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A year ago today, thousands watched transfixed as a young Black woman with a luminous smile outshone US President Joe Biden at his own inauguration ceremony.

As the youngest inaugural poet in US history, many may have wondered who she was as she stepped up to the podium with a composure belying her 22 years, wearing a bright yellow Prada coat with her hair worn up and encircled by a red satin headband.

Today, Amanda Gorman is best remembered for her stirring recitation of her inaugural poem, "The Hill We Climb."

With her opening lines alluding to the siege of the Capitolby a violent mob of Donald Trump supporters on January 6, 2021, just days prior to Biden's inauguration, her poem ended on a note of promise and hope.

The Harvard graduate even suggested running for the office herself: "a skinny Black girl, descended from slaves and raised by a single mother, who can dream of being president one day, only to find herself reciting for one."

Her performance went viral.

Sharing a wefielater featuring thepoet and her mother Joan Wicks as well as former president Bill Clinton former Secretary of State and presidential contender Hillary Clinton tweeted her support forGorman's presidential aspirations.

Some may have also noted her enunciation especially her stressing of the letter "r."This stems from an auditory processing disorder that she was diagnosed with in childhood that impeded her speech articulation. It was writing and oral poetry recitation that helped her deal with this; inthe process, she ended up being named the first National Youth Poet Laureate in 2017.

Looking regal at the Met Gala in September 2021

Speaking to NPR prior to the inauguration, Gorman said her struggle to speak proved to be a connection for her to Biden and her "beacon,"fellow American poet and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou. Both Biden and Angelou had speech impediments too.

"Maya Angelou was mute growing up as a child and she grew up to deliver the inaugural poem for President Bill Clinton," Gorman said. "So I think there is a real history of orators who have had to struggle with a type of imposed voicelessness, you know, having that stage in the inauguration."

Gorman'sinauguration day outfit actually included a tribute to Angelou. Her ring, gifted by talk show host Oprah Winfrey,featured a caged bird in honor of Angelou's 1969 autobiography, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."

Gorman's star has been on the ascent since that sunny winter morning of January 20, 2021.

She was on the cover of Time magazine in February 2021, interviewed by Michelle Obama.

Referring to the accolades she'd received, she advised other girls of color to aspire beyond singular events. "You really have to crown yourself with the belief that what I'm about and what I'm here for is way beyond this moment. I'm learning that I am not lightning that strikes once. I am the hurricane that comes every single year, and you can expect to see me again soon."

This was followed up by her turn at the 2021 Super Bowl the first poet ever to perform at a US sporting event.

Reciting her poem "Chorus of the Captains," she honored three individuals who exhibited extraordinary leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gorman's sartorial side

She displayed her affinity for fashion when she graced the cover of Vogue in May 2021, during which she also shared how she has become more discerning of work commissions, revealing that she'd turned down about $17 million in publicity offers.

And although she signed a contract with the prestigious IMG Models Worldwide, which represents amongothers Gisele Bndchen, Gigi Hadidand Kate Moss, she told Vogue that she is "wary about being perceived as a model."

Reminding young readers of their power to change the world

In addition to her viral inaugural poem that was eventually released as a book, Gorman also published two other books last year: all three topped bestseller lists.

On Instagram, she described her children's book titled "Change Sings," as "a children's anthem to remind young readers that they have the power to shape the world."

Meanwhile, the now 23-year-old's collection of poems, titled "Call Us What We Carry," is this month's pick of The Fearless Book Club founded by Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai.

Exploring history, language and identity through poetry

Often hailed as part of a new generation of poets of color who've made poetry mainstream in popular culture again, Gorman's last 12 months of reflections in rhyme is perhaps best summed up in her own play of words:

On justice: "We've learned that quiet isn't always peace. And the norms and notions of 'what just is' isn't always 'justice.'"

On the power of women: "We are not victims, we are victors. The greatest predictors of progress."

On hope and courage: "There is always light.If only we're brave enough to see it.If only we're brave enough to be it."

On self-determination: "The only approval you need is your own."

On leaving legacies: "For while we have our eyes on the future, history has its eyes on us."

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier

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Amanda Gorman: A year after 'The Hill We Climb' - DW (English)

There is no denying the allure that anything Australian has for Americans. From the accent to the beaches, there is plenty to be admired about the down under lifestyle.

In 1988, Outback Steakhouse capitalized on that attraction. The fast-casual chain was born in Tampa, Fla., and quickly rose to national (and now international) prominence. Today, they are known for much more than just their Aussie aesthetic.

The legendary Bloomin' Onion, for one, is one of the best-known appetizers on the restaurant chain scene. Their slogan, which has been a mantra since the very beginning, is iconic: "No rules, just right." And, perhaps more than anything else, the sizzling steak TV commercials that helped put Outback on the map are now seared into our collective memory. You can probably still hear the "Let's go Outback tonight" jingle playing in your head.

During the decades of success, Outback Steakhouse has also filed away a few secrets. Read on to uncover the details they aren't broadcasting. For more, check out8 Worst Fast-Food Burgers to Stay Away From Right Now.

Three years ago, a former employee of Outback Steakhouse confessed on a Reddit thread that a fellow user's suspicions were correct: If you order your steak well done, the kitchen is going to dole you out a worse cut of meat.

"Honestly yes," said former employee. "We sort steaks to cook all at the same temp, at the same time. So yeah you will get a crappier cut to cook at the same time as your super nice, rare cut."

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If you are familiar with authentic Australian culture, this "secret" might not be shocking. But it's true, the chain from down under actually just hails from Florida, where four people who worked in the hospitality industry decided that an Australian theme would help make their restaurant unique. At the time, none of the founders had even made the trek to the continent.

In 2017, Twitter users uncovered that, in several cities, the layout of Outback's locations looks like a pentagram. Amidst the ensuing viral conspiracy theories that Satanism was involved (you know, a practice that uses pentagrams as symbols), Outback leaned in. "If the Bloomin' Onion is evil then we don't want to be nice," they Tweeted, in a genius marketing move that kept the internet talking.

You know the bread we're talking aboutthat absolutely decadent dark brown loaf, known colloquially as "chocolate bread" (a moniker which, according to Reddit, servers resent.) According to that same former employee, you don't need to sit for an entire meal at Outback to enjoy the bread. You can likely just visit your local location and buy it from them.

Is any restaurant really off the hook with this one? Like many other chains, Outback has been outed for its microwave usage. According to a user on Quora who used to work there, the chain simply "nukes" the pre-made pasta and sauce for a minute and thirty seconds. Not exactly fine dining.

To be fair, depending on who Outback wants to appeal to, they may or may not want you to know this "secret." The chain's parent company Bloomin' Brands made 93% of its political donations to Republicans in 2016, according to Eater. The same can be said of many other major restaurant chains, including Applebee's, IHOP, Chick-fil-A, and even Wendy's.

However, Elizabeth Smith, the CEO of Bloomin' Brands, personally donated to Hillary Clinton's campaign in 2016.

Read the rest here:
7 Secrets Outback Steakhouse Doesn't Want You to Know Eat This Not That - Eat This, Not That

A federal judge on Friday ordered notorious "Pharma Bro" Martin Shkreli banned for life from the pharmaceutical industry and also ruled that he must disgorge $64.6 million in profits he earned from hiking the price of the life-saving drug Daraprim by more than 5,000% overnight.

The ruling in U.S. District Court in Manhattan came in response to a lawsuit alleging illegal and monopolistic behavior connected with Daraprim by Shkreli, who is currently incarcerated for a securities fraud conviction.

The plaintiffs in the case were the Federal Trade Commission, and seven states, including New York and California.

Those same plaintiffs last month obtained a $40 million settlement for the same claims from Vyera Pharmaceuticals, the company that Shkreli had founded, as well as a seven-year ban of his former business partner Kevin Mulleady.

"Americans can rest easy because Martin Shkreli is a pharma bro no more," said New York Attorney General Letitia James.

The other state plaintiffs in the case were Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, North Carolina and Virginia.

Shkreli is serving a seven-year federal prison term for financial crimes unrelated to his controversial price increase of Daraprim, a drug used to treat parasitic infections in pregnant women, babies, HIV patients, and others. Shkreli controversially raised the drug's price from $13.50 per pill to a whopping $750 per pill in 2015.

In her 135-page ruling Friday, Judge Denise Cote found that Shkreli, while serving as Vyera's CEO, violated federal and state laws with anticompetitive conduct to protect profits from Daraprim, which until recently was the only drug federally approved to treat the parasitic condition toxoplasmosis.

Cote, who presided over a seven-day trial in the case last month without a jury, noted in her ruling that the lifetime ban from any role in the drug industry for Shkreli that was sought by the plaintiffs "is a serious remedy and must be done with care and only if equity demands."

But, she concluded, "Shkreli's egregious, deliberate, repetitive, long-running, and ultimately dangerous illegal conduct warrants imposition of an injunction of this scope."

Cote wrote that Shkreli in 2015 "initiated a scheme to block the entry of generic drug competition so that he could reap the profits from Daraprim sales for as long as possible" when he increased the price of the drug.

"Through his tight control of the distribution of Daraprim, Shkreli prevented generic drug companies from getting access to the quantity of Daraprim they needed to conduct testing demanded by the Food and Drug Administration," the judge wrote.

"Through exclusive supply agreements, Shkreli also blocked off access to the two most important manufacturers of the active pharmaceutical ingredient ... for Daraprim."

Cote noted that with his illegal conduct, "Shkreli delayed the entry of generic competition for at least eighteen months. Shkreli and his companies profited over $64 million from this scheme."

Shkreli's lawyer, Christopher Casey, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Vyera had been known as Turing Pharmaceuticals when Shkreli ordered the stunning price hike for the drug, earning him widespread condemnation at the time from a wide range of people, including former President Donald Trump and then-Democratic presidential contender Hillary Clinton.

That outrage, along with his incessant trolling of critics on Twitter and stunts like purchasing a one-a-kind Wu-Tang Clan album for a reported $2 million, led to Shkreli becoming internationally infamous under the sobriquet "Pharma Bro."

In 2016, federal prosecutors charged him with defrauding investors in two hedge funds he ran years before founding Turing, and with using their funds to found another drug company, Retrophin.

Shkreli was also accused of looting Retrophin to pay back investors for their investment losses in his hedge funds.

He was convicted a trial in mid-2017 in Brooklyn federal court of several charges in the case.

Within weeks, he had his $5 million release bond revoked by a judge despite a pending appeal of his conviction after offering his followers on social media a bounty for each strand of hair they could pull off Clinton's head during her book tour that year.

In addition to his prison sentence, which is due to end in early November, Shkreli was ordered as part of his criminal conviction to pay $7.4 million in forfeiture.

That criminal penalty was satisfied last July with the sale by the U.S. government of the surrendered Wu-Tang Clan album, "Once Upon a Time in Shaolin" for what was likely at least almost $2.4 million.

The government previously had obtained $5 million held in Shkreli's brokerage account, and other assets that included the Lil Wayne album "Tha Carter V," an engraving on paper by Pablo Picasso.

Continue reading here:
Pharma Bro Martin Shkreli banned for life from drug industry in monopoly case, ordered to pay $64.6 million - CNBC

It was inevitable that the implosion of the Biden administration would lure former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton back onto the political stage. The voters showed her the door five years ago, yet she remains unable to grasp what they were trying to tell her. The latest manifestation of this learning disability began last month with an online lecture series in which Clinton holds forth on The Power of Resilience. The series culminates with a cringeworthy reading, complete with feigned attempt to hold back tears, of the speech she purportedly prepared in anticipation of victory in 2016.

My fellow Americans, today you sent a message to the whole world. Our values endure. Our democracy stands strong. And our motto remains: e pluribus unum. Out of many, one. We will not be defined only by our differences. We will not be an us versus them country. Fundamentally, this election challenged us to decide what it means to be an American in the 21st century. And for reaching for a unity, decency, and what President Lincoln called the better angels of our nature. We met that challenge.

If this undelivered unity speech seems wildly at odds with Clintons actual behavior and rhetoric, before and after the 2016 election, it is no illusion. It is impossible to reconcile it with her infamous basket of deplorables remark, in which she characterized millions of Americans as racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic and Islamophobic. The speech is also inconsistent with her oft-repeated post-election claim that Trump was an illegitimate president. Indeed, it even fails to conform to the ostensibly benign point of her lectures, part of which she devotes to slandering Trump as a bully and a creep.

Such ad hominem cheap shots are, of course, far more characteristic of the Hillary Clinton we all know rather than the circumspect observations of a seasoned leader who has learned from her mistakes. She recently offered seemingly reasonable advice to the Democrats about avoiding a far left turn before the 2022 midterms, a clear reference to the Squad. Yet she continues to attack former President Trump based on the most absurd leftwing conspiracy theory since the Russia collusion hoax. During a recent CNN interview with Fareed Zakaria about her new novel, Clinton delivered herself of the following opinion:

I do think our democracy is under continuing assault by the former president, who masterminded a coup in the attack on our Capitol, has continued to promote the false accusation that the election of 2020 was somehow rigged. I think he poses a real clear and present danger to the United States. And having lived through that presidency, when it came time to write a political thriller with my friend and collaborator Louise Penny, of course I would draw from the reality that we all have experienced.

Never mind that the Justice Department has concluded that there was no coup to mastermind. As Reuters reported last August, The FBI has found scant evidence that the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol was the result of an organized plot to overturn the presidential election result. Forget that not a single rioter has been prosecuted for treason or conspiracy to overthrow the government. Ignore the inconvenient fact that those who have been prosecuted were charged with such things as trespassing, disorderly conduct, and destruction of property. Yet Clinton doesnt hesitate to label Trump as the evil architect of a coup.

Many Democrats take this nonsense seriously. They believe, as Clinton maintains, that the republic will be in great peril if Trump runs again in 2024: I want people to understand that this is a make-or-break point. But they know how unpopular President Biden and Vice President Harris are with the voters. Consequently, high-profile Democratic operatives are casting about for a candidate who can defeat Trump. Douglas Schoen, an influential consultant, believes that Hillary Clinton may be the only Democrat who has any chance of defeating Trump in 2024. As he recently put it in the Orange County Register:

Democrats already have reason to be concerned about their presidential ticket in 2024. Indeed, voters are turning on the Biden presidency: Republicans lead in the 2022 generic vote for Congress; and in a hypothetical Trump-Biden rematch, 48% of voters say they would back Trump, compared with 45% for Biden. Clinton would offer Democrats a new approach that is separate from the Biden Administration. Clinton has the stature, the positions, and the record that Democrats need.

Schoen seems to have forgotten that whatever stature Clinton brings to the 2024 election, she would carry even more baggage than she lugged to the 2016 race. The heaviest load she carries is the role her campaign played in concocting the Russian collusion hoax. As Kimberly Strassel puts it in the Wall Street Journal, The Clinton campaign ultimately paid a Russian [Igor Danchenko] to gin up the core allegations against Mr. Trump. These tales ended up in the Steele Dossier that was deployed against Trump. In other words, the Russians did interfere with the 2016 election on behalf of the Clinton campaign.

This means the stench of corruption that has always enveloped Clinton and her associates will be more pungent than ever in 2024. Will this stop Hillary from running? Of course not. As former Clinton advisor Dick Morris recently phrased it, Ive always said that the way you could tell if Hillary is running again is check whether she has a pulse or not. There can be little doubt that Bidens many blunders has Clinton casting a lustful eye on the greasy pole once again, but can she reach its slimy pinnacle in 2024 carrying all those decades of baggage? Perhaps, but Trump will get there first, just as he did in 2016.

The rest is here:
Hillary Clinton: The Greasy Pole Beckons Again - The American ...

Hillary Clinton may end up in prison sometime after November 2022 as majority of the analysts in the world of politics believe, Republicans are going to win back control of the House of Representatives and the Republican lawmakers will use the opportunity to get revenge on Democrats, especially Hillary Clinton. It is also anticipated that with the US Congress going into the control of Republicans would initiate investigations in Hunter Bidens artwork scandal, which is seen by most of the political analysts as an indirect bribery channel of Joe Bidens scandalous son.

Florida Rep. Kat Cammack said, in an exclusive interview, that some Democrats could be headed to prison.

When we take the House back in the 118th, first and foremost, we are going to be focused on accountability, people need to go to jail, she said at Turning Point USAs AmericaFest in Phoenix, Arizona.

Im talking about the Hillary Clintons of the world, Im talking about the Eric Holders, Im talking about all these people who have continued to cause strife and division, break the law, subvert the Rule of Law, and they have never been held accountable, the congresswoman said.

Were going to go after the origins of COVID-19, were going to be looking at how we can earn the trust of the American people back, she said.

Because for so long, there has been two standards: one for thee, and then rules for the other people that dont have power, that arent well-connected.

She said she wants the new Congress to investigate election integrity and other issues including all of theissues weve had in years past that have gone unresolved, like Benghazi.

With Afghanistan now, thats going to be another one, she said.

She said that the plan is for Republicans to have an agenda that that everysingle Republican will be running on,campaigning on, and committing to putting that agenda forward.

And once we take the House, we roll hard on executing that plan, because the American people they deserve accountability, and they deserve action, she said. And those are the two things that were going to be giving when we take over the House.

House Minority Leader and California Rep. Kevin McCarthy also said in December that there would be payback for Democrats if Republicans get control of the House again in the 2022 midterms.

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Hillary Clinton may end up in prison in 2022 | Weekly Blitz