Patti Smith isn't a Donald Trump fan

Tech billionaire Jared Isaacman became the first civilian to go on a private spacewalk on Thursday morning, after traveling the farthest from Earth a human being has gone since the Apollo moon missions. 

A New York City grand jury has indicted former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual assault or harassment by at least 80 women, on new charges that reportedly revolve around other cases of sexual harassment. In 2017, women started coming forward to accuse Weinstein of sexual abuse. Weinstein’s 2020 conviction of third-degree rape of one woman and first-degree criminal sex act of another was overturned in April by an appellate court. But in 2022, Weinstein was found guilty of one count of rape and two counts of sexual assault, and sentenced to 16 years in prison, a decision that is being appealed by his attorneys. Earlier this week, Weinstein was transported from Rikers Island jail to Bellevue Hospital for emergency heart surgery. Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you. Weinstein’s Miramax company, which he founded with his brother Bob, produced three films that won the Best Picture Oscar: “The English Patient,” “Shakespeare in Love,” and “Chicago,” as well as the films “Pulp Fiction” and “Good Will Hunting.” The appellate court that overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction wrote, “We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes. The remedy for these egregious errors is a new trial. … It is an abuse of judicial discretion to permit untested allegations of nothing more than bad behavior that destroys a defendant’s character but sheds no light on their credibility as related to the criminal charges lodged against them.” After 2017 reports in The New York Times and The New Yorker detailed Weinstein’s alleged sexual harassment of women, Weinstein was dismissed from Miramax, expelled from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and suspended from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts. He resigned from the Directors Guild of America. In what was called the “Weinstein Effect,” after the reports of Weinstein’s alleged sexual harassment became public, many women and some men came forward to speak of being sexually harassed by prominent individuals. RELATED: New York Appeals Court Tosses Harvey Weinstein Rape Conviction

Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin released two attack ads on Wednesday focusing on abortion and claiming that her Republican opponent Mike Rogers supports a federal abortion ban. Slotkin’s campaign said the two 30-second spots will appear on broadcast, cable, and digital platforms and are part of a multimillion-dollar ad buy, The Detroit News reported. Slotkin, a current congresswoman, has been focusing on business and the economy throughout much of her campaign, but with fewer than 60 days until Election Day, she’s again playing up abortion. Democrats in tight races across the country have been emphasizing their pro-abortion positions throughout the 2024 campaign, hoping to ride the Left’s recent electoral success on abortion amendments in red and blue states. Despite Michigan voters approving a constitutional amendment in 2022 to enshrine a “fundamental right” to abortion in state law, a woman in one of Slotkin’s ads says she is “scared that Mike Rogers will continue to take away my rights.” “I had already had four miscarriages and in our fifth pregnancy, we were filled with so much hope. At 19 weeks, I received the most devastating phone call. I had a child dying inside of me. All of our options were terrible,” the woman, identified as Sarah from Byron Center, Michigan, says in the ad. “But Mike Rogers thinks it’s okay for politicians to make those medical decisions that saved my life.” “Rogers even supported a nationwide ban on abortion. I’m scared that Mike Rogers will continue to take away my rights,” she continues. The ad highlights Rogers, a former member of the U.S. House, supporting a constitutional amendment “to protect the right of unborn children” when he ran for Congress in 2000. Slotkin’s second attack ad on Rogers quotes the Republican saying in 1994 that he supports “all restrictions on abortion.” “So if you believe Mike Rogers and anti-abortion activists will protect your rights, we got a bridge to sell you,” the ad continues. Rogers said he does not support overhauling Michigan’s abortion law and addressed the issue in a video he released on Wednesday titled, “THE TRUTH.” “I know that a decision about a pregnancy is one of the most difficult and personal decisions a woman will make,” Rogers says in the video, which he filmed alongside his wife Kristi. “Michigan voters have already decided the issue, and I respect that decision. In the Senate, I won’t do anything to change it.” Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has also vowed that he would not sign a federal abortion ban if it came to his desk, but his promise has not stopped Democrats from claiming that pro-abortion laws would be threatened if Republicans win the White House and gain control of the Senate in November. Rogers represented Michigan’s 8th District in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2015 and Slotkin currently represents the state’s 7th District. Earlier this year, Slotkin slammed the Senate filibuster for preventing Democrats from ramming through “up-or-down” votes on issues such as abortion. Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you. “I am like loud and proud on reforming the filibuster, so we can vote on gun laws, voter access, women’s rights, all those things could be voted on tomorrow if we only needed 51 [senators] instead of 60 to get an up-or-down vote,” she told constituents in March. Imagine a world where the Senate could actually vote on gun violence prevention, voting rights, and protecting abortion and IVF. All of those critical issues could get an up-or-down vote if we reformed the filibuster. pic.twitter.com/AOwNGuEhEC — Elissa Slotkin (@ElissaSlotkin) March 5, 2024 Slotkin leads Rogers in the latest polls. The most recent survey from CBS News shows Slotkin up by 7 points over Rogers, while the Republican-friendly Trafalgar Group’s latest poll has Slotkin leading by 4 points.

Actress Patricia Heaton, the former star of “Everybody Loves Raymond,” issued a message on the 23rd anniversary of the 9/11 Islamic terrorist attacks on America in which she stated that the same kinds of terrorists who wanted to butcher Americans on 9/11 now target Israel, and, by extension, Americans and all of Western democracy. “I happened to be in New York City on September 11, 2001 with the cast of Everybody Loves Raymond,” Heaton, a devout Catholic, wrote on X. “It was a terrifying experience. It’s hard to believe now that Israel is experiencing the same horrors. It needs to end.” Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you. In the accompanying video, she delivered this message: It’s 9/11 again. And here we are. The same terrorists are back in full force, this time going after Israel but really they’re going after all of us. They’re going after Western democracy. They’re going against anyone who’s not a radical Islamist. And anyone who calls for Israel to lay down its arms, you are supporting the same people who took down the Twin Towers. You are supporting Hamas; you are being used by Hamas. If you don’t understand this, you are being profoundly naive. It is Hamas who broke the ceasefire on October 7. It’s Hamas who murdered all those Israelis. It is Hamas who took hostages, including babies, like Ariel and Kfir Bibas. It is Hamas who puts Palestinians in the line of danger. It is Hamas who has refused — over twenty times — to sign a ceasefire deal. It is Hamas who executed the hostages. It’s not the United States. It’s not Israel. Please understand this: Israel has to stay in it and do what is necessary until the terrorists are eliminated. Please understand this. God bless everyone who died on 9/11, everyone in the Twin Towers, and all the first responders. And God bless their families. And God bless everyone who’s still waiting for people to come home from Gaza. I happened to be in New York City on September 11, 2001 with the cast of Everybody Loves Raymond. It was a terrifying experience. It’s hard to believe now that Israel is experiencing the same horrors. It needs to end. pic.twitter.com/UrCqfsl7SF — Patricia Heaton (@PatriciaHeaton) September 11, 2024