Month: February 2020

Actor-comedian Deon Cole is joining a growing number of Hollywood entertainers who are speaking out against the censorious “cancel culture.” Cole spoke on The Daily Beast‘s podcast The Last Laugh about his new Netflix stand-up special Cole Hearted, which starts streaming today. “Cancel culture is horrendous,” he said. “For you to pinpoint something like that, you…

Viktor Orbán and Silvio Berlusconi rarely miss an opportunity to share a bad idea. Both regard independent judges as communist agents. Both enjoy the company of Russian President Vladimir Putin more than that of German Chancellor Angela Merkel. And both seem to think Europe’s future lies in an Austrian-style coalition between mainstream conservatives and hard-right,…

Actress Debra Messing pleaded with The Nation contributing writer Aaron Maté to “Vote Blue No Matter Who” to defeat President Donald Trump in 2020, in what was a contentious war of words that even saw shots fired at Messing from actress Susan Sarandon. The blue-on-blue battle between Messing and Sarandon ramped up (again) over a…

Left-wing Hollywood filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola is “embarrassed” by Boris Johnson’s love for his bloody 1972 Oscar-winning film The Godfather, comparing the UK prime minister to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi. Asked by the Daily Mail during his successful leadership challenge in July what his favourite piece of filmmaking was, Johnson replied without hesitation,…

Former Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydlo | Dan Kitwood/Getty Images Polish ex-PM loses out as MEPs end standoff over top post Beata Szydło won’t run employment committee, but the chair goes to a fellow EU-critical lawmaker. By Maïa de La Baume 7/18/19, 6:10 PM CET Updated 7/18/19, 6:11 PM CET Poland’s ruling party has lost its…

Frans Timmermans, the Socialist candidate for European Commission president, said Friday that a surprise first-place finish in his native Netherlands would propel his party to victory all across Europe. Exit poll numbers show Timmermans’ Labor Party finishing on top Thursday night. The Netherlands and the U.K. were the first to vote in the European Parliament…

Deauville (France) (AFP) – Former James Bond star Pierce Brosnan heaped praise Saturday on teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg, but also warned that she needed to be protected. Brosnan described Thunberg as “a magnificent young woman. I wish her every success.” But in comments to AFP on the sidelines of the Deauville film festival, the…

Grass-fed cows are seen on a beef cattle farm on January 9, 2015 in Lifford, Ireland | Charles McQuillan/Getty Images Ireland’s farmers wooed with cash before elections Opposition party Fianna Fáil denounces the money as ‘opportunistic.’ By Eddy Wax and Lili Bayer 5/22/19, 4:15 PM CET Updated 5/26/19, 8:36 PM CET Ireland’s ruling Fine Gael…

Boris Johnson was chosen as Tory party leader on July 23, 2019, setting him up to be the next British prime minister | Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images Double Boris: EU health commissioner compares Johnson to Yeltsin Lithuanian writes blog post about ’empty and broken promises.’ By Paul Dallison 7/23/19, 2:17 PM CET Updated 7/23/19, 3:02…

Margrethe Vestager has been named as the commissioner for competition and executive vice president for digital | Francois Walschaerts/AFP via Getty Images Margrethe Vestager’s vast new powers The Danish politician returns to the Commission in an unprecedented role to direct and enforce European digital policy. By Mark Scott 9/10/19, 3:47 PM CET Updated 9/12/19, 4:51…