newsweek--2019-02-05--Laura Linneys 55th Birthday Her Best 15 Movies Ranked

Laura Linney's 55th Birthday: Her Best 15 Movies, Ranked

Laura Linney, who turns 55 today, is one of America’s most respected actresses. A star of stage and screen, her career has ranged from Ibsen and Chekhov on Broadway to Tales of the City and The Big C on TV, to movies as diverse as The Truman Show, Love Actually and Mystic River—winning countless accolades along the way.    Born February 5, 1964, in Manhattan, Linney’s success started early. Shortly after graduating from Juilliard School’s prestigious drama division, she was cast as Nina in Chekov’s The Seagull to rave reviews. “She is clearly a talent of enormous potential,” a New York Times theatre critic presciently declared.  So it proved to be. Over the last three decades later, Linney's talent has won her four Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes, as well as four Tony nominations and three Oscar nominations (two for best actress). Not to mention an immortalizing role in one of the most beloved Christmas classics of the modern era, Love Actually.  Later this year she revisits one of her earliest roles, as Mary Ann Singleton in a new Netflix revival of Tales of the City. She also stars alongside Jason Bateman in the Netflix series Ozark. Its reception had a familiar ring. “Linney is, as ever, magnificent,” Tim Dowling wrote in The Guardian.    Linney is known for her kindness and generosity offscreen—“I’m so lucky” is a recurring refrain in her interviews—but it’s her big emotional roles on it that attract such praise. To celebrate her 55th birthday, Newsweek has analysed data from review aggregation websites Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and IMDb to rank her 15 best movies.  15. Love Actually (2003). Total score: 62.4%. IMDb users: 7.6. Metacritic: 55. Rotten Tomatoes: 6.3.  Directed by: Richard Curtis. Starring: Hugh Grant, Martine McCutcheon, Liam Neeson, Bill Nighy, Colin Firth, Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Martin Freeman, Joanna Page, Andrew Lincoln, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Keira Knightley, Laura Linney, Rodrigo Santoro, Billy Bob Thornton.  Plot summary: Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.  What the critics said: "The creators of Love Actually clearly believe that if a movie has enough charm, it doesn't need depth. In the case of Love Actually, they are absolutely right." Philip Wuntch, Dallas Morning News.  14. Jindabyne (2006). Total score: 64.6%. IMDb users: 6.3. Metacritic: 65. Rotten Tomatoes: 6.5.  Directed by: Ray Lawrence. Starring: Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne, John Howard.  Plot summary: After four men on a fishing trip discover a dead body in the water, they choose to delay reporting it and continue fishing.  What the critics said: "Jindabyne is wonderfully acted by Laura Linney and Gabriel Byrne, two first-rate performers working close to the bone and concerned foremost with making an audience understand their characters, as opposed to merely liking them." Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune.  13. Nocturnal Animals (2016). Total score: 67.8%. IMDb users: 6.5. Metacritic: 67. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.  Directed by: Tom Ford. Starring: Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Laura Linney.  Plot summary: A wealthy art gallery owner is haunted by her ex-husband's novel, a violent thriller she interprets as a symbolic revenge tale.  What the critics said: "Laura Linney has a marvelous cameo in flashback as Susan’s socialite mother: 'Just wait,' she purrs. 'We all eventually turn into our mothers.'" Christopher Orr, The Atlantic.  12. Mr. Holmes (2015). Total score: 69.4%. IMDb users: 6.9. Metacritic: 67. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.2.  Directed by: Bill Condon. Starring: Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Milo Parker, Frances de la Tour, Hiroyuki Sanada.  Plot summary: An aged, retired Sherlock Holmes deals with early dementia, as he tries to remember his final case, and a mysterious woman, whose memory haunts him. He also befriends a fan, the young son of his housekeeper, who wants him to work again.  What the critics said: "After his recent string of what feels like too many comic-book blockbusters, social-media memes and chat-show appearances, it's nice to see McKellen in a role that actually demands—and rewards—his acting abilities." James Rocchi, TheWrap.  11. The Laramie Project (2002). Total score: 71.4%. IMDb users: 7.3. Metacritic: (n/a). Rotten Tomatoes: 7.  Directed by: Moisés Kaufman. Starring: Christina Ricci, Steve Buscemi, Laura Linney, Peter Fonda, Terry Kinney, Mark Webber, Bem Foster.  Plot summary: The true story of an American town in the wake of the murder of Matthew Shepard.  What the critics said: "It's a compelling and horrifying story, and The Laramie Project is worthwhile for reminding us that this sort of thing does, in fact, still happen in America." Tim Merrill, Film Threat.  10. Breach (2007). Total score: 72%. IMDb users: 7. Metacritic: 74. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.1.  Directed by: Billy Ray. Starring: Chris Cooper, Ryan Phillippe, Laura Linney, Dennis Haysbert.  Plot summary: FBI upstart Eric O'Neill enters into a power game with his boss, Robert Hanssen, an agent who was put on trial for selling secrets to the Soviet Union.  What the critics said: "The movie gives us counter-espionage without the Bourne or Bond embellishments, and superb acting from Cooper, Phillippe and Linney." Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel.  9. The House of Mirth (2000). Total score: 73%. IMDb users: 7.1. Metacritic: 78. Rotten Tomatoes: 6.9.  Directed by: Terence Davies. Starring: Gillian Anderson, Dan Aykroyd, Eleanor Bron, Antony LaPaglia, Laura Linney, Elizabeth McGovern.  Plot summary: A woman risks losing her chance of happiness with the only man she has ever loved.  What the critics said: "Davies attains a narrative purity of shocking intimacy and emotional force." Pete Travers, Rolling Stone.  8. Sully (2016). Total score: 73.4%. IMDb users: 7.5. Metacritic: 74. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.2.  Directed by: Clint Eastwood. Starring: Tom Hanks, Aaron Eckhart, Laura Linney, Anna Gunn, Jamey Sheridan.  Plot summary: The story of Chesley Sullenberger, an American pilot who became a hero after landing his damaged plane on the Hudson River in order to save the flight's passengers and crew.  What the critics said: "Hanks does an admirable job of showing Sully's humiliating stress while his reputation was being challenged, with the first-rate support of a cast that includes Laura Linney as his wife, and Jamey Sheridan and Anna Gunn as his surly inquisitors." Rex Reed, Observer.  7. Kinsey (2004). Total score: 76.2%. IMDb users: 7.1. Metacritic: 79. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.6.  Directed by: Bill Condon. Starring: Liam Neeson, Laura Linney, Chris O'Donnell, Peter Sarsgaard, Timothy Hutton, John Lithgow, Oliver Platt.  Plot summary: A look at the life of Alfred Kinsey, a pioneer in the area of human sexuality research, whose 1948 publication "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" was one of the first recorded works that saw science address sexual behavior.  What the critics said: "Although the strength of Kinsey is the subject matter, it would be criminal not to note the fine performances of Liam Neeson and Laura Linney, who imbue their characters with humanity and likeability." James Berardinelli, ReelViews.  6. The Savages (2007). Total score: 78.4%. IMDb users: 7.2. Metacritic: 85. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.5.  Directed by: Tamara Jenkins. Starring: Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco.  Plot summary: A sister and brother face the realities of familial responsibility as they begin to care for their ailing father.  What the critics said: "The Savages not only boasts Oscar-worthy performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney as a self-absorbed brother and sister, its attention to detail makes it sweetly funny and genuine." John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press.  5. The Squid and the Whale (2005). Total score: 79.2%. IMDb users: 7.4. Metacritic: 82. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.9.  Directed by: Noah Baumbach. Starring: Owen Kline, Jeff Daniels, Laura Linney, Jesse Eisenberg, William Baldwin, Anna Paquin.  Plot summary: Follows two young boys dealing with their parents' divorce in Brooklyn in the 1980s.  What the critics said: "Daniels and Linney do a great job of being despicable without coming off as monstrous, which is what makes the characters credible." Jeff Strickler, Minneapolis Star Tribune.  4. Mystic River (2003). Total score: 80.8%. IMDb users: 8. Metacritic: 84. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.8.  Directed by: Clint Eastwood. Starring: Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney.  Plot summary: The lives of three men who were childhood friends are shattered when one of them has a family tragedy.  What the critics said: "River leads moviegoers on a suspense-filled, sometimes painful adventure marked by great performances." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.  3. You Can Count on Me (2000). Total score: 81.6%. IMDb users: 7.6. Metacritic: 85. Rotten Tomatoes: 8.1.  Directed by: Kenneth Lonergan. Starring: Laura Linney, Matthew Broderick, Amy Ryan, Mark Ruffalo, Rory Culkin, Gaby Hoffman.  Plot summary: A single mother's life is thrown into turmoil after her struggling, rarely seen younger brother returns to town.  What the critics said: "The only problem with this special film is its stark reminder of all the mediocrity other movies count on us to accept." Elizabeth Weitzman, Film.com.  2. Searching for Bobby Fischer (1993). Total score: 83.4%. IMDb users: 7.5. Metacritic: 89. Rotten Tomatoes: 8.2.  Directed by: Steven Zaillian. Starring: Joe Mantegna, Ben Kingsley, Max Pomeranc, Joan Allen, Laurence Fishburne, William H. Macy, Laura Linney.  Plot summary: A prepubescent chess prodigy refuses to harden himself in order to become a champion like the famous but unlikable Bobby Fischer.  What the critics said: "Searching for Bobby Fischer does for chess what The Karate Kid did for martial arts, albeit with considerably more complexity and class." Rita Kempley, Washington Post.  1. The Truman Show (1998). Total score: 86.2%. IMDb users: 8.1. Metacritic: 90. Rotten Tomatoes: 8.5.  Directed by: Peter Weir. Starring: Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Natascha McElhone.  Plot summary: An insurance salesman discovers his whole life is actually a reality TV show.  What the critics said: "This is a film that can stay with one for a very long time after a viewing, and even slightly change the way one looks at life and the world." Tom Keogh, Seattle Times.


newsweek--2019-02-06--Bob Marley Birthday Quotes from the Late Reggae King

Bob Marley Birthday: Quotes from the Late Reggae King

In honor of a reggae legend's birthday, several online social media accounts have posted joyous homage to the late Bob Marley, who would have been 74 years old today.  But Marley’s own words ring truer than ever now, as contentious times across the racial, demographic and income landscape heighten tensions in the United States and world.  But first, a little bit of love from dedicated fans and a bit of Marley history.  The official Bob Marley Twitter account from the #BobMarley estate, posted an iconic photo of Marley smoking a dubie: “ Happy birthday Bob! #CatchAFire #Marley74.”  The MOBO Awards tweeted: “Sending praise to Bob Marley on what would’ve been his 74th birthday. His message travelled across the world and united people. One Love still stands.”  Born Robert Nesta “Bob” Marley in 1945 in St. Ann Parish, Jamaica, he began his career with a band called the Wailers in 1963.  In the late 1960s, Marley became a Rastafarian, which heavily influenced his music. By the 1970s, Marley formed his own band, Bob Marley and the Wailers. The group produced several successful albums that reached the masses and introduced the world to reggae music.  Marley died of cancer in 1982 when he was only 36 years old. The Undefeated website posted in its “Today in Black History” homage that Marley has sold more than 75 million albums within the last two decades – long after his death.  “Marley is still today considered as one of the most popular singers in the 1970s,” MyNation wrote. “The Jamaican singer-songwriter became a cultural icon with his remarkable songs of protests, social justice and peace, which not only won hearts then, but, till today, are very popular, especially among the youth.”  In a joyous collection of Marley’s most iconic songs, MyNation posted videos of six of his most iconic, “evergreen” songs. They are Buffalo Soldier, I Shot the Sheriff, Don’t Worry/Be Happy, Wait in Vain, Is This Love and Concrete Jungle.  In his music, lyrics and human encounters, Marley is well known for espousing themes of life, love and happiness. Here are some of his most famous quotes from the Keep Inspiring Me compilation:  “Everything is political. I will never be a politician or even think political. Me just deal with life and nature. That is the greatest thing to me.”  “Better to die fighting for freedom than be a prisoner all the days of your life.”  “Don’t trust people whose feelings change with time. Trust people whose feelings remain the same, even when the time changes.”  “If you’re white and you’re wrong, then you’re wrong; if you’re black and you’re wrong, you’re wrong. People are people. Black, blue, pink, green – God make no rules about color; only society make rules where my people suffer, and that why we must have redemption and redemption now.”  “If you get down and quarrel every day, you’re saying prayers to the devil, I say.”  “Road of life is rocky and you may stumble too, so while you talk about me, someone else is judging you.”  “The people who were trying to make this world worse are not taking the day off. Why should I?”  “They say: only the fittest of the fittest shall survive, stay alive!” - Could You Be Loved, from the album Uprising, 1979.  “Truth is the light, so you never give up the fight.”- Final jamming of Live at the Roxy, recorded 1976.  “You entertain people who are satisfied. Hungry people can’t be entertained – or people who are afraid. You can’t entertain a man who has no food.”  “I know that I’m not perfect and that I don’t claim to be, so before you point your fingers make sure your hands are clean.” - Could You Be Loved, from the album Uprising, 1980.  “One love, one heart, Let’s get together and feel alright.”- One Love (cowritten with Curtis Mayfield), from the album Exodus, originally recorded on The Wailing Wailers, 1965.


newsweek--2019-02-09--Tom Hiddlestons Birthday Loki Actors Movies Ranked from Worst to Best

Tom Hiddleston’s Birthday: Loki Actor’s Movies Ranked from Worst to Best

Tom Hiddleston, who turns 38 today, first rose to fame as Loki in Thor (2011). Since then he has become a mainstay of the Marvel Universe, and has also starred in High-Rise, Kong: Skull Island and hit British television series The Night Manager.  Born on February 9, 1981, Hiddleston’s life could easily have been so different. He was studying Classics at the University of Cambridge when he was spotted by a talent agent during a student production of A Streetcar Named Desire. Hiddleston completed his studies, graduated with a double-first—the highest honor—and then went to RADA, Britain’s eminent acting school.  He never looked back, but even when his big break came, it didn’t quite go to plan. Hiddleston was initially asked to audition for the titular role in Thor, before the directors and producers—one of whom Hiddleston had worked with on stage—decided on Chris Hemsworth. Yet they gave Hiddleston six weeks to bulk up and, after a strict diet and exercise regime, he gained the role of Thor’s arch-nemesis and adopted brother, Loki. It made his name in Hollywood.  “It was massive and it's completely changed the course of what is available to me to do,” he told The Daily Telegraph in 2012. In 2013, Empire magazine ranked Hiddleston’s portrayal of Loki as one of the 20 greatest movie characters of all time.  This year will see him star in Avengers: Endgame and perform in London’s West End in a production of Harold Pinter’s play Betrayal. To celebrate his 38th birthday, Newsweek has analyzed data from review aggregation websites Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and IMDb to rank his 15 best movies.  Plot summary: The story of the country-western singer Hank Williams, who in his brief life created one of the greatest bodies of work in American music. The film chronicles his rise to fame and its tragic effect on his health and personal life.  What the critics said: "Hiddleston gives the role his considerable all, including singing Hank Williams hits in a voice that persuasively suggests the real thing. Hiddleston is not what's wrong with this movie. But damn near everything else is." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.  Plot summary: Life for the residents of a tower block begins to run out of control.  What the critics said: "There are certain movies that you really want to like based on their ambition, or their weirdness, or their ambitious weirdness, and ultimately you just can't. Ben Wheatley's High-Rise is one of those movies." Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly.  Plot summary: Set at the dawn of time, when prehistoric creatures and woolly mammoths roamed the earth, Early Man tells the story of Dug, along with sidekick Hognob as they unite his tribe against a mighty enemy Lord Nooth and his Bronze Age City to save their home.  What the critics said: "I'm a little sorry that this utterly silly feature from Nick Park and Aardman Animations was not around when I was 7 or 8 years old, or when my children were wearing out the Wallace and Gromit video cassettes that someone had given them for Christmas." A.O. Scott, New York Times.  Plot summary: In the aftermath of a family tragedy, an aspiring author is torn between love for her childhood friend and the temptation of a mysterious outsider. Trying to escape the ghosts of her past, she is swept away to a house that breathes, bleeds—and remembers.  What the critics said: "Guillermo del Toro doesn't merely direct movies. He paints them, dreams them, shapes them into private fantasies. Too much? Of course. But that's part of the fun." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.  Plot summary: When Dr. Jane Foster gets cursed with a powerful entity known as the Aether, Thor is heralded of the cosmic event known as the Convergence and the genocidal Dark Elves.  What the critics said: "Most of what worked in Thor works again: Hiddleston is campy and treacherous, Hemsworth is puppy-dog keen and there's a nice line in knowing jokery." Tom Huddleston, Time Out.  Plot summary: A team of scientists explore an uncharted island in the Pacific, venturing into the domain of the mighty Kong, and must fight to escape a primal Eden.  What the critics said: "It's wildly entertaining and it has a sense of humor about itself—and it doesn't hurt when a great big monster movie features an A-list cast including John Goodman, Samuel L. Jackson, Brie Larson, Tom Hiddleston and John C. Reilly." Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times.  Plot summary: The powerful, but arrogant god Thor, is cast out of Asgard to live amongst humans in Midgard (Earth), where he soon becomes one of their finest defenders.  What the critics said: "A giant notch up is Hiddleston, who'd make a good Edmund in King Lear: You register the chip on his shoulder rather than the villainy." David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture.  Plot summary: The wife of a British judge is caught in a self-destructive love affair with a Royal Air Force pilot.  What the critics said: "Hiddleston is good as the fickle playboy but Weisz, who smolders as Hester, is better." Linda Barnard, Toronto Star.  Plot summary: Deep fractures within a family dynamic begin to surface during a getaway to the Isles of Scilly.  What the critics said: "It's a difficult watch and a difficult sell, but this is quietly outstanding." Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian.  Plot summary: Young Albert enlists to serve in World War I after his beloved horse is sold to the cavalry. Albert's hopeful journey takes him out of England and to the front lines as the war rages on.  What the critics said: "Sweeping in its style and old-fashioned in its narrative structure, War Horse will likely take its place alongside beloved family films." Claudia Puig, USA Today.  Plot summary: A depressed musician reunites with his lover. Though their romance, which has already endured several centuries, is disrupted by the arrival of her uncontrollable younger sister.  What the critics said: "Swinton, her hair white and long and her eyes tired and kind, and Hiddleston, moody and resigned, are wonderful—delivering their lines with the dry sighs of a desert breeze." Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer.  Plot summary: Thor is imprisoned on the planet Sakaar, and must race against time to return to Asgard and stop Ragnarök, the destruction of his world, at the hands of the powerful and ruthless villain Hela.  What the critics said: "The whole movie is a grab-bag of insanity so off-the-chain hilarious that you stick with it even when the convoluted plot goes haywire." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.  Plot summary: While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s everyday at midnight.  What the critics said: "It makes us happily remember the movies we thought Allen wasn't able to make anymore, even while the filmmaker reaches into the past to add one more great one to the list." Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times.  Plot summary: Earth's mightiest heroes must come together and learn to fight as a team if they are going to stop the mischievous Loki and his alien army from enslaving humanity.  What the critics said:  "The dialogue sparkles as brightly as the special effects; these people may be wearing ridiculous costumes but they're well fleshed-out underneath. And so in every regard, this movie truly fulfills its hype." Christy Lemire, Associated Press.  Plot summary: The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe.  What the critics said: "It's the epitome of a summer blockbuster. The explosive action is practically nonstop, breaking only occasionally for jokes and a touch of romance—though without ever breaking its grim, apocalyptic tone." Britton Peele, Dallas Morning News.


newsweek--2019-02-11--Christina Riccis Birthday Her Best 15 Movies Ranked

Christina Ricci’s Birthday: Her Best 15 Movies Ranked

Christina Ricci, who turns 39 today, has an acting career that belies her years. She was only 11 when she rose to fame as the unnerving, pale-faced, pig-tailed daughter in the Addams Family. Since then, she has affirmed herself as one of Hollywood’s mavericks and—with credits ranging from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas to The Smurfs 2—much else besides.  Born on February 12, 1980, Ricci’s talent was never in doubt. At the age of 7, she gained the leading role in her elementary school production of The Twelve Days of Christmas. Never short of determination, she says she had to play dirty to get it—provoking a rival kid, and then telling on him, so that he had to surrender the part.  “I’ve always been a really ambitious person,” she told New York Magazine in 2008. “I guess that’s the first time it really reared its ugly head. That whole Chorus Line, f***ing-other-actors-over thing, I got that out of my system then. Apparently, my 7-year-old self was like, You. Need. This.”  A local theater critic talent-spotted her and, after doing advertisements for a few years and appearing on Saturday Night Live skits, it was only onwards and upwards from there.  It has been a long career for someone so young—and she has spoken about the difficulties of finding fame at such an early age. This year will see her star in television movie Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story.  To celebrate Christina Ricci’s 39th birthday, Newsweek has analyzed data from review aggregation websites Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and IMDb to rank her 15 best movies.  Plot summary: A paranormal expert and his daughter bunk in an abandoned house populated by three mischievous ghosts and one friendly one.  What the critics said: "Without the talent of Ricci, Casper would have been a truly barren motion picture. As it is, it's still not very good." James Berardinelli, ReelViews.  Plot summary: A modern romantic tale about a young aristocratic heiress born under a curse that can only be broken when she finds true love with "one who will accept her as one of their own."  What the critics said: "If only Penelope knew what it truly wished to be and how to go about it." Gene Seymour, Newsday.  Plot summary: Fictionalized account of actual events and people surrounding Lizzie Borden after her controversial acquittal of the double murder of her father and stepmother in 1892.  What the critics said: "The series is no less absurd, but it's far more fun than the movie: We all know about the ax murders. It's more fascinating to watch Lizzie continue to weave her web of evil after her trial." Tirdad Derakhshani, Philadelphia Inquirer.  Plot summary: An unconventional single mother relocates with her two daughters to a small Massachusetts town in 1963, where a number of events and relationships both challenge and strengthen their familial bonds.  What the critics said: "Miss Ryder is so good, in fact, that Mermaids might have dared to be a tougher, more satisfying movie than the stylish sitcom it is." Vincent Canby, New York Times.  Plot summary: Con artists plan to fleece an eccentric family using an accomplice who claims to be their long-lost uncle.  What the critics said: "Despite inspired casting and nifty visual trappings, the eagerly awaited Addams Family figures as a major disappointment." Variety.  Plot summary: A talented young photographer, who enjoys snapping photos of his satirical, perverted Baltimore neighborhood and his wacky family, gets dragged into a world of pretentious artists from New York City and finds newfound fame.  What the critics said: "Some scenes are so flat we squint a little at the screen, trying to see why anyone thought they might be funny." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.  Plot summary: A God-fearing bluesman takes to a wild young woman who, as a victim of childhood sexual abuse, looks everywhere for love, never quite finding it.  What the critics said: "Humid and overwrought, with Ricci working at fever pitch and Jackson bringing fire, brimstone and some passable blues licks to the equation, Black Snake Moan is no polite little indie thing, and certainly no formulaic studio exercise." Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer.  Plot summary: The Addams Family try to rescue their beloved uncle Fester from his gold-digging new love, a black widow named Debbie.  What the critics said: "The comedy has moved into high gear and become one of the funniest, most mean-spirited satirical assaults on sunny American values since the salad days of W.C. Fields." Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader.  Plot summary: A 16-year-old girl visits her gay half-brother and ends up seducing his boyfriend, thus wreaking havoc on all of their lives.  What the critics said: "Watching the movie is like sitting through a film in front of a row of wisecracking cult movie fans. It's also sometimes very funny." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.  Plot summary: Ichabod Crane is sent to Sleepy Hollow to investigate the decapitations of three people, with the culprit being the legendary apparition, The Headless Horseman.  What the critics said: "There's no chemistry evident between Ricci and Depp, so it becomes virtually impossible to accept either passion or tenderness in their interaction. Although Ricci is one of the most talented acting representatives of her generation, this does not stand out as one of her better performances." James Berardinelli, ReelViews.  5. Z: The Beginning of Everything (TV series, 2015-2017). Total score: 69.75%. IMDb users: 7.2. Metacritic: 61. Rotten Tomatoes: 6.4. Rotten Tomatoes users: 4.1.  Plot summary: A biography series based on the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, the brilliant, beautiful and talented Southern Belle who becomes the original flapper and icon of the wild, flamboyant Jazz Age in the 20s.  What the critics said: "This is in every way a tailored star vehicle, but the actress throws herself fully into every scene, playing up Zelda's the-world-bows-to-me! aggressiveness, while always hinting at the aching, delicate spirit underneath." Keith Uhlich, Hollywood Reporter.  Plot summary: Based on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer.  What the critics said: "Christina Ricci finds the correct note for Selby Wall—so correct some critics have mistaken it for bad acting, when in fact it is sublime acting in its portrayal of a bad actor." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times.  Plot summary: After being released from prison, Billy is set to visit his parents with his wife, whom he does not actually have. This provokes Billy to act out, as he kidnaps a girl and forces her to act as his wife for the visit.  What the critics said: "[Gallo] gets an inspired performance out of Ricci, who conveys a richer, dreamier insolence in one glance here than she does in all of The Opposite of Sex." Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly.  Plot summary: A mother and daughter find their lives adversely affected when a new man enters the picture. Will their family ever be what they expect?  What the critics said: "The genetic seeds of John Huston's gift are manifest in his daughter's direction of Carolina. Despite its sorrowful subject, Bastard Out of Carolina offers the deep satisfaction of material that rings true." Nancy Jalasca Randle, Chicago Tribune.  Plot summary: In suburban New Canaan, Connecticut, 1973, middle class families experimenting with casual sex and substance abuse find their lives beyond their control.  What the critics said: "The Ice Storm is perceptive about people, relationships, and human nature, and there's not a single moment in the entire 112-minute running length that rings false ...  Christina Ricci, one of the best actresses of her generation, finally getting a chance to show what she can do in a good motion picture. As expected, Ricci doesn't let us down—her interpretation of Wendy is knowing, intense, and nuanced." James Berardinelli, ReelViews.


newsweek--2019-02-11--Jennifer Anistons 50th Birthday Her 15 Best Movies Ranked

Jennifer Aniston's 50th Birthday: Her 15 Best Movies Ranked

In 1994, Jennifer Aniston was a 25-year-old actress worried her career was going nowhere. All four of her previous TV shows had been canceled, and her only credited film role to date was as a bratty teen tormented by a diminutive Irish demon in 1993’s execrable horror flick Leprechaun.  Then Friends came along. Although she originally auditioned for the part of Monica Gellar, she was cast as Rachel Green, the ditzy but well-intentioned golden girl of the group. The show was a phenomenal success, running for ten seasons and remaining as much of a cultural touchstone today as it was during the 90s (Netflix bought the rights for $500,000 an episode in 2015).  Each of the six Friends characters became hugely famous, but Jennifer Aniston was undeniably the breakout star. She became an aspirational figure for 90s womanhood, from her layered ‘Rachel’ haircut to her brand of peppy optimism. By the time Friends was winding up in 2004, she was making $1 million an episode and had married Brad Pitt—it’s easy to see why women wanted to be her.  She brought this star persona over into her movie career, choosing a number of Rachel-like roles in romantic comedies. These late 90s movies such as Picture Perfect, She’s The One and The Object of My Affection were light and forgettable, but proved Aniston could pull an audience to the big screen.  The Good Girl, a 2002 indie dramedy, was a leftfield choice for Aniston and remains one of her most memorable roles. Her character, a depressed small-town cashier, subverted Rachel Green’s fantasy rise to success, and instead portrayed an angstier and less glamorous version of a woman’s quarter-life crisis.  She returned to mainstream comedies with Bruce Almighty the following year, and went on to rake in box office dollars with Along Came Polly, The Break-Up and Marley & Me, becoming a figurehead of the era’s high-concept romcom boom.  Recently, she’s mixed in this ultra-commercial fare with unexpected choices like 2014’s Cake, in which she underwent a makeunder to play a woman struggling with chronic pain. Unsurprisingly for a woman who made her career on TV work, she’s fully on board with the current streaming service boom. Last year, she produced and starred in Dumplin’, a Netflix musical comedy; she has two more Netflix original projects on the way.  To celebrate her 50th birthday on February 11, Newsweek has collected data from critical aggregation websites Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and IMDb to find the 15 best-received movies of her career to date.  =14. He's Just Not That Into You (2009). Total score: 57.5%. IMDb users: 6.4. Metacritic: 47. Rotten Tomatoes: 5.1. Rotten Tomatoes users: 3.4.  Plot summary: This Baltimore-set movie of interconnecting story arcs deals with the challenges of reading or misreading human behavior.  What the critics said: "Are women desperate or just desperately stupid? This is the misogynist question at the core of He's Just Not That Into You , a women-bashing tract disguised as a chick flick." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.  Plot summary: Seven years after the fact, a man comes to the realization that he was the sperm donor for his best friend's boy.  What the critics said: "The truly dusty cliché it drags out again is the cute couple who don't, you know, think-of-each-other-like-that. Until, of course, they do." Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger.  Plot summary: Lead singer of a tribute band becomes lead singer of the real band he idolizes.  What the critics said: "A genial look at what happens when a wannabe becomes a headliner, Rock Star only stumbles when it decides it has to deliver a lesson about What's Really Important." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times.  Plot summary: Two young soldiers, Bartle (21) and Murph (18) navigate the terrors of the Iraq war under the command of the older, troubled Sergeant Sterling. All the while, Bartle is tortured by a promise he made to Murph's mother before their deployment.  What the critics said: "Making a late appearance in the Iraq War movie cycle, the impressively acted The Yellow Birds manages to leave an affecting mark even as it constantly struggles to find a distinctive voice of its own." Michael Rechtshaffen, Los Angeles Times.  Plot summary: Girl leads a lonely life until she meets the boy of her dreams. The boy, however, has a live-in girlfriend.  What the critics said: "Aniston is the breeze in this movie." Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid.  Plot summary: Claire becomes fascinated by the suicide of a woman in her chronic pain support group while grappling with her own, very raw personal tragedy.  What the critics said: "For all the pain, grief, sadness and suicide that layers Cake, it is a serious treat to see the actress stretch herself. Hopefully this film won't turn out to be a single slice." Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times.  Plot summary: A guy who complains about God too often is given almighty powers to teach him how difficult it is to run the world.  What the critics said: "On at least three or four occasions, Carrey made me laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes—and that's a heck of a trick." Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper.  Plot summary: Two common criminals get more than they bargained for after kidnapping the wife of a corrupt real-estate developer who shows no interest in paying the $1 million dollar ransom for her safe return.  What the critics said: "Thanks to [Elmore] Leonard's source material and the outstanding cast, it works." Richard Roeper, Richard Roeper.com.  Plot summary: A veteran pot dealer creates a fake family as part of his plan to move a huge shipment of weed into the U.S. from Mexico.  What the critics said: "A laugh-out-loud comic trek that avoids being either too crude or too docile. If a summer of high-impact blockbusters has left you worn out, join the Millers for a laugh." Tom Long, Detroit News.  Plot summary: After she quits her lucrative job, Olivia finds herself unsure about her future and her relationships with her successful and wealthy friends.  What the critics said: "This delicious, seriocomic tale of four friends in affluent, liberal, west L.A. grappling with midlife crises, metrosexual spouses and household remodeling takes on an avoided subject: money, and how it affects our relationships." David Ansen, Newsweek.  Plot summary: A family learns important life lessons from their adorable, but naughty and neurotic dog.  What the critics said: "It should come as no surprise that when you team Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston with a Labrador retriever, you get a bundle of blond fluff." Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.  Plot summary: Three friends conspire to murder their awful bosses when they realize they are standing in the way of their happiness.  What the critics said: "There are few comedy pleasures better suited to the medium of movies than that of watching supposedly normal people behaving terribly. And if those transgressing characters are played by popular movie stars, so much the better." Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly.  Plot summary: A discount store clerk strikes up an affair with a stock boy who considers himself the incarnation of Holden Caulfield.  What the critics said: "Aniston rises to the level of the material, creating a character of remarkable breadth and depth." Bill Muller, Arizona Republic.  Plot summary: Willowdean ('Dumplin'), the plus-size teenage daughter of a former beauty queen, signs up for her mom's Miss Teen Bluebonnet pageant as a protest that escalates when other contestants follow her footsteps, revolutionizing the pageant and their small Texas town.  What the critics said: "There's so much more to enjoy, from the nuanced work by Jennifer Aniston that ensures Rosie's never a caricature of a pageant mom; to the warm and natural best-buddy chemistry between Danielle MacDonald and Odeya Rush." Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times.  Plot summary: Three company workers who hate their jobs decide to rebel against their greedy boss.  What the critics said: "Its plot may be a standard-issue office drone's revenge fantasy, but its characters and its nowheresville setting are uncannily realized." Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com.


newsweek--2019-02-16--Mahershala Alis 45th Birthday The Green Book and True Detective Stars Best Movies and TV Show

Mahershala Ali's 45th Birthday: The 'Green Book' and 'True Detective' Star's Best Movies and TV Shows

Born Mahershalalhashbaz Gilmore on February 16, 1974, Mahershala Ali was until recently mostly known as a talented TV actor in serious dramas such as House of Cards and Treme. Occasionally he would also pop up on the big screen in small parts (as in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Hunger Games franchise).  Then, in 2016, he played the Cuban drug dealer Juan in Barry Jenkins’s haunting, dreamlike drama Moonlight. For his part in the film, Ali won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him the first Muslim to triumph in any acting category at the Oscars.  Now the 44-year-old is back in the running for another Best Supporting Actor award for his role in Green Book, a Peter Farrelly-directed comedy-drama in which Ali plays a pianist on a tour of the 1960s Deep South. It looks like he should be rehearsing an acceptance speech—betting group Betfair has him on the shortest odds to win.  It’s a busy season for the newly minted Hollywood star. He is currently starring in Season 3 of True Detective and he is in the newly-released movie Alita: Battle Angel, a cyberpunk action movie based on a manga series. While critics haven’t been as kind to the movie as they were to Moonlight and Green Book, they have praised his performance. IndieWire wrote that Ali “compels in a small role—as stylish here as he is at award shows, the actor brings his one-of-a-kind presence to the role of a sophisticated baddie.”  Newsweek has gathered data from critical aggregation websites IMDb, Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes to rank all of his major TV and movie work so far, from worst to best.  Plot summary: A group of elite warriors parachute into an unfamiliar jungle and are hunted by members of a merciless alien race.  What the critics said: "Predator fans, fearing another lapse into disappointment, can relax. Although it's arguably not saying much, this is the second-best movie of the series to have 'Predator' in the title." James Berardinelli, ReelViews.  Plot summary: A disillusioned Confederate army deserter returns to Mississippi and leads a militia of fellow deserters and women in an uprising against the corrupt local Confederate government.  What the critics said: "An earnest but inert and unwieldy historical drama that, in its commendable attempt to rescue a forgotten figure from obscurity, too often looks and feels like 12 Years a Woke Dude." Ann Hornaday, Washington Post.  Plot summary: A deactivated female cyborg is revived, but cannot remember anything of her past life and goes on a quest to find out who she is.  What the critics said: "The commingling of writer-producer James Cameron's monster-budget technowizardry and director Robert Rodriguez's B-movie sensibilities doesn't amount to a heck of a lot." John Semley, Globe and Mail.  Plot summary: Katniss Everdeen is in District 13 after she shatters the games forever. Under the leadership of President Coin and the advice of her trusted friends, Katniss spreads her wings as she fights to save Peeta and a nation moved by her courage.  What the critics said: "Might it have been better if they'd squeezed the whole book into one movie? Probably. Nonetheless, Mockingjay Part 1 is a fine entertainment, shot through with moments of surprising emotional impact." Christopher Orr, The Atlantic.  Plot summary: Katniss and a team of rebels from District 13 prepare for the final battle that will decide the future of Panem.  What the critics said: "Katniss has remained, in Jennifer Lawrence's portrayal, a vividly vulnerable creature of flesh and blood surrounded by sci-fi extravagance of variable quality." Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal.  Plot summary: At the age of 14, Lolita "Roxanne Shanté" Gooden was well on her way to becoming a hip-hop legend as she hustled to provide for her family while defending herself from the dangers of the streets of the Queensbridge Projects in NYC.  What the critics said: "Don't worry: There will be rap battles and concert scenes and they do not disappoint. But they are the bass line beat. The drama of ordinary life is what makes this story stick in your head." Jason Zinoman, New York Times.  Plot summary: Brandon is a 15-year-old whose dream is a pair of fresh Air Jordans. Soon after he gets his hands on them, they're stolen by a local hood, causing Brandon and his two friends to go on a dangerous mission through Oakland to retrieve them.  What the critics said: "Getting the sneakers back takes them to many wild and unfamiliar places (namely, Oakland), where the boys meet up with Brandon's terrifying and yet wise ex-con Uncle Marlon (Mahershala Ali, in a brilliant Mariana-Trench-deep performance)." Sheila O'Malley, RogerEbert.com.  10. The Place Beyond the Pines (2012). Total score: 71.5%. IMDb users: 7.3. Metacritic: 68. Rotten Tomatoes: 7.3. Rotten Tomatoes users: 3.8.  Plot summary: A motorcycle stunt rider turns to robbing banks as a way to provide for his lover and their newborn child, a decision that puts him on a collision course with an ambitious rookie cop navigating a department ruled by a corrupt detective.  What the critics said: "Although The Place Beyond the Pines is not an unqualified success, when Cianfrance stumbles, it's because he's reaching for greatness—a quality infinitely preferable than the opposite, which is where far too many motion pictures become mired." James Berardinelli, ReelViews.  Plot summary: Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backward with bizarre consequences.  What the critics said: "Director David Fincher has turned out an overlong, Forrest Gumpian exercise in mannered whimsy. It's sentimental; it's episodic; it dawdles. Brad Pitt spends a good length of screen time drinking tea with Tilda Swinton. But it's also bewitching." Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle.  Plot summary: A working-class Italian-American bouncer becomes the driver of an African-American classical pianist on a tour of venues through the 1960s American South.  What the critics said: "Thanks in large part to the winning chemistry between Ali and Mortensen, and a pretty darn inspirational true-life story as its foundation, this was one of the best times I've had at the movies this year." Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times.  Plot summary: Seasonal anthology series in which police investigations unearth the personal and professional secrets of those involved, both within and outside the law.  What the critics said: "What elevates it are the brooding atmosphere and Ali's magnetic performance, from his dogged pursuit of the facts in his younger days to his convincing vulnerability in his elderly ones." Brian Lowry, CNN.  Plot summary: As the reappearance of 4,400 missing persons on a single day confounds the global community, federal agents on the case slowly discover the ways in which the victims have been changed.  What the critics said: "The 4400 succeeds where shows like Heroes, No Ordinary Family, and Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. have failed. It puts a human face to superpowers. Christian Cintron, Hollywood.com.  Plot summary: The story of a team of female African-American mathematicians who served a vital role in NASA during the early years of the U.S. space program.  What the critics said: "This untold story of African-American females who helped NASA conquer the cosmos features three incredible performances. Corny at times, sure, but you'll still want to stand up and cheer." Peter Travers, Rolling Stone.  Plot summary: A Congressman works with his equally conniving wife to exact revenge on the people who betrayed him.  What the critics said: "Screw you, Mr. President, for messing with my job. How so? Because he, Francis Underwood, and it, House of Cards, are so damn good they've changed the way we watch TV." Sam Wollaston, The Guardian.  Plot summary: When a sabotaged experiment gives him super strength and unbreakable skin, Luke Cage becomes a fugitive attempting to rebuild his life in Harlem and must soon confront his past and fight a battle for the heart of his city.  What the critics said: "The show is fiercely determined to make it clear that Luke's powers make him super, but it's the fact that he is black, proud and willing to stand up for what's right that makes him a hero. His race is a fundamental part of that heroism." Liz Shannon Miller, indieWire.  Plot summary: Life after Hurricane Katrina as the residents of New Orleans try to rebuild their lives, their homes, and their unique culture in the aftermath of one of the worst natural disasters in the USA.  What the critics said: "This is the kind of TV that viewers ask for but rarely get, driven by characters who are more than the sum of one or two qualities and who harbor depths that are revealed slowly, subtly, and authentically." Matthew Gilbert, Boston Globe.  Plot summary: A chronicle of the childhood, adolescence and burgeoning adulthood of a young, African-American, gay man growing up in a rough neighborhood of Miami.  What the critics said: "Moonlight is both a disarmingly, at times almost unbearably personal film and an urgent social document, a hard look at American reality and a poem written in light, music and vivid human faces." A.O. Scott, New York Times.  "Barry Jenkins' game-changer about growing up black, gay and alienated in the Miami projects is both intimate and epic. It gets inside your head, makes you see the world with new eyes—and then it owns you." Pete Travers, Rolling Stone.


newyorkpost--2019-02-12--Jennifer Anistons 50th birthday party packed with exes

Jennifer Aniston’s 50th birthday party packed with exes

[Jennifer Aniston](https://pagesix.com/tag/jennifer-aniston/)’s starry 50th birthday bash on Saturday in LA was filled with exes.  Guests included her ex-boyfriend John Mayer [and ex-husband Brad Pitt](https://pagesix.com/2019/02/10/brad-pitt-spotted-at-jennifer-anistons- 50th-birthday-party/), plus Pitt’s ex-fiancée Gwyneth Paltrow.  Other former couples at the party included Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom.  But one ex who wasn’t there: Aniston’s more recent hubby, Justin Theroux.  He and Aniston [split up a year ago](https://pagesix.com/2018/02/15/jennifer- aniston-and-justin-theroux-are-done/), just after her 49th birthday.  Instead, spies saw “The Leftovers” star having a “guys’ night out” at New York Fashion Week on Friday — with Liev Schreiber, Oscar Isaac, “Get Out” star Lakeith Stanfield, record producer Nigel Godrich and indie director Benny Safdie.  The dudes were at an after-party at 1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge for Rag & Bone’s show.  A spy said, “Schreiber and Theroux never left each other’s sides” at the hotel’s 10th-floor Brooklyn Heights Social Club.  On Sunday, Theroux was spotted at another NYC fashion bash, for Opening Ceremony.  On Monday afternoon, he [posted a pic of Aniston on Instagram](https://pagesix.com/2019/02/11/justin-theroux-wishes-jennifer- anniston-a-happy-50th-birthday/) with the caption, “Happy Birthday to this fierce Woman. Fiercely loving. Fiercely kind . . . and fiercely funny.”


newyorkpost--2019-04-30--Barbara Corcoran celebrated 70th birthday by hosting her own funeral

Barbara Corcoran celebrated 70th birthday by hosting her own ‘funeral’

Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)  Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)  Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)  Barbara Corcoran celebrated her 70th birthday over the weekend — by hosting her own “funeral.”  Guests arrived at a Fifth Avenue penthouse, we’re told, to find Corcoran lying in a coffin in a red gown with flowers on either side of her and a cardboard cutout of her as a nun.  Then the “Shark Tank” star and real estate mogul leapt out of the box and began dancing around the room.  Corcoran was later served a cake decorated with a plastic doll being eaten by a shark.  We’re told the dress code was “tango,” and she hired a professional tango dancer for the evening.  Her “Shark Tank” co-stars Daymond John and Mark Cuban attended, with Mavericks owner Cuban calling the whole affair “creepy” in an Instagram story.  Cuban recently revealed on their hit ABC show that before he became a billionaire, he didn’t have enough dough to even open a bank account.  “When I was broke and sleeping on the couch, I couldn’t open a bank account. You needed to have 200 bucks.”  The Dallas Morning News reported that the mogul told a tech conference this month that he was living in a “dumpy” apartment with multiple roommates, two polyester suits and a single towel he’d stolen from a Holiday Inn.


newyorkpost--2019-06-20--Justin Bieber gifts Scooter Braun a shirtless photo for his birthday

Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)  Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)  Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)  Is it too late now to say sorry?  For Scooter Braun‘s 38th birthday, Justin Bieber reportedly gifted his longtime manager a framed shirtless photo of himself with his hands down his pants.  The Biebs presented the racy piece of art at Braun’s starry bash at San Vicente Bungalows in West Hollywood on Tuesday night, according to The Blast.  In the pic, Bieber shows off his half-naked tattooed body as he stuffs one hand down his Calvin Klein undies and the other in his jean pocket. Luckily, the “Love Yourself” singer didn’t appear to be too chilly with a beanie atop his head.  The masterpiece was captioned, “Happy Birthday Scooter. You’re welcome I’m awesome.”  Bieber was clearly poking fun at Braun, who has been the singer’s longtime manager and on whether or not there was a deeper meaning behind the present, a source told The Blast it was “very personal between” the two.  Also at the party was Braun’s wife Yael, Usher, Katy Perry and Ashton Kutcher.


newyorkpost--2019-06-27--Tristan Thompson pretends everythings fine with birthday tribute to Khloe Kardashian

Tristan Thompson pretends everything’s fine with birthday tribute to Khloé Kardashian

Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)  Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)  Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)  Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)  Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)  Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)  A post shared by Tristan Thompson (@realtristan13) on Jun 27, 2019 at 8:48am PDT  Tristan Thompson seems desperate for some positive PR.  The Cleveland Cavaliers player, 28, paid tribute to ex-girlfriend Khloé Kardashian with a gushing post in honor of her 35th birthday on Thursday.  “Happy birthday @khloekardashian You are the most beautiful human I have ever met inside and out,” he captioned an old, blurry photo of Khloé holding their daughter True. “Thank you for being an amazing mommy to our princess True. She is blessed to have someone like you to look up to. I wish you nothing but more success and sending you positive blessing your way. Enjoy your day Koko ❤.”  Thompson famously cheated on the “most beautiful human” twice: once when she was nine months pregnant with True and again with Kylie Jenner’s best friend, Jordyn Woods, earlier this year. The couple split after the Woods scandal — and the drama has been chronicled on the current season of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”  Followers on social media immediately joked in comments that either Kris Jenner or Khloé had made Thompson post the photo.  “Khloe must still got the log in ?,” one wrote.  “She had her people hacked his IG ??,” wrote another.  “Kris made him do it!!” mused a third.  Khloé hadn’t “liked” it as of posting time, though that obviously could change.


newyorkpost--2019-12-13--Happy birthday, Taylor Swift! Her 30 most defining moments for her 30th birthday

Pop star Taylor Swift appears to have plunked down $18...


pinknewsuk--2019-12-20--Cara Delevingne shares her beautiful birthday message to girlfriend Ashley Benson

The couple rarely post on social media about their relationship. (caradelevingne/ Instagram)  Cara Delevingne, who has mostly kept her relationship private, has shared her beautiful birthday message for her girlfriend Ashley Benson.  The couple barely ever mention each other on social media, but for Benson’s birthday Delevingne made an exception.  On December 19, the model wrote on Instagram: “Happy birthday Ashley Benson. There is so much I could say but something I love and cherish most about us is that I don’t need to because YOU KNOW and that’s all that matters.  “It’s you and me which is my favourite. My safe place. You let me be silly, you let me be wild, you keep me free, secure and curious.  “I feel like I’ve known you my entire life and I am so proud of watching you grow into the woman that you always dreamt of being.  “I love you beyond words my sprinkles, choonchi, angel face, grumpy ass, sweet cheeks, never boring, buttmunch, Benson.”  She shared pictures of Benson, as well as one of their entwined hands while riding in a hot air balloon, and another of them taking a bath together.  Cara Delevingne confirmed her relationship with Ashley Benson during Pride month  Benson is known for her role as Hanna Marin in Pretty Little Liars, and met Delevingne while they were both starring in 2018’s Her Smell.  While the fact that they were together was no secret – the pair were famously photographed carrying a sex bench into their West Hollywood home back in May – they had not spoken publicly about their relationship.  Delevingne finally confirmed that they were a couple during Pride month, otherwise known as June, this year but said that they had been dating for around a year.  Speaking to Elle for the magazine’s October 2019 issue, Delevingne said that she had been hesitant to talk about her love life “because it’s sacred”.  She said: “I get why people care so much, and I don’t want to be so secretive that people think I’m ashamed of anything.  “But I’ve never been in a relationship where things are so public, or where I posted pictures of someone else. This seemed different.  “We had gotten to the point where we had kept it a secret, or at least not wanted attention, and now I feel like I’m not going to not be proud.”


sputnik--2019-01-03--Meghan Markle to Give Touching Birthday Gift to Kate Middleton - Reports

Meghan Markle to Give 'Touching' Birthday Gift to Kate Middleton - Reports

Last year, Meghan Markle, who was at the time dating Prince Harry, reportedly gave a sweet "dream diary" to Kate.  "Meg had bought Kate a small birthday present — a very smart leather-bound 'dream diary' for her thoughts and ideas which Kate loved," said a source familiar with the matter.  This year's still-unknown present might be of special interest to royal family fans. The Duchess of Cambridge is set to mark her 37th birthday on 9 January, and the royals will come together for the occasion at a time when they are said to be driven apart by a family feud.  It it rumoured that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are moving out of Kensington Palace, where they have been living alongside Prince William's family ever since they got engaged in 2017, to Frogmore Cottage in the Windsor Estate.  The Sun also reported in early December that Meghan and Harry turned down an invitation to spend Christmas at Kate and Will's; instead, they stayed at the Queen's Norfolk estate in Sandringham, but reunited with Prince William and his wife for a Christmas Day service.


sputnik--2019-07-02--Lindsay Lohan Wows Instagram With Naked Birthday Snap

Actress Lindsay Lohan has celebrated her 33d birthday in her very own fashion, inflaming her millions-strong following on Instagram with a naked selfie in nothing but diamond-like earrings, sparkly ring and three golden bracelets. The star photographed herself sitting on the floor in a white-walled and hardly furnished room with legs crossed and shielding her private parts from curious peeks and Instagram ban for too much nudity.  Her birthday suit in every sense has prompted a mixed reaction in the comments section. Many applauded the move, sent her best wishes and praised the beauty, proclaiming her a “queen of birthday suits”.  “She is really beautiful...” one commenter posted, while another could only exclaim “Gostosaaaaa” and “Yaaaaaaaaaaass”.  There were those who were left in doubt over the furnishings in the room.  “I’m so confused. Why is the tv [sic] on the floor??????????” one user noted.  Others felt inspired and asked themselves whether they should follow her example: “What if I posted something like this on my feed”.  Lindsay Lohan, who has travelled a long road from a promising teenage star to a scandal-ridden celebrity, recently spent some time on the Greek island and European party mecca of Mykonos, where she starred in a reality show in which she runs a club. However, it is not clear if she is still there because it has been reported that her club was closed and the second season of her show has been cancelled amid poor reviews and declining ratings. The star has refuted these speculations.


tass--2019-08-10--Jennifer Lopez to perform in St Petersburg on occasion of fiftieth birthday

Jennifer Lopez to perform in St. Petersburg on occasion of fiftieth birthday

ST. PETERSBURG, August 11. /TASS/. US singer Jennifer Lopez will give a concert in St. Petersburg on Sunday as part of the It’s My Party tour on the occasion of her fiftieth birthday. Lopez will visit St. Petersburg for the first time in seven years, says press service of the show organizer - Matreshka Concerts.  The singer celebrated her birthday on July 24.  "The audience will be able to see the It’s My Party show on August 11, 2019," the press service says. "The diva gave her first and so far the only recital in St. Petersburg in 2012. The singer returns after seven long years with the It’s My Party show to celebrate her jubilee together with you," the show organizer says.  Lopez prepared "numerous surprises: the entire night of hits of Jenny from the Block times, incredible choreography, magnificent attire and decorations" for the concert, the organizers noted.  Jennifer Lopez is an actress, singer, dancer, fashion designer, and producer. She entered the musical industry with the debut studio album On the 6 in 1999.


thedailycaller--2019-01-05--Celebrate Bradley Coopers Birthday With A Look Back At These Great Movies

Celebrate Bradley Cooper’s Birthday With A Look Back At These Great Movies

In honor of the 44-year-old actors’ day, we took a look back at his career over the last two decades and picked out some of our favorite movies he’s done.  Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the “Limitless” star got his first break in the entertainment business in 1998 when he got a part on the popular HBO drama “Sex in the City” alongside Sarah Jessica Parker. (RELATED: ‘American Sniper’ CRUSHES Box Office Records)  The exposure got him in the door and soon he would score a part in 2002 in “Changing Lanes” alongside such greats as Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck.  But he is probably best known for his role in the insane buddy-comedy movie “The Hangover” in 2009 about a bunch of guys who get slipped drugs on their buddy’s bachelor party night and they have to rebuild the pieces of what happened to find the groom before the wedding. (RELATED: Irina Shayk Flashes A Whole New Kind Of Cleavage — The Underboob)  Not to mention his role in 2014 as American hero U.S. Navy S.E.A.L. sniper Chris Kyle, in one of the greatest military movies of all time, “American Sniper.” If you haven’t seen it yet, you should immediately.  And, of course, we would be remiss not to mention that the man is not only one of the greatest actors of our time, but he is also linked to the gorgeous supermodel Irina Shayk, who always looks amazing.


breitbart--2019-11-06--Pollak: Matt Bevin's Loss Shows Risk of Weak Health Care Policy in 2020

Gov. Matt Bevin’s apparent narrow loss in his bid for re-election in Kentucky on Tuesday can be attributed to a variety of factors. Every election is a single data point with a multitude of explanations, each susceptible to bias.  But one of the salient reasons Bevin struggled — despite late support from President Donald Trump that nearly put him over the top — is that he tried to enforce federal work requirements for those receiving Medicaid benefits.  Medicaid has been a thorny issue for Republicans ever since President Barack Obama and the Democrats expanded it under the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare. Under the new law, states could expand Medicaid eligibility to those living “at or below 138% of the federal poverty level.” The federal government would cover nearly the entire cost for the first years of the expansion. It was an offer many states found impossible to refuse: a “free” entitlement!  Many Republicans rejected the Medicaid expansion — at least initially — because they saw immediately that it put them at odds with broader efforts to cut federal deficit spending, which the Tea Party had temporarily put into focus. But several Republican governors — including New Jersey’s Chris Christie, Florida’s Rick Scott, and Virginia’s Bob McDonnell — flip-flopped on the issue, as Democrats attacked them for denying health insurance to the “poor.”  Bevin, a Tea Party conservative who lost a tough primary challenge to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in 2014, tried to crack down on freeloading. But as Bruce Japsen of Forbes documented, Bevin’s efforts were an easy target for Democrat Andy Besmear. They allowed the opposition to paint him as hard-hearted, alienating him from the working-class voters that have supported Trump and the Republicans in several key swing states in recent years.  Beshear repeated the formula that helped Democrat Doug Jones defeat Republican Roy Moore in a special election for U.S. Senate in Alabama in 2017. Moore had plenty of other problems, but Jones avoided the tabloid issues and focused on the issue of health insurance for children. Health care remains a winning issue for Democrats, who are more trusted by the public to provide public goods, and protect entitlements, than the bean-counting Republicans.  The 2020 Democratic presidential field is fumbling away that advantage with ridiculous plans like Medicare for All, which would ban the private health insurance that half of the country currently enjoys, and impose crippling taxes on the economy. But Trump and the Republicans cannot coast on the unpopularity of Democrats’ big socialist plans. The GOP needs its own health care alternative — one that preserves benefits that Americans now take for granted.  Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He earned an A.B. in Social Studies and Environmental Science and Public Policy from Harvard College, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. He is also the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.


businessinsider--2019-11-22--The 26 best books to read if you want to shape healthcare policy, according to top DC power players

The 26 best books to read if you want to shape healthcare policy, according to top DC power players in the $3.5 trillion industry

• For the first time, Business Insider has put together a list of DC healthcare power players who are shaping healthcare policy and legislation in Washington. • With healthcare policy taking center stage in the political arena, Business Insider asked the nominees for book recommendations for people looking to make a difference in healthcare policy. • We asked: What is your best book recommendation for people who want to change health policy? And why? • Here are the top book picks. • Click here for more BI Prime stories.  Healthcare policy is taking center stage in the political arena.  With debates over Medicare for All, drug pricing, better patient care, and ending surprise billing it can be difficult to know where to begin when wanting to understand and address healthcare policy.  We asked the honorees on Business Insider's first-ever list of DC healthcare power players to provide book recommendations. In particular: What is your best book recommendation for people who want to change health policy? And why?  Read more: Meet the 34 DC healthcare power players who shape the rules for a $3.5 trillion industry that touches every American  The books they suggested range from memoirs to textbooks to deeply reported investigations. Here are their top picks.


buzzfeed--2019-11-06--A Judge Struck Down A Trump Policy That Would Have Let Health Workers Refuse Abortion And Sex Reassi

A Judge Struck Down A Trump Policy That Would Have Let Health Workers Refuse Abortion And Sex Reassignment Services

WASHINGTON — A federal judge struck down a Trump administration rule that would have allowed health workers to refuse to perform or assist with medical procedures like abortion, assisted suicide, or sex reassignment services on Wednesday, saying it violated the Constitution and that President Donald Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) made “flatly untrue” claims to justify the rule’s existence.  The rule, called a “Conscience Provision,” would have allowed health care providers and workers receiving federal funds to opt out of those procedures if they violated their “conscience” or religion. If a health care organization was found to repeatedly “discriminate” against its workers for their religious or moral opposition to certain procedures, the rule stated, they could lose their federal funding.  District Judge Paul Engelmayer for the Southern District Court of New York wrote in his 147-page opinion Wednesday that while the Conscience Provision seeks to “recognize and protect undeniably important rights,” the rule in its current form is “contrary to law,” was implemented “arbitrarily and capriciously” by HHS, was based on claims that were “factually untrue,” conflicts with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and is unconstitutional.  The Conscience Provision was scheduled to go into effect on Nov. 22, after being postponed repeatedly due to several lawsuits. All of these lawsuits challenging the rule — which span “19 States, the District of Columbia, several units of local government, and include a number of associations of health care providers,” the opinion said — were combined to go before Engelmayer in SDNY.  Abortion and LGBTQ rights proponents argued that the rule was designed to enable discrimination against transgender patients and people seeking abortions. They said the rule would make it even more difficult for people in vulnerable positions to get the care they need. The Trump administration and other proponents of the rule argued that it prevented workplace discrimination against health workers for their religious or moral beliefs, and enabled them to keep their jobs without facing moral conflict.  When it was first introduced in January 2018, the rule repealed an Obama-era discrimination protection rule that Trump’s HHS said “proved inadequate.” Trump’s replacement rule sought to specifically protect “providers, individuals, and other health care entities from having to provide, participate in, pay for, provide coverage of, or refer for, services such as abortion, sterilization, or assisted suicide.”  The Conscience Provision does not refer to transgender people explicitly, but it relies on the 1973 Church Amendment, which, in addition to addressing abortions, also protects federal funding for recipients who object to sterilizations. HHS’s rule argued the Church Amendment allows a provider to deny any service that results in sterilization, meaning it could allow workers to refuse to provide hormone therapy, hysterectomies, orchiectomies, and other transition-related services for transgender people, Gillian Branstetter, a spokesperson for the National Center for Transgender Equality, told BuzzFeed News when the rule was finalized in May.  Many doctors performing abortions or care related to sex reassignment services are specialists who chose to focus on these areas and would therefore be unlikely to object. However, the rule explicitly applies to those who “assist in the performance” of these services as well. This means nurses, pharmacists, phlebotomists, or anesthesiologists, among others, could refuse to help with a health service, making the procedure dangerous or even impossible, opponents of the rule argue.  One notable part of Engelmayer’s lengthy opinion is his analysis of the evidence presented by the lawyers opposing the rule. The lawyers argued that HHS’s entire basis for the rule’s existence — that there is a major problem in the US of health workers being discriminated against at work for refusing to perform certain procedures — was a lie.  The Conscience Protection rule was first proposed in conjunction with the launch of HHS’s Conscience and Religious Freedom Division. This division was created by the Trump administration to monitor and respond to the very complaints from health workers that the rule pertains to: discrimination due to religion and conscience. After Trump’s team launched the division, the head of the HHS Office of Civil Rights Roger Severino, said the number of complaints increased significantly from the number of complaints made during former president Barack Obama’s administration, bouncing from only a few such complaints a month to more than 350 in a month.  "It shows it’s a real problem out there,” Severino on a call with press about the rule in May, adding that the increase was due to workers feeling like their complaints would finally be heard. “Some doctors said they felt threatened from becoming an OBGYN, felt they would be forced to perform abortions,” he said.  During the case, the lawyers challenging the rule went through all these complaints and analyzed them to check if the increase being claimed by HHS was correct.  Of the 336 unique complaints (22 were exact duplicates, the opinion said), 79% pertained to vaccinations and had nothing to do with the issues addressed in the Conscience Protections. Of that, another 49 complaints were about other unrelated issues, leaving only about 20 complaints that could be construed as “potentially related to the Conscience Provisions,” Engelmayer wrote. “This conceded fact is fatal to HHS’s stated justification for the Rule.”  “HHS’s central factual claim of a ‘significant increase’ of complaints of Conscience Provision violations is flatly untrue,” Engelmayer continued. “This alone makes the agency’s decision to promulgate the Rule arbitrary and capricious.”  All the other violations  The lack of justification for the rule, as well as the lack of clear communication with which the rule was rolled out, Engelmayer wrote, violated the Administrative Procedure Act. Under the APA, HHS does not have the authority to create a rule with the effects the Conscience Provision has, he said. It also conflicts with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, in that abiding by the rule would pose an “undue hardship” for the health care organization. The Civil Rights Act states that an employer does not have to accommodate an employee’s religious or moral beliefs if they can prove it places an undue hardship on their ability to conduct their business.  The fact that the rule would enable the government to defund hospitals and health care facilities that they determine are repeatedly forcing workers to perform services that violate their beliefs, violates two portions of the Constitution, Engelmayer wrote, the Separation of Powers and the Spending Clause.  The court found the rule violates both clauses, both of which pertain to Congress’s powers over the use of federal funds. Congress has the power to fund or defund federal organizations, not the executive branch, and giving the Trump administration the ability to use Congress’s powers to punish organizations who violate their rule is unconstitutional, the judge found.  But Engelmayer did not agree with one of the plaintiff’s main arguments — that the rule violated the Establishment Clause, a part of the First Amendment of the Constitution that prevents government from legally favoring one religion over another.  “As the Supreme Court has long taught, religious accommodations are often appropriate and sometimes necessary, including to protect the free exercise of religion,” Engelmayer wrote. The rule does not favor one religion over another, or religion over no religion at all, because it includes an accommodation for those who oppose services for “moral” reasons, which Engelmayer said is a secular concept.  Engelmayer’s long and thorough opinion is tough on HHS and declares firmly that the rule cannot exist as is. However, the judge explicitly left room in his opinion to allow the Trump administration to try again.  “The Court’s decision today leaves HHS at liberty to consider and promulgate rules governing these provisions,” Engelmayer wrote in his conclusion. “In the future, however, the agency must do so within the confines of the APA and the Constitution.”  The Trump administration can still appeal the rule to a higher court, and even the Supreme Court. HHS did not immediately respond to BuzzFeed News’ inquiry about whether they plan to appeal.


crooksandliars--2019-01-22--Food Is Medicine How US Policy Is Shifting Toward Nutrition For Better Health

Food Is Medicine: How US Policy Is Shifting Toward Nutrition For Better Health

In this new year, millions of Americans will make resolutions about healthier eating. In 2019, could U.S. government leaders further resolve to improve healthier eating as well, joining public health experts in seeing that food is medicine?  In 2018, Congress initiated a series of actions that represent a shift away from placing the full responsibility – and blame – on individual people to make their own healthier choices. These actions also show a growing recognition that many stakeholders – including the government – are accountable for a healthier, more equitable food system. This shift in thinking reflects an understanding that government can and should play a role in improving the diet of Americans.  As faculty members at Tufts University, our expertise spans clinical medicine, nutrition science, public health, policy analyses, Congress, federal agencies and government programs. It’s clear to us that the time is right for meaningful policy action to leverage food as medicine.  Poor diet is among the greatest health and societal challenges of our time, causing death and disability, soaring health care spending, budget challenges for governments and private business, diminished military readiness and population disparities.  Medicare and Medicaid, the government programs that pay for medical care for people over age 65, low-income families, and the disabled, now consume US$1 in $4 in the federal budget. In addition, nearly $1 in $5 in the entire U.S. economy is spent on health care, creating massive threats to the health of the national economy.  Diet-related diseases are major contributors to these expenses. For example, the annual medical and economic costs of heart disease and stroke are estimated at $316 billion; of diabetes, $327 billion; and of all obesity-related conditions, $1.42 trillion. These costs create enormous economic challenges for federal and state governments as well as for private American businesses, families, and individuals through rising health care premiums, out-pocket-costs, missed work and lower productivity.  Diet-related health burdens and costs also influence military readiness. Two-thirds of active duty military forces are overweight or obese, while 71 percent of young Americans are unable to join the military for one or more reasons, with obesity as the leading medical disqualifier.  The overall U.S. food system – including farming and imports, supermarkets and retail, restaurants and cafeterias, and food manufacturers – also reflects and contributes to profound disparities, especially among children. Minorities and the poor often have the worst diets, causing a vicious cycle of poor health, lower school performance, lost productivity, increased health costs and poverty.  As policymakers increasingly recognize the depth and breadth of these effects, they are beginning to act. In January 2018, House lawmakers created a bipartisan “Food is Medicine” working group, dedicated to innovations in nutrition policy to improve health and reduce diet-related health costs. Simply the existence of a group in Congress focused on “Food is Medicine,” which hosted multiple briefings for congressional staff on key legislation to integrate nutrition into federal policy, is an advance.  On June 7, 2018, Congress instructed the U.S. Government Accountability Office to perform a comprehensive assessment and accounting of all federal policies related to food, chronic diseases and health care costs. The GAO is the government “watchdog,” providing independent audits of agencies and policies. The GAO has been asked to investigate six specific questions across diverse federal agencies and programs, including the evidence linking diet to chronic diseases, the corresponding national and federal health care costs, and the current strategies and missed opportunities to reduce these risks and costs. A series of GAO reports on food policy will likely come out in 2019 and 2020. The launch of this investigation represents a federal milestone for its scope and recognition of the opportunities in food policy.  The 2018 Farm Bill, signed into law on Dec. 20, 2018, included several important provisions for healthier eating, especially in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which supports about one in seven Americans. This included expansion of the fruit and vegetable subsidy program to $250 million, a new $25 million Produce Prescription Program and strengthening of SNAP-Education, a $400 million/year nutrition education program. Several of these advances were recommended by the 2018 Bipartisan Policy Center report on healthier SNAP, chaired by former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, M.D., and USDA Secretaries Ann Veneman and Dan Glickman.  While there were advances in the Farm Bill, a proposed amendment to include pilot testing for medically tailored meals was rejected. Medically tailored meals are ready-to-eat, personalized meals provided at home to low-income patients with complex medical illnesses like cancer, HIV, diabetes or heart failure. Several recent studies show that providing medically tailored meals to patients is associated with reduced hospitalizations, emergency room visits and overall health care spending. While this is a missed opportunity in the Farm Bill, the state of California is currently testing the effects of medically tailored meals on health outcomes and costs in a $6 million Medicaid intervention across six counties, which will provide new evidence for possible future national expansion.  Among the Farm Bill changes, we believe that the new Produce Prescription Program holds special promise. Already offered by some nonprofit and private insurance programs, this new federal program will allow doctors to prescribe not just medications but also subsidized purchases of fruits and vegetables. While the $25 million represents a small relative investment, this direct federal commitment to evaluate produce prescriptions in health care has the potential to provide evidence to support future expansion throughout Medicaid and Medicare.  Together, these congressional activities in 2018 represent an evolution toward incorporating and addressing nutrition, diet-related diseases and their health care costs in federal policy. These actions build upon mounting public awareness of the central role of food in well-being; the accelerating consumer demand for, and corresponding industry shifts toward, healthier foods; and the growing recognition that individual consumers cannot be solely responsible for the current challenges in the food system.  The recent congressional actions toward viewing food as medicine coincide with new scientific evidence on how specific government policies can improve nutrition and well-being, reduce health care costs and reduce disparities.  We believe that meaningful progress on these national challenges will require far more substantive policy changes that can make healthier eating the easy, accessible, less expensive option. Based on recent reviews of the science as well as our new research, particularly promising federal government strategies for consideration include:  Policy change is often not linear. Based on the significant impacts of nutrition on disease, health care, the economy, military readiness, disparities and the environment, federal actions in 2018 laid the foundation for nonpartisan federal leadership to create meaningful and lasting solutions.  This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.


crooksandliars--2019-04-09--Democrat Slams William Barr Over Obamacare Lawsuit Youre Not A Health Care Policy Expert

Democrat Slams William Barr Over Obamacare Lawsuit: ‘You’re Not A Health Care Policy Expert’

Attorney General William Barr on Tuesday suggested that the Trump Department of Justice may lose a court battle that aims to overturn President Barack Obama’s health care reform law.  During a House Appropriations Committee hearing, Rep. Matt Cartwright (D-PA) asked Barr if he had a plan for the millions of people who will be without insurance if Obamacare is struck down.  “Your decision to pursue this course of action in the federal courts puts at risk not only critical consumer protections such as those protecting individuals suffering from pre-existing conditions but also other important provisions of that law such as the Medicaid independent coverage for young adults to age 26, coverage for preventative services and the regulatory pathway for FDA approval of biosimilar drugs,” Cartwright explained.  The lawmaker continued: “Attorney General Barr, you’re not a health care policy expert, but your department is taking the lead on attempting a massive overhaul of our American health care system, so I want to make sure we agree on a few of the top line facts. Let’s go through a couple quick yes or no questions at the outset. Number one, have you conducted or viewed an analysis to evaluate the effects of DOJ’s litigation position to overturn the ACA? The effects on consumer costs and coverage? Have you done that analysis or reviewed one?”  “Well, when we’re faced with a legal question, we try to base our answer on the law,” Barr said.  “So the answer is no,” Cartwright pointed out. “And here’s the thing. I can’t imagine that you would take that kind of a dramatic, drastic action without even trying to evaluate the consequences for the American consumers, the people using the health care, the people for whom these premiums are paid.”  The legislator went on to ask Barr if his effort would end in “12 million people nationally” who lose insurance.  “Do you think it’s likely we’re going to prevail?” Barr asked Cartwright instead of answering the question.  “If you prevail — well, you’re devoting scarce resources of your department toward that effort, are you not, attorney general?” the Pennsylvania Democrat pressed. “If you succeed, that many people will lose their coverage nationally from Medicaid and 750,000 from Pennsylvania alone.”  “If you’re saying it, if you think it’s such an outrageous position, you have nothing to worry about. Let the courts do their job,” Barr quipped.  Watch the video above from CNN.


fortune--2019-02-14--Brainstorm Health Health Policy Valentines NantHealth and Baxter Cancer Deaths

Brainstorm Health: Health Policy Valentine’s, NantHealth and Baxter, Cancer Deaths

A happy Valentine’s Day to those of you who celebrate! I know, I know… Valentine’s can be a sore subject for some, whether for the inevitable singles-shaming, the overt money-grab nature of the whole affair, etc. But there’s a bright spot in all this for the health care nerds out there – and it’s called #HealthPolicyValentines.  This is one of my favorite little social media events. Basically, a bunch of Very Online dorks get together and share lame (but brilliant!) puns that relate to health policy.  I invite you to look upon some of the entries this year (they range from the simplistic, to the profound, to the, well, super corny). They’re all under the #HealthPolicyValentines hashtag on Twitter. Heck, even CMS Administrator Seema Verma got in on the game this year.  Read on for the day’s news, and enjoy (or don’t) your Valentine’s Day.


observer--2019-05-24--The Trump Administration Has Rolled Back a Policy Protecting Transgender Patients Health Care

The Trump Administration Has Rolled Back a Policy Protecting Transgender Patients’ Health Care

The Department of Health and Human Services rewrote an Obama-era policy preventing health care providers from discriminating against transgender patients on Friday. Under the new rule, the HHS plans to make the definition of sex protections “more consistent” with other agencies.  “When Congress prohibited sex discrimination, it did so according to the plain meaning of the term, and we are making our regulations conform,” HHS director Roger Severino told reporters on a call, adding that the Obama administration redefined nondiscrimination protections to include an individual’s identification as “male, female, neither, or a combination of male and female.”  The HHS is the latest agency to roll back the federal protections of transgender patients authorized during the Obama years. On Wednesday, the Department of Housing and Urban Development proposed a new policy allowing federally funded shelters to turn away transgender people for religious reasons. In March, the Defense Department imposed new restrictions on transgender troops’ ability to serve in the military, barring them from transitioning while in service.


rollcall--2019-10-30--Senate Republicans kill Democratic move on Trump health policy

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., sees the vote on the health insurance guidance as a referendum on support for people with pre-existing conditions. (Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call)  The Senate rejected a Democratic resolution to nullify a Trump administration health care policy that supporters billed as a referendum on support for pre-existing condition protections.  The 43-52 vote on Wednesday blocked a disapproval resolution that would have reversed a 2018 guidance expanding changes states could make to their insurance markets through waivers. Democrats forced the vote via the Congressional Review Act even though no states have sought to make the types of changes the administration is encouraging.  Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, was the sole Republican to vote for the resolution.  Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., called the guidance a “horrible rule that threatens the care of millions of Americans with pre-existing conditions” and labeled the debate “one of the most significant policy votes of the year." The party is expected to try to leverage the vote against Republicans on the campaign trail.  Waivers were included in the Democrats’ 2010 health care law as a way for states to put their own marks on their individual insurance markets. To be granted approval, states had to show their proposals would not decrease the number of people with insurance coverage and that their coverage would be as comprehensive and as affordable.  The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued the revised guidance, which said states would have to show an equivalent number of residents would have access to some form of coverage under the waiver, including plans that don’t meet the health law’s requirements.  The agency also released a list of policy ideas for states to consider, such as allowing people to use federal subsidies to buy short-term plans that do not have to guarantee coverage for people with pre-existing conditions or cover essential benefits required under the law.  The White House issued a veto threat Monday against the resolution.  Democrats previously forced a vote on the administration’s rule expanding the duration of short-term plans. Collins also was the only Republican to disapprove of the rule at that time.  The Government Accountability Office said earlier this year the guidance could be considered a rule, allowing Democrats to hold Wednesday’s vote.  Democrats say it is important to vote to rescind the policy although no state has pursued these changes.  “If Trump is successful in continuing to push forward these rules, he’s going to also start to put pressure on Republican governors to join him,” Connecticut Democratic Sen. Christopher S. Murphy said. “It’s just a matter of time before he starts tweeting at Republican governors to move forward with their own plans to undermine the Affordable Care Act.”  Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday on the Senate floor that the Trump administration has said a waiver could not undermine protections for people with pre-existing conditions.  “Apparently our Democratic colleagues are not terribly fond of letting states shake off the unhelpful structures of Obamacare,” McConnell said. “Perhaps it makes their signature law look bad that governors of both parties are eager to escape from it.”  McConnell noted that a dozen states have used the waivers to set up reinsurance programs to receive government funds to cover the highest-cost patients. Those waivers were not affected by the Trump administration's changes in the guidance memo. Both Republican and Democratic governors have set up such programs, which have led to lower premiums in those states.  On Wednesday, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., objected to two unanimous consent requests from Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., to bring up a bill that would reverse the administration’s short-term plan rule and another to authorize additional funding for the navigator program to help people enroll in insurance coverage.


theirishtimes--2019-10-03--Governments oral health policy fundalmentally flawed says dental body

Government’s oral health policy fundalmentally flawed, says dental body

The Government’s new oral health policy is “fundamentally flawed” and cannot work in the absence of changes to the way dentists are trained, the State’s main postgraduate dental training body has warned.  The policy, published last April, needs to be reviewed and legislative changes made to ensure dentists are sufficiently educated, according to the RSCI faculty of dentistry.  The oral health policy proposes moving children’s dental care from public clinics in the community to private dentists. It has been speculated the funding of free dental care to all children under six may be announced in the next week’s Budget, but the RCSI faculty maintains the system is not ready for this change.  It says the policy fails to make provision for the ongoing post-graduate education and training of dentists, and that the proposed network of advanced oral healthcare centres require skilled dental specialists who currently are not available.  RCSI faculty dean Dr John Marley wrote to Minister for Health Simon Harris reiterating their concerns about the policy. Dr Marley said it should be changed to provide for a mandatory system of continuing professional development for dentists, as well as the introduction of further specialist lists beyond the existing ones in orthodontics and oral surgery.  “The Department’s new policy does not address the fundamental flaws in how we further educate and train dentists in Ireland. We do not provide our newly qualified dentists with the support and training they require in their first year in practice, while established dentists are not given enough opportunities to keep their skills up to date.  “There are currently just two recognised specialties whereas in the UK thirteen specialities are recognised, which a response to the increasing complexity of dental treatments.”  Dr Marley said the Department could not “simply race ahead” with the policy without putting in place the foundations needed to make it a success.  “Enacting the legislative changes now to ensure that our dentists are sufficiently trained and educated must be the immediate priority for the Department. Unfortunately we see no evidence of this promised legislative change being actioned”.