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Melania's Movie Shows Signs of Bulk Buying to Boost Box Office: Guru
www.yahoo.com

... Melania did better at the box office than some prognosticators expected. Now, one industry expert is claiming ticket sales have been intentionally bolstered through possibly nefarious means.

Amazon MGM's $75 million documentary about the first lady made $7 million on its opening weekend, eliciting both gloating headlines and skepticism. Many have already touted Melania, which traces the first lady's activities in the days leading up to her husband's 2025 inauguration, as a success.

But according to box-office expert and former IndieWire Editor Tom Brueggemann, there are signs of "fake ticket sales" in order to inflate the earnings associated with the documentary. He raised the possibility that tickets were bought in bulk and handed out to audiences -- or not handed out at all. ...



More from the article ...

... Bad Bunny, 31, whose full name is Benito Antonio Martinez Ocasio, was born and raised in Puerto Rico. His first album, "X 100PRE" (pronounced "por siempre" meaning "forever"), came out in 2018. His songs blend Latin trap and reggaeton with pop, rock and classic Puerto Rican styles including salsa, bomba and plena. Since his debut, he has skyrocketed to global stardom, dominating charts and obliterating streaming records. ...

Historically, Latin artists have sung in English as a way to increase their audience. Artists like Shakira and Ricky Martin began recording in Spanish and later turned to English.

Before music went online, one had to navigate record stores. "You had to go find the Latin section, which was teeny, teeny, teeny, tiny," said Leila Cobo, a chief content officer at Billboard.

"That's why people were recording in English, you know, so that they could get into the main sections," she said.

Even more recent popular Spanish-language songs such as "Gasolina" and "Despacito" brought in U.S. sounds and artists, Diaz said. "Despacito' also had a remix with Justin Bieber and was a very different kind of sound. It was very pop-ified " not like Bad Bunny's music."

Bad Bunny took a different route to success on the U.S. pop charts. He does "not conform to what it means to be seen as palatable to a white American mainstream audience," Diaz said.

Diaz said Bad Bunny's connection to his cultural heritage resonates with fans, even though many come from different backgrounds. In his most recent album, "DeB TiRAR MS FOToS" (I should have taken more photos), he sings about resisting the loss and displacement driven by gentrification in Puerto Rico and clinging to his homeland as it was.

"That's a global concept. We have a homeland, we have a heritage, we have a love for that, we have an appreciation for that, and no one wants that to be lost," said Diaz. ...


Judge orders Trump administration to resume funding Hudson Tunnel Project
courthousenews.com

... A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to restore more than$200 million in federal funding for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River, on the very day the project ran out of cash and was winding down construction.

U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas, a Joe Biden appointee in the Southern District of New York, granted a temporary restraining order just hours after presiding over an emergency hearing on the project's fate.

In an 11-page ruling, Vargas found that "the public interest would be harmed by a delay in a critical infrastructure project." ...


Related ...

US surveillance, election cybersecurity -- and why Tulsi Gabbard's name just keeps on cropping up
cybernews.com

... Earlier this week, a US senator publicly warned about the expanding use of personal data by federal authorities while separately sending a brief, private letter to the director of the CIA.

In a video posted on Instagram, and intended to reach a wide audience, Ross Wyden pointed to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) practice of using surveillance technologies and data sources in enforcement activity.

"ICE is using apps to collect biometric data on protesters," he warned. "That means that they can track your location, where you go, what you do, and especially who you talk to."

Wyden also said the agency is purchasing location information from commercial data brokers and using motor-vehicle records obtained from state governments.

"My investigators have found that ICE is using government data they collect from state Departments of Motor Vehicles," Wyden said. "They are refusing to answer any questions of ours about how this data is being used." ...

Wyden claims that ICE is collecting vehicle data from government sources ...

Often referred to as "Trump's spy chief," Gabbard's role officially centers on national security and foreign intelligence.

However, her recent actions have heavily involved domestic, politically charged investigations.

On Wednesday, Reuters reported that a team working for Gabbard last year investigated electronic voting machines in Puerto Rico with assistance from the FBI.

The probe examined possible cyber vulnerabilities and claims of foreign interference but did not find clear evidence that Venezuela or other actors had hacked the system.

Gabbard's office said the seizure of machines and data was part of standard forensic analysis and warned of cybersecurity risks to election infrastructure. ...


Epstein Cellmate Claims Trump Administration Wanted Pervert Powerbroker Dead'
www.yahoo.com

... Jeffrey Epstein's prison cellmate claims to have evidence that the Trump administration wanted the disgraced financier dead and left him unprotected "on purpose," according to a document obtained by the Daily Beast.

Nicholas Tartaglione, a quadruple murderer and former police officer, filed a pardon/commutation petition last summer in which he claimed that Epstein was deliberately exposed to violence in the hope that he would not survive long enough to stand trial.

Prior to Epstein's death on Aug. 10, 2019, which officials ruled a suicide, jail bosses decided that America's most high-profile prisoner should share a cell with an accused mass murderer for reasons that have never been explained.

Tartaglione had a reputation for extreme violence and a self-confessed hatred of child sex offenders. Tartaglione"who Epstein told prison guards had tried to kill him three weeks before he was found dead"claims "it is no coincidence" that he was "deliberately" moved into the same jail as Epstein and "placed in the same cell" as the convicted child sex offender. ...


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