Comic Amy Schumer backs Kaepernick, says she won't do Super Bowl ads

(Reuters) - U.S. comedian and actress Amy Schumer has said she will not appear in any commercials during the 2019 Super Bowl in support of National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s protests against racial injustice.

“I personally told my reps I wouldn’t do a Super Bowl commercial this year,” Schumer wrote in an Instagram post on Friday. “Hitting the nfl with the advertisers is the only way to really hurt them.”

The “Trainwreck” star also urged members of the band Maroon 5, who are scheduled to play during the Super Bowl halftime show, to back out.

U.S. media reported on Friday that singer Rihanna had declined an offer to perform during the halftime show in support of Kaepernick, who in 2016 began kneeling to protest multiple police shootings of unarmed black men.

Kaepernick has not played in the NFL since 2016 and has filed a grievance against the league, saying team owners colluded to keep him out of the league after his kneeling protests created a social controversy….

https:// uk.reuters.com/article/us-people-amy-schumer/comic-amy-schumer-backs-kaepernick-says-she-wont-do-super-bowl-ads-idUKKCN1MU0YA

New immunotherapy drug showing promise for aggressive type of breast cancer

Scientists say a new treatment is showing promise in the fight against aggressive breast cancer. Three years ago, at age 39, Maribel Ramos was diagnosed with advanced breast cancer. The type was triple negative.

"I was angry and sad," Ramos said. "Because I know that the triple negative is a type of cancer that is really hard to treat."

Ten to 20 percent of breast cancers are called triple negative because they don't have receptors - such as ones for estrogen - that can be targeted by certain medications. Treatment options are limited, and these cancers tend to be more aggressive, with worse outcomes.

In 2016, Ramos entered a trial to test the immunotherapy drug Tecentriq on patients with advanced triple negative breast cancer.

The drug works by targeting proteins found on immune cells and some cancer cells. It's approved for bladder and one type of lung cancer.

Dr. Sylvia Adams of NYU-Langone Health was one of the trial investigators. She says the new drug helps the immune system recognize the cancer.

"There are killer cells already in the cancer present and ready to fight, except that this cancer shields itself from the from the immune attack," Adams said. "So this drug is now able to take the shield down and basically paves the way for your own immune response to kill the tumor."

The trial, at hundreds of sites in 41 countries, followed 902 patients and found the combination of immunotherapy and chemotherapy improved overall survival by nearly four months, (3.7 months) and nearly 10 months for those patients whose tumors tested positive for the targeted protein.

"Hopefully this will actually improve the treatments for many other women with breast cancer as well," Adams said.

"The tumor was getting smaller," Ramos said. "So every time, every four weeks it was getting smaller and smaller and I was so excited."

"The last scan from just last week that shows that she's still completely without any evidence of disease," Adams said.

Three years ago, Ramos worried she wouldn't see her oldest daughter graduate. In June, she did.

https://www. cbsnews.com/news/tecentriq-immunotherpy-triple-negative-breast-cancer-shows-promise/

Botox cuts women's chances of an orgasm by making it harder for them to communicate their enjoyment of sex

It's news that could well have women furrowing their brows – if they still can.

Researchers have found that those who have Botox treatment to smooth out facial wrinkles are less likely to achieve orgasms.

Injections of the toxic substance paralyse nerves, making it difficult to produce the full range of facial expressions.

Psychologists at Cardiff University have discovered that, as a result, women find it harder to communicate to lovers that they are enjoying sex.

This, the researchers say, affects performance between the sheets and blunts the woman’s feeling of physical enjoyment.

Dr Michael Lewis, who led the research, explained that just as people find it difficult to feel ecstatically happy without actually smiling, so people struggle to reach orgasm without having full control of the muscles in their face.

He said: ‘Facial expressions associated with orgasm utilise the same muscles targeted in typical botulinum toxin cosmetic treatments.

The predicted consequence of having treatment is that women may feel an orgasm to a lesser extent and may find it harder to reach climax.

‘Analysis from our study suggests that’s what is happening.’

The study involved 36 women, 24 of whom had been treated with botulinum toxin, measuring their Female Sexual Function Index Orgasm Satisfaction Score.

Those whose frown lines had been injected reported a notable drop in their satisfaction score.

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, Dr Lewis said: ‘Reduction of mobility of these muscles may interfere with the expression and feedback of excitement during sexual activity.

The current research provides support for this hypothesis in that participants reported that, following BTX treatment, there was a decrease in sexual function: in particular, orgasms were harder to achieve and less satisfying.’

He added: ‘The results suggest that the facial expressions do not occur simply to communicate pleasure.

'They are an integral part of the feeling of pleasure and are important in the process of achieving orgasm. This demonstrates an important role for facial feedback within sexual intercourse and it is potentially a significant negative impact from BTX treatment.’

https:// www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6298595/Botox-cuts-womens-chances-orgasm-making-harder-communicate-enjoyment-sex.html?ito=social-twitter_mailonline

Saudis Used Mole At Twitter To Track Dissidents For Troll Farm: Report

Mole was part of a “troll farm’ operation to attack critics under orders of Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, reports the New York Times.

By Mary Papenfuss

The Saudi government apparently groomed a mole inside Twitter to keep tabs on dissidents as part of a wide-ranging operation that also unleashed vicious social media attacks on them, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The mole was part of a sophisticated online effort “dictated” by controversial Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman and carried out by his advisers to quash domestic and international criticism of Saudi Arabia, according to the Times.

One of the dissidents viciously attacked as part of the ongoing operation was the late Washington Post journalist and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi. Each morning he awoke to a vile onslaught of Twitter attacks, said the Times.

“The mornings were the worst for him because he would wake up to the equivalent of sustained gunfire online,” Khashoggi’s longtime friend Maggie Mitchell Salem told the Times.

The Saudi government finally admitted Friday that Khashoggi was killed inside the country’s consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2 — during a physical altercation, according to state-owned media. Turkish officials, who reportedly have an audio tape of Khashoggi’s death, say he was murdered in the consulate by a Saudi hit squad and dismembered under orders of the government. The Saudi version of events has been largely met with derision.

Hundreds of workers at a Saudi “troll farm” in Riyadh are tasked with bashing dissident voices on Twitter, said the Times, which based its report on American and Saudi officials, experts, and seven sources involved in the operation or briefed about it. The Times also viewed messages describing the workings of the troll farm. Twitter has been popular in the country since the Arab Spring uprisings began in 2010.

The far-reaching operation also appeared to include the “grooming” of a Saudi who began to work for Twitter in 2013, and infiltrated dissident accounts and obtained personal data two years later for Saudi intelligence, Western intelligence sources told the Times. He was fired in 2015, even though Twitter could find no evidence that he had turned over information to Saudi intelligence, the Times reported.

Khashoggi was working to battle online abuse, and had wired money just weeks before his death to another Saudi exile, who was assembling a volunteer crew to combat the government’s Twitter trolls, the Times reported.

Twitter could not immediately be reached for comment.

https:// www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/saudis-used-twitter-mole-to-track-dissidents_us_5bcba457e4b055bc9481422b

Georgia officer fatally shot near school; suspects run away

SNELLVILLE, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia police officer has been killed after being shot while responding to a suspicious vehicle parked near a middle school.

News outlets report multiple law enforcement agencies are searching for suspects following the Saturday afternoon shooting near Snellville.

Police say Gwinnett County police officer Antwan Toney died at a hospital. The 30-year-old had been with the department for nearly three years.

The shooting happened Saturday about 3 p.m. near Shiloh Middle School. Authorities say the suspects crashed the vehicle a short time later and witnesses reported seeing as many as four people running from the scene. It’s unclear if any of the suspects were injured.

Snellville is about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of Atlanta.

https:// apnews.com/1fb70eee15dc4e0583467d29dfcbf30d?utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=AP

Putin Lays Down The Law At Valdai

With tensions between Russia and the West reaching Cold War levels, Valdai represented the first time we’ve heard Putin speak in a long-form discussion since Helsinki and the events thereafter — IL-20, Khashoggi, etc.

So, this talk is worth everyone’s time. And when I say everyone’s I mean every single person who could be affected by the breakdown of the U.S. political system and how that spills over onto Russia’s shores.

In other words, pretty much everyone on the planet.

Because what Putin did at Valdai was to lay down the new rules of conduct in geopolitical affairs. He put the U.S. and European oligarchs I call The Davos Crowd on notice.

There is a limit to your provocations and attempts to undermine Russia. So don’t cross that line….

https:// www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-10-20/putin-lays-down-law-valdai

Will they make it? Will they though?

Migrant caravan re-forms to resume push north, uncertain if it can reach US

https:// www.foxnews.com/world/migrant-caravan-re-forms-to-continue-push-north-uncertain-if-it-can-reach-us

Amazon's Jeff Bezos is under pressure to buy the Seattle Seahawks after NFL team's owner Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen passed away from cancer

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is facing pressure to buy the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.

The ownership of the Seattle Seahawks - who won the Superbowl XLVIII in 2014 - is up in the air following the death of owner Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen who passed away on Monday.

Allen, who also owns the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Sounders, died at the age of 65 from complications with his non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He and Bill Gates together founded Microsoft in 1975.

Some sports executives including Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones are now prodding Bezos to buy state's beloved football team.

Bezos is an ideal candidate as he's already based in Seattle and Amazon has a partnership with the NFL streaming Thursday Night Football.

Purchasing the team would be a simple feat for Bezos, the richest man in the world, with fortune of $145.1billion.

If he took over, he could assure that the Seahawks remain in Seattle. Paul Allen made sure that the Seahawks team stayed in their city when he made the NFL purchase in 1996 after its former owner threatened to move the team to South California.

But Bezos yet to express an interest in potentially taking over.

Following Allen's sudden death his sister Jody Allen may potentially take over as owner.

She reportedly doesn't have interest in running the Seahawks or the Trail Blazers but hasn't commented on ownership yet.

Some other names thrown into the mix for potential ownership are Steve Ballmer, a former Microsoft CEO and current owner of the Los Angeles Clippers; Larry Ellison, co-founder of Oracle Corporation; Joe Lacob, owner of the Golden State Warriors; and Marc Benioff, co-CEO of Salesforce, according to Sports Illustrated.

The Seattle Seahawks have reached the NFL Super Bown three times and won the title in 2014 against the Denver Broncos.

https:// www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6297733/Amazons-Jeff-Bezos-pressure-buy-Seattle-Seahawks.html?ito=social-twitter_dailymailus

Trump: US to 'terminate' 1987 missile ban treaty with Russia

Maren Hennemuth Oct 20, 2018

Washington (dpa) - The US will unilaterally pull out of a more-than-30-year-old treaty with Russia that bans a wide array of nuclear weapons, US President Donald Trump told reporters on Saturday.

The 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) was signed by US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in Washington.

It banned nuclear and conventional missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500 kilometres, as well as their launchers.

"We're going to terminate the treaty and we're going to pull out," Trump told reporters in Nevada, where he was campaigning for a Republican Senate candidate.

National Security Adviser John Bolton meanwhile set off for Moscow, where he is expected to discuss the withdrawal, which has already drawn criticism from Russia.

A source in the Russian Foreign Ministry told the state news agency TASS that the US had wanted to take the step "for many years" and had been "intentionally and gradually eroding the contractual base."

The source said the decision was "in line" with the US policy of "withdrawing from international legal agreements that impose equal

obligations on all partners" and was based on a US "dream about a unipolar world."

Trump said Russia had been violating the agreement.

"They've been violating it for many years. And I don’t know why president Obama didn’t negotiate or pull out. And we're not going to let them violate a nuclear agreement and go out and do weapons, and we're not allowed to," he said.

The US would begin building such weapons again if Russia and China did not come to a fresh agreement on them, he added.

The US and Russia have long accused one another of violating the terms of the treaty.

Washington bases its accusation on Russia's development of the Novator 9M729 cruise missile, NATO designation SSC-8, which has a range of 2,600 kilometres.

Earlier this month, NATO called on Moscow to address concerns about the missile, while US ambassador to NATO, Kay Hutchison, appeared to warn that the US would consider launching military action to destroy the missile.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that a NATO missile shield in Romania could launch nuclear missiles at any time.

Trump's announcement could herald fresh tensions between the former Cold War rivals. While the US president has repeatedly praised Putin, his administration has taken a tough line against the Kremlin and repeatedly imposed sanctions on it.

The disarmament treaties are one of the bones of contention between the two countries, and are in need of renewal.

The most recent agreement, the 2010 START (Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty) deal, runs out in 2020, while the US ended the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) treaty of 1972 in 2002, arguing it needed to be able to develop defences against "rogue" states such as Iran and North Korea.

http:// www.dpa-international.com/topic/trump-us-terminate-1987-missile-ban-treaty-russia-181021-99-459068

AFP News Agency

@AFP

VIDEO: Drone images of thousands of migrants on the border bridge between Guatemala and Mexico

https:// twitter.com/AFP/status/1053477616009670658/video/1

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