Ocasio-Cortez responds to critics in Democratic debate

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defended progressives and her Green New Deal proposal from moderates' attacks after the party's presidential debate this week.

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  • The Tragedy—and Urgent Warning—Behind Lucy, the Chimp Raised to Be Human

    HBO MaxLucy the Chimpanzee’s story is an animal rights nightmare. As told in the new documentary Lucy the Human Chimp, psychologist Maurice Temerlin and his wife, Jane, bought the fuzzy primate from a roadside zoo in Florida that trained chimps to box human opponents when she was only two days old. (The zoo drugged Lucy’s mother by spiking a Coca-Cola with a tranquilizer.) From then on, the Temerlins raised their new “daughter” as human, teaching her to dress herself and use silverware. She even knew how to make her own gin and tonics.The Temerlins’ famous experiment, in which they raised a chimpanzee as human to study that age-old question of “nature versus nurture,” sounds barbaric now, but in its time it received heaps of publicity. Lucy learned around 120 signs, and seemed to flourish in the Temerlins’ home—that is, until she reached sexual maturity.Lucy the Human Chimp, which debuts HBO Max Thursday, focuses on what happened after Lucy left the spotlight—when caretaker Janis Carter stepped in to feed and clean up after the largely cage-bound animal after the Temerlins had deemed her unmanageable and dangerous. She would ultimately spend more than six years of her life living with Lucy and other rescued chimps in Gambia, first at a nature reserve and then on an uninhabited island. Director Alex Parkinson tells Lucy and Carter’s stories with empathy, leaving space for both humor and tragedy. The most effective moments come during interviews with Carter, when she reflects on the profound bond she formed with her chimp charges. “I learned a lot more about families living with the chimps than I did with my own human family,” Carter says at one point. (She now serves as director of the Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Project in Gambia.)Still, the film struggles to establish much critical distance from its human subject. Parkinson does not engage, for instance, with the argument that Lucy was not a suitable rehabilitation candidate, and that efforts to prepare and release her into the wild actually hurt her. Much like My Octopus Teacher, which won best documentary at Sunday’s Oscars, Lucy the Human Chimp works better as a personal narrative than it does as a documentary. That said, Carter’s narration does at least largely avoid anthropomorphizing Lucy or romanticizing her story.Carter first began working for the Temerlins in 1976 as a 25-year-old graduate student of the University of Oklahoma focused on primate studies. From the beginning, the couple told her that physical contact with Lucy would not be permitted, given the decent chance that she could lose at least a finger or two from an encounter gone awry. “There wasn’t any nicety in her greeting with me,” Carter recalls in the film. The chimp was unequivocally aggressive—and on top of that, she was a sign language perfectionist, and therefore “condescending” toward her new, ASL-illiterate assistant.Over time, however, Lucy seemed to soften toward her human caretaker. One day, Carter says, the chimp expressed a desire to groom her—a bonding ritual between the primates. After some hesitation, she acquiesced, and soon after, she returned the favor, grooming Lucy as well. Carter had been nervous to tell the Temerlins about her and Lucy’s ritual. But when she did, Maurice was thrilled; it turned out that the couple had decided that they could no longer care for Lucy in a humane way and would be sending her to a nature reserve in Gambia so that she could be rehabilitated and released back into the wild. Carter agreed to accompany the couple and to remain at the reserve for one additional week beyond their two-week stay. In 1977, 12-year-old Lucy rode to Africa in the cargo hold of an airplane; the first-class passengers could hear her screams.Lucy languished at the refuge, dropping weight and losing patches of hair as she rejected her new diet and isolated herself from the other chimps. Carter could not bear to leave her hairy ward until she knew she could survive on her own. So after multiple short-term delays, she decided to stay for the long haul. She abandoned her life for more than six years to live among chimpanzees in almost complete isolation from other people, first on the refuge and then on a remote island on the Gambia River that was also home to hippos, hyenas, cobras, and leopards. Carter makes no pretense that she had any idea what she was doing in these extraordinary circumstances. As she puts it, “Everything was on me and my gut.”Archival footage and photos combine with staged re-enactments bring Lucy the Human Chimp to life. Parkinson interviews Carter straight on, allowing her testimony to narrate the bulk of the film. Her emotions about the time she spent with Lucy and the other rescue chimps remain fresh to this day; at one point, she tears up remembering their nightly ritual of watching the sunset from a boat, dipping their hands in the water.“It just seemed so genuine,” Carter says. “Every second of it was just so genuine, and we were appreciative of what life had given us that day... feeling that all of these vile forces of civilization did not impact us. It was just us.”At a time when most of us have spent more than a year isolated and unable to travel, it’s not hard to grasp the appeal of a story in which a woman abandons everything and everyone she knows to discover a purer way of life surrounded by nature. For Carter, the journey seems to have been as spiritual as it was primal. (Although, that said, before you pack your bags for the nearest reserve, you should know that she also slept in a cage with no ceiling, and the chimps slept above her on the roof—urinating and defecating onto her bed any time an unfamiliar noise startled them.)As the film winds down, Carter recalls the moment that rescue chimp Dash, who she’d raised for most of his life, asserted his authority after coming into sexual maturity as the oldest male in the group. In a harrowing instant, he charged her and dragged her through the forest—making clear that she’d become the “No. 2” in the group and that it was no longer safe to stay. Carter would return to the island one more time, a year later, to visit Lucy—and it’s hard to imagine anyone finishing the film with dry eyes after she describes their last embrace, when she realized the chimp could survive on her own. And then, there’s the final heartbreak: Lucy would die little more than a year later, although the cause of her death is undetermined.That, perhaps, is the tragedy of Lucy’s story: After spending years struggling to acclimate to the life she would have naturally lived, had humans left her alone, she ultimately had barely any time to enjoy it.Maurice Temerlin died in 1988; he notes in archival Good Morning America footage that “Lucy might have missed something not knowing chimpanzees.” In voiceover audio, Jane expresses her gratitude for Carter’s dedication to Lucy but adds, “I wouldn’t take a chimp from a chimpanzee mother again.” Many viewers might tune in to Lucy and the Chimp for a cute, feel-good story about the unexpected bond between the primate and her caretaker—I certainly did!—and despite the sad ending to Lucy’s story, Parkinson’s doc largely delivers. But one hopes that Lucy’s story also leaves a deeper impression. One hopes that viewers will come away with not only greater empathy for wildlife, but also a better understanding of just how great a threat human involvement in these creatures’ lives can pose—even when the intentions are good.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Petition calls for Jill Biden to undo Melania Trump’s changes to White House Rose Garden

    Former first lady criticised for replacing cherry trees ‘with a boring tribute to herself’

  • Biden ends historically long 1st address to Congress by thanking everyone for their patience

    President Biden's first address to a joint session of Congress, at nearly one hour and five minutes, was historically long by modern standards, by C-SPAN's count. UPDATE: Length of Presidents first address to #JointSession of Congress. pic.twitter.com/s3RGE9ykiI — CSPAN (@cspan) April 29, 2021 Biden was either cognizant of his speech's record length or just being polite when he ended his speech, closing with the words: "Thank you for your patience." Biden has already modified the ubiquitous modern ending to presidential speeches — some variation of "Thank you, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America" — by swapping out God blessing America with the prayer: "May God protect our troops." Thanking Congress — and viewers at home — for their patience is a new one. Not everyone loved it, but there was a general agreement he earned points for honesty. "Thank you for your patience" is the most honest closing line of any presidential speech to a joint session of Congress I've ever heard. — Olivier Knox (@OKnox) April 29, 2021 “Thank you for your patience” is the most honest way any president has ended an hour-long speech. — Scott Bixby (@scottbix) April 29, 2021 “Thank you for your patience.” A fitting end to Biden’s first address... — Kayleigh McEnany (@kayleighmcenany) April 29, 2021 Biden concluded his roughly one hour five minute speech saying "thank you for your patience." I feel seen as the kids say. — Daniel Strauss (@DanielStrauss4) April 29, 2021 More stories from theweek.comLumber is shockingly expensive. Thanks, Obama.Giuliani flakes on 'live statement' he announced 23 minutes earlierStephen Colbert recaps the good, bad, and refreshingly normal in Biden's 1st address to Congress

  • Jimmy Kimmel’s Train-Wreck Interview With MyPillow Guy Mike Lindell

    ABCWell, it actually happened. The day America has been eagerly awaiting since Mike Lindell accepted Jimmy Kimmel’s invitation during his bizarro livestream event finally arrived on Wednesday, and there was the MyPillow CEO in the flesh sitting across from his supposed late-night nemesis.“Somehow a simple pillow salesman from Minnesota got to the bottom of the deepest conspiracy in the history of American politics,” Kimmel said at the top of his monologue. “It’s so crazy, it’s almost hard to believe.” With the real Lindell presumably watching backstage, the host was visited by his own personal MyPillow guy, comedian James Adomian, who limped on stage wearing a “Who Farted?” tank top and went into a racist panic when he spotted Guillermo seated offstage.The actual interview, which was preceded by an actual MyPillow commercial on the New York broadcast, began with a montage of Lindell’s most unhinged rants about what he still seems to believe was a stolen presidential election. When Kimmel asked his guest if he had been vaccinated, Lindell said no, which helps explain why they were not together in a pillow-filled bed as previously promised. “I meant for rabies,” Kimmel joked.Kimmel suggested that Lindell actually has a lot in common with Hunter Biden, given their shared history of addiction to crack cocaine, and asked him directly about the source of his “paranoia” and the fact that he has apparently been “in hiding” for several months.From Mike Lindell to Elon Musk, Who Deserves a Late-Night TV Platform?“That’s right, I’ve been working hard on this election and the machines,” Lindell said, vaguely. After they got some of his basic biography out of the way, Lindell admitted that he didn’t know anything about politics until he met Donald Trump in 2016.“Some would say you still don’t, Mike, to be honest,” Kimmel replied. Later, he told Lindell, “A lot of people didn’t want you to come on the show. Liberals and conservatives, everybody said, told me, don’t have you on the show, and they told you, don’t go on the show. But I think it’s important that we talk to each other.”Kimmel added, “I don’t think there’s any validity to any of this stuff that you’re saying. And I’ve studied you, I really have.” And while he finds a lot of it funny, the host said, “A lot of these ideas you espouse, I think you could potentially draw a line from those to the riot we had at the Capitol where people were killed and a lot of bad things.”Without skipping a beat, Lindell distanced himself from the riot and continued to rant against “the machines” and Dominion Voting Systems, which is currently suing him for more than $1 billion in damages for his baseless smear campaign. Then the two men started getting bogged down in a back-and-forth of allegations before Kimmel took a step back.“Do you ever think it's weird, objectively, looking at yourself, going, why is it that the only person in the country who has this evidence is a guy who sells pillows on cable?” Kimmel asked.Jimmy Kimmel Goes Off on Tucker Carlson’s ‘Child Abuse’ Anti-Mask RantLindell couldn’t quite answer that question, showing no signs of self-awareness and prompting Kimmel to express what seemed like genuine concern. “I worry about you,” he said. “I feel like you are maybe self-destructive, that you have lost everything repeatedly so many times in your life.”By the end of the interview, after Lindell denied urging Trump to impose “martial law if necessary” and claimed he never meant for his $50,000 donation to Lin Wood’s legal fund to help bail out Kenosha shooter Kyle Rittenhouse, Adomian returned to challenge his doppelgänger to a pillow fight at the Minnesota State Fair.Ultimately, as could have been expected, Lindell emerged relatively unscathed, fully in on the joke, and laughing it up with the two comedians as Kimmel cut to commercial.For more, listen and subscribe to The Last Laugh podcast.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.

  • Jimmy Kimmel questions MyPillow guy Mike Lindell on voter fraud claims, asks why he believes he was 'chosen' to possess evidence of Chinese cyberattack

    Lindell and Kimmel previously exchanged barbs after Kimmel made several jokes about the MyPillow CEO's crack cocaine addiction on his late night show.

  • Rudy Giuliani's lawyer said the feds raiding his Manhattan apartment is a 'clear example of a corrupt double standard'

    Federal investigators executed a search warrant against Giuliani on Wednesday in connection with a criminal probe into his dealings in Ukraine.

  • Lauren Boebert shakes her head at Biden’s calls for gun reform and is called out for using phone

    ‘Will Joe Biden start his gun control crusade by investigating Hunter?’ she tweeted

  • 'This is heartbreaking': Delaware police officer declared clinically dead after responding to fight call, authorities say

    Authorities confirmed Wednesday that Delmar police officer Cpl. Keith Heacook, 54, has died following a brutal assault Sunday morning.

  • Millions of people are missing their second COVID-19 doses, and that has experts worried about herd immunity

    Individuals might miss their second dose appointment for various reasons, including fear of potential adverse reactions or scheduling conflicts.

  • Doctors threatened for blowing whistle on India's oxygen crisis

    Authorities in India have been accused of covering up the spiralling healthcare crisis after doctors were threatened for blowing the whistle on oxygen shortages and criticism of the government was censored online. The chief minister Yogi Adityanath of the state of Uttar Pradesh, a firebrand Hindu monk from the ruling BJP party, triggered panic after saying police could arrest individuals and hospitals reporting a shortage of medical oxygen or beds. Medics in the state said the government was trying to "hide the truth". “If Chief Minister visits hospitals, he shall regret over his comments that there is no shortage of oxygen,” said an officer in a private hospital in Lucknow, who wished anonymity. “He wants hospitals [to] hide the truth. He is least bothered about the people dying in hospitals and at homes,” he said. It came as the regional government charged a man under the Epidemic Act, accusing him of creating fear among the people after he pleaded on Twitter for oxygen for his 88-year-old relative. “Need oxygen cylinder, ASAP,” Shashank Yadav had tweeted on Monday. State police said the tweets were misleading, in a warning to others speaking out on social media.

  • Royal Caribbean is building the new world's largest cruise ship - see the Wonder of the Sea

    The ship will begin setting sail in March 2022 from Shanghai and Hong Kong to hot Asia destinations like Taipei, Tokyo, and Busan.

  • U.S., Japan and South Korea eye foreign ministers' meeting in May: media

    The United States, Japan and South Korea are arranging a meeting of their foreign ministers during the G7 meeting in the United Kingdom next week, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported on Thursday, citing multiple government sources. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong are expected to affirm their cooperation on dealing with North Korea's nuclear and missile development, according to the newspaper article.

  • WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The players from Peyton Manning's legendary 1998 NFL Draft

    The 1998 Draft produced some of the biggest booms, and busts, in draft history.

  • An upscale restaurant that's all about locally sourced food was accused of fostering a toxic work environment and lying to customers about its ingredients

    A New York Times exposé reported that some ingredients at Blaine Wetzel's restaurant came from local grocery stores and passed off as locally sourced.

  • Vandals write ‘white power’ across ‘ancient’ petroglyphs in Utah, photo shows

    Officials said people shouldn’t try to clean or remove the graffiti because it could cause further damage to the site.

  • Deputy killed, another wounded in North Carolina standoff

    A North Carolina sheriff’s deputy has died and another has been wounded in a shooting that prompted a daylong standoff Wednesday that dragged into the night with law enforcement officers surrounding a home, authorities said. The Watauga County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that deputies were dispatched to home in Boone at 9:44 a.m. after the homeowner and his family didn’t report to work or answer telephone calls. The deputies entered the home and were fired upon, according to the news release.

  • Elizabeth Warren fist-pumps and Joe Manchin takes notes during Biden's first joint address to Congress

    Democratic and Republican lawmakers' real-time responses to Biden's address illustrated the chasm between the two political parties.

  • Michael Collins, the 'forgotten' astronaut of Apollo 11, dies at 90

    (Reuters) -American astronaut Michael Collins, who as pilot of the Apollo 11 command module stayed behind on July 20, 1969, while Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin traveled to the lunar surface to become the first humans to walk on the moon, died on Wednesday at age 90, his family said. A statement released by his family said Collins died of cancer. Often described as the "forgotten" third astronaut on the historic mission, Collins remained alone in the command module for more than 21 hours until his two fellow astronauts returned in the lunar module.

  • COVID pandemic accelerating, WHO Americas office warns

    MEXICO CITY/BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) -The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating, which is why equitable access to vaccines and effective preventive measures are crucial to helping turn the tide, the head of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday. "Our region is still under the grip of this pandemic ... in several countries of South America the pandemic in the first four months of this year was worse than what we faced in 2020," PAHO Director Carissa Etienne said in a briefing.

  • Willow Smith opens up about being polyamorous and why the concept of marriage 'irks' her

    Willow Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, and Adrienne Banfield-Norris discussed polyamory on the latest episode of their talk show "Red Table Talk."