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‘Avengers: Endgame’ tops $2.2 billion while ‘UglyDolls’ flatlines at box office

George Cando
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‘Avengers: Endgame’ tops $2.2 billion while ‘UglyDolls’ flatlines at box office

Marvel’s “Avengers: Endgame” continues making box office history as the fastest film to hit $1 billion globally while also cruising past James Cameron’s “Titanic” on route to push his other monster film “Avatar” down a notch.

“Avengers: Endgame” continued its global domination at the box office in a second-week victory lap that saw the blockbuster cross the $2 billion mark in record time and unseat “Titanic” as the second highest-grossing film ever worldwide. Domestically, newcomers, including thrillers (“The Intruder”), well-reviewed comedies (“Long Shot”) or animated family fare (“Uglydolls”) were left in the dust to pick up the scraps.

The Walt Disney Co. estimated Sunday that “Endgame” added $145.8 million from North American theaters and $282.2 million internationally bringing its global total to $2.2 billion. “Endgame” is one of five movies to ever reach that threshold and, not accounting for inflation, is now second worldwide only to “Avatar’s” $2.8 billion. “Avatar” reached $2 billion in 47 days of release compared with 11 for “Endgame,” although in 2009 the theatrical landscape was different, most notably so in China.

“The sprint to $2 billion is unbelievable. We’re in uncharted territory,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “Usually films like this are marathoners.”

To reach “Avatar’s” global record, however, “Endgame” will have to turn into a marathoner itself and the summer movie season is only going to get more competitive.

Still, “it’s got a real chance at getting there,” Dergarabedian said.

Domestically, “Endgame,” which is still playing on 4,662 screens, scored the second biggest second weekend ever with a sum that would be impressive for any film on opening weekend. Even its 59% drop is notable considering how front-loaded it was. “Endgame” has now grossed $619.7 million in North America, making it the ninth biggest of all time, behind “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

avengers endgame pushed mcu past 20 billion at box office

MCU Crosses $20 Billion Mark

“Endgame” has pushed the Marvel Cinematic Universe into record breaking history now that all 22 movies in the MCU have grossed over $20 billion at the global box office. This combined franchise is now the most successful one of all time. This is something DC Films and WarnerBros. Have been trying to achieve but is doubtful.

Getting over that $20 billion box office mark involved a couple of key things. For one, “Avengers: Endgame “ opened in its last major market earlier this week, Russia, where it had a record opening day debut in the country, bringing in $7.8 million. That’s 59 percent more than the previous record holder, this movie’s predecessor, “Infinity War.” The latest entry in the MCU also earned a stunning $36.7 million on Monday, which was the second-largest Monday ever, right behind “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which made $40 million on its first Monday out of the gate back in 2015.

It also doesn’t hurt matters that the hype for “Avengers: Endgame” has given “Captain Marvel” a little late 2nd round box office boost as well. That movie finished number two last weekend at the box office over the weekend and has now brought in $1.11 billion on its own. That already makes this a great year for Disney, and they still have a long way to go. While all of the actual box office dollars will go to Sony, Marvel also has “Spider-Man: Far From Home” set to arrive in July, which could very well cross the $1 billion mark as well. It wasn’t all that long ago when hitting that milestone was something special. Now the MCU movies do it like clockwork.

New Films Didn’t Stand A Chance

New films entering the marketplace hardly stood a chance, but some saw successes even in the shadow of “Endgame.”

In second place, “The Intruder,” a modestly budgeted ($8 million) thriller with Dennis Quaid and Meagan Good, survived poor reviews and did the best of the batch with $11 million in box office receipts. The Sony/Screen Gems film was released on 2,222 screens.

Although close behind on the charts in third place, Lionsgate and Point Grey’s “Long Shot,” a politically-themed romantic comedy with Seth Rogen and Charlize Theron, failed to make a significant dent against its pricier budget. The film, which was the best reviewed of the newcomers by far, grossed an estimated $10 million from 3,230 screens, against a reported $40 million budget. But word-of-mouth could also help propel “Long Shot” to profits ultimately. Lionsgate said on Sunday that it expected “Long Shot” to find a broader audience over the next month, with the Mother’s Day and Memorial Day weekends holding promise.

″‘Long Shot’ has a shot at staying power,” Dergarabedian said. “But there’s a lot of noise to rise above.”

The studio is one of a handful of smaller ones that have been struggling as streaming services have moved aggressively into their territory — midbudget action-adventures, comedies and dramas. Lionsgate had held up “Long Shot” to Wall Street as one of a handful of movies that would signify a turnaround for its film division. (Another was “Hellboy,” which bombed last month.) The studio will try again with “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum,” which arrives in theaters on May 17.

The unluckiest of the new movies was “Uglydolls,” an animated film based on the line of plush toys featuring the voices of Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Blake Shelton and Janelle Monae, which placed fourth with $8.5 million. STXfilms’ first animated feature cost $45 million to produce after production rebates. It didn’t fare so well with critics.

STXfilms had lined up more than 100 promotional partners, including McDonald’s and Walmart, to generate interest in “UglyDolls,” hyping it as the start of a lucrative franchise

Both STXfilms and Alibaba hope the film will perform better in China, where it is expected to be released this summer. An “UglyDolls” series is also in the works for Hulu.

Industry-wide, the continued success of “Endgame” has also helped the box office deficit, which went from down 13.2% last weekend to down 10.9% this weekend. And Dergarabedian said that the industry may be on its way to a record summer, still.

“It’s not just about one movie this summer,” he said. “There’s a lot more to come from every studio. Diversity of content will rule the day.”

uglydolls long shot the intruder competed lost to avengers endgame box office
UglyDolls, Long Shot, The Intruder competed with Marvel’s Avengers: Endgame at box office.

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.“Avengers: Endgame,” $145.8 million ($282.2 million international).

2.“The Intruder,” $11 million.

3.“Long Shot,” $10 million ($3.3 million international).

4.“Uglydolls,” $8.5 million ($955,000 international).

5.“Captain Marvel,” $4.3 million ($1.2 million international).

6.“Breakthrough,” $3.9 million.

7.“The Curse of La Llorona,” $3.5 million ($5.8 million international).

8.“Shazam!” $2.5 million ($2.3 million international).

9.“Little,” $1.5 million ($400,000 international).

10.“Dumbo,” $1.4 million ($4 million international).

Worldwide Box Office

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

1. “Avengers: Endgame,” $282.2 million.

2. “Capernaum,” $13.1 million.

3. “We’ll End Up Together,” $7 million.

4. “The Curse of La Llorona,” $5.8 million.

1. “Wonder Park” and “Always Miss You,” $4.7 million.

2. “Dumbo,” $4 million.

3. “Long Shot,” $3.3 million.

4. “Inseparable Bros,” $3.2 million.

5. “Shazam!” and “After,” $2.3 million.

6. “Queen’s Corgi,” $1.7 million.

Kelly Clarkson talks ‘UglyDolls,’ outcasts, and clapping back on rude people

Curt Johnson
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Kelly Clarkson talks ‘UglyDolls,’ outcasts, and clapping back on rude people

Kelly Clarkson used to really hate acting, believe it or not. In fact, when she won the first season of “American Idol” back in 2002, her contract required her to fulfill both a record deal and a studio film deal. This would have been a dream come true for most aspiring artists, but not Clarkson.

“I cried,” the singer, now 37, said. “I talked to many lawyers and could not get out of the movie.”

The movie was “From Justin to Kelly,” (so you can imagine why she fought so hard not to be in it) a Fox musical co-starring Clarkson and her “Idol” runner-up, Justin Guarini, as two twentysomethings who fall in love on spring break in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The 2003 release grossed an embarrassing $4.9 million in theaters, scored just 10% on Rotten Tomatoes and, according to Wikipedia, “is often regarded as one of the worst movies ever made.”

kelly clarkson with American Idol runner up justin guarini from justin to kelly bomb film
Kelly Clarkson with American Idol runner-up Justin Guarini in From Justin to Kelly which she hated doing.

Despite the fact that the movie bombed, Clarkson continued to receive offers to star in films. She turned them all down — save for a “seven-line” cameo in the 2017 animated film “The Star” — to focus on her real passion, singing.

Clarkson has proven she can tough it out through anything as she had her appendix removed right after hosting the 2019 Billboard Music Awards on Wednesday. She flew straight home to Los Angeles after the show in Las Vegas to have surgery on Thursday. Even though she was in tremendous pain, Clarkson performed “Broken & Beautiful” and opened the awards show with a medley of the year’s biggest hits. It was her second year in a row hosting the awards, but the first time making it through without passing out in pain. She pulled it off as no one would have guessed.

But when the filmmakers behind STX’s “UglyDolls” approached her about playing the lead character in a movie based on the popular misshapen kids’ toys, she decided to reverse her no-acting stance. In the film, out this weekend, Clarkson voices Moxy, an UglyDoll who’s told she’s too unattractive to be given to kids who prefer more perfect-looking toys. Yes, it sounds just like the Isle of Misfit Toys in “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer.”

“This role could not be more me,” the performer said. “I get really nervous acting, so I don’t generally do it. I don’t like it. I tend to stay in my comfort zone. But this was kind of awesome, because I thought: I’m not going to have to act … this is basically my character in life.”

kelly clarkson with nick jonas and pitbull at uglydolls premiere

After a morning of shooting NBC’s “The Voice” — where she serves as a coach alongside Blake Shelton, Adam Levine and John Legend — Clarkson discussed her quasi-return to the big screen, her upcoming talk show and her thick skin.

So, when you see such names like Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monae, Nick Jonas, Lizzo, Pitbull, Blake Shelton, Bebe Rexha, Charli XCX, in the same lineup, you’d easily assume it’s for a big festival or awards show. But in this case, it was “Uglydolls,” an animated film playing in theaters now based on the popular toys that brought these diverse musicians together under the same banner.

kelly clarkson ugly dolls song im broken beautiful

The draw for many was the message. The film imagines a doll class system where the “ugly” ones, with defects and flaws, are filtered out to their own island, while the pretty ones get the chance to match up with a kid. But a tenacious ugly doll called Moxy rejects this idea and decides to train alongside the perfect dolls for the same chance. Critics haven’t been so kind to the film, and it’s at 35 percent on Rotten Tomatoes. The Audience Score tells a much different story with 77 percent liking it.

Moxy is voiced by Clarkson, who found herself amused when she was pitched the role. Although she grew up with “all the princess ones,” she found that she related to this Uglydoll.

“My husband and I were laughing like, huh, super determined, stubborn, can’t be swayed from what she knows her truth is,” Clarkson said. “I was like, oh so basically it’s just like a doll form of me. OK.”

So even though she doesn’t necessarily love acting (“I don’t have like some big dream of like winning an Oscar,” Clarkson said) she signed on. Animation is different, she figured, and more like musical theater, which she does enjoy.

Monae, who does actually enjoy acting in front of the camera and has found successes with roles in “Moonlight” and “Hidden Figures,” was similarly intrigued by the ideas behind “Uglydolls.” Her character Mandy is one of the pretty ones, but she has some hidden depth too and an imperfection she’s been taught to be embarrassed about — her glasses.

kelly clarkson mttg interview uglydolls with marilyn monroe james dean blouse

“I love my character Mandy. I love the Uglydolls and what they represent. We’re the weirdos. We’re the outcasts. We’re the cool ones because of that, but we see it and we discover it because of each other,” Monae said. “The story itself is something I have preached since the beginning of my career.”

The two pop stars have a duet in the movie on the inspirational anthem “Unbreakable,” which Monae found particularly poignant.

“People are always going to say you’re not good enough, you don’t look good enough, you’ll never be good enough because of maybe who you love or where you come from, but you have to remember your power and your worth and understand that the feeling of being bullied won’t last forever,” she said. “You will have allies. You will have your community of folks. And things will get better.”

It’s a message that they hope resonate with both children and adults, and Clarkson got the best endorsement of all too: From her youngest kids.

“The fact that a 3 and 4-year-old sat in a chair and watched the entire thing is an amazing feat in itself,” Clarkson said.

And they’re already requesting a second viewing.

Thankfully, Clarkson enjoys talking so we were able to get a few more direct questions in, and let’s face it, she’s one of the few interviews we’ve enjoyed in a long time where the person doesn’t have her PR person hanging around intrusively. Plus, she’s ready to be in our seat asking questions of celebrities with her new talk show coming up in September on NBC.

kelly clarkson in sounds stage for uglydolls movie

I’m sure you’ve been asked this countless times, but was “From Justin to Kelly” really as bad as has been reported?

I just didn’t believe in it, first of all. I’m not a beach blanket-movie kind of girl. And I didn’t want it to deter or ruin any chance of me being able to go down the path I actually auditioned for on “Idol.” They did give me this: I begged them — since I had to do it contractually — I wanted my single to be released before the movie came out and I think that literally saved my career. It was “Miss Independent.” The fact that that was successful, I think that overcame what the movie was.

There weren’t any positive memories from being on set?

It was a very miserable time of my life. I feel like it’s one of those things where, “There are plenty of people that would love to do this — why don’t you ask one of them?” There were plenty of people on that show. I think I might have been the only one that didn’t want to do it. But the winner had to, so. I can get over the fact that it’s silly and cute — that’s not embarrassing to me at all. I just don’t find it very cool that somebody makes you do something that is not your passion and you don’t want to do.

Was that experience one to kill any desire for acting or was your heart just never in it?

I feel like if you’re in the limelight, people think you have to do all these things. If it’s something I want to do — I appear on TV shows where I feel like it’s fun. I did “The Crazy Ones” with Robin Williams because I grew up watching him and I love him and I was like, “I’ve just gotta say yes to that. Who gets to be in a scene with Robin Williams?” But I don’t really want to commit to some big kind of role because I respect that art tremendously. All actors shouldn’t be singers and all singers shouldn’t be actors.

Back in the day, Judy Garland and Doris Day and Rosemary Clooney — women did all things, they sang, they danced, they acted because they all came from stage. I find stage very different. Like musical theater? One-hundred percent I would do. It’s live, and you don’t stop me. I like starting and then you get to tell the story, nothing’s interrupting, and you don’t have to redo anything. I like the excitement of that. I don’t get nervous doing that.

I’m was surprised that you didn’t’ write the songs you sing in the film. Did you consider working on the music?

They asked me to write music for the film and I was like, “I have a lot of jobs.” And my kids come first. I was like, “This is not me saying I don’t want to do it — I don’t have time to do it. I’m choosing my kids and all the other jobs before this.” When the Pink song came in, it was awesome. I’ve done songs on my albums where I haven’t lived the experience. … For a movie, you kind of put your ego aside and go, “This isn’t Kelly Clarkson making a record, this is Moxy.”

A simple Google on you seems to focus mainly on your weight loss. Does it bother you that since “Idol,” your looks have been so publicly scrutinized?

I am from a very small town and ever since I can remember, especially in the South, they say something about what you’re wearing, what you’re believing, what you’re thinking, how you should be. Honestly, the industry isn’t any different than a very small Southern town. … Maybe that’s the universe — God — setting me up or preparing me. It doesn’t bother me. What does bother me is when people say stuff — not all people in the limelight come with the same armor or thick skin or same amount of confidence. … It’s not easy for some people I know in the industry to take that heavy criticism that’s not constructive, it’s just mean. Not everybody can blow that off, that’s the bummer.

You’re famous for clapping back at some commenters on your Instagram before who make rude remarks about you.

It’s just a highly-filtered world. I always make fun of my friends because I’m like, “Girl, they’re gonna see you in person at some point. And you don’t look like that.” Aesthetics are important … because it’s fun, it’s art. But I don’t think you should be held to that standard. I enjoy it for work, but I really enjoy not wearing makeup and just being me outside of work. People will push things on me — magazine covers of other artists like, “This is what we’re competing against” and I’m like, “I’m not competing against that. I’m not even anywhere near like that.” It’s happened my whole career where people try to force-feed you. The whole Clive [Davis] era. I always put it down in a respectful manner. … Don’t try to make Oreos chocolate chip cookies. It’s fine how it is. There’s room for everyone.

You stood up and spoke out in defense of Kesha and even stopped working with her alleged abuser, music producer Dr. Luke. Do you think the music industry has yet to grapple with the full weight of the #MeToo movement?

I don’t know, because I don’t relate to that at all. I’m the person who will say something right there in the moment. I do have friends that have been in situations that have been super [crappy] that have happened to them — not in the industry, but outside. I think people get shocked and don’t even know how to internalize it, let alone say it out loud. I had a lot of things in my childhood where I had to grow up fast. Where you’re like, “I have to do this on my own. Awesome.” And I thank my past for that. Because I am a person who can say right off the bat, “I’m uncomfortable with this.”

Along with everything else, you’re hosting a talk show on NBC beginninging in September. Have you been looking for this kind of gig?

I wasn’t. [NBC Entertainment co-chairman] Paul Telegdy came to me and was like “Dude, I think you would be such an amazing talk show host.” And I literally laughed. I was like, “Paul, did you run out of people to ask?” And he was like, “No, on ‘The Voice’ it’s so evident, you’re so comfortable with people and I think it’s very relatable.”’ He kind of convinced me … but I was still a little bit hesitant. But I was like, as long as I can involve music. So every show is kind of how I tour. I cover other artists that I love during the intro instead of a big, huge monologue thing. On tour, the thing that goes the most viral is the covers — and it’s how I started. It’s me highlighting people I love. And we let people from the audience pick the song we’re doing.

How would you describe your interview style?

I’m very much a conversationalist. The big joke is that I talk too much, but I do listen.

Howard Stern has no problem talking a lot during his interviews. Or even “Morning’s Joe’s” Joe Scarborough.

I love Howard Stern — that’s one of my favorite shows I’ve ever done. I’m actually very similar to him in the sense of being really open. Everybody that I talk to on the show, I probably bring an element of them out. A lot of friends I have who are actors or singers, they can get guarded ’cause they’re afraid — their publicist is saying “don’t say this” or “don’t say that,” and at the end of the day, just be you. You’re fine.

Stan Wawrinka’s ‘political chaos’ plus Serena Williams Italian Open ready

Luka Alario
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Stan Wawrinka’s ‘political chaos’ plus Serena Williams Italian Open ready

Politics seems to be infecting everything over the past two years, and three-time tennis champion Stan Wawrinka put his feelings out there stating, “Politics have overshadowed the action on the courts.” He feels that there has been a significant decline in “moral standards” in the sport.

Yes, now the world of tennis is in turmoil as the 2019 French Open quickly approaches.

In a letter published Friday in The Times of London, Wawrinka decried his sport’s “worrying decline in moral standards” and outlined several aspects of the ongoing drama enveloping the men’s tour — and causing more of a racket than the rackets themselves.

“I feel compelled to express my views on this regrettable period in our sport,” said Wawrinka, who once was ranked as high as No. 3 and is currently 33rd after a series of injuries. “This episode has left many players, myself included, concerned about the direction tennis is heading in.”

There certainly has been a lot going on behind the scenes with regard to who runs the men’s professional tour, and lately it’s been spilling into public view. The conversation is sure to continue until a key vote for the ATP board of directors takes place May 14 in Rome — and through the next Grand Slam tournament, which begins at Roland Garros on May 26.

Wawrinka slammed the representatives on the board and the player council, saying the problem is not with the governing structure but the caliber of the people in positions of importance.

Wawrinka’s letter mentions “political chaos” and the “numerous conflicts of interest” that plague tennis. It also prominently discusses a topic about which he already had been outspoken: Justin Gimelstob, the ex-player, coach and TV commentator who resigned from the tour board this week after pleading no contest to misdemeanor assault for attacking a former friend. While Gimelstob’s case still was pending, he was allowed to remain in his powerful ATP post.

The 42-year-old American was sentenced April 22 to three years of probation, 60 days of community service and a year’s worth of anger management classes for what prosecutors said was Gimelstob’s attack of Randall Kaplan as they trick-or-treated with their kids in Los Angeles on Halloween in 2017.

In a statement to the court, Kaplan said Gimelstob struck him multiple times and threatened to kill him.

“There is no place in our sport for those who behave like Justin. The lack of responses from people involved in the game, particularly at the beginning of this saga, when he was charged last December, was alarming,” Wawrinka wrote. “This is a situation where silence amounts to complicity.”

Wawrinka also referred to what he called a “concerted plot” to oust Chris Kermode as executive chairman and president of the ATP. Kermode’s departure was announced in March after a vote by the board of directors.

Rafael Nadal, who has won 11 of his 17 Grand Slam titles at the French Open, was among those who said they were not consulted before the decision was made to push out Kermode when his current term closes at the end of 2019.

“Many players feel that they were not represented properly throughout the last few months, during which so much has happened politically. I agree with them,” Wawrinka wrote. “I do not want to be associated with anyone who played a part in this, let alone be represented by them. I want to be represented by people with clear, strong ethical values.”

Novak Djokovic, who was involved in the Kermode situation through his position as president of the ATP player council, conceded that the business matters might have taken a toll on his performance.

After earlier-than-expected losses at Indian Wells and Miami, the top-ranked Djokovic said: “Way too many things off the court. I guess that affected me a little bit on the court.”

serena williams back to italian open 2019 after injury

Serena Williams Back For 2019 Italian Open

Serena Williams is set to return from injury at the upcoming Italian Open.

Tournament director Sergio Palmieri told media outlets on Friday that he spoke with Williams’ agent and that Williams “has already reserved her rooms and should be here a few days early” for the May 13-19 event.

Williams has not played since withdrawing from her third-round match at the Miami Open in March with a previously undisclosed left knee injury. She hasn’t played in Rome since winning her fourth title at the clay-court event in 2016, when she beat Madison Keys in the final.

Roger Federer’s status, meanwhile, remains a question mark.

Federer’s announced schedule has him playing the Madrid Open next week as his only warmup for the French Open, which starts May 26.

The 37-year-old Federer skipped the clay season the last two years.

“Federer is entered to play, which is different from the last two years when he withdrew ahead of time,” Palmieri said. “So the fact that he’s entered means it’s possible for him to play. It’s impossible to predict, though. … Knowing him, it’s more probable that he’ll come only if he’s playing well.”

While he is a four-time runner-up, Federer has never won the Italian Open — making it one of the few significant trophies he hasn’t claimed.

“Playing three consecutive tournaments on clay at his age is complicated,” Italian tennis federation president Angelo Binaghi said. “But I think it also depends on his results in Madrid.”

The only top men who have withdrawn from Rome are sixth-ranked Kevin Anderson and 16th-ranked Milos Raonic, who are both injured.

The only top woman to pull out so far was three-time champion Maria Sharapova, who is recovering from a right shoulder injury.

The Italian federation said 1999 champion Venus Williams and former No. 1 Victoria Azarenka received wild cards to the tournament according to the WTA rule for former top-20 players. Another wild card was given to Sara Errani.

The men’s wild cards are Matteo Berrettini, last week’s Hungarian Open champion, and Andreas Seppi and Lorenzo Sonego.

Cristian Garin beats off marco cecchinato munich open 2019

Cristian Garin Beats Marco Cecchinato – Munich Open

Chilean outsider Cristian Garin extended his remarkable run at the Munich Open by reaching the final after beating third-seeded Marco Cecchinato 6-2, 6-4 on Saturday.

Garin saved both break points he faced after rain delayed play twice in the second set on the outdoor clay.

Ranked No. 47, he claimed the biggest win of his career in defeating No. 3 Alexander Zverev — the two-time defending champion — the day before.

Garin will face Matteo Berrettini or the fourth-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut in Sunday’s final. The second semifinal was put back to Sunday morning due to persistent rain in Munich.

Garin, winner of his maiden ATP title in Houston last month, has never played either on the tour.

jil teichman wins prague open wta title 2019 images

Jil Teichmann Takes Prague Open

Swiss qualifier Jil Teichmann rallied in the decisive set to defeat Karolina Muchova 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4 in the Prague Open final on Saturday for her first WTA title.

The 21-year-old Teichmann was 2-0 down, and broken again by her 22-year-old Czech opponent for 3-2, but came back once more before converting her first match point.

It was the first WTA final featuring two first-time finalists since July last year.

The 146th-ranked Teichmann and No. 106 Muchova, a wild card entry at the clay-court tournament, will make the top 100 in the rankings for the first time.

In the opening set, Teichmann wasted three set points at 6-5 before prevailing in the tiebreaker.

Muchova broke to lead 4-2 in the second set before serving it out with an ace.

Fact Check: Elijah Cummings seals up Barack Obama, Earth Day trash, plus Muslim attacks

MTTG Staff
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Fact Check: Elijah Cummings seals up Barack Obama, Earth Day trash, plus Muslim attacks

Here is our bi-weekly compilation of social media stories and images that went viral but were completely false. Even though they were shared widely on social media and believed by many, it was all fake news.

The biggest fake news culprits were that Rep. Elijah Cummings was introducing a bill to keep all of President Barack Obama’s records sealed while trying to open Donald Trump’s, Earth Day garbage and Muslims attacking Danish police in Copenhagen.

Here are the real facts behind these fake stories:

CLAIM: “Elijah Cummings wrote a bill to keep all of Obama’s records sealed, but he insists that Congress must see all of President Trump’s financial records.”

THE FACTS: Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., did not introduce a bill to keep President Barack Obama’s records sealed as posts being shared on Facebook say. In 2014, Cummings introduced legislation to improve public access to presidential records. The bill was signed into law by Obama on Nov. 26, 2014. The Presidential and Federal Records Act Amendments of 2014 created new guidelines to secure the timely release of presidential records, while protecting documents relating to national security, according to a summary of the law published on Congress.gov, the official website for federal legislative information.

It gives presidents 60 days to review their records after being notified that they will be made public in the National Archives. The amendments also included changes to the definition of federal records to include electronic records and clarified how federal officials could use private email. The claim has been circulating on Facebook with a photo of Obama placing the Medal of Freedom on Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a leader in the civil rights movement, apparently mistaking Lewis for Cummings. Cummings, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, has subpoenaed years of President Donald Trump’s financial records. Trump and his business organization have filed a federal lawsuit to block the subpoena, media outlets reported.

Muslims attacking Danish police in Copenhagen fake news 2019

CLAIM: Video purports to show Muslims attacking Danish police in Copenhagen

THE FACTS: A video being shared on Facebook, which shows protesters attacking a blue police van, was actually taken during a protest in Algeria. Social media users attempted to link the video to an April 14 demonstration in Denmark that was sparked by a far-right provocateur who tossed in the air a copy of the Quran in a predominantly immigrant neighborhood in Copenhagen. The video shows Algerians in the streets of Algiers, the capital, during a March 8 protest against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who at 82 was seeking a fifth term in office. He stepped down about four weeks later, media outlets reported. Casbah Tribune, an Algerian media outlet, posted the video with a caption that described violence against police during a March 8 demonstration on Krim Belkacem, a street in Algiers. Media coverage of the protest is consistent with images from the video, and a video journalist said the blue police van matches those used in Algiers.

THIS IS HOW ENVIRONMENTALISTS LEFT A PARK IN CALIFORNIA AFTER AN EARTH DAY CELEBRATION fake news 2019

CLAIM: THIS IS HOW ENVIRONMENTALISTS LEFT A PARK IN CALIFORNIA AFTER AN EARTH DAY CELEBRATION –caption with photo of a park strewn with garbage

THE FACTS: The image, which began appearing days after Earth Day celebrations on April 22, is falsely captioned. The photo was taken nearly a decade ago to show debris left from tailgate parties at the University of Georgia in Athens following a football game September 12, 2009. The Atlanta Journal Constitution published the photo with a story on Sept. 17, 2009, about the mess partygoers left at the Bulldogs’ home opener against South Carolina. Media outlets reported that workers collected about 70 tons of garbage along with tents, grills, coolers and chairs from the area after the 2009 tailgate party. As a result, the school tightened rules around the parties but relaxed them in 2011.

barack obama eating at bbq skipping memorial day service fake news 2019

CLAIM: President Barack Obama skipped Memorial Day ceremonies at Arlington National Cemetery in 2010 to vacation and attend a BBQ in Chicago

THE FACTS: Obama attended Memorial Day services at a military cemetery in Illinois in 2010. He did not attend a barbecue that Monday as claims circulating on Facebook suggest. According to coverage by media outlets, Obama spent the early afternoon of Memorial Day in 2010 honoring fallen soldiers at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, Illinois, about 50 miles southwest of Chicago. While there, Obama placed a wreath at a tomb in the cemetery, but his speech was canceled because of a storm. He then visited with veterans and service members at a Veterans Affairs treatment center in Hines, Illinois. Later that day, Obama returned to the nation’s capital, where he delivered a speech to dozens of troops at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. Obama did attend a friend’s Saturday barbecue in Chicago during the holiday weekend. He was in Louisiana on Friday to view the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

gas at 9 in death valley ca fake news 2019

CLAIM: Regular gas costs $9.40 a gallon in Death Valley, California.

THE FACTS: California gas prices are the highest in the country right now, but they aren’t that high. A photo shared on social media that shows a Chevron gas station sign with regular unleaded gasoline priced at $9.40 per gallon is manipulated. G. Dan Mitchell, a California photographer, told media outlets in an email that he took the photo several years ago and altered it as an April Fools’ Day prank. As gas prices climbed in the state this month, social media users resurfaced the image and paired it with claims that tied higher gas prices to a 12-cent gas tax increase that was implemented in November 2017. Mitchell told media outlets that regular gas was around $4 a gallon in 2011 when he captured the image at a Death Valley gas station. He manipulated the photo to show a price of $9.40 a gallon and posted it to his professional photography website eight years ago on April 1. The gas station he photographed is “notorious for having some of the priciest gas in California,” Mitchell said. He said he did not approve republication of the image on social media. Oil refinery issues in the state have caused gas prices to spike recently, said Patrick DeHaan, a senior petroleum analyst for GasBuddy, which tracks fuel pricing. As of Friday morning, the highest price in recent days was $5.25 per gallon, DeHaan said

beetlejuice 2 trailer not real fake news

CLAIM: Video is the official trailer for the movie sequel “Beetlejuice II.”

THE FACTS: Warner Bros. did not release a trailer for a sequel to director Tim Burton’s 1988 cult classic, “Beetlejuice,” which featured Michael Keaton. Candice McDonough, a spokeswoman for Warner Bros., told media outlets in an email that the company has not released a film trailer for a “Beetlejuice” sequel, and has no “Beetlejuice II” project in active development. A short video circulating online pieces together clips featuring actors from the original film, including Alec Baldwin and Geena Davis. The trailer has been circulating for at least a year. The movie is about a couple who dies in a car accident and haunts their old home. The film has been adapted for the stage. The musical, “Beetlejuice: The Musical,” had its official opening this month on Broadway.

emmanuel arnada not somali born throws boy off balcony at moa fake news 2019

CLAIM: The man accused of throwing a boy over a balcony at the Mall of America was born with a Muslim name, but later changed it to Emmanuel Aranda.

THE FACTS: The man charged in the case was born Emmanuel Aranda, according to Cook County birth records. Social media posts attempt to portray Aranda as Muslim by falsely claiming he was born Abdisaid Mohamed. Prosecutors have charged Aranda with attempted first-degree murder after he was arrested April 12 for throwing a 5-year-old boy from a balcony at the Mall of America, a Minneapolis-area tourist attraction. False Facebook posts say he is a Somali immigrant or legally changed his name to Aranda but birth records show he was born in August 1994 at University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago. No name changes have been made to the record, James Scalzitti, the director of communications at the Cook County Clerk’s Office, told media outlets in an email. Records also show Aranda was issued a social security card in his birth name. Bloomington Police, who investigated the mall case, have no information to indicate Aranda has used another name, said Deputy Police Chief Mike Hartley. “We don’t have an alias for him and certainly not that one,” Hartley told media outlets. Aranda’s religious affiliation has not been disclosed. The boy who was thrown from the balcony is recovering in a Minnesota hospital.

Latest Silk Road type Darknet site ‘Wall Street Market’ shut down

Jeffrey Lang
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Latest Silk Road type Darknet site ‘Wall Street Market’ shut down

Since Silk Road closed years ago, there have been plenty of darknet markets cropping up, and Wall Street Market, the second-largest one in the world has been shuttered. These digital black markets are only accessible through the anonymizing Tor browser which uses Bitcoin and various other cryptocurrencies for payment.

Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis published a study in January 2019 showing that darknet market activity nearly doubled in 2018 bringing in over $600 million. When Silk Road was in operation, that number never got over $200 million. It is truly a Wild Wild West on the darknet so authorities are watching closer than ever.

European and American investigators have broken up one of the world’s largest online criminal marketplaces for drugs, hacking tools and financial-theft wares in raids in the United States, Germany, and Brazil.

Three German men, ages 31, 22 and 29, were arrested after the raids in three southern states on allegations they operated the so-called “Wall Street Market” darknet platform, which hosted about 5,400 sellers and more than 1 million customer accounts, Frankfurt prosecutor Georg Ungefuk told reporters in Wiesbaden on Friday.

A Brazilian man, the site’s alleged moderator, was also charged.

The three Germans, identified in U.S. court documents as Tibo Lousee, Jonathan Kalla and Klaus-Martin Frost, face drug charges in Germany on allegations they administrated the platform where cocaine, heroin and other drugs, as well as forged documents and other illegal material, were sold.

They have also been charged in the United States with conspiring to launder money and distribute illegal drugs, according to a criminal complaint filed in Los Angeles federal court.

“The charges filed in Germany and the United States will significantly disrupt the illegal sale of drugs on the darknet,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan White told reporters in Germany. “We believe that Wall Street Market recently became the world’s largest darknet marketplace for contraband including narcotics, hacking tools, illegal services and stolen financial data.”

wall street market darknet screenshot

Ungefuk said Wall Street Market was at least the second biggest, refusing to name others for fear of jeopardizing other investigations.

In the nearly two-year operation involving European police agency Europol and authorities in the Netherlands as well as the U.S. and Germany, investigators pinpointed the three men as administrators of the platform on the darknet. It is part of the internet often used by criminals that is hosted within an encrypted network and accessible only through anonymity-providing tools, such as the Tor browser.

Transactions were conducted using cryptocurrencies, and the suspects took commissions ranging from 2% to 6%, Ungefuk said.

The site trafficked documents such as identity papers and drivers’ licenses. But an estimated 60% or more of the business was drug-related, he said.

Authorities swept in quickly after the platform was switched into a “maintenance mode” on April 23, and the suspects allegedly began transferring funds used on the platform to themselves in a so-called “exit scam,” Ungefuk said.

The U.S. Department of Justice said the administrators took approximately $11 million in the exit scam from escrow and user accounts.

The U.S. identified a fourth defendant as Marcos Paulo De Oliveira-Annibale, 29, of Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was not clear if he had been arrested, and federal police in Brazil wouldn’t comment.

Annibale, who went by the moniker “MED3LIN” online, faces federal drug distribution and money laundering charges in the United States for allegedly acting as a moderator on the site in disputes between vendors and their customers. He also allegedly promoted Wall Street Market on prominent websites such as Reddit, the Justice Department said.

Brazilian authorities searched his home Thursday after investigators linked his online persona to pictures he posted of himself years ago, U.S. officials said.

A University of Manchester criminology researcher who follows activity on dark web markets, Patrick Shortis, said the takedown was widely anticipated after Annibale leaked his credentials and the market’s true internet address online.

Knocking out Wall Street Market is unlikely to have a lasting impact on online criminal markets, though law enforcement officials make it clear they are going after sellers and customers, Shortis said.

wall street market darknet bust german

In Los Angeles, two drug suppliers were arrested, and authorities confiscated about $1 million cash, weapons and drugs in raids. They were only identified by their online monikers, “Platinum45” and “Ladyskywalker,” and characterized as “major drug traffickers” dealing methamphetamine and fentanyl.

After the first big takedown of such a marketplace, of Silk Road in 2013, it took overall trade about four to five months to recuperate, Shortis said. And after law enforcement took out Hansa and AlphaBay in 2017, it took about a month, he said.

Shortis said one threat he does see to the market, in the short term at least, are so-called denial of service cyberattacks that effectively knock web servers offline by flooding them with traffic.

“An extortionist is currently targeting Empire and Nightmare, who are both in the running to replace Wall Street as the top market,” he said.

The raids in Germany culminated Thursday with the seizure of servers, while federal police confiscated 550,000 euros ($615,000) in cash, Bitcoin and Monero cryptocurrencies, hard drives, and other evidence in multiple raids.

Because of the clandestine nature of the operation and the difficulty of tracing cryptocurrencies, Ungefuk said it was difficult to assess the overall volume of business conducted by the darknet group. But he said that “we’re talking about profits in the millions at least.”

Facebook goes crypto, 5G security prep plus Tesla tries again

Jeffrey Lang
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Facebook goes crypto, 5G security prep plus Tesla tries again

Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg said the social media giant is going from town square to private living room, but now that living room will get a little less private as big business has been invited to sit down with at at the fireplace.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Facebook plans a cryptocurrency-based payment system, currently called ‘Project Libra,’ that it could launch for billions of users worldwide.

The system would use a digital coin similar to bitcoin, but different in that Facebook would aim to keep the coin’s value stable. Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies have been susceptible to wild fluctuations in value.

It could reportedly undermine credit cards by sidestepping the processing fees that generate much of their revenue.

The Journal report cited unidentified people familiar with the matter. It said Facebook is recruiting dozens of financial firms and online merchants to launch the network. Facebook’s plans may include ways to financially reward users who interact with ads or other features.

“I don’t believe they’re doing anything that isn’t in the service of increasing interactions on their platforms,” says Joshua Gans, a professor at the University of Toronto. “Sending money to businesses presents a challenge,” he notes.

“Compared with friends and family, businesses are more likely to dump their Facebook coins at the end of the month in favor of real money. Gans is skeptical that Facebook would pay users for viewing ads—an immensely tricky system to create—unless it involved something like a rebate for buying a product through a Facebook advertisement. On the merchant side, encouraging businesses to pay for ads and services on Facebook with the coin could be one way of staunching the flow of money out of the system.”

As the Journal notes, Facebook’s foray into blockchain could look a bit like a loyalty-points system—tokens that can be earned through and spent on Facebook services, or cashed out elsewhere though partner merchants. That’s not without precedent among technology companies: Uber, for example, has Uber Cash, which rewards users for purchases both in and out of Uber with app-specific money. Gans notes offerings like the Apple Card hold a similar purpose: It’s a service that, for all the talk of disrupting the credit card industry, is mostly a shiny, heavy way to buy more of Apple’s apps and products.

Facebook says only that it is exploring many different applications for cryptocurrency technology.

“There are a lot of moving parts. Facebook doesn’t always do what we expect,” says Gans.

prepping security threats on 5g huawei china

Prepping For 5G

Cybersecurity officials from dozens of countries drew up a blueprint on Friday to counter threats and ensure the safety of next generation mobile networks that their nations are set to start deploying.

Officials hammered out a set of non-binding proposals published at the end of a two-day meeting organized by the Czech government to discuss the security of new 5G networks.

The meeting comes amid a simmering global battle between the U.S. and China’s Huawei, the world’s biggest maker of network infrastructure equipment.

The U.S. has been lobbying allies to ban Huawei from 5G networks over concerns China’s government could force the company to give it access to data for cyberespionage. Huawei has denied the allegations.

Officials called for a cooperative approach to security, saying that they didn’t want to target specific countries or companies.

The proposals reflected the U.S. concerns, though some wording also appeared to be aimed at raising the bar for Chinese suppliers. The document said “security and risk assessment of vendors and network technologies” should be taken into account, as well as “the overall risk of influence on a supplier by a third country,” especially its “model of governance.”

“Security and risk assessments of vendors and network technologies should take into account rule of law,” it said.

U.S. officials have urged their allies to factor in the laws and legal system of a country where a 5G supplier is based, saying that China’s lack of independent judiciary means companies have no legal recourse if they don’t want to comply with Beijing’s orders.

The U.S. has called for an outright ban on Huawei but European allies have balked. The European Commission has issued recommendations that call for risk assessments as well as factoring in the legal systems of the countries where 5G suppliers are headquartered.

Huawei’s global cybersecurity and privacy officer, John Suffolk, said the company welcomed the meeting’s “collaborative approach.”

“As the EU continues its deliberations, we firmly believe that any future security principles should be based on verifiable facts and technical data.”

At the meeting in Prague, the cybersecurity officials came mainly from countries that are strategic allies, including European Union member states, the United States and its Asia-Pacific allies including Australia, Japan and South Korea and Singapore. NATO and European Union officials also participated but China and Russia were not present.

Europe has become a key battleground in the war over whether to ban Huawei, with countries gearing up to deploy the new networks, starting with the auction of radio frequencies this year.

elon musk raising investing more money into tesla future

Elon Musk Raising Tesla Again

A week after revealing a huge first quarter loss and the need to raise cash, Tesla is doing just that with CEO Elon Musk buying $10 million in new shares being offered as part of a stock and debt offering that could raise more than $2 billion.

Tesla said Thursday that it’s selling $650 million of common stock and $1.35 billion in convertible senior notes due in 2024 in two separate offerings. The company is giving the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 15% of each offering.

That would add up to about $2.3 billion before discounts and expenses and if the underwriters fully exercise their options.

Last week, Tesla reported its cash balance at the end of the first quarter shrunk by $1.5 billion since December, to $2.2 billion. Musk said during a conference call that Tesla might need to raise capital again.

The offering will give it enough liquidity to pay $566 million in notes that mature in November, plus provide cash to expand distribution of Tesla’s Model 3 in Europe and cover any spending needed from softening demand for all three of Tesla’s models in the U.S., Moody’s Senior Vice President Bruce Clark said Thursday in a statement.

Still, Moody’s kept a negative outlook and B3 rating on Tesla debt. That is six notches below investment grade.

In a March 30 note, the ratings agency wrote that the Model 3, Tesla’s lowest-price model, currently sells for an average of $55,000. To increase sales, the price has to drop toward $42,000, and to make enough money to pay the bills, Tesla has targeted a 25% gross profit margin on the Model 3, Moody’s said. Currently gross profits on a $42,000 Model 3 are “materially” below 25%, according to Moody’s.

“In order to achieve this margin target the company will have to undertake significant reductions in fixed and variable costs associated with the vehicle,” Moody’s wrote. “We expect that it will be a major challenge for Tesla to aggressively increase production/deliveries, shift the product mix toward the $42,000 price level, and simultaneously lower costs enough to achieve the 25% gross margin target.”

The Palo Alto, California-based Tesla lost $702.1 million in the first quarter, among its worst quarters in two years. Sales tumbled 31% in the period. Musk predicted another loss in the second quarter but said Tesla would be profitable again by the third quarter.

The surprisingly large loss followed the company’s first back to back quarters of profitability.

Tesla has lost more than $6 billion since setting out to revolutionize the auto industry. Musk expects that future profits will be driven by rising sales and the arrival of autonomous vehicles dedicated to a new ride-hailing service.

Musk has asked employees to stop leaking information to media outlets and letting them know that one had been fired for doing so.

Shares of Tesla Inc. closed Friday up 4.48% at $255.03.

Donald Trump couldn’t resist calling Putin about Mueller Report, Russian Hoax

Shanka Cheryl
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Donald Trump couldn’t resist calling Putin about Mueller Report, Russian Hoax

Donald Trump couldn’t keep from calling Russia leader Vladimir Putin about Robert Mueller’s report on Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential elections. But the president didn’t mention the meddling and focused more on the “Russian Hoax”
in their first known phone call since the release of the report. Putin chuckled about Mueller’s conclusions, Trump said.

During their conversation on Friday, which the White House and Kremlin said lasted more than an hour, they also discussed a possible three-party arms control pact with China, North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, Ukraine and the crisis in Venezuela, where Moscow is propping up the current government over the U.S.-backed opposition.

“We had a good conversation about many things,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

Trump said the two leaders were considering a new nuclear agreement “where we make less and they make less. And maybe even where we get rid of some of the tremendous firepower that we have right now.” He said they had discussed the possibility of including China in the deal and that China would “very much would like to be a part of” it.

But more interesting, perhaps, was what was left unsaid.

Trump said that, at no point, did he warn Putin not to meddle in the next election. And while he and Putin did discuss Mueller’s findings, they appeared to gloss over Mueller’s description of the extensive efforts Russia took to interfere in the 2016 election, including the 25 Russians indicted for that effort.

“We discussed it,” Trump said of the report. “He actually sort of smiled when he said something to the effect that, ‘It started off as a mountain and it ended up being a mouse,’” Trump said of Putin. “But he knew that because he knew there was no collusion whatsoever. So pretty much that’s what it was.”

Trump has repeatedly declined to publicly rebuff Putin for the 2016 operation. And their latest conversation suggests that Mueller’s findings have done little to persuade Trump of the gravity of the threat of foreign election interference or derail his efforts to forge a closer relationship with Putin.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders later said Trump didn’t tell Putin not to meddle in the 2020 election because he’s made that clear in the past. “He doesn’t need to do that every two seconds,” she said.

Mueller’s report concluded that Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election was “sweeping and systematic.” Ultimately, Mueller’s investigators did not find a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign, but they found multiple contacts. Indeed, the report concluded that “the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.”

Trump has focused only on Mueller’s top-line conclusions, hailing the lack of evidence of a conspiracy as a political win.

Trump tweeted after the call that the two had discussed the “Russian Hoax” among other topics.

“As I have always said, long before the Witch Hunt started, getting along with Russia, China, and everyone is a good thing, not a bad thing,” he wrote.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer slammed Trump for failing to press Putin on the report’s “extensive evidence that Russia hacked our elections,” saying: “Trump’s priorities are appalling and undermine democracy.”

Trump said he and Putin had instead focused on other topics, including the possibility of the new nuclear arms deal between the U.S., Russia and China. He said U.S. officials had broached the idea with the Chinese during ongoing trade talks and that China was “excited about that, maybe even more excited than about trade.” Discussions on a new nuclear deal, he said, would likely begin shortly between the U.S. and Russia, with China potentially added “down the road.”

Trump did not say which arms control agreement he and Putin had discussed, but the Russian state news agency Tass reported that they talked about the New START treaty, the last major arms-control treaty remaining between the U.S. and Russia.

The treaty, which was signed in 2010 and expires in 2021, restricts both the U.S. and Russia to 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads on a maximum of 700 deployed intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic bombers.

“There was a discussion about having — extending the current nuclear agreement — as well as discussions about potentially starting a new one that could include China as well,” Sanders said.

Trump earlier this year announced that he was pulling the U.S. out of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, or INF, a decades-old nuclear arms treaty with Russia. Trump accused Moscow of violating its terms with “impunity” by deploying missiles banned by the pact. Moscow denies violating it and has accused Washington of being in non-compliance.

Trump’s decision to exit the INF treaty reflected his administration’s view that it was an unacceptable obstacle to more forcefully confronting not only Russia but also China. China’s military has grown mightily since that treaty was signed, and the pact had prevented the U.S. from deploying weapons to counter some of those being developed by Beijing.

“The world has moved on from the Cold War and its bilateral arms control treaties that cover limited types of nuclear weapons or only certain ranges of adversary missiles,” national security adviser John Bolton told media outlets last week. “Russia and China must be brought to the table.”

A Kremlin readout of the call said the two presidents confirmed their mutual desire “to intensify dialogue in various fields, including on issues of strategic stability,” but gave no details about a possible arms deal.

Trump said the two also spoke extensively about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un traveled to Russia last week to meet with Putin. Sanders said Trump said several times that it was important for Russia to continue to help put pressure on North Korea to denuclearize.

The statement released by the Kremlin after Friday’s call said Putin stressed that “Pyongyang’s conscientious fulfillment of its obligations should be accompanied by reciprocal steps to reduce sanctions pressure on North Korea.”

On Venezuela, Trump insisted that Putin “is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela, other than he’d like to see something positive happen for Venezuela.” That’s despite the fact that Russia has forged a political, military and economic alliance with Venezuela over many years and is helping to support President Nicolas Maduro’s embattled government.

The U.S. and about 50 other nations take the position that Maduro’s re-election last year was irrevocably marred by fraud and he is not the legitimate president. In January, the administration took the unusual step of recognizing Juan Guaido, the opposition leader of the National Assembly, as interim president.

The Kremlin said that during the call, Putin stressed that only the Venezuelan people have the right to determine the future of their country. The statement said that outside interference in internal affairs and attempts at forceful regime change in Caracas undermine the prospects for a political settlement of the crisis.

Taron Egerton talks ‘Rocketman,’ Elton John and that certain scene

George Cando
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Taron Egerton talks ‘Rocketman,’ Elton John and that certain scene

Actor Taron Egerton has said more than once that portraying Elton John in “Rocketman” is “the greatest joy of my life.” The Welsh actor has earned a lot of early buzz for his musical chops in the movie’s trailers. Naturally, some raised issues of a ‘straight’ man playing gay icon Elton, but everyone seems to be welcoming him with open arms.

Even Elton was impressed that the actor has his own set of conditions before signing on to play him.

tagon egerton playing piano as elton john movie images 2019

“I would not have played this character if: one, I wasn’t allowed to show Elton being a nightmare, because he has been; two, if we weren’t able to explore his drink-and-drug addiction because I don’t think you can tell a story without it; and three, if I didn’t think we could make a film that the gay community would watch and feel a sense of ownership over,” Egerton said. “What right do I have to play Elton John if I am not going to go the same lengths to portray a gay relationship as a gay actor would?”

Sir Elton John gave actor Taron Egerton some unlikely advice for portraying him in “Rocketman”: Don’t do an impression. Sing the songs the way you want.

It was a freeing, if unusual, bit of direction for a project about himself that John had been trying to make for seven years. But it gets to the heart of what “Rocketman,” out May 31, is trying to do: Evoke the essence of John’s life, as told by John, from his childhood to middle age and all the success, tumult and darkness behind all those fantastical costumes, and not give audiences a Wikipedia entry. You won’t even hear John’s voice at all — Egerton performs the songs himself. It’s an unconventional biopic for an unconventional rock star and John, 72, certainly wasn’t going to get in the way of that.

The project itself came together in a roundabout way, after a few years of false starts. At one point, Tom Hardy was actually signed on to star. But it wasn’t until producer Matthew Vaughn — who is friends with John and his husband David Furnish and had convinced John to do a cameo in his “Kingsman” sequel — proposed the idea of Egerton that things really started moving forward.

Director Dexter Fletcher said it was the, “idea of Taron playing Elton that ignited it for me.” He’d worked with the actor before, on “Eddie the Eagle,” and knew he had the vocal chops to do it and the daring to be able to “go there” for an R-rated musical.

In “Rocketman,” there will be rock and roll, drugs, sex, rehab and an exploration of John’s relationship with his then-manager John Reid, who is played by “Game of Thrones” alum Richard Madden. In other words, “Bohemian Rhapsody” this is not.

“It’s where they didn’t dare to go on ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ where they didn’t want to go,” said Fletcher, who was actually the one who finished the Oscar-winning Freddie Mercury biopic after director Bryan Singer exited. “It’s part of Elton’s life. He wears glasses. He plays the piano. He’s gay…I saw it as an opportunity to look at that. It’s responsibly and creatively and respectfully handled and I’m really happy with what we’ve done. I think it might make a difference.”

“Bohemian Rhapsody” was criticized for glossing over Mercury’s sexuality.

For Egerton, 29, the opportunity to play John was a “surreal dream,” if a little daunting.

“I’m a big believer in doing things that scare you and it is intimidating but I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t feel it was a good candidate for the job,” said Egerton. “I always felt that it had the potential to be quite special.”

He plays the music icon from around age 17, when he’s still going by Reginald Dwight, to age 43. To prepare, he trawled YouTube for old clips and acquainted himself with some lesser known songs, but he knew that there was a limit to what he’d be able to glean from the public record, in part because the film shows John at some of his darkest moments, which weren’t exactly happening when the cameras were on. And he found that he learned the most by getting to know John himself.

In fact, Egerton has become good friends with John over the past few years, starting with his “Kingsman” cameo, evolving to their first one-on-one outing for takeaway curry, and culminating into a relationship where they now speak most days.

“He’s great fun,” Egerton said. “He’s a great raconteur and he’s very funny. And he’s very interested in me as well.”

taron egerton shorts in rocketman biopic on elton john images on plane

They even have been known to give each other gifts. John gave Egerton his first diamond earring (which Egerton wears for the rehab scenes) and Egerton, in return, got John’s prescription added to the glitzy glasses he wears in the scene where he’s writing “Your Song.”

“He’s worn them a couple of times since which really touched me,” Egerton said.

As with the singing, Egerton had the freedom to put his own spin and interpretation on things.

“It’s a fantasy creation,” he said. “When you see the film I hope I am recognizable as him. But it’s undeniably me as well.”

It’s worth reiterating that this is not even attempting to be a documentary. As Fletcher says, John is telling his story from memory, and he’s a “slightly unreliable narrator.” So the costumes aren’t carbon copies. He didn’t really levitate on stage at The Troubadour (nor was he clean shaven). And don’t expect to learn any dates (there are none included).

“He is the rocket man. You can’t be pedestrian with your storytelling when you’re making a movie about a rocket man…It’s a little psychedelic, elevated and kooky,” Egerton said.

And while the laws of gravity aren’t necessarily applicable here, there was one rule he set for himself: You will never see him miming any songs. Most of the time, he’s actually even singing in-camera.

Aside from the spectacle of the songs, the heart of the film, for Egerton, is John’s relationship with Bernie Taupin, his longtime lyricist who is played by Jamie Bell.

“It’s a platonic love story between Elton and Bernie,” he said.

He remembers asking John what it was like when he met Taupin.

John told him, “It was like meeting the brother I had never had. It was someone to go to the cinema with,” Egerton said. “It’s like (expletive), you know? There was a time when Elton John had no one to go to the cinema with.”

It’ll be a daunting day, he expects, when John finally sees the final cut, but he and Fletcher are eager for audiences to see it.

“Some things you do for love and some things you do for money,” said Fletcher. “We set out on this to create something that we will love in 50 years’ time.”

Taron Egerton is tight gold lame bulge reveal shorts for Rocketman Elton John.

That Talked About Sex Scene

The sex scene that seems likely to land Elton John biopic “Rocketman” an R-rating is “electric” and has a powerful artistic intention, said star Taron Egerton.

Last month it was reported that Paramount Studios had asked director Dexter Fletcher to remove the scene, which shows John’s first sexual encounter with manager and soon-to-be-lover John Reid, played by Richard Madden. It was said to include “the F-word several times” and “brief rear nudity, and someone snorting cocaine.” Fletcher responded that there had been no such intervention, and the movie would be “the no holds barred, musical fantasy” that everyone involved “passionately support and believe in.”

“I felt Richard’s penis… On my leg,” he said. “We shot a scene where we are both naked on a bed and we are rolling around. I don’t really know how much further we could have gone.

“In the script, this is the scene of Elton losing his virginity and we wanted to try to do that justice,” Egerton told Attitude. “They were falling in love and it’s beautiful because it should be. We didn’t want to play like they were a couple who were eventually going to fall apart. We wanted to play it like two guys in their early twenties who are falling in love and who are incredibly sexually attracted to each other.”

He continued: “The rawness of that experience, the fear of that experience, but also the joy of the experience of Elton’s first kiss … it’s electric, it’s exciting, your stomach is doing somersaults. I treat it with the same love, care and affection I would as if it was my first experience of falling for somebody.”

taron egerton plays elton john in rocketman

Who’s Who In Rocketman

Taron Egerton as Elton John

Taron Egerton rose to fame as Gary “Eggsy” Unwin in the movie ‘Kingsman,’ an adaptation of the graphic novel series ‘The Secret Service.’ John appeared as himself in the 2017 sequel ‘The Golden Circle.’ ‘Rocketman’ is Egerton’s second project with director Dexter Fletcher, having worked together on 2016’s ‘Eddie the Eagle,’ a film about the British ski jumper who became a cult hero at the 1988 Winter Olympics by finishing in last place.

jamie bell plays bernie taupin in rocketman

Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin

Elton John’s lyricist Bernie Taupin is played by Jaime Bell, who had worked with screenwriter Lee Hall previously when he starred as the title character in ‘Billy Elliot.’ Released when Bell was 13, ‘Bllly Elliot’ earned Bell numerous awards, including a BAFTA for Best Actor in a Leading Role and a British Independent Film Award for Best Newcomer. He is currently married to actress Kate Mara.

richard madden plays john reid elton john boyfriend in rocketman

Richard Madden as John Reid

Richard Madden stars as John Reid, Elton John’s boyfriend and manager in the early ’70s. Madden is best known for playing Robb Stark in the first few seasons of ‘Game of Thrones,’ but he has numerous film, theater and television credits to his name. He’s a graduate of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow.

Bryce Dallas Howard as Sheila Farebrother

The daughter of actor and director Ron Howard, Bryce Dallas Howard got her start with bit parts in some of her father’s films, including ‘Apollo 13’ and ‘A Beautiful Mind.’ She had her breakout role in 2004’s ‘The Village,’ and picked up a Golden Globe nomination for ‘As You Like It.’ In ‘Rocketman,’ she plays Sheila Dwight, Elton John’s mother.

Director Dexter Fletcher

After spending the previous 35 years as an actor, Dexter Fletcher moved behind the camera to direct 2011’s ‘Wild Bill,’ which he also wrote and appeared in. Fletcher made headlines on this site in 2017 when he was brought in to replace Bryan Singer as the director of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ with which he had originally been linked.

justin timberlake tom hardy offered elton john reocketman role

Justin Timberlake and Tom Hardy Have Been Linked With the Starring Role

When Elton John discussed the movie in 2012, he said he wanted Justin Timberlake to star in it because he had done it so well before, in the video for 2001’s “That Train Don’t Stop Here Anymore.” Then, in 2013, Tom Hardy, who played Bane in ‘The Dark Knight Rises,’ signed on to the project. But he left when he realized that he was not up to the vocal demands of the job.

Julian Assange US extradition battle begins

Jeffrey Lang
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Julian Assange US extradition battle begins

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump couldn’t get enough of Julian Assange’s WikiLeaks, but after he was ousted from safety at a London embassy, the president seems to have trouble recalling who he is. The WikiLeaks co-founder is now in the fight of his life trying to keep the United States from being able to extradite him.

A defiant Julian Assange told a London court Thursday he will fight extradition to the United States to face charges of conspiring to hack into a Pentagon computer, arguing that his work as WikiLeaks founder has benefited the public.

Speaking by video link from Belmarsh Prison in southeast London, Assange said: “I do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many awards and protected many people.”

His formal refusal to be extradited marks the start of what is expected to be a bruising legal battle over whether he will be brought to trial in the United States.

Assange, wearing jeans and a sports jacket, appeared calm during the brief hearing at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Some of his supporters who couldn’t get seats in the small courtroom chanted support for Assange from the hallways, shouting “Shame on you” at the judge.

Judge Michael Snow said it would likely be “many months” before a full hearing was held on the substance of the U.S. extradition case. The judge set a procedural hearing for May 30, with a substantive hearing to follow on June 12 once a full U.S. extradition request has been received and studied by Assange’s lawyers.

Legal experts predict it will likely take 18 months or longer to resolve the case, with each side able to make several appeals of unfavorable rulings.

In a separate case, the 47-year-old Australian was sentenced Wednesday to 50 weeks in prison in the U.K. for jumping bail in 2012 and holing up in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. At the time, he was facing extradition to Sweden for questioning over rape and sexual assault allegations made by two women.

defenders of julian assange protest us wanting him

That extradition request is no longer active, but Swedish officials say the rape investigation may be revived now that Assange is no longer out of reach in the Ecuadorian Embassy.

Assange says he sought asylum in the embassy because he feared being sent to the U.S. to face charges related to WikiLeaks’ publication of classified U.S. military documents.

U.S. authorities accuse Assange of scheming with former Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to break a password for a classified government computer.

Manning served several years in prison for leaking classified documents to WikiLeaks. She was jailed again in March after refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating the secret-spilling organization.

Ben Brandon, a lawyer representing the U.S. government, said in court Thursday that U.S. investigators had obtained details of chatroom communications between Manning and Assange in 2010. Brandon said the pair had “engaged in real-time discussions regarding Chelsea Manning’s dissemination of confidential records to Mr. Assange.”

He said the documents allegedly downloaded from a classified U.S. computer included 90,000 activity reports from the war in Afghanistan, 400,000 Iraq war-related reports, 800 Guantanamo Bay detainee assessments and 250,000 State Department cables.

The U.S. charge against Assange carries a maximum five-year prison sentence, but Assange is worried the U.S. could add further, more serious allegations against him.

“The fight has just begun. It will be a long one and a hard one,” said WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson, who claimed Assange was being held in “appalling” conditions at Belmarsh Prison.

He said Assange was confined to his cell 23 hours a day, “what we call in general terms solitary confinement.”

A few dozen WikiLeaks supporters holding signs reading “Free Assange” and “No extradition” gathered outside the London courthouse before Thursday’s hearing.

Some who had waited for two hours hoping to get in were bitterly disappointed when those seats were filled by journalists and lawyers. They shouted angrily at court staff and complained they were being discriminated against for backing Assange. Some later blocked a busy main road outside the court, bringing traffic to a halt.

Assange was arrested last month in London after his relationship with his embassy hosts went sour and Ecuador revoked his political asylum.

Facebook silences extremists Alex Jones, Louis Farrakhan, Milo Yiannopoulos

Jeffrey Lang
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Facebook silences extremists Alex Jones, Louis Farrakhan, Milo Yiannopoulos

Facebook has been saying that they would be cracking down on extremist groups and hate speech, and on Thursday they took a bold step by banning accounts from Louis Farrakhan, Alex Jones, and other extremists, saying they violated its ban against hate and violence. There has been plenty of pressure to step up actions, but Mark Zuckerberg’s social media giant was afraid of stepping on First Amendment rights.

The company also banned right-wing leaders Paul Nehlen, Milo Yiannopoulos, Paul Joseph Watson and Laura Loomer, along with Jones’ site, Infowars. The latest bans apply to both Facebook’s main service and to Instagram and extend to fan pages and other related accounts.

Decried as censorship by several of those who got the ax, the move signals a renewed effort by the social media giant to remove objectionable material — and individuals — promoting hate, racism and anti-Semitism.

Removing some of the best-known figures of the U.S. political extreme takes away an important virtual megaphone that Facebook has provided the likes of Jones, Yiannopoulos and others over the years.

Critics praised the move, but said there is more to be done on both Facebook and Instagram.

“We know that there are still white supremacists and other extremist figures who are actively using both platforms to spread their hatred and bigotry,” said Keegan Hankes, senior research analyst for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups in the U.S.

Dipayan Ghosh, a former Facebook executive and an internet policy expert at Harvard, said the ban isn’t a “big step” — just enforcement of Facebook’s existing policy.

“There will always be more purveyors of hate speech that try to come on these platforms,” he said. “Will advocates have to push year after year just to get (a handful of) individuals off? At this rate it seems likely. And this doesn’t address the problem of what happens at the margins.”

Facebook has previously suspended Jones from its flagship service temporarily; this suspension is permanent and includes Instagram.

Facebook says the newly banned accounts violated its policy against dangerous individuals and organizations. The company says it has “always banned” people or groups that proclaim a violent or hateful mission or are engaged in acts of hate or violence, regardless of political ideology.

For years, social media companies have been under pressure from civil rights groups and other activists to clamp down on hate speech on their services. Following the deadly white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, South Carolina, in 2017, Google, Facebook and PayPal began banishing extremist groups and individuals who identified as or supported white supremacists.

A year later, widespread bans of Jones and Infowars reflected a more aggressive enforcement of policies against hate speech. But Facebook instituted only a 30-day suspension (though Twitter banned him permanently).

It is not clear what events led to Thursday’s announcement. In a statement, Facebook merely said, “The process for evaluating potential violators is extensive and it is what led us to our decision to remove these accounts today.”

Facebook has been under heavy pressure to rid its service of hate and extremist content. Last month, it extended its ban on hate speech to prohibit the promotion and support of white nationalism and white separatism. It had previously allowed such material even though it has long banned white supremacists.

Asked to comment on the bans, Yiannopoulos emailed only “You’re next.”

Jones reacted angrily Thursday during a live stream of his show on his Infowars website.

“They didn’t just ban me. They just defamed us. Why did Zuckerberg even do this?” Jones said, referring to Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Jones called himself a victim of “racketeering” by “cartels.”

“There’s a new world now, man, where they’re banning everybody and then they tell Congress nobody is getting banned,” he said.

Watson, meanwhile, tweeted that he was not given a reason and that he “broke none of their rules.”

“Hopefully, other prominent conservatives will speak out about me being banned, knowing that they are next if we don’t pressure the Trump administration to take action,” he wrote.

Farrakhan, Nehlen and Loomer did not immediately return messages for comment.

Harvard’s Ghosh said kicking off individuals with big followings, such as Jones, goes against Facebook’s commercial interest.

“As soon as they kick Alex Jones or Laura Loomer off their platform, it immediately ticks of a huge number of people,” he said.

Summer 2019 will be a horror fest: Chucky, Annabelle, ‘Ma’ plus zombies, of course

George Cando
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Summer 2019 will be a horror fest: Chucky, Annabelle, ‘Ma’ plus zombies, of course

Summer is normally reserved for four-quadrant action films and comedies, but 2019 will be bringing in the horror, slashers and bloody fun. We expect this in the fall, but it looks like America will get to escape the horror of the world only to find it in the theaters. At least Chucky and Annabelle are more fun to deal with plus I love watching horror with a bunch of strangers in a theater.

Jim Jarmusch only had to look around the streets of any city in America to find a new kind of zombie.

“I see a lot of soulless ghouls on the streets at night walking along staring into their phone and they don’t even know they’re in the world anymore,” says the director. “Sometimes I just want to shove them out of the way like, ‘Wake up! Get off your screen!’”

Since Jarmusch’s “The Dead Don’t Die” (June 14), a zombie comedy starring Bill Murray, Adam Driver and Tilda Swinton, was first announced, excitement has steadily grown for what one of cinema’s most deadpan auteurs — himself a devoted creature of the night — might be up to with horror’s slobbering standbys. For Jarmusch, telling a story about today inevitably led him to stumbling, inarticulate ghouls, and to George Romero.

“In the past, zombies were like Haitian voodoo entities that you could control and have them do your bidding. But in George Romero, zombies are uncontrollable and a problem,” Jarmusch said in a recent interview. “They’re not monsters attacking society from outside it. They’re from inside the social structure that has somehow failed or is collapsing.”

Collapsing social structures haven’t been great for, well, the world. But they have been a boon to the horror film. And this summer movie season — usually a sunny time of air-conditioned escapism in theaters — is, fittingly, teaming with demons, serial killers and possessed dolls.

Jarmusch’s film is a more comic post-modern riff on the genre; Adam Driver’s character, Jarmusch notes, knows he’s in a movie. But more than ever, Hollywood’s summer is turning darker, more disturbed and scarier.

“Now, along with the theatrical experience changing, the summer is changing,” says Guillermo del Toro. “When you have a massive, massive overload of action, superhero movies, it’s great to counter that.”

Del Toro, the modern don of horror who stretched the genre in new, fantastical directions in “Pan’s Labyrinth” and “The Devil’s Backbone,” produced “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” (Aug. 9). The film, directed by André Øvredal, adapts Alvin Schwartz’s celebrated campfire tales, stitching together a single, slinky narrative.

“Horror always connects with the social anxiety. It’s always alive,” says del Toro. “And right now, there’s a great awareness of its social implications, and I find that exciting.”

The summer blockbuster, of course, was born with the sound of screams echoing through packed movie houses. Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” ushered in the era of mass-release, heavily marketed summer thrills. But the season, built on the lucrative opportunity of kids out of school for months, came to be swamped by superheroes and cartoons and the occasional monster movie.

That began to change with releases like Warner Bros.′ “The Conjuring” and Blumhouse Productions’ “The Purge,” R-rated films that made profitable inroads for horror in the summer of 2013. While studios have often gravitated toward the less primetime months on the movie calendar for horror releases, box-office hits like “It,” ″Halloween” and Jordan Peele’s landmark “Get Out,” along with his hit follow-up “Us,” have proven the genre’s ability to attract mainstream audiences — and usually on a much skimpier budget.

“People are more open to releasing horror in the summer for sure,” says Jason Blum, the producer and founder of Blumhouse. “The reason it’s traditionally not been is because it’s more expensive to release a scary movie in the summer. And people have tended to look at scary movies as singles and doubles and you shouldn’t go for singles and doubles in the summer. But recently, these movies have been much more than singles or doubles.”

Nothing this season captures the new order like the brashly scheduled release of Orion Pictures’ “Child’s Play” reboot (June 21) opposite Pixar’s “Toy Story 4.” The film, in which Mark Hamill (the original summer movie hero) voices the homicidal doll Chucky, on Tuesday released a poster featuring what appears to be Chucky walking away from the mangled body of Sheriff Woody.

octabia spencer horror movie ma 2019

On Memorial Day weekend, traditionally the marquee weekend for the summer movie season, Blumhouse will release “Ma” against “Godzilla: King of the Monsters” and the Elton John biopic “Rocketman.” Blum compares “Ma,” starring Octavia Spencer and directed by Tate Taylor (“The Help”), to the Stephen King adaptation “Misery,” with Kathy Bates.

“The kinds of movies we want to go see in a movie theater are narrowing,” says Blum. “The collective theater-going experience is being redefined. What we’re finding is clearly superhero movies people want to see together in a theater, and horror movies people want to see together in a theater.”

Sony’s superhero horror film “Brightburn” (May 24) hopes to attract fans of both genres. Produced by James Gunn (“Guardians of the Galaxy”), the film has a “Superman”-like set-up before taking a menacing turn: an alien child with powers crash lands on Earth but turns out to be, to put it mildly, a handful for his adoptive parents (Elizabeth Banks, David Denman).

Banks says that “Brightburn,” a dark parenting parable, was for her a way to examine “our hero worship in a new light.”

“For a long time there was this great trust in institutions and in people. If an alien comes from outer space, let’s assume the best! Let’s hope they’re a gift from heaven!” says Banks. “Now, more and more there’s so much distrust of people and supposed heroes. So many of our quote ‘heroes,’ especially the men who have been perceived heroic in the world, there’s a curtain being pulled back on so much bad behavior.”

annabelle comes home sequel horror film 2019

“Also on the way are “Conjuring” spinoff “Annabelle Comes Home” (June 28), “Crawl” (July 12), “Brahms: The Boy II” (July 26) and “47 Meters Down: Uncaged” (Aug. 16). Netflix, which has claimed last year’s “Bird Box” drew tens of millions of viewers on the streaming platform, is also in the mix with “The Perfection” (May 24), staring “Get Out” and “Girls” star Allison Williams as troubled musical prodigy.

jack reynor florence pugh in midsommar horror movie

But for many, the most anticipated — or, in a good way, dreaded — release of the summer will be “Midsommar” (July 3), Ari Aster’s follow-up to his 2018 breakthrough, “Hereditary.” Wildly hailed as the scariest movie in years, “Hereditary” (released last June) summoned a steadily-mounting frenzy from the transmissible terrors of a multi-generational family. Its distributor, A24, even charted heart rates from moviegoers, revealing ever-larger graphical mountains of dread.

Aster cautions that “Midsommar” isn’t “Hereditary.” ″It’s something different,” he says, that almost belongs to a separate genre. “Really, I see the film as being much more of a dark adult fairy tale.”

The filmmaker has been quoted as calling its story of an American couple (Florence Pugh, Jack Reynor) visiting a strange and remote Swedish festival “a ‘Wizard of Oz’ for perverts.’” But he says the better corollary is “Alice in Wonderland.” Like “Hereditary,” it tells a personal story through the demands of genre. If “Hereditary” was about family, “Midsommar” is a break-up movie. Aster wrote it four years ago after the end of a relationship.

In the slow-burning “Midsommar,” a sunny summer holiday turns sinister. “It’s a vacation movie,” laughs Aster. He believes moviegoers get a kind of catharsis from a good scare.

“Right now, I think people are feeling particularly fatalistic and defeatist. I feel that way too,” he says. “There’s some comfort in going to a theater and electing to watch s— hit the fan as opposed to just sitting helplessly in your own life and watching everything fall apart. There’s maybe power in dishing out the $15 to have it happen.”

Donald Trump couldn’t have built a better Attorney General than William Barr

Shanka Cheryl
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0
Donald Trump couldn’t have built a better Attorney General than William Barr

Donald Trump couldn’t have ordered up a better U.S. Attorney General model than William Barr. Not for America, of course, just himself.

He’s not the blustery style of people the president likes to surround himself with, which makes him all the more ideal. He’s methodical, goes along with Trump’s every whim and knows how to push the law to the extreme.

Anyone who took a civics class (yes, they used to exist in American schools) knows that the Attorney General works for the citizens of America (we are paying his salary), but Barr can’t stop slipping into being an advocate for only one person. He adopted Trump’s “collusion” and “spy” verbiage while continually letting the Senate know that the president was in the clear, case closed.

Attorney General William Barr is sparring with congressional Democrats, defending Trump’s efforts to shut down the Russia probe and painting a sanitized picture of the president’s conduct in special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.

The performance received a warm Twitter reception from Trump, who has not been shy about wanting loyalty in his attorney general.

A look at Barr’s rhetoric on the Russia investigation.

DEFENDING DONALD TRUMP

Barr has been a fierce advocate for Trump on the question of obstruction.

In explaining his decision that Trump didn’t commit a crime, Barr said he was swayed by how the president was “falsely accused” in the Russia investigation. According to Barr, Trump couldn’t have obstructed justice because he wasn’t concealing an underlying crime.

During testimony Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Barr said the president could have legally ended the Russia probe at any time.

“If it was a groundless proceeding, if it was based on false allegations, the president does not have to sit there, constitutionally, and allow it run its course,” Barr said. “The president could terminate that proceeding.”

Barr also gave Trump an out on publicly threatening his former aides not to “flip.”

Citing what he believed “the president’s lawyers would say,” Barr said what Trump meant by “flipping” is “succumbing to pressure on unrelated cases to lie” in exchange for leniency.

Discouraging in “that sense is not obstruction, he said.

CRITIQUING ROBERT MUELLER

At his confirmation hearing, Barr spoke about his closeness with Mueller, praised him as “straight shooter” and said the Barrs and the Muellers are “good friends” and would be when “all this is over.” But since taking over the Justice Department, that relationship appears to have frayed.

Referring to a letter Mueller sent him complaining about his handling of the Russia report, Barr called it “snitty.” The special counsel’s work ended upon submission of the report, he said.

“At that point, it was my baby,” Barr said, adding: “It was my decision how and when to make it public, not Bob Mueller’s.”

Barr also expressed frustration that Mueller chose to lay out evidence on both sides on the question of obstruction, rather than making a clean decision.

“I think that if he felt that he shouldn’t go down the path of making a traditional prosecutorial decision then he shouldn’t have investigated,” Barr said. “That was the time to pull up.”

PRAISING A ‘FULLY’ COOPERATIVE WHITE HOUSE

It’s true the White House allowed Mueller to interview dozens of officials, including White House counsel Don McGahn. The campaign also turned over 1.4 million pages of documents. In announcing the Mueller report, Barr went even further, saying Trump took “no act” that “deprived the special counsel of the documents and witnesses necessary to complete his investigation.” On Wednesday, Barr told lawmakers he believes Trump “fully cooperated.”

But Barr left out that Trump refused to sit for an interview and instead provided written responses, many of which involved the president saying he couldn’t recall specific details. Pressed by lawmakers about the lack of a presidential interview, Barr placed the blame on Mueller, not Trump.

The special counsel’s team found Trump’s written answers lacking, but Barr quipped of Mueller: “Well, he never pushed it.”

NOT THE LYING POLICE

Mueller’s report lays out several instances in which people around the president refused to carry out his orders because they felt they weren’t right or would require them to lie. One such instance occurred with McGahn.

In January 2018, the New York Times reported that Trump had directed McGahn to have Mueller fired, and McGahn had threatened to resign rather than carry out the order. After the story was published, Trump repeatedly directed McGahn to deny it, but McGahn said it was largely accurate. Trump had indeed ordered him to call the Justice Department and try to have Mueller removed, McGahn said, though he noted that some of the details in the story weren’t right.

According to Mueller’s report, Trump argued that he had just asked McGahn to raise the issue of whether Mueller had a conflict of interest with Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and leave it to him to decide. But McGahn said that wasn’t what happened, an account he backed up with contemporaneous notes.

Under questioning about the president’s conduct, Barr said he didn’t think it amounted to obstruction because Trump “truly felt” the Times story was inaccurate. And he said trying to get a lawyer to change his story to avoid public criticism isn’t a crime.

“I am not in the business of determining when lies are told to the American people,” Barr said. “I am in the business of determining whether a crime has been committed.”

NO COLLUSION, NO COLLUSION

When he released the Mueller report, Barr stressed several times that the special counsel found no criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. On Wednesday, Barr noted that as Trump “said from the beginning, there was in fact no collusion.”

The comments went beyond Mueller’s careful language.

Mueller wrote that he “did not establish” a criminal conspiracy between the campaign and the Russian government but found that the “campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.” The report also contained a caveat.

“A statement that the investigation did not establish particular facts does not mean there was no evidence of those facts,” Mueller wrote.

william barr in donald trumps image as us attorney general

Fact vs Trump Barr Fictions

President Donald Trump and his team are still twisting the findings of the special counsel’s report on the Russia investigation.

At a Senate hearing Wednesday, Attorney General William Barr echoed Trump’s refrain of “no collusion” between the Trump campaign and Russia, insisting that any and all allegations of collusion have been “proven false.” That’s not the case.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham also got it wrong when he asserted that special counsel Robert Mueller had asked Barr to make a ruling on whether Trump obstructed justice.

Collusion, Obstruction Tweets

TRUMP: “NO COLLUSION, NO OBSTRUCTION.” — tweet Wednesday.

BARR: “The evidence is now that the president was falsely accused of colluding with the Russians and accused of being treasonous. …Two years of his administration have been dominated by allegations that have now been proven false.” — Senate hearing Wednesday.

GRAHAM, Republican senator from South Carolina: “Mr. Mueller and his team concluded there was no collusion.” — Senate hearing.

THE FACTS: Allegations of “collusion” were not “proven false” in the Mueller investigation, nor was the issue of “collusion” addressed in the report.

The Mueller report said the investigation did not find a criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia, saying it had not collected sufficient evidence “to establish” or sustain criminal charges.

The report noted that some Trump campaign officials had declined to testify under the 5th Amendment or had provided false or incomplete testimony, making it difficult to get a complete picture of what happened during the 2016 campaign. The special counsel wrote that he “cannot rule out the possibility” that unavailable information could have cast a different light on the investigation’s findings.

The report also makes clear the investigation did not assess whether “collusion” occurred because it is not a legal term. The investigation found multiple contacts between the Trump campaign and Russia, and the report said it established that “the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts.”

Lindsey Graham’s Obstruction

GRAHAM: “As to obstruction of justice, Mr. Mueller left it to Mr. Barr to decide after two years, and all this time. He said, ‘Mr. Barr, you decide.’ Mr. Barr did.” — Senate hearing.

THE FACTS: Not true. Mueller did not ask Barr to rule on whether Trump’s efforts to undermine the special counsel’s Russia investigation had obstructed justice.

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

As a result, the report factually laid out instances in which Trump might have obstructed justice, specifically leaving it open for Congress to take up the matter or for prosecutors to do so once Trump leaves office.

Barr wrote in a March 24 letter that ultimately he decided as attorney general that the evidence developed by Mueller was “not sufficient” to establish, for the purposes of prosecution, that Trump committed obstruction of justice.

Barr subsequently acknowledged that he had not talked directly to Mueller about making that ruling and did not know if Mueller agreed with him.

CORRECTION NOTE: The word ‘build’ in the title of the article was changed to ‘built’ as a correction in tense. Thank you to the rage-filled professor who sent quite the rant filled e-mail about that. We appreciate the attention.

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