
Analysis: 2021 Oscars tried to celebrate the business, but didn't put on much of a show
CNN
The Oscars are over, and except perhaps for the winners, the prevailing feeling is more relief than euphoria. If one message emerged from the telecast and preshow, it was the hope for better days ahead, with an in-person ceremony that signaled the prospect of going back to the movies.
Award shows have mightily struggled during the pandemic, and the 93rd Academy Awards -- despite the advantage of capping off an extended 14-month "awards season" calendar -- promise to be no exception. Yet even a charitable assessment would find the presentation lacking, amid a host of decisions that ranged from puzzling to flatly misguided. The awards themselves made history on a number of fronts. "Nomadland's" Chloé Zhao became only the second woman ever to win Best Director and the first woman of color, for a movie that premiered on the streaming service Hulu, a seemingly inevitable milestone in a year that, by necessity, temporarily erased those lines.
One year ago this week, Joe Biden was president. I was in Doha, Qatar, negotiating with Israel and Hamas to finalize a ceasefire and hostage release deal. The incoming Trump team worked closely with us, a rare display of nonpartisanship to free hostages and end a war. It feels like a decade ago. A lot can happen in a year, as 2025 has shown.

Botched Epstein redactions trace back to Virgin Islands’ 2020 civil racketeering case against estate
A botched redaction in the Epstein files revealed that government attorneys once accused his lawyers of paying over $400,000 to “young female models and actresses” to cover up his criminal activities

The Justice Department’s leadership asked career prosecutors in Florida Tuesday to volunteer over the “next several days” to help to redact the Epstein files, in the latest internal Trump administrationpush toward releasing the hundreds of thousands of photos, internal memos and other evidence around the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The US State Department on Tuesday imposed visa sanctions on a former top European Union official and employees of organizations that combat disinformation for alleged censorship – sharply ratcheting up the Trump administration’s fight against European regulations that have impacted digital platforms, far-right politicians and Trump allies, including Elon Musk.









