(WASHINGTON) — A group of House Democrats have announced that on Friday they will formally introduce a measure to censure Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., for tweeting an edited Japanese cartoon showing him stabbing President Joe Biden and killing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y.
Gosar on Monday tweeted the message, “any anime fans out there?” with what appeared to be an edited clip of the Japanese cartoon series “Attack on Titan,” in which the main characters fight off giants trying to exterminate humanity.
The edited clip of the show’s opening credits depict Gosar and other GOP lawmakers flying through the air and stabbing giants with the faces of Biden and Ocasio-Cortez, in between images of Border Patrol officers with migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Gosar was immediately condemned by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Ocasio-Cortez and other Democrats, some of whom called for his expulsion from Congress and charged him with glorifying violence against the prominent Democrats.
Pelosi tweeted on Tuesday, “Threats of violence against Members of Congress and the President of the United States must not be tolerated. @GOPLeader should join in condemning this horrific video and call on the Ethics Committee and law enforcement to investigate.”
“For a Member of Congress to post a manipulated video on his social media accounts depicting himself killing Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and attacking President Biden is a clear cut case for censure,” Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., and other Democrats co-sponsoring her resolution wrote in a statement on Wednesday.
“For that Member to post such a video on his official Instagram account and use his official congressional resources in the House of Representatives to further violence against elected officials goes beyond the pale.”
Ocasio-Cortez also denounced House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy for not publicly criticizing Gosar’s actions. Aides to the California Republican did not respond to a message from ABC News seeking comment on the video.
Gosar eventually took down the tweet and video Tuesday night, after Twitter placed a public interest notice on the post. He said the video produced by his office was meant to “symbolize the battle for the soul of America” and was “in no way intended to be a targeted attack against” the Democrats.
“The cartoon depicts the symbolic nature of a battle between lawful and unlawful policies and in no way intended to be a targeted attack against Representative Cortez or Mr. Biden,” Gosar said in a statement.
“It is a symbolic cartoon. It is not real life. Congressman Gosar cannot fly. The hero of the cartoon goes after the monster, the policy monster of open borders. I will always fight to defend the rule of law, securing our borders, and the America First agenda,” the statement said.
If the censure resolution is taken up by the full House and approved by a majority of lawmakers present and voting, Gosar could be forced to stand in the center of the House chamber as the resolution condemning his actions are read aloud.
It’s not yet clear if the House will take action against Gosar, who has courted controversy for spreading conspiracy theories about the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol and appearing at a white nationalist event last winter — though he distanced himself from the main organizer and his comments.
Twenty-three members of Congress have been censured for misconduct, according to a 2016 Congressional Research Service Report.
Former Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., was the last member of Congress to be censured — in December 2010 — accused of nearly a dozen ethics violations.
(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) — The two largest hospital systems in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have activated crisis standards of care due to an “unprecedented level” of activity during the pandemic, hospital officials announced Thursday.
University of New Mexico Health System and Presbyterian Healthcare Services leaders said in a joint press briefing that they have transitioned to crisis standards of care at their Albuquerque metro hospitals. The move comes as the hospitals are being stretched to the limit in terms of space and staffing due to increasing COVID-19 hospitalizations and a high volume of patients with acute conditions, officials said.
“Currently at UNM today, we’re operating at about 140% of our normal operating capacity, and I’ve had moments where we’ve approached 150%. This really is an unsustainable and unprecedented level of activity that we’ve been able to create,” Dr. Michael Richards, senior vice president for clinical affairs at UNM Health System, told reporters.
The decision means that nonessential medical procedures could be delayed by up to 90 days, and that patients may need to get treated at a different regional hospital, or possibly out of state, hospital officials said.
“We are not triaging and denying care,” said Dr. Jason Mitchell, the chief medical and clinical transformation officer for Presbyterian Healthcare Services. “The decision may be, we don’t have beds in our hospitals — who else can take this patient?”
The announcement comes less than a month after the state’s Department of Health announced a new public health order allowing health care facilities to transition to crisis standards of care amid a delta surge and a shortage of hospital staff. The state is averaging more than 1,450 daily cases and nearly 530 hospitalizations, up from fewer than 700 daily cases and 400 hospitalizations in early October, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
The order creates a “more standardized and equitable procedure” for determining patient priority when resources are limited. Crisis standards of care were last implemented in the state nearly a year ago, in December 2020.
Last week, San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, New Mexico, became the first hospital under the latest order to declare crisis standards of care. State health officials said Wednesday they were in touch with “multiple” hospital systems in New Mexico that were also considering the same.
“Our hospital teams are really stretched thin, and we are seeing way more patients than they thought possible,” Dr. David Scrase, acting cabinet secretary of the state’s Department of Health, said during a press briefing Wednesday. “What it means is if one of the people watching this press conference has a heart attack right now, there’s a good chance that we won’t have an intensive care unit bed for that person here in New Mexico.”
Intensive care unit capacity has dipped into the single digits for the first time during the pandemic, Scrase said, as nearly every county in the state is experiencing high levels of transmission.
“Not very good news with hospitalizations,” he said, urging people to get vaccinated and booster shots and to follow safe COVID-19 practices. “This is a really serious time.”
The Doors‘ Robby Krieger, The Cars‘ Elliot Easton, Randy Bachman and Guns N’ Roses‘ Slash are among the many artists featured on an upcoming compilation paying homage to late Mountain frontman Leslie West.
Krieger teams up with current Rainbow singer Ronnie Romero for a version of “The Doctor.” Easton and Romero contribute a rendition of “Sittin’ on a Rainbow.” Bachman joins forces with his son Tal for a medley of “Money (Whatcha Gonna Do)” and “By the River.” Slash plays guitar on a version of Mountain’s signature song, “Mississippi Queen,” with vocals from Marc LaBelle of the up-and-coming band Dirty Honey.
Other artists contributing to the album include Twisted Sister‘s Dee Snider and Eddie Ojeda, Quiet Riot bassist Rudy Sarzo, ex-Jethro Tull guitarist Martin Barre, Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse, former Rainbow singer Joe Lynn Turner and many more.
Legacy initially had been planned as West’s next album project, which was to feature him playing new versions of standout songs from throughout his career with some guest artists. Unfortunately, Leslie died at age 75 in December 2020, two weeks before the sessions were scheduled to start. Instead, it was decided to make the record a tribute album.
“We really didn’t have to reach out to many people,” says West’s widow, Jenni. “They came to us. What’s really amazing is, if Leslie himself had whispered into my ear and told me who he would want on this record, these would be the people he would have requested.”
Here’s Legacy: A Tribute to Leslie West‘s full track list:
“Blood of the Sun” — featuring Zakk Wylde
“Nantucket Sleighride (To Owen Coffin)” — featuring Joe Lynn Turner & Marty Friedman
“Theme for an Imaginary Western” — featuring Dee Snider, Eddie Ojeda, Rudy Sarzo, Mike Portnoy, Francesco Saglietti
“For Yasgur’s Farm” — featuring Joe Lynn Turner & Martin Barre
“Why Dontcha” — featuring Steve Morse & Ronnie Romero
“Sittin’ on a Rainbow” — featuring Elliot Easton & Ronnie Romero
“Never in My Life” — featuring Dee Snider & George Lynch
“The Doctor” — featuring Robby Krieger & Ronnie Romero
“Silver Paper” — featuring Charlie Starr
“Money (Whatcha Gonna Do)/By the River” — featuring Bachman & Bachman
“Long Red” — featuring Yngwie Malmsteen & Teddy Rondinelli
“Mississippi Queen” — featuring Slash & Marc LaBelle
A new Christmas song by Michael Bublé will be featured in a movie called Silent Night, due out next month.
The movie is being produced by Matthew Vaughn, who brought you hit films like Rocketman, Kingsman: The Secret Service, Kick-Ass and more. As Deadline reports, Vaughn has started a music arm of his production company, Marv Music, to create original music for movies, and this holiday song by Michael is one of the first releases.
The song, called “The Christmas Sweater,” will be included on the Super Deluxe 10th Anniversary Box Set version of Michael’s album Christmas. As for the movie, it concerns a family that gets together for Christmas “on the eve of an environmental apocalypse.” It stars Keira Knightley, Matthew Goode and Kirby Howell-Baptiste and will be out December 3.
Marv Music will also be releasing the original music that Dua Lipa is creating for Vaughn’s upcoming film Argylle, in which she’ll also star.
(WASHINGTON) — An appeals court has put a temporary pause on the handover of records from the Trump White House to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection.
A three-judge panel in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Thursday granted a request from former President Donald Trump’s legal team for a temporary injunction to block the exchange of records from the National Archives to the committee, which was set to take place Friday, and scheduled a Nov. 30 hearing to hear arguments from all parties in the case.
Trump sued the committee and the National Archives last month, asserting executive privilege over a broad swath of documents the national archivist had identified as relevant to the Jan. 6 committee’s investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the subsequent attack on the U.S. Capitol.
A district court judge this week twice denied Trump’s request to block or delay the release of the documents, ruling that President Joe Biden’s decision to not assert privilege over the materials outweighed Trump’s efforts to do so as a private citizen.
“[Trump’s] position that he may override the express will of the executive branch appears to be premised on the notion that his executive power ‘exists in perpetuity,'” district judge Tanya Chutkan said in her ruling. “But Presidents are not kings, and Plaintiff is not President.”
It’s unclear how the temporary delay might affect the work of the Jan. 6 committee. The committee’s chairman, Rep. Bennie Thompson, has previously said he hopes the committee’s investigation could conclude by early next year.
According to the national archivist, the first tranche of documents that were set to be handed over on Friday included daily presidential diaries, call logs, White House appointments that occurred around Jan. 6, and three handwritten notes from the files of former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, among other documents.
Founding Moody Blues drummer Graeme Edge died today, according to separate messages posted by his longtime band mates Justin Hayward and John Lodge. He was 80.
“It’s a very sad day. Graeme’s sound and personality is present in everything we did together and thankfully that will live on,” Hayward wrote in a message posted on the band’s official website. “When Graeme told me he was retiring I knew that without him it couldn’t be the Moody Blues anymore. And that’s what happened. It’s true to say that he kept the group together throughout all the years, because he loved it.”
Justin added, “In the late [1960s] we became the group that Graeme always wanted it to be, and he was called upon to be a poet as well as a drummer. He delivered that beautifully and brilliantly, while creating an atmosphere and setting that the music would never have achieved without his words.”
In his own tribute, Lodge wrote on his Facebook page, “To me he was the White Eagle of the North with his beautiful poetry, his friendship, his love of life and his ‘unique’ style of drumming that was the engine room of the Moody Blues…I will miss you Graeme.”
Edge co-founded the band in 1964 and was the only original member to play with the group throughout its entire history. The Moody Blues stopped touring at the end of 2018, several months after the band was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
While Graeme was probably the least prolific of the band members with regard to songwriting contributions, he was best known for writing the poetic interludes that appeared on many of the group’s albums, most famously “Late Lament,” the spoken-word segment recited by keyboardist Mike Pinder that’s heard at the end of “Nights in White Satin.”
Back in March 2018, Edge talked with ABC Audio and revealed some of the things he was most proud of with regards to his long career, including the fact that he wasn’t involved in any scandals, The Moodies sold out Madison Square Garden five times in one week, and the band had the reputation of being “proper professionals” with its fans and promoters.
Graeme continued, “I’m proud of the music we’ve done. I bear not too much responsibility for that, but Justin and John and Ray [Thomas] and Mike have written some sterling songs, and it was just a privilege to play with them.”
Edge also noted, with a laugh, “I’m proud and grateful for the career that we’ve had, which has been successful but not made me too rich. You know, I think I could have been an a**hole if I’d have been too rich.”
Edge is the second member of The Moody Blues’ classic lineup to pass away, following Thomas, who died in January 2018 at age 76.
Rich Polk/Getty Images for IMDb — Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images
Paramount+ has cast Lizzie Caplan in a series adaptation of the 1987 hit Fatal Attraction, which starred Michael Douglas and Glenn Close. The show has already gotten a full season order for the streamer.
Caplan will play Close’s role of Alex, the woman who flies off the (knife) handle after having an affair with Douglas’ hotshot lawyer Dan. What results is a tale of twisted obsession that includes, famously, with a bunny in a pot of boiling water.
The Douglas role has yet to be cast.
According, to Paramount+, the new series is, “A deep-dive reimagining of the classic psychosexual thriller from the 1980s” that “will explore fatal attraction and the timeless themes of marriage and infidelity, through the lens of modern attitudes towards strong women, personality disorders and coercive control.”
Caplan, a veteran of dozens of movies and TV shows, recently earned Emmy and Critics Choice Award nominations in the Outstanding Lead Actress categories opposite Michael Sheen in Showtime’s Masters of Sex.
Dirty John veteran Alexandra Cunningham is writing and acting as the show’s executive producer.
The latest installment in the Power franchise, Power Book IV: Force, will premiere Sunday, February 6, 2022.
Starz made the announcement Thursday about the series starring Joseph Sikora as Tommy Egan, with a teaser-trailer. In the fourth installment of Power, Egan leaves New York City and plans to takeover Chicago.
Idris Elba, who currently stars in the Netflix Western The Harder They Fall, teased his return as homicide DCI John Luther in another Netflix film. The 49-year-old British actor wrote “Oi……I’m back!” Wednesday on Instagram with behind-the-scenes images from the set. Elba starred from 2010-2019 in the Luther BBC series. Cynthia Erivo has been announced as one of his co-stars in the movie, simply titled Luther.
In other news, VH1 announced that VH1 Family Reunion: Love & Hip Hop Edition, will return for season two on Monday, December 13th at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The show features cast members from the Atlanta, New York, Hollywood and Miami series, including Amina Buddafly, Brooke Valentine, Cyn Santana, Erica Mena, Juelz Santana, Mimi Faust, Peter Gunz, Rich Dollaz, Safaree and Stevie J. On Monday, Stevie filed for divorce from Faith Evans after three years of marriage.
Finally, Ava DuVernay, Will Smith, Halle Berry and Jennifer Hudson will be among the special honorees at the annual Celebration of Black Cinema & Television. DuVernay will receive the first-ever Melvin Van Peebles Trailblazer Award, and Smith will be honored with the Actor Award for Film for his role in King Richard. Berry will be presented with the Career Achievement Award, and Hudson will be recognized with the Actress Award for Film. Niecy Nash will host the event Monday, December 6 at the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
Will Ferrell and Ryan Reynolds pulled a fast one on both Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon Wednesday night, when they appeared in each other’s places on, respectively, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show.
Both guests, on both shows, claimed the other was running late, and volunteered to sub for each other.
It was a bit, of course, but one that poked fun at chat show conventions. For his part, Ryan answered Jimmy Fallon’s questions meant for Will, and Ferrell did his best to talk about Red Notice, Reynolds’ new Netflix movie. “I haven’t seen a stitch of it,” he confessed. “I’ve seen the billboards, though.”
Ryan spoke about Ferrell’s new movie, The Shrink Next Door, although he was only familiar with Paul Rudd, People‘s newly crowned Sexiest Man Alive. “He’s possibly the nicest person in all of show business,” said Reynolds, “and he’s aging backwards thanks to his contract with Satan.”
Ryan didn’t see The Shrink Next Door, either, describing the Apple TV+ as “Ant-Man adjacent,” but he “doesn’t shrink his body, per se.” Ryan joked, “It’s Marvel Phase 16, which everyone is saying is way more relatable.”
Meanwhile, on the opposite coast, Will gamely answered Kimmel’s already-prepared questions for Ryan about his “beautiful wife Blake Lively,” and their three girls.
Will and Ryan will be seen again — together, this time — in Spirited, a Christmas-themed musical that debuts next year on Apple TV+.
(HOUSTON) — Nine victims have been identified in the deadly stage surge at the Astroworld Festival concert.
23-year-old Arturo Sanchez, an attendee, said his heart literally stopped as he was trampled by the crowd, and he believed he was going to die himself.
Bruised and battered, Sanchez told ABC News from his hospital bed on Sunday about the panic and chaos that erupted during the opening song of rapper Travis Scott’s performance.
He said that as soon as Scott began to sing, the crowd surged forward, knocking him off balance and causing him to fall to the ground near the front of the stage.
“I was on the floor screaming for help and trying to reach for people’s hands so they could see me and no one could see me,” Sanchez said. “I just kind of accepted the fact that I was going to die, and I did for a little bit. My heart stopped, apparently.”
Sanchez said doctors told him he suffered a heart attack and had briefly flatlined.
He said he remembered a large man falling on him and sitting on his chest as he struggled to breathe and then passed out.
Sanchez said a registered nurse attending the concert performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on him and helped get him to an ambulance.
“She saved my life, honestly,” Sanchez said.
Latest victims identified
Bharti Shahani, 22, died Wednesday night after being hospitalized from injuries caused by the crowd surge, bringing the concert’s death toll to nine. Shahani, a student at Texas A&M University, was taken to Houston Methodist Hospital, where her family said she had been on a ventilator and had heart failure.
“Bharti is love. You know what is love? Bharti is love,” her mother Karishma Shahani said tearfully at a press conference. “What happened to my blessing? I want my baby back. I won’t be able to live without her.”
The eighth victim to be identified, Axel Acosta, died at Memorial Hermann Hospital, father Oscar Acosta confirmed to ABC station KTRK-TV in Houston. He said his son traveled from Washington to see Scott perform.
Acosta, 21, was among the concertgoers killed when throngs in the estimated crowd of 50,000 packed into NRG Park — which is next to NRG Stadium, home of the Houston Texans NFL football team — suddenly surged toward the stage, authorities said. Another 25 people were injured, one just 10 years old, officials said.
Acosta identified his son after the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences released a post-mortem photo and asked the public for help in identifying him.
Five other people killed were identified by either their families or the schools they attended.
‘An innocent young soul’
Danish Baig, 27, of Dallas was killed while trying to save his fiancee, Olivia Swingle, who had fallen and was reportedly about to be trampled by concert-goers pushing forward, his brother Basil Baig told ABC News.
“He was an innocent young soul who would always put others before him,” Basil Baig said in a statement. “He was a hardworking man who loved his family and took care of us. He was there in a heartbeat for anything. He always had a solution to everything.”
Basil Baig said in a Facebook post that he also was at the concert, promoted and organized by Live Nation, and described it as being “poorly” managed and supervised. He alleged that Scott provoked the crowd to move toward the stage.
“Travis Scott and his team and everyone associated in the event should and will be held responsible,” Basil Baig said in his statement to ABC News.
In videos Scott posted on Instagram Saturday, he said he tried to spot people in the crowd having physical problems and paused during the show to try to get help to fans that appeared in need.
“I could just never imagine the severity of the situation,” Scott said in one of the videos.
In a separate statement, Live Nation said, “We will continue working to provide as much information and assistance as possible to the local authorities as they investigate the situation.”
The youngest victim
The youngest victim who died was 14-year-old John Hilgert, a freshman at Memorial High School in Houston, according to a letter the school’s principal sent to parents.
“Our hearts go out to the student’s family and to his friends and our staff at Memorial,” principal Lisa Weir wrote in the letter. “This is a terrible loss, and the entire MHS family is grieving today.”
One victim had passion for dance
Also killed was 16-year-old Brianna Rodriguez, a junior at Heights High School in Houston, her aunt, Iris Rodriguez, told ABC News.
Iris Rodriguez said her niece had a passion for dance.
“Now she’s dancing her way to heaven’s pearly gates,” the Rodriguez family wrote on a GoFundMe page that included a series of photos of Brianna.
College senior dies
Franco Patiño, 21, a senior at the University of Dayton in Ohio, was identified by the school as one of the concertgoers killed.
In a letter addressed to members of the university’s campus community, the school’s president, Eric Spina, said Patiño was from Naperville, Illinois, and was majoring in mechanical engineering technology with a minor in human movement biomechanics.
Patiño was also a member of Alpha Psi Lambda, a Hispanic-interest fraternity, and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers, Spina wrote. Patiño had been working in an engineering coop program in Mason, Ohio, according to Spina.
‘Huge hole in our lives’
The family of Jacob “Jake” E. Jurinek said in a statement Sunday that he was among those killed. Jurinek was a junior at Southern Illinois University and was majoring in art and media, his family said.
“We are all devastated and are left with a huge hole in our lives,” said Jurinek’s father, Ron Jurinek.
Rodolfo Pena, 23, from Laredo, Texas, and Madison Dubiski, 23, from Cypress, Texas were also killed.
Bedlam ensues
The concert bedlam unfolded around 9:30 p.m. local time Friday when the “the crowd began to compress toward the front of the stage,” Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña told reporters during a news conference Friday night.
“That caused some panic, and it started causing some injuries,” Peña said.
At least 13 people injured remain hospitalized, including five under the age of 18, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner told reporters during a briefing.
As of Sunday night, at least one lawsuit has been filed against Scott.
What triggered the surge is under investigation by the Houston Police Department. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said he has ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to make state resources available to support the investigation.
Scott has history of issues at concerts
Problems have previously occurred at other Travis Scott concerts. In 2015, the rapper was arrested on charges of inciting a crowd to jump barriers at a Lollapalooza concert in Chicago. He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct and paid a fine, according to officials.
In 2017, Scott was arrested again after he invited more people to come closer to the stage, prompting fans at the Walmart Music Pavilion in Rogers, Arkansas, to breach barricades and overrun security. In that case, he also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and paid a fine.
Prior to the fatal surge at Scott’s concert on Friday night, some 300 people had been treated throughout the day at the music festival by on-site medical personnel, authorities said. There were “many instances” where they had to administer Narcan, which is used to treat a narcotic overdose, said Peña, who did not have an exact number.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said that during the pandemonium, a private security guard working at the festival was possibly injected in the neck with drugs as he was attempting to grab or restrain someone.
“When he was examined, he went unconscious,” Finner said during a Saturday afternoon briefing. “(Medical staff) administered Narcan. He was revived, and the medical staff did notice a prick that was similar to a prick that you would get if someone was trying to inject.”
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso, Jenna Harrison, Kendall Coughlin, Darren Reynolds and Marcus Moore contributed to this report.
