Diana Ross proves she’s still ‘the boss’ with this new remix of her mega-hit “Love Hangover” by Eric Kupper. On May 29 the diva will drop a new album titled Supertonic featuring new remixes of nine Ross classics. Supertonic also will be available June 26 on CD and crystal-clear vinyl. All remixes are created from the original multi-tracks of the masters taken from the Motown vaults. Diana Ross rewrote history earlier this year when “Love Hangover 2020,” the first single from Supertonic, topped Billboard magazine’s Dance Club Songs Chart – her fourth consecutive No. 1 remix with a song that had previously been No. 1 in its original release. The original version of “Love Hangover” was a simultaneous No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop, R&B and Dance Club Play charts the week ending May 15, 1976.
Sam Cushing’s 8-minute workout I know I’ve seen lots of workouts on the interwebs during the stay-at-home quarantining, but I wanted to share this one from fitness guy Sam Cushing. One, no equipment needed! It’s under 8 minutes and includes core, legs, abs, chest, and a bit of arms. Two, easy on the eyes 🙂
What to do when your sold-out shows in Las Vegas are on pause due to the COVID-19 threat and you’re sheltering at home? Australia’s former boy-banders, now Las Vegas Strip headliners, Human Nature, brushed off their early dance steps for a virtual treat for fans. The guys can still hit it 🙂
L-R Lara Trump, Kimberly Guilfoyle (photos via Twitter) Donald Trump’s reelection campaign is reportedly paying the wife of Eric Trump and Don Trump Jr.’s girlfriend $180,000 a year each via campaign manager Brad Parscale’s private company. Why through a private company, you ask? Via HuffPost:
Kimberly Guilfoyle, the girlfriend of eldest son Donald Trump Jr., and Lara Trump, wife of middle son Eric Trump, are each receiving $15,000 a month, according to two GOP sources who are informal White House advisers and who spoke on condition of anonymity.
They were unsure when the payments began but say they are being made by campaign manager Bradley Parscale through his company rather than directly by either the campaign or the party in order to avoid public reporting requirements.“I can pay them however I want to pay them,” Parscale told HuffPost on Friday, but then declined to comment any further.
Critics of the arrangement, including Republicans, said the setup was designed to get around Federal Election Commission rules that require campaigns, political parties and other committees to disclose their spending in detail.
“A lot of people close to Donald Trump are getting rich off of his campaign,” said Paul Ryan, a campaign finance legal expert at the watchdog group Common Cause. “They don’t want donors to know that they’re getting rich. Because, at the end of the day, it’s donor money.”
Sean Hayes on Seth Rudetsky’s Back to School podcast Some news items you might have missed: • Podcast: Before Sean Hayes (above) was winning Emmy awards, he was winning the Golden Crutch award for being the clumsiest person in his high school drama department. Hear how he earned the title, plus how he coped with getting hazed, on this week’s episode of Seth Rudetsky’s Back to School. Continue reading “News Round-Up: April 17, 2020”
(screen capture) What could possibly go wrong?… Via the New York Post:
Beaches in Jacksonville, Florida, will be reopened for limited hours beginning Friday evening, following President Trump’s announcement that governors could decide when to open their states back up, the city’s mayor announced Thursday.
Mayor Lenny Curry said beaches and parks would reopen in the county for essential uses including recreational activities at an appropriate social distance, including walking, fishing, biking, swimming and dog walking.
“This can be the beginning of the pathway back to normal life,” Curry said. “Please respect and follow these limitations. Stay within the guidelines for your safety as well as for the safety of your neighbors.”
The beaches will open from 6 to 11 a.m. and from 5 to 8 p.m. each day for the limited activities, ABC News reported. But swimmers and surfers will go into the water at their own risk.
The Jacksonville parks will also reopen but gatherings must still be limited to 50 people or less.
(image via Depositphotos) For some weeks now, Donald Trump has heralded malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as showing “tremendous promise” to combat COVID-19 but no study has yielded any sufficient data (yet) that bears out Trump’s “feeling” that it would be the salvation folks are hoping for. But drugmaker Gilead may have some good news soon about its experimental drug Remdesivir. From StatNews:
Remdesivir was one of the first medicines identified as having the potential to impact SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19, in lab tests. The entire world has been waiting for results from Gilead’s clinical trials, and positive results would likely lead to fast approvals by the Food and Drug Administration and other regulatory agencies.
If safe and effective, it could become the first approved treatment against the disease.
The University of Chicago Medicine recruited 125 people with COVID-19 into Gilead’s two Phase 3 clinical trials. Of those people, 113 had severe disease. All the patients have been treated with daily infusions of remdesivir.
“The best news is that most of our patients have already been discharged, which is great. We’ve only had two patients perish,” said Kathleen Mullane, the University of Chicago infectious disease specialist overseeing the remdesivir studies for the hospital.
It’s important to note that a group of 125 patients in Chicago isn’t large enough to give researchers the depth of information they need. Gilead is currently overseeing 152 separate clinical trials around the world involving 2,400 severe patients. There are an additional 169 trials following 1,600 moderate COVID-19 patients. Until the trials are closed and the numbers crunched we won’t have a clear idea as to how useful the drug might be against coronavirus. That said, one man’s story definitely shows promise. Slawomir Michalak, a 57-year-old factory worker from a suburb west of Chicago, told StatNews he went to the University of Chicago Medicine hospital on Friday, April 3, when he spiked a 104 fever and found it difficult to breathe. He was put on oxygen and given the option to join the severe coronavirus trial. On Saturday, April 4, he received his first infusion of the drug. “My fever dropped almost immediately and I started to feel better,” he said. The next day, he received a second dose and was able to breathe without supplemental oxygen. After two more daily treatments of remdesivir, he was well enough to be discharged on Tuesday, April 7. It’s only one man’s experience with the drug, but let’s keep our fingers crossed.
Nick and his mom before the quarantine Well, give it up for 16-year-old Nick offering this clever coronavirus parody of “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Miserables. Apparently this was recorded before the quarantine kicked in where Nick and his mom live. Props to mom for the straight face throughout.
(image via Instagram) Some news items you might have missed: • InstaHunks: Gorgeous photo of the moon over Turkey from Instagram user mostafa.rok (above). Follow him here. #AnyoneSeeAMoon? • The Advocate: Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips is being sued (again) after refusing to bake a birthday cake for a transgender woman. • Washington Examiner: Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) announced Thursday that Ohio will begin to reopen some of its businesses on May 1. The governor has a stay-at-home order in place until May 1 and opted not to extend it as he begins to roll out his plan for relaxing some of the social distancing guidelines. • Gallup Polling: As Donald Trump works to contain the damage from the novel coronavirus outbreak in the U.S., the rally in support he enjoyed as the nation entered a virtual lockdown has faded. His job approval rating, now 43%, has slipped six percentage points since mid-March when he earned 49% approval, which tied his personal best. (graphic via Gallup) • OUT: Illustrator Tommy Taylor has transformed Disney Princes into the quarantined gays we know and love. • Newsweek: According to survey averages from Real Clear Politics, Biden is ahead of Trump in half a dozen states critical to the Electoral College map this November: Arizona, Florida, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. • Twitter: I am not mad at Spain’s army uniforms for members of its elite La Legión, and neither is the internet.
Spain is deploying its army to help manage their coronavirus outbreak and not to be insensitive at an anxiety-inducing time but uh… I think I speak for all New Yorkers when I say, Spain, hi, can you deploy some of that in our direction? We will comply with your orders. pic.twitter.com/LyxIPsGu3g
Roger Stone (screen capture) Donald Trump’s longtime friend and ally, Roger Stone, has failed in his quest for a new trial after he was found guilty on seven felony counts including obstructing the congressional inquiry, lying to investigators under oath and trying to block the testimony of a witness whose account would have exposed his lies. From the New York Times:
The federal judge overseeing the criminal case against Roger J. Stone Jr. refused on Thursday to grant him a new trial, rejecting the defense’s argument of juror misconduct that President Trump has also repeatedly trumpeted.
Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the United States District Court in Washington ordered Mr. Stone to surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons as soon as he is notified to do so. She also released him and his lawyers from a gag order she imposed months ago.
The judge’s decision appears to end one of the most politically fraught federal criminal cases in recent years. In a last-ditch effort to keep their client out of prison, Mr. Stone’s lawyers had claimed that the jury forewoman had improperly concealed a bias against Mr. Stone, justifying a new trial.
The jury convicted Mr. Stone, 67, in November of seven felonies for an attempt to thwart a congressional inquiry that threatened his longtime friend Mr. Trump, and Judge Jackson sentenced him in February to 40 months in prison.
Additionally, CNN reports, “All 12 of Roger Stone’s jurors wrote in a series of powerful, anonymized statements this week that they feel harassed, afraid and do not want more information about them revealed to the public, especially after President Donald Trump and right-wing media criticized them for their conviction of the longtime Trump friend.” Donald Trump is certain to pardon Stone. Mark my words.
Diana Ross proves she’s still ‘the boss’ with this new remix of her mega-hit “Love Hangover” by Eric Kupper. On May 29 the diva will drop a new album titled Supertonic featuring new remixes of nine Ross classics. Supertonic also will be available June 26 on CD and crystal-clear vinyl. All remixes are created from the original multi-tracks of the masters taken from the Motown vaults. Diana Ross rewrote history earlier this year when “Love Hangover 2020,” the first single from Supertonic, topped Billboard magazine’s Dance Club Songs Chart – her fourth consecutive No. 1 remix with a song that had previously been No. 1 in its original release. The original version of “Love Hangover” was a simultaneous No. 1 on Billboard’s Pop, R&B and Dance Club Play charts the week ending May 15, 1976. 
