Wall St. money talks, but voters aren’t listening Michael Isikoff Chief Investigative Correspondent February 23, 2016 (Photo Illustration: Yahoo News, photos: AP, Robert F. Bukaty/AP) In the latest sign that hedge fund gurus have little influence over the political marketplace, Wall Street billionaire Steven Cohen and his wife pumped another $2 million into a super-PAC backing Chris Christie’s presidential candidacy less than three weeks before the New Jersey governor flamed out in the New Hampshire primary, according to newly filed campaign finance reports. The Jan. 22 contributions by Cohen and his wife, Alexandra Cohen, to the pro-Christie super-PAC, America Leads, amounted to 55 percent of the $3.6 million raised by the group last month, the reports show. The fresh contributions brought to $6 million the amount the Cohens had invested in America Leads over the past year in an effort to elect Christie president, making the couple by far the largest bankrollers of his failed candidacy. The role of Cohen was highlighted in a recent Yahoo News article disclosing that the hedge fund kingpin had principally financed an America Leads TV ad during the New Hampshire primary deriding rival John Kasich as a one-time “Wall Street banker.” This would seem an ironic line of attack, given that Cohen was long one of the most well-known and controversial figures on Wall Street and, in recent years, the focus of an insider trading investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney in New York, Preet Bharara. The investigation resulted in Cohen’s now defunct firm, SAC Capital, paying a $1.8 billion fine and, just last month, shortly before his latest six-figure contribution, reaching a final settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that bans him from investing money for others until 2018. Cohen’s financial largesse did Christie little good: He finished in sixth place in the New Hampshire primary, with 7.4 percent of the vote, and suspended his candidacy the next day.

(Photo Illustration:  AP, Robert F. Bukaty/AP)In the latest sign that hedge fund gurus have little influence over the political marketplace, Wall Street billionaire Steven Cohen and his wife pumped another $2 million into a super-PAC backing Chris Christie’s presidential candidacy less than three weeks before the New Jersey governor flamed out in the New Hampshire primary, according to newly filed campaign finance reports.The Jan. 22 contributions by Cohen and his wife, Alexandra Cohen, to the pro-Christie super-PAC, America Leads, amounted to 55 percent of the $3.6 million raised by the group last month, the reports show. The fresh contributions brought to $6 million the amount the Cohens had invested in America Leads over the past year in an effort to elect Christie president, making the couple by far the largest bankrollers of his failed candidacy.The role of Cohen was highlighted in a recent Yahoo News article disclosing that the hedge fund kingpin had principally financed an America Leads TV ad during the New Hampshire primary deriding rival John Kasich as a one-time “Wall Street banker.” This would seem an ironic line of attack, given that Cohen was long one of the most well-known and controversial figures on Wall Street and, in recent years, the focus of an insider trading investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Attorney in New York, Preet Bharara.The investigation resulted in Cohen’s now defunct firm, SAC Capital, paying a $1.8 billion fine and, just last month, shortly before his latest six-figure contribution, reaching a final settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission that bans him from investing money for others until 2018.

Cohen’s financial largesse did Christie little good: He finished in sixth place in the New Hampshire primary, with 7.4 percent of the vote, and suspended his candidacy the next day.

From The 2016 Grammys Here The Most Awkward Moments

The grammys are supposed to be one of the biggest, craziest and most entertaining award shows of the year, so we’re a bit confused as to why we feel super awkward after watching it.
Like the moment when you get left hanging for high-five, even Taylor Swift had an ‘oops’ moment with Selena Gomez that set the tone for the entire show.
Whether or not you caught the show last night, we’ve compiled all of the awkward moments from the 2016 Grammys so you can get at least some amusement from the show.

Taylor Swift called bestie Selena Gomez over for a photo, who was too busy enjoying her individual attention

25 Years After 'Thelma & Louise,' Geena Davis Says She Wanted the Susan Sarandon Role

Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis in ‘Thelma & Louise’ (Everett)By Stephen Galloway, The Hollywood ReporterIt’s been 25 years since Thelma & Louise, the landmark feminist film directed by Ridley Scott and starring Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon as two friends who go on the run.But Davis says the film might have been very different if she had been given the role she first wanted: That of Louise, the waitress who pulls out a gun and kills a would-be rapist.“I’d been following this [project] for a year,” she recalled, before her agents contacted Scott to ask for ameeting. “He said, ‘Yes, sure, you could come in.’ And I’d met with my acting coach. And we had decided that I should play Louise. And I wanted this so bad, and I’m just pitching my heart out, and I brought all my notes and everything about why I absolutely have to be Louise. And he finally says, 'So, in other words, you wouldn’t play Thelma?’ And there was only a very slight pause, actually, before I said: 'You know what’s so weird is, I’ve been listening to myself as I’m talking and I’m not convinced anymore. Actually, I think I should play Thelma.’”Related: George Miller on 'Mad Max’ Sequels, His Secret Talks With Stanley KubrickDavis was signed to play one or the other of the leads, with the final decision dependent on who would play opposite her. When Scott chose Sarandon as Louise, she accepted the role of Thelma.“The first time I meet [Sarandon], it was just Ridley and she and I,” Davis noted. “We were going to get together and go through the script. And pretty much the second I met her, I was like: 'What was I thinking? How could I possibly play Louise? She’s just fabulous.’ We hung out all the time together during the shooting. Because it was mostly just us. And a lot of times you can’t go all the way back to your trailer, because you’re out in the middle of the desert or something. So we’re just hanging around in the car, talking. We spent a lot of time together.”Davis spoke Feb. 10 at Loyola Marymount University’s School of Film & TV, where she took part in THR’s ongoing interview series, The Hollywood Masters.The founder of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, she lamented how little progress Hollywood has made in finding roles for women.When she speaks to studio and network executives, she said, “[They’re] stunned. They [had] no idea they were leaving out that many female characters, that the world is bereft of female presence. If I was going in, saying, 'You’re making less movies with a female star,’ they’d say, ‘We know that very well, and you know, we’re worried about doing anything different, because women will watch movies about men, but men don’t want to watch movies about women.’ Whatever. So I don’t say that at all. I just say, 'Whatever you are already making, you’re leaving out half of the population.’”Asked her thoughts on the recent controversy about the motion picture Academy and its lack of diversity, particularly as it relates to women, she said: “It’s great that more and more people are talking about it. Because it’s something that people just go along with. My whole theory about why I couldn’t find any creators who realized they were leaving out female characters is because they were raised on the same ratio. I just heard someone the other day call it either 'smurfing’ a movie, which is when there’s one female character, or 'minioning’ a movie, which is when there’s no female characters. Because there aren’t any female minions. The ratio of male to female characters in movies has been exactly the same since 1946. So if you’ve ever had people say, you know, 'It’s better now, it’s all changed, it’s all different,’ it’s not, it hasn’t. Not yet.”

English Jokes & Wise Quotes

English Jokes & Wise Quotes

OBAMA BELIEVES TRUMP WILL NOT BE PRESIDENT

NEWS in English!

U.S. President Barack Obama believes Republican White House hopeful Donald Trump would not be elected as his successor as being a President is tougher than hosting a reality show and Americans are too “sensible” to elect him.

“I continue to believe Mr Trump will not be President. And the reason is because I have a lot of faith in the American people, and I think they recognise that being President is a serious job,” Mr. Obama told reporters after the first ever US-ASEAN Summit in Sunnylands, California. “It’s not hosting a talk show or a reality show. It’s not promotion. It’s not marketing,” he said.

The 69-year-old billionaire real estate tycoon fired back, saying Mr. Obama was lucky that he did not run for office in 2012. “You’re lucky I didn’t run last time when Romney ran because you would have been a one-term president,” Mr. Trump said at a campaign rally in South Carolina. Mr. Obama also criticised other Republican candidates.

#news #english #newsinenglish

Selena Gomez Reacts to Justin Bieber's First-Ever Grammys Win: 'I'm Very Happy for Him

Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber Jon Kopaloff/FilmMagic; Jason Merritt/Getty Images for NARAS

"I'm very happy for him," Gomez, 23 — who was joined on the red carpet by the night's biggest winner, her best friend Taylor Swift — told Entertainment Tonight outside of the Staples Center in L.A. "Honestly, so cool."

PHOTOS: Grammys 2016 Red Carpet Fashion: What the Stars Wore

Bieber, along with Skrillex and Diplo, took home a Grammy for their dance track, "Where Are U Now," fulfilling the pop superstar's long-running dream to take home a gilded gramophone of his own.
He and Gomez dated on and off for three years before ending their relationship for good in 2014, but the two have remained on friendly terms. Along with praise for her ex, the Disney alum also had sweet things to say about Bieber's EDM collaborators.
"They have such a cool energy amongst all of them to be able to create something like that," she noted. "It's really great."
During the live broadcast, the trio delivered a high-energy performance that kicked off with Bieber, 21, strumming his guitar and singing an acoustic version of his single, "Love Yourself." He then launched into a hard-rock take on "Where Are U Now" with Diplo and Skrillex.

PHOTOS: Grammys 2016 Red Carpet: Wildest Fashion and Beauty Looks

Selena Gomez and Justin Bieber attend the 2011 Teen Choice Awards. Kevin Mazur/TCA 2011/Getty Images

Talking ad nauseum about her famous ex in interview can be tiresome, Gomez has said. "At first I didn’t care,” Gomez told W magazine in her March 2016 cover story about the perpetual interest in Jelena. "To me it was: I’m 18, I have a boyfriend, we look cute together, we like that. Then I got my heart broken and I cared. Because people had no idea what was going on, but everywhere it was a million different things. I was kind of in a corner, banging my head against the wall. I didn’t know where to go."Unfortunately, that infatuation has faded. "I’m so exhausted," Gomez concluded to W. “I honestly am so done. I care about his health and well-being. But I can’t do it anymore.”