Article:

The actor also blamed Daniel Craig for starting the speculation.

 While being linked with the top 007 job can’t be a particularly bad feeling, it seems Idris Elba is sick of talking about the ongoing speculation that he's being lined up as the next James Bond.

 "Honestly, it’s a rumor that’s really starting to eat itself," the 42-year-old star of Luther and The Wire told the audience at London's British Film Institute on Tuesday. "If there was ever any chance of me getting Bond, it’s gone."

 Elba also confirmed that talks with Bond producers have "never happened," and blamed the man currently brandishing the license to kill for sparking the gossip.

 "Daniel Craig actually set the rumor off. About four years ago he said Idris Elba would be a great Bond and then it started to creep," he said. "I blame Daniel."

 Elba added that he had just finished shooting the fourth season of Luther, a two-part special due to air on BBC America later this year. He also added fuel to talk of a spinoff film, saying it would happen "hopefully."

 The actor was speaking at the world premiere of Mandela, My Dad and Me, a deeply personal self-produced documentary chronicling the recording of mi Mandela, the 2014 album inspired by his research and portrayal of the late South African statesman in Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom.

 Elba, who also DJs and admitted that he loves music "more than acting," said that he decided to make the record — using musicians in South Africa and Mali — when his father, Winston, passed away in September 2013, shortly after he completed work on the biopic. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| With Daniel Craig recently expressing uncertainty about his future as James Bond, someone close to the franchise has offered his two cents on who could step into the iconic role next — or, rather, who shouldn't. Anthony Horowitz, whose upcoming Trigger Mortis is the latest novel in the series, has revealed that he isn't onboard with Idris Elba playing 007, despite the majority of fans picking him as their favorite candidate for Craig's successor. Speaking to the Daily Mail, Horowitz had this to say:

 "Idris Elba is a terrific actor, but I can think of other black actors who would do it better. For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It’s not a color issue. I think he is probably a bit too 'street' for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah."

 While he qualifies his reasoning with the caveat that it isn't race-based, his language says otherwise. On Craig, Horowitz has nothing but praise, calling him "a terrific Bond" and Casino Royale a "total return to the gritty seriousness of it." When that same "grit" applies to Elba, however, it's rejected with casually racist generalizations like "street" and "rough," two descriptors Horowitz likely associates with Elba from the actor's acclaimed performances in The Wire and American Gangster. But Horowitz doesn't mind if a black man plays Bond, so long as he's the "right" kind of black. He suggests Adrian Lester, known for his theater work and starring role in the BBC's Hustle, as a better potential Bond, though Horowitz gives no reason why Lester could do better than Elba. And David Oyelowo has been selected to record the audio book for Trigger Mortis, effectively making him the first black Bond, if only in voice.

 Horowitz's problem with Elba isn't that he's too "street" to play 007, it's that he's too black. He drops Caribbean-influenced slang in his cockney accent, raps for fun, and will next play a West African rebel who recruits child soldiers in Cary Fukunaga's Netflix film debut. Elba's also widely regarded as one of the most beautiful men in the world across all races. He recently became the first man to cover Maxim and regularly lands on best-dressed lists — and still, it's not enough for Horowitz, whose most wild assertion might just be that Elba isn't suave enough to play Bond. We hate to break it to him, but no one personifies suave more than Idris. Maybe Horowitz is just too blinded by Elba's blackness to see it?

 Update: Here's Horowitz's apology: ||||| Update:

 Horowitz has apologized, is “mortified.”

 Original post:

 Dear Anthony Horowitz,

 We read your interview with The Daily Mail in which you claimed certified Adonis Idris Elba was “too street” to take on the role of James Bond in film.

 Here is exactly what you said, actually:

 Idris Elba is a terrific actor, but I can think of other black actors who would do it better. For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It’s not a colour issue. I think he is probably a bit too “street” for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah.

 Um, we don’t even know how to respond to this insanity, except to blow your code-worded, racist opinion wide open with a few moments of Idris being the suavest, poshest, most Bond-y dude on this planet.

 We are absolutely not here for you.

 Best,

 Everyone with Eyes

 So, was Idris “too street” when he…

 Balled out in a Bentley and popped some champers to celebrate?

 FREAKING CHARMED THE ISH OUT OF A ROYAL?!

 Looked so quintessentially British (and hot) in a newsboy cap?

 Looked so quintessentially British (and hot and Bond-like) in a tight sweater and Ray-Bans?

 Earned his ‘Father of Year’ stripes for bringing his daughter as his Oscars date?

 Redefined what we thought we knew about handsome men in tuxedos? #Yowza

 Accepted a humanitarian award with a humble smile?

 Intensely stared into your Haterade-sipping face as he wondered, ‘Do you even lift, bro?’ ||||| Skyfall? ‘Never liked it.’ Idris Elba? ‘Too ‘‘street’’ to play 007.’ Ian Fleming’s stories? ‘A bit slow.’ Anthony Horowitz takes no prisoners as he tells Event why his new Bond novel reboots the spy as a shamelessly macho killing machine... given his comeuppance by Pussy Galore

 ‘I am unlikely to earn as much as from an Alex Rider book, but I have never written with money in my head,' said Anthony Horowitz who has penned the new Bond adventure, Trigger Mortis

 Anthony Horowitz walks, talks and looks like a spy. He has the glide, the posh, clipped voice and the faraway eyes of a man who knows secrets, and he absolutely loves James Bond.

 ‘I remember seeing Dr No in the cinema at the age of eight. It was one of the most significant moments of my life.’

 The excited young boy went on to become one of the greatest adventure writers of our age, with a licence to thrill as the creator of the teenage secret agent Alex Rider, whose books have sold a staggering 19 million copies.

 Horowitz almost certainly grew up among spies, as his father was a secret fixer for the Prime Minister of the day, and he has an extraordinary real-life tale to tell about how this man of mystery lost all the family money.

 He won’t say if he’s a spook (he’d have to kill me) but he knows them, has visited their HQs and counts them as fans. ‘They like what I do.’

 Given all of this, he was the obvious man to hire when Ian Fleming’s estate wanted a writer to create a new 007 adventure as close as possible to the style of the originals.

 ‘This is something I have wanted to do all my life.’

 But incredibly, Horowitz nearly turned Bond down.

 ‘I was getting a bit frustrated, shall we say?’

 Was it the money? Surely they give you enough to fill a 007-style suitcase if you write a Bond story?

 ‘No. Well, yes they do but actually, I’m taking a pay cut to write Bond.’

 Read an exclusive extract from new Bond thriller Trigger Mortis below...

 Anthony Horowitz was the obvious man to hire when Ian Fleming’s estate wanted a writer to create a new 007 adventure as close as possible to the style of the originals

 But then he is used to getting all the royalties from his books. This time he is sharing them with the estate, having given in and written a new Bond adventure, called Trigger Mortis.

 ‘I am unlikely to earn as much as from an Alex Rider book, but I have never written with money in my head.’

 You can say that when you are worth an estimated £10 million.

 We meet in the rooftop cafe of his publisher’s office. With its epic view over London, it feels rather like the lair of a low-budget Bond villain.

 The scene is set beautifully but only one thing really counts... is the new book any good?

 Fortunately, Trigger Mortis is a blast. Set two weeks after the end of the novel Goldfinger in 1957, it has a superb plot based around the early space race and features the return of the best Bond girl of them all, Pussy Galore.

 ‘That seemed like a smiley thing to do,’ says Horowitz, who admits that as he wrote her he was thinking of the character of Pussy in the book but the look of Pussy in the film, as played by Honor Blackman in 1964.

 She is one of two women who give the old chauvinist 007 a kicking this time around, physically and emotionally.

 ‘I wanted him to have a slight comeuppance.’

 Bond usually loves then leaves his women, but this time he is the one who gets dumped.

 Horowitz is lean, ruggedly handsome and has just turned 60, but dressed in clothes that 007 would not be seen dead in, unless undercover. Sandals, jeans and a T-shirt? Think Ralph Fiennes as as the elegant veteran M trying to fit in at Glastonbury.

 But back to why he nearly declined the mission. If it wasn’t the money, was it the sense of rejection? I know he was turned down in the past.

 Trigger Mortis is set two weeks after the end of the novel Goldfinger in 1957, and features the return of the best Bond girl of them all, Pussy Galore (played by Honor Blackman in 1964's Goldfinger)

 ‘I wanted to write a James Bond film,’ he says. ‘I met the producers years and years ago and tried to persuade them.

 'That was when Alex Rider came into my head. They were talking about the next movie, not offering it to me. I thought, “Sod you. If you won’t let me make a Bond film, I’ll make my own up!”

 ‘By then Roger Moore was about 50 and way too old to be playing 007, so I thought, “Wouldn’t it be great if James Bond was a teenager?”’

 He certainly got his revenge: for a couple of years after the last of the Pierce Brosnan films, Die Another Day in 2002, Alex Rider was arguably more popular than Bond.

 There were ten books and he looked set for a hit movie series of his own with the release of Stormbreaker in the summer of 2006.

 The cast included Damian Lewis, Ewan McGregor and Mickey Rourke. But Horowitz admits that while some of the reviews were good, the film was not the great box-office hit everyone thought it would be. It is estimated to have made back only half its $40 million budget.

 ‘It was a near miss. There were very good things in it.

 'There is interest from producers about making another but it is way too early to be able to talk about a film without putting a curse on it.’

 Perhaps the main reason that Stormbreaker did not do so well was that Bond blew his young rival out of the water just a few months later in the autumn of 2006, when Casino Royale was released.

 Howoritz isn’t bitter.

 ‘Daniel Craig is a terrific Bond. Casino Royale is probably my favourite. Of the films after Connery, it is easily the best. Fantastic. A total return to the gritty seriousness of it.’

 However, he is spectacularly rude about the follow-ups.

 ‘Quantum Of Solace just went wrong. Skyfall is my least favourite. I know it is heresy to say so, but it is the one Bond film I have never liked.’

 Why? ‘How much time do you have? Bond is weak in it. He has doubts. That’s not Bond.

 ‘Secondly, the villain wins. The villain sets out to kill M – the film finishes with the villain killing M. So why have I watched it?

 ‘And if you have to protect the Head of MI6 from a madman, do you take her to a Scottish farmhouse with no weapons? And tell your bad guy where you are, so he will arrive with six people to kill her? And then M escapes and stands on top of a hill waving a torch to tell them where she is! It’s that sort of thing that made me angry.’

 ‘In the original book, the fact that Pussy was raped as a girl becomes something attractive. If I had put that in I would have been killed,’ said Anthony Horowitz

 And he is just as unimpressed with the trailer for the new film, Spectre.

 ‘I’m looking at the trailer and I am seeing a photograph of Bond’s family. The mum and the dad are in there and their faces are missing because the picture has been burned in a fire.

 'This is going to be to do with his family background, and I know the fans are all terribly excited to know more, but I’m saying, “Don’t tell me, I don’t want to know.”

 'I don’t want to know about his doubts, his insecurities or weaknesses. I just want to see him act, kill, win.’

 Neither is Horowitz impressed with the favourite to take over from Daniel Craig.

 ‘Idris Elba is a terrific actor, but I can think of other black actors who would do it better.’

 He names Adrian Lester, star of Hustle.

 ‘For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It’s not a colour issue. I think he is probably a bit too “street” for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah.’

 Horowitz can be this frank because the films are owned by Eon Productions and are nothing to do with his employers at the Fleming estate, which controls the rights to the books.

 The trustees asked three other writers to have a go at reinventing Bond before him, which brings us finally to the reason he nearly turned them down.

 ‘They asked Sebastian Faulks to write a Bond book, they asked Jeffery Deaver and they asked William Boyd, but they didn’t ask me.’

 It certainly still rankles.

 Faulks published Devil May Care in 2008, Deaver’s Carte Blanche came out in 2011 and Solo by William Boyd was in 2013. None of them were great, according to Bond fans.

 Meanwhile, Horowitz was busy proving he could write other people’s stories by creating a screenplay for the Tintin film and two Sherlock Holmes books in the voice of Conan Doyle.

 ‘When they finally did approach, I wanted to say, “About time too!”’

 But despite his frustration, he could not quite say no to Bond.

 ‘I did say, “If I had been sixth or seventh in line I might not have said yes.”’

 How is his version different to the others’?

 ‘I hope you could take the name off the cover and think it was written by Ian Fleming.’

 Isn’t Fleming’s Bond a racist, homophobic, male chauvinist pig?

 ‘Bond is not the most sympathetic of characters when you actually think about him. He is a man who kills people. He has unfortunate attitudes towards women, gays, Jews and foreigners.’

 Horowitz pauses for a moment.

 ‘Daniel Craig is a terrific Bond. Casino Royale is probably my favourite. Of the films after Connery, it is easily the best. Fantastic. A total return to the gritty seriousness of it,' said Anthony Horowitz

 ‘I have to be careful how I say that, because we do like Bond. That is one of the tricks of the books, to make him likeable.

 'He represents the country, in patriotic terms. Also, he is the Byronic hero who comes riding out of the shadows, puts the world to rights and moves on to the next adventure.’

 Horowitz has found a brilliant solution to the sexism of the original Bond: make one of the women sharper, stronger and better than him.

 ‘The policy was not to fight any of it, not to try and change him and not to make excuses for him but to find a way to chide him.

 'So one of the women in the book abandons him, and worse still – spoiler alert – walks out with another woman.’

 The name of this formidable new Bond girl is Jeopardy Lane.

 ‘Jeopardy is at least as effective a spy as James Bond and probably more so. Without her, he would be killed. He has to acknowledge that she is unstoppable and doesn’t make mistakes, while he does.’

 It’s worse than that for poor old James. Jeopardy runs out on him. Then he is given a female instructor to help him become a racing driver, and inevitably tries to seduce her – but they are interrupted by the need to go off and rescue Pussy Galore. And when the rescue is over, to his utter dismay, Pussy and the instructor run off together.

 ‘That is a double whammy for an old-fashioned macho man like Bond.’

 This is the first time in all of the books and films that two of James Bond’s attempted conquests have ended up falling into each other’s arms instead – although since Horowitz is writing like Fleming, there is no explicit lesbian sex scene. Why bring back Pussy?

 ‘She is one of the greatest characters in the whole Bond canon. The novel Goldfinger finishes with a Stratocruiser crashing with Bond and Pussy Galore on board. We don’t really know what happens after that.

 'So I thought, “Why doesn’t he bring her home with him?” Then it gave me something to write about: Bond living with a girl and trying to be domestic, which is hopeless.’

 Isn’t Pussy Galore a somewhat unfortunate name, particularly in this day and age?

 ‘I say that in the book. Once he gets back to London, he has lost the glamour of Jamaica and he’s in a hotel, he introduces her and feels embarrassed. Which of course you would do. “Hello, this is Pussy Galore…” I mean, really!’

 There are some things Horowitz had to leave out.

 ‘In the original book, the fact that Pussy was raped as a girl becomes something attractive. If I had put that in I would have been killed.’

 Somehow he has kept the flavour of Fleming while giving Trigger Mortis the pace of a modern thriller.

 ‘I love the originals, but their languid pacing is for a Fifties or Sixties audience – it is not what we are used to now.’

 Skyfall is my least favourite. I know it is heresy to say so, but it is the one Bond film I have never liked. Bond is weak in it. He has doubts. That’s not Bond,' said Anthony Horowitz

 Did the estate impose rules?

 ‘Yes, lots of ground rules! I got very nervous. The Fleming estate gets involved in what is going to happen and it was clear from the start there were going to be very strict guidelines for writing this book.

 'Part of the recruitment process was to demonstrate to them that I wasn’t going to write something embarrassing or wrong.’

 He means out of character with the original Bond. For example, the estate would not have allowed James Bond to fall for a man and have a gay love scene, he says. There is, however, an openly gay friend.

 ‘Fleming’s attitude to gay people in the books is questionable to say the least. So we have this one person who can say to Bond, “You are a dinosaur, attitudes have got to change.”

 ‘That is playing to the audience a bit. The attitude of the Government and civil service to homosexuality in the Fifties was disastrous, for homeland security apart from anything else, with Guy Burgess [gay double agent who defected to Russia] and the rest.’

 Bond does get to wrestle in the nude with a younger man.

 ‘Can you imagine Roger Moore doing that scene? No thank you!’

 Most of the estate’s suggestions were helpful, says Horowitz.

 'With the end of the Pussy Galore sequence, and the way he parts company with Jeopardy Lane, I had been a little crueller to Bond than they liked.

 'The women left him more abruptly, with less explanation. Jeopardy left him with not quite contempt but a dig in the ribs, and they didn’t like that. They were right. It left a sour taste in your mouth. You don’t want Bond to end the book too bruised.’

 The most surprising thing is the background he gives to the bad guy, Jason Sin, who is revealed as the survivor of a real-life massacre, where U.S. soldiers fired on Korean women and children.

 ‘His personality was created as a result of one of the greatest atrocities of the war. So you lose your devil incarnate and instead you have a human being.’

 Horowitz does the same with a new play about to open at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London, called Dinner With Saddam. It’s a political farce based around an encounter with the deposed dictator.

 ‘Saddam Hussein was a monster. A vicious, evil, sick, depraved man... but a man. That’s the point.

 'The moment you portray your villain as a cartoon monster – whether it’s Stalin, Hitler or Bin Laden – you fail to grasp them.’

 Is he asking us to have sympathy for Saddam?

 ‘He was, for some years, the saviour of modern Iraq. You have to understand where he began, to understand where it went wrong,’ says Horowitz, who opposed the invasion of Iraq from the beginning.

 ‘The Chilcot Inquiry [into the causes of the war] is meant to have nailed Tony Blair. That is what I heard.

 'For some reason, there is a delay. Is that report ever going to appear in our lifetimes? If it does will it not be blacked out, watered down and be cut? It is the running sore on the life we all live that this is allowed to continue.’

 He stops himself.

 ‘Forgive the rant. My play about Saddam is a comedy. It looks at the Iraq war and asks these questions but in a scatological, knockabout way.’

 Horowitz admits that while Stormbreaker got some of the reviews were good, the film was not the great box-office hit everyone thought it would be. It is estimated to have made back only half its $40 million budget

 He has long refused to write more Alex Rider novels, but reveals the teenager will return to solve the greatest mystery of that war.

 ‘I’m going to write a new novella – my Octopussy. A five-chapter story set in Iraq. Nobody knows that, so you’ve got a scoop. It has Alex penetrating the mountains in northern Iraq to discover the weapons of mass destruction.’

 There are some, then? ‘Not after Alex finishes with them. That’s why Tony Blair never found them!’

 He blames the war for the troubled times we live in now.

 ‘I worry every time my children get on a bus or a Tube.’

 They are grown men of 22 and 24. They are also braver than him.

 ‘I don’t like scary stuff. My sons are much more 007 than I am. Nicholas is a hugely physical person who does triathlons and anything that is dangerous or involves heights and such. Cass, my younger son, is a political journalist.

 'How like James Bond am I? Sadly not much at all.’

 How close is he to the real version of the world that Bond inhabits?

 ‘I’ve had contact with spies and the world of intelligence and quite honestly I am not really allowed to mention it. I have had invitations and met people, but they ask me not to use such things in publicity.’

 If he was a secret killing machine, would he say so? ‘No.’

 Thought not. He does have a great back story for a spy, though. His father almost certainly mixed with them as a secret fixer for Harold Wilson.

 Then, at 17, Horowitz found himself in a scene that could have come from the movies.

 ‘I have a vivid memory of carrying £150,000 in bearer bonds in a rucksack on my back – that is like a million pounds now – and having to deliver it for my father to a man in an office in London.’

 The family was plunged into bankruptcy when his father died.

 ‘He went to the bank in Switzerland, put all his money in a suitcase, walked to another bank and put it there. Then died, without saying which bank it was or the name of the account.’

 His mother found a leather notebook with a list of codenames.

 ‘She knew that within this book the money could be found. Meanwhile the banks are chasing her for debts of a million pounds.

 'She is wiped out. The house, the cars, the jewellery, the mink coats, everything has got to go.

 ‘She can’t persuade the banks that she doesn’t know where the money is, so she is travelling to Switzerland to try to find it using the notebook but she never does.’

 What does he think happened?

 ‘My belief is that one of his crooked associates went to the bank and took it. He was working with high-class, white-collar criminals. We lost everything.

 'My father had this quest for money and it ended in a cruel way. The lesson I take is that the pursuit of money is a waste of time.’

 Only very rich people say that.

 ‘All I can say is that writing for me is the means and the end. I don’t care how much money the books make.’

 I tell him that I don’t quite believe him. ‘Obviously I like having money. It’s nice to be able to fly to other countries and buy things like fountain pens.’

 Does he keep a secret bomb in his Mont Blanc? Maybe. But Horowitz looks too much like a spy to be one, unless it’s a double bluff. I think it’s true he’s a scaredy-cat, but anyone who loves Bond should be grateful he has found his mission in life, because Trigger Mortis is terrific.

 ‘If ever there was a book I was born to write, it is this one.’ Thank M he didn’t turn it down.

 ‘Trigger Mortis’ by Anthony Horowitz is published on Sept 8 by Orion, priced £18.99. Offer price £15.19 (20 per cent discount) until September 13 2015.

 Order at mailbookshop.co.uk, p&p is free on orders over £12.

 Event’s exclusive extract from new Bond thriller Trigger Mortis

 He came to a clearing and Bond knew that, even with all the extraordinary things that he had experienced in his line of work, he would never forget the sight, bathed in moonlight, that presented itself to him now.

 The Devil’s Own consisted of seven huge stones, broken fingers worn away by time and the elements. The ground on which they stood, forming an irregular circle, was flat with patches of wild grass and the surrounding trees seemed to lean in – as if they were complicit with what was going on. Pussy Galore was standing, stark naked, the moon accentuating her shoulders, her outstretched arms, the curves of her breasts. Ropes led away from her wrists, disappearing behind two of the stones. She was swearing, her body writhing, but the men were ignoring her as they continued with their work.

 They were killing her. With gold paint.

 Honor Blackman as Pussy Galore in Goldfinger

 Bond watched them in disbelief. Each of the men had a paintbrush and a tin of paint, which they were slapping onto her body so that it covered every inch of her flesh. Her arms and stomach were already coated. There was gold paint in her hair and it was trickling down the insides of her legs. Pussy rasped something particularly filthy and one of the men slapped paint across her face, half-covering her nose and lips. She choked and fell silent. The other man said something and they both laughed.

 Bond knew exactly what was happening. He remembered what had been done to Jill Masterson, the girl who had helped him when he had first met Auric Goldfinger at a hotel in Miami. As revenge, Goldfinger had had her painted gold, clogging up the pores of her skin and causing her to die of suffocation. Bond was grateful he hadn’t seen the obscenity for himself. He had been told about it later, by Tilly Masterton, Jill’s sister. So the two men in the grey Austin must be in some way connected to Goldfinger. Someone, somewhere, blamed Pussy Galore for her part in his downfall and the failure of Operation Grand Slam and they had come for revenge. This was a hideous death in a public place that even had a suitably lurid name (the two men had surely chosen it deliberately) and would make the front pages of every newspaper in the world. And the message would be clear, the link to Goldfinger obvious. She was the betrayer. This was the price.

 If Bond had not followed her from the hotel she would have been dead before morning. As it was, he had very little time. Her body was almost entirely covered with gold. He wouldn’t be able to clean it off himself and the nearest hospital must be at least an hour away. He had to act now.

 The two men had their backs to him. They had no idea he was there, about 50ft away at the edge of the clearing. Bond had two cartons with him, which he had taken from Logan’s shopping: Fry’s cocoa and Cerebos salt. Had two such innocent items ever been put to more deadly use? He had emptied the contents and then filled the containers with petrol from a spare jerrycan that Logan kept in the boot. He’d also made two fuses out of strips of torn newspaper. There was every chance that they would blow up in his hand but it was too late to worry about that. Bond waited for the right moment. Now. The two men had stepped back as if to admire their handiwork. Pussy Galore was slumped between them, glistening gold, her head hanging down, the muscles in her arms straining to support her body weight. Bond took out his lighter, lit the fuses and threw his two makeshift bombs.

 One fell short. The other hit the ground right next to the nearest of the two men and exploded, the flames leaping up, instantly devouring his legs and stomach. The man screamed. His companion had been splashed by some of the burning petrol – not enough to put him out of action but as Bond raced forward, covering the short distance between them, at least his attention had been well and truly diverted. He turned as Bond approached but too late. The heel of Bond’s palm, lent extra force by his own momentum,slammed into the underside of the man’s chin, rocketing his head back and almost certainly breaking his neck. Bond was already turning his attention to his partner, who had seen what was happening and was caught between a set of contradictions that might almost have been comical: trying to scrabble for his gun with hands that were also fighting the flames. Bond didn’t want to burn his own fists so used a judo move, twisting round and lashing out with the flat of his right foot. The man went down but even before he hit the ground the fire had half done Bond’s work for him. He was dying or dead, a crumpled figure with the flames licking his back.

 Bond ran over to Pussy Galore and released her. She fell against him and he felt the gold paint sticking against his clothes. He was sickened by what she had just been through and wished that he had listened more carefully when she had described the two men following her in London. CIA indeed! She didn’t speak as he laid her gently on the ground and took off his jacket to cover her lower body. Using his bare hands he rubbed off as much paint as he could, exposing the flesh and, hopefully, allowing it to breathe.

 ‘What have they done to her?’

 Logan Fairfax was suddenly there beside him, and Bond glanced up at her angrily. ‘I thought I told you to wait in the car.’

 ‘That’s right, James. And I decided to ignore you. Why don’t you tell me what’s going on here? Who is she?’

 ‘A friend.’ The two words sounded feeble, the stale admission of a suburban husband found cheating by his wife. While he had been trying to seduce Logan over roast lamb and a classic Bordeaux, Pussy Galore had been walking into this. ‘We have to get her into hospital,’ he went on. ‘I can carry her to your car.’

 ‘Do it quickly. We’ll take her to Marlborough.’

 ‘James?’ It was the first word Pussy had spoken since he had reached her and it seemed to Bond that she spoke it with hostility. She couldn’t open her eyes. The paint had sealed the lids shut.

 ‘Don’t talk,’ he said to her. ‘We’re going to get you some help.’ ||||| Whether or not the endless rumors about Idris Elba taking over as James Bond ever come true, we really are, finally, getting a black Bond. Just not on-screen. The Guardian reports that Selma star David Oyelowo has been asked by the Ian Fleming estate to record the audio book for Trigger Mortis, a new officially commissioned Bond book written by Anthony Horowitz. Oyelowo, like most audio book narrators, will voice multiple characters, but still tells The Guardian, “I am officially the only person on planet Earth who can legitimately say: ‘I am the new James Bond’ – even saying that name is the cinematic equivalent of doing the ‘to be or not to be’ speech.”

 And because asking a black actor to be the voice of James Bond doesn’t come without the endless baggage about Bond and race, Oyelowo spoke in depth about the racism he’s faced when playing other iconic characters, like Shakespeare’s Henry VI. “I had to have my agent filter mail ... it was hate mail. It was: ‘How dare you enter a realm that is not yours to enter?” Oyelowo said. “This was over 10 years ago—so you’d hope that wouldn’t be the case now.”

 Given the racist responses that have met even the rumors of Elba as Bond—not to mention when Elba played a relatively minor comic-book character originally written as white—it’s hard to be sure that much has changed. But Oyelowo is fighting for the move forward, and that includes throwing his weight behind Elba as Bond. “He has all the qualities that you’d want in a James Bond. Because films and TV affect culture, a black Bond would be a cultural event ... a statement ... beyond just entertainment.”

 We may still be a ways from having a black Bond on-screen—Elba has repeatedly emphasized that it’s all just rumors, and at 42 he’s already a little old to take on the role, especially with Daniel Craig still likely to play Bond two more times. But Oyelowo, for now, is our audible black Bond—maybe not quite a cultural event, but a step forward all the same.

 UPDATE: As noted by Birth Movies Death, audio book narrator Hugh Quarshie was, in fact, the first black person to lend his voice to James Bond.

 Do you have what it takes?

 Test your knowledge of the Seven Kingdoms with Vanity Fair ’s Game of Unknowns.

 Make your predictions |||||
What is a summary?

– There have been many calls for a black James Bond, and for a while, there were even rumors Idris Elba would take on the 007 role. (Rumors Elba himself shot down earlier this year.) But at least one prominent person in the Bond universe doesn't think that's a good idea. Anthony Horowitz, author of the new Bond novel Trigger Mortis—officially commissioned by Ian Fleming's estate—says in an extensive interview with the Daily Mail, "For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It’s not a color issue. I think he is probably a bit too 'street' for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah." He adds that there are "other black actors who would do it better," like Adrian Lester. Sample reaction: "Apparently, there’s no way for Elba, an actor whose literal job it is to assume characters’ personalities that are not his own, to appear 'suave' enough to play Bond." Dan Van Winkle, The Mary Sue "Hold on, WHAT?!" USA Today headline On Vulture, Dee Lockett calls Horowitz's reasoning "casually racist," noting, "Horowitz doesn't mind if a black man plays Bond, so long as he's the 'right' kind of black." The Telegraph rounds up a number of outraged Twitter reactions, including this: "Are you kidding me? HAVE YOU SEEN THAT MAN IN A SUIT? HAVE YOU SEEN THAT MAN?" The world is, however, kind of already getting its first black Bond.


Here is a news article: (Fotolia)

 According to police sources, a veteran NYPD sergeant has been suspended after allegedly splashing semen on the leg of a co-worker he “liked.”

 “He was apparently so enamored by her that he threw semen on her,” one source told the New York Daily News.

 The incident reportedly occurred this January, when 54-year-old Sgt. Michael Iscenko is alleged to have approached a female administrative aide from behind and tossed semen on her as they were walking down a hallway.

 According to the NYPost,

 “She suddenly felt something on her leg, looked down, and said to him, ‘What are you doing?’ “ the source said of the January incident. “The uniformed member then walked away without responding.” The woman, whose name was not released, immediately complained to her superiors.

 The substance on her leg was tested and confirmed to be semen. However, the DNA test needed to match the sample to Iscenko is still pending.

 “Everyone who has been questioned says he looks very professional; he wears the uniform well,” the source said. “This is not some creepy looking pervert. He’s entirely normal looking.”

 Iscenko, a divorcee from Long Island who is assigned to the Organized Crime Control Bureau, has been suspended but has yet to be criminally charged. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. |||||
A summary of this is?

– A New York police sergeant allegedly tossed semen on a co-worker as way of saying that, gosh, he really likes her. Michael Iscenko, 54, is accused of throwing his spunk on an unidentified woman at the office where they work, the Grio reports. Iscenko had already expressed his interest to the woman and "was apparently so enamored by her that he threw semen on her," a police source tells the Daily News. The substance has tested positive as semen, and the Manhattan DA’s Office has gotten a warrant for Iscenko to supply a DNA sample to see if there's a match. The woman, an administrative aide at the Organized Crime Control Bureau, had allegedly just walked out of the woman's rest room when it happened in January, the New York Post reports. "She suddenly felt something on her leg, looked down, and said to him, 'What are you doing?'" says a source. "The uniformed member then walked away without responding." The 60-some-year-old woman apparently triggered the investigation by complaining to superiors. Iscenko, a divorcee, is currently suspended. "Everyone who has been questioned says [Iscenko] looks very professional; he wears the uniform well," adds the source. "He’s entirely normal looking."


Write an article based on this summary:

– Wisdom the Laysan albatross is "at least" 63 years old, experts say, making her the oldest known wild bird on the planet. And, amazingly, she's still hatching chicks. Last week, a worker at the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge—Wisdom's home in the north Pacific—saw the mother caring for a new chick, according to a press release. And it's a feat she's managed for each of the past seven years, LiveScience notes. For comparison, most Laysan albatrosses live between 12 and 40 years, per the US Fish & Wildlife Service. Wisdom first came to the attention of researchers while incubating an egg ... in 1956. She was tagged then, and has likely raised no fewer than 30 chicks in her lifetime. Wisdom's "ability to continue to hatch chicks during the last half century is beyond impressive" given "the threats that albatross face at sea," says a biologist. Chief among those threats: tsunamis. Battered by five-foot waves in the wake of Japan's 2011 earthquake, some 2,000 adult albatrosses on Midway's islands were estimated to have died; Wisdom obviously survived. And she's racked up many such feats, says the refuge manager. Among them: She's "logged literally millions of miles over the Pacific Ocean in her lifetime to find enough fish eggs and squid to feed herself and multiple chicks." (We noted last year that the second-oldest albatross known to hatch a chick was 61.)

No quit in this one. She's a new mother once again, seen above with her chick.

 An albatross more than 60 years old the oldest known wild bird in the United States survived the tsunami that struck its Pacific Island home after the major earthquake in Japan.

 The bird, a Laysan albatross called Wisdom by wildlife biologists, recently became a mother once again. Both the mother and her newly hatched chick were spotted alive about a week after the tsunami generated by Japan's 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck Sand Island, one of the islands that make up Midway Atoll, Reuters reported. [See the damage caused to Midway .]

 The Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the North Pacific Ocean is famous for its Laysan albatross population. Midway lies near the northwestern end of the Hawaiian Islands, about a third of the way between Honolulu and Tokyo. The atoll is an unincorporated territory of the United States.

 Midway was struck by 5-foot (1.5-meter) waves after the quake struck. The tsunami killed an estimated 2,000 adult albatrosses and about 110,000 chicks in the wildlife refuge.

 "It's a dangerous world out there, there's lots going on, so I would say she's very lucky," Barry Stieglitz, project leader for the Hawaiian and Pacific Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex of the Fish and Wildlife Service, told Reuters.

 Wisdom was first banded in 1956 as she incubated an egg, and she was estimated to be at least 5 years old then. U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials estimate that Wisdom has likely raised at least 30 to 35 chicks during her breeding life, though the number may well be higher because experienced parents tend to be better parents than younger breeders.

 Laysan albatrosses (Phoebastria immutabilis) spend half the year at sea and return to land only to breed, according to the National Audubon Society. ||||| NEWS RELEASE -8% IMM=5IA*= %=L=A7= -ebr!ary 3, /01.

 CONTACTS

 5aniel 6lark (>0>) 23.;.>1> 5aniel?6lark@$ws) o+

 NEWS RELEASE

 Wisdom hatches a healthy chick at 63 years old on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge

 (Midway Atoll, HI) A Laysan albatross known as “Wisdom” – at least 63 years old – is once a ain b!sy rearin a c"ick on Midway Atoll #ational Wildli$e %e$! e wit"in t"e &a'a"(na!mok!(kea Marine #ational Mon!ment) *"e newly "atc"ed c"ick was $irst by +isitor ser+ices mana er, Ann ,ell, bein cared $or by Wisdom t"e mornin o$ -ebr!ary ., /01.) Wisdom is a $emale albatross $irst banded as an ad!lt in 1236) “As t"e world4s oldest known bird in t"e wild, Wisdom is an iconic symbol o$ ins'iration and "o'e $or all seabird s'ecies)” said 5an 6lark, re$! e mana er $or Midway Atoll #ational Wildli$e %e$! e) “7"e 'ro+ides to t"e world +al!able in$ormation abo!t t"e lon e+ity o$ t"ese bea!ti$!l creat!res) In t"e case o$ Wisdom, s"e "as lo ed literally millions o$ miles o+er t"e &aci$ic 8cean in "er li$etime to $ind eno! " $is" e s and s9!id to $eed "ersel$ and m!lti'le c"icks, allowin !s t"e o''ort!nity to meas!re t"e "ealt" o$ o!r oceans w"ic" s!stain albatross as well as o!rsel+es)” “Her ability to contin!e to "atc" c"icks d!rin t"e last "al$ cent!ry is beyond im'ressi+e des'ite t"e t"reats t"at albatross $ace at sea)” said re$! e biolo ist &ete Leary) “It is a 'oi nant and o+erw"elmin reality t"at 'lastics discarded at sea $loat, $rom toot"br!s"es to millions o$ bottle ca's, $loat and, are !sed as a s!bstrate $or $lyin $is" to attac" t"eir e s, a $ood "i "ly 'ri:ed by $ora in albatross and !ltimately re !r itated into t"e c"ick4s mo!t",” said Leary) “In addition, t"e c"ick4s sole s!r+i+al is com'letely de'endent on t"e "ealt" o$ Wisdom and "er li$e;lon mate and t"eir d!al ability to 'ro+ide $or $ood and 'rotection)” Albatrosses arri+e on Midway Atoll %e$! e by t"e "!ndreds o$ t"o!sands to nest eac" year) %e$! e sta$$ and +ol!nteers are res'onsible $or monitorin t"e "ealt" o$ t"ese e<traordinary, bea!ti$!l ocean liders) A$ter s'endin $i+e mont"s at sea moltin and $eedin , albatross ret!rn to t"e same nestin site on Midway Atoll %e$! e) 8nce t"ey mate, an albatross 'air will immediately be in to cra$t a st!rdy nest) I$ t"ey s!ccess$!lly inc!bate t"e e and a c"ick "atc"es, eac" 'arent takes t!rns broodin t"eir c"ick, !ntil it can be le$t on its own, w"en t"ey bot" will t"en $ora e $or t"e c"ick4s meals o+er t"e ne<t si< mont"s) Wisdom "as likely raised at least 30 to 33 c"icks d!rin "er breedin li$e, t"o! " t"e n!mber may well be "i "er beca!se e<'erienced 'arents tend to be better 'arents t"an yo!n er breeders)

 Albatross lay only one e a year, b!t it takes m!c" o$ a year to inc!bate and raise t"e c"ick) A$ter se+eral consec!ti+e years in w"ic" t"ey "a+e s!ccess$!lly raised and $led ed a c"ick, t"e 'arents may take t"e occasional year o$$ $rom 'arentin ) About Albatross Albatross once nested t"ro! "o!t all t"e islands in t"e Hawaiian arc"i'ela o) Its ancestral Hawaiian name moli, means a bone tattoo needle w"ic" was made $rom t"e bone o$ an albatross) Albatross are remarkable $liers w"o tra+el t"o!sands o$ miles on wind c!rrents wit"o!t e+er $la''in t"eir win s) *"ey do t"is by an lin t"eir si< $oot win s'an to adA!st $or wind c!rrents and +aryin air s'eeds abo+e t"e water) Almost as ama:in as bein a 'arent at 63 is t"e n!mber o$ miles Wisdom "as likely lo ed – abo!t 30,000 miles a year as an ad!lt – w"ic" means t"at Wisdom "as $lown at least two million to t"ree million miles since s"e was $irst banded) #ineteen o$ /1 s'ecies o$ albatross are t"reatened wit" e<tinction, accordin to t"e International Bnion $or t"e 6onser+ation o$ #at!re) In t"e #ort"ern "emis'"ere one "i "ly +isible t"reat is marine debris, w"ic" is in ested by ad!lts and $ed to t"eir c"icks, 'ossibly leadin to lower $led in wei "ts and inA!ries to t"eir di esti+e tract) ,ased on a recent analysis, $i+e tons o$ 'lastic obAects are bro! "t to Midway %e$! e eac" year by albatross in t"e co!rse o$ $eedin t"eir yo!n ) 8t"er t"reats incl!de e<'os!re to contaminants, s!c" as lead;based 'aint c!rrently bein abated on Midway %e$! eC lon line $is"in , w"ere t"e birds are inad+ertently "ooked and drowned (t"o! " conser+ation ro!'s "a+e banded wit" $is"ermen and dramatically lowered t"e n!mber o$ deat"s $rom t"is ca!se)C and in+asi+e s'ecies on islands w"ere rats, do s and wild cats e<ist 'rey on e s, c"icks and nestin ad!lts) 8ne o$ t"e reatest t"reats to t"e lon term s!r+i+al o$ Laysan albatross and black;$ooted albatross, w"ose 'rimary nestin sites are t"e low islands o$ &a'a"(na!mok!(kea Mon!ment is t"e loss o$ nestin "abitat d!e to sea le+el rise) -or more in$ormation on Midway Atoll #ational Wildli$e %e$! e and t"e ,attle o$ Midway #ational Memorial o toD "tt'DEEwww)$ws) o+EmidwayE) &"otos and *!mblr o$ Wisdom are a+ailable at "tt'DEE$lic)krEsEaHsA=b't6" and "tt'DEE!s$ws'aci$ic)t!mblr)comE'ostEF3F//6/..1/Et"e; $irst;$amily;'"oto;wisdom;and;"er;newest;c"ick The mission of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is working with others to conserve, protect and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. We are both a leader and trusted partner in fish and wildlife conservation, known for our scientific excellence, stewardship of lands and natural resources, dedicated professionals and commitment to public service. For more information on our work and the people who make it happen, visit www.fws.gov apah!naumoku!kea is cooperativel" managed to ensure ecological integrit" and achieve strong, long#term protection and perpetuation of $orthwestern %awaiian &sland ecos"stems, $ative

 %awaiian culture, and heritage resources for current and future generations. Three co#trustees # the 'epartment of (ommerce, 'epartment of the &nterior, and State of %awai)i # *oined b" the +ffice of %awaiian Affairs, protect this special place. apah!naumoku!kea ,arine $ational ,onument was inscribed as the first mixed -natural and cultural. U$/S(+ World %eritage Site in the United States in 0ul" 1232. For more information, please visit www.papahanaumokuakea.gov ||||| Birds of Midway Atoll

 Laysan Albatross / Phoebastria immutabilis

 Description White head, neck, and underbody. Black mantle and upperwings. Underwings have black margins and irregular streaks on converts. Dark eye patch. Bill varies from gray to yellow with darker tip; pink legs/feet. Length: 79-81cm (31.6-32.4 in); wingspan: 195-203 cm (6.4-6.7 ft); average life span: 12-40 yrs. Laysan Albatross and chick

 Photo credit: Robert Shallenberger

 Midway Population

 Seventy-one percent of the world's population nests on Midway. In January 2008, 452,609 breeding pairs of Laysan Albatross were nesting on all three islands of Midway Atoll (Sand: 274,043; Eastern: 176,561; and Spit: 2,005).

 Feeding Habits

 Primarily nocturnal feeders. Laysans are surface feeders. Therefore feed on anything that floats on the surface of the water; squid, fish, crustaceans and flying fish eggs. Unfortunately, this inludes marine debris as well; with an estimated 5 tons of plastic being accidently fed to chicks each year. Laysans usually stay at least 20 to 30 kilometers offshore during the nonbreeding months (July - October). During these months Laysans are distributed throughout the northwestern and northeastern range of the Pacific.

 Breeding

 Monogamous. If one of the mates should die, they will most likely create a new pair bond. Nests are made up of surrounding grasses, dirt or shrubbery and are piled into large mounds that form a nest cup. Laying begins in mid-November. One egg is laid and incubation lasts about 65 days. Incubation starts with the female who usually stays for a short 2-day span. The male then takes over for as long as three weeks. During the month of December the number of incubating males outnumber that of incubating females 15:1. If the egg is infertile or breaks during incubation, re-laying will not occur that year.

 Chicks hatch during late January to mid-February. Chicks live off a diet of flying fish eggs and squid oil, a product that is rich in fat. Both parents will feed the chick by regurgitation and will often leave them for several days while they obtain food out at sea. The rich squid and stomach oil is filled with fatty acids and nutrients that can sustain a chick for the number of days between feedings. Fledging occurs 5-6 months after hatching (mid-June through late July). Parents will often leave before the chicks have reached their full juvenile plumage.

 Subadults return to their natal nesting colony after spending 3 - 5 years at sea. Elaborate courtship dances take place throughout the colony while these young birds search for a mate. Mating and first nesting usually occurs by age 6-8. |||||


(Francine Orr/Los Angeles Times)

 John Dean is a connoisseur of coverups, a savant of scandal, so he can more than imagine what it’s like inside the Trump White House right now.

 “It’s a nightmare,” he said, presiding in a high-backed leather wing chair off the lobby of the Beverly Hills Hotel. Not just for those in the headlines — political strategist Steve Bannon, jack-of-many-duties Jared Kushner — but for their unsung assistants and secretaries as well.

 “They don’t know what their jeopardy is. They don’t know what they’re looking at. They don’t know if they’re a part of a conspiracy that might unfold. They don’t know whether to hire lawyers or not, how they’re going to pay for them if they do,” Dean said in a crisp law-counsel cadence. “It’s an unpleasant place.” ||||| Like Us On Facebook

 Like Us On Facebook

 Whether you’re a full-fledged Trump supporter or a liberal longing for change, you can’t deny the fact Melania Trump looks miserable being America’s first lady.

 Various photos have provided obvious evidence that Donald Trump’s wife hasn’t been happy with her new lifestyle, and sources connected to the first family have proven the assumptions to be true.

 Those sources have claimed Melania is “unhappy,” adding,

 This life wasn’t her dream, it was Donald’s.

 A clip from Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Florida on Saturday, February 18, has people more concerned than ever about what’s making Melania upset.

 In the footage, Melania was preparing to deliver the Lord’s Prayer for the crowd before speaking, and she seemed startled when Donald walked behind her and touched her arm.

 FLOTUS Melania Trump delivers the Lord's prayer at Trump rally To view this video please enable JavaScript, and considerupgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video

 In the very moment her husband makes contact with her, she quickly turns her head and takes a deep breath before making eye contact with the cameras again.

 When she looks back up, she seems disoriented for a split second before she continues her remarks.

 While some people haven’t thought much of the reaction to Donald’s touch, others seem concerned for Melania’s well being and are making assumptions about the two’s relationship.

 The “flinch” sparked curiosity in Twitter users after the video was shared specifically to point out her reaction.

 The caption says,

 Literally even the slightest touch by that garbage monster makes her flinch.

 Literally even the slightest touch by that garbage monster makes her flinch pic.twitter.com/iCLTRbKvdj — Jess Dweck (@TheDweck) February 19, 2017

 Soon enough, the internet caught on and grew concerned for FLOTUS.

 “This is so sad.”

 Some Twitter users are saying it’s the “very first abuse red flag.”

 Some say it “Speaks volumes about their relationship.”

 Whether or not Melania’s reaction to Trump’s touch was a sign of abuse or simply a reaction to the roaring crowd surrounding her at the rally, the internet is definitely concerned.

 Subscribe to Elite Daily's official newsletter, The Edge, for more stories you don't want to miss. |||||

 President Trump and first lady Melania Trump arrive in Tel Aviv. They are flanked by Israel’s president and prime minister and their spouses. (Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images)

 If public appearances by a president and first lady are political theater, first lady Melania Trump and her husband, President Trump, miiight want to work on their choreography.

 A brief moment caught on camera during the first couple’s arrival at the Tel Aviv airport appears to show the president reaching behind him for his wife’s hand — and she seemingly swatting it away. Or maybe, upon close inspection of the footage, perhaps she just missed grabbing his outstretched hand, like a trapeze artist flubbing the catch.

 Rebuffed, POTUS smooths his tie.

 The couple’s efforts at hand-holding have long fascinated White House watchers. (“Donald Trump ‘avoids holding Melania’s hand in public because he wants to look like a presidential alpha,’ says body language expert,” was the headline of a Daily Mail story from February.) Others tagged videos of the botched attempt at hand-holding with the hashtag #FreeMelania.

 This latest bit of awkwardness, even if it was just a meaningless goof, is likely to just give such narratives, uh, legs. ||||| There was no husband-wife hand-holding as President Donald Trump and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, arrived Tel Aviv, Israel, on Monday, the second stop on their eight-day tour to five countries.

 As the Trumps walked away from Air Force One on the Israeli tarmac, the president was seen reaching for his wife’s hand. She then appeared to be swatting the president’s hand away. Israeli newspaper Haaretz shared a clip of the moment on Twitter, and it has since gone viral.

 Ilia Yefimovich/Getty Images

 The moment comes not long after the first lady’s verified personal Twitter account liked a tweet about her dramatic change in facial expressions at the inauguration when she smiled, then scowled, after the president glanced in her direction. In his anti-Trump tweet, writer Andy Ostroy joked: “Seems the only #Wall @realDonaldTrump‘s built is the one between him and @FLOTUS #Melania #trump.”

 The tweet was un-liked after Twitter caught on, and Melania’s communications director, Stephanie Grisham, later told PEOPLE “The First Lady wasn’t aware of any of this until I brought it to her attention. It isn’t her primary account and we have since changed the passwords.”

 RELATED VIDEO: Exclusive: Natasha Stoynoff Speaks Out: ‘I Don’t Want Women to Feel Afraid’

 Just ahead of the president’s overseas tour – his first foreign trip as president – the first lady announced her plans to join.

 “I am very excited for the upcoming trip,” the first lady said in a statement. “This will not just be an opportunity to support my husband as he works on important matters of national security and foreign relations, it will also be my honor to visit and speak with women and children from different countries, with different perspectives.”

 After arriving in Israel, Monday, Trump became the first president to visit the Western Wall, reported CNN.

 The first lady and Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, also prayed at the wall. ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Maybe Melania Trump, a woman who was once photographed for Vanity Fair forking a bowl of expensive necklaces as though they were spaghetti noodles, has more in common with the average American than we initially thought. Like the average American, it appears that she too, cannot stand her husband.

 This afternoon in Tel Aviv, President Donald Trump reached for his wife’s hand. Rather than indulge him with human touch, the sort of human touch regular married people who like each other might engage in, the reluctant First Lady swatted his hand away. This wasn’t done backstage before an event, or in the privacy of a place where it was safe to assume there weren’t any cameras. No, Melania has grown bolder in her push to telegraph her disdain for Donald. She did it as she and her husband joined Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife in a photo op. She did it in front of a veritable United Nations of news cameras. She did it so the whole world could see. She doesn’t care if he’s embarrassed, and it completely rules.

 And the whole world did see; within minutes, the moment had gone viral. With that swat, Melania had temporarily sated the public’s bottomless appetite to see President Trump denied what he wants in its most viscerally appealing manifestation. Trump wanted his wife to accept him, to join him in acting like a normal human couple for the cameras instead of an orb-fondling wannabe despot. Seeing tweets about a judge striking down an immigration ban, or watching a Trump surrogate make an ass of themselves on cable news just doesn’t taste as delicious to a victory-starved liberal as the image of a woman slapping Trump’s hand away. For the millions who continue to be horrified by the Trump era, there’s nothing more zeitgeisty in 2017 than Trump schadenfreude porn. And there’s nobody more well-positioned to deliver it than our Ice Queen First Lady.

 This isn’t the first time Melania has denied Donald’s undersized hands the pleasure of human touch. In January, when the couple arrived in Washington for his inauguration, Donald tried to hold his wife’s hand just before completing the very scary task of going down a flight of stairs. Melania was not having it.

 That move kicked off an inauguration weekend that, told from Melania’s perspective, would read like a novel about a tragically trapped princess, or a live-action Pepe Le Pew cartoon starring Melania as the cat. When the couple danced, Melania leaned away rigidly. In every public appearance, the impeccably dressed First Lady wore a veil of despair. Her husband often seemed to forget that she existed. When they kissed, they did not touch. Melania acted like a mascot of left-wing despair.

 In the ensuing weeks, Melania’s public disdain for her husband only intensified. An US Weekly cover story declared that she was “secretly miserable” as First Lady, an account I must dispute since it’s always been obvious that she’s miserable. She skipped out on typical first lady duties when the prime minister of Japan visited. And a couple of weeks ago, whoever manages her verified Twitter account favorited a Tweet about how alienated the Trumps seem from each other.

 All of this is occurring as Trump’s daughter Ivanka performs most of the non-romantic duties of First Lady, delivering speeches and posing for photos. In recent interviews, Ivanka’s even started putting on a strange Jackie O affect. If I were Melania, I’d find the whole thing irksome.

 Critics will point out that Melania, of course, is no hero, and no saint. She’s the one who married Donald, and she can leave whenever she gets sick of living in a golden box in the sky and feeling sorry for herself. There are plenty of women whose lives are much more worse off thanks to the president, and plenty more whose lives would be worse off if not for the saving grace of checks and balances. But her public acting out provides a nice bit of levity for a time that often feels devoid of it; a lot of women would love the opportunity to swat Trump’s hand away.

 Melania’s swats also serve to expose another Trump lie: when you’re a star, they don’t always let you do it. |||||

Write a summary.

– Innocent flub? Public diss? Either way, President Trump and wife Melania provided an unintentionally buzzy moment upon their arrival in Tel Aviv. Watch it via this video clip from the newspaper Haaretz. It shows the president reaching back to take wife Melania's hand on the airport tarmac and then her, well, not taking him up on it. That has triggered lots of coverage along these lines in the Daily News: She "refused to hold her husband's hand and then slapped it away." A post at the Daily Beast raises the ante on that sentiment. But many also were taking a more middle-ground approach, hedging descriptions of Melania's action with phrases like "appeared to be swatting" (People) or "seems to swat away" (Los Angeles Times). The Washington Post, meanwhile, offered one of the most charitable explanations: "Or maybe, upon close inspection of the footage, perhaps she just missed grabbing his outstretched hand, like a trapeze artist flubbing the catch," writes Emily Heil. She notes that Trumpian hand-holding is a favorite topic of White House watchers, meaning the two ought to at least "work on their choreography" if they want to avoid feeding the memes. (This isn't the first time Melania has seemed to flinch at her husband's touch.)


Write a summary based on this article:

These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Lexington School District Two says a substitute teacher accused of being drunk in school was not a district employee.

 The Irmo woman was arrested and accused of being drunk at Brookland-Cayce High School Friday, according to the Lexington County Sheriff's Department.

 Judith Elizabeth Richards-Gartee, 52, was arrested Friday after an administrator at the school called a resource officer about her being intoxicated.

 On Monday, the school district issued this statement:

 On Friday, March 10, 2017, it was reported to the Administration of Brookland-Cayce School that a substitute teacher was behaving erratically and appeared to be under the influence of alcohol. This substitute is not an employee of the District, but works for Kelly Services. Kelly contracts with the District to provide substitute teachers.

 The Administration responded immediately, removing the substitute from the classroom and sending her to the School Resource Officer. The District has been advised that law enforcement has filed criminal charges against the Kelly employee.

 Richards-Gartee was later found in possession of an open container of alcohol. She was charged with disorderly conduct and released to the care of paramedics who took her to the hospital.

 The sheriff's department says it will not be releasing any more information regarding this incident.

 Copyright 2017 WIS. All rights reserved. |||||

– A substitute teacher was found throwing up at South Carolina's Brookland-Cayce High School, but a stomach bug wasn't to blame. Judith Richards-Gartee has been charged with disorderly conduct after allegedly drinking boxed wine in her classroom. Administrators say they found the 52-year-old vomiting and incapable of standing when they came to her classroom at 9:45am Friday, reports the State. She was removed via wheelchair, and a Lexington County deputy who was on the clock as the school resource officer says he found the boxed wine in her purse. Students reported that she was consuming it in class. WIS reports that in a statement Lexington School District 2 made clear that Richards-Gartee was not its employee, but had been hired by the company the district contracts with. (These students in Arizona can probably relate.)


A mother and son whose forbidden love affair could land them each a lengthy jail sentence have declared they are 'madly in love' and nothing will tear them apart.

 Monica Mares, 36, and her son Caleb Peterson, 19, face up to 18 months in prison if found guilty of incest at a trial later this year in New Mexico.

 But the mother and son couple have vowed to fight for their right to have a sexual relationship and are appealing to the public to donate to their legal fund.

 In an exclusive individual interviews with Daily Mail Online, they told how they are willing to risk everything to be together - and have decided to go public with their affair in a bid to raise awareness of Genetic Sexual Attraction (GSA) relationships.

 SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO INTERVIEWS

 Mother and son Monica Mares, 36, and Caleb Peterson, 19, of Clovis, New Mexico, claim to be 'madly in love'. But they face up to 18 months in prison if found guilty of incest

 Mares, a mother of nine, gave birth to Peterson (pictured as a baby) when she was 16 years old. He was adopted shortly thereafter

 Mares and Peterson have decided to go public with their affair in a bid to raise awareness of Genetic Sexual Attraction. This photo was taken before the court ordered them to stay away from each other

 GSA is defined as sexual attraction between close relatives, such as siblings or half-siblings, a parent and offspring, or first and second cousins, who first meet as adults.

 Mares said: 'He is the love of my life and I don't want to lose him.My kids love him, my whole family does. Nothing can come between us not courts, or jail, nothing.

 'I have to be with him. When I get out of prison I will move out of Clovis to a state that allows us to be together.'

 Incest is a crime in all 50 states, but the specifics of the laws and punishment vary greatly from state to state.

 Mother-of-nine Mares said she would even give up the right to see her other children if she was asked to choose between them and her lover.

 Mares and Peterson are seen above in their booking photos from earlier this year. Mares is pictured on March 11 and Peterson on February 26

 The couple who currently live separately in Clovis, New Mexico - and are banned from having any contact with each other by the courts - first embarked on their love affair towards the end of last year.

 Mares was just 16 when she gave birth to Peterson - whose pre-adoption name was Carlos - and he was adopted as a baby.

 The 36-year-old, who didn't raise Peterson, saw him for the first time in 18 years last Christmas when she picked him up at his adoptive father's house in Texas and brought him to her home after the pair got in touch over Facebook.

 The couple soon developed romantic feelings for each other and their relationship became sexual a few weeks later.

 'The first time I met my son in person I was so happy and excited I gave him a big hug,' Mares said.'I went to go pick him up at his dad's house in Texas.

 'He gave me a call and asked me to pick him up, I got butterflies in my stomach.

 Mother-of-nine Mares said she would even give up the right to see her other children if she was asked to choose between them and Peterson

 Mares saw Peterson for the first time in 18 years last Christmas when she picked him up at his adoptive father's house in Texas after the pair got in touch over Facebook

 The couple has vowed to fight for their right to have a sexual relationship and are appealing to the public to donate to their legal fund. These photos were taken before they were forbidden to see each other by the court

 'I met him outside and I knew it was him when he came towards me. He was crying and he gave me a hug.

 'It was almost love at first sight but first it was mother love. He gave me a mother hug.

 'He came home in the truck and came to live with me and we were both happy as mother and son.'

 Mares said that at first nothing happened but she then started getting these 'crazy' feelings.

 She said it felt different because she didn't raise him as her child yet after all these years he came back to her.

 'It felt like I met somebody new in my life and I fell in love with him,' she explained.

 She continued: 'At first I told him, "I'm sorry I don't know how you are going to react to this. I'm your mom and you're my son, but I'm falling in love with you".

 'And he said: "You know what I am too. I was scared to let you know". He was falling in love with his mom and I was falling in love with my son.

 'We talked about it and we took off to the park. I said, "Would you ever date your mom?" And he said: "would you ever date your son?" And I said, "Honest truth yes I would".'

 Mares says Peterson is the best thing that has happened to her in the past 19 years and wants to be with him for the rest of her life.

 Mares (pictured in undated family photographs) didn't raise Peterson, whose pre-adoption name was Carlos

 Mares says Peterson (pictured above as a baby) is the best thing that has happened to her in the past 19 years

 Peterson said he made the first move and kissed his mother while they were spending time together one day

 She understands that she risks losing all her children and going to state prison but they both want to fight it.

 'Caleb is willing to go through the same thing. Whatever it takes to be together,' she said.

 At first the couple lived happily together in Mares' mobile home with her two youngest children Uriah and Joseph – keeping their relationship a secret from the world.

 Mares' youngest son even began calling Peterson 'dad'.

 But police soon found out about the clandestine affair during a call over a row between the family and some neighbors.

 The couple was charged with incest – a fourth-degree felony in New Mexico - following the February 25th incident.

 They were arraigned and appeared jointly in court in April – but were held in custody for breaching their no-contact order.

 They were released on $5,000 bond and now face a trial by jury in September.

 Currently Mares is not allowed to see any of her children or have any contact at all with Peterson.Yet she maintains that is has all been worth it.

 'It is every bit worth it,' she said. 'If they lock me up for love then they lock me up. There is no way anybody could pull us apart, and I really do love him.

 'It hurts he is far away. It hurts really bad. I wish I could see him, talk to him, but I can't risk it.'

 The couple live separately in Clovis, New Mexico. Pictured above is Peterson's home in the small town

 At first, lived happily together in Mares' mobile home (pictured above) with her two youngest children Uriah and Joseph. Mares' youngest son even began calling Peterson 'dad'

 Because the court has ordered Peterson and Mares to stay away from each other, Mares is not legally allowed to stay at this address next to her son's home

 Peterson said he started falling love with his mom about a week after meeting her - but claims as he grew up with an adopted parents he never really saw Mares as his mother.

 'I never had anyone cook me meals or give me anything,' he said. 'I never got anything my entire life and she went out of her way to make me happy and after about a week or so I started having feelings for her and I guess I fell in love.

 'It went beyond a mother-son relationship I never really viewed her as my mom. In certain aspects I do but mostly I don't.

 'I never thought I was crazy for having these feelings because I didn't see her as my mom, it was more like going to a club and meeting a random person. It didn't feel wrong, it felt normal.'

 Peterson claims it was him who made the first move not his mom.

 He recalls: 'We were hanging out just talking and I looked at her and she looked at me and I kissed her.

 'It was a real kiss it had feelings behind it, there was a spark that ever since then it just stayed.

 'Honestly I never thought we would get into trouble for our relationship. We were both consenting adults - when it comes down to it.

 'She's adult I'm adult I can make my own decisions. I never thought it would blow up into something like this.'

 Because the couple are not allowed to be in contact, as a sign of his love and commitment, Peterson left a rose for Mares on the bench at the park in Clovis where the couple first expressed their love for each other.

 Mares later collected the rose from the Clovis park bench and held it close to her heart

 Mares also said that it didn't feel strange or wrong when the couple began their sexual relationship - but admits that it probably wouldn't have happened if she had raised Peterson.

 'The first time we were physical ended up holding hands and then we ended up kissing and the kissing led to other things,' she said. 'I felt comfortable with him and we fell even more deeply in love.

 'If he had been with me all his life I don't think anything would have happened between us.'

 As well as legal trouble, the couple has met opposition from friends, neighbors, family members and the wider community.

 Mares has been attacked outside her home and subjected to death threats.

 She said: 'I've been having a lot of trouble from the people in Clovis. They call me incest.

 Dayton Chavez, Mares' ex and father to two of her sons Moses, nine, and Joseph, 12, says he supports Mares and Peterson's relationship

 Mares says other moms she knows don't understand what she's going through but says her kids have said they will love her no matter what.

 But with a torn look on her face, she added: 'But if I had to choose between my son and all my other kids I'd chose him.'

 Peterson added: 'My dad walked out on me because of it.

 'There's a lot of negative comments I read on Facebook and things - people say it's disgusting, it's gross, she's your mom but it doesn't hurt me or affect me at all.

 'If they were in my situation or if they were to find out that somebody they loved was actually related to them then they'd be saying the exact opposite.'

 Peterson admits that sometimes he wonders if he should have done things differently - if only to spare his family the pain.

 But he said that even if the judge offered to spare him jail if he stopped all contact with his mother, he would refuse.

 And he has vowed to wait for Mares if she is jailed and he isn't.

 'Sometimes the easy way isn't the best way,' he said. 'Sometimes we have to make that life decision that's going to change and affect everything but when it comes down to it, it's worth it.

 'I will wait for her if she gets a jail sentence and I don't. For me it's not about patience it's about commitment.

 'If I'm committed to something I follow it through that's the kind of person I am.

 'If I love her enough and I'm crazy enough to stay in Clovis for her and crazy enough to face all the courts for her then waiting a bit of time to have the rest of my life being happy then I'm willing to do that.'

 But Prosecutor Andrea Reeb, District Attorney for the Ninth Judicial District in New Mexico, says she expects Mares will face jail time

 Daily Mail Online interviewed the couple separately to ensure they did not breach their court order.

 As a sign of his love and commitment, Peterson left a rose for Mares on the bench at the park in Clovis where the couple first expressed their love for each other.

 He said: 'She's never had anyone give her a rose. If I could I'd give her everything she wants. I miss talking to her and seeing her. There's not a day that goes by that I don't think about her.

 'If I could speak to her now I would say to her: "I love you and I miss you and I can't wait to see you again."'

 Despite the immense opposition to the couple's relationship, Mares and Peterson do have supporters in the community - including Dayton Chavez, Mares' ex and father to two of her sons Moses, nine, and Joseph, 12.

 He said: 'I've told them I still love you guys either way. I support them.

 'I would like to see the government get out of their business and let them live a normal life - let them live how they want to live.

 'It would be different if it was a domestic violence situation but it's not.

 'My point of view is they need to be allowed to live just how they are that's what America is built on.'

 Peterson said that he is willing to wait for his mom if she's jailed, despite the risk of further prosecution

 The couple - who both have roots with Native American Apache tribes - is also being supported by Cristina Shy who runs www.lilysgardener.com, a support and advocacy website for related couples, also known as consanguinamorous people.

 Cristina, who is involved in an illegal relationship with her half brother in Minnesota, said: 'Our whole community is watching this case and looking for updates.

 'It needs to be brought to the attention of everybody in the country and people need to start thinking differently.

 'It was the same with gay people just a few years ago and now they can get married they are accepted.

 'Well why not consanguinamorous people like us? We are all adults. We are not pedophiles, there's no domestic issue we are in love, we want to be together but we are related. That shouldn't be a deciding factor.'

 Cristina is hoping to raise enough money to get a high profile attorney to defend the case and says the couple is willing to fight all the way to the US Supreme Court.

 'This case could set precedent and change laws throughout the United States,' she said.

 But Prosecutor Andrea Reeb, District Attorney for the Ninth Judicial District in New Mexico, doesn't agree.

 She says incest is against the law and carries a maximum 18 month jail term and/or a $5,000 fine.

 Speaking to Daily Mail Online from her office in Clovis, Reeb concedes there is a chance Peterson could be spared jail because of his age - but she's doubtful Mares will be treated as leniently.

 Mares has been attacked outside her home since going public about her relationship with Peterson

 She said: 'The law states that if you are related as they are - mother and son - you cannot have any type of sexual intimate relationship. It's a fourth-degree felony. It's the law so our office is bound to uphold the law so we are pursuing it.'

 Reeb said that in her 20-year career as a prosecutor she has only handled a few incest cases.

 She added: 'This case is going to be difficult only in the sense that some people think that Caleb is a victim and not a defendant.

 'I have not got any feedback from the community or from anybody else believing that Monica Mares, the mother, that anybody has any sympathy towards her whatsoever.

 'Both have acknowledged they knew it was wrong, they are both consenting adults so they are considered co-defendants.

 'It's only a fourth-degree felony so it's the lowest level of felony in New Mexico.'

 She added that if the couple reunited after their sentences - and law enforcement found out - they would be held accountable.

 For Peterson, he is willing to wait for his mom if she's jailed, and despite the risk of further prosecution he still sees a happy future for the unconventional couple.

 'In two years time I can see us living together happily living our lives,' he said. 'True love can do anything.

 'This whole case is about whether I have the right to love somebody and I sure as hell have the right to love Monica.

 'You can't tell me who to love, who not to love.' ||||| These crawls are part of an effort to archive pages as they are created and archive the pages that they refer to. That way, as the pages that are referenced are changed or taken from the web, a link to the version that was live when the page was written will be preserved.Then the Internet Archive hopes that references to these archived pages will be put in place of a link that would be otherwise be broken, or a companion link to allow people to see what was originally intended by a page's authors.The goal is to fix all broken links on the web . Crawls of supported "No More 404" sites. ||||| Staff report

 A Clovis man facing an incest charge with his mother is slated to go on trial in September.

 Caleb Peterson, 19, appeared before Judge Fred Van Soelen in district court Tuesday for a pre-trial conference. Peterson and Monica Mares, 36, face up to three years in prison and a $5,000 fine if convicted of incest charges, which is a third-degree felony.

 During the pre-trial proceedings, a docket call was scheduled for Sept. 6 with jury selection targeted Sept. 12. A jury trial is set to begin Sept. 16.

 Peterson was represented by attorney Brett Carter while 9th Judicial District Attorney Andrea Reeb represented the state.

 “The state is ready for trial,” said Reeb in addressing Van Soelen. “Mr. (Thomas) Harden actually represents the defendant and Mr. Carter represents the co-defendant. I do have a plea offer, but due to conflict, possibly, I will directly relay that to Mr. Harden myself. I don’t see any reason why this should be delayed. (I expect a) one-day trial, with approximately four or five witnesses.”

 Police first learned of incest allegations between Peterson and Mares during a response to a domestic dispute taking place near the suspects’ home.

 Peterson, adopted by another family as a child, made contact with his biological mother and moved in with her after his 18th birthday. The record alleges that their relationship became sexual after Peterson moved in. |||||
What is a one-paragraph summary of the above article?

– A New Mexico courtroom will be the scene of a trial sure to make many uncomfortable next month: A 36-year-old mother and her 19-year-old son have been charged with incest and face three years in jail, reports the Clovis News Journal. But Monica Mares and Caleb Peterson are anything but ashamed: In fact, they say they're madly in love and hope their trial raises awareness of something called Genetic Sexual Attraction. "Nothing can come between us—not courts, or jail, nothing," Mares tells the Daily Mail. She gave Peterson up for adoption when he was a baby, and he eventually found her on Facebook and moved in with her after he turned 18, notes the News Journal. The relationship quickly became sexual. "I never thought I was crazy for having these feelings because I didn't see her as my mom," says Peterson. "It was more like going to a club and meeting a random person." The relationship came to light when a neighbor in Clovis confronted them about it, and police were called, reports KOB4. Both were arrested, though they are now free on bond—and forbidden by court order from seeing each other. GSA refers to sexual attraction between biological relatives, usually involving people who didn't grow up together, and the couple hopes their case might bring the issue all the way to the Supreme Court. GSA may be more common than you think.


Article:

NEW YORK (AP) — Burger King is scrapping its 40-year-old "Have It Your Way" slogan in favor of the more personal "Be Your Way."

 The chain says the new tag line will roll out across its marketing in the U.S., including in a TV ad that will begin airing Monday night. The line made its first appearance in an online video last month.

 Burger King says in a statement that the new motto is intended to remind people that "they can and should live how they want anytime. It's ok to not be perfect ... Self-expression is most important and it's our differences that make us individuals instead of robots."

 It may seem odd for a fast-food company to champion individuality, but Burger King isn't the only one trying to project a hip, non-corporate attitude to gain favor with customers. Since 2012, for instance, Taco Bell has been touting its "Live Mas" slogan, which means "live more" in Spanish.

 Fernando Machado, Burger King's senior vice president of global brand management, noted in an interview that "Have It Your Way" focuses only on the purchase — the ability to customize a burger. By contrast, he said "Be Your Way" is about making a connection with a person's greater lifestyle.

 "We want to evolve from just being the functional side of things to having a much stronger emotional appeal," said Machado, who joined the company in March.

 Whether the new tag line can help Burger King's image over the long term remains to be seen. The company, along with McDonald's Corp., is fighting to boost sales at a time when people are moving toward foods they feel are fresher or higher quality. And Laura Ries, president of the brand consulting firm Ries & Ries, noted that companies can come across as trying too hard to be cool.

 "The problem is that people don't see themselves as living the Burger King lifestyle," she said. "You've got to be realistic with the place that your brand holds in real life."

 Burger King says new slogan was developed with ad agency DAVID, a unit of WPP.

 Machado noted that Burger King hasn't been actively using the "Have It Your Way" slogan for some time in the U.S. The company, which is based in Miami, Florida, also will stop using its more recent "Taste Is King" motto. "Be Your Way" will start in the U.S. but eventually be rolled out globally, the company says.

 The switch is the latest in a series of marketing and menu changes under Burger King's new management. The chain was bought by investment firm 3G Capital in late 2010, then taken public again in 2012. Soon after, 3G replaced the chain's CEO and early this year, Axel Schwan was appointed as global chief marketing officer.

 In the latest quarter, Burger King said sales at U.S. restaurants open at least a year edged up 0.1 percent, hurt by bad weather.

 ___

 Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi ||||| Burger King — ever aspiring for pop-culture coolness — is tweaking its slogan to something slightly hipper: ” Be Your Way.”

 That would, perhaps, be Millennial-speak for the more dated but culturally iconic “Have it Your Way.”

 “We want to be talked about and connected to pop culture,” says Fernando Machado, senior VP of global brand management at Burger King Worldwide, in a phone interview. “We want to be an iconic brand way beyond quick-service restaurants.”

 That, of course, doesn’t come simply. Especially for a brand that’s changed slogans about as frequently as it’s changed CEOs in recent decades.

 Among past slogans (in no particular order):

 – Aren’t you hungry?

 – Your way right away.

 – This is a Burger King town.

 – Wake up with the King.

 – We do it like you do it.

 – The best food for fast times.

 – Get your burger’s worth.

 And, perhaps the most inglorious of all: “Where’s Herb?”

 The new one, “Be Your Way,” immediately will be melded into all national and regional campaigns, Machado says.

 It reflects the drumbeat Millennial theme of customization — which has been core to Burger King for decades. (Burger King says a Whopper sandwich, for example, technically can be ordered 221,184 different ways.)

 For what it’s worth, BK’s had a decent first half of 2014 — with its stock up more than 9% over the first five months.

 Just maybe the new slogan puts BK slightly more in tune with the more Millennial-friendly slogans at McDonald’s (“I’m Loving It”) and Taco Bell (“Live Mas”).

 Or you could combine all three into: “Mas Live Lovin’ Your Way.” ||||| Something weird is happening to the country’s premier purveyors of mass-produced hamburger-like substances.

 First, we have McDonald’s, the Godzilla of fast food joints. The mega-chain announced a new Happy Meal character on Monday, a friendly face named “Happy” meant to serve “as an ambassador for balanced and wholesome eating,” according to McDonald’s. That’s great! Wholesome eating is terrific, good for McDonald’s. So what does the new Happy Meal character look like?

 Well! That’s certainly not a living nightmare that will terrify children and discourage them from ever considering fruits or vegetables.

 Happy, the McDonald’s Happy Meal Box Who Came To Life Because You Didn’t Clean Your Room Last Night, was first introduced in France in 2009 before making its (his?) way across Europe and into Latin America, McDonald’s says.

 Meanwhile, stepping away from anthropomorphic terror for a moment, we have Burger King. The company is apparently moving away from the “Have It Your Way” slogan and pitching a new one, Ad Age reports.

 The new slogan? “Be Your Way.”

 As for why they are moving from “Have It Your Way” to the grammatically-questionable “Be Your Way,” here’s Ad Age:

 According to the press release, the new tagline “reminds people that no matter who they are, they can order how they want to in Burger King restaurants and that they can and should live how they want anytime. It’s OK to not be perfect. Self-expression is most important and it’s our differences that make us individuals instead of robots.” So why bother changing the tagline? Fernando Machado, the chain’s senior VP-global brand marketing, said that while “Have It Your Way” was more about the “functional side” of Burger King, letting customers know that customization was always an option.

 This seems like a good time to remind you that in April, Burger King announced the Chicken Big King sandwich with a press released headlined “Burger King Is Not Clucking Around.”

 Okay, just out of curiosity, what is going on with Wendy’s these days?

 Caption this! Tell us what she’s saying and your line could become a subtitle in our Tuscan Chicken on Ciabatta movie pic.twitter.com/zdAiIZZZJm — Wendy’s (@Wendys) May 18, 2014

 Brands are strange. |||||
What is a summary?

– In what Burger King says is a move to "be connected to pop culture," the chain is ditching its 40-year-old "Have It Your Way" slogan in favor of "Be Your Way," which will be rolled out across the US in the weeks ahead. "We want to be an iconic brand way beyond quick-service restaurants," a Burger King exec tells USA Today, which notes that previous BK slogans have included "Aren't you hungry," "We do it like you do it," "Get your burger's worth," and "Where's Herb?" The switch to the "grammatically-questionable" slogan comes amid other odd fast-food marketing moves, including Happy, the anthropomorphic "living nightmare" that is McDonald's new Happy Meal character, writes Mark Berman at the Washington Post. But marketing experts aren't sure whether Burger King's attempt to be hip will do much to boost sales. "The problem is that people don't see themselves as living the Burger King lifestyle," the chief of brand consulting firm Ries & Ries tells the AP. "You've got to be realistic with the place that your brand holds in real life." (One part of that "Burger King lifestyle" appears to be the chain's new breakfast offering—burgers.)