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☆ Opinion: The time North Korea entrapped an 85-year-old American tourist
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Opinion Mike Chinoy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +13 min

CNN —In October 2013, an 85-year-old American tourist, Korean War veteran Merrill Newman, was taken off his Air Koryo plane as he waited to leave Pyongyang after a week-long tourist trip to North Korea and detained. No one — his family, the State Department, the media — had any idea why, and the North Koreans initially said nothing. North Korea has so far said nothing about the incident, which comes amid a spike in tensions between Pyongyang, Washington and Seoul. American tourist and Korean War veteran Merrill Newman arrives at Beijing airport on December 7, 2013, after being released by North Korea. Over the decades, a handful of serving American soldiers have defected and been allowed to live in North Korea.

Persons: Mike Chinoy, Read, CNN —, Merrill Newman, —, Mike Chinoy Mike Chinoy, Newman, Travis King, darted, ” —, “, ” Newman, ”, “ I’ll, …, Mike Chinoy “, ‘, ’, It’s, Merrill Newman “ I’d, They’ve, Karl, Olof Andersson, Merrill, Andersson, Kim Jong, ” Merrill Newman, Lee Organizations: University of Southern, China Institute, Beijing Bureau, Senior Asia, CNN, Koryo, State Department, North, Communist Korean, Palo, Joint Security Area, Kyodo, DPRK, Korean People’s, Socialist DPRK, ”, Korean, North Koreans, Koreans, Twitter, Facebook Locations: University of Southern California’s US, Beijing, North Korea, Pyongyang, Kuwol, Korean, Palo Alto California, North, South Korea, Korea, Washington, Seoul, American, Korean People’s Army, DPRK, USA, North Koreans, Merrill, North Korea's, KCNA, North Korean, Swedish

☆ Fact Check-Video of Joe Biden whispering an inappropriate remark to a baby is altered
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-19 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A clip showing U.S. President Joe Biden whispering an inappropriate remark to a child is digitally altered. No such remark can be heard in the original video. Don’t tell mommy what I told you.”Examples of the altered clip can be seen (here) and (here). The clip is edited, and the original video was uploaded by the baby’s mother on June 9, 2023 (ghostarchive.org/archive/SW0EU). No such comment can be heard in the original video.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, “, ”, Read Organizations: Reuters Locations: Fort Liberty , North Carolina

Wait times for rides and attractions at both resorts have shortened, according to analysts who track theme park attendance. Disney CEO Bob Iger attributed Disney World’s recent decline in wait times to an overall slump in Central Florida tourism. Iger told CNBC he did not have “long-term concerns” about Disney’s theme parks. For Universal’s Florida parks, every month since March has seen lower average wait times, according to the site. Pareti said she spends between four and six days per week at Disney’s parks and visits Universal parks, as well.

Persons: Los Angeles CNN —, Walt, Universal Orlando parkgoers, Bob Iger, ”, Iger, Shorter, July’s, Don Munsil, he’s, Munsil, “, Kayla Pareti, Mickey Travels, Mickey, You’re, Pareti, she’s, “ Don’t, it’s, Comcast’s, Disney’s, That’s, Ron DeSantis, DeSantis, Pete Werner, Christine McCarthy, ” Werner, It’s, Disney Organizations: Los Angeles CNN, Central, Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando, Disney, CNBC, CNN, Universal, Disney’s, Universal Studios, Disney’s Hollywood Studios, Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney Company, Comcast, UBS, DIS Universal, Republican, NAACP, Human Rights, League of United Latin American, Walt Disney, Disney Cruise Locations: Florida, Central Florida, “ Florida, Disney’s Florida, Universal Studios Florida, Bay Lake , Florida, Orange County, Orlando

☆ Fact Check-Video of Biden loudly ‘sniffing’ a baby is digitally edited
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-10 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

A video of U.S. President Joe Biden interacting with a mother and her baby has been digitally altered to add loud sniffing sounds. No such sound can be heard in the original clip. The clip has been taken from a longer video showing Biden interacting with a mother and her baby. The original video, recorded by the baby’s mother, was shared on TikTok on June 9, 2023. Sound of sniffing has been added to video of Biden interacting with a mother and baby.

Persons: Joe Biden, Biden, “, Read Organizations: Reuters Locations: TikTok, North Carolina

☆ Jabeur says meeting Beckham inspired her to play well
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Tennis - Wimbledon - All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, Britain - July 7, 2023 Tunisia's Ons Jabeur celebrates winning her second round match against China's Zhuoxuan Bai REUTERS/Hannah MckayJuly 7 (Reuters) - Last year's Wimbledon runner-up Ons Jabeur was full of praise for former England midfielder David Beckham after their meeting this week, saying the encounter inspired her to play well. loadingJabeur made quick work of Chinese qualifier Bai Zhuoxuan with a 6-1 6-1 victory in 45 minutes to move into the third round at Wimbledon on Friday. Jabeur received a hug from Beckham, and the Tunisian sixth seed hinted that she might have enjoyed that moment more than the triumph against Bai. 'Don’t tell my husband that but yes, I did enjoy that hug, and the very nice conversation with him," she said. Jabeur added that they discussed various topics such as football and tennis in general.

Persons: China's Zhuoxuan Bai, Hannah Mckay, David Beckham, Bai Zhuoxuan, Jabeur, Beckham, Bai, Tommy Lund, Ken Ferris Organizations: Lawn Tennis, Croquet Club, Jabeur, Wimbledon, Thomson Locations: London, Britain, Tunisian, U.S, Gdansk

☆ Clarence Thomas: Appellate judge defends justice in new book, rejects 'pot shots' at Supreme Court
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-25 | by ( Ariane De Vogue | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

CNN —A federal appeals court judge previously on short lists for the Supreme Court is taking the rare step to broadly and publicly reject allegations that Justice Clarence Thomas has been improperly influenced by lavish gifts provided by a conservative billionaire, dismissing “pot shots” at the Supreme Court in general. Thapar this past week released a new book about Thomas entitled “The People’s Justice,” in which he explores the justice’s favored judicial philosophy of originalism. “You can judge their works, and what they do, against what they’ve done in the past,” Thapar told CNN. Ethics and financial disclosuresThapar rejects suggestions that Thomas should have disclosed the hospitality provided by Crow on annual financial disclosure forms. They have called Justice Thomas ‘the cruelest justice,’ ‘stupid,’ and even an ‘Uncle Tom’ a traitor to his race,” Thapar writes.

Persons: Clarence Thomas, Amul Thapar, Thapar, Thomas, originalism, Thomas ’, Thomas ’ originalism, Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, Harlan Crow’s, ” Thapar, Ginni, Crow, ” Virginia Canter, ” “, ” Canter, hadn’t, “, –, ”, Thomas’s, Thomas ‘, ’, Tom ’, Elizabeth Wydra, ” Wydra Organizations: CNN, Eastern, Eastern District of, ProPublica, Citizens, Crow, Administrative, Center Locations: Cincinnati, Eastern District, Eastern District of Kentucky, Washington

☆ European tourist island declares itself a phone-free zone
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Amaya Mcdonald | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —As summer approaches and tourism season begins, social media users will struggle to answer the age-old question: If you didn’t post about your vacation, did you really even go? Though it may be difficult for some to resist work emails and updating social media during vacation, the island of Ulko-Tammio in Finland is urging visitors to ignore their screens and enjoy nature. “The island of Ulko-Tammio, which is located off the coast of Hamina, will be a phone-free area this summer,” Mats Selin, an expert in island tourism at Visit Kotka-Hamina, said in a news release. However, the staff of Parks & Wildlife Finland, the company that manages the island, hopes that the campaign translates to tourists unplugging and engaging with the flora, fauna and fellow visitors. “We spend countless hours scrolling our social media feeds, so taking a short break from them means you have more time for new experiences.”Visitors can spend their phone-free nights on the island in tents or in a cabin maintained by Parks & Wildlife Finland.

Persons: that’s, “, ” Mats Selin, ” Sari Castrén Organizations: CNN, Nordic, Nokia, Parks & Wildlife, Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare Locations: Ulko, Tammio, Finland, Eastern Gulf of Finland, Hamina, Parks & Wildlife Finland, Eastern Gulf

One is about the possibility that we’re going to have this super intelligent AI that’s capable of great destruction. casey newtonI think that’s right. But it’s just like — I don’t think — I don’t think about to do these things in the moment like Dan. I don’t think that there’s an ethical issue with doing what he wants to do. And yeah, I just think it’s going into an area that’s going to be uncomfortable for the friend.

Persons: kevin roose, casey newton, we’re, ” casey newton I’ve, kevin roose It’s, Kevin Roose, ” casey newton, Casey Newton, clowned, New York Times ’, Kate Conger, Casey, Ajeya Cotra, kevin roose Totally, Sam Altman, Demis Hassabis, Dario Amodei, Elon Musk, Steve Wozniak, They’re, Kevin, Dan Hendricks who’s, “, “ I’m, don’t, you’re, I’m, — casey newton, it’s, ChatGPT, casey newton I’m, I’ve, Martinez, Varghese, kevin roose Tyler, —, Steven A, Schwartz, ”, they’re, it’ll, there’s, Mr, Bean, We’ve, James Vincent, It’s, Jensen Huang, Harry Potter, Harry Potter of, kevin roose —, casey newton Parallelelizable, Parallelizable, — casey newton Let’s, that’s, who’s, NVIDIA —, casey newton Well, doesn’t, katie cogner, Kate Conger who’s, katie cogner Hi, katie cogner I’m, Dan, what’s, Getty, casey newton Kate, let’s, John, Here’s John, john, kevin roose That’s, Kate, he’s, He’s, he’ll, casey newton That’s, There’s, we’ve, “ I’ve, ” Kate, cogner, Prince Harry, katie cogner Doesn’t, Harry, casey newton We’re, We’re, kevin roose Kate, they’ve, Joni Mitchell, Chris Vecchio, Chris, kevin roose I’m, You’d, casey newton “, you’ll, casey newton Oh, ” kevin roose Organizations: The New York Times, NVIDIA, New York Times, Safety, Google, AI, ChatGPT, Avianca Airlines, Delta Airlines, China Southern Airlines, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Royal Dutch Airlines, “, Bar Association, Texas, M University Commerce, Apple, Microsoft, Netflix, Harry Potter of Kentucky Christian, Facebook, eBay, “ New York Times, Boston, Garden, MetLife, TED, AIs Locations: British, Avianca, Durden, ChatGPT, Taiwan, Kentucky, Hogwarts, Harry Potter of Kentucky, California, Madison, —

☆ Opinion | If You’re Reading This, You’re Probably ‘WEIRD’
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( The Ezra Klein Show | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +83 min

You’re probably very weird, and not just for all the obvious reasons you’re thinking of. Because, obviously, there’s going to be some overlap in the curve here. How you’re going to behave with your professor is quite different than how you’re going to behave with your friends. But it’s really kind of faceless, and you’re not really helping anybody you know. I think things are dynamic, and directions are changing, and that sort of thing.

☆ Arnold Schwarzenegger says his ‘I’ll be back’ tagline was an ‘accident’… thanks partially to James Cameron
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Dan Heching | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Tuesday, Schwarzenegger recalled how his line of dialogue in the film in which he utters “I’ll be back” was an “accident,” stemming from a disagreement he had with his director James Cameron. “Jim Cameron and I were debating how to say the line because I was not comfortable with saying ‘I’ll,’” the former California governor reminisced. “I said, ‘I think it’s stronger to say, “I will be back.”’ Cameron said, ‘Are you the scriptwriter now? This guy comes up and says, ‘Say the line!’” Schwarzenegger continued. ‘The Terminator’ was largely responsible for my success, so I always would look at it very fondly.

☆ Listen to the Mother of All Playlists
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

Listen along on Spotify as you read. Kacey Musgraves: “Mother”The shortest, sparsest song on Kacey Musgraves’s 2018 album, “Golden Hour,” is also the most emotionally piercing. “I’m just sitting here, thinking ’bout the time that’s slipping and missing my mother,” the country renegade sings with heartbreaking plaintiveness, before zooming out a generation and imagining that her own mother is probably doing the same. Musgraves has said that “Mother” is one of the “Golden Hour” songs she wrote while tripping on LSD — but don’t tell her mom that part. Merle Haggard: “Mama Tried”“Instead of life in prison I was doing one-to-15 years,” Merle Haggard once admitted of the slight embellishment as to how he spent his 21st birthday in one of his most famous (and semi-autobiographical) songs.

☆ Jeremy Renner is sharing an update on his recovery
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-05 | by ( Marianne Garvey | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

CNN —Jeremy Renner is exercising like a champ following a snowplow accident that nearly killed him. He recently shared an update on his recovery in an Instagram video, where he is using his legs to work out. Renner captioned the video, “UPDATE: I’ve decided to push through the pain of progress (this damn shattered tibia) and take the new parts for a tiny test drive. He has been documenting his recovery process, which includes an anti-gravity treadmill and a bone growth stimulator. !”Renner appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” recently, where he detailed the accident.

☆ My Dead Father Had a Secret. Do I Tell Our Family?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-03 | by ( Kwame Anthony Appiah | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +3 min

If you are your father’s legal representative, you can also apply for a “discharge upgrade.” But the terms of your father’s separation don’t tell you much about him. Perhaps he was bisexual; he had a long marriage with your mother — and there’s the child he had while stationed in England. Because you’ll probably never have decisive evidence about his sexuality, the only sure thing you can tell your siblings is what’s written on that paperwork. Not knowing your mother, I won’t second guess your decision to not tell her. My partner texted the woman to ask if she was OK or needed help, but she brushed it off.

☆ Serena Williams and Karlie Kloss debut pregnancies in style on the Met Gala red carpet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —The Met Gala is an evening of style, glamour and… baby news. In a pair of stylish debuts, tennis world champ Serena Williams and model and entrepreneur Karlie Kloss both stepped on to the Met Gala red carpet on Monday in New York City sporting very special accessories: babies on the way. “There’s three of us here,” Wiliams told Lala Anthony during Vogue’s live red carpet show. Karlie Kloss at the Met Gala on Monday. Kloss, a Met Gala vet, knows this to be true and joked to Chamberlain, “I know, I got a plus one.

☆ Juggling College With a Media Job. Now Both Are Over.
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Callie Holtermann | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

At Mother of Junk, a thrift emporium in Brooklyn, Emma Choi examined a rubber triceratops and invented a back story for a Miss Piggy figurine. She became NPR’s first Gen Z podcast host, having started as an intern at “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!,” NPR’s comedy news quiz show. Ms. Choi was told in a Zoom call that the podcast would end, and with it her role as host. Although her sense of humor is intact, some of her optimism about working in media has faded. She said she felt proud to have made a show intended in part to usher in the next generation of NPR listeners.

☆ David Grann on the Wreck of the H.M.S. Wager
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

On this week’s podcast, Grann tells the host Gilbert Cruz that one of the things that most drew him to the subject was the role that storytelling itself played in the tragedy’s aftermath. “The thing that really fascinated me, that really caused me to do the book,” Grann says, “was not only what happened on the island, but what happened after several of these survivors make it back to England. They have just waged a war against virtually every element, from scurvy to typhoons, to tidal waves, to shipwreck, to starvation, to the violence of their own shipmates. Now they get back to England after everything they’ve been through, and they are summoned to face a court marshal for their alleged crimes on the island. And if they don’t tell a convincing tale, they’re going to get hanged.

☆ ‘Ghosted’ Review: Chris Evans Falls For Ana de Armas’s Spy
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( John Anderson | ) www.wsj.com time to read: +1 min

Chris Evans and Ana de Armas Photo: AppleTV+Aside from the real classics of cinema, Hollywood tradition has been largely about extremely attractive people doing extraordinarily silly things—which makes “Ghosted” an old-fashioned movie. Ghosted Friday, Apple TV+It is also, it turns out, a spoof of those movies and of entire genres, notably the spy thriller and the rom-com of the hate-at-first-sight variety. Cole Turner ( Chris Evans ), a self-described “farmer” who lives outside Washington (with his parents), sells his honey at a D.C. sidewalk market; Sadie Rhodes ( Ana de Armas ) is a CIA operative who wings her way around the world firing automatic weapons at bad guys. The gender flip, such as it is, is less clever than it once would have been; likewise the fact that their meet-cute isn’t cute at all. Thanks for the tip.

☆ Lucinda Williams Tells Her Secrets
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-14 | by ( Penelope Green | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

NASHVILLE — “Bless your heart!”Lucinda Williams delivered the Southern benediction in her distinctive drawl. She has a memoir coming out soon, and Ms. Williams, the celebrated singer-songwriter who has been compared to Raymond Carver for the acuity of her work, was nonetheless not too sure about this particular literary endeavor. So when a visitor complimented the book, “Don’t Tell Anybody the Secrets I Told You,” she beamed. “I thought, ‘I’m going to write this book and turn it in when I’m done,’” she said. Emmylou Harris once said Ms. Williams could sing the chrome off a tailpipe.

☆ Fact Check-Digitally altered versions of Scott Wiener photo holding book shared online
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Wiener, an openly gay legislator who has supported legal protections for children seeking gender-affirming health care, addressed the use of the term groomer in a series of tweets in Nov. 2022 (here). Erik Mebust, communications director for Wiener, told Reuters via email that the recently shared altered photo originates from a March 4 tweet by Wiener, which shows an identical background and apparel (here). In his original photo posted in March, Wiener is holding a book with a yellow cover titled, “Gender Pioneers” (here). The photo of Scott Wiener holding a book originates from his Mar. 5 tweet but it has been digitally altered with fabricated book titles.

☆ Woke Roald Dahl Will Put Kids to Sleep
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Meghan Cox Gurdon | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

My late father-in-law detested vague or imprecise language. “Don’t tell me you saw a person,” went his typical complaint. “What kind of person was it? Old or young?”He, like his contemporary Roald Dahl , came from an era when people valued clarity in speech and writing and believed words should reveal meaning rather than conceal it. Puffin Books has made the passing of that era obvious by subjecting Dahl’s books to a ghastly process of social-justice blandification.

☆ Walter Mosley Thinks America Is Getting Dumber
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk Walter Mosley Thinks America Is Getting DumberWalter Mosley is best known as one of contemporary literature’s pre-eminent crime novelists, but he’s actually four or five different writers rolled into one. You have to tell stories about real people experiencing it and not real people with a Ph.D. People who are not stupid but ignorant, who don’t know things about the world. There are people who don’t know how to spell, they don’t know how to think. You have these people coming out into the world, and they don’t know what to do. That’s going to happen.

☆ The Philadelphia Eagles Can Win the Super Bowl. Please Don’t Tell Them This.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( Jason Gay | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com. https://www.wsj.com/articles/philadelphia-eagles-kansas-city-chiefs-super-bowl-lvii-11675083585

☆ Did Trump donate his presidential salary in 2020? Tax returns don’t tell full story
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-11 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

When former President Donald Trump's tax returns were issued publicly Dec. 30, some news reports suggested he didn't donate his salary in 2020 — thereby breaking a campaign pledge — because the tax returns showed $0 of charitable gifts. However, it's unclear from the available data if he did or didn't break his promise, due to how certain information is reported on tax returns, accountants said. He didn't pay federal income tax because he didn't have any taxable income. But that's not the case if you report negative income and don't pay income tax; you can't get a tax deduction if there's no income from which to deduct. However, taxpayers can "carry forward" that unused tax break to future years — effectively using past charitable donations to reduce their tax bill later.

☆ The Voting Bloc Against Bossiness
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( Andy Kessler | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Their mantra is simple: Don’t tell me what to do, hence the name. Oppositional defiant disorder, which, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine, is a behavior disorder, often in children who “are uncooperative, defiant, and hostile toward peers, parents, teachers, and other authority figures.” Yeah, I’ve got that. Also add: Don’t tell me what to say, to think, to pay. Don’t tell me what to do. I don’t think so.

Once considered taboo in film and television, gay entertainers and characters will be hard to miss at the 80th Golden Globe Awards. Some of the evenings most nominated films — including sci-fi dramedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once” and psychological thriller “Tár,” — and TV series that include “The White Lotus” and “Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story” — star LGBTQ actors or feature fictional queer characters. And to top off the evening, the Golden Globes will honor gay television writer and producer Ryan Murphy, perhaps best known for co-creating “Glee,” “Pose” and the “American Horror Story” franchise, with a lifetime achievement award. While this year’s pool of Golden Globe nominees ups the awards ceremony’s queer factor, many of the most anticipated wins involve seemingly straight actors playing queer characters. The Golden Globes airs on Jan. 10 at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on NBC and Peacock.

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