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Sen. Bernie Sanders is ringing the alarm that the United States is “rapidly” becoming an oligarchy run by billionaires out to enrich themselves.

“We are moving rapidly into an oligarchic form of society. Never before in American history have so few billionaires, so few people, have so much wealth and so much power,” the senator said.

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1868350229034009022

“Never before has there been so much concentration of ownership, sector after sector, power of Wall Street,” he continued. “And never before in American history — and we better talk...

The wealth of the world’s very richest people — a list dominated by U.S. billionaires, many of whom backed President-elect Donald Trump — has soared to record levels since the election. Billionaires’ investments to elect one of their own in Trump is paying off as Wall Street cash floods into the companies they control.

Already, data shows that the ultra-wealthiest segments in the U.S. control a greater share of wealth than during the Gilded Age. Since 1989, the top 0.1 percent got over $14 trillion dollars richer than the entire bottom 50 percent of America,...

Alan Jones, the veteran Australian radio broadcaster, has been charged with two dozen offenses of sexual and indecent assault.

The 83-year-old was taken into custody at his Sydney apartment early on Monday morning, according to the BBC.

Jones is a well-known Australian radio personality who has also worked as a political speechwriter and used to manage the Australian rugby union team.

Jones has been charged with sexually abusing seven men and a 17-year-old boy, reports said. Overall, he faces 24 charges over alleged incidents between 2001 and 2019, including 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault.

New South Wales Police Commissioner Karen Webb was quoted telling reporters that the investigation will be “very complex” and “thorough,” and that she expects more victims to come forward in the coming weeks.

Jones, who has been granted conditional bail and will appear in court on December 18, has previously denied allegations of abuse published by The Sydney Morning Herald in 2023.

“Allegations have been made,...

Veteran Australian broadcaster Alan Jones was charged on Monday with two dozen offenses of sexual and indecent assault. The alleged crimes go back some 20 years.

Jones was arrested at his home in Sydney on Monday morning by New South Wales police and taken to the police station, where he was charged and remanded on bail to appear in court on Dec. 18.

He was charged with 11 counts of aggravated indecent assault, nine counts of assault with act of indecency, two counts of sexually touching a person without consent and another two counts of common assault.

“Allegations have been made, nothing has been tested, nothing has been proven,” Jones’ lawyer Chris Murphy said outside the police station, according to Australian media. “Alan Jones will assert his innocence appropriately in the courtroom.”

Police said that Jones knew the eight alleged victims in different ways — some personally, others he employed — and that the youngest...

While we have often heard of the powerhouse Vince McMahon, his wife of 58 years, Linda McMahon is no less. A prominent professional wrestling and business figure, she has built her own career thanks to her corporate success and political ventures. Known primarily as the former CEO of WWE and Vince McMahon’s wife, she has been as essential to the success of the World Wrestling Federation as her husband, transforming it into a multimedia empire under her leadership.

Linda McMahon | Credit: Image by Gage Skidmore licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons

A mainstay in sports entertainment and mainstream culture, Linda has been actively involved with politics and has played a crucial role in Donald Trump’s political campaigns. Her political alignment with the former and now upcoming president of the United States of America is well documented, stemming from years of professional interactions and mutual support in each other’s ventures.

The 13th edition of the Montclair Film Festival will kick off this week with the second U.S. screening of Edward Berger’s “Conclave” since the Telluride Film Festival, one of several top awards contenders scheduled for the prestigious New Jersey event.

“Conclave” premiered in Colorado in late August and later showed during the Toronto International Film Festival and the Hamptons Film Festival. The Focus Features release features an ensemble led by Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, Carlos Diehz, John Lithgow, and Isabella Rossellini. It is expected to factor heavily in the Oscars race, with Fiennes a top contender for Best Actor.

But “Conclave” isn’t the only notable film or event scheduled for the Montclair Film Festival, which runs from October 18 through October 27. “We are incredibly grateful to these filmmakers for bringing their work to us,” said Montclair Film Artistic Director and Co-Head Tom Hall. “This year’s program shows...

Colman Domingo has new plans on his weekend schedule.

The Oscar nominated actor has been selected to receive a Voice & Visibility Award from NewFest, New York’s LGBTQ+ film festival. He’ll receive the shine this Saturday at the city’s Sva Theatre during a program that will also feature a conversation between Domingo and Vanity Fair staff writer Chris Murphy.

Per NewFest, “individuals awarded this honor are recognized for exceptionally demonstrating NewFest’s mission to give voice and visibility to LGBTQ+ stories and artists. Recipients have played an active and essential role in empowering and advancing the LGBTQ+ community in the media.” NewFest executive director David Hatkoff called out one of Domingo’s roles as evidence he fits the bill.

“Colman Domingo’s Academy Award-nominated performance as queer trailblazer Bayard Rustin in Rustin, the opening night film of NewFest’s 2023 festival, was one for the ages,” Hatkoff stated. “His work in television,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. To keep up with our latest features, sign up for the Weekly Edit newsletter and follow us @mubinotebook on Twitter and Instagram.NEWSChicken Run.After earlier claims that they were “not in jeopardy,” the 29-location Landmark Theatre chain now faces foreclosure, though IndieWire reports that may not be such a bad thing.After releasing a trailer for Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis that included phony, apparently AI-generated pull quotes attributed to real film critics, Lionsgate has issued an apology and ceremonially fired a marketing consultant.The fast-food chain Chick-Fil-a plans to launch a streaming service, which will apparently include game shows and reality programming.FESTIVALSAhead of its premiere this weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival, we are pleased to share the first poster for Sofia Bohdanowicz's Measures for a Funeral (2024), designed by Charlotte Gosch of studio other types.

The 2024 Democratic National Convention continues Wednesday, with former President Bill Clinton, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg and vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, set to deliver speeches in primetime.

“Our convention is an opportunity to bring the story of our party to the American people — not just the story of what we’ve achieved under the Biden-Harris administration, but how the Harris-Walz ticket is planning to build on that historic record for a new way forward into the future,” Convention Chair Minyon Moore said in a statement. “The story here is simple and it’s...

John Legend and Sheila E hit the stage on Wednesday (August 21) at United Center in Chicago, Ill.

The two musicians are set to perform during the third night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention, reportedly leading a tribute to the late Prince.

Ahead of tonight’s festivities, the full list of performers and speakers has been revealed and we have all the details right here.

Keep reading to find out more…

Along with John and Sheila, Stevie Wonder, Maren Morris and Kenan Thompson were also spotted rehearsing for the event!

Taking the stage as speakers during the night include the following:

Mindy Kaling (host)

Former President Bill Clinton

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker

Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto

Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar

Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy

Maryland Governor Wes Moore

Minnesota Governor and...

Vice presidential nominee Gov. Tim Walz (D-mn), former President Bill Clinton and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are among the speakers who will be featured on the third night of the Democratic National Convention.

Also in the lineup: House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-ny), former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Gov. Wes Moore (D-md), Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-pa), Sen. Cory Booker (D-nj), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-ct), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-mn), Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-nv) and Republicans including former Trump administration official Olivia Troye and Geoff Duncan, former lieutenant governor of Georgia.

Walz “will introduce himself to the American people tonight on the convention stage, highlighting the small-town values that have shaped his lifetime of service and his commitment to safeguarding the freedoms that we all hold dear,” Alex Hornbrook, executive director of the Democratic National Convention Committee, told reporters.

Hornbrook also said that the evening would feature “everyday Americans whose freedoms...

Democrats called on President Joe Biden to restore voters’ faith in him — and fast. Rep. Adam Schiff said that the debate last month “rightfully raised questions among the American people about whether the president has the vigor to defeat Donald Trump” and expressed concern that the race appears to be close, while Sen. Chris Murphy said “clock is ticking” for Biden to recover from his dismal debate performance.

“Given Joe Biden’s incredible record, given Donald Trump’s terrible record, he should be mopping the floor with Donald Trump,” said Schiff,...

Senator Chris Murphy accused the Supreme Court of being “brazenly corrupt and brazenly political” after reporting revealed Justice Clarence Thomas’ undisclosed lavish gifts and trips from conservative benefactors, as well as Justice Samuel Alito’s “displaying affiliation with political causes in public.”

“I think there’s a crisis on the court, in particular with respect to Justice Alito and Justice Thomas,” the Connecticut Democrat said during Sunday’s State of the Union on CNN. “What Justice Thomas is engaged in is just a grift, right? He’s got a major...

Joe Biden amped up his attacks on Donald Trump following his rival’s conviction on 34 felony charges last week, calling the former president “unhinged” and engaged in an “all-out assault” on the justice system.

The president’s remarks came at a Greenwich, Ct fund-raising reception at the home of Richard Plepler, the former CEO of HBO.

Telling those gathered that the presidential campaign entered “uncharted territory” last week, Biden told the crowd, per a pool report, “For the first time in American history, a former president that is a convicted felon is now seeking the office of the presidency.”

“But as disturbing as that is, more damaging is the all-out assault Donald Trump is making on the American system of justice.”

As he did in brief remarks about the conviction on Friday, Biden called it “reckless” and “dangerous” for Trump to call the judicial process rigged, which has been his...

Joseph Lieberman, the longtime U.S. senator from Connecticut who became the first Jewish candidate of a major party when Al Gore selected him as his running mate in the 2000 election, has died at the age of 82.

Marc E. Kasowitz of law firm Kasowitz Benson Torres, where Lieberman took a position as Senior Counsel for more than a decade after serving 24 years in the Senate, confirmed his death in a statement to Rolling Stone. “We are profoundly saddened at the passing of our firm’s senior counsel Senator Joe Lieberman,...

Sen. Chris Murphy accused Republicans of intentionally blocking a bipartisan immigration bill in order to fuel the crisis at the border because it aids Donald Trump’s campaign for the presidency.

“They want the border to be out of control because it helps [Trump] politically, and they know [Biden] has limits to what he can do through executive order,” the Democratic senator said Sunday on ABC’s This Week.

Sen. Chris Murphy urges Democrats to "go on the offense" on immigration after a bipartisan border deal was tanked by Republicans.

"Donald Trump...

As former President Donald Trump openly condemns the Senate’s border legislation, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told colleagues Saturday he won’t consider a border deal anytime soon. But does that mean Trump is calling the shots?

“Of course not. He’s not calling the shots. I am calling the shots for the House, that’s our responsibility,” Johnson told NBC’s “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker on Sunday.

Trump posted on social media last week that a border bill “is not necessary” and blamed President Joe Biden...

Jaws actor Richard Dreyfuss recently caught a performance of Broadway’s The Shark Is Broken, the comedy-drama about the making of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster. Despite the smile on his face in meet-the-cast photos, he wasn’t very happy.

In an exclusive Vanity Fair interview, Dreyfuss criticizes the play – written by and co-starring Ian Shaw, dead-ringer son of the late Jaws actor Robert Shaw – for what he says are inaccuracies and for making him look like “a big jerk.”

“I went to see it, to see if it really was gonna hurt,” Dreyfuss tells Vf‘s Chris Murphy. “And it did.”

The comedy, based in part on Robert Shaw’s diary, depicts the long-rumored feud between Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw during the film’s hurry-up-and-wait Cape Cod shooting as the the cast – Dreyfuss, Shaw and Roy Scheider – was all but sequestered on the floating Orca set. Dreyfuss, played by Alex Brightman,...

Robert Card, an Army reservist with a history of mental health issues, is suspected of killing at least 18 people at multiple locations in Maine on Wednesday.

Hours before the rampage, the Senate voted 53-45 to adopt an amendment making it easier for veterans with mental disabilities to get guns. The Department of Veteran Affairs is currently required to send the names of veterans who need assistance managing their benefits to the FBI’s National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

The amendment adopted on Wednesday, introduced by Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.

New Jersey Senator Bob Menendez is facing a rapidly growing number of calls from his Democratic colleagues to resign from office following a damning indictment on charges of corruption and bribery.

On Wednesday, Menendez pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment in Manhattan court.

The indictment, which was made public on Friday, was initially met with widespread silence from Senate Democrats, save for Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman, who on Saturday called for Menendez’s resignation. “Senator Menendez should resign,” he wrote. “He’s entitled to the presumption of innocence,...

In the wake of yet another school mass shooting — this time in Nashville, Tenn. — Rep. Dan Crenshaw asserted that putting more guns in schools would prevent these tragedies from occurring. “If we had a minimum of two armed guards or police officers at every single school in America, you would probably prevent these from here on out,” the congressman said, adding, “Yes, more guns, the kind of guns that protect the president.”

Crenshaw also said during his Sunday appearance on CNN’s State of the Union that it’s “very...

Lady Gaga gave a performance that had people talking.

On Sunday night, the singer took the stage at the Oscars to sing the Best Original Song nominee “Hold My Hand” from “Top Gun: Maverick”.

Read More: Lady Gaga Is Performing At The 2023 Oscars After All

Gaga opened the performance, sitting on a stool, delivering a speech, “I wrote this song with my friend, BloodPop, for the film ‘Top Gun: Maverick’, in my studio basement. It’s deeply personal for me, and I think that we all need each other. We need a lot of love to walk through this life.”

Lady Gaga performs a stripped-down version of "Hold My Hand" at the #Oscars. https://t.co/ndiKiHeOT5 pic.twitter.com/dLlahLTjht

— Variety (@Variety) March 13, 2023

She added, “And we all need a hero sometimes. There’s heroes all around us in unassuming places, but you might find you can be your own hero,...

“It’s a shitty time of year.”

It’s a Friday in early December, and I ask Nelba Márquez-Greene how she’s doing. In roughly two weeks, it will be 10 years since her daughter, Ana, was killed at the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. She’s fending off interview requests from news producers casually asking if she’s available to tell their audience “a little about what that day … felt like.” She’s reeling from a cable news chyron that described a recent trip survivors of the 2021 high school shooting in Oxford,...

San Francisco, Nov 21 (Ians) The US government is now looking into whether Elon Musk’s foreign investment partners have access to users’ private data on the micro-blogging platform, as he plans another round of layoffs.

Bloomberg reported, citing sources, that the government is asking for more details about Musk’s private agreements with global investors who hold stakes in the company.

These investors include Saudi Arabia’s Prince Al Waleed bin Talal Al Saud and the Qatar Investment Authority.

Musk’s business dealings in both Ukraine and China have already drawn concerns among the government ranks.

The government is now “looking into whether Musk’s foreign investment partners have access to users’ private data on the platform”.

U.S. President Joe Biden has expressed concerns that Musk’s “relationships with other countries is worthy of being looked at.”

Senator Chris Murphy (Democrat-Connecticut) also called for the Committee on Foreign Investment...

Barack Obama will appear as a guest on the Nov. 17 episode of “The Daily Show With Trevor Noah,” Variety has learned exclusively. The episode airs on Comedy Central at 11 p.m.

In conversation with Noah, the former president will discuss the Obama Foundation Democracy Forum and critical issues facing America and the world today. The interview will be Obama’s third with Noah, and his first in-studio. He previously appeared in a 2020 virtually taped episode, and did one of his final interviews as president with Noah at the White House.

The interview comes the week after the midterm elections that won the Republican party control of the House of Representatives — ending two years headed by the Democrats — and just days after Obama’s successor, the twice impeached Donald Trump, announced his bid to return to the White House in 2024.

The Obama interview will also mark a highlight for the end...

Elon Musk has sold nearly 4 billion worth of Tesla stock in the less than two weeks since he closed the deal to buy Twitter. That’s according to CNBC, citing SEC filings.

Musk, who purchased the troubled social media platform on October 27 for 44 billion, said that he was done selling roughly 7 billion in Tesla to fund the sale in August.

Musk’s purpose for the more recent selloff has not been disclosed but, unlike 2021 when he sold 22 billion worth of the then-surging Tesla, Tesla shares are off 46 this year, so his 3.95 billion decision unlikely to be about profit-taking.

Musk admitted late last week that Twitter was losing millions a day and said that was among the reasons he chose to cut its workforce roughly in half.

“Regarding Twitter’s reduction in force, unfortunately there is no choice when the company is losing over 4M/day,” wrote Musk late Friday afternoon.

Click here to read the full article.

Carter Smith’s queer horror Swallowed, starring Jena Malone and Cooper Koch, was awarded the U.S. narrative feature grand jury prize at the 2022 NewFest Festival, which runs through Oct. 25 in New York.

Juliana Curi’s documentary UÝRA — The Rising Forest, Maryam Touzani’s drama The Blue Caftan and Nyala Moon’s short How to Not Date While Trans were also awarded jury prizes in the documentary feature, international feature and New York short categories of the annual LGBTQ+ film festival’s 34th edition.

Writer-director Elegance Bratton was also honored on Oct. 20 with the inaugural 2022 Breakthrough Queer Visionary Award for his film The Inspection, about a gay Black man who joins the Marines. The film, which stars Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union and Raúl Castillo, debuted at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival and is set to open in U.S. theaters on Nov. 18.

“Queer cinema is thriving,...

If you spend any significant time online — and particularly in the nebulous, insufferable realm of Politics Twitter — you’ve probably met him: 79-years-old, a full head of silver hair, an immaculately tailored suit, and, frequently, a pair of sizzling red laser-eyes. He’s “Dark Brandon,” President Joe Biden’s alpha-male bizarro, and the latest star of the White House’s ham-fisted effort to convince people that the septuagenarian commander-in-chief is actually a Super Cool Badass Dude™.

Dark Brandon is crushing it pic.twitter.com/w0L8xCzIW8

— Andrew Bates (@AndrewJBates46) August 7, 2022

In reality,...

President Joe Biden today gave a speech marking the signing of a gun safety bill passed in the aftermath of recent mass shootings.

But even as lawmakers, gun reform advocates and victims’ families gathered on the South Law ceremony said that the new legislation would be meaningful, some also said it falls short of laws that were in place in the past, like an assault weapons ban, or even a ban on purchases of those firearms for those under 21. And some said it more loudly than others.

Biden’s speech was interrupted by Manuel Oliver, whose son Joaquin was killed in the 2018 Parkland, Fl shootings. Oliver could be heard shouting, “I have been trying to tell you this, for years,” and Biden then said, “Let him talk. Let him talk.” Oliver, who founded the group Change the Ref and is calling for much greater measures, was then escorted away.

In his speech,...

Update, Saturday, 6:20 Am Pt: President Biden signed the bipartisan gun safety bill into law on Saturday, saying that “time is of the essence” and “lives will be saved” by the legislation.

“While this bill doesn’t do everything I want, it does include actions I have long called for,” Biden said, calling it a “monumental day” given that no significant federal gun legislation has been passed for almost 30 years.

With the president at the brief signing event was First Lady Jill Biden. He said that the White House will hold a larger ceremony to mark the occasion on July 11.

Previously, Friday, 10:35 Am Pt: The House passed a bipartisan compromise gun safety bill, and the legislation now will head to Joe Biden’s desk for him to sign into law.

The vote was 234-193, and lawmakers cheered as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the final vote. Fourteen Republicans joined...

Republican and Democratic Senators have signed onto a tentative agreement for gun reform legislation in the wake of the shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school.

The proposed deal for bipartisan reform, a group of senators announced Sunday, includes enhanced background checks for buyers ages 18-21 as well as funding for mental health treatment and school security. The deal is a result of negotiations between Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas). Ten Republican senators — the number Democrats would need to overcome a filibuster — have signed on.

In addition to Cornyn,...

A bipartisan group of senators have reach an agreement on a framework for a series of new gun safety measures on Sunday, but they fall short of banning the purchase of assault weapons for those under 21.

Specifically, the agreement would expand background checks for those under 21 who purchase guns; grants for states to implement “red flag” laws, which allows law enforcement to temporarily take away guns who pose a danger to themselves or others; an expansion of mental health programs; improving the background check system overall, with a focus on preventing domestic abusers from buying guns; and increasing funding for school security. It also includes the first federal law against gun trafficking and straw purchasing.

Such an announcement would reflect a breakthrough in a long stalemate over any new gun legislation, even though it does not include measures that have widespread public support, like universal background checks, a ban on...

Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.), who survived a shooting at a practice for a congressional baseball game in 2017, criticized ongoing Senate negotiations over stricter gun laws on Sunday morning.

“We need to focus more on stopping things before they happen,” Scalise, the House’s second-ranking Republican, said on Fox News Sunday. “It immediately becomes about Democrats wanting to take away guns.”

A bipartisan group of senators have developed a framework for a gun reform bill in the wake of last month’s mass shootings in Buffalo, New York, and Uvalde, Texas.

Following this week’s mass shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, that left 19 children and two adults dead, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy called out his fellow senators for their inaction over gun control as he works towards a bipartisan agreement to make our schools safer.

During an appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers,” Murphy promised Americans that he’s in discussions with “half a dozen or more” Republican senators in the hopes of plotting a new course forward in the ongoing gun debate. Above all, he stressed that the fight is not hopeless.

“You’re up at this moment where there’s so many Americans who have become so numb to the pace of these mass shootings,” Murphy said. “I just can’t let that happen. I can’t let people in this country believe we can’t change this. Because we can. We’re the only country...

Chris Murphy has seen the photographs of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. The Connecticut senator is one of the few people who have. The public has been spared the images of the “unthinkable, grisly, horrific scenes,” he says, so shocking that the first responders who first entered the classrooms required as much counseling as the parents who lost their children.

“I sometimes wonder what would happen if the photos from inside these scenes became public,” Murphy mused on Wednesday morning. “Would people be moved to action if they saw...

One day after a mass shooting at a Texas elementary school left 19 children and two teachers dead, late-night TV hosts used their platforms to call for stricter gun laws in the United States.

In an emotional monologue, Jimmy Kimmel fought back tears as he called out elected officials who refuse to act on enacting more comprehensive gun control. “They don’t want to speak about it because they know what they’ve done, and they know what they haven’t done — and they know that it’s indefensible,” he said...

Conservative media’s coverage of Tuesday’s massacre in Uvalde, Texas, has been filled with gross speculation and calls to transform elementary schools into military-grade compounds patrolled by gun-toting teachers. The response from the Republican politicians was just as sickening.

The GOP has for years been working to stonewall the passage of meaningful gun control legislation, with their obsession with (and misinterpretation of) the Second Amendment only intensifying as mass shootings have become more frequent. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) literally begged his conservative colleagues to take the issue seriously on the floor of Congress.

The Onion blanketed its homepage today with the same article it has posted in response to many other past mass shootings, skewering the idea that such atrocities cannot be stopped.

“‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says the Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens,” reads the headline on the article, which was posted 21 times on the satirical site’s home page. Each story corresponds to a different mass shooting but with the same headline and quotes. The Onion had posted the same article earlier this month following the mass shooting at a grocery store in Buffalo, NY, and it has run the article numerous times since 2014. That was after there was a mass shooting in the Isla Vista community near Uc Santa Barbara.

Texas School Shooting: Deadline’s Coverage

Jason Roeder, former senior writer and editor at The Onion, posted on Twitter in 2018 that he wrote the headline. At that time,...

Updated throughout with new details: Nineteen fourth-grade students and at least two adults, one of whom was their teacher, were killed Tuesday in a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, west of San Antonio. All of the child victims were in a single classroom.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said at a news conference Wednesday that 17 others were wounded — including three officers and the gunman’s grandmother, who was shot in the face before the school attack — but their injuries are not life-threatening.

Texas School Shooting: Deadline’s Coverage

The 18-year-old gunman, a high school dropout with no criminal or known mental-health history, was shot dead by officers and acted alone, Abbott said.

The shooter — whom Abbott identified but Deadline will not — had written several messages to an online acquaintance on Facebook within a half-hour of the attack. One read, referring to his grandmother, “Ima do something to her rn [right now].” Another read,...

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) delivered an impassioned, deeply emotional plea to his colleagues in Congress on Tuesday after a shooter killed 14 elementary school children and a teacher in Uvalde, Texas. “Why do you spend all this time running for the United States Senate, why do you go through all the hassle of getting this job, of putting yourself in a position of authority, if your answer, is as the slaughter increases, as our kids run for their lives, we do nothing?” Murphy asked. “What are we doing, why are you here,...

Exclusive: National Geographic’s award-winning documentary Torn is about to make its streaming platform debut.

Disney+ announced it will premiere the film, directed by Max Lowe, on February 4. Torn tells the story of world-renowned mountain climber Alex Lowe, who was killed in an avalanche in the Himalayas in 1999. He left behind a wife, Jennifer, and three young boys—sons Max, Sam and Isaac. Max, now in his 30s, directed the documentary in part to come to terms with his father’s death, and to process all that came after it.

Accompanying Alex Lowe on that ill-fated expedition were fellow climber Conrad Anker, himself a legendary talent and a close friend of Lowe’s, and cameraman David Bridges. The avalanche also killed Bridges, and left Anker seriously injured but alive. Anker spent time with the Lowe family after Alex’s death and eventually Jennifer and Conrad fell in love and married.

Update, 7:26 Pm Pt: Democrats’ efforts to pass voting rights legislation stalled again in the Senate, as they fell short in securing a filibuster rules change that would have allowed them to clear the bills with a simple majority.

The failure of the legislation was expected, after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-az) and Sen. Joe Manchin (D-wv) announced their opposition to even a one-time modification of the rules. They joined all Republicans in voting against the proposal, while 46 Democrats and two independents supported it Some Republicans applauded in the chamber when Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-vt), the president pro tem presiding over the Senate, announced the results of the roll call.

“I will not give up. We will not give up,” Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-ga) tweeted after the vote.

In a statement, President Joe Biden said, “I am profoundly disappointed that the United States Senate has failed to stand up for our democracy.

More than 100 Democrats in the House and Senate and independent Bernie Sanders have signed a letter urging the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers to negotiate a fair contract with IATSE, saying, “We are united in our belief in the importance of livable wages, sustainable benefits, and reasonable rest periods between shifts and during the workday” – three of the union’s core demands.

The letter was signed by 31 senators and 87 representatives and sent to AMPTP president Carol Lombardini.

The union’s members begin voting on strike authorization Friday in advance of what could be the last round of bargaining before a strike that would shut down film and TV productions across the country.

The politicians also reminded Lombardini that industry workers “risked their health and safety” during the pandemic, and that “the entertainment you jointly produce is helping to heal our nation.”

Here is their letter:

Dear Ms. Lombardini:...

Judd Ehrlich’s “The Price of Freedom” is an absorbing, disturbing, and scrupulously well-researched documentary that lays out the nuts and bolts of the National Rifle Association’s history. In the process, You probably think I’m talking about the NRA’s relentless lobbying of Congress; its macho coziness with presidents like Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump; its blackballing of political candidates who don’t have the right agenda; as well as the essential NRA ideology about what American gun law should consist of: no background checks, no training or permits, no restrictions on the buying and selling of assault weapons, no closing of the gun-show “loophole.”

The film covers all that stuff, and does it well. That said, we’ve heard most of it before, in the ongoing journalistic coverage of the gun debate (which is really a gun culture war), and in documentaries like “Making a Killing: Guns,...

"That couldn't be further from the truth." Tribeca Studios has debuted a trailer for the eye-opening doc film titled The Price of Freedom, premiering at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival this week. It will then open in select US theaters starting this July - and hopefully it will have an impact. The Price of Freedom exposes the hidden past of the American gun debate and reveals how the outsized political and cultural influence of the National Rifle Association (NRA) divided a nation and changed the course of American history, costing countless lives along the way. Featuring passionate pleas from President William J. Clinton, Representative Lucy McBath (D-ga) and Senator Chris Murphy (D-ct); NRA Board Member and former NRA President David Keene, and activists on all sides of the issue, The Price of Freedom presents a compelling case for those brave enough to take a stand against the NRA in defense of our communities and collective future.

Exclusive: Abramorama said Friday that it has acquired theatrical rights to The Price of Freedom, the Judd Ehrlich-directed feature documentary delving into the history of the NRA and its political and cultural influence on the gun debate in the U.S. The deal, which calls for a limited theatrical release July 7, comes on National Gun Violence Awareness Day and ahead of the pic’s world premiere in the Spotlight Documentary section at this month’s Tribeca Film Festival.

Produced in partnership with Tribeca Studios and Erhlich’s Flatbush Pictures, the doc includes interviews with Rep. Lucy McBath (D-ga) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-ct), former Rep. Gabby Giffords, NRA board member and former NRA president David Keene and activists on all sides of the issue to spotlight how, through political and cultural influence, the National Rifle Association changed the course of history.

“Peeling back layers and revealing the ways in...

Vice TV has announced investigative doc “Vice Versa: College $ports, Inc.,” exposing the allegedly exploitative relationship between the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and student athletes.

The 90-minute “Vice Versa,” for which Vice is launching a trailer (above), is directed by Patrick Dimon and hosted by former Olympian and NCAA athlete Jeremy Bloom and will premiere on Vice TV in the U.S. on June 9.

“American college athletics is a $14 billion dollar annual business, but NCAA athletes do not receive a salary or benefits, are not cut into the profit system, and are precluded from entering the free market or signing any endorsement deals,” reads the potentially explosive doc’s synopsis. “Now, host Jeremy Bloom is on a deeply personal mission to expose the system that wronged him and seek justice for his peers.”

Bloom ended his college football career in the early 2000s over an endorsement discord. He...

A group of Senate Democrats is calling for a ceasefire in the Middle East after a week of conflict between the Israeli military and Hamas that has left more than 200 people dead, including dozens of Palestinian women and children.

But the lawmakers’ push for an immediate end to the violence comes amid a broader split over whether the United States should push for an end to a conflict in which civilians are being killed. While some Democrats are calling for an immediate halt, others are keeping quiet or backing the ongoing Israeli military operation.

Joe Biden’s administration is preparing to allow for media access to border facilities and will release details in the coming days, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Monday, amid criticism over the ability of reporters and photographers to gain entry to facilities housing a surge in migrant children.

“First of all, we are working to finalize details, and I hope to have an update in the coming days,” Psaki told reporters at the White House press briefing. “We are working through with the Department of Health and Human Services, and also the Department of Homeland Security to ensure privacy and to ensure that we are following Covid protocols. We remain committed to transparency, and of course as I noted last week, we certainly want to make sure the media has access to this sites.”

The issue of media access has drawn attention from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle.

Chris Murphy, the Australian entrepreneur who managed rock band Inxs, has died. He was 66.

“It is with great sadness that Caroline Murphy and family confirm that Christopher (Cm) Mark Murphy, Chairman of Murphy Petrol Group has today passed away peacefully at his beloved Ballina property ‘Sugar Beach Ranch’ surrounded by his family,” Murphy Petrol Group wrote in a statement obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.

While no cause of death was provided, the statement noted that Murphy battled Mantle Cell lymphoma.

“Cm celebrated an illustrious career over 40 years and made an incredible impact on the global music and entertainment industry,...