1 week agoUSA UpdateComments Off on Molly Qerim’s First Take return date revealed and reason for ESPN absence after fans feared host had quit show
MOLLY QERIM has sparked major concerns after her mysterious absence from First Take.
The ESPN host has been missing from the flagship show for the past week.
Molly Qerim is a regular host on First Take with Stephen A. Smith and Shannon Sharpe[/caption]
First Take viewers have been concerned for Qerim with her missing from the air[/caption]
The 40-year-old was scheduled to appear at their live event at Tennessee State last Friday.
But Qerim was nowhere to be seen, despite viewers being told she would be there.
1 week agoUSA UpdateComments Off on Ariana Madix could make ‘new demands’ for Vanderpump Rules’ next season as show is ‘desperate’ to keep her
ARIANA Madix is ready to return to Vanderpump Rules and could make specific demands for the next season, it has been claimed.
The Bravo show has been halted yet again, as it has reportedly become difficult for producers to hash out new contracts for the cast.
Ariana Madix is allegedly still eager to film Vanderpump Rules despite landing big gigs like Love Island USA[/caption]
The Bravo star refused to film with ex Tom Sandoval for Season 11[/caption]
Ariana is said to make around $600,000 a season, and the stars are believed to get mandatory pay bumps each year.
It was believed Ariana was ready to leave the show to focus on her acting and presenting roles, but the author of a new Vanderpump Rules book has claimed that’s not the case.
Thea de Sousa is releasing The Unofficial Vanderpump Rules Ultimate Trivia Book after years of documenting the Bravo show on her popular Instagram blog, Your Moms Are Watching.
She told The U.S. Sun that Bravo is still planning to do another season of Vanderpump, but they are struggling to line up all the parts to secure the green light.
“Everybody wants the show to keep going, even Ariana wants another season of the show,” she said.
“I mean, squeeze that in between Love Island and whatever else she’s doing, but she would do it. It’s just a matter of getting the green light.
“She can set the terms, right? I mean, she set terms last season, ‘I won’t film with Sandoval. I won’t do this.’
HUGE PAYCHECKS
“So, I mean, she could make the same demands, but they’re not going to not do that with her.
“They’re going to want those Love Island viewers and those Dancing With the Stars viewers.
“So they’re going to do whatever Ariana wants. And I definitely know she wants to come back for a season.
“So, we’ll see. I mean, now it’s just up to Bravo.
“I know Ariana makes $600,000 per season, which is a lot. Her and Sandoval get paid the most right now.”
DEMOTING CAST
The only way to pay cast members less, Thea claims, is to “demote” them so they have less camera time and are not the main focus of the show.
Regarding the show becoming too expensive, a Bravo spokesperson said, “There is absolutely no truth to this reporting.”
Ariana reportedly refused to interact with her ex on camera for Season 11.
Although they still lived in the same house, they barely saw one another and communicated through an assistant.
In the season finale, Ariana found herself face-to-face with Sandoval who attempted to apologize to her at an event, but she walked away from him.
Ariana stormed over to a show producer and told him, “Him f***ing walking up on me talking to Scheana. He doesn’t give a f*** if I died in a ditch, or got a f***ing deadly STD, the way he was f***ing around behind my back.
“That is non-informed consent. He does not deserve to speak to me. He does not get access to me.
“It’s about a performance for the audience. He wants 30 seconds with the audience.
“Whatever it is that Tom is trying to get for me, it’s not for me, it’s for him,” she added in a confessional.
“I am the final boss in his video game of redemption and because he can’t get to the final boss, he’s f***ing pissed.”
She was highly criticized by other stars on the show, who want to make sure they give fans enough on-screen drama.
Scheana Shay and Lala Kent both made their feelings known after Ariana refused to film with Tom.
Thea feels the show needs to bring in new faces to keep it going, but hopes the cameras will role for Season 12 soon enough.
“I think it’s going to be tough to do another season with just this cast,” she said. “I think you would need to add some people in.”
The author would also love to see a spin-off focusing on Ariana and Katie Maloney’s sandwich shop, Something About Her.
“Obviously I love Ariana and I would watch anything she does just because I think she’s just such an iconic, strong character,” she said.
“So a spinoff at Something About Her would be amazing with her and Katie and see about that business and their lives.”
Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval were together for years before he cheated[/caption]
Author Thea de Sousa showing her new book to Tom Sandoval and his girlfriend, Victoria Lee Robinson[/caption]
Ariana Madix and Amra-Faye Wright during the curtain call when Ariana made her Broadway debut as Roxie Hart[/caption]
1 week agoUSA UpdateComments Off on Social Security is ‘lying’ claims economist who reveals government clawed back $304,000 from woman which left her broke
ONE of America’s leading economists has attacked the Social Security Administration, warning the agency is hurting people it is set up to help.
Larry Kotlikoff, a Professor of Economics at Boston University and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has criticized the government for its attempt to claw back money from overpayments.
Boston University professor of economics Laurence Kotlikoff has accused the Social Security Administration of “putting people on the street” in its attempt to claw back funds[/caption]
The Social Security Administration says about 1% of all payments are overpayments[/caption]
Kotlikoff accused the agency of going after the nation’s most vulnerable people, warning it is “putting people on the street” and has “adopted a culture which “is screwing people to the Nth degree.”
“It takes people years to get onto disability payments, and these clawbacks are putting people onto the street,” Kotlikoff exclusively told The U.S. Sun.
“It is unconscionable.”
Social Security overpayments occur for a range of reasons, including agency error, beneficiary fraud, and agency failure to properly record earned income by beneficiaries, which can lead to retroactively stopping benefits years later.
Overpayments by the agency are the subject of growing public scrutiny, with experts warning the SSA’s push to claw back funds is crippling vulnerable Americans and their families.
According to an SSA report released in August by the Inspector General, the agency made nearly $72 billion in improper payments between 2015 and 2022, or about $9 billion each year.
Social Security Acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi told a congressional hearing in October last year that the agency sends about one million people overpayment notices annually.
However, there is also increasing concern about the program’s financial sustainability.
According to its annual report by the Social Security Board of Trustees, the program is projected to run out of money in 2035 due to the nation’s aging population reducing the amount of overall payroll tax used to fund the program.
The agency provides benefits to almost 64 million Americans, with nearly 90% of those aged 65 and over receiving monthly payments.
Policymakers will need to act to balance the program’s costs and revenues, or retirees and the vulnerable risk only receiving 83% of their full benefits.
BIDEN’S SOCIAL SECURITY SHAKE-UP
Releasing data to defend itself, the Social Security Administration said less than 1% of all payments are overpayments.
The Biden Administration last December also appointed former Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley as the new Social Security Commissioner.
He has been tasked with handling a litany of issues, including overpayments, delays in processing times, and claims of poor customer service.
Kotlikoff is calling on the government to review whether its push to claw back money from people is violating “equity and good conscience,” which underpins the Social Security system as a whole.
“We have a government which is to be feared, and Social Security is not to be trusted,” Kotlikoff told The U.S. Sun.
Kotlikoff is a New York Times best-selling author who was named one of The Economist’s 25 most influential economists in 2014.
FORMER SSA EMPLOYEE HITS OUT
The criticism comes after Social Security expert and former SSA employee Avram Sacks told The U.S. Sun that the Social Security Administration’s overpayments are now the worst they’ve ever been and warned the errors are damaging Americans and their families.
Sacks is a nationally acclaimed expert on Social Security who now defends people who have been unknowingly overpaid money, often thousands of dollars.
Sacks said many of the people impacted by these payment “clawbacks” cannot afford to pay them back, and many have limited savings.
“A VERY NASTY BUSINESS”
Kotlikoff, who has written a book called Social Security Horror Stories detailing some of the problems, said the worst case he has ever come across is a woman who was paralyzed in a wheelchair after she was hurt in an industrial accident and was forced to pay back $304,000 ten years after she received the funds.
The woman had earned money writing children’s books and was paid to speak at a public library about her work.
Each year, Kotlikoff said the woman asked the SSA whether she could earn money from giving talks about her books while receiving disability benefits, and claims the government said she was entitled to considering they initially classified the earnings as royalty income which is permitted.
However, ten years later, the SSA came after her for earning the money.
The woman appealed the case in court, but the judge rejected her case.
Kotlikoff said the judge took issue with her having “an expensive cable plan” and argued in his judgment that the woman could “not be poor” considering her television subscription.
Think of the cruelty of this
Laurence KotlikoffBoston University Professor of Economics
“This is a system which is short on money, and they have adopted a culture now which has changed, and it’s now to screw people to the Nth degree.
“It used to bend over backwards to give people every penny, and now it’s the opposite.
“It’s a very nasty business.”
Kotlikoff argued the system is now “screwing” people it was designed to help.
He said the SSA was also deliberately telling the public “wrong things or incomplete things on a routine basis” that is “learning to make terrible decisions.”
Experts have blamed some of the overpayment issues on a lack of transparency in the system, with recipients unable to decipher the rules surrounding receiving the payments and other income tests.
Kotlikoff called on the government to simplify the system, and help recipients better understand how it works.
The U.S. Sun approached the Social Security Administration for comment.
THE MAXIMUM AMOUNT OF SOCIAL SECURITY PAID
According to the Social Security Administration, the amounts are as follows
Age 62 is the youngest age to file and offers a maximum benefit of $2,710 per month
Full retirement age is between 66 and 67, with a maximum benefit of $3,822 per month
Age 70 is when extra benefits stop accruing and means recipients will receive a maximum benefit of $4,873 per month
1 week agoUSA UpdateComments Off on Ferrari launches its most powerful car EVER – ‘beautiful spaceship’ costs $3.9m & experts say it’ll still sell out fast
FERRARI have launched their most powerful car ever – a hybrid hypercar that will serve as the long-awaited successor to the legendary LaFerrari.
The F80, described as a “beautiful spaceship” has been unveiled by the famous brand just weeks after McLaren revealed the W1, reigniting the two manufacturers’ long–running rivalry.
Named to celebrate Ferrari’s 80th anniversary, although slightly prematurely as they only celebrated their 75th in 2022, the F80 follows in the tire tracks of the F40 and F50 models for their respective milestones.
Capable of hitting 0-62mph in a staggering 2.15 seconds, and just another 3.6 seconds to hit 124mph, the F80 will draw an eye-watering 1184bhp from its electrified V6 powertrain – making it the most powerful road car ever to come out of the gates of the Ferrari factory.
A chunk of this power is generated by the aptly-named ‘E-turbos’, which connect to an F1-derived ‘MGU-H’ heat recovery device, to essentially allow for more power at higher revs.
The Maranello marvel is said to be a result of technology fused from their Le Mans-winning 499P machine and that of its famous Formula One racing cars.
Despite coming in at $3.9million and limited to just 799 examples – which is 300 more than the production run of the LaFerraris – it’s thought that the F80 will be “snapped up the moment customers set their eyes on it”, say Pistonheads.
In terms of looks, the F80 couldn’t be further from the LaFerrari; as the new beast boasts aggressive, dramatic, and alien-like stylings.
This is reiterated by Ferrari’s design chief, Flavio Manzoni, who claims he wanted a look that was more futuristic than elegant, and describes the F80 as “a beautiful spaceship”.
Its black front visor certainly mirrors that of the recently released 12Cilindri, serving to reduce the “anthropomorphic” appearance of two headlights and a grille in the centre.
The back of the expensive vehicle is also a sight to see, with a diffuser that Ferrari claims has set a new record for the longest diffuser fitted to a production car – measuring 1,800mm in length.
Ahead of the car’s unveiling, Ferrari’s marketing chief, Enrico Galliera, revealed that a single-seater concept had been considered early in the car’s development.
However, this McLaren F1-styled design was ultimately scrapped, although the F80 has positioned the passenger seat slightly behind and closer to the driver – making the carbon fibre cabin asymmetric.
Rex Groves is featured in the fifth series of I Am A Killer[/caption]
Who is Rex Groves?
Rex Groves was born in August 1977 in Logansport, Indiana.
He grew up with two brothers — one older and one younger.
Their parents divorced when Groves was seven, resulting in him moving to Texas with his mother and younger brother, while his elder sibling stayed behind with their father.
Abuse
Groves alleges that his mom started drinking heavily and physically abusing him.
After six years, Groves’ father demanded their return to Indiana.
Upon arrival, the boys’ mother abandoned them at their dad’s house.
Groves claimed his father was strict and abusive, with his younger brother alleging that Rex endured the worst beatings.
His younger brother also contends that Groves was subjected to sexual abuse at the hands of one of their mother’s friends.
Struggles with mental health
Around age 12 or 13, Groves began hearing voices in his head.
He turned to alcohol and drugs to cope, eventually struggling with addiction.
During this time, his grandmother, Mary Gene Groves, provided him with a sense of safety and comfort.
The crime
On December 10, 2007, while under the influence of drugs Groves experienced paranoia, leading him down a road of self-reflection.
Flooded with memories of the alleged abuse and mistreatment he endured, he resolved to kill his father.
But he instead went to his grandmother’s house and fatally stabbed her with gardening shears.
No matter what I do in life, no matter how much good I’ve done, some people is [sic] gonna look at my case
Rex GrovesI Am A Killer, Netflix
Groves claims he doesn’t remember and cannot comprehend much of what transpired during this episode, but recalls laying his dead grandparent in her bed and laying beside her for a few hours.
The next morning, he headed over to his dad’s house only to find it empty.
He then went to his older brother’s home with the intention of killing his family.
But when he found only his niece and sister-in-law there, Groves confessed to them about murdering his grandmother.
They drove him to the police station where he gave an official statement, with cops recording the fact that he was laughing while recounting the details of the brutal slaying.
The poster for I Am A Killer season 5[/caption]
Trial
While awaiting trial, Groves underwent mental health evaluations and was initially diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.
However a second evaluation concluded that he did not suffer from any mental illnesses that would support an insanity plea.
In November 2009, Groves pled guilty to murder and received a 50-year sentence with the possibility of parole after 20 years.
His defense attorney has filed appeals for Groves to be admitted to a comprehensive medical center, but his treatment has continued at the state prison.
Where he is now
Currently 46 years old, Groves is incarcerated at the Putnamville Correctional Facility.
Rex Groves can’t remember much about killing his grandmother[/caption]
He will be eligible for parole in 2029.
Groves maintains contact with his niece, but his brothers reportedly believe he is not doing well.
The defense attorney representing Groves has stated the need for his client’s medical care before any potential reintegration into society would be possible.
1 week agoUSA UpdateComments Off on Alvin Rakoff, Director of Laurence Olivier’s ‘Voyage Round My Father,’ Dies at 97
The Emmy-winning filmmaker worked mostly in Britain with Sean Connery, Alan Rickman, Fiona Shaw, Judi Dench and Michael Caine, and wrote and directed over 100 TV, movie and stage plays.