Behati Prinsloo was seemingly in on the joke of the Call Her Daddy podcast teasing its next episode and making it seem like Adam Levine was in the hot seat. In a teaser, host Alex Cooper speaks of being a Maroon 5 fan and asks her guest to “discuss the scandal surrounding the infidelity in your marriage.” The camera then pans to Pitch Perfect actor Adam Devine, who has joked about being mistaken for the singer before. Prinsloo commented on the teaser with “LOL.”
Franklin “Frankie” Jonas released his debut single, “Cocaine,” which offers a glimpse of his struggle with addiction and how he sometimes misses his vices even though he’s clean. He wrote on Instagram, “The song and the video and the piece of myself that I give away with this project.”
Madonna showed off the adult-themed accessories she wore to the Grammy Awards, such as a brooch by Vivienne Westwood that depicts a male’s genitals in crystals. She also showed off her whip and her bag, which reads, “Insert money here.” She captioned the slideshow, “Respect!”
As reported last month, Oscar winner and director Ben Affleck showed his love for Dunkin’ by shooting a commercial at one of its Massachusetts locations. But now it appears the commercial has a famous co-star: his wife, Jennifer Lopez.
J.Lo was spotted thanking staffers when the commercial shoot wrapped and chatting with Ben through the drive-thru window when he was “working” there. But Entertainment Tonight now reports his wife’s actually in the spot, and the famous couple’s ad is bound for the big game.
A source says, “Ben’s Dunkin’ commercial was initially supposed to be a regular commercial and campaign, but things changed and now it will be a commercial during the Super Bowl.” The spy added, “The commercial is funny and cute. It shows Ben working at Dunkin’ in his free time because he loves it so much. Then Jen pulls up to the drive-thru and asks him, ‘What are you doing here? Is this what you do all day?’ They’re both very excited about it.”
For the record, Dunkin’ demurred on the details, with Jill Nelson, the company’s chief marketing officer, telling ET, “Dunkin’ is airing its first-ever Super Bowl ad this year, but you’ll have to tune in on Sunday to see what’s ‘Ben’ brewing.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Tuesday is expected to tout the nation’s economic health in his State of the Union Address, just days after a blockbuster jobs report showed a strong labor market has coincided with a monthslong easing of inflation.
Looking ahead, however, Biden is expected to propose solutions for what he considers an ongoing economic ill: income and wealth inequality.
The wealth of the top 1% increased by $6.5 trillion in 2021, according to a study the Federal Reserve released last year. That wealthiest sliver of Americans controls 32% of the country’s wealth, the study found.
The Biden administration’s agenda, set to be announced Tuesday night, includes two policy proposals: a new tax on billionaires and the sharp increase of a current tax on corporate stock buybacks.
“The idea is to have a commitment to reducing inequality,” Reuven Avi-Yonah, a law professor at the University of Michigan who focuses on corporate taxes, told ABC News. “There’s no indication that the increase in inequality is stopping anytime soon and something should be done about it, so the Democrats say.”
Here’s what to know about Biden’s anticipated tax proposals for wealthy individuals and corporations:
Billionaire’s tax
A key part of Biden’s new economic policy agenda is a billionaire’s tax, which would set a minimum tax for the wealthiest Americans, the White House said.
The Biden administration has offered scant details about the proposal, but it appears to closely resemble a policy that Biden put forward last March. At that time, he called for a tax rate of at least 20% on Americans who bring in at least $100 million per year.
The tax rate would apply both to income and unrealized gains, a measure of the value a person’s unsold investments have accumulated.
“President Biden is a capitalist and believes that anyone should be able to become a millionaire or a billionaire,” the White House said in a statement Tuesday. “He also believes that it is wrong for America to have a tax code that results in America’s wealthiest households paying a lower tax rate than working families.”
Between 2018 and 2020, the nation’s wealthiest 400 families paid an average tax rate of 8%, the White House’s Council of Economic Advisers found.
The wealthiest 25 people saw their worth increase a combined $401 billion between 2014 and 2018, but they paid an average federal income tax of 3.4% on that wealth, ProPublica found last year. By contrast, the median American making $70,000 a year pays an average federal income tax of 14%, the outlet said.
The proposal likely will face staunch Republican opposition, giving it a low probability of becoming law, since Republicans control the House of Representatives, Avi-Yonah of the University of Michigan said.
In response to previous efforts to tax wealthy Americans, Republicans have said the measures disincentivized business investment and wealth creation, hindering economic growth.
“The truth is it will not pass now with Republicans in control of the House,” Avi-Yonah said. “So it’s rhetoric.”
Increase to the tax on stock buybacks
In addition to the billionaire’s tax, the Biden administration is expected to propose a sharp increase of a current tax on corporate stock buybacks.
Companies opt to purchase shares of their own stock as a means of returning money to shareholders, since the move typically raises the price of shares.
The Biden administration takes issue with the practice because it provides money for shareholders while evading the taxes on income imposed when a company disperses money to shareholders through dividends, according to the White House. Instead, stock buybacks return money to investors as capital gains, which are taxed at a lower rate.
“Stock buybacks enable corporations to funnel tax-advantaged payouts to wealthy and foreign investors,” the White House said Tuesday.
The Inflation Reduction Act, signed into law by Biden in August 2022, imposed a 1% tax on stock buybacks. If a company purchases $100 million worth of shares, for instance, it must pay $1 million in tax.
In his State of the Union Address, Biden is expected to propose quadrupling that tax to 4%, the White House said.
As with the billionaire tax, the levy on stock buybacks is expected to face strong Republican opposition and long odds to become law.
Jesse Fried, a professor at Harvard Law School focused on corporate governance, said he opposes a tax on stock buybacks because the measures force companies to either hold onto excess capital or invest it in wasteful initiatives.
Instead, stock buybacks allow companies to return money to shareholders, who can then invest or spend the money, spurring economic activity, he said.
“You’re just going to have more cash bottled up in companies,” he said.
Avi-Yonah, meanwhile, said proponents of a higher tax on stock buybacks argue that the measure could pressure companies to invest money in initiatives with greater social benefit.
Supporters of the policy say companies “should be using money for other things like hiring people,” Avi-Yonah said. “Stock buybacks are regressive and benefit the rich at the expense of everyone else.”
You People, the romantic comedy that sees co-writer Jonah Hill desperately trying to impress his girlfriend’s rigid dad, played by Eddie Murphy, kept ’em laughing for another week on Netflix.
The movie held onto the #1 slot on the streaming giant’s English Language film list, with another 65.6 million hours viewed last week. The film, directed and co-written by Kenya Barris, was also ranked #1 in 64 countries.
Landing in second place was Pamela, a Love Story, the autobiographical film about former Baywatch bombshell Pamela Anderson, which debuted in the #2 spot last week, with 24.3 million hours viewed.
Coming in third was another debut, Minions: The Rise of Gru. The animated movie starring the voice of Steve Carrell debuted in third place, with more than 19 million hours viewed.
(NEW YORK) — Superbugs are now a leading global health risk, according to a major U.N. report published Tuesday.
Major industries like the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries are largely responsible for this growing threat, inadvertently driving dangerous pathogens to evolve to outsmart currently available medications, the report said.
Antimicrobials, which include antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics are commonly used to prevent and treat infections in humans, animals and crops. However, their overuse and misuse have led to the development of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the world, where microorganisms become resistant to treatments that were once effective. AMR has been identified by the World Health Organization as one of the top 10 threats to global health, with the potential to cause significant harm to human health, food security and the environment.
In 2019, an estimated 1.3 million deaths were directly linked to drug-resistant infections; nearly 5 million deaths were associated with AMR. At this pace, researchers estimate that by 2050 there could be up to 10 million additional deaths per year. The economic toll could result in a GDP drop of at least USD 3.4 trillion annually by 2030 as well, according to the report.
“That economic toll will come in terms of actually lives and livelihoods through disruption of trade losses, livestock productivity, and higher health care costs, not counting of course the human toll on lives,” said Dr. Anthony D, So, director of the Innovation and Design Enabling Access Initiative at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. “The impact will be felt across sectors and disproportionately will fall upon poorer countries least well-positioned to mitigate the impact of AMR,” So added.
AMR is not only a public health issue, but also has ties to the environment.
“Environment plays really a key role in the development, transmission and spread of antimicrobial resistance,” said Jacqueline Alvarez, ehief of the Chemicals and Health Branch, United Nations Environment Programme. The report mentions that, “AMR is closely linked to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste,” which are “driven by human activity and unsustainable consumption and production patterns.”
“We have real tangible and physical recommendations…This goes beyond government. It talks about practices, it talks about culture, it talks about different sectors that need to really change the dynamics of the things that they are doing,” Alvarez added.
The U.N. report’s authors argued these problems should be fixed with top-down, government-level initiatives, which should be implemented as soon as possible. Specifically, governments should consider freeing up enough funding for national development planning, climate change initiatives and monitoring for the evolution of new superbugs.
Governments should also consider placing regulatory limits on the use of antimicrobials on farms, discharge of wastewater from pharmaceutical companies, improving wastewater management and beefing up safer sanitation practices, the report further urged.
Jay-Z may have 24 Grammys to his name, but he’s had moments where he felt slighted by the Recording Academy. For that reason, the rapper now looks at Grammy nominations as a marketing strategy.
“I remove myself from the process and hope they just get it right,” he said in an interview with TIDAL. “It got to the point where I was like, it’s just a marketing thing. You go, you got an album out and it could help the sales go up.”
But it doesn’t guarantee an actual win.
Jay know this firsthand; he’s been nominated 88 times, suffering losses that led to his current state of mind. In 2018, for example, he didn’t win any of his eight nominations — a moment he believes was “a missed opportunity” for the Grammys.
“That album, 4:44, was a moment for us to say, ‘Hip-hop is viewed as a young man’s sport. Now here is this album that could take us into the next sphere.’ I feel like they missed the moment,” Jay said.
He also thinks they missed the mark when his wife’s LEMONADE lost Album of the Year to Adele‘s 25, “but [also] when Beck won over her” in 2015. Jay’d also been advocating for Beyoncé to win that category this year, as her album Renaissance “just inspires creativity.” She lost to Harry Styles‘ Harry’s House.
His hope “for the culture” is that one day the Grammys “get it right.”
Jay attended the annual event, joining DJ Khaled‘s performance of “God Did.”
“You know, it’s a four-minute verse. Again, for the culture, for hip-hop, we got to do that,” he said of his decision to perform. “We owe it to the culture, and it ain’t even a burden. It’s a blessing. It’s easy and fun.”
Dolly Parton‘s Stampede kicks off its 36th season Friday, February 10, in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.
Guests can start by visiting some of the 32 horses that are part of the equestrian attraction in their homes on the property. From there, you enter the 35,000-square-foot arena, where you enjoy a four-course meal while watching the show.
The 2023 version adds “aerial acrobatics” that take place “high above the arena floor,” in addition to the usual equestrian feats, music, comedy and storytelling. This year’s experience takes visitors to “America’s Great Plains of yesteryear,” complete with buffalo and longhorns, thanks to the help of an LED wall.
Michael Jackson’s huge catalog of music is reportedly the next one to be sold. Sources tell Variety that the late singer’s estate is working on a deal to sell half of its interests in Jackson’s catalog, possibly to Sony and a financial partner.
The deal is reportedly worth between $800 and $900 million. It will have Sony acquiring 50% of the estate’s share of Jackson’s publishing, recorded music and revenues, as well as the Broadway show MJ: The Musical and the upcoming biopic. TMZ adds that one stipulation in the sale is that despite it being a 50/50 deal, the estate is demanding complete management and control.
So far there’s been no comment from any of the interested parties. If it happens, it would be another huge deal for Sony, which reportedly paid between $150 and $200 million for Bruce Springsteen’s publishing and recorded music, and also reportedly paid the same amount for Bob Dylan’s catalog.
Producer Steve Albini is not a fan of Steely Dan and he let everyone know about it. Albini, who has worked with artists like Nirvana, PJ Harvey and The Pixies, went off on a Twitter rant about the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band, writing, “I will always be the kind of punk that sh*ts on Steely Dan.” He added, “Christ the amount of human effort wasted to sound like an SNL band warm up.”
Albini then seemed to shoot down fan arguments about why Steely Dan was so great. “’They spent three weeks on the guitar solo…’ Three weeks of watching guitar players give it their all while doing bumps and hitting the talkback, ‘More *Egyptian* but keep it in the pocket…,'” he wrote.
As for the argument “Their engineer invented a machine to play the bass drum,” he shot back, “Did he now. And yet it sounds like this.”
He then described two types of perfectionists, offering, “One will prepare, revise and rehearse carefully, with intent, honing an idea to a keen edge, ready to cut the cloth of execution. The other makes other people responsible by saying, ‘do it again,’ until by chance they are satisfied, then take credit.”
He added, “There’s some video where they talk about every song on an album, and each one begins with the not-bald one saying, ‘this song is based on my deep love of the blues, just a very bluesy blues. Deep blues.’ Then lays his jazz dork hands on the f***ing electric piano…”
And if all of that wasn’t enough, at one point he described Steely Dan as “Music made for the sole purpose of letting the wedding band stretch out a little.”
Alec Baldwin moved on Tuesday to disqualify Andrea Reeb, the special prosecutor in New Mexico who investigated him over the fatal shooting of the cinematographer on the set of Rust.
“The special prosecutor in this case … is a member of the New Mexico House of Representatives. Under … the New Mexico Constitution, however, a sitting member of the Legislature may not ‘exercise any powers properly belonging’ to either the executive or judicial branch,” defense attorney Luke Nikas wrote.
Baldwin has been charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter in the shooting death of Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin was aiming a Colt-style pistol at her when a live round discharged, fatally striking Hutchins and injuring director Joel Souza.
The actor’s defense attorney’s motion to disqualify argued Reeb was simultaneously exercising legislative and judicial power. He wrote, “A prosecutor who also serves as a legislator could face pressure to make prosecutorial decisions that serve her legislative interests, such as by prosecuting a prominent defendant … even in the face of conflicting evidence or law.”
The filing cited a funding request from First Judicial District Attorney Mary Carmack-Altwies of $635,500 from the State of New Mexico Board of Finance for the prosecution of individuals related to the Rust shooting — that figure included $156,000 for Reeb’s salary.
“Representative Reeb is violating both the plain text and the purpose of the New Mexico Constitution’s separation-of-powers provision … She must be removed,” Nikas claimed.
In response, Heather Brewer, spokesperson for Carmack-Altwies, said, “Mr. Baldwin and his attorneys can use whatever tactics they want to distract from the fact that Halyna Hutchins died because of more than mere negligence on the Rust film set. However, the district attorney and the special prosecutor will remain focused on the evidence and on trying this case so that justice is served.”
