tennis champion is used to life offshore. When he’s not racking up titles on the ATP tour, Nadal likes to climb aboard million-dollar vessels, go on vacation, and live on the sea.

Last month, Robb Report said Nadal had listed his 76-foot Italian-built MCY 76 motor yacht, named Beethoven, for $3 million with Camper & Nicholsons International.

He has frequently spoken of his love for seafood, paella, and shrimp dumplings, and he likely enjoys all those things when he is living his best life away from the clay, grass, and hard courts of tennis and spending his downtime at sea.

“I love the sea,” he said in marketing material published by Sunreef Yachts, adding, “As someone from an island as I am, the sea is part of our lives.”

He said that “every time I am at home in Mallorca I try to go out and find that time where I can just enjoy my time on a boat.”

According to the marketing material, Nadal has splashed the cash on a custom 80-foot Sunreef Power catamaran.

“We are very excited to have one of the greatest tennis players of all time on board with us,” said Francis Lapp, the founder and president of Sunreef Yachts. “Mr. Nadal’s personality, skills and strength are an inspiration to us.”

rafael nadal buys 80 foot sunreef power catamaran 2019

Take a look at Nadal’s new toy, which looks to be built and delivered by 2020. What will Rafa do while he had to wait?

Rafael Nadal’s Uncle Helping Hints

Rafael Nadal went deep into the 2019 Wimbledon. However, his tournament came to a premature end when he was beaten by Roger Federer in the semi-finals. Toni Nadal, who was sitting in the stands and watching him play, saw an error in his nephew’s game and tried to coach him through it, breaking one of tennis’s most controversial rules in the process.

Rafael Nadal’s former mentor and uncle, Toni Nadal, admitted of helping him with on-court coaching during his Wimbledon semi-final against Roger Federer.

“I asked him (Nadal) why he did not change his return position as both Francis Roig and I were telling him that during the match,” Toni said. (via Essentially Sports)

“He (Nadal) told me he had not seen it, he did not understand us and if he did he would have definitely done it.”

Toni Nadal went on further to state that the Spaniard eventually caught his mistake while watching the Wimbledon final between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

“I watched the final with him and I told him to look at where Djokovic was returning. He was much closer to the baseline than he did in the semi-finals,” he said.

“Nadal admitted I was right and he was wrong in returning all the time from very behind.”

Nadal lost the semi-final to Federer, who then lost the final to Novak Djokovic. The Serbian claimed a win after a closely-fought tie.

Sony PS5: Everything you absolutely need to know

Jeffrey Lang

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July 25, 2019

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Sony often likes to keep things under wraps, and they have been doing it even more so with their upcoming PlayStation 5 aka PS5. Luckily, we found out some great information to keep all of you gamers up to date. I’ll warn you though, the PS5 won’t be coming out for quite some time so you’ll a few holiday seasons to get through waiting for it.

Sony’s PlayStation has always offered more to the gaming world than just games. It’s also set the standard for gaming platforms as we know them today. Microsoft’s Xbox has always tried nipping at its heels, but I’ve always found myself being drawn back to my PS4 Pro more than my Xbox One X or Nintendo Switch. Naturally, I play all of them, but my PS4 Pro always draws me back more often.

PlayStation has scored well with DVD playback, Blu-rays and 4K streaming over the years. So what will the PlayStation 5 have to offer at launch? Will it be an 8K machine? Will it still support optical media? When is the PS5 release date? How much will the PS5 cost?

Rumors

With Sony choosing to skip the E3 2019, everyone has been scrambling for little morsels of information about their latest project. Microsoft attended the event and were more than happy to announce their next console generation, titled “Project Scarlett.” What we have learned is that Xbox Scarlett will use a custom-designed processor from AMD that makes use of Zen 2 and Navi architecture – which seems supported with the AMD Flute benchmark leak.

According to Microsoft, this will make Xbox Project Scarlett 4 times more powerful than the Xbox One X and capable of 8K resolutions running at 120Hz frame rates. That’s incredibly ambitious, and something we’re not sure the AMD Flute chip will be capable of just yet – although hardware improvements and software efficiencies could help here.

An SSD will come as standard, as with the PS5, which will give it the option of using its storage system as virtual RAM, as well as lifting load time performance. That’ll let developers stream in far more detailed worlds around a player. In terms of ‘standard’ RAM, the console will pack in a meaty GDDR6.

Wild rumors hit early in the summer like this would be the very last PlayStation console as it would be merging with Xbox. This came from a surprise announcement that Microsoft and Sony would be creating a strategic partnership for gaming and cloud services using Microsoft’s own Azure infrastructure. PlayStation CEO Jim Ryan quickly quashed those rumors.

“There is to my knowledge… no scenario where the PlayStation and Xbox platforms combine,” Ryan said. “The two platforms will remain separate with their own separate identities and brands and fans.”

PS5 Hints

While we can’t quite answer all of this just yet, fortunately, Sony PlayStation’s lead architect and console producer, Mike Cerny, did drop a whole load of what to expect from the PS5 in an April 2019 interview with Wired. Here’s what he said, what he didn’t and what you should be on the lookout for, from Sony’s next games console.

Will the PlayStation 5 support 8K video?

The PS5 will support 8K video, at least to an extent. The PlayStation 5 will ship with an AMD Ryzen chip — a 7nm chip on Zen 2 architecture — and a GPU from the Radeon Navi-family. It will also come with SSD storage. The promise from this trio of hardware is fast load times, large bandwidth capabilities and oodles of graphics grunt. Enough grunt for true, native 8K gaming? Perhaps, but possibly only when dealing with simpler titles. Big budget blockbusters might well employ a new version of the sort of checkerboard upscaling that Sony currently uses to make PS4 Pro games look ace on a 4K display.

Both the PS4 and PS4 Pro are already HDR-enabled, supporting the HDR10 format, and there’s no reason to believe that this would be any different for the PS5. Will we see a more advanced version of HDR, such as HDR10+ and Dolby Vision, also employed? We certainly wouldn’t rule it out, particularly as the current Xboxes already support the latter, but nothing has so far been announced on that front.

8-Core AMD Chipset

Inside the ‘PS5’, confirmed so far, will be “a bespoke 8-core AMD chipset based on third-generation Ryzen architecture, with a GPU taking the best bits of the Radeon Navi GPU family; a built-for-purpose SSD storage system; 3D audio; backward compatibility with PS4 games and PSVR hardware; 8K TV support.”

What the 8-core AMD chipset allows is improved visuals in gaming. Specifically, this targets the consoles ability to improve the “lighting” of games, creating greater immersion for the player. 8K TV support improves gaming textures. This includes smaller/detail textures, as well as the broader textures (such as a game over-world/hub-world). This is a vast improvement since the best consoles, ‘PS4Pro’ and ‘Xbox One X’, can only run in 4K, at peak performance. The 8K support needs the bigger SSD drive because for the games to run more complex graphics/visuals, the game has to be able to load at a faster rate. With the new SSD, games are estimated to load 19 times faster than the current console generation.

The audio is also a big target for Sony. The 3D audio, that is included within the console, is meant to target the player’s immersion with the game; this audio experience can be improved if the player is wearing headphones. With a vast improvement to audio in the new Sony console, this can create greater cutscene dialogue, in-game battle sound effects, music soundtracks, even the sound of the background will be improved.

Sony has also expressed the importance of improving its own game streaming service, ‘PlayStation Now’. This service allows gamers to stream games from the ‘PS4, PS3, and PS2’ directly to their ‘PS4’. With a better SSD, this will allow games to stream at a faster rate, as well as higher graphical rate. This will make the ‘PSNow’ experience, certainly, better for consumers.

Will the PlayStation 5 have a 4K Blu-ray drive?

Cerny has confirmed the PS5 will have an optical disc drive, but hasn’t revealed its final spec.

It was disappointing that the PlayStation 4 didn’t include a 4K Blu-ray drive, so we hope at the very least this level of support is included in the new console. Currently both the Xbox One S and X come with 4K disc drives which gives them extra appeal over the PS4 for home cinema enthusiasts. More on this when we get it.

PlayStation 5 audio: will the PS5 support Dolby Atmos?

We hope so. Again, the current crop of Xbox One consoles outstrips the PS4 in the audio department, certainly on paper, with Sony’s consoles limited to 7.1 audio.

Microsoft’s machines, on the other hand, both come with Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio for gaming and for 4K Blu-ray playback, although Cerny has promised that the PS5 will herald a new ‘gold standard’ in audio.

It’s claimed a redesigned 3D audio engine will deliver more immersive sound and this will apparently require no new hardware to achieve. It will simply work through your existing TV speakers and compatible headphones. Make of that what you will. Could this mean the console will be compatible with Sony’s own 360 Reality Audio format? We think so.

Hopefully there’ll be Dolby Atmos support for both gaming and movie content straight out of the box. Of course, you’ll still need a compatible AV receiver and speaker set-up to truly appreciate the extra dimension of height that Dolby Atmos adds, but if you’ve already got a tasty 5.1.2 system installed or are planning to do so, this would be the icing on the cake.

PlayStation 5 VR: will the PS5 be PSVR compatible?

Most definitely. Comments from Mark Cerny point towards an even bigger VR push from Sony with the PS5. VR technology is set to be hard designed into the build of the GPU. He didn’t mention whether there would be a PlayStation VR2 headset launched to go with the PS5, though.

Given PSVR is not as strong on resolution as other headsets such as the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive it could make sense to launch a suitably powerful and impressive next-generation headset with the new console.

The latest news leak hints that the PlayStation 5 PSVR will be a wireless headset and have some amazing advanced features to retail for under $299. The wireless part sounds on track and something all of us would absolutely love!

For those disappointed with the current PS VR’s 1920 x 1080 resolution, the PS5 version will allegedly render images at 2560 x 1440. It will do so at a 120-hertz refresh rate, while also providing a 220-degree field of view. As the new PSVR will be wireless, it will also require charging. The headset is expected to have a battery life of about five hours.

The under $299 headset will reportedly feature both eye tracking and head tracking. In regards to the latter, the patents hints that the headset will use both acceleration and gyro sensors to get a better sense of a user’s head position. This seems like it could help many players, especially those not used to VR, feel less disoriented when using the headset.

Eye tracking can also help users get adjusted to wearing the headset. The headset could use this system to track things such as inter-pupillary distance and the relative position of the eyes compared to the screens. The system can then adjust the image based on factors to help reduce eye strain.

The patents also indicate that Sony is looking to use a technique called foveated rendering with the new PSVR. Using this technique, the console’s GPU will only render the highest quality image where the players is expected to be looking at. This helps cut down on the GPU’s workload, which is a boon since VR requires machines to render two separate images. Additionally, eye tracking might tie into this, rendering at a lower quality in the places where users aren’t looking.

Of course, these are all just patents at this point, and not official confirmation of these features. Sony can simply choose to not implement some of these features in an updated PSVR headset, but we won’t know for sure until the company confirms the new hardware.

Which PlayStation 5 games have been announced?

Expect plenty of announcements in the run up to the 2020 launch but there’s been nothing official from Sony on PS5 launch titles. That said, we’ve spotted a few clues here and there dropped by the games developers themselves.

CD Projekt Red, the developer behind the popular Witcher franchise, has confirmed that its dystopian future game Cyberpunk 2077 is being developed for next generation consoles, which will doubtless include the PS5.

Other than Cyberpunk 2077, it’s all educated guesswork at the moment. However, there’s plenty of talk around the likes of post-apocalyptic adventure The Last of Us: Part 2, Starfield, a brand new space RPG from Bethesda Studios and, the next instalment of Bethesda fantasy epic, The Elder Scrolls 6.

Other games long since trailered but possibly waiting for the next wave of console launches include Feudal Japan adventure, Ghost of Tsushima, and Hideo Kojima’s next project, Death Stranding.

PlayStation 5 games: will the PS5 be backwards compatible?

‘Incredibly powerful’, that’s how Sony has described the backwards compatibility of the PS5, which is potentially good news for both PS5 owners and PS4 owners who don’t wish to upgrade just yet but still want to play online with their friends that do.

What’s not clear is whether this backwards compatibility will be a blanket implementation, or whether it will only work for certain titles. We’d guess a large number of PS4 titles will be compatible, but it will be hit and miss with older PlayStation games.

One online report suggests that the PlayStation 5 will be able to act as an emulator for PS4, PS3, PS2, and even original PlayStation games but we’ll have to wait to see how much truth there is in that. Fingers crossed.

PlayStation 5 games

It’s believed Sony will increase its focus on the subscription-based PlayStation Now cloud gaming platform and its Remote Play feature too.

Microsoft and Sony recently announced that they’re working together on cloud computing technologies, which will almost certainly give a boost to PlayStation Now. Until now the platform has been incomplete as far as top gaming titles go and there have been issues with lag and disconnects.

Sony also filed a patent back in 2014 for a service whereby PlayStation games on the platform could be streamed to user devices other than the console itself; something to rival the upcoming Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud platforms.

Sony is looking to 5G technology to help out while gaming on the move with Remote Play. The service currently allows players to stream games from their consoles to other devices such as tablets, mobiles and the handheld PS Vita. However, this might be bundled in as part of an all-new online platform.

playstation 5 xbox project scarlett nintendo swith consoles

PlayStation 5 DualShock 5 controllers

With each new PlayStation normally comes a new DualShock controller. A leaked image from a developer kit in March 2019 showed a device with a touchscreen on top which did not go down well with gamers, given the extra battery drain of a display. Of course, this image could be a fake.

What would this screen be for? Well, some have suggested the controller could become a smart device and the screen could be for controlling other bits of kit or, indeed, be used to display notifications from your smartphone. Whether this kind of interruptive, Swiss Army Knife-type design is really what people want is debatable.

Automatic charging over Wi-Fi has been discussed by fans as a way of powering such a controller and, while that sounds interesting, all of this technology would almost certainly add extra pounds (or dollars) to the final retail price.

Ultimately, the take-home, as far as the PS5 controller goes, is that there’s nothing at all solid just yet.

PlayStation 5 pricing

The PS5 price is is likely to be under wraps until closer to launch at the back end of 2020. The original PlayStation and PS2 launched at £299/$299, the PS3 started at £425/$499 and the more recent PS4 came in at £350/$399. The sensible guess for the PS5 right now is that it will sit just above the PS4, perhaps around £499/$499. And again, that’s just for the basics. You know it’ll be closer to $800 with the additional controller, accessories and games.

PlayStation 5 release date

Nothing super concrete here for a PS5 release date but Cerny did say that the PlayStation 5 would not be available before April 2020. Which implies it will be available after April 2020. So, maybe May 2020 or June 2020 or December 2020 or March 2024. Could it arrive at the same time as Xbox Project Scarlett, i.e. holiday 2020?

The most important thing is that the PS5 sounds like it’ll live up to the early hype and be quite the kickass gaming platform. Focusing on higher graphical rendering, with faster load times (always a huge thing for me), and easier streaming capability, this could be a true beast. Now if only 2021 would get hear sooner. Or 2024, depending on when Sony gets this into our hot little hands to test out!

What comes now that Robert Mueller has testified

Politics

Shanka Cheryl

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July 25, 2019

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What comes now that Robert Mueller has testified

Now that everyone is still analyzing the effectiveness of Robert Mueller testifying before Congress, some are wondering if it was all worth it. According to the Republicans, the impeachment issue is dead, and many Democrats are privately saying the same thing.

So, after months of anticipation and deal making, Congress finally heard testimony from former special counsel Robert Mueller.

What now?

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Mueller’s appearance was “a crossing of a threshold,” raising public awareness of what Mueller found. And Democrats after the hearing said they had clearly laid out the facts about the Mueller report, which did not find a conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia but detailed extensive Russian intervention in the 2016 election. Mueller also said in the report that he couldn’t clear President Donald Trump on obstruction of justice.

But it remains to be seen how the testimony will affect public views of Trump’s presidency and the push for impeachment. Mueller said some of the things that Democrats wanted him to say — including a clear dismissal of Trump’s claims of total exoneration — but he declined to answer many of their questions, and he spoke haltingly at times. Trump claimed victory, saying Mueller did “a horrible job.”

Democrats say they will continue to hold Trump to account.

What You Can Expect In The Upcoming Months

INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE

Democrats have struggled to obtain testimony from some of the most crucial figures in Mueller’s report, including former White House counsel Donald McGahn. And the few people they have interviewed, such as former White House aide Hope Hicks, have failed to give them new information beyond what’s in Mueller’s report.

But Democrats have multiple investigations of the president ongoing that don’t require cooperation from the White House or Justice Department. The House intelligence and financial services committees are probing Trump’s finances, an area that Mueller appears to have avoided. And the intelligence panel is investigating Trump’s negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow during the campaign.

THEIR DAY IN COURT

To obtain the testimony from McGahn and others, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said Wednesday that his panel will file lawsuits this week.

Democrats will seek to obtain secret grand jury material from Mueller’s report that has so far been withheld from Congress by the Justice Department. They will also try to force McGahn to provide documents and testimony.

As part of the suits, the House is expected to challenge the White House’s claim of “absolute immunity,” which has been used to block McGahn and others who worked in the White House from testifying.

While going to court can be a lengthy process, Democrats believe it will be their best chance of obtaining information after Trump declared he would fight “all of the subpoenas.”

CALLS FOR AN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

Almost 90 House Democrats have called for an impeachment inquiry, and more are certain to do so after Mueller’s testimony. Those who support opening proceedings say it would bolster Democrats’ court cases and show the American people they are moving decisively to challenge what they see as Trump’s egregious behavior.

But Pelosi isn’t there, not yet. And a majority of the caucus is siding with her, for now.

Pelosi said Wednesday she wants “the strongest possible hand” by waiting to see what happens in court.

AUGUST RECESS

The House is expected to leave town for a five-week August recess on Friday, so some of the Democrats’ efforts will be on hold until September.

During that time, they’ll be at home listening to their constituents and judging how urgently voters want them to act. Those conversations and town halls could inform next steps in the fall.

Still, not everyone will be taking a break. Rhode Island Rep. David Cicilline said Wednesday that members might fly back in August if witnesses are available for testimony. He said the judiciary panel understands “the urgency of the moment and are prepared to do whatever is necessary to secure the attendance of witnesses and documents.”

ELECTION SECURITY

Democrats in both the House and the Senate want to move forward with legislation to make elections more secure after Mueller extensively detailed Russian interference.

House Democrats have passed legislation to secure state election systems and try to prevent foreign meddling, but bipartisan legislation in the Senate has stalled. Democrats tried to bring up an election security bill in the Senate on Wednesday, but Republicans objected.

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REVIEWS

The Justice Department isn’t done with its own investigations into what happened before the 2016 election.

There are two ongoing reviews into the origins of the Russia probe that Mueller eventually took over — one being conducted by the Justice Department’s inspector general and another by U.S. Attorney John Durham, who was appointed by Attorney General William Barr to examine surveillance methods used by the Justice Department.

Republicans have said the department, then led by Obama administration officials, was biased against Trump. They are eagerly anticipating the results of those probes.

REPUBLICANS CLAIM IT’S ALL OVER – IMPEACHMENT IS DEAD

Republicans say that nothing should be next, at least when it comes to investigations of the president. They have strongly defended Trump, who’s called Mueller’s probe a hoax, and have said the country wants to move on.

“Today was day we closed the book on this investigation,” said House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy after Mueller’s hearing.

Georgia Rep. Doug Collins, the top Republican on the judiciary panel, said at the hearing that “we’ve had the truth for months — no American conspired to throw our elections.”

Said Collins: “What we need today is to let that truth bring us confidence and closure.”

William Barr brings back death penalty for Donald Trump

Shanka Cheryl

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July 25, 2019

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William Barr brings back death penalty for Donald Trump

Attorney General William Barr has now brought back the death penalty, and the U.S. government will execute federal death row inmates for the first time since 2003. This was announced by the Justice Department Thursday, bringing back a seldom-used punishment pushed by President Donald Trump and escalating another divisive issue ahead of the 2020 presidential election.

Five inmates who have been sentenced to death are scheduled to be executed starting in December — all within a six-week period. By comparison, there have been only three executions since the federal death penalty was restored in 1988 and only 37 overall from 1927 to 2003.

In 2014, following a botched state execution in Oklahoma, then-President Barack Obama directed the department to conduct a review of capital punishment and issues surrounding lethal injection drugs. This was seen as a huge disappointment by many liberals and Democrats.

That review has been completed, the department said, and it has cleared the way for executions to resume.

In a statement, Attorney General William Barr said the “Justice Department upholds the rule of law — and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.”

Barr approved a new procedure for lethal injections that replaces the three-drug cocktail previously used in federal execution with a single drug, pentobarbital. This is similar to the procedure used in several states, including Georgia, Missouri and Texas.

Though there hasn’t been a federal execution since 2003, the Justice Department has continued to approve death penalty prosecutions and federal courts have sentenced defendants to death.

There are 61 people on the federal death row, according to Death Row USA, a quarterly report of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Some of the highest-profile inmates on federal death row include Dylann Roof, who killed nine black church members during a Bible study session in 2015 at a South Carolina church, and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, who set off bombs near the Boston Marathon’s finish line in 2013, killing three people and wounding more than 260.

The decision to resume carrying out the death penalty is likely to magnify an issue already debated in the Democratic primary and create a flashpoint between that party’s nominee and Trump in the general election.

Most Democrats oppose capital punishment. Former Vice President Joe Biden this week shifted to call for the elimination of the federal death penalty after years of supporting it. The lone Democratic White House hopeful who has publicly supported preserving capital punishment in certain circumstances is Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, who has said he would leave it open as an option for major crimes such as terrorism.

By contrast, Trump has spoken often — and sometimes wistfully — about capital punishment and his belief that executions serve as both an effective deterrent and appropriate punishment for some crimes, including mass shootings and the killings of police officers. All five scheduled to be executed starting in December were convicted of killing children.

“I think they should very much bring the death penalty into vogue,” Trump said last year after 11 people were gunned down in a Pittsburgh synagogue.

He’s suggested repeatedly that the U.S. might be better off it adopted the kind of harsh drug laws embraced by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, under whom thousands of drug suspects have been killed by police.

Trump was a vocal proponent of the death penalty for decades before taking office, most notably in 1989 when he took out full-page advertisements in New York City newspapers urging elected officials to “BRING BACK THE DEATH PENALTY” following the rape of a jogger in Central Park. “If the punishment is strong,” he wrote then, “the attacks on innocent people will stop.”

Five Harlem teenagers were convicted in the Central Park case but had their convictions vacated years later after another man confessed to the rape. More than a decade after their exoneration, the city agreed to pay the so-called Central Park Five $41 million, a settlement Trump blasted as “outrageous.”

About 6 in 10 Americans favor the death penalty, according to the General Social Survey, a major trends survey conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago. While a majority continue to express support for the death penalty, the share has declined steadily since the 1990s, when nearly three-quarters were in favor.

The first inmate scheduled to be executed — on Dec. 9 — is Danny Lee, who was convicted of killing a family of three, including an 8-year-old girl, in 1996, and stealing guns and cash in a plot to establish a whites-only nation in the Pacific Northwest.

The others include Lezmond Mitchell, who prosecutors say stabbed a 63-year-old grandmother to death and then forced her 9-year-old granddaughter to sit beside her grandmother’s lifeless body as he drove about 40 miles, before slitting the girl’s throat. Their beheaded, mutilated bodies were found in a shallow grave on a Native reservation. He’s scheduled to be executed two days after Lee.

The Bureau of Prisons plans to execute Wesley Ira Purkey on Dec. 13. He was convicted of raping and killing a 16-year-old girl before dismembering, burning and then dumping the teen’s body in a septic pond. Prosecutors said he was also convicted in a state court in Kansas after using a claw hammer to kill an 80-year-old woman who suffered from polio.

Prosecutors say another one of the inmates, Alfred Bourgeois, tortured, molested and then beat his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter to death.

The final inmate scheduled to be executed, Dustin Lee Honken, was convicted in 2004 in connection with the killings of five people as part of a plan to thwart a federal investigation into his drug operation. They included two men who became informants and were going to testify against him, the girlfriend of one of the informants and her two young daughters.

All five will be executed at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Attorneys for each of the men did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Thursday.

The federal government would join eight states that have executed inmates or are planning to do so this year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Texas is far and away the leading state when it comes to using the death penalty, with 563 executions since capital punishment resumed in the U.S. in 1977 after a 10-year pause.

In the past 20 years, the Supreme Court has banned the execution of people who are intellectually disabled or were under 18 when they killed someone. But even as the number of people who are sentenced to death and are executed has declined steadily for two decades, the justices have resisted any wholesale reconsideration of the constitutionality of capital punishment.

The five-justice conservative majority that includes Justices Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh, Trump’s two high court picks, has complained about delaying tactics employed by lawyers for death row inmates.

The most recent federal execution occurred in 2003, when Louis Jones was executed for the 1995 kidnapping, rape and murder of a female soldier.

Federal Government Press Release On Death Penalty

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Thursday, July 25, 2019

Federal Government to Resume Capital Punishment After Nearly Two Decade Lapse

Attorney General William P. Barr Directs the Federal Bureau of Prisons to Adopt an Addendum to the Federal Execution Protocol and Schedule the Executions of Five Death-Row Inmates Convicted of Murdering Children

Attorney General William P. Barr has directed the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) to adopt a proposed Addendum to the Federal Execution Protocol—clearing the way for the federal government to resume capital punishment after a nearly two decade lapse, and bringing justice to victims of the most horrific crimes. The Attorney General has further directed the Acting Director of the BOP, Hugh Hurwitz, to schedule the executions of five death-row inmates convicted of murdering, and in some cases torturing and raping, the most vulnerable in our society—children and the elderly.

“Congress has expressly authorized the death penalty through legislation adopted by the people’s representatives in both houses of Congress and signed by the President,” Attorney General Barr said. “Under Administrations of both parties, the Department of Justice has sought the death penalty against the worst criminals, including these five murderers, each of whom was convicted by a jury of his peers after a full and fair proceeding. The Justice Department upholds the rule of law—and we owe it to the victims and their families to carry forward the sentence imposed by our justice system.”

The Federal Execution Protocol Addendum, which closely mirrors protocols utilized by several states, including currently Georgia, Missouri, and Texas, replaces the three-drug procedure previously used in federal executions with a single drug—pentobarbital. Since 2010, 14 states have used pentobarbital in over 200 executions, and federal courts, including the Supreme Court, have repeatedly upheld the use of pentobarbital in executions as consistent with the Eighth Amendment.

Upon the Attorney General’s direction, Acting Director Hurwitz adopted the Addendum to the Federal Execution Protocol and, in accordance with 28 C.F.R. Part 26, scheduled executions for the following individuals:

Daniel Lewis Lee, a member of a white supremacist group, murdered a family of three, including an eight-year-old girl. After robbing and shooting the victims with a stun gun, Lee covered their heads with plastic bags, sealed the bags with duct tape, weighed down each victim with rocks, and threw the family of three into the Illinois bayou. On May 4, 1999, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas found Lee guilty of numerous offenses, including three counts of murder in aid of racketeering, and he was sentenced to death. Lee’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 9, 2019.

Lezmond Mitchell stabbed to death a 63-year-old grandmother and forced her nine-year-old granddaughter to sit beside her lifeless body for a 30 to 40-mile drive. Mitchell then slit the girl’s throat twice, crushed her head with 20-pound rocks, and severed and buried both victims’ heads and hands. On May 8, 2003, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona found Mitchell guilty of numerous offenses, including first degree murder, felony murder, and carjacking resulting in murder, and he was sentenced to death. Mitchell’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 11, 2019.

Wesley Ira Purkey violently raped and murdered a 16-year-old girl, and then dismembered, burned, and dumped the young girl’s body in a septic pond. He also was convicted in state court for using a claw hammer to bludgeon to death an 80-year-old woman who suffered from polio and walked with a cane. On Nov. 5, 2003, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri found Purkey guilty of kidnapping a child resulting in the child’s death, and he was sentenced to death. Purkey’s execution is scheduled to occur on Dec. 13, 2019.

Alfred Bourgeois physically and emotionally tortured, sexually molested, and then beat to death his two-and-a-half-year-old daughter. On March 16, 2004, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas found Bourgeois guilty of multiple offenses, including murder, and he was sentenced to death. Bourgeois’ execution is scheduled to occur on Jan. 13, 2020.

Dustin Lee Honken shot and killed five people—two men who planned to testify against him and a single, working mother and her ten-year-old and six-year-old daughters. On Oct. 14, 2004, a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa found Honken guilty of numerous offenses, including five counts of murder during the course of a continuing criminal enterprise, and he was sentenced to death. Honken’s execution is scheduled to occur on Jan. 15, 2020.

Each of these inmates has exhausted their appellate and post-conviction remedies, and currently, no legal impediments prevent their executions, which will take place at U.S. Penitentiary Terre Haute, Indiana. Additional executions will be scheduled at a later date.

Politicos play with the facts after Robert Mueller testimony

Shanka Cheryl

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July 25, 2019

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Politicos play with the facts after Robert Mueller testimony

Even though it was promoted heavily on CNN and MSNBC, only 13 million viewers chose to watch Robert Mueller testify before Congress Wednesday. It would have required quite a commitment since it was a seven-hour event. It wasn’t nearly as big as Michael Cohen testifying before Congress in February, but everyone knew that would be a soap opera unto itself. His draw was 15 million viewers while James Comey’s 2017 time in front of Congress brought in 19.5 million eyeballs.

Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation hearing was the highest at 20 million viewers. That was expected with all the controversy that surrounded it.

We warned you not to expect any high drama from Robert Mueller testifying to Congress, and even though he gave consistent facts, many naysayers are focusing on his lack of ‘show.’ This is not the type of man who is looking to dazzle us. He’s a truly straight arrow with a very military background. This is a man who pays close attention to words and respects them highly. While many use words loosely, Mueller does not, and as the Democrats tried to get him to use words like ‘impeachment,’ he was not about to take the bait.

Naturally, President Donald Trump falsely claimed exoneration from Robert Mueller on Wednesday even as the former special counsel told Congress he offered no such vindication. Trump is now trying to act like nothing different took place, and sadly, in today’s world, people will follow suit.

Mueller spoke as few words as possible through the hours of hearings. But much of what he did say was bent by Trump and partisans on both sides to suit their purposes.

A look at some of the statements inside and outside the hearings:

TRUMP to his critics, in a fundraising letter from his 2020 campaign: “How many times do I have to be exonerated before they stop?”

THE FACTS: Trump has not been exonerated by Mueller at all. “No,” Mueller said when asked at the hearing whether he had cleared the president of criminal wrongdoing in the investigation that looked into the 2016 Trump campaign’s relations with Russians.

In his report, Mueller said his team declined to make a prosecutorial judgment on whether to charge Trump, partly because of a Justice Department legal opinion that said sitting presidents shouldn’t be indicted.

As a result, his detailed report factually laid out instances in which Trump might have obstructed justice, leaving it up to Congress to take up the matter.

Mueller’s Congressional Testimony Fact Check

As well, he looked into a potential criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign and said the investigation did not collect sufficient evidence to establish criminal charges on that front.

Joe Biden Slips Up On Facts Too

JOE BIDEN, Democratic presidential contender: “Mueller said there was enough evidence to bring charges against the president after he is president of the United States, when he is a private citizen … that’s a pretty compelling thing.” — speaking to reporters in Dearborn, Michigan.

THE FACTS: Mueller did not say that. He deliberately drew no conclusions about whether he collected sufficient evidence to charge Trump with a crime.

He merely said that if prosecutors want to charge Trump once he is out of office, they would have that ability because obstacles to indicting a sitting president would be gone.

Even that came with a caveat, though — Mueller did not answer whether the statute of limitations might put Trump off limits to an indictment should he win re-election.

Biden spoke after being briefed on the hearings and prefaced his remark with a request to “correct me if I’m wrong.”

Facts Not Rules

TRUMP, on why Mueller did not recommend charges: “He made his decision based on the facts, not based on some rule.” — remarks to reporters after the hearings.

THE FACTS: Mueller did not say that, either.

The special counsel said his team never reached a determination on charging Trump. At no point has he suggested that he made that decision because the facts themselves did not support charges.

The rule Trump refers to is the Justice Department legal opinion that says sitting presidents are immune from indictment — and that guidance did restrain the investigators, though it was not the only factor in play.

John Ratcliffe

Rep. JOHN RATCLIFFE, R-Texas, to Mueller: “You didn’t follow the special counsel regulations. It clearly says, write a confidential report about decisions reached. Nowhere in here does it say write a report about decisions that weren’t reached. You wrote 180 pages — 180 pages — about decisions that weren’t reached, about potential crimes that weren’t charged or decided. …This report was not authorized under the law to be written.”

THE FACTS: Mueller’s report is lawful. Nothing in Justice Department regulations governing special counsels forbids Mueller from saying what he did in the report.

It is true that the regulations provide for the special counsel to submit a “confidential report” to the attorney general explaining his decisions to recommend for or against a prosecution. But it was Attorney General William Barr who made the decision to make the report public, which is his right.

Special counsels have wide latitude and are not directed to avoid writing about “potential crimes that weren’t charged or decided,” as Ratcliffe put it.

Mueller felt constrained from bringing charges because of the apparent restriction on indicting sitting presidents. But his report left open the possibility that Congress could use the information in an impeachment proceeding or that Trump could be charged after he leaves office.

The factual investigation was conducted “in order to preserve the evidence when memories were fresh and documentary materials were available,” the report said.

In a tweet, Neal Katyal, who drafted the Justice Department regulations, wrote: “Ratcliffe dead wrong about the Special Counsel regs. I drafted them in 1999. They absolutely don’t forbid the Mueller Report. And they recognize the need for a Report ‘both for historical purposes and to enhance accountability.’”

Kamala Harris

Sen. KAMALA HARRIS of California, Democratic presidential contender: “I’ll say it again: Robert Mueller basically returned an impeachment referral in his report. Congress must hold this president accountable. The House must begin impeachment proceedings.” — tweet.

THE FACTS: That’s certainly one interpretation of the report, but the tweet buttressed her case by displaying a Mueller quotation that he later corrected, concerning guidance from the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel.

In the morning, Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu of California asked Mueller: “The reason, again, that you did not indict Donald Trump is because of OLC opinion stating that you cannot indict a sitting president. Correct?”

Mueller responded: “That is correct.”

The notion that Trump would be indicted, absent that guidance, ricocheted online, and Harris posted the Lieu-Mueller exchange with her tweet. But when the afternoon hearing began, Mueller walked back his words.

“I want to add one correction to my testimony this morning,” he said in reference to his answer to Lieu. “We did not reach a determination as to whether the president committed a crime.”

His report stated that the Justice Department guidance was partly responsible for holding back potential charges but not the only reason.

Mike Johnson

Rep. MIKE JOHNSON, R-La.: “Millions of Americans today maintain genuine concerns about your work in large part because of the infamous and widely publicized bias of your investigating team members, which we now know included 14 Democrats and zero Republicans.”

THE FACTS: Johnson echoes a widely repeated false claim by Trump that the Mueller probe was biased because the investigators were all a bunch of “angry Democrats.” In fact, Mueller himself is a Republican.

Some have given money to Democratic candidates over the years. But Mueller could not have barred them from serving on that basis because regulations prohibit the consideration of political affiliation for personnel actions involving career attorneys. Mueller reported to Attorney General William Barr, and before him, then-Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who were both Trump appointees.

RIP Rutger Hauer: ‘Hitcher,’ ‘Blade Runner’ iconic actor dies at 75

George Cando

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July 24, 2019

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RIP Rutger Hauer: ‘Hitcher,’ ‘Blade Runner’ iconic actor dies at 75

Rutger Hauer, the Dutch actor who made a career playing menacing characters has died at the age of 75. He was most famous to me for playing opposite C. Thomas Howell in the horror classic “The Hitcher,” but for most others playing opposite Harrison Ford in “Blade Runner” as a murderous android.

Hauer’s agent, Steve Kenis, says the actor died July 19 at his home in the Netherlands from an undisclosed illness, and the funeral was held on Wednesday. “He was a wonderful man and terrific actor,” Kenis said.

His most cherished performance came in a film that was a resounding flop on its original release. In 1982, he portrayed the murderous yet soulful Roy Batty, leader of a gang of outlaw replicants, opposite Harrison Ford in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi noir opus “Blade Runner.” The picture became a widely influential cult favorite, and Batty proved to be Hauer’s most indelible role.

More recently, he appeared in a pair of 2005 films: as Cardinal Roark in “Sin City,” and as the corporate villain who Bruce Wayne discovers is running the Wayne Corp. in Christopher Nolan’s “Batman Begins.”

In “True Blood,” he played Niall Brigant, the king of the tribe from which the Stackhouse family is descended and the faerie grandfather to Sookie, Jason Stackhouse, and Hunter Savoy. Hauer also recurred on ABC’s medieval musical comedy “Galavant” as Kingsley in 2015.

Hauer’s roles included a terrorist in “Nighthawks” with Sylvester Stallone, Cardinal Roark in “Sin City” and playing an evil corporate executive in “Batman Begins.” He was in the big-budget 1985 fantasy “Ladyhawke” and won a supporting-actor Golden Globe award in 1988 for “Escape from Sobibor.”

In “Blade Runner,” he played the murderous replicant Roy Batty on a desperate quest to prolong his artificially shortened life in post-apocalyptic, 21st-century Los Angeles.

In his dying, rain-soaked soliloquy, he looked back at his extraordinary existence. “All those moments will be lost in time. Like tears in rain. Time to die,” he said.

“It’s so much fun to playfully roam into the dark side of the soul and tease people,” the actor told media outlets in 1987. “If you try to work on human beings’ light side, that’s harder. What is good is hard. Most people try to be good all their lives. So you have to work harder to make those characters interesting.”

Hauer’s ruggedly handsome face, blue eyes and strong physique drew the attention of American producers in such international successes as “Turkish Delight,” ″Spetters” and “Soldier of Orange.” The offers from the United States came as a surprise to Hauer, who faced the same uncertain future experienced by other Dutch film actors.

In Germany, “Turkish Delight” played next to “Cabaret” and “Last Tango in Paris,” and it outplayed them!” Hauer said in an interview. “At first, I couldn’t understand it. Looking back, it was the start of the sexual revolution, and I was on the cusp of that. I’m naked for three-quarters of the film. In Hollywood, they called it pornography. I saw it 25 years later, in the Directors Guild [theater]. And the audience was still shocked. I come from Holland. We’re not shocked.”

“We make about 10 films a year, all in Dutch,” he recalled. “You act for your own community, basically, which is fine. But you can’t live on it. There is also the danger of overexposure; you can’t be too greedy.” After the world recognition for “Soldier of Orange,” a friend suggested Hauer might be able to find work in American films.

He was born Jan. 23, 1944, in Breukelen, the Netherlands, near Amsterdam. Though both his parents were acting teachers, he took a circuitous route to the craft. He ran away from home at 15 to join the Dutch merchant navy; after returning to Amsterdam in 1962 he briefly studied acting, but exited school again for a stint in the army.

Finally committing himself to the stage, he became a member of the touring experimental troupe Noorder Compagnie, in which he acted, directed and served as costume designer and translator for several years.

Earlier in his career, a Hollywood agent suggested changing his name to something easier for the American public to learn. The actor declined. “If you’re good enough, people will remember your name,” he explained.

His major break came in 1969 when Verhoeven cast him in the title role of “Floris,” an Ivanhoe-like knight who becomes embroiled in court intrigue upon his return from the Crusades. The show proved wildly popular, and Hauer reprised the part in a 1975 revival of the series, “Floris von Rosemund.”

By that time, the steamy, affecting “Turkish Delight” had firmly established him as the Netherlands’ top B.O. attraction. He reunited with Verhoeven and his co-star van de Ven for the period drama “Katie Tippel” (1975); he renewed his collaboration with the director with the World War II saga “Soldier of Orange” (1977) and the bold contemporary drama “Spetters” (1980).

Hauer made an almost immediate and intense impression as Batty in his sophomore American feature “Blade Runner,” an adaptation of Philip K. Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” He wrote his own dialog for the film’s climactic face-off with his adversary Ford. Though the film swiftly fell off screens, it remains a genre landmark today, in no small measure because of Hauer’s electrifying performance.

“Rutger read that speech and then went on with a couple of lines about memories in the rain,” co-screenwriter David Webb Peoples said in 2017. “And then he looked at me like a naughty little boy, like he was checking to see if the writer was going to be upset. I didn’t let on that I was upset, but at the time, I was a little upset and threatened by it.

“Later, seeing the movie, that was a brilliant contribution of Rutger’s, that line about tears in the rain. It is absolutely beautiful.”

Hauer said he turned down a role in Wolfgang Petersen’s “Das Boot” (1981) to work on “Blade Runner,” which he noted “wasn’t about the replicants, it was about what does it mean to be human?” The late Philip K. Dick, whose novel served as the basis for the film, called the actor “the perfect Batty — cold, Aryan, flawless.”

Olmi’s “The Legend of the Holy Drinker” brought him possibly the best notices of his career, but it failed to attract great attention beyond art-house audiences, and Hauer soon became a familiar and prolific supporting player in a variety of genre pictures, several of which went direct to home video. He shot seven features in 2001 alone.

He was active in social causes as an outspoken sponsor of the environmental organization Greenpeace and the founder the Starfish Association, a non-profit devoted to AIDS awareness.

He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Ineke ten Cate, and daughter, actress Aysha Hauer, from his previous marriage to Heidi Merz. He met Ineke in 1968 and they married in 1985.

Acknowledge

Identify your emotions.

Top 6 Healthy Tools

Write your feelings in a journal or diary.

Share how you’re feeling with a trusted friend.

Take a step back and look at the big picture.

Relaxation breathing techniques.

Positive imagery.

5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique

Throw away your negative emotions.

Conclusion

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Worldwide Box Office

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PlayStation 5 VR: will the PS5 be PSVR compatible?

Which PlayStation 5 games have been announced?

PlayStation 5 games: will the PS5 be backwards compatible?

PlayStation 5 games

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What now?

What You Can Expect In The Upcoming Months

INVESTIGATIONS CONTINUE

THEIR DAY IN COURT

CALLS FOR AN IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

AUGUST RECESS

ELECTION SECURITY

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REVIEWS

REPUBLICANS CLAIM IT’S ALL OVER – IMPEACHMENT IS DEAD

Federal Government Press Release On Death Penalty

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

A look at some of the statements inside and outside the hearings:

Mueller’s Congressional Testimony Fact Check

Joe Biden Slips Up On Facts Too

Facts Not Rules

John Ratcliffe

Kamala Harris

Mike Johnson

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