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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Jan 20, 2021
January 20, 2021
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What would happen to you if you insulted DONALD TRUMP --or JOE BIDEN? Living in the US, probably nothing. But in Thailand yesterday, a court sentenced a former civil servant to 43 years and six months in prison for violating the country's law on insulting or defaming the monarchy. She apparently violated the country's law by posting audio clips to Facebook and YouTube with comments deemed critical of the monarchy. The woman, in her mid-60s, had worked as a civil servant for 40 years and was arrested just a year before she was scheduled to retire. Being convicted, she'll lose her pension.
If you were a miner trapped more than 2,000 feet underground, what would you want while you waited to be rescued? In China's eastern Shandong province, the 22 workers in a gold mine were trapped after an explosion damaged the access shaft ten days ago. Rescuers have managed to drill a series of small holes --around a foot wide-- to reach the miners but just big enough to send food or medicine down --not big enough to fit anybody through. And after the first request for medicine and pain killers, the rescuers were able to drop a phone line through, and yesterday the miners asked for porridge and pickles to be sent down.
In Dublin, Ireland a Starbucks branch has been ordered to pay 2-thousand Euros ($14,556 US dollars) to a customer of Thai heritage after an employee drew "slanty" eyes on her cup. The woman, SUCHAVADEE FOLEY, went into Starbucks on January 12th of last year (2020) to buy a matcha tea latte. After she attempted to give the employee a shorter version of her somewhat long name, the woman barista just drew a smile and "slanty" eyes on the cup to show it was hers, which the court said clearly was offensive and demeaning.
The employee, originally from Brazil, claimed she'd drawn a smiley face on the cup because "she thought the complainant was glamorous."
You probably know the name MIKE LINDELL, who's that MyPillow founder, CEO and spokesman for the company. He's in the news again claiming that major retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond and Kohl’s have dropped his products recently. That's because Mr. Lindell has been claiming that election fraud was what caused DONALD TRUMP's loss to JOE BIDEN. The company's logo was also prominently featured on TrumpMarch.com, the website that heavily plugged the January 6th events in Washington D.C., in which rioters stormed the Capitol. Lindell also says Wayfair and the Texas supermarket chain HEB have pulled MyPillow products as well.
The folks at the Screen Actors Guild said yesterday that the SAG-AFTRA board had voted “overwhelmingly” that there is probable cause that PRESIDENT TRUMP violated its guidelines for membership. They claim that it's shown by Trump’s role in the Capitol riot on January 6th, “and in sustaining a reckless campaign of misinformation aimed at discrediting and ultimately threatening the safety of journalists, many of whom are SAG-AFTRA members.” This means if the SAG disciplinary committee finds him guilty of the charges, he could lose his membership. He's been a guild member since 1989, with credits including “The Apprentice,” “Saturday Night Live” and appearances in films and TV series including “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York,“ “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and “Sex in and City.”
The editors at Vogue magazine have decided to release a new, limited edition of their February issue with KAMALA HARRIS on the cover after their photo on the cover showing Harris wearing Converse sneakers and casual clothes drew a backlash on social media, with various people questioning why the magazine would choose the image over a more formal online cover featuring Harris in a powder blue Michael Kors suit in front of a gold background. There were also questions over lighting, considering Harris’s skin tone. Vogue editor ANNA WINTOUR told the New York Times, “I just want to reiterate that it was absolutely not our intention to, in any way, diminish the importance of the vice-president-elect’s incredible victory.”
Whether its due to the coronavirus or just that more people are watching TV instead of going to the movies, Netflix yesterday announced that they've topped 200 million subscribers. That news caused their stock to jump 10-percent yesterday.
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